#elinor wonders why spoilers

[ari-bat]

Yeah I still love ari

[onenettvchannel]

BALITANG ENTERTAINMENT: PBS Kids' Elinor Wonders Why is now in production for Season 2 [#OneNETnewsEXCLUSIVE]

(Written by Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong / Freelanced News Writer, Reporter and Presenter of OneNETnews)

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The following news article may contains a LOT of spoilers for kids before watching a LIVE new episode of Elinor Wonders Why. Please take as a consideration as a sneak preview from a disclosed reliable insider source in photos for representation purposes. Thank you!

HAMILTON, CANADA -- In the realm of preschool animated content, the Canadian-American gem "Elinor Wonders Why" on PBS Kids officially entered process production, according to some reliable sources and insiders within the entertainment circuits of Canada and North America, specifically in Ontario and Pennsylvania. Anticipated to grace screens in 2024 or beyond, two (2) or more splitted new episode titles are slated for release in 2024 or later, pending the nod or shelving verdict from the American public broadcaster.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

A yet-to-be-aired pilot titled "Learning from Nature" provides a sneak peek into Elinor Rabbit's journey, initiating her curiosity and sparking a thought-provoking, questionable preschool program on PBS Kids.

(CONTRIBUTED FILE SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

Set against the backdrop of the quaint "Animal Town" nestled in a forest, the show promotes real-life exploration and discovery. Elinor Rabbit and her cohort of young protagonists normalize differences through education intertwined with nature.

The aforementioned kids show to be internationally licensed and syndicated worldwide in selected countries of Canada, Latin America, Finland, Israel, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and Australia. Although, we found a niche first in our interest within the same-day LIVE telecast from the United States of America (U.S.A.) on OneNETtv Channel (DYDZ-DTV Ch. 8 / Cable Ch. 20) here in the Philippines, where it airs as a paid airtime programme for locally-funded Negrosanon viewers, basically known as blocktimers to be featured at night in Dumaguete and Manila's local time zone.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

In an exclusive revelation from the unreleased, unaired pilot obtained by OneNETnews, Elinor's foray into preschool unveils a captivating encounter with the sticky wonders and ideas of nature during a class led by Ms. Mole, the town's local preschool teacher in Animal Town.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

This unique scientific exploration, delving into the stickiness of nature, introduces American viewers to the concept of Sticky Seeds and their connection to everyday items like straps.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

Moments during a pre-school class, Elinor caught red-handed and interrupted beside Ari, as she ended up for a sticky situation: "This strap is so cool! You can open and close (the sticky strap on your wrist), but most of it is soft and fuzzy. Except for the scratchy patch with fixed to the fuzzy part of the strap. The two must stick together like tape, but they aren't sticky", she said.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

The scientific explanation refers the stickiness of nature identified as Galium Aparine or so-called Sticky Seeds, per earlier discussed with Ms. Mole, in relation to wrist straps and other everyday items like Umbrella as an example.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

Looking ahead to the show's 2nd season, viewers can anticipate episodes such as "The Violin Lesson", where Elinor Rabbit, alongside her friend Ari, immerses herself in the world of music and instruments, in and outside of her home with Olive, while rehearsing a new song with a violin tune.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB PHOTO for REPRESENTATION)

And the other several new episode titles are "Foody Fuel", "Elinor Rabbit's Nest", "Spice is Nice", "Flying High" and "The Search for Ari's Cousin", promise exciting developments as revealed through a disclosed Instagram status post.

Having garnered acclaim, Elinor Wonders Why secured the best pre-school series on television in the episode "Olive's Tree" by Michael Foulke at the 2022 Writers Guild of Canada: Screenwriting Awards, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Others having 3 nominations including the 2023 Annie Awards in the late-February 2023. The award-winning Canadian animation provider Pipeline Studios headquartered in Hamilton, Ontario said that the upcoming 2nd Season of Elinor Wonder Why is currently undergoing animation, gradually producing new episodes at a time. OneNETnews understands that a tentative release window slated for the said year of 2024 or later, pending official approval from the PBS Kids network.

(CONTRIBUTED ART PHOTO for REPRESENTATION / Elinor Rabbit waves everyone goodbye and for the upcoming 2nd Season is currently in production.)

For eager childhood fans in America, including viewers of WQED-TV 13 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, WNED-TV 17 in Buffalo, New York & Southern Ontario, Canada; and KGTF-TV 12 in Hagatna, Guam… 'Elinor Wonders Why' Season 2 is a highly anticipated addition to the PBS Kids lineup and your local Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) TV station across their states nationwide, promising more insightful adventures and delightful scientific discoveries for young audiences.

A BIG special thanks to the entertainment insiders whose contributing us for a news tip.

PHOTO and LOGO COURTESY for REPRESENTATION: PBS Kids & carxl2029 via YT THUMBNAIL and DeviantArt PHOTO

-- OneNETnews Team

[lonelier-version-of-you]

There is... a lot to process about that episode of Casualty. So while I organise my thoughts, I’ll start with this:

It looks like I was right about Max Cristie’s backstory! About halfway through his very first episode, I thought “he’s definitely gonna have a backstory where he either lost a kid, suffered childhood trauma, or both and that’s why he cares so much about children now”. And tonight seemingly confirmed at least the childhood trauma part. What the trauma exactly was still isn’t totally clear (a Holbyverse character hasn’t been this vague and incomprehensible about their backstory since John Gaskell), but from the stuff he said regarding the patient Ivy and how he “knows what it’s like”, it sounds like we can assume, at minimum, that he was a victim of child neglect and went down a dark path (possibly involving a gang or something??) trying to cope with it. Interesting.

Nigel Harman did say, if I’m remembering right, that someone from Max’s past will show up and provide insights into his character. So I’m assuming that’s where his backstory will be further explored - I imagine this is all we’re getting for now. (I’m not actually even all that interested in this character, funnily enough. I’m just fascinated to see where they go with his backstory, because they’re definitely setting up a tragic past for him.)

One thing I do know is that he is continuing to give me strong Greg Douglas vibes. Remember when Greg gave that teenaged patient his phone number so she could speak to him?? Yeah.

As for the Ivy storyline itself... eh, I struggled to focus or get invested due to Faith’s involvement. Why are they keeping that woman on this show?!?!?! Everything she’s done is just... beyond redemption. There’s no salvaging that awful abusive monster. Casualty producers, if you’re reading this, please write Faith out.

Her being outraged at Max for shouting at Ivy was especially ridiculous. Yeah, Max shouldn’t have shouted, but Faith has absolutely no right to get mad at someone for shouting at a teenager. Just a few months back, she literally physically assaulted Natalia’s boyfriend Tristan. Max shouting is nothing in comparison.

Speaking of which, I really, really despise how they seem to be setting up a Faith/Max/Dylan love triangle. Revisiting Faith/Dylan would be bad enough - pairing Dylan, an abuse survivor, with an abuser would be absolutely disgusting. (They could pull it off if they actually turned it into a deliberate abuse story and made it a story about revictimisation. But I don’t think they’d do that, because that would require acknowledging Faith is abusive.) But throwing a pointless love triangle in, where Faith’s other potential victim is also (from the sounds of it) an abuse survivor - yikes. And that’s not even getting into her future relationship with Iain... who wants to bet they’ll break up the moment she finds out about his depression? Faith does, after all, hate it when her men aren’t perfect and dare to be mentally ill and traumatised. ://

The Rash and Ashok storyline is still incredibly sad. I don’t have much to say because they didn’t have that many scenes in this episode, but it really is heartbreaking. And from the looks of the spoilers, it’s only gonna get sadder. :( Neet Mohan and Kriss Dosanjh are still as brilliant as ever.

The Stevie and Marcus storyline is... a lot. I really don’t know how to feel about any of this so I’ll just say, Elinor Lawless absolutely smashed it. What a wonderful actress - Casualty are very, very lucky to have her. Adam Sina has been great as Marcus too, although it’s harder to compliment his acting precisely because of the thing that makes it worthy of compliments: Marcus has been getting more and more repulsive to watch.

But I am kind of disappointed that they gave Eloise, Marcus’ previous victim, BPD - giving me hope for a properly represented BPD character in the Holbyverse, even if one who was just a guest role - and then... killed her off. Like, did they have to give her BPD for the story to work? I feel like it could’ve worked just as well if they’d said she had depression or something. Idk. I’m just tired. I guess I should be glad it wasn’t “BPD makes you evil” like John Gaskell (who was a textbook case of BPD, whether Holby intended him as such or not). But the only Holbyverse character I can think of with even potential BPD who survived their storyline (Jac fits a lot of traits too, but like John and Eloise, she didn’t survive) was Chloe Godard, and they retconned all her traits away! (And her mental health struggles in general, but I especially noticed them retconning the BPD traits away. And yes, I am still on the “Chloe has BPD” train after all these years.) Sorry for the rant. I just want some good BPD representation for once. :(

The Jacob and Stevie scenes were absolutely fantastic. I’m so glad the show tied Jacob’s own experiences of domestic abuse into Stevie’s storyline. Charles Venn was brilliant, too. I hope Jacob gets to be an ongoing support to Stevie throughout the aftermath of the Marcus storyline. They’d better not just isolate her into only interacting with Faith again.

Marcus is a monster. I mean, what more can I say about him? Everything he’s done to Stevie in the past and everything he did tonight... he’s just so awful. I despise him with all my heart. He feels like a very realistic abuser, so kudos to Casualty for that.

I’m also glad they made the choice to avoid going down the usual cliche route of Marcus physically hurting Stevie and that being his point-of-no-redemption. I feel like these storylines always spiral into something like that. And I’m not saying that’s not worth depicting, but it’s nice that they let the coercive control/emotional abuse stand on its own, without feeling the need to add physical abuse to make Marcus a “proper” abuser.

I could see some of Stevie’s actions while seeking evidence and revenge being called “unrealistic”, and that would probably be a reasonable argument, but personally I’m fine with it - it doesn’t cross the line into sensationalism for me, as it feels perfectly in character for Stevie (if it were anyone else, that would be another story).

Anyway, I hope Marcus suffers for his actions, or dies, or both. I don’t really know what else to say. May Stevie succeed in her revenge plan! I fully support her. <3

[ask-lady-eleanor]

Dear mod, Give us a major spoiler! Give us a spoiler of the narrative! (a hint at a characters past, some secret or a cryptic note telling what's yet to come, pls pls pls, anything you are willing to tell, yes yes!)

ok ok just one

Elinor has an illusion spell cast on her at all times

not telling why or what for tho

you'll just have to ak her };]

also remember how she was found when she was 16ish?

wonder what she was doing before that

who knows

[chacusha]

To Hold the Bridge: Tales from the Old Kingdom and beyond (2015)

I'm mainly here for the Old Kingdom short story in the title, but I enjoyed reading this selection of short stories since I haven't read anything by Garth Nix outside the Old Kingdom series. It was interesting seeing what kind of themes he generally likes/returns to repeatedly. Reading this, I would summarize them with:

Characters in the military (or military-esque structures). Apparently Garth Nix served in the Australian Army Reserve, so I'm guessing that's why this is a feature. In countries where military service isn't mandatory, it seems somewhat uncommon for people to be both writers and to have served in the military, which is kind of interesting.

Horror themes (undead creatures, violence, etc.). Not surprising for those familiar with Old Kingdom because that whole series is fantasy-horror.

Fantasy/sci-fi elements, often embedded within the modern/real world. I think all but one of the stories here features at least some kind of supernatural element.

Custom magic systems - not everywhere, but appear frequently enough that I get the feeling that Garth Nix enjoys designing them/thinking about how to embed magic in various settings.

Thoughts on individual stories (some minor spoilers for the premise of the stories):

To Hold the Bridge: A fun short story (I guess maybe more like a novella at ~60 pages long) set in the northern border of the Old Kingdom that get threatened by various Free Magic sorcerers every so often? Kind of what was featured in Clariel, except all the characters here are normies. I talked about this above, but this story is pretty heavy on the fantasy military-like command structure.

Vampire Weather: A world where vampires exist, but a vaccine was developed to immunize against vampirism, but there are Amish-like communities that exist that provide hunting grounds for vampires. Kind of mixes themes of vampirism, antivaxx communities, and sexual repression. A nice horror story with a bit of a twist.

Strange Fishing in the Western Highlands: I did not look at the list of where these stories were originally published so was surprised that this is a Hellboy story. It didn't start that way. I was wondering what kind of anthology published Hellboy short stories -- apparently Hellboy: Oddest Jobs (2008) ed. Christopher Golden.

Old Friends: I didn't have much to say about this one other than it's got that ex-military, "old war buddies" vibe, which is present in several of the stories here. I didn't really understand much what was going on in this one other than that is mixes the mundane modern world with a mix of mythology/fantasy and sci-fi.

The Quiet Knight: I was going to say that all the stories in this book have some kind of supernatural element to them, but then I remembered that this one doesn't? Although when I read it, not knowing how much two tons of firewood is, I thought maybe the kid in this story was supernatural. But no! It's just about a shy kid who likes to LARP as a chivalrous knight.

You Won't Feel a Thing: This one I really liked -- it was probably within my top three favorite stories of the collection. It's a very mysterious post-apocalyptic world where only children/teens are left and they're being turned into animals for some purpose(?). The story doesn't really explain what's going on, but it felt like an intriguing world.

A Handful of Ashes: This is apparently a prequel story(?) to one of Garth Nix's novels, Shade's Children, which I haven't read. But it's a very standalone story, and I enjoyed it a lot. It's probably the best story in the collection with an interesting, tense, race-against-the-clock sort of plot and some interesting magic worldbuilding layered on top of school bylaws, and evil witches layered on top of high school bullying and class dynamics. The whole vibe (witches/magical girls at an English boarding school) is kind of similar to that of Terciel & Elinor.

The Big Question: This one is kind of fairy tale-like, with the passage of time and the strange adventures. I didn't really get it, though. I kept on thinking there might be a time loop or something where the boy becomes the old woman/sage (/was always the woman/sage). But I don't think it's a time loop -- seems more just a coming-of-age story set in some kind of prehistoric time.

Stop!: This one I got so confused on. I spent like half the story thinking that this was some alternative universe of our own where hyper-radioactive walkers that are immune to bullets was just part of the background worldbuilding of the setting, but then it turns out that this particular walker is just one of a kind, a scientific curiosity that... isn't actually explained...? I don't know, maybe I missed something, like that the characters here are historical figures or preexisting characters from some other piece of fiction. The nice thing about this story is that it mentioned a song in the middle of the story, Puccini's "E lucevan le stelle." I forgot to look this up until I was toward the end of the story, and had it playing on the phone as I finished reading the story and the song indeed does match the Mood of the story's ending. I kind of wonder if reading books in the modern age is a fundamentally different experience, when you have phones and Wikipedia and its creative commons that allows you to just experience a referenced song on demand. I think about how I used to keep a big dictionary by the side of my bed so that I could look up unfamiliar words when reading books in bed at night, and now I just have my phone with me everywhere that allows me to not only look up unfamiliar words but also unfamiliar cultural references, like the multiple times this author has mentioned a particular brand of clothing or model of car to establish something about the characters. I can just pull it up on my phone and see what he's conveying. I don't know, it's kind of wild.

Infestation: This is another vampire story except the vampires are sci-fi (alien AI weapons in some intergalactic war or whatever). Reading this kinda made me realize I don't actually like vampires. This is just like the time when the zombie craze tricked me into thinking I think zombies are intrinsically cool. But I don't actually think that! I apparently don't think vampires are intrinsically cool either! I loved the original Dracula by Bram Stoker and thought vampires worked really well embedded in the larger story there, but yeah, I think maybe people like the aesthetic of vampires and enjoy them whenever they show up, like seeing an old friend again, and I only just realized of myself I am not actually attached to them and so didn't really care about them here (as opposed to the first vampire story which I did enjoy because vampires were being used as a metaphor for something else). Basically, I don't think I like common monsters intrinsically, but I like when the whole story revolves around the themes represented by a monster. I did like the minor side character here who was, like, Insecure Masculinity Personified.

The Heart of the City: This is a story that's like... an alternate timeline France under Henri IV (16th/17th century)? IDK, I don't know or get European history despite trying to study it multiple times. I wasn't super invested in the plot or the political stuff going on in the background here, but I liked the angelic magic system. Magic systems seem to be one of Garth Nix's strengths.

Ambrose and the Ancient Spirits of East and West: This is like if the secret service had a magic spy division. I liked the Bond-pastiche super posh public-school-educated British public servants featured here (contrasted with the main character). The story kind of gives off this "this is just one story/adventure among many" kind of vibe, so didn't feel particularly satisfying, but I liked the magical therapy aspect. Another story featuring a character who is ex-military.

Holly and Iron: This one was fun. It's kind of pseudo-Arthurian, pseudo-Robin Hood, set in a fantasy version of the British isles where various ruling groups in Britain have different types of incompatible magic -- the Saxons(?) have plant-based magic vs. the Normans who have iron-based magic. I liked the main character here, who is very inexperienced and impulsive and fucks up massively, partly because she is kind of over-compensating in her loyalty toward the Inglish rebels because she knows she has Norman blood. Like with the Old Kingdom series, magic in this story is super hereditary and tied to monarch dynasties, which might be kind of an irritating element. Overall, though, I quite liked this story and its magic and interesting heroine who comes into her own after being a bit useless.

The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodils Murder As Experienced by Sir Magnus Holmes and Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike: This is set in the Sherlock Holmes world but with a relative of Holmes who specializes in the occult. Kind of predictable given the recurring theme of supernatural elements overlaid on mundane settings. I'm not sure this concept particularly interests me, to be honest -- I kind of just enjoy the normal (mostly) mysteries of Sherlock Holmes. This collection splits up its stories into different sections, and this story is in the "Light-hearted tales" section. And while there are some humorous elements to it, I am not sure I would call a character unwittingly turned into a murdery eldritch horror while being deceived/manipulated by his handler a particularly light-hearted tale! Again, horror elements are a feature.

An Unwelcome Guest: I'm not really sure how to describe this one. It's got some kind of fractured fairy tale / fairy tale parody vibes, with this being a Rapunzel retelling with a weird mix of fairy tale elements (like shepherds and gnomes) and modern world elements (like ice cream and soccer). Except also there's some more ancient eldritch horrors going on here too, which seems a bit incongruous. I don't know, this one was weird and I'm not sure what it was going for!

The Highest Justice: The little girl in me who loved reading unicorn stories very much enjoyed this one. I love the little self-contained adventure here. Like with all of the stories in the "Light-hearted tales" section, this has... some humorous elements (I liked that you never hear the unicorn speak but only hear what the main character is saying to her -- it's kind of humorous to only get one side of a conversation like that, while also keeping the unicorn somewhat mysterious) but is also quite macabre/features horror elements prominently. I see from the list of where these stories were originally published that this was published in an anthology called Zombies vs. Unicorns, which is appropriate.

Master Haddad's Holiday: While I ended up enjoying this story toward the end, it kind of reminds me why I never liked sci-fi stories as a kid. The aesthetic of sci-fi technology can be quite cold, and unlike fantasy where you can generally understand the power level of various elements like monarchies and swords and horses, when a sci-fi story says a character chose to equip handguns that fire low-velocity Bitek projectiles or that the last Psitek scan showed that it would take hours for a spytracker to destroy the spy-speck bugs in a room, I'm just kind of like, "Cool, I guess." Anyway, the first part of this story is entirely this sci-fi assassin competently setting a trap for his mark using his various sci-fi gadgets and I was just like "Okay :|" but it got more interesting once the confrontation actually happened. (I did like the whole Space Silk Road aesthetic to the characters/setting of the story.)

A Sidekick of Mars: A John Carter of Mars fanfic, basically, where the narrator is a guy who also got sucked up to Mars and was temporarily a Sancho-like sidekick to John Carter. I haven't actually read any of the John Carter books but my osmosis tells me that it's a self-indulgent power fantasy isekai kinda story, and so I enjoyed reading this outsider POV of John Carter where the sidekick guy is like, "Man, this John Carter guy sure liked waging his wars and always got mad at me for needing to be rescued, but didn't seem to mind when his princess needed to be rescued, which was a lot, let me tell you." I enjoyed it.

Peace in Our Time: An interesting steampunk story that gradually takes some weird, dark turns as its narrator remembers some events from the past he's tried to forget about.

Overall, an interesting mix of stories. This took me forever to read because there are so many stories packed in here. I enjoyed them, but main draws here are probably the Old Kingdom tale, the Shade's Children tale, and a couple of others -- I liked "Holly and Iron" and "The Highest Justice," both of which feature a somewhat inexperienced young heroine on a quest for justice, and the weird "You Won't Feel a Thing" story.

[weepylucifer]

Alright, I'm finished reading now!! Here's my review (under cut for spoilers):

It was fine. Didn't spellbind me like the previous Inkworld books, but that's probably largely owed to personal taste. It didn't quite land for me 100% but for someone else, it might be a delightful treat :)

Cornelia Funke remains a skilled prose writer. I personally prefer a less florid style, but that's just me. People who have liked her style in the other Inkworld books will experience a return to form. I always liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter as a kid, and was delighted to see them here too.

Orpheus as a villain works for me - he's always been a hate sink, and he feels like a real threat in a way Capricorn sometimes didn't. He annoyed me so much in the main trilogy that initially I was like "God, surely we don't need to hear more from fucking Orpheus again" but he really does work. Just sometimes his attitude and story makes me wonder a bit: does Cornelia hate fanfiction writers?

This book is great for people who love Dustfinger - I don't really care about him and never have, which probably explains why this didn't do so much for me. He's the hero here, along with Nyame, which is the name of the Black Prince. I liked the Black Prince very much in the trilogy, so I liked hearing more from him, and it's cool that he has a name now - even in a world where most characters go by some epithet, it was kinda weird for this guy to be named for his skin color and not much else. Here, we subtly zoom in on that more, and see that "Black Prince" is used more by characters who don't see much of him beyond his skin color, while characters who really know him better refer to him as Nyame. In and of itself, the fact that the Inkworld has racism (aside from discrimination against fantasy creatures, which there also is) is an interesting bit of worldbuilding, and Nyame is a good POV character to show this (although I do also wonder about Farid now, since iirc it's never brought up whether he experiences that too. He's not really in this one, so who's to say).

Apart from that, the changes as to naming conventions in the Inkworld that were made for this novel didn't really land for me. "Did his parents really fucking name him Dustfinger" was part of the mystery for me, personally, and I didn't really need to learn his or Orpheus's entire government names. Maybe in the next one we will find out Capricorn's full legal christened name was actually Craig. Or something. Dave Adderhead. The Piper's mother called him Hubert

Anyway, as I said, this book's all about Dustfinger, which you can like or not like. Personally, I had hoped to see more of my favorites - Meggie, Elinor, Roxane, Mo, even Fenoglio - but they spend most of the plot being trapped in an evil book, waiting to be saved, along with all other important characters from the last three books. Those who criticized Inkdeath for giving Meggie too little to do will find themselves disappointed, as Meggie's character, such as it is, now seems to revolve mostly around Doria. But I can understand the desire to give other characters, that didn't have much to do before, more room on the page. For example Jehan, Roxane's son, gets development and more to do. Also Darius is gay now, which is nice I guess. I wanted to hear more about that than two fleeting remarks. Let me see this dorky middle-aged man's whirlwind romance with a tightrope walker. Let Elinor be his hag

There's more shapeshifting and new magic, which is intriguing. The quill that records people's secrets, the illustrations, the magical songs... they're all nice variations on the theme of magic inherent in creativity. It's not just reading now, but it feels like a similar type of thing. Yet, I missed the Silvertongue powers - not even Orpheus uses them anymore. To me, the "reading out" was what made the Inkworld unique in a sea of generic medievalesque fantasy. I get wanting to explore new kinds of magic, but I was still sad to see the reading phased out completely.

Much of the book was taken up by two new characters: the latter part was pretty much The Lilia Show, while the first, say, hundred pages... sigh. We need to talk about Baltassare Rinaldi.

It is so funny to me that, after doing her utmost to stomp the miserable little guy into the ground, Cornelia Funke had to invent a second, worse Basta. I mean, come on. He's got the knife, he's got the Cringefail Casanova attitude, he's got the black hair, he's got the henching. His name is Baltassare, which sounds like it's long for "Basta". (He's also a minstrel because he needs one distinct character trait.) This time, however, he's explicitly an ugly slob, so that no silly misguided fangirls can possibly stan him. As a result, when he takes up an exorbitant amount of page time, it's like... remember the third Hobbit movie when everyone was like "Why are there so many scenes with this Alfrid guy? Why did they think we'd want to see Alfrid instead of, you know, our protagonists?" It's this. Just for fun, I'm headcanoning him now as Basta's less impressive brother.

Lilia is fine. She's kind of a deus ex machina who dispatches both the antagonists while all the old characters remark upon how cool she is, but again, I understand wanting to make room for new characters. It's mentioned in one line that she's gay, which is still a lot better than having no gays at all. Also it shows that the Inkworld seems to not have homophobia, which again, riveting worldbuilding detail.

Many characters we previously had not known much about are given backstories, but there's something about those backstories that gets weird after a while. Every character had an abusive father who was an alcoholic. I don't know. Having been a social worker, I'm sure Funke saw a lot of these, and maybe lost sight of how there can be many other kinds of families with different dynamics. I personally am more of a fan of complex family relationships where love is present but also every conversation is like a high-stakes diplomacy event and all the characters are complex and flawed. With Funke, often the characters are GOOD and EVIL. But, again, that's a matter of personal taste. What was done well, though, is the depiction of how different characters with abusive backgrounds turn out differently: some turn to darkness, others use their pain as a motivation to be good and help others. There's not only "hurt people hurt people" here.

Inkworld has always been a mixed bag for me, even as a kid. Ultimately, the worlds of the trilogy were, to me, so rich and unique that I overlooked the occasional silliness. With this one, I'm not so sure it is for me. Maybe I'm just too old now. Still, it might be just the thing that was desired and needed for somebody else. All in all, even as I gripe and moan, it was a quick read and not boring, so I suppose there's that.

who else out here is reading color of revenge???

[takahero]

in honour of finishing inkspell, here are some basta observations I picked up along the way. also, inkspell spoilers warning! i also have MANY MANY thoughts so i’d love to hear what you guys think to some of the questions raised

“He hadn’t changed: the same thin face, the same way of narrowing his eyes, and there was an amulet dangling around his neck to ward off the bad luck that Basta thought lurked under every ladder, behind every bush.” — pg.138

“Basta’s left hand was bandaged, Elinor noticed when he took his fingers away from her mouth.” — pg.139

“‘I’d have been here much sooner, believe you me, but they put me in jail for a while on account of something that happened years ago. No sooner was Capricorn gone than all the people who’d been too scared to open their mouths suddenly felt very brave.’” — pg.140 (see they never tell us WHY he was in prison, do they? the possibilities are endless. we know he committed atrocious things, like arson, but imagine if he got put in jail for something completely different…LOL)

“‘You wouldn’t believe how often I’ve told him there’s nothing to be ashamed of in going to jail, particularly when your prisons here are so much more comfortable than our dungeons at home.’” — pg.140 (OHHHTMGOD MEME IDEA)

“Basta flung his arm so roughly round Orpheus’ neck that his glasses slipped down his nose.” — pg.141

“‘Hold your tongue, Basta!’ Mortola interrupted him abruptly. ‘You’ve always liked the sound of your own voice.’” — pg.141

“‘Well, Silvertongue, I’m sorry it’s taken some time,’ he said in his soft, cat-like voice.” — pg.180

“‘My son always said revenge was a dish best eaten cold,’ observed Mortola.” — pg.181 (question. did basta find out about mortola’s true identity between inkheart & inkspell? do u think he realised it when mortola cried when capricorn died?)

“Basta passed a finger over his throat and winked at him.” — pg.186 (wink 2 LMAO)

“Basta bent down and picked up a rusty helmet lying at his feet. ‘What do you expect me to say?’ he growled, throwing the helmet back into the grass with a gloomy expression, and giving it a kick that sent it clattering against the wall. ‘Of course it’s our castle. Didn’t you see the figure of the goat on the wall there? Even the carved devils are still standing, though they wear ivy crowns now — and look, there’s one of the eyes that Slasher liked to paint on the stones.’” — pg.190

“‘So Basta was right after all. He’s dead, here and in the other world too.’” — pg.191 (interesting….so Basta knew Mortola’s plan wouldn’t work? he just wanted a ride home?)

“‘I’d really like to know what happened!’ he muttered. ‘I always said Capricorn wasn’t here, but what about the others?…What are we going to do if they’re all gone?’ Basta sounded like a boy afraid of the dark. ‘Do you want us to live in a cave like brownies until the wolves find us? Have you forgotten the wolves? And the Night-Mares, the fire-elves, all the other creatures crawling around the place…I for one haven’t forgotten them, but you would come back to this accursed spot where there are ghosts lurking behind every tree!’ He reached for the amulet dangling around his neck, but Mortola did not deign to look at him.

“‘Oh, be quiet!’ she said, so sharply that Basta flinched.” — pg.192

“‘You’re going to leave them here?’ That was Basta’s voice.” — pg.193 (at first I was like oh so he has a heart….but then he was mean to resa straight after this 🙄)

“‘Sorry, but he must have overlooked me, shut up in that cage as I was,’ purred Basta in his catlike voice.” — pg.377

“‘Wasn’t it Mortola who had you put in the cage to be fed to the Shadow?’ Basta just shrugged his shoulders and flung back his silver-grey cloak. Of course, he had his knife. A brand new one, it seemed, finer than any he’d ever had in the other world, and undoubtedly just as sharp.

“‘Yes, not very nice of her,’ he said as his fingers caressed the handle of the knife. ‘But she’s really sorry.’” — pg.377 (okay so it SOUNDS like he threatened/made some kind of bargain with his knife, but I strongly doubt that considering how afraid he seems of her?? i know he’s technically working for the adderhead but even by the end of the book, it seems he is far closer to mortola than adderhead. what is their relationship? or does he sincerely think she’s sorry/has deluded himself into believing such? UGH SO MANY QUESTIONS)

“Basta had always liked describing his own and other people’s abominable deeds in detail.” — pg.378

“‘But we’re not going to shoot you.’ Basta came a little closer to Fenoglio, his face as intent as that of a stalking cat.” — pg.378 …. living for all the cat references tbh

“‘He wants you to crawl on your belly to him, that’s what our noble lord and master likes. But never mind, he pays well!’” — pg.378 (yes basta all abt getting that bread LMAOOOO)

“He slowly drew the knife from his belt. Its blade was long and slightly curved.” — pg.379

“‘Hey Basta, I know you like the sound of your own voice.’” — pg.379 (AHAHAHAHA HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE CALLED OUT BASTA ON THIS NOW? IVE LOST TRACK)

“With a regretful sigh, Basta put the knife back in his belt. ‘Yes, very well, you’re right,’ he said in surly tones. ‘I need to take my time with this sort of thing. Questioning people is an art, a real art.’” — pg.380 (LMAOOOOOOO HE IS SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN)

“Basta. The same thin face, the same twisted smile. Only the clothes were different. Basta was no longer wearing his white shirt and black suit with the flower in his buttonhole. No, Basta now wore the Adderhead’s silvery grey, and he had a sword at his side. With a knife in his belt too, of course. But he was holding a dead chicken in his left hand.” — pg. 455

“‘Yes, they are!’ purred Basta. ‘The little witch, and the fire-eater into the bargain. It was well worth the wait. Even though I’ll probably never get that damned flour out of my lungs again.’” — pg.455 (ok….so who’s gonna draw basta sitting amongst the flour AAHHAHA)

“‘Servant? Who’s a servant here? Just listen to him. As bold as if he’d never felt my knife! Have you forgotten how you screamed when it cut your face?’” — pg.457 … don’t call basta a servant…..noted

“‘Oh, don’t look so disbelieving, little witch, I still can’t read and I don’t intend to learn, but there are enough fools around the place who can, even in this world.’” —pg. 457 (i wonder how much capricorn influenced basta’s views on reading. because capricorn said that he learnt how to read from a maid, right? so basta certainly wouldn’t have trash-talked reading in front of him. and even after living in OUR world for nine years, I’m still surprised that he never attempted to learn, given how dependent we are on it. anyway my headcanon is that he secretly wants to, but doesn’t want to give others the satisfaction of knowing they have something he doesn’t. also nobody he knows would be willing to teach him (unless he threatened them) bc of his obviously violent and short-tempered nature…and learning requires so much patience. still, though, would love a fic of basta being taught how to read in secret and having some kind of positive interaction)

“‘You’re even more talkative than you used to be, Basta.’ Dustfinger’s voice sounded as if he found this tedious.” — pg.458 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH IM DYING. honestly the animosity between them was just. A+++

“Basta was in an even worse state. He was sitting close to Mortola, his face so red and swollen that Meggie almost failed to recognise him. But he had escaped death once again. Perhaps the good-luck charms he always wore worked after all.” — pg.526

“The sunlight falling into the room made Basta’s face look like a boiled lobster.” — pg.575 

“Basta put his hand to the amulet hanging around his neck. It was not a rabbit’s paw, as he had worn in Capricorn’s service, but something that looked suspiciously like a human finger-bone.” — pg.581 (THIS STILL IRKS ME SO MUCH)

“The Piper straightened his back, as ready to attack as the viper on his master’s coat of arms…He was a good head taller than Basta.” — pg.582 WHY DO I KEEP FORGETTING HES NOT TALL LMFAO

“The two men were standing so close that the blade of Basta’s knife wouldn’t have fitted between them.” — pg.582 HAHAHAJAHAAJAHAHHAAHAHAHAH PKESJENE I LOVE THIS SO MUCH … IMAGINE BASTA SQUARING UP W HIS NOSE JUST SMACK BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF PIPER’S CHEST OR SOMETHING

“The Piper struck Basta in the face so hard that his head hit the door frame. Blood ran down his burned cheek in a trail of red. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. ‘Take care to avoid dark corridors, Piper!’ he whispered. ‘You don’t have a nose any more, but one can always find something else to cut off.’” — pg.582-583 THIS SCENE WAS SIMPLY……CHEF’S KISS

are you serious is he dead??? WHAT. okay I knew dustfinger’s love for farid would be the end of him and basta being the instrument to rip that away from him was totally heartrending. i WISH it had been more climactic? like dustfinger unleashing his fury and fighting basta, blind with anger and grief. THE DIALOGUE POTENTIAL BETWEEN THEM AS THEY FINALLY TALK ONE-ON-ONE, and then some revisiting of the scene where dustfinger has the opportunity to kill basta but AGAIN withholds because killing is not in his nature….THEN MO IN SHINING ARMOUR SWOOPS IN TO DO THE JOB

now, off to inkdeath!

[frozenartscapes]

Why Elsa Was in the Princess Room - A Ralph Breaks the Internet Story

I got this idea a while back but after finally seeing the movie I decided to write it down. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the movie yet: there’s nothing in here that is a spoiler. Unless you haven’t seen any of the princess promo stuff, either. In which case I apologize for the title. But I’ll still include everything below a cut just to be safe.

Elsa walked into the Disney Queens room, only to discover it split right in half. One side was warm and cozy. There’s a pot of tea and teacups sitting on a nearby table, flowers in fancy vases, rows of bookshelves, and doylies everywhere. The other half was dark and terrifying. Everything was a shade of dark purple or lime green. Instead of flowers, there were thorns and black roses. Pretty much every object over there looks like it’s been cursed. There was even a skeleton strapped to the wall.

“Uh...”

“Oh, hello! You must be the new Queen!” a delightfully warm and welcoming voice said eagerly.

Elsa jumped in surprise, only to turn to come face to face with a full-grown lioness. “Y...you’re a lion,” she could only sputter in shock.

The lion smiled. “Name’s Nala,” she said in reply, completely unfazed by Elsa’s panic.

“Don’t worry about Nala, dear. She’s very friendly.”

That voice shocked her even more. She leaned to the side, looking around Nala to spot someone she thought she’d never see again. “M...Mama?”

“It is so good to see you again, Snowflake!” Idunn said with a smile, gesturing to the fancy room and all the dignified and regal woman sitting at the dressing tables, “And welcome to your new dressing room!”

“I...I’m so happy to see you too!” Elsa replied, but then her gaze shifted back to the dark side of the room, “But, uh... If...you don’t mind me asking, what’s up with-”

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” a far less welcoming voice declared. Without any warning, Elsa felt someone grab her hand and yank her over to the unsavoury side of the room. “She’s with us!”

Elsa then noticed a group of women who circling around her who were still very regal, but considerably more...interesting character-wise. The one still holding her arm was dressed in a puffy red and black dress, with hearts a key theme in the design. It would seem the rest of them all had a thing for black and purple.

“And what makes you say that?” one of the nice queens with a thick Scottish accent demanded, “She’s clearly not an Evil Queen!”

“What Elenor said!” Idunn chimed in, “My Elsa would never be an Evil Queen.”

“What is going on?” Elsa asked timidly.

“Oh isn’t that cute, you actually believe that,” another one of these “Evil Queens” said with a smirk, this one wearing a dress with a large, opulent collar and a fair amount of purple glitter, “She fits all the criteria for being one of us.”

“Wait, I do?” Elsa demanded in alarm.

“She does not!” Idunn argued back.

“Well, let’s ask her then,” the Queen of Hearts said smugly, “Elsa: have you ever put a kingdom in danger?”

“W...well, yes, but-” Elsa stammered.

“Do you have magic that doesn’t just make rainbows and flowers?” asked a Queen wearing a long black and purple robe with white fur lining the sleeves.

“No, but flowers did regrow after-”

“Has a prince ever tried to kill you?” the Queen in the fancy dress asked.

“Y...yes, but-”

“Oh come on, Narissa! Everyone knows the prince was really the bad guy in her movie!” Elsa recognized that voice as Queen Arianna, from Corona.

“Did your kingdom reject you, turn their backs on you, and/or were afraid of your mere existence?” an insanely old woman challenged back. Seriously, this lady must have been a thousand years old.

“At first they did, but they don’t now,” Elsa replied defensively, but then to the side she added shyly, “At least I hope not...”

“Oh come on, none of this is fair!” Nala growled angrily, “There are plenty of things you’re not asking her that would qualify her for our side!”

The Queen of Hearts chuckled. “Such as?”

“Were you willing to sacrifice yourself to save someone you love?” Elinor asked.

“Of...of course!” Elsa replied without hesitation.

“Do you love your family more than anything?” Idunn questioned with a warm smile.

Elsa returned the gesture, and said, “Absolutely.”

“Are you willing to protect your kingdom at all costs?” a tall woman with long white hair and peculiar markings on her skin wondered.

Elsa nodded eagerly in response.

“Oh, those things could also be applied to any heroine!” Narissa groaned, “But she does wear long, needlessly ornate dresses that don’t fit the time period.”

Elsa looked down at her ice dress in dismay.

“But she is a friendly, gentle ruler of a peaceful and prosperous kingdom!” Arianna argued.

“She has a foreboding castle on a mountaintop, complete with an indestructible snowman army!” the Evil Queen in the robe mentioned.

“She has two snowmen, both of which aren’t evil,” Idunn reminded her.

“Well, she’s also never intentionally did anything wrong to try and hurt her kingdom,” Elinor stated.

“And creating an eternal winter somehow didn’t hurt her kingdom?” the ancient woman with a penchant for purple asked.

“It was all an accident,” Idunn insisted.

“That doesn’t matter! She still cursed her kingdom and then ran away to a place no one would find her!”

“She only did that because she thought she was dangerous,” Nala said, “Running away was a perfectly acceptable response!”

Narissa scoffed. “Tell that to your boyfriend,” she said condescendingly.

“That was a different circumstance and you know it!” Nala roared, baring her teeth in anger.

Narissa countered by turning into a giant dragon on the spot. “Don’t like hearing the truth? Bring it on, Pussy Cat.”

“Why are you always like this?” Elinor demanded, “It’s not like you need her!”

“There hasn’t been an Evil Queen since 2007,” the Queen of Hearts yelled, turning beet red in the process, “But you lot get a new addition every time a new princess movie needs to show the parents the lead character will inevitably defy to complete her ‘hero’s journey’.”

“Or to exist for only a few minutes before getting killed off,” the Evil Queen added, looking to Idunn as she spoke.

“Alright, that’s it!” Arianna shouted angrily, “No one talks about my friend and ally like that!”

What followed was a dash to secure any kind of weapon one could find: books, thorns, spears, broken glass and ceramic. Even the scalding tea in the pot. As the chaos of finding weapons and then using them ensued, complete with screaming and roaring and fire and many many projectiles being thrown around, Elsa scrambled to find her way back to the door. She was unable to take her eyes off the brawl that had clearly been building up for some time, so she fumbled around to find the door handle. Once she found it, she ducked out of the room as fast as she could.

She slammed the door shut behind her. She then let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, leaning against the door wearily. She really didn’t want to go back in there.

But then she looked up and noticed a bright pink door across the hall, with a gold sign with just a single word inscribed on it: “Princesses”.

She could still hear the fight in the room behind her through the door. So with a tired sigh of resignation, she left the Queens behind and headed to a place that sounded far more welcoming.

(Upon entering she was met with about a dozen different kinds of weapons all pointed at her face, but thankfully Anna was there to vouch for her.)

How many queens were referenced here, and can you spot them all? (There actually aren’t many. I would have included more but a lot would have been technicalities and I didn’t want to make this very long.) Hope you guys enjoyed it!

[siarven]

Time Travel Tag

Thank you @prismalicht for tagging me in this … in April. xD But hey, at least I’m doing it now?! …

I’m doing this for Dreams and Shadows, of course! 

1. Which character made the time machine? How?

Definitely Liz! She’s the inventor/scientist/mechanic, after all, always experimenting around with things in her attic and at work. I think this might actually be something she’s been working on (in secret, at home) ever since the Asim (magic-users) took her oldest daughter, Elinor, and her family life went to hell (which is when Ava wasn’t even born and Ben was 1. And the reason why Jon has depression, and the reason why Ben is the way he is, etc. The first catalyst). So now she finally has a way of making things right!

2. Which character doesn’t even want to touch the machine? Why?

Azrae, probably :P They’re very careful about things like this and aware of the danger these kinds of things may pose. They’re only there because Iuri wanted them to come, and they’re wondering if they should already regret their actions or wait for another few moments.

3. Which character wants to go all the way back and see the prehistoric creatures of your world?

Well. Azrae, Iuri, Mikaën and Luzire already know everything about the prehistoric creatures of Aelaris, and they probably wouldn’t really miss them. Alasayr might be wanting to go back and find out if there’s something he could use to further his power (Luzire knows that this is stupid but lets him do whatever he wants). I feel like Ava and Ben would definitely want to go because they’re very curious and they could tell their friends so many cool things when they get back!

4. Which character wants to go back in time to see an important event from their life again? What event was it?

Maybe Fiyare? Make sure that her little brother isn’t quite as lost without her as he ends up being… Also definitely Kiyera, with several events. Maybe most of all the day she left home with her sister and never returned… Maybe slap some sense into her younger self? :P

5. Which character wants to go to the past to fix a mistake of theirs? What mistake was it?

Liz definitely built the machine to go back and fix the future, make sure that Elinor never gets taken by the Asim… and Jon wholeheartedly supports this. Also they and Ava would love to go back and make sure that Ben gets home safe. Fiyare would never go on the frozen lake in retrospect, though that led to so many events and things that she did and help in that she’s not sure if maybe this was the best thing for everyone. Except for herself and her younger brother, of course. Also, definitely Kiyera. With basically every important even in her life. Not going to mention them because of spoilers^^

6.  Which character wants to go to the past to stop some cataclysmic event? How?

Well, I think every character from this story, protagonists and antagonists, can unite in the fact that they all hate the Empire, what it stands for, and what it does to its magic-users. So… I’d say they’d be quite happy to go back and get rid of those annoying chieftains who formed the first bigger tribe that would one day become the Empire, right? Or maybe just the person who founded the Asim, and found a way to control magic the way they do. Also all those from the question above, haha.

7. Which character wants to go to the future to see what happens to them?

Ben. Definitely Ben. He’d want to know if he can make it back home safe, and what happens to his family in the process. If he wakes up again, and if he’s still himself if he does.

8. Which character wants to steal something from the future to sell and get rich?

Hm, good question! Alasayr would totally do that except that he’s a demon and doesn’t really care about money so…

9. Which character accidentally gets permanently trapped in time because they weren’t paying attention to how to run the machine?

Probably Jon, because he worries too much and then doesn’t pay attention to the important bits xD

10.  Which character is tasked with cleaning up all the paradoxes the other characters created?

Definitely Azrae, who is sighing about this already, and knew that this was going to be their problem from the moment they heard about the machine.

Thank you for tagging me, these were fun :D

No idea who did this already?? If you already did, please send me a link? :D @lynnafred @merigreenleaf @romenna @peculiarsphere  @malakaldeen @eternalspandex-writing @writin-maaagic @authordai @warmbones only if you want to of course! 

[class-wom]

downtonabbeyandausten asked: Tell us how you think "Matthew's Mary", aka the best version of Mary, differed from the Mary we got during the post-Matthew seasons. You already know that I agree with pretty much everything you'll say on this point :)

First of all, as I think a bit more about this, I should probably warn you that there may be an edit or two.  Or three, four, or five for good measure. 😈  Bwahaha…anyway, here goes…

I think the biggest difference is that, at least from what I’ve been hearing, the Lady Mary of later seasons seemed to shift dramatically from one extreme of goodness to another extreme of badness with little if any balance.  The Lady Mary of earlier seasons seemed to be a lot more evenly distributed and was using her cool demeanor as a front to hide a much more complicated personality capable of deeper feelings.  As I mentioned before, my personal favorite example of this is the moment from the second season where she observes “Aren’t we all stuck with the choices we make?” and proceeds to soberly stir her tea as everyone else looks on thoughtfully.  For some reason, it reminds me of one of my favorite “No dialogue necessary”-moments from the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility where, following the departure of Wilhoughby, Elinor quietly sips her tea alone on the steps listening to the intense and passionate wailing of her mother and sisters from their respective rooms.  (I guess it’s in the sense of everyone else surrounding her clearly going through a great deal of emotional torture and turmoil while the lady in question has clearly reached a level of acceptance of her own situation if that makes any sense.  The fact that both cases involve a cup of tea is simply a British coincidence, I’m sure!  😁 LOL…)

And that, I think, is another major difference.  I think it was you who may have mentioned that she’s the type of person who will very quietly work behind the scenes (definitely a trait she picked up from her grandmother) and support others, such as informing William of his mother’s illness in the first season or arranging for Anna’s “honeymoon” with Bates by “reserving” an upstairs room in the second season.   Another character this trait reminds me of is Rick from Casablanca: Rather than taking center stage with “causes” a la Victor and leading the entire Cafe Americain in a rousing rendition of “Marseilles” to drown out the Nazis, he would very quietly turn a blind eye to rumors of resistance meetings or even sneakily arrange for a young Bolivian couple to win much-needed escape money at the roulette wheel.  Perhaps not as dramatic as Victor’s definitive stance of defiance, but not an entirely convincing display of neutrality either.

And I think that’s another quality of “the True Mary:”  She’s quietly supportive and/or helpful rather than swinging from one side of nastiness to the other side of subservient angel, as we saw her devolve into from the fourth to the sixth seasons.  And I think the scenes from the second season where she coped with Matthew’s wartime woes and grappled with the existence of his engagement were the most telling of that blend of character; far from being a wooden caricature of later seasons, we would see her persona shift from cool and calm to deeply disturbed and troubled, such as the scene where she witnesses Matthew’s arrival at the hospital following his injury or the moment she walks away from him after (at his urging) she has given him a carefully-worded prognostication of his condition.  (One of my favorite scenes, in case you can’t tell; as far as I’m concerned, Dan and Michelle absolutely hit that one out of the park in terms of showing the turmoil lurking under the surface.)

Do I think “the True Mary” has to be deadly serious?  Absolutely not.  As a matter of fact, I think many of MD’s scenes with DS gave her some wiggle-room to add an element of humor; the post-dance scene where Mary and Matthew quickly realize that an ill Lavinia has “caught them in the act” and they flash those “hands-in-the-cookie-jar” smiles at her is a terrific example.  I also thought the scene from the third season where she and Matthew quietly let a fleeing Branson into the house and make up the silly BS-story at the dinner table about who was at the door (some guy giving out pamphlets or something like that) gave a hint that, if MD had given lighter and more humorous material with which to work on a regular basis, she could have had a lot of fun and been spectacular.  (Perhaps DS could have reconsidered his decision to leave had he also been given more post-S2 opportunities to shine and/or flex his own acting/humor muscles, but that’s another topic! 😈)  I have never actually watched her in Good Behavior, but I’ve seen a commercial or two that seems to suggest that she’s really showing that she can handle some pretty crazy comic situations and opportunities and could have really done Sir Fellowes proud had he generously allowed her the flexibility to do so.  Now maybe those who actually watched S4-S6 could tell me if she ever was able to add those elements of humor in later seasons, but from what I’ve seen, basically she just seemed to be a naughty little girl who finally got scolded until she “agreed to be a good little wife" with little if any of the dimension of earlier seasons.  (That’s how it looked from my vantage point, anyway!)

As I said, I may edit this at a later time.  But this seems to be a good start! 😁

Okay, a few edits and a day later, lol, I’ve had more extensive thoughts on what I mentioned yesterday about S6 Mary’s “emotional extremes” versus her more balanced persona of S2 in particular.  And I will be honest:  This is going to be a rant, and it’s mostly going to be an anti-S6 Mary (or more to the point, the cynical subtext of her fate and the treatment thereof, at least as I saw it) expounding on what I mean when I refer to extremes of “Good Mary vs. Bad Mary” and the so-called “implications” as they appear to have been intended.

So if you’re a reader who's had his or her fill of anti-S6 rants and anti-S6 character rants, I understand, and this is a fair warning:  You may turn back if you like, and I respect your decision to do so. 😉

Yes, I could have simply edited these thoughts into my original post.  However, I wanted to verify that they would be seen; I had hoped to simply reply to my original post, but that doesn’t appear to be happening, I suppose since I was responding to a message or whatever. 🤷

Okay, so we start out with seemingly relatively independent, all-business Mary at the beginning of Season 6 announcing “I’d rather be alone than with the wrong man.”  Fair enough, right?  Sounds reasonable to me: A once-happy wife now blossoming into a strong, surprisingly capable widow working towards the legacy of Downton to preserve it in the name of her late husband for her son, which as I see it would have been true to “the True Mary" and a fitting homage to the memory of Matthew, to say nothing of a promising future for George.  (Okay, yeah, Depression, World War II, yadda yadda yadda, lol...)  From therein (again, at least as I understand it from the spoilers I can stomach), we devolve into scrutiny over Mary’s “high standards” in men (again, I personally see nothing wrong with this; I mean, hey, we are talking about the whole “Till death us do part”-thing, so she better be sure, and if she’s not, she’ll be better off in the end!) which earns her endless ridicule from friends and family, then insults, then a barage and constant repetition of the word “love” which is simply supposed to “convince” us to accept this manipulation of rewriting of Mary’s character as suddenly “deciding” she’s in love (yes, I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but please bear in mind that this so-called “cowardly bullying bitch” was only “convinced” after literally everybody and her sister had to coerce her into “confessing” she’s in love...but she’s the only bully that counts here, I suppose because she’s an old-fashioned bully rather than a progressive bully 🙄).

Now during the aforementioned, we have what I call the “Bad Mary”-extreme (throw the “Edith’s deep dark secret” in here for good measure, since this ultimately plays no small part in it; I believe I’ve made those thoughts quite clear otherwise, lol), which is to manipulate the viewer into shrieking, “For crying out loud, can’t something be done to get her back in line?!?”  Now as I remember interviews and press at the time, the way we were supposed to watch this was that “Mary was supposed to learn to 'love herself’ (wait...did she hate herself with Matthew?!? whaaaat?!?) and ‘make peace’ with her situation”...by “professing her love” and entering lickety-split into matrimonial sex (yes, I’m calling it as I see it) with a car guy (by all accounts, Violet and Evelyn came perhaps the closest to addressing this issue head-on)...but hey, it’s okay, because she’s in love.

Yes, that’s it -- she’s in love, everyone (it’s repeated as many times as possible rather than richly shown, as it would have been in previous seasons)...and now she’s getting that “wonderful” (not to mention productive) sex...and because she is now a well-sexed wife, she is now the extreme of the “Good Mary” character.

And here we come to the cynical note of this type of writing, and why I refer to it as “extreme characterization” compared to “the True Mary,” most notably of S2.  I had mentioned the more subtle subtext, I had mentioned that scene that reminded me so much of that 1995 Elinor moment from Sense and Sensibility and why.  Frankly, Mary’s ultimate "romance” to me felt like Elinor marrying Edward*, only to lose him in a crazy barnyard accident, then years later being approached by some hot, wild-and-woolly brother/cousin of Wilhoughby (since he married someone rich, he’s out, lol), and when she ultimately resists, is scolded by her mother to “make peace” because she “believes in love,” so they head off to Gretna Greene and drive off in his speedy new barouche!

And this begs the million-pound question:  What would Jane Austen say?  Or any other true romantic, for that matter?

*Yes, I know who plays Edward in the 2008 version; I can assure you that’s unintentional.  LOL...

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #165 - Inkheart

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Generally.

Do I remember it: Generally.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: No.

Format: Blu-ray

1) I never read the books. Blasphemy, I know, but I tried the first one when I was younger and couldn’t get too far into it. I love the concepts in this film though so I might have to revisit it.

2) Brendan Fraser as Mo.

Brendan Fraser was author Cornelia Funke’s inspiration for the character of Mo in the novels, dedicating the second novel in the trilogy to him and sending him a signed copy. The filmmakers wanted a bigger star to play the part but Funke fought for him and I honestly think Fraser is a standout aspect of this film.

There is a subtle sorrow to Fraser’s performance which permeates everything he does. It’s so fundamentally different from his more famous roles like Rick O’Connell from The Mummy or any of his screwball comedy roles like George of the Jungle. There is this constant heartbreak to the character, a care and empathy in everything he does that makes you fall in love with him. The film I think is largely ineffective in a lot of ways (not necessarily bad, but ineffective), however I think one thing it does very well is Brendan Fraser as Mo.

3) Eliza Bennett as Meggie.

I like her. I haven’t seen Bennett in much else (apparently she was in “Broadchurch” which I did not realize) but I think she brings a nice sincerity to Meggie. Her relationship/chemistry with Fraser’s Mo is honest and a strong aspect of the film. But the fact that’s really all I have to say about the character/actress in this movie gets to the film’s larger problem as a whole: it feels half done.

4) Paul Bettany as Dustfinger.

Bettany is one of the strongest character actors there is and gives a delightful performance as Dustfinger. While I believe Fraser is great in this film and (as stated above) a standout element, I think Bettany is the best part. He is compelling as Dustfinger, interesting. There’s a lot of humor and fun we can see in the part that I don’t always get to see from Bettany and I think it’s great. It’s great to see him play a character who is fundamentally a bit more selfish and cowardly, it’s great to see his empathy, it’s great to see him struggle with his flaws in an attempt to overcome them, it’s fun seeing him just REACT to certain thing. I love Bettany in this film and if I remember one thing better than anything else it’s him.

5) I mentioned before that this film feels half-done, and I think that largely relates to issues of pacing. The novel is about 534 pages, longer than the first Harry Potter novel. Yet the film is just short of two hours and I think the pacing suffers from that as well. It very much can feel at times “go from A to B to C to D” etc instead of an organic way to move through the world with these characters. Since we take very little time to understand a lot of these characters, their motivations, or this world (specifically with Capricorn, although I do love Andy Serkis) nothing leaves much of an impact. This movie is not a bad one, I don’t think. I think it’s a middling one and I think it’s greatest misfortune is that it isn’t very effective. I mean I saw this in theaters when it first came out and I remember very little of what actually happens until it is happening.

6) Helen Mirren as Elinor.

I think one of the key reasons this film isn’t a disaster, persay, is because of the acting talent. There’s not a weak performer in the bunch and that includes Mirren. She is able to make Meggie’s Great Aunt Elinor immediately strongly. You understand who she is and what’s valuable to her within five minutes of meeting her. She comes off as kind of a prick but not an irredeemable one. And - like Dustfinger - she develops sort of nicely throughout the film. I just wish we had a bit more time to explore how she goes from, “I’m a shut in bookworm,” to, “I’m going to save my family of my own volition,” other than just sort of seeing her start and end in those places (if that makes sense).

7) I know WHY Mo is telling Meggie not to do this, but the very concept of the line makes me uncomfortable.

Mo: “You make up stories? Meggie, you know I don’t want you doing that.”

8) The nicest peek into Meggie’s character is when she’s around books. Well, a book initially. How she is able to identify Elinor’s “Persian manuscript”. There is this overwhelmingly strong sense in the beginning of the film of love for books and storytelling in general. Elinor’s quote above (in the GIF I used) gets to that. Meggie’s feeling of safety in the library too. Unfortunately I feel we lose that a little as the film goes on. We lose the fantasy and wonder books can have as we progress. Which is unfortunate, because it’s a great part of the film.

9) I have to say, although I think the pacing of the film is off, the atmosphere is something I am very found of. It is romantic, fantastic, mysterious, and grounded in a sense of reality. This is a world I can feel which is alive and exists and shows great care on the filmmakers (specifically the cinematographer and production design team) to craft the world of Inkheart.

10) So Capricorn’s mean burn books. In big stock piles like it’s freaking WW2. This pisses me off in 2017 way more than it should.

11) I’m Meggie in this situation.

Mo [to Meggie, after being captured by Capricorn]: “Children always escape in books.”

Meggie: “No they don’t. Remember the little match girl?”

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

12) Andy Serkis as Capricorn.

Andy Serkis is one of the finest actors working today who very rarely gets the recognition he deserves due to his focus in motion capture work. But here in a live action role Serkis is just as dedicated to the part as he would be to Caesar or Gollum. It’s unfortunate that the script can’t develop Capricorn past the stereotypical Lex-Luthor-type who wants to take over the world just because. But Serkis still makes him a fun character to watch, delightfully evil despite (or perhaps because) of this fact. He’s also got some surprising humor to him.

Capricorn: “What’s that sticky stuff called?”

Basta: “Duct tape?”

Capricorn: “Yes. Duct tape. I LOVE duct tape!”

13) Remember how I said this film is largely ineffective? Well, the fact that Meggie’s lost mom/Mo’s lost wife is a mute maid imprisoned by Capricorn should be very memorable to me. And I totally forgot about that until watching this film.

They’re able to give Resa a strong personality/flavor to her from the start, despite the fact she spends most of the film unable to use her primary means of communication. But through her choices and physicality she comes across clearly. Also is it me, or does she look like something out of The Handmaid’s Tale?

14) Okay, question: is Farid from the book?

Because even though I think the actor does a really nice job, in the film the character feels a little extra. He adds a nice bit of levity and forms a surprisingly fun relationship with Dustfinger, but beyond that? Does the movie really need him?

15) Jennifer Connelly cameo!

Connelly is the wife of Paul Bettany (the actor who plays Dustfinger) and gets to appear as his wife in brief flashbacks in the film. Fantasy fans will be aware that this isn’t the first time she’s played in a fairytale world...

16) One of the most interesting things about Dustfinger is his internal conflict. Specifically, the conflict he feels over being fictional. He doesn’t LIKE being selfish, he doesn’t like being a coward, and he doesn’t like that his ending is so plainly written out for him.

Dustfinger: “Do you know the end of your story, Meggie?”

He wants to define himself but he doesn’t know if he has it in him as someone else wrote who he is.

17) Jim Broadbent as the in-world author of Inkheart, Fenoglio.

I love how damn giddy he is to meet Dustfinger, if a little naive about it.

Fenoglio: “This must be what it feels like to give birth.”

(GIF originally posted by @superheroinejewel)

But he also shows a common idea among author’s: death is a plot device. He says he killed of Dustfinger because, “they can’t all have happy endings,” and that the story needed tension.

How many times has your favorite character died as a way to, “add tension?” How many times has it felt cheap and not a fitting end to that character’s story?

There are authors out there who put plot before character, and while I understand that I disagree with it. Because if you do that then character’s will do things which are out of character or that don’t make sense just because the plot needs them to. I personally prefer to create characters first and develop the plot around them and their choices.

18) The next few notes I made about this are just quotes that were strong for me but I already talked about why for each one (Dustfinger’s character, Fenoglio’s joy over meeting his characters, etc.). So I’m just going to move on.

19) Oh dear god. I just realized how applicable this is to Brendan Fraser’s character in the film.

(GIF originally posted by @pladpuss)

20) So when Capricorn has Meggie reading from him we see things she read out of the book like Cinderella’s slipper and the Sword in the Stone. One thing that caught me by surprise was Ebenezer’s Scrooge headstone, largely because it looks almost EXACTLY like the one my school used when we did A Christmas Carol a few years back. But that’s mostly a personal thing.

21) As someone who hopes to be a published writer someday, this line is very striking for me.

It’s very true, of most authors actually. People read as a way to escape well writers write as a way to escape. That’s why so many of us are not the most social of beings. I almost wish the film didn’t end with Fenoglio being read into his own book though. It would’ve been much more powerful for me to see him work to try and live in the real world. I think that would’ve been better but also it makes sense for his character to want to do that.

22) For me the whole film has lost so much steam by the final climax. I’m sort of bored by it and I think it ties into the fact that I don’t really care. I don’t care about Capricorn’s plans or The Shadow. I care that Mo gets his wife back and that Dustfinger gets to go home, that’s it. But this giant generically designed ash monster? Not really.

23) I know want to see a Lord of the Rings film where Helen Mirren gets to play Gandalf. Why?

24) That’s about it. Good guys win. Meggie gets her mom back. Dustfinger gets to go home. And “My Declaration” sung by Eliza Bennett (a sweet song that I have powerful nostalgia for) plays over the end credits.

Inkheart is fine, it’s okay. It has a number of strong performances to it (with Fraser, Bettany, and Serkis as the standouts) but it is sort of messily written. I mean it’s not BAD it’s just not very memorable. The world is nice, the pacing is off. If you want to watch it, go for it. Otherwise I don’t really think you’re missing anything, personally.

[holbyconfessional]

Holby City S19 E13 - I Do, I Do, I Do.

What follows may be a disjointed review. And long. Sorry!  I really ought to have a rewatch before I post, but I’m not ready.  So, there may be future reblogs if I miss anything important.

Firstly, Mr T’s wedding.  I was ridiculously pleased to see Hanssen back, I always miss him when he’s gone.  And it’s remarkable how well he managed to pull the Swedish trad attire look - never more noticeable than when he and Hanssen were making their way back to find Mo after Hanssen applied his uncanny ability to see right through everyone’s personal feelings - let’s call him the Feelings Fairy, or the Fairy Feeling-Father of Holby...  But I digress.

Hanssen was great in this episode.  As just mentioned, his counselling of Mr T that it’s Mo that he loves - coupled nicely with his wedding speech with the nod to Mo about everything that is meant to be happens eventually.  Hiding in the tower, looking for woodpeckers to avoid being chased by Mama T, and just generally his reaction to the totally inappropriate sexual harrassment from the aforementioned Mama T.

Mo was great in this ep too.  She looked amazing and had some great one liners, something about Swedish feet and lack of nerve endings, or some such!  She knew what she was doing, telling Mama T about the lack of baby.  She knew Mama T would blow the whistle.  And hell, fair play, why not?  If she couldn’t do it herself, best to hand the reins over!  Also loved the birthing scene, with Mr T, Mo and baby Charleston.  (Wonder how long they get to be happy before Charlie’s life is threatened?)

Without a doubt, the undeniable star of the wedding show was the inimitable Jac Naylor, Queen of sarcasm.  She was just an absolute delight, from her first appearance in her suit, to her reluctant wedding dance and appeal to Mo to rescue her, down to her complaints about being Mo’s unplanned birthing partner for a second time.  But then just getting into the water with all her damned clothes on to help Mo out regardless.  And then, missing the drama and getting drunk...  I can say without question that Jac was the saving grace for me tonight.

HOWEVER.  I barely concentrated on a moment of the damned wedding.  Even the Jac bits just flitted before my eyes.  Because the whole episode was waiting for the next Elinor/Jason bit.  There had been no secret in the spoilers that there would be a) an accident involving Elinor and Jason, and b) Serena and Mo would be having life changing experiences.  Now, I may not be a rocket scientist, but...

So, on to the only bit I managed to really take in.

Wow, the accident happened early in the episode.  When Elinor came in wired, talking about her report that she’d written, it appeared early on that her drug use was going to play a bit part in the episode.  Actually, that theme was continued on later, when she was asking Jasmine where she could put her bag so that it was ‘out of the way’, ie hiding the evidence.  However, from that point, the drugs were not really mentioned.  I am surprised, however I suspect the issue may resurface (theories later).

The basis of the argument, or Serena supposedly keeping things from Elinor, turned out to be something as minor as Serena having stepped down as CEO and not discussed it with Elinor.  It seems silly, but I guess if Elinor is feeling a little at sea having to adjust to a new relationship in her mothers life (gender irrelevant), then I guess she’s more likely to be a bit sensitive about everything, even the littlest things.  And the drugs don’t help, kids!

Cue the racing to follow her out, and the accident - which Serena puts down to Elinor being so tired from being up all night.

Bernie was absolutely awesome, taking control.  I guess her army training coming to the fore, as she has undoubtedly got feelings for Jason herself.  She was amazing in theatre, although I felt the ‘it can’t be done’ from Morven, followed by the highly risky, almost impossible liver lac repair being successfully achieved by one Bernie Wolfe, Trauma Surgeon extraordinare was a mite heavy handed.  Especially considering later events.

Bernie’s moment after the surgery, when all her emotions came out, was just beautiful.  At the time, I was disappointed that we didnt get to see her break the good news to Serena, but again, later events explained why that wasn’t done.

Serena’s chat with (most probably shiftily playing around with drug paraphenalia) Elinor in the locker room was lovely.  I loved the attempts at openness on both sides, of course designed to make Elinor a more sympathetic character before sending her to her fate, and Serena’s game was really sweet.   Also Serena’s later reveal to Jason that she was thinking about inviting Ellie back to live with them again, ramping up the angst.

I will mention Liberty briefly, but I don’t think she deserves it.  I can’t really see the point of her character anyway, so she showed up whilst Serena had to perform life saving surgery - she served no purpose to me at all, she didn’t make Serena look bad, she just showed up then buggered off, leaving nary a ripple on my screen.

Now to Elinor’s collapse.  Naughty, naughty Jasmine.  She is a doctor, yes?  Since when is it OK for doctors to let themselves be talked out of giving a patient neuro obs?  I know people can refuse treatment, but Ellie technically didn’t do that, and hells, woman, she’s Serena’s daughter.  Mindless stupid girl.  Not endeared her to me at all.

Bernie and Serena whilst watching Ellie’s surgery were lovely.  The hand clutching for support, perfect.  And finally, Serena at Elinor’s bedside running through the neuro tests that Ellie had failed - all the basic tests to determine brain stem function.  Which seemingly is not present in Ellie.  An absolutely heartbreaking scene.  Bernie has clearly demonstrated her commitment to be there for Serena, which is great.   BUT, I do feel that this disaster has been of rather epic proportions, quite unnecessarily so.  I believe exactly the same committment could have been shown without tearing Serena’s life apart quite so dramatically.

I rather discordant note from that scene - for me - was Bernie asking Serena if Elinor was a donor.  I don’t think  Bernie should have done that at all.  She was there as Serena’s support, not a transplant co-ordinator.  And to have brought that up as a ‘spouse’, well, I think perhaps it’s a little soon in their relationship to be claiming joint parental responsibility for Elinor, especially with Elinor’s reaction to them.

This a pretty long post, seems a bit pointless to put a cut in now, but since I’m about to chuck in some speculation, here goes.

Elinor’s drug use.  As I mentioned, with the repeated nods to it within the story, it seems that Serena is still unaware..  I feel it’s likely that the discovery has something to do with the chewing out she gives Jasmine in the Autumn trailer - so that’s one way they’re going to use it.  But how will it come up now?  My main bet is that Serena will decide to donate Ellie’s organs, so something good can come out of her death.  But then some test or other will somehow highlight her drug use and render her organs unusable.  Yet another blow for Serena.  But with this theory, why do it?  Does it really add to the drama?  They’ve already established that the car accident could just have been a combination of tiredness and upset from the argument.  They didn’t need to have Elinor as a drug user - the pain tht the knowledge would have brought Serena would have been far greater in life than after Ellie’s death, surely?  It just seems extremely unnecessary - unless it really IS just a tool to allow Serena to yell at Jasmine, and surely, she’s got more than enough reason without that one.

My other theory, and I am aware that this is not going to happen (apparently some writer on Twitter categorically confirmed that Elinor was dead?) was that the drug use could have a far more interesting part to play.  In an (quite possibly outdated and superceded) medical paper from the 1980s detailing the criteria for determining brain death, as seen here, in the case of head injury combined with a history of drug use, accurate measures of brain stem activity can’t be determined until several days have passed, as drug use could cause a temporary lack of activity.  Therefore, I feel the most effective use of the storyline would be to have this happen - in other words, the drama without the death.  It would still have been unlikely in this scenario that Elinor would have recovered unscathed, so still plenty of scope for long term angst.  That, folks, is how I would’ve written it anyway :-)

Anyway, I rarely speculate quite so wildly in these reviews, so apologies.  There are a lot of feelings out there at the moment, some folks are hopeful, others disheartened, and others still are painfully affected by the story.  Regardless of which each viewer  is, it’s undeniable that it’s going to be hard to watch, because if you’re reading this, there’s a fair bet you care about the characters.  Bernie wasn’t wrong when she said that no parent should outlive their child.  As an avenue to explore Bernie’s commitment to Serena, it all seems a bit crass to me.  But we will no doubt get some amazing acting out of it.

Grief sometimes brings couples together.  But sometimes it drives them apart.  And since I’m all aboard the speculation train, I am just going to throw one last thought out there. I don’t know when JR’s contract is up, but Serena’s grief and pushing Bernie away, hell, it’s not inconceivable that a few months down the road it could be a departure storyline. Grief doesn’t pass overnight, the ramifications can be seen months down the line.  And there’s only so long Bernie can try to be there for Serena if Serena chooses to repeatedly push her away.  (Not specifically saying this is what I think will happen.  Just generally sayin’!)

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #139 - Brave

Spoilers below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes, #166.

Format: Blu-ray

1) Like a lot of post Toy Story 3 Pixar movies, Brave gets some crap from people for not being as brilliant as movies like Up. But I really like it!

2) The entire prologue works very well for the film. We get a clear sense of the relationship between Merida and her parents, specifically her mother. It is that relationship with her mother which allows for juxtaposition of their more flawed relationship in the rest of the film. We also get a nice introduction to Mordu and the wisps.

3) Kelly MacDonald as Merida.

There are so few voice over actors who so perfectly represents their characters as perfectly as Macdonald does Merida. I mean it’s mind blowing! The actress is able to capture the princess’s youthful vigor, stubbornness, struggles with her mother, love for her family, and sense of adventure all...perfectly! There is no Macdonald there is only Merida. Merida through and through. Reese Witherspoon was originally cast in the part but dropped out because of her accent problems I think (not 100% sure) and honestly - while I love Reese Witherspoon - I’m so glad she did. I can’t imagine ANYONE else playing Merida quite as spectacularly as Macdonald does.

4) Emma Thompson as Queen Elinor.

Thompson is a fine voice over actress (not fine as in mediocre but fine as in fine wine). She has had experience before in Treasure Planet and would do voice over work again in this year’s Beauty and the Beast, and she imbues Elinor with the same great sense of character as she does her other parts. You are able to understand that Elinor is trying to come from a place of love and caring for Merida, even if you don’t agree with her actions (which I don’t). It is easy to see where Merida gets her ferocity from as Thompson plays Elinor with the same sense of strength and even gets moments to show off some nice humor. I like Elinor mostly because of the journey she goes on through the film, and i think Thompson does a nice job in the part.

5) “Touch the Sky” by Julie Fowlis is a nice first song to feature in the film. It represents not only the film’s Scottish setting but also Merida’s sense of adventure quite well.

6) Billy Connolly as Fergus.

Connolly is a master comedian and honestly I’m laughing just looking at this GIF of Fergus I’m using. He’s so funny and his voice has such life to it that its a wonderful part to isolate for this movie. But Connolly also has range. Towards the end of the film when he thinks his wife is dead Connolly is able to show some great grief and focus through his portrayal as the Scot. You understand why this man is king in those moments, but you still laugh for most of the film.

7) Was Pixar ever subtle with their references, or was I just too stupid to get them as a kid?

^^^^Lord Macintosh (Steve Jobs helped get Pixar started)^^^^

8)

Elinor [after telling Merida about the forced arranged marriage]: “I don’t know why you’re reacting this way!”

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

9) We get a nice peek into how Fergus & Elinor work as a married couple in small moments throughout the film.

Fergus: “You’re muttering.”

Elinor: “I don’t mutter!”

Fergus: “Ay, you do!”

The way Fergus shows pride in his queen being fierce, the way she is able to quell his rivalry with the other clan heads, his love for her seen after she’s presumed dead, all paint a nice image of a marriage.

10) I may be biased because I first saw this film when I was 16 years old, but I always felt that Merida was listening to her mother’s reasons but they just don’t matter as much as her mother thinks they do. To the contrary, I feel like Elinor really does not listen to or consider what Merida is saying.

11) Obligatory John Ratzenberger cameo in a Pixar film!

Since this is my first recap of a Pixar film, I’ll explain for those who may not know: John Ratzenberger has had a role in literally ever Pixar feature length film ever made. Ham in Toy Story, PT Flea in A Bug’s Life, Mack in Cars, John in WALL-E, the list is all encompassing. They even called notice to this fact in Cars when all the characters are at the drive in movie during the credits.

It’s nice that Pixar has continued their tradition of including the voice actor in all their films, but I’m a bit disappointed his roles seem to becoming progressively smaller. Still, better some John Ratzenberger than no John Ratzenberger.

12) The trio of Macintosh, Macguffin and Dingwall provides a fun extra layer of comedy to the film. Their feuding and bickering are funny in the classic sense. In a lot of ways they are the animated Scottish equivalent to the Three Stooges.

Craig Ferguson as Macintosh, Kevin McKidd as Macguffin, and Robbie Coltrane as Dingwall all do an excellent job with making their characters unique and playing off of the other. They’re really just a lot of fun.

13) This film has some A-grade humor.

Lord Dingwall: “I present, my ONLY son!”

14) I would say the film’s biggest weakness would be is that it can lack focus at times. Especially earl on, some scenes feel like they go on just a little bit too long meaning the film might feel like it doesn’t get very far in it’s 90 minute run time. It’s not fatal and as I said above I still truly enjoy this film, but there’s also a behind the scenes for that I’ll get to later on.

15) With the trio of Merida, Fergus, and Elinor, the film really does do a nice job of fleshing out their relationships in small but important ways. Merida and Elinor’s relationship IS the focus on the film, and I’ve commented on Fergus and Elinor before, but Merida and Fergus are shown to have a nice camaraderie between them. A respect and admiration for each other, as well as a shared sense of humor. This was scene first at the dinner table before Merida was told of the arranged marriage and is seen again (at its best) when Merida and her dad are providing colorful commentary on the suitors as the compete for her hand.

16) Dude...

Merida: “I am Merida, first born descendant of clan Dunbroch. And I’ll be shooting for my OWN hand!”

Okay first:

Second: THIS FREAKING SCENE!!!!!

This entire scene has become wildly iconic, and one could say it was so upon release. It is by far the best scene in the entire film, supported by strong character writing, sleek simplicity, and incredible visuals. It is the turning point for the movie. The time when Merida is at her strongest and we as the audience or most enthralled with the plot of the movie. I truly love it.

17) Elinor roughing up Merida and throwing her bow in the fire after the archery contest always made me uncomfortable. It is hard to watch the queen get physically rough with her daughter, even if it isn’t really abusive. I think that’s the point of the moment though: we as the audience (or at least me as an audience member) can really imagine how shook up Merida must feel from this encounter. This is her MOM! Even though they have their differences there’s supposed to be a trust there.

18) The Woodcarver!!!

Voiced by Julie Walters (Molly Weasley herself), The Woodcarver/Witch is a wildly memorable and funny character. She is well established and well used in her brief amount of screen time, providing the film with a sense of visual comedy that feels like it’s straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I truly appreciate that.

19) Have you heard of Pixar Theory?

Pixar Theory is the in depth theory that all Pixar films take place in one shared continuity/universe, even going into some dark details about how the world of Cars can be the same one that the human filled world of Up or The Incredibles is in. There is one very key and very important idea in Pixar Theory that applies to Brave. Are you guys ready? Okay...

The Witch from Brave is Boo from Monsters Inc.

You can read the full theory here, but the gist of it is that Monsters Inc. does not take place in an alternate dimension but in a future Earth without humans. Therefore, the doors in Monsters Inc. allow the characters to travel in time. Here’s an excerpt from the theory:

And then there’s Boo. What do you think happened to her? She saw everything take place in future earth where “kitty” was able to talk. She became obsessed with finding out what happened to her friend Sully and why animals in her time weren’t quite as smart as the ones she’d seen in the future.

She remembers that “doors” are the key to how she found Sully in the first place and becomes…

A WITCH. Yes, Boo is the witch from Brave. She figures out how to travel in time to find Sully, and goes back to what she believes is the source: The will-of-the-wisps.

A carving of Sully can briefly be seen in the Woodcarver’s/Witch’s hut, lending support to the theory.

Later Merida is also opening doors that lead nowhere, and the author of Pixar Theory argues this is because The Witch found out how to get doors to travel between time. I just thought I’d share this with you. Moving on.

20)

Merida [when she tells the witch what she wants]: “I want a spell to change my mom. That’ll change my fate.”

According to IMDb:

It took six years to make this film. Mark Andrews was initially the consultant, providing the Scottish themes for Brenda Chapman. However, by October 2010, Chapman left after four years of work with Andrews subsequently taking over but still keeping the intended story that Chapman wrote. Originally 80% of the film took place in snow, but when Chapman left the project so did much of the white stuff.

Part of the film’s issue with focus is that it can at times feel like two different films at once: a fantasy epic and a mother/daughter story. I assume these issues are born out of the change in directors (although Brenda Chapman does claim the film is something she’s proud of and that it kept her original vision) and at the end they do mesh well, but they don’t necessarily mesh well throughout the ENTIRE movie.

21) I’m going to be honest: the fact that the big magical twist of the movie is that Elinor is turned into a bear caught me 100% off guard the first time I saw it.

I like it now in hindsight but I was just totally blind sided upon initial viewing. Which was actually kind of nice, because I’d seen 165 films in less than three years before then. I’m not surprised as much as I’d like.

22) The rare time in a film where a character actually says what I’m thinking:

Merida [when Elinor wants to go to the "Let’s Kill a Bear” party downstairs]: “Dad? The Bear King!? If he so much as sees you you’re dead!”

23) This is so applicable to so many talking animal films.

Merida [to Elinor]: “You’re covered in fur! You’re not naked!”

24) So The Witch is sort of a one trick pony. She turned Mordu into a bear, she turned Merida’s mom into a bear, and later she describes her shop as, “Home of bear themed carvings and novelties.” Like, is that like all she can do? Turn people into bears?

25) The scene at the river (underscored by “Into the Open Air”) is a key moment in the relationship between Merida and Elinor. Elinor finally sees that all the things she wanted of her daughter have no use to her now, while all the things “unbefitting” to a princess are what’s keeping them fed in the wilderness. They have some nice fun and it’s just a really great moment.

26) Momma Bear Elinor almost attacking Merida when she’s full bear mode almost kinda makes me jump.

(GIF originally posted by @musicalhog)

27) I wish we got a bit more of the evil bear Mor’du. He shows up in the beginning, he shows up briefly in the middle so Merida and her mom can understand how the spell works, and then he shows up at the end. He’s actually very frightening to look at but not in the film much which is a shame.

28) Merida’s whole speech before the clans about her final decision is a really great moment, I think. It shows how Merida and her mother have grown as they’re finally able to communicate (ironically/poetically when Elinor can’t speak), it shows Merida’s skills as a leader, and it is nice that all three sons agree with Merida about choosing their own destiny. Also Merida is just so happy afterwards!

29) Merida thinking her mom is gone breaks my heart.

Yeah, I’m tearing up now as I watch it. It’s been a rough month for me.

30) The ending of the film is nice. Filled with optimism and energy, in no small part because of the Birdy and Mumford & Sons song “Learn Me Right”. It’s a nice note to finish the film on.

31) Always. Stay. After. The credits.

Look I don’t get why Brave gets a bad wrap. Sure it’s not as brilliant as Up or Toy Story 3 but so what? It is a fun, entertaining, well made film with some wildly powerful moments and great characters. Merida is incredible, the relationship between her mom is fleshed out very well, and it’s just...I love it. It’s one of my favorite Pixar films, so I definitely recommend it.