#it sounds more familiar than other mythos bits thus they forced it in?

[mumblingsage]

Just finished James Brogden's Hekla's Children in almost one sitting and that was *gutteral sigh* very good. Hit the spot. Hit so many spots, actually. It's sort of a horror novel - buckets of blood, some fucked-up archeological finds, cannibal monster (one of my favorite horror tropes that actually scares me), a scene or two that had me realize I manage jaw trauma just slightly better than eye trauma (though with jaw trauma there's part of me joking I bet that would fix my TMJ). But with strong fantasy/adventure backbones. And that's where it really tickled my fun places (this may sound more erotic than it actually is, but really. So good.)

A parallel mythological world with time-travel shenanigans a la Mythago Wood? Check. References to both the Erinyes and Doggerland? Check, check! Situational bisexuality?!

There are a lot of twists and I don't want to give spoilers, but I will say there was one big character twist that was...telegraphed adequately, developed to more subtly than I expected (this is not generally a subtle novel) and so took some chewing on, but I was able to wash it down with copious tears, hurting in the right ways.

[fancoloredglasses]

Genesis of the Daleks (Maybe the Daleks just need a Jelly Baby), Part 1

[All images are owned by the BBC. Please don’t sue or EXTERMINATE! me]

(All videos are thanks to Doctor Who)

In the mythos of Doctor Who, there are four threats that seem to come back for more, no matter how many times they are defeated “Once And For All”.

The Sontarans are a warmongering race that are the clones of their greatest general (after said general killed everyone else), that were introduced during the third Doctor’s exile on Earth (and have been featured the least, having not faced against the fifth, seventh, eighth, or ninth Doctors)

…as was the Master (originally played by Roger Delgado), a renegade Time Lord who served as “Moriarty” to the Doctor and the Brigadier’s “Holmes and Watson”. Tragically, Delgado was killed in a car accident; the legend is that Delgado’s death was the impetus for Jon Pertwee wanting to leave the show. Fortunately for the character, the Master is a Time Lord and thus has regenerated into other actors as the need arose.

The Master is the only one on this list to have faced the eighth Doctor (though another was mentioned in the TV movie that I’ll get to in a moment) and only the ninth Doctor never faced him since his debut.

The Cybermen are organic beings who have had mechanical/computerized components grafted to them, forcing them to join the collective consciousness of the Cybermen (if this sounds somewhat familiar, it should. The Borg were inspired by the Cybermen!) The Doctor first encountered the Cybermen during William Hartnell’s time as the Doctor, and they have plagued him ever since (except for the third and eighth Doctors)

…which brings us to the subject of this review.

The Daleks also begin during Hartnell’s era, and have been involved in every incarnation since (although the Eighth Doctor didn’t face them, he went to the Daleks’ home planet of Skaro to retrieve the remains of the Master (and the Daleks didn’t try to exterminate him?!))

The Daleks are a race that believes they are superior to every other life form, and all inferior life forms must be exterminated! Unfortunately, their physical form is incapable of moving very quickly (they resemble a squid) Therefore, a machine was designed to allow ease of movement (and exterminating) Most people have never seen the being inside the machine, so the universe pretty much believes the machines are the Daleks.

But where did these genocidal beings come from? That answer is the subject of this review.

First, a bit of background…

The Doctor is on his fourth incarnation (played by Tom Baker) He often comes off as a bit overly cheerful (described once as “all teeth and curls”), but when things go pear-shaped, he becomes deadly serious. Unlike his previous incarnation, he’s not very agile and is known to trip on his own twenty-foot scarf.

The Doctor is accompanied by Sarah Jane Smith, who also accompanied the third incarnation of the Doctor prior to his regeneration. She’s a former investigative journalist who is usually annoyed with the Doctor about something when they’re not in danger.

Also accompanying the Doctor is Lt. Harry Sullivan, a doctor in the British Royal Navy. Harry was tricked into joining the Doctor (fortunately for his career, the Brigadier was able to cover for him by drafting him into UNIT while he was with the Doctor) Harry often serves as the fish-out-of-water comic relief.

PREVIOUSLY ON…

The Doctor’s first adventure with Sarah and Harry took them 10,000 years into Earth’s future to a space station that housed the remains of Earth life in suspended animation (Earth was threatened by solar flares that would irradiate the planet) After awakening the humans aboard, the Doctor and his friends volunteered to teleport to Earth (using the station’s teleporter rather than the TARDIS) to see if it was safe to re-populate, but their return trip is about to be interrupted…

[On a personal note: For years I’d only seen the first few seasons of Tom Baker’s run (you can imagine my confusion when I tuned into the local PBS affiliate after a few years and discovered some blonde guy in a cricket outfit being called “Doctor”!), so this was my first exposure to the Daleks and I didn’t know their prior history in the series until much later]

If you would like to watch the episode, it’s available on BritBox or Tubi. Now, on to Part One!

We open on yet another gravel quarry (the BBC must own this quarry, since it gets used so frequently as a setting) where a patrol of soldiers in gas masks are ambushed and killed (poor faceless bastards)

Into this backdrop…

Then Sarah spots one of the dead soldiers from the opening scene. The Doctor examines the body…

…and sees an odd mix of futuristic and archaic technology, the signs of a war that has gone on for over 1,000 years. After a bit of musing, the Doctor moves on until…

Fortunately, Harry manages to wedge enough rocks under it so the Doctor can carefully move his foot away without detonating it. Eventually they spy…

…a dome of some kind, large enough to cover a small city (which looks very out-of-place when surrounded by land mines and sandbagged encampments covered with barbed wire and manned by corpses) Sarah finds a door into the dome, but it’s locked (and the Doctor didn’t use his sonic screwdriver?), so they explore the trench looking for another opening.

However, the enemies of the dome have other ideas as they launch a gas bomb into the trench and attack!

Fortunately, the dome’s occupants (Kaleds) emerge and make short work of the invaders (Thals). Unfortunately, they also capture the Doctor and Harry (they would’ve captured Sarah as well, but they thought she was dead) However, they quickly overpower their captors and demand to be brought back outside. However, their journey is interrupted by…

…who opens fire on them. Fortunately they escape, but now the dome is alerted! They manage to get to the surface, but now they have ground patrols to contend with, who quickly recapture them.

And what about Sarah? Well, once she realizes she can’t get in, she wanders off.

Unfortunately, something is following her!

Back in the Kaled (which could be an anagram for something else) dome, Nyder interrogates the Doctor and Harry.

…wait, THAT’S Davros?! So we have a race being taught about genetic purity being led by a little man who is FAR from genetically perfect. Yep, sounds very familiar.

And with that ominous statement, Part One ends. Click here for Part Two.

Davros, the Kaled (Gharman), and the proto-Dalek leave the testing area, so Sarah attempts to sneak away. Unfortunately…

…the Mutos have caught up with her and have surrounded her!

Meanwhile, in the Kaled bunker, Nyder has passed off the Doctor and Harry to his staff for interrogation. Harry is put through a security scan and passes. However, when the Doctor goes through, the scan is set off.

Of course it’s the Time Ring. The Kaleds take the Time Ring and place it with the rest of the Doctor’s effects. Afterward, they are brought to one of the scientists (Ronson) for interrogation.

Back in the wasteland, Sarah is subdued, but a Thal patrol finds the Mutos and captures them and Sarah.

Inside the Kaled bunker, Ronson makes a startling discovery about the prisoners…they’re aliens!

So Davros has a bit of megalomania as well, eh? All he needs is a mustache no wider than his nose and the imagery would be complete.

Meanwhile in the Thal dome, Sarah finds out they’re to assemble a missile that, if successful, will destroy the Kaled dome. However, there’s a catch.

…which, according to the Kaled prisoner, will be fatal after a few hours’ exposure.

Then the Thals’ weapons say it’s time for the prisoners to get back to work…or else.

Back at the Kaled bunker, the Doctor gives the audience Harry a bit of exposition about the Scientific Elite that he got while being interrogated. Then Ronson enters their cell to talk about Davros.

Ronson explains that the Daleks were created from living Kaled cells, then mutated into their final form. He also says that there are those among the Elite who are against what Davros is doing but dare not speak out. He then takes the Doctor and Harry to show them the end result.

Needless to say, the Doctor and Harry have reason to be concerned.

Back at the Thal dome, Sarah formulates an escape plan.

The plan is that the opening to the missile silo will open into the wasteland and they can escape that way.

Meanwhile Ronson explains Davros’s genetic tinkering has developed beyond just the physical.

Unfortunately, Ronson is unable to leave the bunker, so the Doctor convinces Ronson to help Harry and himself to escape and warn the Kaled government in their dome, though the way out is filled with some of Davros’s other experiments.

Back at the Thal dome, Sarah initiates her escape plan, even as the Doctor and Harry make theirs in the Kaled bunker.

Sure enough, here come the Thals! They open fire on the escapees, with a number of them being shot. Then Sarah loses her grip!

…and if that’s not a cliffhanger…

Will Sarah survive the fall?

Will the Doctor destroy the Daleks “Once And For All” before they even start?

Will Davros actually grow a Hitler mustache?

These questions and more will be answered in Part 2 of this review!

[chroniclerwabba]

Ey bruv I’m not super familiar with WoW but I felt like asking; what would you do to fix the lore? Anything specific or just burn it all down & restart?

Fixing the lore at this point would be to completely rewrite BFA before it comes out, because despite not being released just yet, BFA has showcased the absolute worst lore changes in the game thus far, outshadowing all the stuff that people were originally hyped about. But that won’t happen with Blizz.

I feel like the real only way Warcraft can be salvaged is if it were rebooted into a single player RPG (something I’ve wanted for years).

I’ve been writing a fanfic about Warcraft centered around my character where the story would pan out in a way that is consistent with the lore and characterization that Blizz had established in their earlier days, but talking about that sounds too egotistical and self-indulgent. Instead, I’d go into my thought process behind the fanfic and what makes a structured and good narrative as well as how it should flow.

No reliance on expanded lore: one of Warcraft’s biggest problems is that it’s heavily reliant on expanded lore, pieces of outside media that fill in gaps in the games. Incredibly important and absolutely required pieces of characterization and storytelling aren’t told in the games but rather vaguely hinted at, with the missing parts being told in comics, manga, novels, audio dramas, online trailers, short stories on Blizz’s website, BlizzCon panels, developer tweets, and posts on the WoW forums. You know, pretty much everything except in the actual game. Expanded lore should be stuff that exists only to fluff up the universe, not replace the media itself. They should be little spin-off side adventures there for fun, not for understanding the plot. There are more Warcraft novels than there are games. Let that sink in. Warcraft’s story should be a contained mythos that doesn’t require the player to do homework or stop playing the game so they can read some 200 page novel or listen to some 3 hour long audio drama (I’m not kidding). A good example of expanded lore was the six original novels Bungie had written for their Halo games. They added backstory to the games, but they weren’t required reading to understand anything in the game because the games did a good enough job on their own with their narrative to tell you. The Halo novels were there if you really wanted to get immersed in the universe while also making sure the games’ narratives were unaffected by what happened in them.

No retcons: another major problem of Blizz is that they literally retcon a ton of stuff every expansion, and sometimes even between patches for an expansion. Retcons are a lazy writer’s way of writing oneself out of a hole by selectively deleting/rewriting information with no explanation at their convenience. If you publish a work and put it out there for purchase, you have set that story in stone. If you have rules, you have to stick to those rules. If you don’t stick to your rules, then no one is going to care about your characters or lore because if there aren’t rules, then there’s no risks or anything to lose. Consistency in your mythos shows that you’re reflecting on your work. Like, Blizzard was writing a trilogy of lore anthologies dedicated to establishing a true lore bible for Warcraft, and they started retconning things out of the second volume before the third was even available to purchase.

Consistent characterization: I could literally make a whole series of YouTube videos in the style of Mr. Plinkett analyzing all the ways Blizz botched characterization through retcons, forced plot conflicts that don’t mesh with the narrative, and disjointed narrative flow caused by expanded lore. Maiev, Jaina, Garrosh, Illidan, and Sylvanas are all horribly botched characters whose arcs could’ve panned out significantly well had it not been for how inconsistent and nonsensical they acted. Garrosh being a warmonger, Jaina wanting vengeance on the Horde, and Illidan getting a redemption story all could’ve been potentially great pieces of character development, but Blizz fudged it horribly through all the stuff listed above as well as them having a rather shallow perception of grey morality.

Faction balancing: An absolute huge gripe everyone has had with Blizz since 2010 with Cataclysm is how the Horde are unfairly railroaded into being incredibly flawed and corrupt while the Alliance are goody two-shoes who do nothing wrong. Warcraft 3 painted a well-balanced and well characterized narrative where the Alliance and Horde were both flawed in their own ways but ultimately good people that wanted to improve themselves and their homelands. In Warcraft 3 and vanilla WoW, the Alliance were plenty flawed and corrupt while the Horde preached honor and overcoming their flawed past through great effort and struggle. Now, every expansion has the Horde being the ones that do everything wrong and they have to redeem themselves. Never the Alliance. The original lore for the orcs in Warcraft was that they were a warrior-shamanistic people that lived on Draenor before the demonic army of the Burning Legion manipulated them into becoming their minions who would then savagely slaughter anyone they were ordered to. Now, Blizz has retconned and rewritten Warcraft history so that the orcs were actually bad all along even without the demons. In the lore anthology Chronicle, they attacked the draenei caravans for no reason other than paranoia despite how this hadn’t been established of them to do until the Legion showed up. And Warlords of Draenor took the players to an alternate dimension 30 years in the past where the orcs didn’t even have to drink demon blood to start slaughtering and enslaving draenei. They turned a race that was one of the major things that made Warcraft distinct from any other fantasy mythos - one whose development was loved and heralded by fans worldwide - and completely undid 15 years of writing for nothing other than because it would be edgy. Blizz also tries to frame the Horde as not being evil but rather flawed, yet they keep making the Horde do all these terrible things and constantly rewrite their lore while the Alliance’s flaws are glossed over and underwritten. The whole point of a faction conflict is that both factions should have equal weight to them in terms of characterization and motivation. The Alliance needs to be flawed and do bad things too, otherwise this shallow moral grey conflict they keep pushing only makes the series a worse departure from what Warcraft 3 did.

Focus of smaller stories to balance the larger stories: This one is a bit of a strange thing to mention, but I always think about how enjoyable Vanilla WoW’s story was. It didn’t have a major story arc and no main villain to fight, but its story was enjoyable because it focused on smaller more insignificant events that didn’t add up to some cataclysmic world saving conflict but gave the world depth. The Defias Brotherhood, the story of Stalvan Mistmantle, the Uldaman disks, Tirion’s conflict with the Scarlet Crusade, Linken’s quest. These smaller stories give more immersion and depth to the world of Azeroth and make the dire “Save the world” conflicts all the more important because you saw what was at stake with the smaller stories and the escalation of conflict. It’s like playing an RPG and just doing the main storyline without experiencing a single side quest. You’re only getting half the story and getting a less immersive and deep version of it. Newer WoW expansions do have smaller stories here and there like Runas the Shamed in Legion,  Lylia’s dad and his quest for immortality in MoP, and Fiona’s caravan in Cata, but they’re few and far between nowadays.

It’s difficult to articulate to the uninitiated with Warcraft lore and in text, but I could go ham and into greater depth with making videos on the subject (and also if I wasn’t writing this at 2 in the morning). Suffice to say, this is an annotated laundry list of how Blizz botched their own series.