#if this podcast was just the 4 actors it would be a very good and compelling story and I would be very into it

[secondhandjokess]

Taylor fucking KILLED IT in the new episode of The Wizard the Witch and the Wild One holySHIT I can't remember the last time I felt such pure concentrated joy as when Ame and Grandma Wren went flying together. Brennan and Erica were in fine form but then Taylor elevated it to this level that ... When I tell you I dropped what I was doing and started spinning around with my eyes closed and my arms out like I was flying too. I was unpacking art supplies into my new desk and then there was this moment right as they take off where the music... I genuinely, literally felt my stomach drop out like when you suddenly go over a little hill too fast in a car, then just SOARING, I could FEEL what Ame felt, all through the music, my GOD this guy DIDNT EVEN KNOW HOW TO COMPOSE MUSIC BEFORE THIS PODCAST GE TAUGHT HIMSELF I am losing my mind

[georgevilliers]

Mary & George thots

I watched all 7 episodes this morning starting at 4:30am on about 4 hours of sleep so here are all of my very sleep deprived but professional opinions. Also, I read the book The King's Assassin by Benjamin Woolley so i have Extra Opinions

(spoilers and lengthy thots beneath the cut)

These are not going to be in any specific order because I can not be bothered (see: me being up since 4am on 4 hours of sleep) and as a blanket statement I loved the show!!!!! Most of the things I will say are going to be neutral statements relating to differences I saw between what I read in the book and what was in the show. These are not good or bad things, just observations! I think it's fun and interesting to look at the things they changed to make it more interesting and palatable for a tv viewing audience, and I don't think it changes the quality of the product at all! With that out of the way, let's get on to the content:

we'll start with the things I loved

NICHOLAS GALITZINE. Like. HELLO??? I am very familiar with his work (watched everything he's been in and recorded a podcast about it) and I know he's been criminally undervalued in almost every project he's ever done but this really, really tested his limits and I mean that in a very good way. You can tell this whole project was a test of his abilities as an actor both physically and mentally and he really rose to the challenge in such an impressive way. I'm not really sure if this is ever going to be Emmy/awards fodder (if they meant it to be they released it at a very poor time but thats a different discussion for another time) but I do think this is going to lead to some very interesting places for him. People (important decision making ones) are going to see this and realise what his abilities are and this is a very good thing.

The costumes are so incredible. The details, the colours, the cuts, the CAMP. I'm not a costuming expert so I have no way of knowing how accurate any of the costuming was but damn did it look good.

On that note the CAMP. Oh my god. This really had that je ne sais quoi that makes something camp in the way only queer people can make something camp, so really hats off to everyone involved in the production value.

I should mention all of the actors here, including Julianne Moore and Tony Curran. I am biased, being that I now seem to only exist to consume Nicky G media, but everyone did such a great job.

The script is so complex and rich, I really don't envy the actors having to memorize some of the tongue twisters that were part of the dialogue.

I think they did a really good job of crafting George as a character. As someone who is predisposed to love Nick's face (lol) I really did feel a bit of hatred towards him sometimes. I found him embarrassing, hot headed, full of himself, and pitiable, sometimes all within a few scenes!

Let's talk about some of the big changes I noticed

they really REALLY made up about 95% of Mary's storyline, I would say. This is just going off the King's Assassin, mind you, but from what I learned about Mary from that book is that essentially her only role in the course George's life took was the initial bit: sending him to France to become a learned gentleman, and sending him to London to try to catch the king's attention. If anyone has any recommendations for sources about Mary's life I could read about I would be very interested in it in order to piece together more fact and fiction! In general, I would just assume the vast majority of Mary's storyline did not happen, but it was fun though! One thing that is mentioned in the book is that her and the king did become good friends.

I really missed the use of nicknames from James. I guess it was hard to show most of them on screen as a lot of them appeared in letters they wrote to each other when they were apart, but James often referred to him as "Steenie" referring to St Stephen who apparently "had the face of an angel", amongst numerous other nicknames such as wife, dog, and child etc.

I also really wish they had included this famous speech of King James' to his privy council, because it is burned into my brain I can literally recite it word for word now: "You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George."

I think they sort of removed some of George's abilities in order to make him rely on Mary more to involve her character in the storylines. In reality he made all of his own political decisions, knew how to play the king without help if he needed, and was a competent (if not terrible and easily swayed by bribery and trying to level up his own interests) member of the government

One of my favourite things to learn from the book is that when George took a wife (which, I believe in reality he was all too happy to marry in order to secure his possessions with an heir) she was welcomed by the king with open arms. King James became besties with Katie and he considered her as sort of part of their "family". In general I think they played up the "jealousies" from King James.

While it is alleged that George did kill James, it was not by asphyxiation. According to the book, he was suffering what is now known as malaria and had a violent fit, thought to be brought on by a "medication" George gave him which was provided by a doctor but actually administered by George, which is what ended up finally killing him

In general I wish the end hadn't felt so...rushed? Maybe it only felt that way because I know how it actually plays out and maybe if I rewatch while not trying to think about real life events so much, it might feel less so. But the whole issue with Spain took up such a small amount of time in the show when in real life it was like...a problem spanning multiple years. And I know they obviously can not show all of that within a 7 episode television show, it does seem like maybe they should have left it out altogether if they weren't really going to see it to its full justice?

My other small complaint is that it felt to me in some parts that the love between King James and George wasn't there. Certainly it feels to me like perhaps George did not feel the same level of love towards King James as the king felt for him, but the king certainly felt so much love for George. There were multiple instances outlined in the book in which they were "on the outs" because George started ignoring him in favour of Charles, or for other reasons, and it seemed to really tear at the king and he seemed to often be the one reaching out to George trying to keep his love close, rather than George trying to rein the king back in under his power. At that point, George had all of the power he needed and the king was so passive and loved him so much, he stayed the king's favourite until death, and George had very little to worry about in that regard.

There! That's all I can think of for now, and I think this has gone on quite long enough. I feel I need to rewatch the show and try harder to not think about real life situations and just enjoy the story. The fiction in the series is greater than the fact but I still think it's fun! And I recognise that there is a need to dramatize things greatly because the way things really played out in reality would not make good television at all. I hope no real history scholars find this post, and if you do please be gentle with me! I am not really an expert, just a history fan (even though I do find myself wanting to quit my job and become a George Villiers scholar).

If you read all of this you really deserve a medal, and you have all my thanks!

[ndconceptarchive]

Unlocked! The Nancy Drew Podcast 001

Scott Carty | Episode 001

Nov 4, 2016

We've been making transcripts of the various videos on the Her Interactive YouTube channel, and one that will be a continued series is for the official Nancy Drew Podcast up on their channel. They regularly interviewed people involved with the making of these games.

Click on the link above for the podcast itself.

Some notes on the episode:

Scott Carty is the voice actor of the one and only Ned Nickerson.

There is some cool information as to what the process of voice acting was like for these games.

Scott Carty originally met Megan Gaiser (the CEO of Her Interactive at the time) at a neighbor's dinner party prior to the release of Message in a Haunted Mansion

Tammy Tucky (TT): Well, detectives, welcome to Unlocked, the official podcast for all things Nancy Drew. I'm your host Tammy Tucky, and we welcome the voice behind Nancy Drew's boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, voice-over artist Scott Carty to the show. 

Scott Carty (SC): Tammy, how are you? 

TT: I'm very, very excited. That's what I am right now. I think all the girls, think Ned is the perfect boyfriend. So the fact that I'm speaking with Ned today is really exciting. 

SC: Well, as the guy who's lucky enough to play Ned Nickerson, I tell you, it gives me some real bragging points to be able to say that I'm Nancy Drew's boyfriend. You know, Ned does have a little bit of a bone to pick because he never gets to go on the adventures. He always has to just stay back at home and be there at Nancy's beck and call. 

TT: Yeah, that's actually one of my questions. You would love to see Ned be shown physically in a representation in the game and actually help Nancy. 

SC: I think it would be great if Ned finally got invited to go on a trip. 

TT: Where do you think he would most like to go if they had to choose a specific place out of the entire world with Nancy? 

SC: Oh boy, that's good. I don't know. I think there are a lot of similarities that I have with Ned, and I think Ned would want to go to Ireland. I think he’d want to go to some sort of dark and rainy place and truck around amidst a lot of history. 

TT: He seems very mellow, and it seems like a very quaint area to just sit back relax and and enjoy the people. I think he's more of a people person. SC: He could sit and have tea and just wait for Nancy to come back to the hotel. 

TT: Well when they when they offered the part to you because originally… I guess we should take a step back. 

Originally you were in Message in a Haunted Mansion as Charlie Murphy, who was one of the construction workers helping rebuild this mansion in San Francisco. So they brought you back for future games. But first, you were cast as Charlie. When did you hear about the initial call for being a voice in the games? 

SC: You know, the weirdest thing about this whole deal is that when I when I first got that opportunity with Message in a Haunted Mansion, it was the result of going to a neighbors house for a dinner party. 

And prior to that, I wanted to do voice over and character work and I wanted to do commercials and my focus was on writing. I was kind of behind the scenes and I worked among a bunch of old radio voices. 

(*uses a deeper exaggerated voice*) You know, these were the big radio voices that talk like this all the time. And I've always just kind of been a regular voice. So it was tough to crack into that arena. 

At this dinner party, was one of these pivotal moments in my career. I met this woman [Megan Gaiser], and she was the CEO of Her Interactive. We were talking and she said, “what do you do?” 

And it was that moment where I said and I declared it to myself (and to someone else) “I'm a voice actor.” And she said, “oh my gosh, that'd be interesting. You should get in touch with so and so and so that's what happened.” Then I got the call and you know, Charlie was just regular old Charlie, very similar to Ned. I think if you can go back and listen to any of his stuff. It was just sort of, 

“Hi, I'm Charlie.” It was a really cool opportunity and I remember going in the studio [and thinking] this is what I love. 

TT: How did they introduce the character to you? Did they show you visuals of what they were aiming to work on with the computer animation? Or did they say, well, let's get a voice first and then we'll build the image around that? 

SC: That's a great question. I honestly don't really recall with Charlie Murphy, I don't ever remember seeing a visual. I do remember seeing a visual of Ned Nickerson. You know, if you put it side by side, there's a striking resemblance dun dun dun.

So I don't know, a lot of the animators (on this project, but [also] through animation in general) they go through and they they pull from the person who's doing the character when they're creating what that character looks like. And you see that in animated movies all the time. But on this one, I don't recall what Charlie Murphy [was supposed to look like], I just remember them saying, “he's just a good guy, and you know, keep it pretty simple. We don't want anything too forced.” TT: Did you get to meet the other voiceover actors or actresses during those sessions? SC: Typically no, because you're coming in and you're in the studio for probably an hour and a half, and the other people have already been in or out or aren't coming in yet. 

So, I'm trying to think of who I've met. I think I met the woman who played Nancy Drew many, many years ago, but that was it. 

There was one thing that they invited me to that I went to and it was crazy. It was sort of a release party, but they did it with a group of kids. And so they had all these kids that were actually playing the game because it was kind of a user experience. They wanted to see how people were doing it. 

And as kids were playing, I would walk up and go, “hi guys.” There was this this surreal experience to see them playing the game, hearing my voice, and then all of a sudden I come over their shoulder and they hear the voice again, but it's actually coming out of the mouth of this guy standing behind them. 

So I mean, that was a lot of fun. And that was one of those moments where it's like, alright, this is kind of a magical thing I get to do now.

TT: Now with Charlie, were you told who was the murderer or the the bad guy by the end of the game or were you told ahead of time? SC: No, no, they never, they never will reveal that sort of stuff to us because.I don't know if you knew that. I don't know that you could do the character justice honestly. They want you to get the character as the characters going through the story. So it's just like you, the person playing the game receives it. You know, they don't want me giving you any extra tips that may reveal it. 

They want me to just be who that character is. So when I [went in] for Charlie, I don't think I had a whole bunch of interaction.

I'll usually have somebody on the other side of the glass that will be reading back to me and sometimes will interact with me just so that I've got something to pick up off of. 

But with Ned Nickerson, most of it's just between Nancy. So I have a lot of those voice prompts where I hear Nancy say something and I go, “It's ok, Nancy, why don't you think about going around the corner and checking out that phone…” and whatever the clues are, but I don't know where it's gonna go.

One of the things I like about the character of Ned is that I get to [play] the part of a guy who is very supportive of a very smart, confident woman, you know? And I think that's what's so great about these games. You got Nancy Drew, who can get into all these crazy situations, but she figures her way through them, and she is smart and can navigate it (much to the chagrin of Ned sometimes). 

I mean, he can be that worried boyfriend or maybe slightly jealous. But it never is a situation where he doubts her confidence. 

TT: Have you played all the games you were featured in? 

SC: You know, I will admit that I have not. I guess I’m trying to recall, I think there are probably close to 20 games that I've been on. And it's kind of, I don't know, one of those things. 

I don't wanna get to know the process of the game too much, if that makes any sense to you. I want to be a little bit naive to it. That way I can just do the character and get the parts, and let those parts stand on their own so that I'm not trying to out think myself. TT: I love that they gave you a chance to play two other different characters, Sherman Trout in The Final Scene and Henry Albert Daddle in The Secret of the Scarlet Hand. Is there anything that you were not credited for that you got to voice and you'd like to mention now? 

SC: Oh, good question. I think there was one session that we did. And I think [they just gave me] some little…We call them ‘wild lines’ where it's just random stuff that I'm muttering in the background and off mic. So it wouldn't really be identifiable to any particular character, I don't think. I mean, it's just so much fun to be a part of that and to know how people receive it. 

Like when you're talking about going through and playing it just as a fan, it is just so cool to hear about. I was tipped off to the fact of how people post YouTube videos where they play the game to try to share clues. 

I had no idea such a thing existed many years ago until I walked into my daughter's daycare and I'm carrying my daughter in. And all of a sudden, her daycare teacher looks at me. He goes, “good morning, Ned Nickerson.” And I'm like, what? This is a grown man. I think he was probably in his late 20s or so. I said, “how do you know about that?” 

“Because we play”, (he and his wife), “We play those games all the time”. I said, “really?” And he goes, “yeah”. And he goes, “We were going through clues, it was on YouTube.” “Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about?” “You gotta go check it out on YouTube and just go search, ‘Ned Nickerson.’” And I did. And it was, I'll admit,  slightly horrifying to me because you're sitting there watching these people playing the game and going, “oh, Ned, oh, Nickerson.” It was so funny. 

TT: If we were to talk to Ned now, what does Ned think is the perfect type of date to take Nancy out onto (because we really don't get to see Nancy outside of her mystery work)? So what do you think Nancy would like to do with the Ned  if they had a date night? 

SC: Oh wow, you want Ned to bring the romance right now, huh? The writers at Her Interactive do such a good job with all of this. But, I will say if I were to take that on and say I'm Ned Nickerson, and I wanna plan a date for Nancy, I would do this.

“Nancy. Here's what I wanna do. Let's go to a map store. And explore some maps. And then we're gonna go to a bookstore and we're gonna find a new book for you to read. After that, we'll go grab lunch. (This is gonna be a long day, by the way) Go grab lunch and take it to the park. Now you're gonna need that map, Nancy. Because in that park is a clue.” And then I would take her on the scavenger hunt. 

It would be great if I could take Nancy to Central Park in New York. We would have a scavenger hunt.

TT: I think you're onto a storyline here. If we bring Ned in and he starts a scavenger hunt which actually leads to a real mystery. 

SC: See that way, I'm actually in the same city with her and it leads to a real mystery unbeknownst to Ned, because Ned just sort of stepped into it again. Let's see if we can make it viral. 

TT: Yes, please. That would be a lot of fun. I love watching some of the people play the games as well too, because it's really cool to see everybody's different experiences with it. 

For a long time, I had no idea that there were a lot of other people who love these games too. It's really nice. It's like a really, really lovely fandom and there's boys, girls, all different ages, so it's wonderful to have that legacy continue. And you and you were a part of it. 

SC: It's been really crazy. I mean, it's neat that you bring that up, and I appreciate that. You know, as I told you, the story at the beginning of how I just sort of stumbled into that role, but then it kept going and going and going and it was sort of every year they would call me and I get to do more. 

So just to be a part of that and to know to really know what the company was about with Her Interactive, the fact that they were creating content that wasn't really at the time (back in the late 90s- early 2000s) wasn't really available to girls, and I remember when they explained that to me. Megan Geyser was the CEO at the time. I was like, that's awesome. I'm totally on board with that. That's even before I was a father of a girl. So, now to know that it's out there is really, really cool. It's cool to be a part of now. 

TT: What do your kids think about you being that Ned? Do they know?

SC: *jokingly* I keep it a secret from them. 

TT: Have they played the games? SC: My daughter's now 12. I'm looking at the whole stack of them on my shelf here in my studio. I think that it would be kind of fun to pull them out and let her explore them, and just not really tell her anything about it and see what happens. 

TT: And, you have other projects too, I have to add. So why don't you tell us about your Facebook page, of course, your website, and what your most current project is at the moment? SC: Well, you know, part of what I mentioned, [with the story at the beginning] of speaking up and saying, what you are and what you want to do, that you have to be able to to vocalize your dreams and your passions. 

This was an example of where that started, as I went through my career as a writer, as a creative director and doing radio commercials and all of that. One of things I always wanted to do was to be on TV. I did some TV training in college, but I was always told I look too young, which is a good thing to have. It allowed me to get some experience until I finally started to look a little bit older. And people still tell me I look young. I appreciate that. 

But what I finally did is, I said I wanna go to TV and that got me into doing TV entertainment. Now I am a freelance entertainment correspondent and so I'm a journalist. I get to fly all around the country and sit down with movie stars and, and talk with a lot of them, including a lot of animated projects, which is great. That's some of my favorite stuff when we're talking about voice work. 

So I do that for a TV station in Seattle, and I also contribute to a couple of other platforms. And yeah, there's a show coming up that I'm getting excited to announce and then I do my own show, which is called the Scott Carty Party. And it is a web show that I've just started and got a couple coming up here. 

So the trials are sort of out of the way and it's just a chance where we sit down and chat with really interesting people. The next one in November that'll be doing will actually be deep down Voiceover Mastery Summit in Los Angeles, just outside of Hollywood. And I was just down there yesterday where we're gonna be sitting down with just an incredible selection of voices from so many different things. 

We've got the two guys who play Ratchet and Clank, David Kay and James Arnold Taylor will be there Tara Strong EG daily Tommy Pickles from Rugrats. I got to meet her yesterday, you know, and then Melissa Disney.

She was your most recently heard to announce the Emmy Awards and this is all headed up by my really good friend Randy Thomas, who is she was the first woman to ever be the live announcer at the Academy Awards. She's done the Grammy, she does the Tony Awards every year. And so that's gonna be really, really fun to do. We're gonna take the show down there, but I'll also be part of the panel and and people get to come attend that. So it's a real mixed bag of what I get to do, but it's pretty awesome. It's pretty fun. 

TT: I will definitely be tuning in it. 

TT: Will you be posting it on your facebook page? SC: I will in fact in fact I will have something on my Facebook page and you can find me on Facebook at Scott Hardy live at Carty and then on Twitter at at Scott Carty really tough to remember and then even more difficult is my website scottcardi.com. 

It's hard to remember isn't it? Ohh very hard it's.

TT: I am. I'm having, I think I need to write this down just in case. Sure, you'll tweet it out for me. 

SC: But, but yeah, so I'll have all of that listed. In fact, I have a link that I'll post that if people want to register, if they're in the Los Angeles area or they can make it really a variety of things. They can show up for the entire event. 

They can be there for part of it, or they can come and just be part of the cocktail party.And the Scott Cardi party that we do at the end. TT: I can only Wish you the best of luck with everything and again, I can't wait to see your panel. I will include all the links that Scott has mentioned for our listeners below in the YouTube channel show notes and I I can't wait. I hope we get to have you back on the show to talk more about Ned and possible future mysteries he may or may not be involved with. So it was really a pleasure. SC: Thank you, Tammy. It's been really fun talking to you and I'm really I'm intrigued by your show. I think that what you're doing is awesome. You've got some great content there. 

TT: Oh, you’re so sweet, I'd really like to thank you. 

SC: It's fun being a part of a team. It's fun collaborating and in what I do and I know what you do, as a one man band on so many things, you have to cover everything. You've gotta do the writing and do the editing and do the posting and promote it and all of that with her interactive. 

It's great because you're going in and you're part of a team and you've got writers who have spent an enormous amount of time creating the characters and storyline and it's all ready to go and then the audio producer that you get to work. With and you know, you get to go in and be a part of it and then it just magically happens. So it's been a really spectacular experience being a part of it. 

TT: And if you could describe your experience working for her Interactive and being a part of the Nancy Drew universe. And one word, what would it be?

SC: Spectacular!

[darcytaylor]

In celebration of Luke Thompson being the lead for Bridgerton season 4, I thought I would go and watch some of his past interviews. These are just some of my thoughts throughout listening to this podcast episode. 

(this is the video of the interview which is shorter than the actual podcast)

His little chuckles throughout are so charming and adorable. Whenever I read, watch or listen to any interviews with Luke, it is always a joy. You can tell he is well educated, which listening to this podcast he admits he is. Luke tried to get into drama school twice and didn’t get in, then decided to study English and drama in University (this is where he was able to do multiple plays). After that he went on and went to RADA (a very competitive arts school to get into). 

I love how Rob Byron describes Luke - on the edge of funny guy but good looking as well. He straddles both worlds. 

This is very true and this made him able to bring Benedict to life in a way that made him a fan favourite. I think this will also be such a benefit to his career with wherever he wants to go. As much as I am excited about him being the next lead in Bridgerton, I am also equally excited to see where his career will go after. I know he loves theatre but I am sure multiple doors will open for him once Bridgerton Season 4 airs (and yes I know this is years away).

The way be talks about A Little Life - baroque level of suffering, deliberate excess of sorrow. As someone who has read A Little Life and loved the story (while also being emotionally ruined by the end), I couldn’t agree more. 

Who here has also read A Little Life? Who here got a chance to see it on stage? Who here got a chance to see it on screen?

Luke talking in French - As a Canadian I do know a little bit of French (definitely not fluent), I don’t think I would be able to hold an in-depth conversation with him, but I could hold a surface level conversation with him in French at least. Which I think is a success in my books. 

I found it funny that in this podcast Rob asked Luke directly if he was in a relationship. Luke almost answered him, but then caught himself. He says that he is normally reserved about this type of information because (being an actor) he isn’t comfortable talking about himself or talking about his life. He wants to talk about his characters and his acting, it's very respectable.

I’m excited that eventually we will get more interviews with Luke, bring them on!

[o-uncle-newt]

FOUR: it's just so funny, guys

When last year I was doing my listenthrough, at a certain point I stopped including mentions of how funny a particular episode was because... of course they all were. In fact, there are only a couple of episodes that I could name as having plotlines that, IMO, aren't funny and yet even those episodes have some of the most classic joke sequences in the series.* If I sat here and listed every good joke, I'd basically just be reproducing 3/4 of the scripts.

*Qik has a not very funny plot anchored by a not-funny-at-all character, Nancy Whatsherface, but Le Bear Polar is legitimately iconic. Kuala Lumpur even JF doesn't like very much, but Arthur's steward training sequence is basically perfect.

He's just so so good at including the humor in the narrative, is the thing. I did a post last year about Ipswich that was about how good JF is, or rather grew to be, at plot, in particular seamlessly integrating plot and theme and humor. The thing is, even in episodes that aren't as brilliant as Ipswich, the humor is always amazing, and as is obvious given his simultaneous and ensuing comedy career in other formats, he just really gets comedy. But I'd argue that while lots of writers are good at writing jokes, he's really good at writing the RIGHT jokes and putting them in the RIGHT storylines in the mouths of the RIGHT actors.

I think it comes down to a few things-

He's SO good at mining existing situations and limitations for comedy. (Also for plot, which is separate but certainly related.) Obviously this would be a skill that would serve him in good stead in his sketch comedy career, but it's especially good here because instead of circling a sketch around a particular joke, the jokes have to be part of the broader plot, and so he has a more constrained field of search and takes the maximum advantage of it. According to an interview of him on a podcast, the entire conversation with Qik where Douglas convinces Martin that their plane can, in fact, do a polar expedition is essentially JF's replay of a conversation with his dad about whether the kind of plane he chose for GERTI to be back in Ipswich could do a polar expedition- he wanted to do the plot but was worried he'd hamstrung himself by defining the plane he was using, but instead he was able to take that exact limitation and make the actual situation far funnier (though again, I think Qik as an episode has limitations). (Incidentally, while on that subject I want to take the opportunity to appreciate his attention to detail overall. Recently I've been reading Admiral Cloudberg's series on air disasters and I recognized a shocking number of terms from lines that were essentially just him setting the scene for unrelated plots. No idea how overall accurate all of his plane-flying asides are, but the parts that matched up are super cool especially now that I know what a lot of it means.)

At the same time, he has such a great imagination and knew how to cleanly insert the products of it into an episode- obviously he repeats some standard sitcom beats (I think that Rotterdam, one of the funniest episodes, escapes classic status just because "characters get confronted with the cooler versions of themselves" is such a well-worn sitcom-episode plot) but even when he does he can be really original. Not sure where he got the idea of strafing a children's party with a hard-candy bomb and killing a koi from, but it was a stroke of brilliance. He's also surprisingly good at taking previously-written imaginative/comic sequences and putting them very deftly into his scripts- basically the whole "can you imagine 100 otters" scene is from a blog post and you can see exactly how he adapted the exact phrasing but it doesn't matter because he made it fit seamlessly into the new scene and into the overall plot. On a similar note, he's great at using his imagination to come up with different kinds of joke styles- for example, the running joke of them playing games in the flight deck, but then going wild with a) what kinds of games and b) how to mine maximum humor from them. There are just so many classic, brilliant games and he's so good at it that he'll even construct whole episodes around series of games (like Limerick).

He's so good at writing for particular people's voices! He's mentioned that for JFSP he will sometimes call the actors in to do a "silly voices day" and then write sketches based on it, and it's such a cool concept and also so clear how good he is at it. For some TV sketch shows, it can feel like someone wrote a sketch without knowing who in the cast would be available for filming and then they cast whoever would fit the parts- JFSP basically never feels that way, and on the sitcom side, neither does Cabin Pressure. He doesn't nail the voices immediately on day one but it's pretty dang close. And when he goes on to write jokes, not only do they work perfectly for the actors' ways of speaking, but they're nearly always funnier for having been said by that particular actor. The words "you mulled it?!" in context are already funny, but it wouldn't have been as hilarious if not for Roger Allam's impeccable delivery. JF knew he had a five star cast and knew exactly how to take advantage of their gifts- and, of course, he'd had plenty of experience writing for himself and so knew how to give himself jokes and dialogue that would sound perfect coming from his mouth.

The storyline thing... I mean, functionally, it comes down to what I was saying above about how good he is at combining plot arc, themes, and comedy. It's so good that it can be both hard and satisfying to dissect exactly how it was done, but suffice it to say, I think that's the thing that's his real talent. This week I had a few exchanges with a fellow fan on here about some limitations I have noticed in his sketch comedy- nothing major, but I think the thing that elevates him from being a good-to-great sketch comedian to being a sublime comedic-plot writer is his deftness with construction. Lots of people are funny, lots of other people are good at creating well done plots that incorporate theme, he's fantastic at both and at their integration and it's a really special gift.

[just-your-average-tangerine]

This is reviews and ratings for the narrative/ fiction podcasts I have/ am listening to. This is mostly for me but if you want to use this as a recommendation go for it but be warned I'm not talking about plot or giving a description, there's no mentions of potentially triggering material so do your own research first if that's something your concerned about.

Welcome to Night Vale

-Night Vale owns my entire ass, no one does it better. I've been listening since the beginning and while I do think the quality has dipped a bit in the last few years its still really good. 9/10

The Magnus Archives

-Nearly perfect. Holds up and even improves with subsequent listens. The final season drags a bit imo but worth it in the end. 9/10

Old Gods of Appalachia

-really good story, gives you a lot to keep track of character wise but is written well enough that its not too hard and you can still follow the story if you forget some. 8/10

Moonbase Theta Out

-I can't wait for this to be over. Unfortunately, the storyline has a chokehold on me, and i need to know how it ends. Otherwise, i wouldn't be listening anymore. While there are several pretty good voice actors, there's enough bad ones that it's hard to listen to. Took the idea that characters should be flawed a little too far and made nearly every character completely insufferable. Nearly everytime a character is being given critical and emotional information it cuts away, in what I assume is an attempt to save the audience from listening to the same information over and over again, but instead it deprives the audience that look at how the character reacts to the information, which could go a long way in making them seem more fleshed out, instead you only see them emote in angry outbursts or melodramatic soliloquies (which is not helped by the subpar acting). 2/10

Death By Dying

-pretty funny but I don't think there's been enough episodes to make a educated review or rating

Hello from the Hallowoods

- very good overall. Good story, heartfelt and well written. Percy's story hits close to home for me, which sometimes makes me mad because he comes across as very weak and insecure and it gets on my nerves. But honestly that's less of a problem with the Percy or the writing and more of a problem of him being one of the very very few trans masc characters in existence so its extra disappointing when i find him irritating. Polly owns my ass, I would die for him. 8/10

Where the Stars Fell

-I binge listened up to the current season which I feel wasn't the way to go but it's still pretty enjoyable. 6/10

Midnight Burger

-Very funny. I love the characters and their dynamic and just the idea of a time a space traveling diner, it's beautiful. The beginning of this new arc confused me a bit but it's starting to come together. 7/10

We Fix Space Junk

- Very funny but with the underlying terror of what's going on with automnicon. Looking forward to new episodes. 6/10

The Sheridan Tapes

-started really strong but has been spending too much time on the characters agnst and not enough time actually progressing the story. At this point I'm just looking forward to a conclusion. 4/10

Camp Here and There

- it was pretty good, nothing exceptional but not bad but then I took a single glance at what was going on in the fandom and it was so obnoxious that it immediately ruined it for me. I feel bad lowering the rating due to the fandom but like, yikes. 2/10

SCP Readings

-very entertaining, easy to follow even if you don't have any prior knowledge about scp, which I do not. 7/10

The Amelia Project

-I think I'm to early in this one to make a solid judgement but I enjoy it so far. Venerio haunts me.

[shut-up-danny-kun]

My ratings of every Sherlock Holmes adaptation I've ever read/heard/watched

No idea why I'm doing this. I have two assignments due. Keep in mind my memory is not perfect and feel free to disagree.

Original stories and novels by Arthur Conan Doyle

Mysteries ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Characters ⭐⭐

I've read all of them, believe it or not. I was a bored kid. Conan Doyle really was a genius - to this day not a single adaptation has managed to surpass him in mystery construction. The adventures are unpredictable, believeable and very clever. As for characters...I love the original Holmes and Watson, but most others could be replaced by cardboard cutouts, and the besties themselves occasionally suffer from being Victorian. Doyle, like most of his contemporaries, is terrified of emotional honesty. But I'm willing to explain it away by saying it's Watson himself who doesn't want to bare his heart too much.

Additional stories by Adrian Conan Doyle

Mysteries ⭐⭐⭐

Characters ⭐⭐

Yep, that was Conan Doyle's son. Look...he tried. The spirit of the original is definitely there and he nails the characters, but main draw of the original stories - the mysteries - is not the same. They just aren't as clever! Holmes' deductions are too far-fetched, to the point where I sometimes want to tell him “yo Sherlock, that was bullshit right there”. Not worth a read. Sorry, kid.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - the Soviet adaptation

Mysteries (same as original) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cinematography ⭐⭐⭐

Am I biased because of nostalgia? Highly likely. But I love this show with all my heart. My favorite Dr. Watson by a mile, and the Holmes is far more kind and calm than you're probably used to seeing. The chemistry between them is awesome (the actors were actually friends!!!). Even the most basic background characters are charming. The acting goes a bit more into theatre than I would like, though, and the small budget definitely shows, especially to a modern audience. And of course, they couldn't go to London, so they had to settle for other European cities, which just ain't it.

Guy Ritchie movies

Mysteries ⭐⭐⭐

Characters ⭐⭐⭐

Cinematography ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm glad they tried to put a little more sauce into the besties, but Watson ended up kind of unlikeable and Sherlock turned straight. I wouldn't have a problem with the latter if Irene Adler was interesting, and I'm pretty sure she did some crazy shit in those movies, but I barely remember her at all. Sad! The mysteries aren't that mindblowing, which is actually good because it's easy to lose track of what's going on when Guy Ritchie is Guy Ritchie-ing. Speaking of - it's a blockbuster, it looks and sounds amazing, but I don't find it particularly memorable.

The BBC Sherlock with Cumberbatch and Freeman

Mysteries ⭐⭐⭐

Characters ⭐⭐⭐

Cinematography ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This one is hard to rate because there is a big drop in quality in the middle of the show. I only really like the first two seasons. To them, I'd give 4 stars for mysteries and 5 stars for characters. But I can't just ignore the absolute shitshow that came after, can I? Okay, I can say one thing for certain: I love this show's visual style. I think it's the best way to portray Holmes' thinking, and the locations are so memorable and well-designed. The first two seasons were also funny as fuck. If the characters in Ritchie's adaptation can be too mass-market, here they all come with their own little...weirdnesses and annoyances, which sometimes make them more endearing (MOLLY HOOPER I LOVE YOU) and sometimes make me want to scream and tear my own hair out in a bad way (congratulations Martin Freeman, that's the worst anyone has ever done it).

Sherlock & Co. from Goalhanger

Mysteries ⭐⭐⭐

Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

They made Sherlock Holmes into a podcast! Sherlock & Co. is the perfect modern-day adaptation because it does the same things that Doyle did - tunes into the Zeitgeist and connects the crimes to the anxieties of modern life! Ah, but Doyle is still unsurpassable. The only adaptation where I've been able to solve some mysteries before the big reveal, which, ironically, is disappointing. Incredible characters: loveable, complex, believable. Least homosexual adaptation despite being the most recent one. I don't mind at all, their friendship is adorable and Marianna is a great addition to the dynamic.

[whatyourusherthinks]

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Review

God, you haven't seen this either? Have you watched ANY movies that didn't come out in the last ten years? Yes, my film history is filled with blind spots, but look on the bright side! I can tell you what I think about it in a modern retrospective kind of way!

What did I know about RHPS before watching it? Well, I remember playing The Time Warp on Just Dance 4 a lot. I saw the clip of the Sweet Transvestite song when I was probably too young to watch it. And I heard this movie was the pinnacle of so good it's bad. My friend Mary from the Video Booze podcast (I know you won't be reading this but HIIII MARY! Fuckin' name dropper over here.) loves the movie and is constantly telling me about the history and impact of this movie, so I went with her and my other friend/coworker (I know you won't be reading this either but HIIII! What, you aren't gonna tell us their name?) to see it. And well...

What's The Movie About?

It's astounding... Time is fleeting... Madness... Takes it's toll. But listen closely... Not for very much longer. I've got to... Keep control.

I REMEMBER Roan we don't have time to do the whole song. Aw...

What I Like.

THIS MOVIE IS FUCKING GREAT!

First of all, I like the story. It kinda steals from a bunch of classic horror movies in a very surface way. Like Doctor Frank-N-Furter is obviously a parody of Doctor Frankenstein, but he kinda acts like Dracula with all these people under his (sexual) thrall. Not to mention he's from Transylvania. But in a hilarious twist (Spoilers) TRANSYLVANIA IS A GALAXY IN THE MOVIE. THE TRANSYLVANIANS ARE ALIENS COMPLETE WITH SILVER AND GOLD OUTFITS AND LASERGUNS. It's so fucking funny, I absolutely loved it. This movie had me rolling in the aisles laughing. More to the point of the story, even though it heavily borrows from classic horror and sci-fi, it DEFINATELY is it's own thing. Doc Frank is such and iconic character and performance, I was really surprised that it was Tim Curry's first role in a movie! Admittedly he was playing the role on stage for a while, but stage and movie acting are two different things with different levels of elaboration. Everyone reprises their roles from the play, and they are all great. I STAN RIFF RAFF! His actor switching between two extremely different voices was so impressive!

And the music! HOT PATOOTIE BLESS MY SOUL! I REALLY LOVE THAT ROCK AND ROLL! Stop just singing every song! NO! THEY'RE ALL GREAT! I love musicals, especially ones with some darker themes. RHPS has some overt stuff like cannibalism, but the subtle storytelling implying Doc Frank's history as a concentration camp survivor is insane. Honestly, if Mary hadn't pointed it out I don't think I would have noticed. Also, I love rock and roll music! I was actually kinda impressed on how much storytelling was done in the lyrics of the music, because listening to most of them isolated, they just sound like songs! As much as I like them, there is a distinction between song written to be just listened to in isolation, and a song written to be part of a bigger story. RHPS has some songs that only really work in the context of movie (slash play) but The Time Warp, Hot Patootie/Bless My Soul, as well as a few other I can't think of of the top of my head work extremely well in isolation as well and perfectly slot into the storytelling of the movie.

This movie is so goddamn cool you guys.

What I Didn't Like.

Literally my only complaint is that the ending is a little too long. Like a skoosh. Mary told me the version we watched had one extra song stapled onto the ending, and the theatrical cut is much cleaner. So there's that.

Final Summation.

I think everyone who told me this movie is so bad it's good was too straight and dumb. Hey! This movie is actually, legitimately, really really fucking good! I think it may have became one of my favorite movies ever. The music, the queerness, the acting and story, it's all fucking perfect. Check it out if you like anything remotely related to this movie, old horror, musicals, queer people, cross dressers, rock and roll, fucking... Charles Atlas. Rocky Horror Picture Show is SO GOOD!

It's just a jump to the left.

AND THEN A STEP TO THE RIIIIIIIIIIGHT! Oh just end the review down already.

[xxbrightshadowxx]

Ranking ships between Mabel Mora from Only Murderers

*Spoilers to season 3*

Pretty sure there is more Mabel x __ ships out there but these are the ones I know some people ship, also this is an opinion based post and I do not wish to offend anyone.

5. Charles x Mabel/Oliver x Mabel

Okay I take my previous statement back, just a smidge! I’ve been on Reddit, TikTok, tumblr, Devener Art, etc and I have multiple times encountered someone who ships Mable with Charles or Oliver. Inherently, there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with the ships, however I group them in the same rank because of a blaring problem I have with it. Charles and Oliver’s relationship whit Mabel is in my opinion; completely platonic , father-daughter relationship. And nothing can change that. If you do ship it, you do you, but not my thing.

4. Mabel x Alice

I was very much skeptical of Alice when she first arrived on the show. Mostly because they got rid of Oscar, which I was sad about since I liked him. I knew she wasn’t the killer because they kept pushing the fact she was suspicious. I assumed that maybe she was trying to get to know Mabel because she wanted to make her own podcast. Or maybe she was even a cop under cover trying to see if Mabel was truly the killer; there would be heartbreak but she could redeem herself by helping with the case.

What she did was so much worse.

What she did, creating her apartment, hiring people to dress up as figures from her past trauma, and turning it into art was so fucked up. Even if she had good intentions what she did was messed up. She didn’t take in consideration of what Mabel thought of it. Not to mention she had multiple other ways to try and see what Mabel experienced. She could’ve done research. She could have tried to help Mabel go back to that moment. She could’ve done literally anything else.

Stunts like these is what make true crime podcast controversial. Alice forgot the fact that true crime is about something that actually happened. She didn’t take in consideration of the fact that this wasn’t a tv show nor a movie. This was real life. We go over this in the first season about how true crime is true to someone.

I’m glad Mabel didn’t get back with her. For as much as I did like Alice and she did understand what she did was wrong, she damaged trust that Mabel couldn’t get back. And I respect her decision.

3. Mabel x Tobert

Gonna be honest. I don’t have any real problems with Tobert. It’s just the fact that he is just boring. While he did help Mabel I didn’t really feel a spark between her and him like I did with other pairings.

Also she didn’t really need a love interest in this season, Tobert didn’t add much like Alice did nor did he have the best personality like Oscar or a certain someone did.

2. Mabel x Oscar

Okay but for real, my man was done DIRTY. They didn’t give an explanation on why they broke up!! They just wrote him out of the show which is very lazy writing. Not even a few days passed since Bunny’s murder happened a day or two after they caught Jan. WTF?!

Besides my other complains, I liked Oscar. He was plot relevant and had a decent personality. I also liked his and Mabel’s chemistry. The actors worked well together. I also liked that tie-dye hoodie guy wasn’t a red herring.

Besides that I have no other thoughts.

1. Theo x Mabel

These two have not been cannon once but I effing love them. If you thought that Oscar and Mabel had good chemistry these two had the best chemistry besides Loretta and Oliver and Charles and Jan.

I love so much about this ship. This is the ship I never knew I wanted but I needed. I especially love that in season 2 Theo and Mabel interact right after Alice betrayed Mabel. While Alice tried to understand Mabel and see her side, Theo didn’t poke or push into her business. Mostly because he understands her. When they both vent to each other, neither of them understands what the other is saying. They just let the other vent about their worries and what’s bothering them. And the best part is they might not completely understand what they are saying, they understand.

Theo, when Mabel is frustrated when they are at the amusement park, finds a solution and helps ease Mabel’s mind. I also like when they are playing carnival games.

One last thing I like is they help each out with their problem. Theo gives Mabel space and courage to try and remember what happened that night and Mabel encourages Theo to try and reconcile with his father.

[startrekprodigyfan]

Episodes 1-4

I’ve watched the first four episodes. I think I agree with the podcast interviews the creators have done that the binge format actually lends itself well to this season. Every episode leaves off with a bit of a cliffhanger and each episode is so short that you just kinda wanna keep going to find out what happens next. Waiting a week between these episodes would’ve been much more difficult to be sure. That said, I still think a more limited release schedule or maybe 5 episodes a week would’ve sufficed and stretched things out a bit longer.

Non-spoilers:

I think this season is off to a great start. They set up nicely where everyone is at for the start of the show and it’s very clear what the majority of character arcs are going to be going forward. Simultaneously there’s a lot at risk and they do a good job of making sure as the events unfold that you know exactly how bad things can get before they somehow manage to get even worse!

Spoilers under the cut:

Spoilers for episodes 1-4

Only Dal could mess up the timeline as much as he did. I do feel sorry for him. As someone who has ADHD, the testing and memorizing aspect of school work always bothered me. Dal works best when he’s allowed to flow naturally. His methods are unconventional of course, but that’s just what works best for him. I had similar struggles growing up so I definitely get what he’s going through.

Jankom’s by the book attitude felt weird to get used to but I like that it built up to his percussive maintenance. Like with Dal’s unconventional approach to being in charge, Jankom’s approach to engineering gets different types of results and I enjoy the fact these themes are linked.

I knew Gwyn would somehow make it back to the crew, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the way it happened. Of course it makes sense that evil Asencia is the reason the Vau N'Akat head towards civil war. It was nice to see Gwyn being able to connect with her father when he’s not abusive. I know many people who wish that could have been the case in their own lives. Maybe they can live that fantasy vicariously through this storyline.

I enjoyed that they set up the idea of the paradox of Dal and company being the ones to break Chakotay free… only for their interference to spectacularly backfire. That was a nice subversion of expectations.

I am having trouble with the new Vulcan cadet, not because she’s a bad character or anything… but because I’m familiar with the voice actor being a lot more… chaotic and wild. It is weird to hear Amythest from Steven Universe being so… quiet and logical. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually it’s just a little jarring at first.

Speaking of, are they setting up a potential romance plot between her and Zero? Zero certainly seems enamored with her at the end of episode 4. There’s a lot of ways that could be interesting to watch and it’s weirdly appropriate that The Doctor is the one who gave advice on being non-corporeal yet still wishing to be close to someone.

Overall, looking forward to seeing the rest of the show!

Theory time: the mysterious figure helping get everyone together is hologram Janeway. Her code got dispersed through the temporal wormhole and she’s helping guide everyone to fixing everything.

[dreamsmearcampaign]

a) I'm gonna preface my points with this. Dream has been overhated for a long time. The grooming jokes are out of line, especially since he has had allegations levied against him, and I think a lot of the hate towards him is due to the very vocal bad apples in his fandom in the early 2020s. (On that note, I do appreciate how he called out the bad actors in the discussion stream).

b) That said, I do think that his response to this controversy was HORRIBLY handled. I don't want to focus on points that have been talked to death again and again, but one thing I haven't seen talked about is how in his initial response stream and his response video, he chose to have himself portrayed as his minecraft character, which I don't get. He's being put on blast right now (primarily) for using incredibly charged language in an insulting way, and he decides the best way to show his point of view is to dress up as "Detective Dream" on stream and to add cinematic shots in his response video. I cannot think of a reason why he chose to do that instead of just keeping the screen black with some text, like he did in other parts of the video.

c) One thing that I can give to Tommy's response video over Dream's (Which to clarify, I've only skimmed Tommy's), is that while I've heard that it's mostly opinion based, it didn't have music. I personally think that adding a backing track to a response video is, while nowhere close to Colleen Ballinger levels of bad ideas, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If you're simultaneously defending yourself and accusing others of serious allegations, I think it would be prudent to treat it as seriously as possible, and I think putting muzak behind accusations of child labor is antithetical to that effort.

d) I think that one thing that a lot of people are forgetting about is that the tweet that sparked all of this wasn't directed towards Tommy, instead being directed at his FANS, which, in my eyes, invalidates the defense that it was him breaking after years and years of concentrated harassment from Tommy, as again, it was aimed at Tommy's fans. Again, in my eyes, if it was truly the result of Tommy harassing him and he couldn't take it anymore, the tweet would be aimed at Tommy specifically. I can't connect the logic of "Tommy made fun of Dream, so it's fair to go after his fans" in my head.

e) Least consequential point, but I'm thirsty for context. A lot of people have been saying that Tommy has been clickbaiting Dream, and that argument doesn't make sense to me. I can't speak for the SUIT podcast, but on Tommy's main channel, Dream has been either in the title or thumbnail five times by my count since January 15, 2023, which doesn't seem like that much in comparison to his upload frequency. Those videos being "Dream", "Was The Dream SMP Bad?", "We Recorded Our Dreams...", "If YouTubers Were Honest...", and "Goodbye, Dream SMP.". Of those videos, "Dream" is in response to the current controversy, "Was the Dream SMP Bad?" discusses the SMP in general (which Dream explicitly states in his response video, "The Dream SMP was made what it was by everyone" (4:00)), though it does have Dream in the thumbnail, "We Recorded Our Dreams..." is in reference to what happens during sleep, though still added due to the word choice, "If YouTubers Were Honest...", which has Dream in the thumbnail, and "Goodbye, Dream SMP.", which is again about the DSMP in general, though this occurrence doesn't have Dream in the thumbnail. To restate a point that might have been lost in the wall of text (btw sorry about all the text), that isn't a lot compared to the amount of videos uploaded during that time. However, IIRC, Dream did mention during the discussion stream that the older videos with him imply that the two of them are still friends, though with the dates the videos were posted clearly available, as well as how widespread this got in the mcyt space, I don't think that's a good point, though I can see the logic that idea spawned from.

f) Again, sorry for the wall of text.

a. we agree

b. we agree it was handled irresponsibly. as for the minecraft character, dream does not stream with his face ever. it is fine to disagree with that choice, but that's his choice to make.

c. in our opinion, if music choice matters more than the subject matter, the person is already far beyond asking them to treat dream in a rational manner.

d. yes, it was directed toward his fans. the fans (who were antis as well) that encouraged the pedo jokes. the fans (who were antis as well) who sent death threats and rape threats to dream fans. the fans (who were antis as well) who doxxed Dream's address.

it was a terrible response to them, but since tommy had dream blocked and would not be able to hear dream if he said "please stop encouraging harassment toward my community," we, the mods, don't know how he could have discussed that better with tommy (we already have seen how people treat him if he tries to ask them to stop harassing him).

e. mentioned in the podcast, mentioned in the qsmp/usmp video, livestream with tubbo reacting to Sapnap,

the reason dream pointed out the videos left up on his channel were because it looks performative to say "I hate this person" while profiting off his name. that may not be the case, but many have to admit that's a valid interpretation.

for an outside example, after the iskall situation, many hermits removed iskall from previous thumbnails and titles so his name wouldn't be featured on their channels.

we appreciate your comments. they are well-put and genuinely reflective.

-mod b

[sixth-light]

Small babies do not lead to binging so I won't be up to speed on WoT until closer to ep 4 dropping (especially with 1hr + episodes), but I HAVE managed to watch ep 1, so (ep1 AND book-spoilery) thoughts:

Overriding thought: fuck I just love the writing/adaptation on this show, it's so smart! They are using all the many moving pieces of the book series in such an economical way! Bayle Domon is probably the best example of this from this episode; they set him up to run into the Seanchan, established the Sea Folk, gave Moiraine a quest plot point, and did it using his canonical interests, in a scene which absolutely did not happen in the books. Love it. Also, love his accent, absolutely perfect, no notes.

The way the episode was structured/had a theme was also really good - it picked up on where everybody was and connected them to each other even while the point of the episode was how far apart they have all drifted. The Bel Tine ceremony is both a great callback to the opening episode of last season, a way to visually link them, AND a reminder that it's been a YEAR since last season began now. (It amuses me that Nynaeve and Egwene are going to have had significantly more time in the Tower in the show than the books - but is probably necessary since they are unlikely to leave, return, and leave again as they do in TGH/TDR.)

We didn't get MUCH of new!Mat but he's selling me on it so far (the chiselling at the wall!) and oh boy, they're working overtime to give him a solid reason to be extremely wary of Aes Sedai, aren't they. I'm sure that will have no repercussions down the line whatsoever.

I love how they've remixed Adeleas and Vandene with Verin and let Moiraine and Lan's flying visit turn into a longer retreat to recover. This is also very funny to me because on the re-read podcast I listen to (Wheel Takes) the new reader is CONVINCED that Vandene is secretly Black Ajah. Well...now she's gonna be right!

Small but cool note: when Lan takes Moiraine that plate of food, I liked that it was very clearly from South Asian foodways and not Fantasy Stew. They're taking the cultural depth of the world well beyond casting - obviously in costuming too, but costuming is fairly easy, food is a step up.

I think the one criticism I have of the worldbuilding is that the Tower still feels a TAD underpopulated (I would have liked to see Egwene and Nynaeve in a slightly larger novice class, and some indication of the academic learning that's part of their training) but this has improved a lot on the COVID-restricted depictions from the first season, so it's a minor criticism (and may very well be addressed in later episodes).

I liked Loial last season but the actor has really settled into the role this season: looking forward to more of him.

Also really looking forward to more of Elyas, and intrigued by how they're choosing to depict Perrin's new smelling senses as a visual recreation of what happened - I think this makes sense for a visual medium, not sure it will be totally obvious that it's meant to be interpretive not literal, but then for a new audience does it need to be? It's a magic ability/superpower, that's the important thing to get across.

That extra 10-15 minutes of run time helped the episode breathe so much. It's going to add up to nearly an extra episode and a half if it keeps going across the season; that's not bad, and needed I think.

ugh I love this show so muuuuuuuuuch

[minidodds]

Okay, here's a special ask for you. Actually, let's make it two in one 😁

The first would be, since we're both in the JB fandom and I've been sending this ask over the 5 last years to different Jon mutuals, what was the moment or role that made you aware that, yup, you were definitely into this man now?

And second, using your bio, if you had to choose only one, who would it be?

Pedro Pascal

Norman Reedus

Jon Bernthal

Thank you so much for reaching out!!!

Mikey Berzatto is the one who flipped the switch for me! One day, I'm just going about my life, vaguely aware of an actor named Jon Bernthal existing. Then I see Mikey, and all of a sudden it's, "yep, this will be my obsession for the foreseeable future." 😄

Oh man, the second question is a hard one.

About two years ago I watched The Last of Us when it came out. Not only is Pedro amazing in it, it's also a show where the entire season is a 10/10. I am fully expecting season 2 to ruin my life when it airs this spring.

Then earlier this year I finally watched The Walking Dead for the first time and ended up marathoning the entire series within 3 months. That's how my interest in Norman came about. (I even went to the Tribeca Film Festival this summer to see him do a Q&A!)

Aaaand then I saw The Bear this summer when season 3 aired and Mikey stole my heart. I have seen the Fishes episode literally over 20 times, no joke. And of course then I had to explore Jon's filmography further. I've rewatched seasons 1 and 2 of TWD to focus on Shane. (#Shanedeservedbetter) Then, @darlingshane has been so very helpful in feeding this obsession by suggesting her favorite of Jon's works. Small Engine Repair is SUCH a good movie (even apart from Jon being in it, I really enjoyed the plot). This week I re-watched The Unforgivable (I recall I've seen it before I knew who Jon was, but I re-warched it solely for his part) and wow, Blake has made my top favorite characters list (I'll even look past the mustache). It is just friggin amazing how Jon steals the show with the few minutes he's given.

So, following this lengthy explanation, I'd say right now my #1 is Jon (and I'll put Pedro as a runner up). I think he is a fantastic actor who makes the most out of the roles he's given, even if he's on screen only for a few minutes. His eyes are my favorite, they are amazing at conveying emotions of his characters. I've also watched some of his interviews/podcasts and he seems to try to be an understanding, empathetic person, and I totally respect that.

Right now I am keeping my fingers crossed for Jon to return in season 4 of the Bear. I am so happy that he won an Emmy for Mikey. 😭 He deserves all the recognition.

[mio-nika]

I promised @turquoisewaves07 podcast recommendations

So let's get going. I will not obviously include every podcast I ever listened, only the ones that I really like and sometimes relisten.

1. Knifepoint horror.

Possibly my favourite podcast ever. It's the series of stories written and narrated by a guy called Soren Narnia. They are not usually connected and would sound similar to oneshots of MAG (almost every story starts as "my name is..." just like the "statement of..."). They usually very weird in nature, and it's really hard to explain why I like them so much. I usually recommend starting from "school".

2. Limetown.

Oh, the classic story about "every living person disappeared from this small unassuming town in the middle of the night".

It's like. One of the most famous ones in my list? They even had show adaption?? I never saw it, even tho every time I listen to it I think " fuck, it was really made with visuals in mind". Especially the last scenes.

3. The White Vault.

If it still snowing where you are it's a great one. Small expedition goes to a remote arctic station to fix things. Bad things happen. Interesting that almost the entire crew (both characters and actors) are bilingual and it plays big part in the story. Well, except one character. The Canadian-russian guy played by Peter Lewis. But I like him so I'm not even THAT mad.

4. Mabel.

Hi, so do you like LESBIANS? Mabel is really hard to recommend, because it made almost like a theatrical play where characters are talking in verses. It's a story about fae, lesbians, haunted buildings and women emancipation? It's extremely good. You will want to write lines over all of your walls, on your hands, on your heart.

5. The Big Loop.

It's the second podcast in the list, that is basically one guy writing not connected stories. He's name is Paul Bae and he more famous as one of the authors of "The Black Tapes". He left after the first season and he's probably the ONLY reason why first season is good. I highly recommend starting from "The Surrogate" if you like horror and "F.M.L." if you into hopefull dark comedy.

6. Alice isn't Dead

Do you remember how good were early podcasts writtend by a WTNV staff? I think we starting to forget. It's another "do you like lesbians" story, but its actually so much more. I cried real fuckin tears in a bus after the last episode, not from sadness, but from overwhelming hope for humans.

7. Death by Dying.

I've already recommended it in another post. But if you liked WTNV you need to listen to Death by Dying. It's a series of obituaries from a small weird town written by a guy who are very very VERY weird. He talks to a Angel of Death, he adopts cannibalistic cats and writes his abituaties more like personal stories of stupidity.

8. Small Town Horror.

This one usually gets overlooked, probably because of the very generic name, but for me it's really a hidden gem. Traumatized guy are trying to put together things that happened to him in his childhood and why he's so fucked up. If you really want to read story written by an unreliable narrator, this one is for you.

9. Within the Wires.

I already sang my praises about how good was the early podcasts written by a WTNV, but I will repeat it here. THEY WERE REALLY GOOD. It has a very different styles of storytelling from season to season. The first one is told through a series of mindfullness recordings. The second one is an art lections. Every season happens in the same universe and expands the over-arching story.

10. Spines.

I was thinking that to put as a last one and mostly torn beetween Spines and Girl in Space, but I'm a horror visual girl, so I choose Spines. Our heroine wakes up with no memory in the bath full of blood with a cultist-looking people and a probably other cult victims around her. Slowly she learns that she really is and in that horrying reality she was born.

[be-side-my-self]

Watching Season 4 of Only Murders In The Building. (E7)

Rewatch of ONLY Murders In The Building to prepare for season 4:

<Part I> // <Part II> // <Part III> // <Part IIII> // <Part V> // <Part VI> // <Part VII> // <Part VIII>

<S4 E1> // <S4 E2> // <S4 E3> // S4 E4 // <S4 E5> // <S4 E6>

This is no rewatch but my new posts can also easily be blocked because I'll continue to use #OMITBRewatch as a tag. I'll also tag #OMITBS4. While quoting, I use M, O, C for the main characters.

Beware spoilers!

S4 E7

I want to say it here... there is no proof that Dudenoff is dead... it's likely but he could have changed the shoulder and left it in the ashes... it's very far fetched but who the fuck knows xD

(The writers know)

narrator: ... so who is it?

Howards reaction is so worrysome... and good idea to send a break-up text and then turning off the phone...

Also this is the first time we hear about Charle's sister, right?

I am sorry... but whenever I hear an american city name I will always first think about the european equivalent.

Suffolk? Yeah that is in England.

Also I guess the narrator is Charle's brother in law. Who is a cop?

lmao what a burn from Doreen.

OH FUCKING YIKES! 'Valley of the Dolls' indeed.

O: "So, I guess you replaced your children with dolls, huh?" Doreen: "Wow. I have never made that connection. You are intuitive. That is much more important in a man than height."

Another burn.

.... uhm.... cool down Doreen... Oliver just broke up with his serious girlfriend.

Big Mike... he live on the boat in the driveway because... he likes big butts and he cannot lie...

Oh ouch... losing your splee is no joke.

M: "You mean talk to the butt-lover in the driveway boat?"

I bet Charles gets better along with his brother-in-law than his sister.

The brother-in-law is suffering.

wtf Bev.

I understand that Oliver just wants to drink. But I really would have been surprised if there was no alcohol in the house

HOLY FUCK DOREEN... sneaking in on Oliver...

Oliver needs an adult... MABEL?!

Doreen: "... I can't help but notice you seem like something's maybe bothering you. Is it Charles?" O: "W-Well, no. Uh-- Well, usually yes, but, uh, uh, this time, it's a breakup. A relationship done in by my... one tragic flaw." Doreen: "Too handsome?" O: "Well, th-there's that, but it's also... I-I'm simply too... emotionally available." ... yeah.

Howard is just telling everyone where the trio is.

Phones in the bowl... what kind of party is that?

.... inside the port-a-potty.

HOLY SHIT LORETTA

oh shit, they are so weirdly cute...

... Doreen is a lot younger than Charles, huh?

It's my party and I cry if I want to!

omg Loretta...

Bev got it on with Big Mike..?

What the fuck Bev.......

OMG Howard. He is so good at this job. And the animal-job podcast is such a good idea!

Again, Oliver needs an adult.

Oh no... poor Loretta...

Oliver you idot.

Okay but yes, Loretta you have to understand Oliver is deeply insecure.

HOLY SHIT

OH?! 17 year difference between Charles and Doreen.

Aww....

What the hell, Bev.

... oh wow... Loretta is proposing.

holy shit???

Zach: "Actors one, real life dipshits zero."

And Oliver is smiling because he is in love and engaged.

Big Mike is small.

CHUCKIE

OH MY GOD

They know.

So they wanted them to stop because they were afraid, that they would figure out that Dudenoff's is dead. “No one wants a murder podcast about real estate!” MY ASS!

[sshbpodcast]

Even a fanfic season of Enterprise is better than a 9/11 season

by Ames

After the deplorable nationalist nightmare that was season 3 of Enterprise, pretty much anything would be an improvement. And the final season of the Trek prequel series was… fine, I guess? Under the eye of the late showrunner Manny Coto, the show got back to its roots. A lot. Sometimes too much. But it’s a prequel series after all and that was sort of its expectation, so ya know what, your hosts at A Star to Steer Her By can sort of forgive it.

Much of season 4 feels a little like fanfic, much of the season was made up of two- and three-parters, and the whole thing fizzled to a finale that most fans utterly deplore, but still. Better than season 3. So what did your SSHB hosts think of these last twenty-something episodes? Grab your ushaan-tor and find out below and on this week’s podcast episode (jump to 1:15:34 for season chatter) featuring bonus picks from guest star Liz! En garde!

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Top Three Episodes

It was especially hard to come up with good episodes this season, partly because they all ran together in multi-episode arcs that were hard to pick apart, and partly because so much of it was very meh. So what rose to the challenge?

“Borderland”: Caitlin The first three-part romp starts off with the potential to build to something decent (though you’ll see shortly that that doesn’t exactly come to pass). But the Enterprise folks knew enough about how to win our hearts: involve Brent Spiner! We’re really easy to please in that regard, and meeting a new Soong who loves to ham things up is enough to bring this episode to the tops list.

“Cold Station 12”: Ames And Brent is even better in the second part of the Augments journey, so we’re seeing a little more representation of that arc here. Watching Soong reunite with his loser son Smike is touching enough on its own, but then he also grapples with his own ethics when he sees the delight that his other loser son Malik takes in torturing people. Just what is a mad scientist to do?

“The Aenar”: Ames In a season that mostly scrapes by as “fine,” there aren’t a ton of standouts, so when the Aenar show up, at least they’re something original and interesting. This newly contacted race of blind telepaths who live under the ice proves engaging enough in an otherwise confounding three-parter. More of these guys and less of the Romulans, I say, which is normally sacrilege on this podcast.

“United”: Chris, Jake You’ll notice that Chris and Jake overlap entirely in their tops picks this season, which seems like some kind of conspiracy to me. They’re getting along as well as Vulcans and Andorians and Tellarites in the middle of this confusing plot about Romulan nonsense, so that’s something. And as usual, Shran proves to be an utter delight even if his fight to the death with Archer ends in a cop out.

“In a Mirror, Darkly”: Chris, Jake Chris has been bigging up this mirror universe claptrap literally since the start of this podcast eight years ago, and it turns out to be the campy nerdfest we all expected it to be. It’s definitely the most we’ve enjoyed the mirror universe since “Mirror, Mirror.” Even the title sequence gets in on the game! So if you like fun romps that are full of little easter eggs, this episode may be for you! (Chris is going to LOVE Lower Decks.)

“Observer Effect”: Ames, Caitlin This one’s actually a super simple concept executed surprisingly well! It just goes to show that bottle episodes can be some of the best episodes because, rather than going all out on bells and whistles, the focus is more on characters, pacing, and filming technique, all of which “Observer Effect” excels at! The slow build of suspense is masterful, and every actor gets to play an Organian at one point or another. Fun!

“Terra Prime”: Caitlin, Chris, Jake Many fans argue that this is where the whole series should have ended, and we’re inclined to agree. Sure, there’s a lot of fat to trim off of the two-parter that “Demons” and “Terra Prime” comprise, but who can say no to watching Peter Weller’s performance as the irredeemably xenophobic Paxton? We also appreciated some lovely work from Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock with their doomed baby thing.

—

Bottom Three Episodes

You’re going to see a couple of episodes with full sweeps from your hosts in the Bottoms list because, boy, were there some bad eggs this season. Not to mention that most of the two- and three-parters were unfortunately uneven as hell.

“The Augments”: Jake Remember how the Augments arc started out with such potential? Well it doesn’t quite stick the landing in the final installment of that arc, which just became repetitive and full of more teenage angst. Sorry, but Malik just plain isn’t that interesting a character, let alone a villain. The whole batch of augmented kids start to feel too much like a drama on the CW, with not enough substance to carry three episodes.

“Divergence”: Chris The main dumpster fire of the Klingon plot is the fully unnecessary retconning of why Klingon foreheads in The Original Series are smooth but in other series are ridged. It’s the answer to the question no one asked, and frankly makes us feel dumber for learning. Even Trip shimmying through space on a wire or some actual ethical character work from Phlox (for a damn change!) can’t save this awful premise.

“Affliction”: Ames, Caitlin We’re not even done shitting on the Klingon augment virus two-parter, as both are represented on the bad list! We start the whole thing off with some preposterous set up which includes the utter retcon that Reed is an unwilling pawn of Section 31, which we’ve been frankly over since that catastrophe “Extreme Measures” in Deep Space Nine. And don’t worry: Paramount is going to force feed us more.

“These Are the Voyages…”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake As promised, you have TWO episodes with sweeps, and this is one of them. Frequently voted as the worst of all Star Trek, the series finale is a slap in the face to any actual Enterprise fans out there (if there were any to begin with). But for Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis to basically take over the show just after it’s been canceled is rude as hell and does a disservice to the characters we’ve been following.

“Bound”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake But I’ve saved this one for last because it’s so insulting. All the men on the Enterprise end up entranced by some Orion slave girls sexing up the place, which isn’t cringey enough on its own somehow that we’re forced to watch a full music video of them writhing around. But it’s okay after all! The writers have subverted the situation by making them empowered slave girls! Who just really like being slaves! What?

—

So long, NX-01! That’s all from the abruptly canceled Enterprise. We’ll never know if this show could have bounced back from some more mediocre ideas, generally unoriginal plots, and more Archer yelling at crewmen than we were expecting. There’s nothing left to do but check out our full series Top Five Star Trek ENT Episodes and Bottom Five Star Trek ENT Episodes blogposts. Keep following along here and on SoundCloud as the podcast prepares to move into less charted territory! Bounce a signal off Echo 1 over on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t give cheese to Porthos!