#episode: star city 2040

[askvectorprime]

hello vector prime I have a question what happened with the autobots X in transformer g1

Dear Mind Merger,

I think you may have already seen the end of the story of Autobot X, in the pages of Generations Selects. In order to humiliate and defeat the Quintessons, an aged and dying Spike Witwicky transferred his mind into a new body composed of multiple Neo Autobot City components: Neo Autobot X. But I suppose you wouldn’t know the chain of events that lead to this rebirth. I shall tell them to you now.

Sparkplug Witwicky had never feared death. While obviously an untimely death was something to be avoided, he was a practical man, and accepted that human beings got only one chance at living. Even as he and his son became embroiled in the Great War, he put his faith in the Autobots, many of whom he considered kindred spirits, like-minded tool and die men like Ratchet and Wheeljack. On one occasion, even knowing the associated risks, he trusted the Autobots with the very life of his son, Spike’s mind being transferred into the failed Autobot X prototype. After that terrifying episode ended, the prototype was stored away, and life went on.

Sparkplug grew old, and watched with pride as his son grew as well. The Autobots came to Spike and Carly’s wedding, Bumblebee bringing along the Peruvian villager Luisa and her brother’s convertible as his date. They came to the birth of Sparkplug’s grandson, Bumblebee in awe as a tiny hand pawed at his smallest finger.

Would they be there at Spike’s funeral as well?

The thought made Sparkplug shiver. Was his son’s time with his closest friends destined to be a mere blink in the eye for the Autobots? Why should Bumblebee be left behind as Spike moves on?

Thoughts raced in Sparkplug’s mind. The Autobots and the EDC had used data from the original mind transfer experiment on a number of projects over the decades. Binaltech, the Eldedroids, even the Kiss Players… Autobot X’s DNA lay in all of them. There had been other advances too, old technology rediscovered as heroic young men and women used the power of the Masterforce to transform, culminating in a borderline miraculous copy-pasting of personalities when their transtectors became true Transformer life-forms.

Using his connections and seniority among the Autobot’s human allies, Sparkplug began what became known as Project Neo: the development of inert Transformer bodies to be used as full-body prosthetics in the event of catastrophic harm or death. Unfortunately, Sparkplug wouldn’t live to see its completion, dying in 2040 shortly after the founding of the new Cybertron Alliance.

Only when humanity began its stellar adolescence as the age of Angolmois and the Selectors arose did the project bear fruit. Using the full processing power of the Mother Computer at Neo Autobot City allowed for a safe and secure mind transfer. Sparkplug had informed Spike of the project near his death, and to his credit never forced the idea upon him. In truth, I see the value in such a technology if used for good and the protection of life, and like any parent Sparkplug wanted to give his child every possible option. That said, only under the threat of death did Spike undergo the transfer. Perhaps as he grew older and reliant on the slavery of the Selectors did he begin to feel some disconnect from the Cybertronians around him… For shame.

As humanity and the Selectors spread out among the stars following the abandonment of Earth, the common adoption of Neo Autobot X technology was but the first step in the multitude of evolutionary branches that would bloom from the humans. If nothing else, it brought the humans and their Selector partners closer together.

I cannot help but see my brothers and sisters in this story. Such great change, all stemming from the love of a father for his son. As humans become Transformers and vice versa, I believe we find the truest glimpse of Primus’ dream.

[pumba2205]

Ich habe gerade geschaut Arrow 7x16 "Star City 2040"

[faustocosgrove]

and on the thirteenth day of reviewmas I, Fausto, give to thee:

[(a show taking place in 2040/6 other shows i reference in this dual review)/(a different franchise with 1 manga + 4 anime series + 3 tv specials + 5 feature films + 1 musical +1 video game + 2 live action adaptations)] - (one show released in 1994 - the other released in 1987) = 13 reasons why i’m placing this review at number 13.

one of 12 instances of elder abuse

11 yawns

my 10 remaining brain cells after this shitty movie jfc

9 instances this show reminded me of a better show

an 80s cult movie

7 lgbt main characters in an incredibly queer manga like holy shit

6 ye olde government agents

5/5 stars best movie of the decade easily. might be the best movie of all time

4 scantily clad teenaged girls (fbi open up! meme)

the 3rd time i read the same book about lawns maybe?

2 high school animes

and a ninja book

…from a guy who still thinks about the naruto series in the year 2024

yes that math checks out. i would have simply placed it else where if it didn’t.

here’s the math again without words to make it easier on you:

[(2040/6)/(1+4+3+5+1+1+2)]-(1994-1987)=13

hell, i’ll even show my work

2040/6=340 1+4+3+5+1+1+2=17 1994-1987=7 340/17=20 20-7=13

Another dual review!

this review contains spoilers for a series not reviewed here: the nausicaa manga.

So I was turned off by this first show’s art style and kept scrolling around it but i’m running out of bad 80s and 90s anime on this free streaming service. also there’s like 3 seasons and 2 movies i keep seeing over and over again so i finally said the hell with it and turned it on. i don’t know how far i got through episode one, but i turned it off before the credits rolled. Anyway, City Hunter is the story of a vigilante/mercenary in 80’s tokyo with a gun who is also a massive pervert. that’s it. that’s the show.

based on the wikipedia page, it seems to have been quite popular, considering is has like 2 seasons and 3 movies or whatever up on the streaming service i should have seen that coming.

y’know i’d brush off that i didn’t like this on the fact that i’m not a fan of crime dramas, but i literally watched all of Nightwalker and that show was fucking awful. and i would also make the excuse that i’m not a fan of pervert is comedy but that’s a good chunk of Ranma 1/2 and like all of Urusei Yatsura and i didn’t hate either of those. i dunno, stars weren’t aligned or something.

Anyway, since i was scraping the bottom of the barrel for 80s and 90s anime i made the massive genre shift to a 90s american saturday morning cartoon.

i am not a clever man.

I also only got part way through episode one of Phantom 2040, but i’ll probably come back to it, just not often enough to shelve this review until i do.

I have never seen an animated show where everyone is ugly before. it’s fascinating. i want to study it. i mean the bad guys are clearly uglier than the main cast, but even the Phantom, who is supposed to be an 18 year old kid, is kinda ugly. best looking character in the whole cast so far is light googling Guran, the grandson of the original Guran. i mean at least in a franchise that’s core theme is “white man gets magic power from africa and is trained by a black man” makes everyone uglier than the one black character. i choose to believe that was intentional. tiny consolidation prize for the overarching racism.

the show also has that 80’s “this show was made for the sole purpose of selling merchandise” feel, mainly in how all the character models look like they’d translate into dolls very easily. unfortunately the result of the dollification is that everyone is doing the tory power stance at all times. like, so the doll can stand up by having its feet apart. this choice also leads to a lot of weird crotch shots. like, a guy or an evil robot gets shot and tumbles backward. with their legs apart. so you just get this animation rotating around the whole no-no-zone. and like i can see kids playing with their dolls shoot them and they die and knocking them over and like the kid knocks the doll down to show it’s dead. and this is like animating that. but it’s still weird crotch shots.

mild tangent warning, but i am going somewhere with this.

i am a huge fan of nausicaa of the valley of the wind. it’s my favorite book, bar none. yes my favorite book is a manga, shut up. i’m really touchy when it comes to nausicaa references. i detest the character rei from the new star wars movie because the opening sequence of that movie is just nausicaa references and then the rest of the movie has zero environmentalism. i’m also a huge Lily Orchard fan who has through the years used rei as an example of a perfectly fine character that men don’t like just because she’s a girl. and in spite of all the evidence i’ve seen of rei being a perfectly fine character whose trials and growth just don’t happen to revolve around environmentalism, i still can’t bring myself to like the character because i can’t detach the lazy nausicaa references from her. a thinking error on my part, but i just can’t fix it.

and then there’s the movie I Kill Giants where in the final battle the little girl’s hallucination tells her to stop fucking around and go see her mother before she dies of cancer and then drops the line “All things that live in this world die. That is why you must find joy in the living while the time is yours, and not fear the end. To deny this, is to deny life. But to embrace it…can you embrace it?” which has some, keyword some, resemblance to the final fight scene in nausicaa where our hero says “all things are born from the darkness and all things return to the darkness” and “suffering and folly will not disappear in a purified world. they are part of humanity. that is why, even in a world of suffering, there can also be joy and shining light” and “we can know the beauty and cruelty of the world without the help of a giant tomb and its servants” which is not to say that i think the mom cancer movie was ripping off nausicaa like starwars did. i understand that accepting death is a concept that many works depict and use almost these exact phrases because we all have to fuckin grapple with death, but the lesson of accepting death is an important one and it’s one the movie i kill giants did poorly. but because i’m obsessed with nausicaa it’s an insult to nausicaa to tell a story where a little girl is in denial for like 80 minutes then gets all the lessons crammed in her face that she somehow accepts suddenly versus nausicaa who comes to this realization herself after her father dies in book one of seven, being in a content wide war, and suffering from radiation poisoning herself. i mean even her pets die. her teacher dies. and in the purified garden scene nausicaa has to be brainwashed for her to forget all that’s going on and she only struggles for about 5 minutes with the idea of forgetting the real problem and playing a game of everything being fine in fantasy land before she snaps back to reality.

wow i really wrote more words letting you know how obsessed i am with nausicaa than i did reviewing either of the shows.

anyway, back to phantom 2040. there’s this bit about the new phantom discovering a leaf that after scientific analysis is determined to be a plant that absorbs the poison in the soil and destroys it.

unenthusiastic drumroll

exactly like the forest of corruption in nausicaa.

and… i don’t hate it.

i don’t know why it doesn’t come across as blatant plagiarism to me when i kill giants literally had nothing to do with nausicaa and i hold it to that standard anyway. it might be because i haven’t finished the series so i don’t know how bad it gets. it might be because phantom 2040 clearly didn’t make any money so i guess i think stealing is okay if you suck at stealing so bad you can’t even make money by copying literally the best thing to ever be written? sure. there you go, there’s my review.

[lucyyh]

[camelely]

That was really nice. Like Laurel, Felicity, Sara, and ... even Dinah ... were cute and that Olicity moment at the end was cute... I would have liked more Oliver but I get the Birds of Justice (prey) was the point and episodes like this are probably why I watch this show. 

[stargazerdaisy]

I'm finally watching last week's Arrow and I'm already high key amused. This is ridiculous and hilarious.

[hitchell-mope]

88. A tv show concept.

Set in New York’s 88th precinct in the year 2040. The fantasy community are real. Witches, wizards, werewolves, centaurs etc etc. all live in almost peaceful Coexistence with humans and mortals. A slightly high strung but exceedingly competent detective has convinced his fiancée to take a job as profiler at his precinct.

Proposed fancast:

Brie Larson as Findlay Wilmington (soon to be Sullivan). The 88’s profiler. Witch.

Zac Efron as Detective Sidney Sullivan. Findlay’s fiancé. Human. But learning magic.

Austin Butler as Skipper Wilmington. Findlay’s brother. Owns and runs an Elton John themed Irish pub across the street from the 88.

John C Reilly as Commissioner Jones Moriarty Wilmington. Findlay and Skipper’s father. Has no affection for Sidney.

Laura Dern as Delaney Wilmington. Socialite. Very much the idle rich. Jones’s wife of 60 years. Findlay and Skipper’s mother.

Connie Nielsen as captain Alyssa Moran. The Vampyre and finale villain. Bone white skin, blood red eyes, mouth full of canine teeth and telekinetic

Proposed season one episode list:

Pilot. Aka. Under new command. The new captain of New York’s 88th precinct crashes with its top (and only) profiler

Archery range. A technological explosion at a Brownie owned archery range rivals the reemergence of a species long thought extinct

The wizard and the centaur. Findlay’s brother navigates his feelings for his new four hoofed employee, Oswald Chatwin (Dylan Playfair), while she and Sidney investigate a break in at the leprechaun stock exchange

The fifty year engagement (part one). The return Delaney Wilmington’s ex fiancé coincides with a massive art heist

Sullivan’s 3 (part two). Continuing on from last episode. Findlay, Sidney and Skipper work to best Ernst Kessler (guest star Jonathan Frakes) at his own game.

1066: the year they made contact. The origins of the Coexistence are revealed against the backdrop of a hate groups plans to rewrite time to make sure it never happened.

Family game night. Sidney Sullivan is about to go up against his most fearsome foe of all. His fiancés father and New York City’s police commissioner. Jones Moriarty Wilmington

Thursday night’s alright for gaslighting. Findlay has to give evidence in court against a hypnotic Snake of a cat burglar.

Call of the Siren. The Aquatic wife of a diplomat is under threat of abduction and Sidney is tasked with protecting her

The God-Satyr. Hollis Caruthers, a ruthless mob boss, (guest star Jared Padalecki), kidnaps Sidney as leverage to use against Jones.

Anno domini. Mid season finale. The policeman’s ball, the Wilmington masquerade party and a home invasion are the backdrop of the Christmas before Findlay and Sidney’s wedding.

Maltese. Mid season premiere. In a medically induced coma following the events of Christmas Eve, Findlay has to contend with a film noir dream that runs parallel to Jones and Sidney hunting down the culprit.

What a waste of talent. Chambers Truman Wilmington, Jones’s fraternal twin brother (guest star Brad Pitt), a travelling stage magician, puts a dampener on Findlays convalescence.

Things that go bump in the nightclub. Skipper is held up in a ghostly hostage situation at his favourite nightclub, The Molotov Lounge

Strained relations. Delaney’s father, Beaumont Mulligan (Donald Sutherland) and stepmother, Winifred Mulligan (Whoopi Goldberg) are in town for Findlay and Sidney’s wedding. With it they bring the powder keg that was Delaney and Jones’s wedding in 1980.

Star shaped scars and stripes forever. A vicious spate of manticore attacks leads Findlay and Sidney closer to finding out who attacked the Wilmington Estate on Christmas Eve

A musical distraction. (Part one). To curb the family infighting on the day before their wedding, at the suggestion of their fire fairy wedding planner (guest star Tom Ellis), Findlay and Sydney, along with Skipper cast a spell that turns real life into a musical in moments of heated emotion.

A Disney Princess Wedding. (Part two). After expanding the spell and turning their life into a Disney esque cartoon, Findlay and Sidney finally make it to the altar. But the late arrival of of Chambers and his latest bit of arm candy (guest star Winona Ryder) may prove too much for the enchantment

LATCH. Jones has his work cut out for him when Irma Cahill (Melissa Peterman), leader of the Legion Against The Coexistence Hoax, the hate group from earlier in the season, stages multiple fake werewolves attacks when the newly married Mr and Mrs Sullivan are honeymooning at the Deja Vu resort in the Bermuda Triangle.

Mr and Mrs Sullivan. As their first case back from their honeymoon, Findlay and Sidney have to go undercover in rival assassin groups to prevent a gang war. Meanwhile, as a rare moment of comedy, Skipper has to contend with Jones’s estranged proto hippie mother Celestine “Rainbow Tsunami” Wilmington (guest star Wendie Malick) trying to feng shui Golden Brick Road

Vampyre. Part one. Everything comes to a head as Sidney and Findlay find out who invaded the Wilmington Estate on Christmas Eve.

Moran. With Findlay in the hospital, beheaded and awaiting reattachment, it’s up to Sidney to take down the former captain Moran once and for all.

[olicitybishop-clairmont]

The Flash: Armageddon Part 1

So. Definitely NOT a crossover. Instead of different shows over a night or two, this is taking over the first five episodes of The Flash’s season 8 and everyone else is popping into the episodes like Ray popped into Barry and Iris’s apartment. I didn’t get a chance to liveblog, but here are my thoughts.

- Killer Frost is secretly a hopeless romantic and I have a headcanon that she makes Caitlin watch nothing but romcoms and Hallmark movies.

- That was the first mention of Ronnie in a LONG time

- Iris’s hair is GORGEOUS. They definitely added some more red in it and Candice Patton looks amazing with it.

- HI CASSANDRA FROM THE LIBRARIANS!!

- I am HERE for Iris becoming Central City’s version of Cat Grant. From a self run blog to her own Media company with her own podcast?! You go girl!!!

Headcanon: Eventually Iris and Cat meet and they bond about knowing everyone’s secret identities and the exclusive interviews they’ve done.

- HI RAY!! So cute that you’re still with Nora. That green smoothie does NOT look appetizing. Also, your total mancrush on Nate is still SO obvious.

“I thought he could shrink things.”

- And we bring back the Royal Flush Gang, all of whom use far too many card puns. Give it a rest.

- Chester is such a NERD.

- I would have thought I would see a little more geeking out from Ray with all the science and tech.

- With all their supposed qualifications, no wonder those journalists aren’t listening to you, Allegra. Come on, where’s that backbone I know you have? Iris doesn’t put her faith in just anybody to run the day to day of her company.

- No matter who stops by on which show, all the heroes have to give each other sage advice. It’s mandatory.

“If you want something that doesn’t exist, invent it.”

“Just show him who you really are.”

- Okay, I have no clue who Despero is.

- So Flash caused Armageddon? How?! I know when Mia, William and Connor were brought back in time they came from Star City in 2040, but I don’t remember what time Nora and Bart came from. Apparently Armageddon happens in 2031...

- Kryptonians and Kryptonite and a call to Alex in National City. I know Alex is stopping by but it’s too bad Supergirl is already over.

- I would really like to see Ray and Chester working together with the Nonprofit named after Chester’s dad. Maybe SmoakTech can donate some funds or get in on the program. Felicity would definitely be in to something like that.

- So I know this is supposed to be a five episode event, but episode 1 seemed a little slow to build. Also, I know we’re 8 seasons in, but I was not feeling all that much from Grant. Do we think the Flash might bow out after season 8? I mean, he did just have a kid, didn’t he?

Hopefully I’ll be able to liveblog next week otherwise I’ll do another one of these. See you then!

[spooner-cruz]

I rewatched Green Arrow and the Canaries (Arrow s8 e9) again and I have thoughts ™️.

(Arrow spoilers... duh)

First of all GAY GAY GAY

If GAATC had gotten picked up Laurel and Dinah would’ve been together and you can’t convince me otherwise !

I know it’s the CW and they’re quite the experts on Queerbaiting ™️ (especially being a CW Arrowverse show *side eyes Supercorp*) which was probably the case, but I chose to believe they would’ve gotten together! I mean ffs their first scene this episode is the gayes thing ever.

Laurel’s eyebrow raise and smile when Dinah notices her kfhdkchsjd

The director/writer/ whomever, decided to put this DinahxLaurel interaction so that the lyric “I’m in love with you” matches up with Dinah’s reaction to Laurel. That was fully purposeful! Dinah had a whole ass piano solo after that lyric where they couldve put their interaction, but nooo

The lyric:“Im in love with you”!! WHAT WAS THE REASON!! The songs original lyric is “I love you” and I could not find a single other version or cover that uses “Im in love...” instead. I know Dinahsiren fanfic writers picked up on this (as they should) and it’s an often mentioned fact in Dinahsiren fanfic (and i love it) but the thing is we would’ve overanalyzed it just the same had they kept the original lyrics. I’ve heard arguments that “it’s not that big of a deal” AND THATS EXACTLY THE POINT, if it’s not that big if a deal why would they change it??? We would’ve lost our minds even had kept the original lyric, but they made this change so it was noticeable!! So this was either them leading up to a Dinahsiren relationship or very detailed and precise queer-baiting, I chose to believe the former.

Anyway that’s it from Dinah and Laurel because every single one of their interactions with his episode was gay and they deserve their own separate post + I don’t want to make this one longer than it will be.

who do I have to contact in order to know who the big bad of this show would be???

I’ve got theories, as I’m sure many do! Please feel free to share your theories I’d love to know!!

What we know:

She’s a woman.

She kidnapped and planned on killing Bianca Bertinelli, which would’ve brought crime and disorder back to star city

She kidnapped William, which is probably how the GAATC would’ve gotten even more involved with all of this

Her “minions” wore the Deathstroke mask and seemed keen on reviving the Deathstroke Gang

THE HŌZEN!! In Buddhism, it symbolizes reconnecting, in Arrow it was shown to be a symbols of the Queen family, passed from Oliver to Thea to Roy than Thea again then to Felicity and finally William. However, it also symbolizes Lian Yu. The Hozēn was used in 2040 1.0 to bring William to Lian Yu, where Hōzen was initially found around a dead soldiers neck. And before the Hōzen came to symbolize the Queen family, Shado had it and wore it around her neck, which brings me to my theory.

The main antagonist would’ve been Shado.

All the symbols used by our villain relate to Shado. The Hōzen being the main reason why I think this, before it was a symbol of Oliver’s family, it was a symbol of Lian-Yu and Oliver’s way to remember Shado. The Deathstroke mask adds up too. Slade loved Shado, everything he did was to avenge her death, and though she didn’t reciprocate his romantic feelings she obviously cared about him too.

What I see happening is that maybe Shado was brought back to life after crisis (they explained why Robert Queen wasn’t brought back but they never did explain why Shado wasn’t brought back) somehow she ends up in 2040. So Shado is alive and in 2040, and she wants revenged on Oliver for her would’ve-been death (and his legacy— hence the destroying the city and kidnapping William). It would also make sense for her to honor Deathstroke, especially if she had found out about her friends similar mission to avenge her. Plus she was one of the people who trained Oliver to be the Hood, so she would’ve definitely provided a challenge for GAATC

Also she’s pretty and I miss her and that would’ve been so cool

I do have a few plot holes about GAATC and just crisis/the 2040 kids in general that I noticed this rewatch and they really bother me:

Did they not restore Zoe’s memory of Crisis?? (2020 Zoe that is).

I fully understand why they didn’t restore William’s memory seeing as he wasn’t actually there during Crisis and JJ was a baby so it’s not like he had memories to be restored.

But Zoe was there through it all. Yes we didn’t see her in crisis, but she had to have known about it, at least in crisis-prep season 8. Rene and Dinah both seemed pretty vocal about their vigilantism when they were interacting with Zoe, and even if they didn’t tell her about Crisis, she would’ve noticed her dad leaving for an island in the North China sea or how he probably acted all sad and shit after he found out 2040 version 1.0’s Zoe died. Plus she definitely would’ve seen grown Mia and William at least once during season 8 even if what just passing by. Also after Crisis happened, even if they didn’t restore her memory, she would’ve noticed Dinah suddenly disappearing?? Or that people that used to be dead were suddenly alive (which is another crisis issue! Moira and Tommy didn’t seem to have their memories restored yet they knew in some version of reality they would’ve been dead, so did the people who’s memories didn’t get restored just accept that dead folks were coming back). At the very least 2040 Zoe would’ve 100% recognized Dinah and Laurel (so would William for that matter wtf).

Then there’s the Diggles.

So baby Sara seemed to have been brought back, as show in the last few scenes of Arrow. Why was she not in 2040? Would she have been included in GAATC or were they just glaze over how John and Lyla suddenly had a daughter who was conveniently the same age as JJ.

Then also the whole thing with Dig being the Green Lantern, I got to say I’m completely out of the loop with that, but it’s what Arrow seemed to have been leading up to, which just bring me to ask why tf are Digs kids the way that they are? I mean it’s not the most ridiculous thing ever, that the Green Lantern’s kids grew up to be a drug addict, and a socialite who ended up being evil, but it just doesn’t rlly add up that Diggle was the Green Lantern yet his kids are like this.

Also they whole thing with JJ being evil again makes no sense?? Yes he was reminded that in a past life he was evil, but now tf would that make him want to be evil again. Mia was struggling with embracing her past life vs her current life because she had a great life and yet felt a responsibility to live up to her father and be a hero, understandable, but JJ??? He had a great life in 2040 version 2.0, and he moved on so quickly from that when he regained his memory simply because is some past life his dad was kind of an asshole?? Idk doesn’t make sense to me.

[thegreaterlink]

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S1E25 "The Neutral Zone"

THE PREMISE

While Captain Picard is away at a Federation conference, the Enterprise discovers an ancient space capsule from Earth. Upon investigating, they discover three humans suspended in cryonic chambers. They transport the people back to the Enterprise, where Dr Crusher works to thaw them out.

Picard returns and orders the Enterprise to the Neutral Zone, the buffer between Federation and Romulan space. He explains that the conference was about the potential threat of the Romulans, who have not been seen for decades. While the Romulan threat looms large over the Captain, the cryonically preserved humans regain consciousness and start to adjust to a world centuries in the future.

MY REVIEW

When you hit rock bottom, the only way left to go is up, as proven by "Conspiracy" coming after "Skin of Evil."

And when you reach the top, the only way left is down. Hence an episode like this coming after "Conspiracy."

It's revealed that the cryonically stored humans had died of then-incurable illnesses and were placed in cryonic suspension until cures could be found. And by the 24th century, they have. Much of this episode's plot involves the three cryonically stored 20th-century humans coming to grips with life in this new time, such as the abolition of concepts such as television - which apparently falls out of use after 2040, so its days are numbered - and money, with humanity’s focus being the betterment of oneself. Personally, the crew explain this with a tad too much smug superiority for my liking.

The survivors’ reactions are all different, but equally one-dimensional. A musician known as Sonny mostly just gawks at everything with childlike whimsy, with his southern accent making him comparable to a hillbilly adjusting to city life. We even get banjo music on the soundtrack! The housewife named Claire struggles to comprehend living centuries in the future where life as she knows it no longer exists. The financier named Ralph is mostly just frustrated by a lack of information, so he doesn't really do much.

From a writing standpoint, the decision to combine the plots of 20th century humans adjusting to the future and encountering the Romulans into one episode is a baffling one. But while I was doing my research (by which I mean checking the episode's Wikipedia article) I found out why: production took place while a Writer's Guild strike was looming, so the script was essentially a first draft which was developed in a day and a half from a piece of fanfiction. No, I'm not joking.

The imminent strike prevented them from making any revisions or developing the episode as intended, which would’ve made it the first half of a two-parter. The second half would’ve seen the Enterprise joining forces with the Romulans to fight the Borg, who would’ve made their first appearance here. Two sworn enemy races forming an uneasy alliance to fight a threat larger than both of them? I know that was the premise of “The Last Outpost”, but it could’ve been used here to much better effect. That is some MASSIVE missed potential!

The Borg will come soon enough. Just you wait.

Instead, we get the Romulans as the main threat of the episode. They have a redesign courtesy of Michael Westmore (you’ll be hearing that name a lot) which, while not as major of an overhaul as the Klingons, does a good job of distinguishing them from the Vulcans.

Tebok, the captain of the Romulan warbird - which was designed by Andrew Robert, who also designed both the refitted Enterprise for the TOS movies and the Enterprise-D - is played by Marc Alaimo, who had previously appeared in “Lonely Among Us” and would go on to play the much more memorable Cardassian Gul Dukat in Deep Space Nine.

Anyway, the episode climaxes with a confrontation between the Enterprise and the Romulans. Picard accuses the Romulans of destroying Federation outposts, but the Romulans tell them that the same thing has been happening with their outposts. The two crews agree to pool their resources to find the culprit, and leave each other be. This is the biggest anticlimax so far, but I’m conscious of the fact that this was supposed to lead to a confrontation with the Borg.

Speaking of Romulans, Picard claims here that they haven't been seen for decades, yet in "Angel One" one of the driving factors of tension is the Enterprise's need to get to the Neutral Zone to deal with a group of Romulan battle cruisers. So what gives? Was that incident a false alarm? I hate to go into full "um, actually" mode, but when you're binge-watching a series to make reviews for Tumblr you tend to notice these sorts of things!

This episode reeks of missed potential, but circumstances beyond the creators’ control forced them to make massive compromises on the episode’s quality. It’s a huge shame - this could’ve been something truly great.

5/10 - Thoroughly average.

And so season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to an end, not with a bang but a whimper. "Conspiracy" would've worked much better as a season finale if you ask me, but with their original plan for this episode I can see why it wasn’t. I would’ve loved to see this as it was originally intended.

Previous Episode | TNG Masterpost | Season 1 Overview | Next Episode

[merinnan]

Fic Tag Game

Grabbed from @hils79, because it looked like fun.

Name: Merinnan, which I’ve gone by for... fifteen years now, I think? Prior to that, I mostly used Calicia (and sometimes Zoi).

Fandoms: Like Hils, I’m only going to list the fandoms I’ve actually written fic for.

Star Trek: My very first fandom, and the one I’ve written the most fics for (so far - I suspect that DMBJ will overtake it. It certainly already has in terms of word count). I was (and am still) primarily a DS9 fan, and was a huge Kira/Dukat and Garak/Bashir shipper back in the day. Most of my Trekfics are DS9 fics, but I also dabbled a little bit in TOS and TNG, and had one or two crackfic crossovers that involved Voyager characters. Discovery has tempted me with a few fic ideas, but I haven’t written anything for it yet.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon: aka, the show that first had me seriously questioning my sexuality. Look, Haruka and Michiru are #goals, don’t judge me. This is also where my Zoi name came from, after the first season villain Zoisite, whom I cosplayed several times. Unsurprisingly, my main ships are HaruMichi and KunZoi. Despite this fact, neither of my published Sailormoon fics are HaruMichi.

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: A short-lived fandom, but one I still liked enough to write a fic for and get the OST CD.

World of Warcraft: I wouldn’t say I’m really part of the fandom, per se, but I’ve been playing since the dying days of Burning Crusade, am a huge lore nerd, and started writing a crossover fic that is currently on indefinite hiatus. I do plan to come back and finish it, but first RL got in the way, and now I have to try and remember where I’d actually been planning to go with it.

A Court of Thorns and Roses: That crossover fic I just mentioned? Yeah, this is what it’s a crossover with. ACoTaR fandom went sleepy for awhile, but it’s back up and kicking now that A Court of Silver Flames is out - if any of you are still following me, it’s great to see everyone active again! To the surprise of no-one who knows me, I’m a big Nessian shipper.

Mo Dao Zu Shi / Chen Qing Ling / The Untamed: I came to this fandom via ACoTaR, actually, after a certain person (hi, @rhysand-vs-fenrys!) wouldn’t stop gushing about it :-) This is the fandom that really and seriously got me back into regular fic writing again after 15-ish years. I’m a multishipper here, and have written / am writing WangXian, NieLan, XiCheng, XuanLi, and XiSang.

Guardian / Zhen Hun: MDZS fandom led me to Guardian, which, along with DMBJ, has devoured my life in a way that hasn’t happened since my Star Trek days, and I love it! WeiLan is my major ship, but I’m also quite fond of the DaMian life raft.

Zhu Yilong: Yes, I’m going to list a person as a fandom. Zhu Yilong is one of the stars of Guardian, and is both incredibly pretty and an incredibly talented actor. So much so that I have suffered through some truly terrible dramas just to watch him in them. I do not write Z1L-fic, since RPF of living people is a personal squick of mine, but I am working on a massive crossover fic of most of his characters.

Mo Du: Guardian led me along to more of Priest’s works, such as Mo Du, which is now officially my favourite book, and I adore the main WenZhou ship. The Mo Du fandom right now is pretty tiny, and I’m still working on my first fic for it, but I hope that it will grow with the donghua due out this year, and the drama having just started filming.

Daomu Biji / The Lost Tomb: I initially came into this fandom because of Zhu Yilong, who played Wu Xie in the Reboot / Reunion / Chongqi drama, and then I got sucked into the fandom pit of all of the books and dramas and spinoffs, and it’s wonderful and fantastic. I have written so much for it, and have so much more planned. PingXie and PingXieSang are my main ships here, but I’m also a HeiHua fan, and very much enjoying the RiSang pool noodle that @kholran created.

Tropes: Hurt/Comfort and crack are my major ones.

Fic I spent most time on: A toss-up between Endings and Beginnings and Reunion, both DS9 fics. Endings and Beginnings is an alternate ending to the show, while Reunion is a Gul Dukat-centric fic set around, oh, season 5ish? Both were written for and initially published in print fanzines, so in addition to time spent writing, there was a lot of back and forth for editing, etc.

Favourite fic(s) you’ve written: Look, I honestly couldn’t say. I like most of the fics I’ve written, and there are several that I’m really proud of and really like.

Fic I spent least time on: Silent Graves, a super angsty DMBJ/Lost Tomb Xiaoge fic. I think I wrote it in like 15 minutes.

Longest fic: Cat’s Paw, a DMBJ/Lost Tomb PingXieSang canon rewrite fic I co-wrote with @xantissa, at  247 826 words. For fics written by just me, not with a co-writer, then that would be Nevermore, my WIP MDZS/CQL XiCheng Pacific Rim AU, at 22 276 words and counting.

Shortest fic: Every entry in my DS9 Drabbles series, with each one at exactly 100 words. Although if you count them as a quintdrabble, then Indiscretion (a DS9 missing scene vignette about Gul Dukat, set during the episode of the same name) at 169 words.

Most hits/kudos/comments/bookmarks/subscriptions: The answer to all of these is either Cat’s Paw or Nevermore, so I’m going to give the next highest.

Hits:  Those who fear darkness have never seen what light can do, a DMBJ/Lost Tomb PingXie supernatural AU fic co-written with xantissa.

Since this fic also takes the highest kudos, bookmarks, and subscriptions after Cat’s Paw/Nevermore, I’ll skip to the next fic along on each of those.

Kudos: Stars fall like diamonds, a DMBJ/Lost Tomb PingXie missing scene fic from Reboot/Reunion/Chongqi.

Bookmarks: A Knight in Bloody Armour, another DMBJ/Lost Tomb PingXieSang supernatural AU fic (but a different supernatural AU) co-written with xantissa.

Comments: Ears and Other Related Calamities, yet another DMBJ/Lost Tomb PingXieSang supernatural AU fic (of a different again supernatural AU) co-written with xantissa.

Subscriptions: The Rescue Job, a Guardian WeiLan Leverage AU, currently at one chapter complete and posted out of a planned five chapters.

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: We have plans for a prequel and a sequel to A Knight in Bloody Armour, and a spinoff fic for The Zhang Identity (a DMBJ/Lost Tomb PingXie AU that is complete but not yet posted. It will be posted in April as part of the Small Fandoms Big Bang).

Share a bit of a WIP: This is from an as-yet-unnamed post-canon fix-it fic for the Guardian drama:

It was hurting again. Zhao Yunlan curled up into a tight ball under the hospital blankets, trying to ignore it enough to try to get back to sleep. He knew it wouldn't work, because he couldn't remember a time when it ever did, but it was always worth a shot, right? He squeezed his eyes shut and held himself tightly for a few...moments? Minutes?...before grabbing his stuffed cat and clutching it while he forced himself to breathe deep, slow breaths the way the doctors back in Spring City had taught him.

Eventually, the pain died back down to its usual dull ache, the one that was bearable and let him play, and watch TV, and do school lessons with his mother. One day, she said, they'd find a doctor who knew what was wrong, why he hurt all the time, and the doctor would give him medicine that would keep the worst pain away so that he could go to an actual school and meet more kids than the ones who lived in their apartment block or who frequented the same playground that he liked to go to.

Zhao Yunlan tried closing his eyes again, seeing if he could go back to sleep, but he was far too awake now. He sighed, sitting up in bed and looking around the room. Again. It was just like the hospital rooms in Spring City, and in Kiyota City. He figured that if the doctors here in Tomorrow Mountains couldn't help, his parents would take him to yet another city, and the hospital rooms there would probably look the same, too.

Then, over the faint beeping of hospital equipment, and the quiet murmurs further down the corridor of nurses at the nurse station or seeing to other patients, he heard a soft sniffling sound, like someone was trying not to cry too loudly. He picked up his stuffed cat and looked at it.

"What do you think, Dead Cat?" he asked it. "Should we go and find them?"

Dead Cat didn't answer, of course, but that didn't stop Zhao Yunlan from assuming that it agreed with him, and slipping out of bed. His feet touched the cold tile floor with barely a sound, and, still holding Dead Cat tightly, Zhao Yunlan padded over to the door. He looked up and down the corridor, then left his room to track down the sniffling noise.

He wasn't surprised that it came from the next room. He was surprised that it came from another kid, a boy who looked to be about his age, huddled in bed and wiping his eyes.

"Hi," Zhao Yunlan whispered. The other boy looked up in surprise, then stopped to clutch his chest as he began to cough. Once he'd finished coughing, Zhao Yunlan and Dead Cat were perched on the end of his bed.

"I'm Zhao Yunlan, and this is Dead Cat." He held up Dead Cat, moving one of the paws to wave hello. "What's your name?"

The boy wiped his eyes again. "Shen Ye."

I tag: ALL OF YOU! Are you a writer who hasn’t done this yet? Consider yourself tagged if you want to be.

[androidgames911]

Download Arrow Season 7 Episode 16 – Star City 2040

http://bit.ly/Arrow-Season7-page

[lucyyh]

Requested by @it-was-a-red-heeler.

[myepisodecalendar]

Arrow Season 7 - Episode 16: Star City 2040 AirDate: March 18th, 2019, 08:00 PM