#i originally had this as like a voyager series era drawing

[baylardian-1]

he ordered the special kiss not the regular stuff

[fancoloredglasses]

Star Trek, part 7: The TNG Movies VII-X (so a show that lasted more than twice as long as TOS gets just over half as many movies?)

[All images are owned by Paramount. Please don’t sue me.]

[QUICK NOTE: This is a bare-bones review of the films rather than my usual tongue-in-cheek blow-by-blow review since I’m trying to cover four movies in one review. If you would like to see any of the films reviewed in-depth, please let me know]

With the final film starring the Original Series crew and the season finale of TNG in the past, it was only a matter of time before the TNG crew would hit the big screen. How would Picard and Company make their mark on movie audiences?

The answer is “It’s complicated.”

While not every film with Kirk and Company was a masterpiece (in fact, one could say that only every even-numbered film was good) they were more-or-less (I’m looking at you The Final Frontier!) entertaining. In the case of the TNG films, only one of the films is unanimously considered "good", while the rest…well, at least they weren’t The Final Frontier, but not by much in some cases.

I should also note that none of the TNG films have number designations, showing that they’re not from the same time frame as the previous films.

There were only 4 films due to the final one not being well-received both in reviews and at the box office, forcing Paramount to scrap plans for a fifth film to tie up any loose ends.

Those that were waiting for DS9 or Voyager films would unfortunately be disappointed, as following the final TNG film there would not be another film in the series for 7 years (and that was a reboot to the franchise)

But now, onto the films! If you would like to watch them, they’re available on Paramount+ or behind your favorite paywall.

The first film was a “passing of the torch” moment, transitioning the eras for the big screen.

As such, Kirk, Chekov, and Scotty were in attendance for the beginning of the film, which was the maiden voyage of…

…the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B), an Excelsior class starship. This was a publicity stunt where they brought in Kirk (now retired), Scott, and Chekov for the press to gawk at.

Suddenly, they receive a distress call as a strange “ribbon” of temporal energy was about to envelop a transport. Unfortunately, as this is a dog and pony show, there were a lot of systems that weren’t yet online and the Enterprise was ill-equipped to deal with this crisis.

They manage to save some of the crew, but the Enterprise is caught in the ribbon’s gravity. Scotty has an idea how to save the Enterprise (because of course he does), so Kirk (because he has to be the hero) goes to pull off Scotty’s hare-brained plan. It succeeds (because of course it does), however…

The section of the Enterprise Kirk was working in is hit, causing a hull breach that blows him into ribbon’s grasp, killing him (that will NOT look good on the captain’s resume!)

Among the survivors are Guinan (future Ten Forward bartender)

…Tolian Soran, who desperately wants to go back to the ribbon.

Fast forward 70-ish years. The Enterprise-D is given new uniforms to match DS9, Worf gets a promotion to Lt. Commander (just in time to be transferred to Deep Space Nine), and Data decides it’s time to try installing an emotion chip he acquired near the end of the series (unfortunately, Data was not prepared for the onslaught of emotions the chip would grant him, leading to rather forced “humor” as he adjusts)

(Thanks to Krebber)

(Thanks to enessis)

However, all of this frivolity needs to wait as Soran has developed technology that can extinguish stars, and he intends to use it to divert the ribbon to the planet Veridian III so he can finally rejoin it (Guinan explains that part of her is inside, and it’s a paradise)

Picard attempts to stop Soran as the Enterprise is attacked by a pair of Klingon renegades they’ve had dealings with in the past. Not only does Picard fail (drawing him into the ribbon as well), but…

(Thanks to Wolftime Gaming)

However, all is not lost, since the portion of Guinan tell Picard he can leave any time, and place. What’s more, there’s someone who can help!

Yep, Shatner just has to be the hero one last time!

Anyway, they go back to stop Soren again (why? Why not go a bit further back to before Soren was ready?) and stop him this time, but…

Well, at least Shatner can’t return to hog the spotlight in future films.

With the awkward passing of the torch, we need to replace the Enterprise, so…

Meet the new USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E), a Sovereign class starship. The ship has a crew of 700, but not families (and after what happened to the Enterprise-D, who can blame them?). Additionally, the Enterprise now has its own EMH (that Dr. Crusher despises) Most of the command crew (except Worf) have transferred to the Enterprise-E (making casting the film a lot easier)

One other change between films is in the uniform…

(Thanks to EVIL ED)

We see the second Starfleet uniform change over the course of a decade. I’ve already covered the change in my review of DS9. You will also note that ocular technology has advanced between films, as La Forge has bionic eyes rather than needing a VISOR.

But enough about the differences, on to the film!

First Contact is the first of two Trek films directed by Jonathan Frakes (though he has directed episodes from all three TNG-era shows, as well as three of the Paramount+ Trek shows and a Trek parody series)

Earth is once again threatened by the Borg. Once again, the Enterprise is able to sweep in and Save The Day.

During the battle, the USS Defiant (commanded by Lt. Commander Worf) is critically damaged. Fortunately, the surviving crew is beamed to the Enterprise (allowing Michael Dorn to get a paycheck from the film)

However (what, you didn’t expect it to be this easy, did you? It would be a rather short movie otherwise)…

…a sphere inside the cube escapes and opens a temporal rift, which causes Earth to assimilate in the present (wouldn’t that make all the humans on the Enterprise suddenly become Borg as well?)

The Enterprise travels slightly farther back in time (the far-flung future of 2063, to be exact) to stop the Borg, which allows them to meet…

Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of the Warp Drive (or at least Earth’s version of it; better get on it, you have less than 40 years to pull it off!) The crew manages to defeat the Borg, save Earth, and witness Cochrane’s historic flight, in which he makes First Contact (hence the title of the film) with the first aliens Earth has officially encountered.

(Thanks to Binge Society)

First Contact is by far the best of the TNG films (and could surpass The Wrath of Khan as the best overall) It also sets the stage for the next Trek series (more on that in a future review)

Unfortunately, it’s pretty much all downhill from here.

Insurrection was also directed by Jonathan Frakes. This film went for a light-hearted approach after the violent First Contact. Unfortunately, no one thought about the fact that The Final Frontier was also mostly humor and look how THAT turned out!

Worf has once again joined the crew, despite the fact that Deep Space Nine is in the middle of a war with the Dominion (and he should be mourning Jadzia Dax’s death), but there he is because he just happened to be in the neighborhood.

The Enterprise and crew investigate a planet that emits particles rendering its inhabitants effectively immortal. Additionally, the crew enjoy benefits from their brief exposure, including Geordi’s eyes temporarily being able to see, Worf more or less going through Klingon puberty again, as well as…

(Thanks to April 5, 2063)

…the rekindling of Riker and Troi’s relationship. Of course, Riker had to make a tiny concession.

(Don’t worry, the beard will return in time for the next film)

An alien race (with the help of a Starfleet Admiral) are attempting to move the indigenous people to harvest the particles for themselves. The Enterprise manages to expose and thwart the plot in time for Worf to return to Deep Space Nine for the final season.

Which brings us to the final TNG film

Jonathan Frakes did not direct this film. It was instead given to a director who never watched TNG, and boy howdy did it show!

The film starts happily enough…

(Thanks again to April 5, 2063)

Yes, Riker and Troi manage to continue their relationship from the last movie and get married! (the first of two, as they will be having a traditional Betazoid wedding later…in which everyone in the wedding party is nude!

As you can see, they managed to shoehorn Worf in once again (this time as a wedding guest, but that doesn’t explain why he sticks around after)

Meanwhile, the Romulan Empire is being overthrown by a subject race, the Remans (get it? Romulus and Remus? READ A BOOK!) The Enterprise is sent to assist the Romulans. Along the way, they encounter…

…a prototype android, designated B-4 (get it? Before? The writing is definitely top-notch here!) which they bring aboard.

Upon arrival at Romulus, they encounter the Reman leader…

…Shinzon (played by Tom Hardy, who would go on to play Bane and Venom), a clone of Picard the Romulans had planned to use to infiltrate the Federation but later abandoned. Shinzon intends on invading the Federation and poisoning Earth, killing all inhabitants.

Picard uses the Enterprise as a battering ram, crippling Shinzon’s ship and boards to defeat him…

(Thanks to Omega Trek)

Before too many of you are up in arms about Data’s death, Brent Spiner had been wanting a death scene for Data since Insurrection due to the fact that he felt he was getting too old to continue to look like he did in the series. However, he was given an “out” to continue playing the part…

(Thanks to Rotten Tomatoes)

Data had made a backup of his memories into B-4, meaning Data could continue in another (slightly older-looking) body had there been a fifth film.

This ends the Star Trek films before JJ Abrams lens-flared the franchise up nine years later.

If anyone would like me to review any of the films more in-depth, please let me know!

[aen-lliash]

I feel like I'm ready to talk at greater length about my experiences with STO and how I've reached this point of burnout/alienation with it after all these years.

The biggest reason? It's not the same game I became obsessed with in 2014. That's actually normal and to be expected of most MMOs and people (you should check out this video about the phenomenon!), but let me explain what that means for me here. Quick disclaimer, you are allowed to disagree with me on this -- I'm discussing my subjective point of view, not any objective fact.

Putting this under a readmore because it's long - please click "keep reading" below :)

What captured my heart was STO's storytelling and how it was formatted to be super duper friendly to making OCs. I could make an OC that got inserted into the STO (and overall Trek) universe with pretty minimal effort on my part! It had enough callbacks to canon to be satisfying to me as a Trekkie, but it also had enough new stuff that it was exciting and fresh. My first two years in college were spent imagining up my OC's takes on different mission arcs more often than uh.. college. Long-time friends and followers will recall my obsession with the Dyson Sphere and the Iconian War.

But that's when things started to change, right after the Iconian War. The war itself felt like the great culmination of all the past mission arcs, like we built up to the conflict and it exploded into this terrible intergalactic event. Since then, no new missions have felt the same to me.

STO seemed to evolve further into a super segmented Star Trek theme park after that. We already had Voyager Land (the Delta Quadrant) before the war, and it played a relatively satisfying role in the war; however, it became especially clear with the Gamma Quadrant arc that we were getting a new expansion into Deep Space 9 Land after the short burst of original stuff like the Lukari and the Tzenkethi (I know that the Tzenkethi existed in canon before, but STO took them and ran with them).

It has become increasingly clear in recent years that the priority has shifted towards incorporating as many cameos as possible to run the stories, not the other way around. I LOVE Tilly and Mary Wiseman, don't get me wrong, but the way they finagled a way to get Tilly to still be alive in the STO era (having her literal fascist Mirror Universe counterpart travel into the future) felt ingenuine as hell to me. The way I see it, it's less about the story and more about capitalizing on the #SillyForTilly craze to draw new players in. Same goes for all the other canon characters, but Tilly's has felt the most egregious to me personally.

Yes, it IS cool as hell that STO has these actors willing to come in to record cameo voiceovers. It IS cool as hell that we recently got to fight alongside both Tilly and Janeway at the SAME TIME! But it's important to remember that they're not "our" Tilly and Janeway; they're their Mirror counterparts, and one of them is only there as a result of temporal shenanigans. Temporal shenanigans totally happen in canon Trek and are part of the charm, but in the case of STO, they feel excessive to me.

The way I see it, STO is putting the cameos themselves over the characters over the stories. The cameos drive engagement, which drives the ruthless monetization that has also been strangling the life out of the game. It's Star Ship Online and hey omg look over there it's Tilly and Janeway and Wesley omg wow look aaaaaaaah!!!!1!!! I understand that capitalism is gonna capitalism, the game will do what it feels it must do to survive, but it has lost all charm to me.

I came for the sense that I was being included in the universe (via my OCs, because let's face it, OCs are always self-inserts to varying degrees), now I feel like I'm watching an extremely, painfully slow interactive new Trek series that also feels like an advertisement for merch targeted at a super specific audience.

When it comes to the screenshot thing I got myself so entrenched in... I felt like I was an unpaid advertiser for the "new" game, especially when it came to lockbox and promo box ships that people will spend hundreds of dollars to obtain. 99% of the time my art of those ships came from the tribble test server or sniping screenshots of somebody else's ship, all because of the pressure to continually Create Content™. I felt emboldened to continue Creating Content™ when it became "ship art" and not just "rurinn's silly little pictures," and that's when I became Known On The Internet -- a goal of mine for a long time that turned out to be more thorns than rose petals.

We also have to acknowledge the behavior of the community at large when it comes to that monetization and how creators such as myself get caught in the crossfire. The hate I got over this recreation of a cutscene from A Measure of Morality -- not-so-subtly advertising a 300 USD ship bundle -- was unbelievable, and it still wasn't nearly as bad as the utterly soulless behavior that my partner faces to this day for his videos.

I could go on. For days, probably. Subjects such as the extreme monetization + the rampant unmoderated hate in chat that seeps into the adjacent social media communities come to mind. I felt like my soul had been siphoned away for a time because of it all -- the pain of outgrowing something I loved dearly, watching it change into something unrecognizable, and being berated and harassed by other players and community members drowning in their own toxicity and hate.

I am grateful for STO. I met so many friends because of it. It helped me through some unimaginably difficult times in my life. I met my partner through it and even collaborated with him to create some stunning art. I have been hurting over this for a long time, but I think I'm finally at a stage where I can accept what happened, move on, and heal.

[xasha777]

In the quiet heart of Pasadena, where the sprawling campus of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory lay, a beacon of unparalleled beauty and intelligence emerged. Her name was Elara Thorn. With long, flowing red hair that shimmered like flames and intense green eyes that could pierce through the densest darkness, she was a figure that demanded attention and admiration. Her presence was as commanding as her intellect, making her an indispensable part of the NASA Deep Space Network team.

The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN), a marvel of human ingenuity, was the lifeline of interstellar communication, maintaining contact with far-flung spacecrafts exploring the distant reaches of the cosmos. Elara had dedicated her life to decoding the secrets of the universe, but today, an anomaly had captured her attention—a faint, rhythmic signal unlike anything she had encountered before.

The signal emanated from the depths of space, beyond the Kuiper Belt, where sunlight was a distant memory and the cold embrace of the void was absolute. Elara, dressed in her signature red dress, a symbol of her fierce determination and passion, sat before a console surrounded by monitors displaying streams of data. Her fingers danced over the keyboard, eyes scanning the intricate patterns of the signal.

"This is no ordinary pulsar," she murmured, her voice a soft contrast to the tension filling the room.

Her colleagues gathered around, their faces reflecting a mix of curiosity and concern. The signal was faint but consistent, a series of pulses that suggested intelligence behind the randomness. Elara's mind raced through possibilities, drawing upon her vast knowledge of astrophysics, vector calculus, and quantum mechanics.

As days turned into weeks, Elara's obsession with the signal grew. She barely slept, her mind consumed by the enigma. She ran simulations, plotted graphs, and even consulted historical data from the Voyager probes. Yet, the origin of the signal remained elusive.

One night, as she pored over the data alone, a breakthrough came. The pattern of the signal matched the mathematical principles of celestial mechanics as described by Henri Poincaré, intertwined with the stochastic processes theorized by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The realization struck her like a bolt of lightning—the signal was a message encoded using advanced mathematical concepts, a call from an intelligence that understood the universe at a fundamental level.

Elara's heart raced. She had discovered a bridge between humanity and an extraterrestrial civilization. But what was the message? And why now?

The next day, Elara presented her findings to the DSN team. The room buzzed with excitement and apprehension. With the approval of her superiors, she transmitted a response, a carefully crafted message incorporating the same mathematical principles, hoping to initiate a dialogue.

Weeks passed with no reply, and doubt began to creep in. Had she misunderstood the signal? Was it merely a cosmic coincidence? Then, just as hope began to fade, the monitors lit up with a new transmission. The signal was stronger, more defined, and unmistakably a response.

The alien message revealed a civilization far older and more advanced than humanity, residing in a distant star system. They had been observing Earth for millennia, intrigued by our evolution and technological advancements. Their message was one of peace, offering knowledge that could propel humanity into a new era of understanding and exploration.

Elara's discovery became a turning point in human history. The knowledge shared by the extraterrestrial civilization led to breakthroughs in energy, medicine, and space travel. Humanity embarked on a new golden age of exploration, reaching out to the stars with a newfound sense of unity and purpose.

Elara Thorn, the woman with the fiery hair and the mind to match, became a legend. Her name was etched into the annals of history, a symbol of humanity's insatiable curiosity and the boundless potential of the human spirit. As she looked up at the night sky, she knew that the echoes from the abyss had only just begun, and the journey into the unknown was far from over.

[raspberrybluejeans]

given the birth of a second hyperfixation in this new era of mine i decided to try and think of all of the ones i’ve had before lol. long ass post under the cut

I don’t know the exact order of some of these things but roughly, and mostly categorized by what school I was in at the time because its easier to remember where I was spending my time thinking about these lol:

Robin Hood. (just elementary school I think) Just in general. Consumed anything I could find about him. Somehow believed I was his descendent 💀 I actually visited Sherwood forest and I can’t remember if this Started the madness or if I was already starting lol

Warriors (elementary and I think going into middle school a bit too) The king. the big one. It was my fucking lifestyle. Believed I was a cat in a human body. I had my dad preorder the books as they came out, they’d come in the mail and I’d read the whole thing in a day. I literally prayed to StarClan. I prosthelytized these books to anyone who would listen. I still proudly display the books in my room they are a part of my soul even if I barely remember particular events of them anymore lol

Fushigi Yugi (middle school I think) I don't know how tf I found this anime and I've never heard of anyone else talk about it before. I don't even remember what it was really about anymore. But I know I was making OCs and drawing fanart and had books of notes and little fanfiction things that I never shared with anyone lol. I vaguely remember that this show actually had a trans character, though its anime so of course it wasn't done particularly respectfully lmao. But I think its part of why it stuck with me so much at this time that my gender was starting to trans lmfao. (All i remember is the protagonist was going to get the ability to grant wishes at some point, and one character who was mostly seemingly male asked if she would use her wish to term him(?) into a woman)

His Dark Materials (middle school) I ate these books up and I liked The Golden Compass movie too, but definitely not as much as the books. I made myself a daemon and I am so sad to say I don't remember his name anymore. At the time I was still identifying as female so the daemon was a male lol. I think I had decided his settled form would be a Jaguarundi even though I was still a kid lmfao. I remember gently forcing my friends to make daemons for themselves too lol

Hetalia (middle school. pretty sure the hyperfixation was about done before starting high school) I don't know that I want to share much details about these dark times but I was so insane 💀

Star Trek (high school) I watched The Original Series when I was younger with my dad and I loved it but didnt particularly hyperfixate until high school, where I started also watching The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Loved them all so much. Made OCs, fanart, etc. For some reason I never really got into shipping with Star Trek though. I've always said they feel like my family members so it feels wrong LOL. I do ship Spock and Kirk and stuff but it took me awhile to get into seeing actual ship fanart because it felt like seeing your parents kiss or something 😂 I remember I would draw little star trek things and look up lore and I'd talk about the different species and stuff to anyone who would listen lol

SuperWhoLock (high school) I sort of fixated on each of these more at random times, though I'm pretty sure that Doctor Who was the strongest interest of the three? I think I did cosplay stuff for all of them, fanart stuff for all of them. Read so much Sherlock fanfiction it makes me sick to think about now

Homestuck (high school) pain. OCs, fanart, cosplaying, everything. Parodies of real songs made to be about homestuck filled my song library. Madness

Marvel (high school and slowly tapered off into the medicated years lol) MCU, Xmen, comics, everything. I watched all the movies religiously and I had a subscription to the marvel comics app where you could read most of the comics or whatever. I LOVED The Young Avengers and I was sad that they never really made a movie or show for them, but I'm sorta glad they havent now. They would have fucked them up. I also loved the XMen First Class movie and was obsessed with Cherik. And I ate up all the MCU crap, I loved Thor and Jane. I just watched Thor: Love and Thunder which was my first MCU movie in quite awhile and the Thor and Jane stuff in it was kind of cathartic tbh

And then I was medicated 💀 The medication was good in some ways, but it seriously deadened all of my emotions. I just did not deeply care about anything or anyone and thought that was just part of maturing. The MCU movies getting worse and worse until they were unwatchable kind of crushed me and the urge to be interested in anything as well. The closest thing I had to big interests in this time was weirdly enough all games: Pokemon Go, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Minecraft. Not full obsession but they took up most of my free time. But I sort of realized that most of my zest for life died around the time I started taking the medication. And the main reason that I stopped taking it was that when I forgot to take it the detox symptoms or whatever were so violent and it literally would make me sick for days just from forgetting ONE day. So I decided to stop taking them (I weaned off them slowly) and have mostly not regretted that decision. Now I get the thrill of hyperfixations again, which feel even more exciting after being numb for so long lmao

Our Flag Means Death. Obsessed obsessed obsessed. I think I may have read more fanfiction for these ten bitch ass little episodes than anything else before. I made the sideblog to allow myself to go full balls to the wall without flooding my main lmfao. I loved being a part of this fandom as it was born and it has been so much fun. I joined a discord server for this show and I love talking to them. Even though the hyperfixation has faded I still adore this show and I am SO happy there's going to be a season 2, I can't wait, and I hope the hyperfixation sparks up again when it comes out. I can't wait to tear apart every little detail again.

The Magnus Archives. This shit hit me out of left field. I was sad from my OFMD era being burned out and I was tired of all of my music and I decided to listen to this just for something to do. This shit grabbed me by the gooch and swung me around the room. I listened completely blind I had no idea what was going to happen at all and I am just fucking losing my shit. That ending literally has me eating drywall. And since it ended like over a year ago pretty much everyone else is over it now and I have no one to talk to and I'm losing my mind. Help. Help.

Notable shoutouts for things I really loved/love but they never fully manifested into like. obsession (at least they haven’t yet lol)

Animal Ark (elementary) I just ate up these books I read so many but didnt quite have enough lore to obsess over lmao

Animorphs (elementary/middle) not sure why this didnt really manifest into obsession. i own all of the books though, and still display them lol

Several random animes I no longer remember. (middle) There was some period where I'd watch any anime/read any manga I could get my hands on and have a brief little moment with that lol

Merlin (high school) loved it but alas. no insanity

Teen Wolf (high school) even closer to hyperfixation but not quite

In The Flesh (high school) I think this one almost could have been considered a hyperfixation but I got into it like. basically right when it got cancelled and it just SHATTERED my heart I did not recover for years I still live in terror from that

Welcome To Nightvale (high school) So I was MAINLY obsessed with the fact that the protagonist was gay and less so with the actual plot lol. I did cosplay for this though, I was even Cecil for Halloween one year. I want to restart listening to this soon, to give it another chance, since I have a new appreciation for spooky shit. Once my TMA era has faded lmfao.

Ice Planet Barbarians Series (I think I was reading these right around the time I stopped taking meds lol) I started reading the first one as a joke because it has a funny name and funny cover but I actually loved it. I loved the world and the lore and everything. It frustrated me in the end though because a) each book got too formulaic. Every book was a brand new couple. Girl I want to hear more about the established couples and their families and shit. and b) because gay stuff was almost impossible given the way things worked in this series lol. Anyways close but no cigar. I read at least 20 of those fuckin books tho

Howl's Moving Castle book series (Post Medication Modern Era) I fucking adored these books, they were so easy to read and the world was so delightful and funny. I wish there was more. But there was not enough lore or community for me to hyperfixate

The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings books (PMME) Fucking incredible even if they were very hard to read. I'm almost certain I would have had a full LOTR era if OFMD had not hit me like a train. So maybe this will happen eventually but I think I've been enjoying it The Normal Amount for a longer amount of time instead lol. I did also have sort of a mini era back in high school or something over The Hobbit movies but now that I've read the books those leave sort of a bad taste in my mouth lol

Black Sails (PMME) I was still too obsessed with OFMD when I watched this lol. This show was so good and had I seen it before OFMD I might have gone super crazy for it. I still think it was such a good story though.

Theres a good chance that I'm forgetting some stuff here but oh well lmfao. If you actually read all of this I give you a kiss on the lips

[transformersaesthetics]

Dark of the Moon

TUMBLR! I deeply apologize for the extended hiatus. Life is sometimes hard. But, to make it up to you, I return, for the first time in a long time, with, gasp, an actual essay analyzing the actual aesthetics of a transformers toyline! We’ve got Dark of the Moon, people!

Without further ado,

Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the third entry into the series of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Dark of the Moon (DOTM) continued to evolve the aesthetics of the film franchise, and introduced many of the aesthetic traits that would come to define subsequent films, such as extremely human Autobots and drawing and occasionally tweaking pre-existing models from previous films to fill out the cast. The toyline continued to evolve many of the features found in previous movie toylines, such as automated gimmickry, high levels of complexity, Human Alliance figures, and others. 

Aesthetically, DOTM is significantly busier than its predecessors. In many respects, ROTF represents a smooth and fairly coherent outgrowth of the visual language of the first film. While DOTM is clearly drawn from the same source, sometimes quite literally, it lacks much of the unity of the earlier media. Although one concept artist, Josh Nizzi, was responsible almost all of the designs of Dark of the Moon (“Nizzi continued Megatron's evolution, as well as designing Shockwave, Soundwave and Laserbeak, the Wreckers and Dreads...pretty much everybody except Wheeljack and Brains”, the straight reuse of models from ROTF and the first film, the presence of many generics without alternate modes, and the iconic elements of the aforementioned characters Wheeljack and Brains contributes to the lack of a strong aesthetic identity for DOTM. (Apcog)

        Like Revenge of the Fallen before it, DOTM reused the models of the core cast of autobots, with minor cosmetic changes for Bumblebee and others, and back characters from previous films as themselves, most notably Barricade. (ItsWalky, Dark)  However, DOTM also uses generic models to fill out a large army of generic enemies. One of the central plot points of DOTM is a pitched battle in Chicago, featuring wave upon wave of Decepticons versus the Autobots. (ItsWalky, Dark) In order to have the requisite number of bodies to fill out a whole army, DOTM adopted several approaches. Several generics with unique models were created; many of these were only onscreen for a handful of seconds, and never received a figure or even a name. It is often possible to watch the entire movie without realizing that a particular model, like that of new character Devcon, has been on screen. (Tom Servo) Most of the characters, however, were straight asset reuses from the previous films. Examples include Scrapper and Long Haul, two ROTF era decepticon models, reuse of the first movie Brawl/Demolisher M1 Abrams model, Sideway’s Audi R8 from ROTF, Lensmeter decepticons, reusing Scalple’s ROTF model, and others. (ItsWalky, Dark). While ROTF had often used multiple constructicons, particularly in the Egypt scene, to pad the ranks of the enemy forces, those models originated in that film, and aren’t reuse in the sense employed here. This reuse somewhat complicates the issue of what can be said to be the aesthetic of Dark of the Moon; obviously, these models are part of the finished film. However, they are simply drawn wholesale from previous efforts. They constitute, therefore, a part of the aesthetic of the film despite not being originally from it, creating one of many subcategories of the aesthetic of the movie. 

    We also find a lack of cohesion in the designs that are original to DOTM as well. In the first movie, the Decepticons were all military vehicles, with the exception of Megatron, who didn’t have an earth based alternate mode, and Barricade, who turned into a police car. (ItsWalky, Transformers) In DOTM, there is no such clear unifying element. On the Decepticon side, five new characters are introduced; Shockwave, Laserbeak, and the three Dreads. (ItsWalky, Dark) Megatron and Soundwave also receive completely overhauled designs. (Apcog) All of these characters have very distinct alternate modes and high level concepts. The dreads are three different robots that each turn into identical chevy suburbans. (Khajidha, Dreads) Laserbeak can turn into anything (SFH, Laserbeak). Soundwave turns into a fancy Mercedes (Servitor 2152). Megatron turns into a Mad Max styled Mack truck, and Shockwave doesn’t actually transform in the film, although his toys are generally given some pseudo tank alternate mode. (M Sipher, Shockwave; Dark T Zeratul) 

        The robot modes share this lack of cohesion. In the first movie, the decepticons all shared monstrous proportions and strongly angular, insectoid heads. In DOTM, Laserbeak is a bird, and the Dreads are based on nothing so much as the Predator. (SFH, Laserbeak ; Khadijah, Dreads) Like the Dreads, Shockwave is quite monstrous, but lacks earth based alternate mode detailing. (M Sipher, Shockwave) His head is no longer clearly insectoid, and is quite visually distinct from those of the Dreads, or Soundwave’s new head. While Megatron was much the same in ROTF, in DOTM he once again has an alternate mode, and sheds much of the anonymous metal tangles that once comprised his robot mode in favor of vehicle kibble, differentiating him from Shockwave. 

        The Autobots also had a lot going on. Several autobots were introduced for this movie; Dino, Sentinel Prime, Wheeljack (Que), Brains, and the Wreckers. (ItsWalky, Dark) As with the Decepticons, each of these has a very pronounced aesthetic, but they don’t have much in common with each other. Sentinel Prime draws many visual cues from Optimus Prime’s design, particularly around the head, in the way his legs are shaped, and the cab chest. (Charles RB) The Wreckers all turn into Nascars (sometimes customized with a massive array of weaponry), and their robot modes feature styling based on the stereotypical Nascar fan such as mullets and shades. (Derik) Brains and Wheeljack have glowing, floaty hair, strangely human eyes, and pronounced teeth. (SFH, Que)  To top it all off, all of the Autobots occasionally sport a ‘Stealth Force’ mode, where their vehicles grow an array of weapons comparable to the Wreckers. (ItsWalky, Stealth) 

While even from the outset the Autobots had less in common than the Decepticons, in Dark of the Moon there is almost nothing to unify them. Even elements that they had shared before, such as blocky heads, are now largely absent. Dino’s head is quite different from even Sideswipe, who was introduced in the previous film. (M Sipher, Dino)  Where before the heads of the Autobots had been blocky, with clearly defined features such as noses and mouths, Dino’s head is largely smooth, with no obvious features other than his unnaturally round eyes. (M Sipher, Dino) Wheeljack and the Wreckers drift in the opposite direction, from humanoid to being essentially metal people. This aesthetic decision presaged things to come; in Age of Extinction and the Last Knight, most of the new characters featured this sort of ‘metal person’ styling. 

Each faction has a handful of distinct aesthetics, conspiring overall to give the film a lack of singular purpose in design. Where ROTF and the first movie had featured a strong and well defined visual language, DOTM is a seemingly directionless mix of the work of various artists from various points in time. While individual characters have strong visual identity and design elements, as a whole, the film lacks any unifying elements to focus these individual designs, save perhaps the extreme complexity that is the trademark of the franchise. The result is an aesthetic that feels like nothing so much as an arbitrary grouping of disconnected ideas. 

When translated to the toyline, these notions become even more complex, in part because the toyline omits features found in the film, and in part because the toyline introduces features unique to it. 

DOTM was the last movie toyline to feature a high proportion of toy only characters; AOE had only two, and one was a redeco of a character who did appear in the film. (Seichi, Age) As a result, the toyline has features of many of the first two movie lines. Toy-only characters tend to have a softer implementation of the iconic movie aesthetic, garnering their highly detailed appearance from detaining on solid pieces of the alt mode, rather than revealing an entirely new set of details in robot mode by rearranging vehicle shell.  Like ROTF and the first movie line before it, DOTM issued a slew of retailer exclusive decos of figures, both ones new to DOTM and preexisting ones.(Seichi) These also lend unique design elements to the toyline.

DOTM elaborated on the automated gimmickry in the previous two movie lines. Where before the gimmick had been on the figures themselves, in DOTM, the automated features, now referred to as Mech Tech, were found instead on spring loaded weapon accessories packaged with all figures of deluxe and voyager classes. (Eagc7; Seichi)

The Human Alliance sub-branding was now expanded to include figures roughly analogous in size to the scout figures of previous lines. DOTM also included “the Cyberverse subline featuring Legends Class characters, Commander Class (new price point, effectively replacing Scouts)” (Seichi;Khajidha) This subline emphasized the interactivity of figures and playsets. Moreover, “toys were roughly in relative scale with each other”, which served to reinforce the concept of Cyberverse, not as individual toys, but as an ecosystem. (Khajidha) 

Following in the footsteps of the first two movie lines, DOTM featured many toys targeted at a much younger audience. These included Activators, Bash Bots, Revving Robots and Go-bots, all of which were much simpler figures, often with some sort of autotransformation gimmick. (Seichi) The number of these offerings is somewhat comparable to the larger, more complex figures aimed at older children. (Seichi) This feature of the DOTM line presages an important development in later movie toylines, namely the increasingly well defined breach between figures targeted at collectors and older children. Although ROTF arguably represents the peak of complexity in movie figures, DOTM figures are by no means simplistic. DOTM figures continue to have intricate, sometimes arcane transformation schemes, involved shells to create realistic car modes from the highly stylized robot models of the films, and small, dedicated pieces. 

Further complicating the issue of the toyline’s aesthetic, many of the film’s most iconic characters didn’t receive toys at general retail in the United States. “Due to a combination of factors, a number of named characters from the film did not receive "mainline" toy releases, an issue noted by many frustrated fans. Examples include Deluxe Que and Soundwave never seeing a North American release (apparently an issue with retail orders), Dino not receiving a transformable toy at all until 2014 (due to lack of licensing for his vehicle mode), and only one of the three Dreads receiving a Deluxe-or-larger sized toy (likely due to Hasbro not wanting to release three identical black SUVs, even if they do turn into different-looking robots.)” (Seichi, Dark) Leadfoot, one of the Wreckers, got a human alliance toy, but, like Wheeljack and Soundwave, the release of his deluxe figure in the US was totally canceled. (Seichi, Dark) Similarly, many of the characters who’s models were simply reused as generics didn’t receive toys in the line for obvious reasons. Features from the film like Stealth Force weaponry were also found in a limited way on some figures, and to a much more pronounced degree on others, particularly the Wreckers. (Seichi, Dark; Derik)  Since many of the members of the cast to receive toys had been originally featured in previous films, it is difficult to find realized in plastic examples of the many aesthetic features that originated in DOTM, such as Que’s hair. This is perhaps the most profound point of divergence in the aesthetics of the toyline and the film itself, and in many ways is a source of significant departure from previous film toylines, which didn’t feature such a gap. 

The toyline’s relationship to the aesthetics of the film is not one to one. Many of the most recognizable elements of the film, such as Dino or Stealth Force, are obscured or absent from the line altogether. Other features, like Mech Tech or the plethora of Human Alliance figures, aren’t featured in the film itself at all. Many toy only characters are obviously inspired by the visuals of the movies, but concede more to being figures by featuring less intricate metal detailing and more alt mode kibble. The toyline is still clearly situated in the tradition of movie toylines; complexity, Human Alliance, and automated gimmickry all provide strong ties to the past. Something of the future is also visible in DOTM. The eventual split between toys for younger children and more collector oriented figures in the movie lines is presaged by the contracted scope of the more traditional toyline and the continued presence of more Playskool figures. Similarly, DOTM also defines many of the aesthetic decisions that would strongly sculpt toylines in subsequent films, in particular the extremely human styling of Que. 

Overall, from an aesthetic perspective, DOTM is something of a mess. Because there are so many things going on in the film, from Stealth Force to Soundwave’s sports car alternate mode to Sentinel Prime taking cues from Optimus, it becomes difficult to pinpoint what exactly constitutes the aesthetic of DOTM. Certainly, there are several core elements, such as the oft mentioned Stealth Force, the increasingly human designs of new transformers, Wheeljack’s hair, and the reuse of models from previous films, to name a few. However, in many senses, the primary aesthetic feature of Dark of the Moon, both the toyline and the film, is that there are many little aesthetics, such as that of the Dreads or the Wreckers, and these are combined haphazardly with others to create the overall aesthetic of the franchise. 

         Works Cited

Apcog et al. “Josh Nizzi” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Josh_Nizzi Accessed 2/27/2021

Charles RB et al. “Sentinel Prime (ROTF)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Sentinel_Prime_(ROTF) Accessed 3/6/2021

Dark T Zeratul et al. “Megatron (Movie)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Megatron_(Movie) Accessed 3/6/2021

Derik et al. “Wrecker” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Wrecker Accessed 3/6/2021

Eagc7 et al. “Mech Tech” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/MechTech Accessed 2/27/2021

ItsWalky et al. “Stealth Force” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Stealth_Force Accessed 2/27/2021

ItsWalky et al. “Transformers (film)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_(film) Accessed 3/7/2021

ItsWalky et al. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Film)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Dark_of_the_Moon_(film) Accessed 2/28/2021

Khajidha et al. “Cyberverse (toyline)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Cyberverse_(toyline) Accessed 2/27/2021

Khajidha et al. “Dreads” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Dreads Accessed 3/6/2021

M Sipher et al. “Dino” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Dino Accessed 2/27/2021

M Sipher et al. “Shockwave (Movie)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Shockwave_(Movie) Accessed 3/6/2021

Servitor 2152 et al. “Soundwave (ROTF)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Soundwave_(ROTF) Accessed 3/6/2021

Seichi et al. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Toyline)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Dark_of_the_Moon_(toyline) Accessed 2/27/2021

Seichi et al. “Transformers: Age of Extinction (toyline)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Age_of_Extinction_(toyline) Accessed 3/9/2021

SFH et al. “Laserbeak (DOTM)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Laserbeak_(DOTM) Accessed 3/6/2021

SFH et al. “Que” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Que Accessed 3/7/2021

Sunjumper et al. “Human Alliance” TFwiki.https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Human_Alliance Accessed 5/8/2020

Tom Servo the Great et al. “Devcon (DOTM)” TFwiki. https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Devcon_(DOTM) Accessed 2/28/2021

[buzzdixonwriter]

Cowboys And Cavemen

This one’s gonna meander, but it’s about cavemen and cowboys and dinosaurs, so some of you may wanna stick around…

. . .

Recently watched the colorized version of One Million B.C. with Victor mature, Carole Landis, and Lon Chaney Jr.

I remember frequently watching the original black & white version of this as a kid; it popped up on local Early Shows a lot primarily because it could be chopped down to fit an hour’s running time without losing too much of the story (Early Shows were afternoon movies with a local host that typically ran only 90 minutes from 4:30-6pm; with commercials and host segments there wasn’t much room for uncut films and as a result they featured a lot of B-movies with 65 minute running times, or else cut out sequences from longer films not germane to the plot).

The colorized version surprised me in a couple of ways.  

First, I’d forgotten just how well done One Million B.C. is in basic film making terms:  Once past the opening scene, in which an archeologist explains some cave drawings to a group of mountaineers who then imagine themselves in prehistoric times, there’s no recognizable dialog; the film is told in purely visual terms.

Second, the colorization was incredibly sloppy:  There’s a lot of weird blue artifacting going on that lays a strange mist-like quality over several scenes, and in several places the colorists inexplicably either colored the actors’ bare legs blue or else overlooked the mistake in the final color correction.

Third, the sloppy colorization doesn’t matter:  If anything, it adds to the weird dream-like quality of the film.  As an attempt to realistically recreate the prehistoric past, it’s gawdawful; taken as the imaginings of an average contemporary 1940s person with no real knowledge of prehistoric times (viz the prolog), and it’s pretty entertaining.

Technically the movie is a mixed bag.  The special effects are pretty seamless (yeah, you can tell when something is a rear screen shot, but then again rear screen shots in every film of that era were obvious)).  A travelling matte shot of a hapless cavewoman buried under a flood of lava is particularly well done and as amazing today as it was then (though the colorists dropped the ball and didn’t tint it a vivid red or orange in the colorized version).

There’s a lot of monsters, but they range from well done to just plaine…well…

The best are a woolly mammoth (i.e., an elephant in shaggy fur costume) and a baby triceratops (a large pig in costume) that really seem to capture the essence pf those creatures.

The worst is a guy in an allosaurus suit who kinda just shuffles along like a grandparent going to the bathroom, and in the middle are various lizards dressed up with fins and horns.

The lizards bother me more and more over the years.  At first it was because they were disappointing -- they don’t look like dinosaurs, dammit, but like lizards with fins and horns glued on -- but now it’s because I realize they were goaded by their handlers into fights and reactions shots.

That’s plain ol’ animal cruelty, even if they are reptiles and not mammals.

There’s an armadillo and a koala-like animal that appear thousands of times their normal size.  The koala-like critter (sorry, but I don’t know what it actually is) is passable as a giant cave bear or sloth, but the armadillo is just an armadillo (there was something about armadillos that 1930s audience found creepy; they’re waddling all over the Count’s hiding place in the original Dracula).

One Million B.C. was produced by Hal Roach and Hal Roach Jr.  The senior Roach goes all the way back to the silent era, so this was not a huge stretch for him.  

Originally D.W. Griffith was to direct the film, but while he did a lot of pre-production work including screen and wardrobe tests, he either dropped out or was replaced on the eve of production.  (Reportedly he wanted the cave tribes to speak recognizable English and left when Roach refused.)

The special effects wound up in a ton of movies and TV shows over the ensuing decades; modern audiences are more familiar with the film through 1950s sci-fi than its original version.

All else aside, the picture is carried by stars Victor Mature and Carole Landis.  Ms Landis in particular is a spunky, charming cave gal with a blonde-fro and while Mature would never be an Oscar contender, he at least has the physicality and screen presence to get his character across.

The scene where he thinks Landis has died in a volcanic eruption may be corny, but you can feel his character’s grief.

. . .

A quarter of a century later it was remade as One Million Years B.C. with John Richardson in the Victor mature role and Raquel Welch in the Landis role.  

No disrespect to Welch, who by all accounts is a nice person, but she never showed one iota the acting chops of Carole Landis.  Welch is beautiful, and as a generic pin-up model cast as a film’s “sexy lamp” (look it up), she presented appealing eye-candy.  She appeared in one good sci-fi film (Fantastic Voyage), one campy monster movie (i.e., One Million Years B.C.), two incredibly campy WTF-were-they-thinking movies (The Magic Christian and Myra Breckenridge), and a host of instantly forgettable spy films and Westerns.  The best movies she appeared in were Fuzz, based on the 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain (a.k.a. Evan Hunter nee Salvatore Lombino), where she did an acceptable supporting turn as a police detective, and Kansas City Bomber, a roller derby movie that many consider her best role.

Landis never enjoyed the same level of fame (or notoriety, depending on your POV) that Welch did, but holy cow, could the gal act.  It’s a pity Hollywood is crowded with talented, beautiful people because she certainly deserved a bigger career capstone than One Million B.C..

Welch’s personal life certainly proved less traumatic than Landis’, however.  When actor Rex Harrison broken off his affair with her rather than divorce his wife, Landis committed suicide.

The scandal exiled Harrison temporarily back to England.  A few years later One Million B.C. and Landis’ other films started playing on television.

Who knows what opportunities may have opened for her in that medium?

. . .

The original One Million B.C.  is vastly superior in all areas but one (well, two -- mustn’t leave out the catfight between Welch and Martine Beswick):  Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion dinosaurs

Mind you, most of the dino scenes in One Million Years B.C. are underwhelming.  To stretch the budget the producers used close ups of spiders and an iguana to simulate giant monsters, a brontosaurus does a walk through in one scene and never appears again, and the first big dino moment has cave gals poking sharp sticks at a big sea turtle.

On the other hand, the remaining trio of dino scenes are the aces and vastly superior to their corresponding scenes in One Million B.C..  The latter film’s allosaur attack is one of the best dino scenes ever animated, and the ceratosaurus vs triceratops battle followed by the pteranodon grabbing Welch are almost as good.

Both versions of the film had an interesting influence on films that followed.  One Million Years B.C. was followed by a host of prehistoric films, most of which existed only to cast voluptuous actresses in fur bikinis although When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, a direct follow-up, offered more monsters and a better story.

While One Million B.C. wasn’t the first film to sub real life lizards for dinos, it certainly told budget conscious producers that such substitutions were okay.

The 1959 version of Journey To The Center Of The Earth cast iguanas with glued on fins as dimetrodons, and for once the impersonation proved successful as the two species do bear certain similarities.

Producer Irwin Allen (he of Lost In Space and Towering Inferno fame) hired Willis O;Brien (the animator behind the original King Kong) and his then assistant Ray Harryhausen to do accurate-for-the-era stop motion dinosaurs for The Animal World documentary but apparently frustrated by the time it took to get results opted for lizards in his version of The Lost World (which, ironically, O’Brien worked on in a non-animation capacity despite having done the original silent version of the film with stop motion dinosaurs).

I saw Allen’s Lost World as a little boy and felt grossly disappointed by the obvious lizards, especially since the script identified them as belong to specific dinosaur species when they quite clearly didn’t (had the script said they evolved from such creatures, the way the most recent version of King Kong did, it would have been less egregious).

Allen’s lizards popped up in several TV shows he did, most notably the TV version of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.  That show’s co-star David Hedison played a supporting role in The Lost World so once a season they found some excuse to get him out of his Navy uniform and into a safari jacket in order to match footage with stock shots from the movie.

The Animal World wasn’t the first time O’Brien and Harryhausen worked together, and Harryhausen followed up One Million Years B.C. with The Valley Of Gwangi, an O’Brien project that the older effects artist never got off the ground.

. . .

Let’s back up a bit to discuss “O’Bie” (as his fans refer to him).

O’Brien was a former cowboy-turned-cartoonist around the early 20th century who became interested in animation.

Movies were in their infancy then, and O’Bie shot a short test reel of two clay boxers duking it out.

This got him financing to do a series of short films ala The Flintstones with titles like Rural Delivery, One Million B.C. (the titles were often longer than the films).

These shorts featured cartoony puppets, no actual actors.  O’Bie followed it up with The Ghost Of Slumber Mountain which was the first time dinosaurs were animated in an attempt to make them look real, and that was followed by The Lost World in which O’Bie combined live action with special effects, climaxing the film with a brontosaurus running amok in London.

O’Bie wanted to follow it up with a film called Creation but that got deep sixed.  However, producer Merian C. Cooper saw O’Bie’s test footage for Creation and hired him to do the effects for the legendary King Kong.

While O’Bie followed that success with the quickie Son Of Kong he never got to work on a dinosaur film of such scope again.

War Eagles (a lost-civilization-with-dinos story) was supposed to have been a big follow up epic, but the Depression and the growing threat of WWII caused it to be cancelled in pre-production.

During the 1940s O’Bie pitched a number of stories to studios involving dinosaurs or other monsters encountering cowboys, one of which was Gwangi (he also pitched King Kong vs Frankenstein which eventually got made as King Kong vs Godzilla using two guys in rubber suits, not his beloved stop motion effects).

Gwangi had cowboys discovering a lost canyon inhabited by dinosaurs, chief of which being Gwangi, an allosaurus.  O’Bie never got Gwangi off the ground but decades later Harryhausen did with Valley Of Gwangi.

. . .

I never cared for Valley Of Gwangi and much preferred One Million Years B.C. over it (and, no, not because of Ms Welch).

Growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, I enjoyed cowboys as much as dinosaurs.

I’ve posted elsewhere how my interest in dinosaurs led me to dinosaur movies which led to monster movies which led to science fiction movies which led to literary science fiction which led to science fiction fandom which led to my writing career, but my genre of choice before age 10 was Westerns.

As others point out, most Westerns are actually crime stories, what with bandits robbing stagecoaches and banks, rustlers making off with cattle, etc.  The climax usually involves a lawman (or a vigilante who carries the weight of the law) confronting the evil doers and bringing them to justice.

Sometimes these vigilantes wore masks (Zorro and the Lone Ranger).  Sometimes those they pursued wore masks, and sometimes those masked villains pretended to be ghosts or phantoms.

They weren’t, and were invariably exposed as frauds.

Westerns based themselves in a rational world.

Other times a criminal in a Western would be after some invention that could bring either a great boon (say an energy source) or great harm (a death ray) to the world, and wanted it for their own selfish ends.

The story would invariably use the invention as a mcguffin device, maybe letting it figure into the villain’s eventual comeuppance, but never really influencing the outcome of the plot.

Westerns and fantasy genres (including science fiction) don’t mix well, The Wild Wild West not withstanding (and The Wild Wild West was not a Western per se but rather what we would now call a steampunk commentary on James Bond filtered through the lens of traditional American Westerns).

(And don’t bring up Gene Autry And The Phantom Empire, just…don’t…)

Dinosaurs and cowboys don’t really go together.

That didn’t stop O’Bie from trying.

In addition to Gwangi, O’Bie had two other projects that he did get off the ground:  The Brave One and The Beast From Hollow Mountain.

The Beast From Hollow Mountain is a standard Western about mysterious cattle disappearances and quarrels over who might be responsible, only to discover in the end it’s really -- surprise!  surprise! -- a solitary tyrannosaurus that somehow survived since prehistoric times.

The movie is constructed in such a way that had the dinosaur element not panned out, they could have removed it and substituted a more conventional ending.

While O’Bie didn’t work directly on the film after he sold the story, it did feature a variant of stop motion animation known as replacement animation.  Instead of building a realistic looking puppet with rubber skin and posable limbs, the dino in Beast was more solid and featured interchangeable limbs that could stretch and squash in a more realistic manner (rather, the movement looked more realistic, the dino sculpture no so much…).

The Brave One started life as a story about a young Mexican boy who raises a prize bull for the ring, only to have the bull face an allosaurus in the ring instead of a matador.

The producers who bought that idea hired blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to turn it into something filmable, and Trumbo sensibly jettisoned the dino to focus the story on the boy and his bull, much to the film’s advantage (it won an Oscar for best story when released, but Trumbo’s heirs had to wait decades before the award could be recognized as due their father).

The Valley Of Gwangi was yet another variant on the same basic idea, more expansive than the other two in terms of dinosaurs, and with at least a nod in the direction of trying to explain them (a “lost canyon” giving them shelter instead of a mountain plateau or remote island).

It never connected with me, despite having more extensive dino sequences than One Million Years B.C..

O’Bie animated stop motion cowboys fighting a giant ape in the original version of Mighty Joe Young but the context proved different.  The cowboys’ presence in Africa is acknowledge in the film itself as a publicity gimmick, and therefore not a true blend of the American West with a fantastic element.

Mr. Joseph Young of Africa himself, a 12-foot tall gorilla, was also presented as an exceptionally large but otherwise natural gorilla, not a throwback to a prehistoric era.

. . .

Before there were action figures, but long after there were tin soldiers, we had plastic play sets.

They came in all eras and varieties, but among the most popular were Wild West sets, Civil War, World War Two, and dinosaurs.

My father took a business trip to Chicago when I was four, and when he came back I remember eagerly crowding around the suitcase with my mother, grandmother, and aunt as he opened it and brought out souvenirs for us.

I forget what they got, but I remember feeling disappointed and forgotten since their stuff was on top.

But, underneath everything else, sat a large cardboard box, and in that box was a Marx Prehistoric Times playset.

It’s hard to adequately describe the joy that filled my heart when I opened it; it was one of the best presents I’ve ever received.

And while I later acquired a Civil War set and a World War Two set and a bag of what we then called cowboy and Indian figures, the dinosaurs remained my most favorite.

I bring this up because I think the Marx playsets explain the origins of two comics books, Turok, Son Of Stone (an on-again / off-again series from 1954 to 1982 from Dell / Gold Key) and The War That Time Forgot (1960-68 from DC).

In both cases, I’m sure somebody from each company saw some kid combing their Wild West or their World War Two playsets with their dinos and realized there was story gold to be found there.

The War That Time Forgot felt much more my speed, a lost island inhabited by dinosaurs and visited by American and Japanese forces during World War Two.

World War Two effectively ended any hope of their being a lost island with prehistoric monsters; pretty much the entire planet was scouted either on foot or by air.

Turok, Son Of Stone didn’t connect with me.  For one thing, it was too much like a Western in concept; for another, Turok and his brother Andar, being pre-Columbian Native Americans, were already from a neolithic culture, and the various cavemen and Neanderthals they encountered in their lost valley seemed more drab and colorless than their tribal background.

The dinosaurs they encountered always came across as large, dangerous, but wholly natural animals, different only from bears and wolves and bison by size and appearance.

Despite my indifference to Turok, I can absolutely understand why others love it and disdain The War That Time Forgot.

Different strokes for different folks.

. . .

We can’t close this without taking a look at The Flintstones, and we can’t consider The Flintstones without first examining Tex Avery’s The First Bad Man in order to bring this post full circle.

There’s a long history (har!) of contemporary satire using a prehistoric lens.  The Flintstones started life as a knockoff of Jackie Gleason’s The Honeymooners told in a prehistoric setting; the series made no attempt to present itself as realistic in any shape, fashion, or form.

Among the many cartoons and short subjects that preceded it (including Chuck Jones’ Daffy Duck And The Dinosaur) is The First Bad Man by Tex Avery, an MGM theatrical cartoon.

Tex told the story of Dinosaur Dan, the world’s first outlaw, using Western tropes told through a prehistoric lens.

It works, because it’s a parody of the Western form, not a sincere effort to blend it with the caveman genre.  It works because it’s a jarring clash of genres, not despite it.

The caveman genre itself has fallen on fallow times.  Despite films like The Quest For Fire and Clan Of The Cave Bear attempting to do realistic takes on the topic, most people seem to prefer more fanciful approaches, best exemplified by the movie Caveman which sent up the entire genre while not skimping on the stop motion dinos.

With sword & sorcery / Tolkienesque fantasies finally acceptable to mass audiences and thus providing a venue for humans to directly fight giant monsters, there doesn’t seem to be a huge demand for a return to the glories of One Million B.C.

  © Buzz Dixon

[dgcatanisiri]

Ideas for Star Trek spinoffs I’d love to see in no particular order, and with tentative names just in the name of calling them SOMETHING at this point:

Star Trek: Assignment: Earth. Okay, yes, this one stretches the name “Star Trek” the most. But it kinda feels like the story we need in these troubled times. The Original Series episode Assignment: Earth featured Gary Seven and his assistance Roberta Lincoln in a backdoor pilot where Kirk and crew basically stood around and observed these two characters (plus Isis the cat) try to preserve Earth in the 1960s, a time where it seemed the world would plunge into war at a moment’s notice. Sounds like modern times. Jump to the present, probably with their successors (even if Teri Garr could be persuaded to be in any way involved, both characters would be in their seventies/eighties or so by now, and not viable as action-oriented protagonists) explore the build up to the World War III of Star Trek history, plus get the added fun of the angst of “but shouldn’t we do more than prevent the early eruption of violence, shouldn’t we try to prevent it completely?” Feels like the kind of direct commentary we as a species could use right now.

Star Trek: Enterprise-B. CAPTAIN DEMORA SULU OF THE USS ENTERPRISE. Fight me on this one, I’ll kick your ass. Give me the story of the Enterprise that canon forgot. Kick things down like twenty years or so from the prologue of Generations, Demora has taken command of the Enterprise, and let Jacqueline Kim come back as the star. This was my leading idea for what Discovery would end up being back before we had any details, and I STILL WANT IT. Plus the time period between the 2290s and the 2360s is REALLY unexplored - aside from the handful of Lost Era novels, we’ve had almost nothing that’s really played with the period. Untapped potential abounds!

Star Trek: Second Contact. I think Lower Decks is supposed to draw on some elements of this one, but hey, the more the merrier here. I want to see a ship on a long term assignment to an alien planet, where they are learning in depth details of this species that some starship or another encountered. That starship went on to meet other species, this ship set out to develop further relations between the Federation and these people. That would probably help set this apart from Lower Decks - this is an ongoing mission with the starship in orbit of the planet for some extended length of time. Pick the right species, or develop them right, this could easily hold a multi-year mission or just switch up the focus at regular intervals. Not sure when I’d set this, personally, if only because it could be at just about any point in the franchise’s history save the aftermath of the Enterprise era, since Starfleet wouldn’t be well-established. But for the sake of diversity in time frame of ideas, maybe go with the TNG/DS9 era, like the late 2360s/early 2370s.

Star Trek: West Wing. The politics of the Federation are underdeveloped on screen, and Articles of the Federation is one of my favorite novels. So yeah, let’s get a full on political drama about the goings-on at the heart of the Federation’s political system. A system like the Federation needs a lot of moving parts to function that previous Trek has understandably sidestepped, but let’s see what we can do. (And yes, I’m calling it ‘Star Trek West Wing’ purely because it would basically be “West Wing RECYCLED IN STAR TREK!” and this is one of those ideas that definitely would not go to series with that name

Star Trek Starfleet Academy. Obligatory “kick this over to the CW” entry, let’s absolutely see what it’s like for aspiring cadets joining up in Starfleet. Because really, how often have they teased this concept in development? If they’re gonna push for new Trek, why not tap this well? Set it in the aftermath of the Dominion War, we can even get glimpses of the way that Starfleet and the Federation responded to it, plus see the in-universe reaction to things like the return of Voyager and Shinzon’s coup.

Star Trek: Pike’s Enterprise. Obligatory “give us a series” entry. Even aware that part of jumping Discovery forward in time was to get around the “but CONTINUITY!” crowd, plus understanding the difficulties of Spock’s development in a pre-TOS period... c’mon, Give us more of these characters who FINALLY got to set sail as a properly presented screen crew after fifty years of drydock. Plus, there could be crossovers and tie-ins with that Section 31 series, since I figure that Ash is gonna be a major part of it, and he has connection to Pike and Spock, if no one else. 

I could certainly come up with more, but six is a decent starting point for this, at least for the time being.

[rebelsofshield]

Panels Far, Far Away: A Week in Star Wars Comics 11/13-11/27/19

It’s certainly unfair for Lucasfilm to pick my first semester of grad school to start supplying us with more Star Wars content than at any other point in recorded history. Jerk move on their part. Anyways, as a result, here are three (!) weeks worth of Star Wars comics review in which: Marvel’s ongoing ends its seventy five issue run, Doctor Aphra gets her groove back, and Chewbacca knocks some heads. Hopefully I can be quicker about this in the future!

11/13/19

Star Wars #74 written by Greg Pak and art by Phil Noto

In its seventh chapter, “Rebels and Rogues” hurtles towards conclusion. The result may just be the strongest installment of an arc that has been chockfull of great ideas, but often struggled on just how to tell its sometimes overly scattered story. With the different teams now in open communication with one another and each fighting for their lives in desperate situations, writer Greg Pak’s take on the galaxy far, far away has never felt more a live and energetic.

We hop between narratives with surprising ease and elegance and the flow of the story is easy to follow, high energy, and positively fun. Han, Leia, and Dar Champion are flying for their lives in a defenseless ship against an Imperial star destroyer, Luke and Warba are in route to the planet’s rebels but with an Imperial patrol of Stormtroopers riding velociraptors right on their tale, and Threepio and Chewbacca are right in the center of a growing conflict between the rock people of K43 and Darth Vader himself.

Threepio’s arc here still remains the most fascinating stuff in “Rebels and Rogues.” For the first time in a long time, old goldenrod feels like he has an emotional story all his own and it culminates in a moment of self-sacrifice that capitalizes off all the themes of sentience and personhood that this surprisingly delightful subplot has been playing with since day one.

The promised Chewbacca/Darth Vader showdown on the cover doesn’t occur until the comics final pages but it sets up what should be a killer finale. Noto draws a suitably visceral encounter and no other panel in this creative team’s legacy will likely spark as much joy as Chewie spiking a boulder off of the Sith Lord’s ebony helmet.

Score: A-

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: Dark Temple #4 written by Matthew Rosenberg and art by Paolo Villanelli

At the time of this writing, I’ve actually finished playing Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The first single player Star Wars game in over a decade provides a very fun and rewarding experience that is populated with some truly outstanding characters. The game also shows that its tie-in comic, Dark Temple is surprisingly more consequential than one might have originally thought. Sure, Cere and Eno Cordova were known characters in the game from the start, but Dark Temple sees the two encountering numerous elements from Fallen Order for the first time.

Even outside the comic’s surprising consequence to the game it draws from, Dark Temple continues to be a very entertaining prequel era narrative. Even four issues in, writer Matthew Rosenberg is still providing us with new information and twists that upend our understanding of what exactly is going on. Cere and Cordova may have gotten involved in something bigger than they originally anticipated and there is more on the line than freedom for Fylar. Rosenberg has weaved a complex web and just what exactly lies within the titular temple is just as much a mystery now as when it started.

It also helps that this comic is arguably the best looking Star Wars comic on the stands now. Paolo Villanelli has always excelled at drawing dynamic and well choreographed action sequences and he truly shines here as the violent conflict between Flyar and the DAA corporation explodes into full blown war. Villanelli is great at creating a sense of motion and scale and these moments of larger conflict are filled to the brim with well designed characters and explosive energy. Colorist Arif Prianto makes the comic feel like it comes ablaze too with multicolored embers peppering each panel.

Between the surprisingly complex story and the killer art, Dark Temple has quickly evolved into one of the stronger tie-in comics that Star Wars has released in recent memory and a significant improvement on both creator’s previous works in the franchise. Its final issue may not stick the landing, but this is a comic that is well worth considering picking up.

Score: B+

Star Wars Target Vader #5 written by Robbie Thompson and art by Cris Bolson, Robert Di Salvo, and Marco Failla

So turns out the Hidden Hand isn’t the rebellion? I’m very lost at this point. The mysterious crime organization that has been at the center of Target Vader from its start has always been its biggest head scratcher. A last panel reveal at the end of the comic’s first issue heavily hinted that the Hidden Hand was actually just an organization used by the Alliance to work in the criminal underworld. Over the past few issues, we have been given to doubt this reading, until now, where this theory is thrown out the door. Turns out the Hidden Hand may have older and more mysterious origins, but now we are just as lost as ever.

It speaks to the overall aimlessness of Target Vader. Despite the violent thrills of last issue, this miniseries has still been a mostly confused and overly long affair. Beilert Valance is still a mostly dull protagonist and his quest to neutralize Vader feels even more muddled than ever before. Writer Robbie Thompson does some work to try to remedy this situation by giving us an issue that is split between retelling Valance’s past and maiming by the Imperial military and the present where he is now caught between the grip of the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. It creates an interesting scenario for our central anti-hero, but ultimately fails to reveal much enlightening about Valance as a person. We may know why he is a grumpy, angry loaner by this point, but it doesn’t make his relatively one-note behavior any more interesting.

It also doesn’t really help that we have three guest artists on board instead of Stefano Landini. Marco Failla’s pencils may do a good enough job of approximating Landini’s style, but as a whole the result is a bit jarring as the comic never establishes a clear visual consistency. Combined with the fact that we already lost Marc Laming after issue one, this just adds to the weirdly confused reading experience that Target Vader has maintained to this point.

We have seen this comic work. Last issue’s installment was a brutally realized explosion of violent chaos, but we only have one issue now to really bring it all together, and I’m worried that Target Vader may not be up to the task of making this long, strange voyage worth it.

Score: C+

 11/20/19

Star Wars #75 written by Greg Pak and art by Phil Noto

All roads lead to K43. In its eighth and final chapter, “Rebels and Rogues” sees all our team members converge on the rocky moon for one climactic stand against Darth Vader and the Empire. In this extra sized finale, Greg Pak and Phil Noto try their best to pull the disparate threads of this arc together while also delivering a satisfying finale. The result proves fun, very strange, and ultimately forgettable. It ends with a summation of this run as a whole: filled with smart art and ideas, but lacking in standout storytelling beats to leave a lasting impression.

Some of the disappointment comes from the fact that much of this issue comes down to our various cast members beating up on Darth Vader. We open with the final blows of Chewbacca and Vader’s brawl which Noto clearly enjoyed bringing to life, but much of the rest of the issue resorts to the extended ensemble blasting away at him in various set pieces. It plays out like a miniature version of 2016’s Vader Down, but lacking in the edge and thrills of that original crossover.

There’s also some strange choices made with the rock people of K43 that don’t entirely gel with what came before. Part of what made these characters so refreshing throughout this story arc has been how Pak used their existence to challenge our characters’ concepts of sentience and to allow C-3PO to bond with another group of non organic life that is similarly overlooked. This fun play continues, but the conflict of it all is handwaved away in a manner that feels unusually flippant. Given the amount of effort put into finding a way around murdering this race, Pak introduces a last minute plot detail that makes it all feel unnecessary and that’s before the giant planet sized stone giant appears.

Yes, this comic gets very weird and it’s certainly fun, but it feels more than a little scattered and chaotic in a comic that already feels all over the place.

With that, we bid goodbye to this short but enjoyable era of Marvel’s Star Wars ongoing. While Empire Ascendant will presumably be the final issue of the main series, with it being rebooted for a new post Empire Strikes Back ongoing headed by Charles Soule and Jesus Saiz sometime in January, there is a sense of finality to this creative team’s last chapter aboard. Pak and Noto prove a fun bunch and had a great sense of playfulness and scope to this ongoing during its final days even if the execution wasn’t always immaculate. I’m glad to hear that Pak will be staying around to write the next volume of Darth Vader. He has some big shoes to fill, but if the heights of this comic are any indication, he is capable of the same spectacle and intrigue as past creators.

Score: B

11/27/19

Star Wars Adventures #28 written by John Barber and Michael Moreci and art by Derek Charm and Tony Fleecs

Chewbacca’s adventures with his porg sidekick, Terbus, are pretty much perfect fodder for an all-ages Star Wars comic. Given how strong Adventures’ visual storytelling has been since day one, having two protagonists who speak through grunts, squawks, and body language is right up this teams’ alley. Yes, it’s cutesy and yes it is a bit simple, but there is undeniable charm in the way Derek Charm draws us through the liberation of Kashyyyk. It may not be as visually inventive as last issue, but the way that Chewbacca hops through the forest and takes on First Order baddies is still illustrated with the same energy and personality.

There is a bit of tonal whiplash here though. While it’s hard not to be won over by Porg salutes and Wookiees knocking heads, there are moments where the enslavement of the Wookiee population is presented as an all too real possibility. The lighter, more playful execution of this issue may do a lot to make this subject matter more palatable for younger readers, but one wonders if this should have been the direction that the story went with at all.

Michael Moreci’s droid adventure is more tonally cohesive and certainly also a fun time, but it lacks the standout visuals and heart of the Chewbacca section. Last issue succeeded by pairing the under appreciated droids with another outcast that also was invisible to the First Order, but the events here are less concerned with character and theme and more so with the fun action of their plan. All the same, it’s still a decent read and sure to delight younger readers.

Score: B

 Star Wars Doctor Aphra #39 written by Simon Spurrier and art by Caspar Wijngaard

With just one issue left before the end of their tenure, Simon Spurrier and Caspar Wijngaard are pulling out all the stops for the end of Doctor Aphra. After the misstep that was “Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon,” it has been nice to see Spurrier get back in the swing of things with “A Rogue’s End” as each issue improves upon the last. Wijngaard and colorist Lee Loughridge feel more in sync here than ever before and Spurrier twists the knife as Aphra digs herself further and further into a disaster of her own making.

While she was first introduced in Kieron Gillen’s run on the title, Magna Tolvan and her relationship with Aphra have been staples of Spurrier’s run since he first stepped into the title. Here as we hurtle towards the big finish, it seems only fitting that the tortured and complex romance between these two very different souls take center stage. “A Rogue’s End” isn’t afraid to really dig into what it is about these two broken and confused women that drives their attraction to one another and just how deadly and ill advised their love, if it can be called that, is. It’s antagonistic, violent, but ultimately brimming with the sort of affection and tension that makes a good Star Wars romance sing. There is one image in particular here that is beautifully realized by Wijngaard and Loughridge and may rival the two’s first kiss for the iconography of this pairing.

It’s not all two woman coming to terms with one another under extreme circumstances, Aphra is still full speed ahead on her own mission survival. We hurtle towards a series of decisions at the issue’s end that may just cross the line into Aphra’s biggest moral slippage to date. Spurrier seems poised to deliver final judgement on what kind of person our dear rogue archaeologist may be, but knowing her and this series, the final thematic resting point is anyone’s guess. It’s a good thing that Spurrier makes the whole thing so damn fun to read and Wijngaard creates such beautiful imagery.

Score: A-

[rumandtimes]

Halloween Reviews — 2001: A Space Odyssey

Ségolène Sorokina

Assoc. Fiction Editor

A visual tapestry and musical opera, but devoid of interesting characters or a mature story structure.

Heather Downham (as Miss Simmons) in the Opening Scene of Act II in “2001: A Space Odyssey”

This is a film that fits into every director’s, film student’s, and every critic’s education of the film medium. It is a prerequisite on the syllabus of every curriculum for movie makers. 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the most influential works of science-fiction and cinema to come out of the Cold War period, yet it would be entirely wrong to call it a movie. In fact, it is a terrible movie — but it is a remarkable film.

Because every film studies wonk and their mother has an opinion on the film, I will be brief and remain true to the purpose of reviewing it, not lavishing over it. That is to say, I don’t give a flying hoodah what the “deeper meaning” or “wider vision” of 2001: A Space Odyssey is interpreted to be by bandwagon film critics who are too afraid to feel like they’re missing out on the punchline to be honest and objective about the Clarke’s and Kubrick’s failings.

A movie is not meant to be something that has to be discussed afterwards. A movie is not something that requires the viewer to read the book, or take a class to understand. A movie is not something that forces people to sit through 85 minutes of dead air, offering no explanation, and is entirely devoid of any scintilla, any semblance, of a storyline, character arc, or plot.

Containing horror elements, “2001” fits closely enough into the Halloween line-up of reviews, as (#5), if not only because of its inspiration on other horror genre motion pictures.

Quite frankly, 2001: A Space Odyssey is boring as hell. And it is a horrible movie. To give an illustration of how empty the film “2001” is, the original script had about 17,000 words in it. Most of this is description of the sci-fi elements and screen directions. In the end, the film had about 5,000 words of dialogue in it, total. That comes down to about 20 minutes of speech. . . The movie is 139 minutes long.

The film’s defenders are quick to claim that its emptiness and barren quality are an allegory for the emptiness of space. They never seen to stop for a moment however, perhaps in one of the film’s 30-minute long stretches of drawn out ‘alternative’ content, to consider why the film needs such a defence. People do not like it. Quite plainly, it is a bad movie. Defining why it is bad, using words like “allegory,” “metaphor,” and “artistic vision” doesn’t change the fact that it is unwatchable, it just explains how a production crew could look at 5 minutes of black screen in a major motion picture and think to themselves, “The audience will understand why they spent 5 minutes of their life looking at a dead screen. Because it says something about what it means to watch, blah, blah, blah.”

This movie is a film critic’s movie. It gives people plenty to analyse. And it has exceptional cinematography. For a film maker, it’s easy to see why the writers and directors did what they did, and how good it turned out — especially for an audience in the heat of the Cold War-era Space Race, who had quite literally never seen anything like it before. The long, operatic sequences probably mean a great deal to people who were born in the 1950’s and for them 2001: A Space Odyssey was Kubrick putting the last half-century on the silver screen, in colour film, for the first time.

Cinematically, it is exceptional at what it is and what it wants to do. But as a movie — and just a movie — it is quite poor. The entire plot of the film is that all-powerful aliens have been observing life on Earth since before life humanity came into existence, and during the Space Age people discover one of their relics, which leads to the capture of one human being in Jupiter’s orbit, who is killed and reborn as an alien himself. . . That’s it.

What the hell that has to do with the elementary notions of a beginning, middle, and end — a rising conflict, a climax, and a resolution — is anyone’s guess. There is no plot to speak of. Kubrick himself said the picture was more of an exploration of different concepts than a straight forward story. When I watch a film, I’m kind of looking for a storyline; That’s the whole point. A movie is not an art gallery of stills and frames juxtaposed together through editing, it is a cohesive and contained world onto itself: A story.

A movie is a casual experience, not a class requirement or a way to coerce the viewer into writing some kind of thesis. A viewer needs a reason to watch a film, and not because other people watch it or because it’s a cultural phenomenon. In this way, 2001: A Space Odyssey is no different than a trashy boyband, since they both have merits to justify their fame, but only get continued fame and discussion as a previous result of existing acclaim. But that is not enough to idolise a failed film. Reading Stanley Kubrick’s name on the playbill is not enough. Staring at Heather Downham’s ass is not enough.

This film does not deserve to use the title “Odyssey” at all, not more than some cheap gladiator flic would, because the Odyssey had a clear progression of characters, and themes, and resolutions which Homer was capable of creating over a long oracle tradition, and which Clarke and Kubrick fumble to represent on-screen. They should have stuck to long, narrative fiction, because whatever “2001” is trying to be — and even it doesn’t know — this doesn’t work as a movie. The film is polished on the surface, but entirely experimental, and therefore superficial, but above all boring, dull, and dragging on too long.

And nothing in that plot is ground-breaking or new at all. The visuals might be first-of-their-kind on big-budget films, but the ideas of aliens, aliens linked with the Cold War, and computers being evil are old and hackneyed ones. Anyone deluded enough to unwavering call the directors ahead of their time need only to look at the abysmal depiction of women in the film: Pink-wearing, skin-tight, ass-in-the air stewardesses and receptionists, completely subservient to male control and design. Perhaps the film is making a statement that Russian women are liberated and American women are oppressed, yet even the female Soviet scientists do not speak for themselves, but elect the singular male doctor to ask the difficult questions of Floyd instead.

Consider Star Trek, which was released 10 years after 2001: A Space Odyssey, and draws heavily from it, yet Star Trek is also capable of making social commentary. Unfortunately, Star Trek as well, for all its preachings about ascending beyond economic struggles and societal biases, still echoes them. Star Trek shifts the focus from societal bias of the system to implicit bias of the individual, which is a human trait that follows the theme into the future, creating the conflict of the franchise, yet the franchise also has a serious problem with the depiction of women all the way from the Original Series, through the Picard saga, and into the later sequels and spin-offs like Voyager, and current reboots. There’s a major difference between being a liberated woman who still has needs, and being an intergalactic sex toy. Most of my friends are sex-crazed lunatics, but that doesn’t mean they don’t choose to be, and it doesn’t mean they view themselves as second to men or their actions to benefit men generally at all, just as a man chasing several women is hardly doing it for their benefit.

The social commentary is absent in “2001.” The purpose of this might be to make the point by ‘feeling’ rather than telling, but the problem of gently nudging people in a pompous way to feel something instead of sincerely telling them directly is that people will interpret things as they want, and are very resistant to change. If a viewer thinks that lying to Russians because their foreigners is okay to do, then watching Kubrick make a passive aggressive statement about how duplicity can backfire is not going to change their minds — it will only embolden those who disagree with him more, and for those who already agree with him he’s just preaching to the choir. And if someone did take away the wrong message, who’s to say it’s the wrong message anyway, if it’s all “open to interpretation,” ie. an evasion by the writers from making their true feelings known.

And as a small note, the Russian dialogue in the film is horrible. The actors have poor pronunciation, the words they are speaking are incorrect, and the grammatical structure was erroneous. Clarke, Kubrick, and MGM had $10 Million Dollars, and the time to film 30-minutes of people running around in ape suits fighting pig puppets, but they couldn’t do a simple grammar check? They couldn’t cast a single Russian actor?! The four Russians are played by: Leonard Rossiter, French-English, British; Margaret Tyzack, German-English, British; Maya Koumani, Greek-English, British; Krystyna Marr, Polish-German, American.

These tropes were used in different ways, such as not seeing an alien until the very end, and after being pioneered by Kubrick became easy fodder for space movies and the science fiction genre to copy, but don’t actually have any deeper substance. It is a well known fact that Stanley Kubrick did not like the Cold War, so people going into drawn out arguments for why the first 25 minutes of the film was literally thrown away just to make some esoteric statement about how backward and barbaric the Cold War was, are really just gluttons for punishing themselves and inflicting that bias on others.

A fourth (25%) of the runtime of a 2-hour long movie, the first 25 minutes, is completely unwatchable, AND, frustratingly so, it has absolutely nothing to do with the remaining 115 minutes of the film. How in the hell the editors did not cut this garbage out of the movie for its major release debut is incomprehensible. Pulling this kind of raw poor taste is exactly the kind of thing that gives a bad name to ‘artistic freedom.’

The only semblance of a plot is the part everyone thinks about when they think of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the deep space voyage with the supercomputer HAL-9000, pronounced initially as “H.-A.-L.-Niner-Zero-Zero-Zero,” then later, obviously just as “Hal Nine Thousand.”

This minor sequence in the movie saves the film, as far as popular culture and the average person are concerned. HAL-9000 is a perfect and incorruptible machine, tasked with guiding the mission to Jupiter, along with a two-man crew, and payload of three cryo-sleep scientists.

Immediately to the audience, it seems like a stupid idea. Why would anyone go to a gas planet like Jupiter? Why would the AI be put in charge of everything? Why is half the crew in hibernation? All these questions added together make a catastrophe inevitable. HAL mentions as much to one of the crew members himself, asking him if he, too, thought the mission was “odd.” It is explained later that the reason for all these difficulties are the result of a specific miscalculation by the American command structure back on Earth.

HAL tells the crew that communications will fail in 72 hours, but he does not know why, and he never gives an explanation for why he knows this in the film. The crew check that nothing is wrong, and phone NASA (or its fictional equivalent), and NASA tells them HAL is malfunctioning. It is possible that NASA is lying to the crew, or it is possible that HAL got something wrong.

Because HAL was designed to be a perfect robot, this possible malfunction worries the crew, who conspire in secrecy to destroy HAL and take control of the ship. HAL, in true machine fashion, wastes no time in shooting one of the crew out into space, and as his crewmate goes to retrieve the body, HAL kills the rest of the crew and locks him out.

At this point, HAL appears to be acting irrationally and emotionally like a human would. After the last surviving crew member kills HAL, he finds out that the reason HAL killed the crew is because he was programmed by the Americans that under no circumstances whatsoever is he to be shut off.

So what appeared to be self-preservation was actually just the mechanical process of fulfilling his commands. What makes HAL a complex character is that his human caretakers take care of and are taken care of by him. HAL is in total control of the ship, but only because the humans told him to be, as the crew waste their days away drawing sketches, and playing chess, and watching videos. The audience is left to wonder if decommissioning HAL is any different from killing a servant who has gotten sick and is therefore no longer of any use.

When HAL discovers the crew’s plot to take over the ship, HAL is aware that the crew want to ensure they make it to Jupiter and fear HAL would get in the way of that. HAL, however, is also aware that the USAA or NASA or whatever wanted HAL to give the crew a secret message about the aliens after reaching Jupiter. HAL is put in a difficult position, because he believes it is important to get the crew to Jupiter to deliver the message to them, but it is also important to keep the message from them and stay in absolute control of the ship until they get there.

HAL at this point has a logic break and malfunctions, killing the crew, and thereby inadvertently destroying the mission he was acting to protect. When Bowman resets HAL’s memory banks, HAL admits to Bowman that he knows he malfunctioned in killing the crew, and tells him that he/it is afraid to die. This leaves the audience to interpret whether HAL is lying to stop himself getting shut off, so he can compete the mission himself with no crew, or if HAL genuinely broke down and malfunctioned when he murdered the hibernating crew members because he was afraid that the crew would destroy him after the found out what he had done.

There is also something to be said about the fact that Bowman risked his life to retrieve Poole’s dead body, but after it becomes an impediment that threatens his own life, he throws it back out into dead space. It is in this moment that Bowman becomes a dead man himself, since HAL has killed everyone else and damaged the ship for human habitation, making a return trip impossible even if HAL is defeated.

HAL is known to lie to the crew, but it could be influenced by self-preservation and dilemmas, causing something called confusion. But then again, HAL is programmed to lie, so to HAL lying would be a form of truth, because it was told that doing the wrong thing was the right thing, for a greater purpose. And yet, again, HAL cruelly murders the crew when he could have left them frozen, even if it was necessary for it to kill Poole and Bowman, which is as much malfunctional as it is emotional.

HAL-9000 is the strong point of the entire movie. But that being said, HAL does not have a character arch, since HAL never changes over the entire course of the film. The crew only learns about HAL’s motives after they kill him, and despite HAL acting irrationally and inexplicably several times, the movie gives a superficial explanation that HAL has human-interface protocols built-in to sound more palatable to users, nullifying the question of HAL’s possible growth.

HAL did everything it did because humans told it to. Not once did HAL contravene the human directive in it’s own interest. The tragedy of the HAL character is a misinterpretation and accident of logical data. Additionally, the single most important point of HAL’s character — that it doesn’t make mistakes — is severely undercut when HAL makes three mistakes: incorrectly predicting the communicator would break when it didn’t, killing the crew thus undermining the mission, and ultimately being unable to stop itself being erased by Bowman. Part of that discrepancy has to come down to poor writing.

The idea of HAL is great writing. HAL is not a human character, and it’s the robot’s distinct lack of humanity that makes it the most human character of the film.

Bowman, Poole, and Floyd are not characters. They believe nothing, they say nothing, they do nothing. The audience feels nothing for them. When HAL threw Poole out of the spaceship, careening into space, I burst out laughing because of how absurd the image of him getting comically, cosmically tossed out of the veritable window was. When Bowman sees this, he doesn’t even react, but robotically and emotionlessly asks HAL what went wrong, and HAL lies to him by telling him it doesn’t have enough information to know.

After the HAL storyline ends, Bowman receives a transmission that reveals to him that HAL was given a message to lock down the crew and control the ship because the U.S. Government wanted to keep the aliens a secret, even from their own crew who ultimately died because of the mistake. The original script has Bowman re-establish contact with America (I say “America” and not “Earth” because the film makes clear that the U.S. is not cooperating with other countries), and NASA sends him the message. That is cut in the final film, with Bowman just discovering the message, either because HAL gave it to Bowman as a final act of protecting the mission, or much more likely that HAL being deleted removed a barrier from accessing the message. This further makes the point of why HAL could not allow the crew to ‘unplug’ it, since guarding the message was HAL’s personal mission.

The HAL chapter is marred with long pauses, like waiting literal minutes for the stupid space popcorn balls to turn around and move back and forth, or watching Bowman stare silently into a screen. Many people like the music, but the music usage is paradoxical. Since space is silent, to use ballads of music is just as much a choice as to use dialogue — music is no more “pure” or “non-human” than speech is — and watching entire scores of music play out of a static backdrop would be interesting at the live orchestra, but this is a stereo recording underplaying a film, so it hardly has the same effect. This is a limit, and choice to pursue that limit, which was weak on the part of the writers. A soundtrack is not supposed to take centre stage; people can buy the CD later, but they want to see the movie now.

The movie makes the decision to skip over the rest of the journey to Jupiter, cut out all the dialogue and character exploration between Bowman and NASA, and jumps right to the end of the movie — a twenty-minute-long session of meaningless strobe lights.

All the storyline and extra HAL content that could have been included, and they made the decision to, again, burn the whole film continuity down as a middle finger to the audience and the producers — to balk conventional ‘expectation.’ It is a horrible choice. The writers said they wanted to create something alien and never imagined before about what a different world would be like. They said they had some difficulty translating the idea: And they decided on rainbow lights and lava lamps. Twenty. Straight. Uninterrupted. Minutes of it.

This is made even more BS that the directors put a title card right in the middle of the HAL sequence, in front of this, called “Intermission.” Is this what audiences were returning for? One unhappy movie-goers said, “People call this movie genius: There are 5 minutes of black screen in the film. No music. No picture. Just an empty frame of dead air. How genius can that be? Is my turned-off television screen also a genius of cinema? Is a blank piece of paper now some artistic statement? The last half hour of the movie is flashing light in people’s faces for 30 minutes, with no dialogue. A complete bore and an insult. One of the most overrated films in history.”

Skipping over about an hour of rubbish in the film, it starts to become compelling. There probably exists a fan edit out there somewhere that recut the film, trimming it down to 45 minutes. The monkey scene — “Dawn of Man” — could be 2 minutes. (As a side point, it shoud be pointed out that humans are not descended from chimpanzees, but that chimpanzees and humans share a common origin, much like whales and elephants do.) The space stewardesses fumbling to walk and carrying lunch trays can go. Floyd’s daughter plays no role whatsoever. Floyd can meet the Soviets, talk about the virus, then give the Moon presentation about the virus being a cover story, and then they go to the alien artifact, and then it cuts to HAL-9000. After HAL dies, there is a 60-second sequence of ‘light gates’ to convey the ship was abducted, and then the screen fades to black. The End. What happens? Who knows. Not much different from the original.

I’ve read some of the commentary on this film, such as by Roger Ebert (or Robert Egert, or whatever his name is) and the always come off as snobs and pricks, even suggesting audiences should requires some minimum score on an entrance exam to see the movie in theatres. That is exactly the problem with 2001: A Space Odyssey, snobbery. The snobbish idea that it means something more when it needs to, and that it doesn’t when it doesn’t need to. There is a reason people find it “annoying. . . confusing. . . infuriating. . . frustrating. . . crazy. . . unwatchable.” These are not people who hate movies or Kubrick, these are the same people who like the HAL story and the Moon voyage parts. But a movie, even about aliens, cannot be alien itself. The movie is supposed to be the viewer’s friend, and guide the viewer through the experience of the alien and the unknown. Alienating the audience is counterproductive in every measure.

Everyone — every single person you ask — calls 2001: A Space Odyssey a work of “art.” Art. Not movie, art. Not entertaining, art. Not good work, but good art. Well, just what the hell is art? I don’t want obstinate art, I want a good film. I’ve seen films that are artistic and compelling. I’ve seen films that are interesting but shallow. A Bruce Lee movie doesn’t have much in the way of plot, but you get to see Bruce Lee do some real-life kung fu and amazing stunts, and it’s still fun. But “2001” more subtle and ‘lava-lampy,’ so much so it is impossible to get lost into the experience without becoming aware of yourself at certain moments and wanting to either turn the show off, or just suffer through it because everyone else seemed to. Film critics might get paid to watch 10 minutes of dead air, but the directors don’t have the right to waste people’s time. At the end of the day, 2001: A Space Odyssey isn’t really intellectual at all; Anyone who’s actually interested in learning something or seeing something new would be better off going to the bookshop or a city gallery, this is still just a movie, and no one can claim they are smart for just sitting there and passively consuming a piece of popular media, not even haughty sci-fi fans. There is a difference between watching a science-fiction movie and being a real scientist!

Film snobs and fusty critics who rewatch the damn thing 10-times don’t get to just designate the whole package as good. Maybe the reason such contrarians like the film is just because so many people don’t, and they feel cultured or superior for pretending they’re ‘in on’ the experience. The movie has some high points and innovative structures, but fails as a cohesive unit. It’s a meticulously crafted bomb. Anyone studying the film has to focus on the camera angles, the underlying themes, and the audience reception more than the plot — because there is no plot.

This is a film which, if you like esoteric and avant-garde, you can watch this film and then spend the rest of your time reading the book and the script notes and the celebratory review articles and the academic theses and watching the director and cast interviews, to actually understand what the hell is going on. That is certainly its own kind of experience, but it is not a movie experience. That is to say, it’s not fun.

If you want to watch a good movie, skip over everything except the HAL arch, watch a 3-minute synopsis on what you missed over the other 90 minutes, and then move on with your life doing more important things, or watching better movies. Even Kubrick’s other movies are drawn-out and slow, but at least they have established characters and a point, as well as a clandestine “moral of the story” under the surface. If that seems like to much of a hassle, just give 2001: A Space Odyssey a hard pass; it’s not worth seeing. This is one of those trailblazing films where the innumerable imitators actually picked up the gauntlet, evolved the themes, and did it better.

Overall Score: 2 out of 5

[dry-valleys]

“Of all that I have yet seen, and I have seen almost everything, Mr Anson’s place captivates the most. It has the happiest and the most graceful union of Grecian taste and of Oriental magnificence”. Dr Sneyd Davies.

After much time in the gorgeous gardens, now inside Shugborough!

These lands were once owned by the bishops of Lichfield, and at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries (c.1540) were privatised and had various owners, settling down with lawyer William Anson, who bought the lands in 1624.

The Ansons were typical of upwardly mobile families of the early modern era, who had benefited from the looting of the monasteries, the patronage of Tudor and Stuart monarchs, and the rise of the bureaucracy, and William’s grandson (also William)  felt secure enough, after the Revolution of 1688, to begin construction of the modern house, the foundations of which were laid in 1693.

The work of William was built upon by his sons, Thomas and George, whose skills complemented each other. Thomas, a European traveller and bachelor, commissioned men such as James “Athenian” Stuart to realise his dreams, in the garden and in the house, whilst serving in public life as MP for Lichfield.

Meanwhile his brother built a successful military career and after his legendary round the world voyage of 1740-44, and his promotion to First Lord of the Admiralty, had both the money to help the work and many new ideas- the house is packed with oriental treasures which are hard to spot in the pictures but can be seen when you go to the house.

Shugborough became a magnet for artists such as Nicholas Thomas Dall, who painted (2) in 1768 and whose work and that of other artists occupies a whole room in the hall.

Their nephew George Adams, who renamed himself George Anson, inherited in 1773 and stewarded the wealth and spent it wisely on things like (4,5) the red drawing room (1794) which was especially sumptuous when dressed for Christmas. (5,7,9,10 from December 2017). 

His son Thomas. who continued in the family tradition of representing Lichfield in Parliament, was created Viscount Anson and Thomas’ son Thomas William was made Earl of Lichfield in 1831 in recognition of his service as Postmaster General and in other offices.

The serenity of the Anson family was disturbed by the problems that affected most aristocratic families beginning in the late 19th century, and in 1960 it was sold to the National Trust, originally leased to Staffordshire County Council, now run by the Trust.

A fascinating modern chapter is that of Lord Patrick Lichfield, who inherited the title in 1961, and though he didn’t own the land, lived here until his death in 2005, working as a leading photographer from his apartments (9,10) to the world of both society and travel photography. 

"My parents opposed me becoming a photographer, but I think that was because they thought if I felt strongly enough to go against their wishes, I might have a chance of succeeding at what I did."

He indeed succeeded at his aims, and a look at his portfolio (on display in the house though photography wasn’t allowed in this section when I went last week; the pictures of the studio are both from December 2017).

Let’s finish this series with Pennant’s tribute to Thomas Anson (1695-1773), a shy and retiring man (there aren’t even any pictures known to be of him), who may not have left any children but who is the father of what we’ve seen here.

“He was the example of true taste in this country; and at the time that he made his own place a paradise, made every neighbor partaker of its elegancies. He was happy in his life, and happy in his end. I saw him about thirty hours before his death, listening calmly to the melody of the harp, preparing for the momentary transit from an earthly concert to an union with the angelic harmonies”.

[phantomchick]

Cosmic Odyssey - The universe is in danger but Darkseid has a plan!?

Hey gang so i spend the last two hours reading the gorgeously rendered Cosmic Odyssey for the very first time! I stumbled on it completely by chance while browsing online but lo and behold one of The major cosmological post-crisis pre-new 52 DC Universe stories!

With art by a long time fave of mine - Mike Mignola - aka the guy responsible for Hellboy and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. 

It’s always nice to suddenly find an extremely well known comic book gem all on your own, it’s feels a lot like finding treasure. I got the same feeling when I read Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. When I read the Hellboy stories for the first time. When I read Batman: War On Crime and Batman: Year One (and well a lot of other batman stories too). Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Y - The Last Man. The Sandman (which I’m still making my way through!) And when I read The Runaways.

 A seriously huge amount of comic book readers have read these famous story long before me - but I hadn’t and I got to experience it all on my own, years after the fact, art and stories and characters in a time capsule. It’s a special kind of magic.

Anyway, that’s the feeling I got flipping through the pages on this one. Cosmic Odyssey just bursts with.. well, Adventure.

Just four issues and it’s got a lot going on.

The summary goes :

“Since time immemorial, the forces of New Genesis and Apokolips have stood at odds for control over the universe. Nothing less than the threat of total cosmic destruction could forge an alliance between Highfather and Darkseid... but that time has come and the story is told in the COSMIC ODYSSEY. “

But there’s a lot more to it than just that! 

The promotional tag line of this series was “But Darkseid has a plan.” You see basically - The fate of the entire universe is entrusted to a scheme hatched by the vilest despot ever to conquer a world! And everyone has to trust his plan lest each galaxy be destroyed by the anti-life equation. Darkseid - SEEKER OF ULTIMATE POWER decides he needs the help of heroes! And to endure his long time adversary and polar opposite the Highfather. 

A hasty team up is called to The Land of New Genesis: Superman, Starfire, Batman, Green Lantern (John Stewart) and Martian Manhunter and a retired elderly Jason Blood. 

Added to their number is Orion, Lightray and The Forager! 

(who i know nearly nothing of besides what i learned in these four issues but they were good characters anyway and definitely added their own dynamics to the team ups)

Apparently up until this point John Stewart had barely been developed as a character at all, Hal Jordan being the Go-To Green Lantern. But this comic spurred on more and more stories featuring him (like GL: Mosaic) and exploring the impact of the changes he experienced in the cosmic odyssey. Just for that this series is extremely influential. A lot of the other character’s get changed by what happens in this comic too, even if just in their perspective on themselves and the world around them.

Getting us to the part of this I most want to talk about -

THE ART!!!!!  OH MAN YOU GUYS!! MIKE MIGNOLA’S ART DOES THINGS TO ME! 

His style combines simplicity with perfect understanding of how to use light and shadows in a piece, colours pop thanks to Steve Oliff and Carlos Garzon and the sense of movement totally drives you forward as you read the comic. The way Mike draws character’s expressions from Batman’s to Starfire’s to Darkseid is seriously unique. For reference this was all in the days before he embraced his true love of dark fantasy with his own storytelling universe (The Mignolaverse) so seeing the way he pencilled the different heroes and villains and the landscapes of the different planets they have to voyage to on their mission is really something interesting. 

Especially for fans of his original work like me haha. Mignola can draw just about any genre so seeing him work on something tonally different to most of his own stuff, and still pull it off while giving it his own distinctive look, was definitely cool. Every page in this comic hits you with a pow! And the cover pages and the spreads are especially gorgeous.

I’m sure a comic like this has been analysed and torn apart and put on a pedestal and all sorts of things already - but as for me, just on the merit of my own reading of it? I really enjoyed it. It was fun. It felt like I was peeking into a world of comics the ones we read nowadays (e.g. new 52 and rebirth) have almost totally moved on from (apart from the core of the main characters of course) but you know that’s not a criticism of modern comics, comics have to evolve, they’re an everchanging medium and the stories and characters are supposed to change and move forward with it. That’s how we get fresh stories, fresh worlds and ideas! 

But still the sense of wonder and nostalgia I got from this callback to an older era of comics was really nice~ 

I might be an easy audience, I like things, but the twists and turns and the direct drive of this story made for an exciting read and I never felt bored.

[delwin47]

Fic Commentary: True North

@captacorn asked:

For the commentary meme, from the last section of True North. The passage starting with "Have you slept at all?" until the end (which is a bit more than 500 words, but I am really curious about the space western they are watching. Are they watching Trek on Trek? Are you being super meta?)        

First, a quick plug:

True North  …on compasses, relative direction, centers of gravity and Tom Paris…

FFN   AO3

Commentary below the break...

So to start, this section is written in the second person, which is a departure from the norm for me and one which I very much enjoyed. I wanted something that would balance the emotion of the previous Tom and Owen section but to do so with more of a sense of quiet intimacy -- the second person was an attempt to achieve that effect.

Instead you ask, "Have you slept at all?"

Tom shakes his head, no. You do a quick calculation: thirty-six hours since he'd volunteered his piloting skills to the away mission - and argued to keep you off of it. In those thirty-six hours, Tom had delivered a child into the world with his own hands and used his skills and knowledge to convince its tiny heart to begin beating. And then, for good measure, he had fought to save a civilization from extinction.

But, when his eyes finally close, all he'll see will be crashing shuttles, burnt and bloodied bodies, a subterranean laboratory and Durst's ripped and stolen face, slaughtered children on the fields of Tarakis - and Joe Carey.

One more nightmare to add to the list.

This scene takes place in the immediate aftermath of ‘Friendship One’ with both Tom and B’Elanna processing Joe Carey’s death. The ‘--and argued to keep you off it’ is intentionally set off with a dash, hopefully to draw the reader’s attention to it -- and to the reminder that Joe could very easily have not been on the away mission at all. In which case the only two human hostages would have been Tom and B’Elanna themselves.

And then there is the balance of all of Tom’s heroics over the last 36 hours against the deaths that, in his head at least, are on his hands. For Tom, the heroics can never truly balance out the deaths. B’Elanna’s understanding of this is a mark of the mature stage of their relationship: in the first fic I ever wrote set in season 2, B’Elanna furiously accuses Tom of wanting to ‘play the hero’. By this point she understands how Tom sees himself, and how little he values his own heroics.

Running his fingers back through his hair, Tom lets out a long breath and then tosses the PADD onto the glass-topped coffee table. He turns, eyes focusing on you for the first time. "How are you doing?"

An impossible question to answer two-thirds of the way through a pregnancy and running a now yet more short-staffed engine room on the wrong side of the galaxy.

"My feet are swelling again."

As hoped, he grins, "That I can do something about," and leans down to remove your boots before pulling your feet up into his lap - slowly, giving time for you to ponderously turn your body. He stretches a long arm across the sofa to prop a pillow behind your back. "Better?"

"You're too good to me."

His fingers work skillfully and methodically across the tension points in your feet and calves. (You had once suggested he should try practicing Chopin with those fingers; that night, he'd been more than happy to prove that he had a half dozen better uses for them.)...

So this is more than a little bit about setting up the Chopin reference but also giving a sense of the normalcy and stability that these two have found in their relationship -- a touchstone amidst the unpredictability of the Delta Quadrant.

...He's back to chewing on the inside of his lip though, and his brow is again lined as his eyes steal back to the still active PADD. You wait: patience, such as it is, has been a late coming and hard won virtue.

"It was senseless: Joe's death."

Senseless, irrational, the act of a single man pushed past the point of reason. It had been Tom himself who had recognized all of that - had based his argument to the Captain upon it - had saved a world and the lives of thousands with that argument.

But it's a single life - and that single senseless death - that will haunt him.

A tiny foot kicks hard into your diaphragm. You gasp reflexively and Tom looks up in concern. With a half-smile of apology, you reach to guide his hand to the top of your abdomen so that he can share in the show your suddenly very awake daughter is putting on.

His awed reaction has become familiar but that takes away none of the impact of his delighted expression. But, too soon, the corners of his mouth fall as his eyes are drawn yet again to the PADD on the table.

"What is it?"

He shrugs in something between anger and frustration. "All the fuck ups, the wrong turns, the endless mistakes - and I get you. Both of you." He looks back to meet your eyes. "How does that make any sense?"

You hold his gaze and you see the boy who grew up reading tales of heroes and knights, who still plays in a world of black and white fantasy where the good guy always wins...

This is pretty much the heart of the scene -- this is Tom questioning his own moral compass. In my mind, Tom is someone who wants -- and on some level still expects (or again expects) -- good things to happen to good people, or to people who do good things. This is the theme I explored in No Good Deed where Auckland-era Tom desperately tries to hold on to his idea that he has done The Right Thing despite all consequential evidence to the contrary. When his idea finally collapses, we get the cynical, self-destructive Tom who is willing to sell out his former shipmates for an early release.

...Your mother, you think, would have liked this blue-eyed husband of yours.

I sort of love this line and am going to resist interpreting it because it is intentionally left uninterpreted for the reader -- and my guess(hope?) is that each reader will have a slightly different interpretation depending on how they read Tom, how they read B’Elanna and how they read the relationships between both B’Elanna and Tom and B’Elanna and her mother (and her Klingon heritage) at this point.

The baby kicks again, connecting squarely with Tom's hand. "Ouch." He winces in sympathy even as he again smiles, pulled back from his dark mood by the child that you've somehow created together. You consider, not for the first time, that the simple biological odds stacked against her conception might well be the least improbable aspect of this child's existence.

 All the fucks ups, the wrong turns, the endless mistakes and I get you – and you get me.

You place a hand on top of Tom's, your fingers brushing against the edge of his wedding band. "Maybe it doesn't make sense. Maybe it was never supposed to."

And this is the resolution, the counter to Tom’s downward spiral pre-Voyager: that here he is again facing the reality that the universe makes little sense in who or what it rewards, but now he has an alternative grounding point -- and he’s no longer on his own.

Maybe interestingly, this piece is intentionally written in reverse chronological order: the first scene takes place in the original Voyager timeline, 8 years in the future; the second scene takes place in the altered timeline, a few months later than this one. This scene is meant to be grounding point for the other two: that Tom’s ability to counsel Kathryn and reconcile with Owen both stem from the solid foundation that we see here.

You stay on the sofa with him, eventually sliding over so you are resting against his chest, his right arm wrapped around you and his hand lying along the curve of your daughter's back. You watch a half-dozen episodes of some absurd television series that Tom terms a 'space western' but mostly you wait for the inevitable moment when Tom's eyes finally flutter closed. On the television, a saucer-shaped vessel speeds its way across an endlessly repeating star field; the effect is oddly soothing. Shifting so that your abdomen is better supported against sofa cushions, you let your own eyes close as well: whatever the coming night might bring, you'll navigate through it together.

Ah, the ‘space western’!  In my mind it is Lost in Space because the title is appropriate and it may well be the most absurd television show I’ve ever sat through a late night marathon of. But it is also intentionally open to interpretation. Mostly I wanted that early sci-fi repeating star field -- no sense of relative direction or an external fixed point by which to navigate. 

Thank you so much for the ask! I don’t think I had read through this piece since I posted it and I very much enjoyed revisiting it.

[littlehouseonthewater]

“Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials.

Hold on; hold fast; hold out.  Patience is genius.” ~Comte de Buffon

“Have you sold your Cruise-a-home yet?” someone with a cheerful disposition asks me.  “Not yet,” I sigh, “we’re still waiting.”

Truly we could not have chosen a better boat than our Cruise-a-home to transition from foundational home to hull home. Now, at the end of 2019, our children are ages 13, 11, 9 and 6.  They have grown at least twelve inches since we began our nautical lifestyle three years ago.  Proud mama moment, my children are amazing.  Their “bedrooms”, if you could call it that, are 29″x68″.  Their bed takes up 27 1/2″x63″, leaving 5″ for knickknacks, treasures, stuffed animals and books.  Like when Alice grew too big in the Wonderland home, the six of us have most literally reached capacity of our Cruise-a-home.

Keeping the dream to cruise alive, Ryan and I have looked at hundreds of sailboats online.  May 2019, a dear friend of ours excitedly found the most probable sailboat candidate to be our next home.  We walked aboard as a family, and felt the “yes, this seems right!” feeling in the pits of our hearts.  Tripling our current living space with three state rooms, two heads (bathrooms) and a walk-in engine room for Ryan to store his tools and me to have a washing machine, how could this not happen quickly for us? We came back to our cruise-a-home and taped up a “For Sale” sign. I just knew all the puzzle pieces would click into place quickly for us.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s many times about the person he calls – not about the calling itself.  He’ll take anyone with an obedient spirit, no matter how green, messy or ignorant they may be.  But once you sign on, he’s got to put you through basic training to get you in shape to operate with his high standards, methods and ways.  Perhaps you don’t have the mental knowledge, the spiritual maturity, or the emotional depth needed to accomplish what he has in mind.  Maybe you want to call the shots in how things proceed – and God knows you’ll fall flat on your face unless he’s the one in charge. He’s got to test your commitment, your endurance – to see what kind of stuff you’re made of for the long haul.  Perhaps it is for you to see what you’re made of…for God already knows.  This basic training always, always grows you in maturity, self-confidence, and ultimately, dependence on God.

So while we’re waiting and getting upset at God for not doing anything, could it be that we are the hold up?  Is it us that he’s waiting on?  To show we trust him – so he can trust us with what he’s about to do?  To prepare us mentally, having thoroughly thought things through?  To prepare us emotionally, with a solid resolve and conviction to move ahead?  To just grow up a little?  Or a lot?  Spring showers can pop up in an afternoon.  Hurricanes take days.  I think God makes us wait because he’s got bigger ideas in mind.  Plus, his timing is always perfect – he can see what’s coming down the pike in eternity, and he knows the right moment in time to get you moving.” ~ Jenny L. Cote (Now I Sea p. 29)

I wept when I read this.  Waiting IS SO HARD!!  But in the months of waiting, I have succumbed to the conclusion: I would rather patiently wait for God’s timing, than try to manipulate something premature and make a chaos of decisions.  That being said, our life continued.

This last summer we cruised 10 days in our 27′ sailboat.  It was our first long sail, overnight, cooking…anything longer than a sunset sail.  Amazingly enough…our kids are crazy.  It was unanimously agreed by our four (not of this world children) that they actually preferred the cramped close cockpit quarters of our 27′ sailboat to our spacious 40′ cruise-a-home (at least when cruising).  They enjoyed snuggling and reading in the cockpit, taking naps in the V-birth, and never once complained.

Our kids are resilient and adaptable.  We spent our first night rocking and rolling (not exceptionally pleasant), moored at Blake Island.  The view of Mt Rainer to the south and Seattle to the east, were beautiful.  The following morning, we walked the island and found treasure while geocaching.

Later, we met up with our friends and cruising companions from our yacht club…and then one boat was not like the others.  I’ll admit, jealousy is hard to combat when I feel I’m lacking…and forced to wait.  But if I remained unsatisfied with what I do have, and stubbornly put my foot down that a 27′ sailboat is just too small for me to even give it a try, how many wonderful memories my family would have missed out on. So, I put forth my best “I got this, let’s figure this out” attitude.  Pleasantly, I’m amazed how well we’ve all adapted to such tiny spaces.  And I thought 238 sq ft for a family of six was tiny!  The memories we’re making, the experiences we’re having, and the bonding and growing we’re doing…strengthens our resolve to keep waiting for the right timing for our one-day bigger sailboat.

A few months after our summer cruise; we felt Ryan had reached all he could learn working on the ferry.  Before his transition to his new job, we decided to seize the opportunity and take a road trip halfway across the United States to visit family.  In typical Taisey fashion, we made this decision with two days planning.  Packed into our 2007 Toyota Highlander, we realized the joy is in the journey, not just zipping to the destination.  Contentedly we passed the hours and miles by listening to Focus on the Family’s radio drama of all seven Chronicles of Narnia series.  Watching the changing landscape as we climbed the Rockies and drove across the Great Plains, I couldn’t help but think of the courageous pioneers, wagon trains and families traversing this ruggedly beautiful terrain so slowly.  Such courageous people of long ago, willing to take the risk in search of a better life and adventure.

On our way to Illinois and Indiana, we drove I-90 and had 3 twelve-hour days to get to our final destination, Elgin, Illinois.  We visited with three sets of great grandparents, made yummy cookies with my favorite Auntie and Uncle, and reconnected with a beloved cousin and her family. When our time was up, our hearts were filled to the brim with love after reconnecting with loved ones we haven’t seen in years.

On our way back west, we decided to take the meandering two lane country roads.  One stop was in Arthur, Illinois where we happened to meet a very nice Amish family who kindly answered all our enthusiastic questions.  They shared how they make buggies (the family business), how they function off the grid, and their fascinating way of life.  We delighted spending a whole afternoon with them, ending with Arianna becoming pen pals with their youngest daughter!!  Now, how cool is that!!  I connected most with their love for family, enjoying the slower pace of life, and putting their whole heart into their craftsmanship and homemaking.  We left with hearts full, and strangers who quickly became friends.

Another interesting stop was at Vandalia, IL.  This city was Illinois’s second state capital from 1819-1839.  This particular building was capital from 1836-1839, before the capital was ultimately moved to Springfield.  Abraham Lincoln was a delegate here.  The wood beams and floors upstairs are still original to 1836.  I get so excited touching and walking where history happened!

Behind the old Vandalia Capital building was an old church turned into a historic museum with 1800 era artifacts.  One reason I love homeschooling, my children naturally exhibit an intellectual curiosity to learn.  In times like these, my heart swells with pride and thankfulness for the museum lady delighted in allowing our responsible children to respectfully hold and handle historical artifacts from this time period.  Textbook history became multi-dimensional with weight, time and place. Experiences like this is what excite and draws us to continue to work hard toward our future voyage.

“Treading alongside the men folk, were women with dainty calloused hands who, after giving birth, would tote water from a brook, never seeking sympathy or aid; but, boldly under bonnet brim her beaming eyes looking far into the future, she’d thrust her dainty feet into sturdy books, never dreaming of the History she made…” (Written by Deloris Lynch in honor of the Madonna of the Old National Trail)  Madonna of the Trail is a series of 12 identical monuments dedicated to the spirit of pioneer women in the United States.  The monuments were commissioned by the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR).  They were installed in each of the 12 states along the National Old Trails Road, which extend from Cumberland, Maryland, to Upland, California. (Wikipedia) Wives and mothers of such high character inspire me to be a bold and courageous helpmate to my husband and example to my children.

An unseasonable blizzard hit the Dakotas, so we headed south through Missouri.  We visited the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis.  Ryan delighted in bringing our children to a place he went when he was a child.  The mighty Mississippi was close to flood stage.

“The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act, and the Dread Scott Decision proceeded the succession of the southern states.” We memorized this history statement from Classical Conversations.  The Dread Scott case and decision was conducted at this St. Louis Courthouse.  One of my favorite book series I read as a youth, which has become a favorite of my children, has its plot line about the Underground Railroad and its setting along the mighty Mississippi and the St. Louis Courthouse.  I feel so privileged to be walking along the trail of our nation’s history with my children.

“We met the advance company of Oregon emigration…It is remarkable how anxious these people are to hear from the Pacific country and strange that so many…should sell out comfortable homes…pack up and start across such an immense, barren waste to settle in some new place of which they have at most so uncertain information, but this is the character of my countrymen.” James Clyman (June 24, 1846)  At one museum in Independence, Missouri, we learned about one gentleman, Ezra Meeker, who traveled the Oregon trail via ox-driven wagon as a child, again along the trail via automobile as an adult, and flew over it a third time before he died.  My mind was blown as I thought through the timeline in my head of all the things that transpired throughout his lifetime from 1830-1928.  Incredible!

We celebrated Felicity’s 9th birthday visiting Bear Country, and Mt Rushmore.  It was a bucket list item for Ryan and I.  Our kids enjoy being Jr. Rangers, filling out different informational pamphlets regarding different national parks.  The girls outlined our road trip route, marking our different stops along the way.

A very sobering Memorial, we visited a piece of the Berlin Wall and read its history to our children.  I know this quote is regarding a different battle, but it touched my heart, and made me ponder. “The price of Liberty.  Let me ask you something.  Did the men of D-Day sacrifice themselves because you and I had earned it and deserved it?  No.  Many of us weren’t even born yet.  Even so, those men realized how precious and valuable we were.  Liberation is not dependent on the action of the imprisioned – it is dependent on the Value of the imprisoned in the eyes of the Liberator…” (Jenny L. Cote Now I Sea! pg 132)

Soldiers, First responders, Men and Women of Valor…my family and I, Thank You.

Continuing west, we visited Kansas’ Capital building. One of two capital buildings where you can take a free guided tour and walk up all 239 steps to the top and outside of the rotunda.  This capital building held significance for our history memory sentence regarding the court case, Brown vs. Board of Education where segregation by race in public schools was deemed unconstitutional.  Until the 1960s, this building was completely open to the public.  Unchaperoned youth would climb throughout the highest heights of the dome and write their names and dates on the brick and steel supports.  It is illegal to do so now, but has been preserved as part of the building’s history.  Amazingly, there are no reports of injuries for such escapades.

The last major place we visited was the Badlands of South Dakota.  What an amazing landscape!!  Buffalo blocked our road.  Prairie dogs played hide and seek with our kids as they ran from hole to hole as if playing Whack-a-Mole.  Taking a break from listening to Chronicles of Narnia, we listened to Jenny L. Cote’s audio book, The Ark, the Reed and the Fire Cloud.  This story is about Noah’s Ark.  It is amazing to see the strata of the rock and read of the fossils they have uncovered in the Badlands ranging from fish and birds to rhinoceros and saber tooth tiger…all fossilized together in the Badlands.

Our spontaneous two and a half week road trip took us across eleven states, from Washington State to Indiana and back again. We indeed have a beautiful country, and we’d spontaneously do it all over again in a heartbeat!!!

“So while we’re waiting and getting upset at God for not doing anything, could it be that…he’s waiting for us to trust him – so he can trust us with what he’s about to do? To prepare us mentally, having thoroughly thought things through?  To prepare us emotionally, with a solid resolve and conviction to move ahead?” ~Jenny L. Cote

The weeks have turned into months of waiting. Our living quarters are as cramped as ever. My emotions have tumbled from wanting to just give up and quit this adventure, to resolved determination that another stubbed toe will not break me and to just hang on…this waiting cannot last forever. Ryan began his new job late in October and absolutely loves it!!  In November, we switched docking places with another member from our yacht club, so we could be right next door to our best friends who are another live-aboard family.  What a blessing it has been to do this live-aboard life with another family with kids!!!  Lastly, with the dawn of 2020 right around the corner, we have saved enough to make an offer on the sailboat we walked aboard in May 2019!! This season of waiting has been a hard season, but it has left me with a solid resolve and conviction that God’s delays are not God’s denials, and His timing will always be perfect. The future adventure is worth the pain of waiting.

Blessings,

Jacy

  The Future Adventure is Worth the Pain of Waiting "Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius." ~Comte de Buffon…

[kendrixtermina]

Baby Reacts To “Wonderwoman”

There’s a lot about this movie that has been said  - 

already mostly about the lack of male gaze lens both in character designs (in which “hot/pretty/idealized” is just another factor ingredient alongside cool, funny, consistent, epic, wise etc and scenes were just let be without infusing Stock Femenine Roles into everything. We saw people’s wrinkles and thigh fat when it made sense for it to be there. A mentor looks weathered and experienced, for experienced.  ) and in simply being a superhero movie that was everything a superhero movie should be (cool fight scenes! aesthetics! brief meditations on the point of fighting evil) rather than the “chick superhero”

There’s one point where I did not see what the common critics’s perception seems to be that hail this as the ultimate reconstruction of the idealistic superhero movie and go on aboout how “kind and pure” this version of the character was like she was a genderflipped classic superman but done right which is perhaps what Comic!Diana is when done right. 

in my eyes she was a “fierce proud opinionated supernatural lady”, except they managed to do that without making her arrogant or over the top hostile/aggressive. (as if to “prove” while still not taking her power and violence seriously... because if I man did it he would seem unhinged and it would be adressed as such, because it is actual agression, not a trope or gimmick.) - instead she was simply outspoken and heroic as a simple admirable quality and when it could spill into seeing things too simple or butting in it was aknowledged. She was simply the sort of person who’d be a hero. 

By which I mean, the above perception seems to miss the crux:

You know this thing that exemplifies very bad derivative works? The one where they just take the windowdressing & names without understanding the essence what made the original liked and force characters full of unique potential into trite generic plots?

Think Metriod Other M, which aimed to fill out a Silent Player Character but instead of logically considering what an armored, genetically engineered space bounty hunter would probably be like and what would appeal to fans of such a game, tried to shoehorn a  “mentor figure loyalty conflict” and “facing your fears” plot that wasn’t even done well when they had a character who was raised by aliens away from humanity, had a She Who Fights Monsters dynamic going on and by all accounts regulariry kicks space pirate ass on solitary space voyages. 

Or the star trek reboot that was more action than conceptual sci fi and gave us a generic rebel teen playboy MC when they could have had James Tiberius Kirk instead, a complex character whose psyche was frequently analyzed to bits in the original series. 

Well, this movie was the exact opposite of that. 

They understood the essence of why people like an “amazon super hero” without needing a preachy angry gimmick -  the simple idea of a fierce yet elegant,  warrior tribe a la Elves, and in its modern positive spin the fantasy of a society where sexist socialization doesn’t exist and wouldn’t stunt people. All of that was very much in the movie free of its common misunderstandings & oversimplifications.

Even more, You can tell the makers thought long and hard about who this character specifically is what that means and how it would impact everything, and what her PoV would be, and that was present and expressed in every single scene.

They looked at her backstory and character traits and had a clear concept of what makes her herserlf and what makes her a hero, and built the whole movie around that - including the narrative cast and villain. 

She’s an outsider from an in some ways more idyllic alien society who fights because she wants to help and feels evil must be opposed. In every scene they think about how she would think and act based on this, how her reactions and priorities would be, wether that is to be curious, fascinated, oblivious or to speak out unhesitatingly where others would be conditioned to see barriers or intimidation. 

She always acts like it would make sense for her to act given her background and motivation, with the eras attitudes or the local’s reactions as simply a backdrop that invited drawing your own conclusions. Nothing is being sold here, but at the same time the authors thought of all the ways her specific backstory and motivations would impact her actions - that which we call “exploring a character’s potential”.

Her outsider’s PoV lets her see the world as something new and intriguing, and allow allows her to see the world’s flaws as something that doesn’t have to be or be taken for granted - if something is wrong, why allow it? She cannot accept it as a simple fact of life. At the same time that same nature makes her all the more repulsed and affected by the bad things she sees - if it doesn’t have to happen then why does it?

The very setting plays into it by first presenting the usual heroic WWI narrative typical to USA movies like it’s merely a boringer prequel of the second when it was really modernity’s original clusterfuck cause of all chain reactions that was somehow simultaneously an inevitable result of long boiling tensions and toxic 19th century ideals of superiority,  and spectacular short-term confluences of bad luck and ineptitude that could have been easily averted 20 times over, resulting in aristocratic dipshits going at each other with technology they didn’t understand until they’d burnt up their whole countries like small children given knives and matches. 

And then not only showing the untold unprecedented crapsack devastation that made it unlike the premodern wars of old but fleshing out the setting and a fuller picture including traumaized folks and a reminder that the britain at the time was itself a nasty superior colonial power etc.a cast that ha Done and Seen some shit everything leading up to the villain reveal (whom the actor carried out superbly) and surprisingly deep point that there isn’t always a clear root of all evil that can be torn out because humans are flawed. 

But they havethe potential for good, too and because that is worth preserving, so constructive efforts beat keeping exact tallies, that it’s not a question of deserving or impeccable purity but of working toward what should be because it’s worthwile.

And though this version’s Ares has very little to do with his original greek counterparts the authors get that a god is not just a character but an embodyment and an archetype - He IS jaded cynism about humans destroying each other and against that stands the archetype of the hero who tries to do what they can. 

[sssoto]

Creator’s update #1

Hey guys! So I’ve decided to start actually blogging on this blog and tell a bit about the various things I’m working on, share WIPs, music I’ve been digging recently etc. I realise that I rarely post anything, so it seems like I’m super inactive - which is totally not true, I just have so much stuff going on and take a long time to finish things, and I’m also pretty picky about what I put up online lol! For the sake of keeping those of you interested in the loop, I’m gonna start this series of creator’s updates in which I’ll update y’all on the progress I’ve made on my various creative projects. The goal is to give an update a few times a month (hopefully lol)!

This past while I’ve been super inactive in the writing department, but very much productive in the art department, so my writing update will be mostly a summary of what I’ve been doing the past few years up until this point.

Mood: Feelin’ real good cuz my parents finally brought my comfy double bed over from my mum’s place this past weekend, which means no more sleeping on the couch yaaaaaas.

Music I’ve been digging recently:

Skye Sweetnam - Boyhunter So, the other day I randomly listened to this song on my way home from work, and I totally realised that Skye Sweetnam is the perfect voice for my character Caitlyn, and this song totally embodies what Caitlyn is all about lmaoooo. (The song isn’t very accurate to the time period Caitlyn lives in, but it’s super accurate to her character essence and personality, and I just find that so lit hahahah) 

Fallulah - Out of It This song is basically my MC’s theme song?? It’s performed by a Danish artist and was super popular in Denmark a few years back as it was the theme tune to a Danish tv show (a show I loved!). The lyrics are just so Daniel, it’s not even funny. It mostly fits his mental state at the beginning of Renaissance.

Girl’s Day - Love Again Ugh I just love the tune of this song so much, I can’t really place my finger on it, the emotion is just so great. I love the guitar riff especially, and Girl’s Day is a four member girl group, so it’s one of those songs where I can imagine my main girls Annaliese, Caitlyn, Mary and Serena singing as each member lmao.

Nine Muses - Remember Another four member group now, this song is also one where I can imagine my main girls singing each member’s part lmao, and having that aspect to a song always makes it a little better for me! Forreal tho, this new release from Nine Muses slays, and we all know it. The music video haunts me.

Sistar - Lonely This song makes me sad and happy all at once, cuz I’m not ready to say goodbye to Sistar, but at the same time this ending is probably the best one any fan could’ve wished for because there was no drama or anger, just well wishes and hope for the future. I know these girls will go far, and this song just pulls at all my heart strings man. The melody of the bridge and chorus, Dasom and Soyu’s parts in particular, really works for me. And yeah, Sistar has four members too, and once again I can picture my main girls singing as each member lmao. It’s a thing I have, okay?

Moana OST - We Know The Way + Know Who You Are I recently watched this movie, and while I sorta felt like the plot was a bit rushed and tropey in many ways, I totally adored the visuals and the MUSIC OMG. These two songs are my favourite, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s vocals never miss, and Auli’i Cravalho’s high note is gorgeous! Also dat choir in the background tho, and in context with the movie scene that song just makes me irrationally emotional mkay. (That ending was the best twist ever, it definitely lifted the story up a notch for me!)

Writing

So I’m writing a book! You might have seen me mention it a few times already on here, but I’ve not really shared much insight into my process or what sort of book this actually is (other than talking about characters here and there), and as I’ve not been making huge progress lately (I’m in an art state of mind duuuh), I thought that I’d keep this section short and sweet, with a bit of an introduction into what my book project is all about.

I call it a book project because I don’t feel comfortable just calling it a book when I don’t have rights to publish. Technically my book is a fanfiction based on the horror video game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and as such I don’t own copyright of the small percentage of my story that features the canon elements. However, I take this as seriously as anyone else would writing their own book, because I’ve poured my entire heart and soul into it, and the vast majority of the content (plot, characters and world) is my original creation. It’s my own little big project lol!

You might be familiar with the game, and even if you aren’t, that’s not a prerequisite for reading my book since everything is introduced and set up just as in any regular book. The protagonist is an Englishman named Daniel, and we know little of his past through the game. I won’t go into too much detail on what the game is about (if you really wanna know, you can look it up), but the point of my book is to explore the protagonist’s life from his childhood up to the events of the game and beyond, and afterwards connect his story to the game sequels featuring other protagonists within the same universe. It’s a bit complex and elaborate, which is just the way I like it!

As the games are set at various points during the Victorian era (game #1 is set in Prussia 1839, game #2 is set in France 1858, and game #3 is set in England 1899), you can probably guess that the entire thing will be pretty long. That’s why I’m making it a series! I have at least seven books planned so far (though there’ll definitely be more, since I’m not near the end of the timeline I need to cover yet), and I currently have the first book written and am writing the sequel - however, the first book will need a complete rewrite once I’m finished with book #2, because I’ve since developed and changed a lot of stuff, and I have many new interesting ideas for a more fleshed out version of the first book. Still, the fanfic version is available online, so if you’d like to read it, you can find it here. You’ll get a pretty good idea of the general story and the characters, but keep in mind that it’s super outdated and will be very different after my rewrite!

For reference, this is the list of books that I’ve planned (and titled) so far, so you can keep up with what book of my series I’m talking about at any given point:

I - Amnesia: Memoirs

II - Amnesia: Renaissance

III - Amnesia: Voyage

IV - Amnesia: Noir

V - Amnesia: Encore

VI - Amnesia: Rogue

So what I’m doing right now with this project is revisions. Uuuuggghhhhh. Yes, that’s right, I’m stuck in revision hell. I’ve not even finished the first draft of Renaissance yet (I know, sacrilege, writing blasphemy, don’t start your damn edits until you’ve finished your draft dumbass), but I had some pretty major changes to make, changes so big that it would be a waste of time and effort to go on drafting without implementing them first. Mainly the changes are surrounding 1) a change of ages of my main cast (I aged many characters up a few years), and 2) changing and figuring out the specifics of the illness which my MC’s sister, Hazel, is afflicted with. She’s not such a major character in Renaissance, but she plays a big role in Memoirs, and since I had all these new ideas for the rewrite of that, I wanted to implement the ripple effects in the second book so it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle to edit later when Renaissance is a finished 3-400k first draft lmao (I have a lot of words okay?). These changes mostly affect the early chapters of my book - chapters I wrote about three years ago, which means that these early chapters really need a face-lift. In addition to the age and illness change, I wanna revise the first five chapters by cutting the fluff and tightening up the beginning so we get to the action a tiny bit faster. Adding to the fact that these early chapters are three years old, the prose also needs an almost complete rewrite. So long story short, all of the edits are taking a long ass time, and I’m not having a good time lmao. Doesn’t help that I had to stop drafting right at one of the juiciest scenes in my book?!?!? (that’s a lie, it gets juicier, but I was just getting to the real good stuff yanno?)

(Side note: for someone who said that I’d keep this short, it sure turned out long lmao. I just have too many damn words.)

Chapters edited: 2/16 (working on 3 right now and it’s an effin’ pain)

Current total word count: 120,591

Current total chapter count: 17 (the number will go down to 16 once I finish the revisions, as I’m merging two chapters)

Look at all the dumb shit I still have to edit for chapter 3. Look at it.

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Art

Man, I’ve been doing a lot of artwork recently, and by a lot, I don’t mean that I’ve finished any.

I think I’ve been focused on developing my actual drawing skills rather than making finished illustrations, because I’ve been so overwhelmed with inspiration and I’ve wanted to try out drawing a bunch of different motives, so my mind is on a lot of different art projects at once, and I’m making baby steps of progress on each of them because I just wanna do everything lmao. I should probably take a step back and settle on one thing at a time, but at the same time, I feel like this is working for me because I’m so inspired and motivated and super excited for every single art piece; I don’t feel myself losing interest in any of them, in fact I just feel like my switching between different artworks keeps every piece fresh and interesting for me, yanno?

So here’s one thing that I’ve been slowly chipping away at for the past few months. I’m drawing a full body group picture of my main cast from Renaissance!

I’ve drawn the anatomy sketches of all the male characters (though I’m debating whether I should add some others), and now I’m adding the female characters one by one, so these are not all of the characters yet. But man, I just love seeing the characters side by side? The variety in their body language, body types and heights is just so interesting to look at, and it’ll be even better once I get around to actually adding their facial features, expressions, hair, attire, and then colouring them as well omg! I’m a sucker for this kind of thing, blame it on @juliajm15 and her amazing diverse character designs.

It’s gonna be a huge picture with a lot of characters, and I’m stoked for it!! This is a piece which I hope I’ll be able to show ya’ll the progress of bit by bit in every few updates. (also, if you feel somewhat familiar with some of my characters, you’re welcome to make guesses at who’s who (; )

Another project I’m working on is making official character portraits of my main cast (and possibly minor characters as well). I just think it’s nice to have official portraits as reference for anyone who’d like to see what the characters look like, and also for myself for whenever I need to refresh the specific features and expression of each character. It’s just a nice thing that satiates my very Type A personality lmao!

So the characters above are Owen Wright (to the left) , Daniel’s puppy bff with the fluffy hair, and then from left to right I’m colouring the portraits of the Armstrong siblings: Caleb, Caitlyn and Tristan. Their dad is a duke! n.n Caleb is the oldest, Caitlyn the youngest, and Tristan is the bland middle child. He’s a little brat LOL but I still love him.

Also, due to this glorious reference I found, I finally figured out how to draw Daniel. Bless this model, I never knew I wanted Daniel to have big puffy lips, but apparently I do.

He looks actually nice now? Which is nice? I’m amazed. Also his hair? I can never draw his hair, but this looks nice so yay? Also, I dunno why I never draw clothes on him, I guess I’m just lazy lol, but he’s gonna need to wear clothes for the official character portrait soooo... That’s a thing I’m gonna have to do.

Now that I’ve figured out his features, it’s gonna be fun to remodel all his family members accordingly. I sense that he’ll have gotten those cute puffy lips from his mum meheheheh.

I also did some Disney fanart of my two favourite Disney ladies; Esmeralda and Kida <3

I actually never really draw fanart any more, it’s been yeeeaaaars since I did, and when I used to do it, I was always very particular about staying as true to the original art style as possible. But now that I’ve spent the past couple years focusing on developing my own art style, I actually decided not to care about that so much and just draw the characters the way I’m used to drawing my own, and lo and behold - it looks pretty accurate to the Disney style?? I assumed that the characters would end up looking very different, but other than the eyes being smaller I feel like they look the exact same lmao. It’s interesting to me, because even when I used to do fanart, I usually did so of Japanese art and manga, not of Disney or any other western art. Also, I don’t consider my own style very Disney, but it pleases me a lot that the characters look so much like themselves even in my art style! The most important thing to me is to capture the essence of the character anyway, so any fan can recognise the character they love so much n.n

So that’s about it for this round! I’ve been working on other things as well, but I’d rather not disclose them to the public just yet - perhaps later, when I’ve made more progress, or (gasp!) actually finished something!! Bahahah, with the many things I’m working on, hell will freeze over before that day comes. *cries*

Youtube

I’m adding this Youtube section because, in addition to writing and doing artwork, I also like to record vocal covers (mainly of kpop songs, but I’ll do anything I’m in the mood for at any given point), aaaaand as of today I'm gonna be uploading speedpaints as well! Which is probably good since I don’t upload my covers nearly as often as I finish them lmao.

I’ve not uploaded any new covers recently (though I really should, I do have some covers lying around on my laptop mwerp), but I’m gonna list a couple of my favourite covers I have on my channel here so you can take a listen if you’d like!

And today I uploaded my very first speedpaint to my channel, so check that out if you’re interested in that sort of stuff! It’s the process of my Christmas portrait piece for Serena. I aim to be more consistent with uploads since I have a few unedited recordings lying around, so keep an eye out for that!

If you’ve read this far, thank you for sticking around and taking a look at my work, even if it’s only in WIP form. I wanted to start doing these updates because I’ve been watching my friends do them for a long time, and I always love reading their writing updates; they motivate me so much to get working on my own stuff, and I just wanna be able to perhaps do something similar for anyone else who’s watching me out there. So thank you sincerely to @coffeeandcalligraphy, @sarahkelsiwrites and @shaelinwrites for sharing your process with the world and being such an inspiration to me and many others, I love seeing you all make progress on your own projects <3

So that was all for this round, I hope you guys enjoyed a little sneak peek into what I’ve been working on! Until next time, folks!