#paramount heathers

[jasondeansgothwife]

literal only good thing about paramount tv heathers is beautiful amazing shannen doherty as jd's dead mom who is very heavily implied to be original heather duke. it was a very strange and confusing plot point don't get me wrong but like okay i'm listening. everything else felt like it was made for a crossover group of heathers fans and teenage republicans, which CANNOT be very many people

[kafkaesquedyke]

The new Velma show seems to neatly fall into this trend of tv shows (paramount heathers, leaked powerpuff girls script) that want to seem progressive by having a diverse cast, while simultaneously wanting to preserve that same edgy, punch-down comedy style found in 'centrist' or conservative media. They want the praise for having female, queer, and characters of colour while still retaining an audience made up of mainly edgy white men laughing at how ridiculous ‘the minorities’ are behaving. It’s a punch-down comedy wolf in progressive sheep clothing.

The fundamental flaw in this logic is that show runners assume the audience that would enjoy this humour will see past that supposedly progressive façade… and that often doesn’t happen. A lot of these specific edgy types see diversity as a red flag and immediately presume some type of agenda. It’s almost like seeing a minority participate in the joke (even though they’re still very much the punchline) zaps all the humour out of it or they can’t understand that the joke is still for them if it isn’t said by someone that looks exactly like them. And because they (especially, but not only, cishet white men) recognise all the jokes from things they like, but don’t find them funny anymore, the only reasonable explanation they have is that diversity is bad and makes it unfunny, instead of realising their inherent inability to recognise and relate to any character that isn’t a white man.

Meanwhile, an audience that would appreciate a diverse cast does recognise the comedy for what it is: cheap jokes made at their expense. At most there are occasional jabs thrown in at the white and/or male characters which often don’t relate to these identities in any fundamental or even realistic way. So you have this show that constantly uses it’s minority characters as punchlines and only includes vaguely progressive, but ultimately pretty universally accepted, messaging hoping progressive audiences will be enamoured with the occasional ‘girlboss moment™️’, while not noticing that vast amounts of regressive ideals.

In the end neither audience feels appealed to and the show is a massive failure. While it might be satisfying to see that these conservative audiences are too blinded by, let’s be honest here, identity politics to recognise something that is clearly made for them, ultimately all that is remembered is that ‘the comedy show featuring a lot of diversity’ failed. And it becomes harder for people who actually want to make media with, and especially for, minorities have a harder time getting any funding. Shows like these are a lose lose situation when it comes to furthering diversity in the media landscape and it’s increasingly frustrating to see this happen again and again.

[abnormalpsychology]

But sir that’s my emotional support incredibly shitty remake

[fairydust-stuff]

Rewatch of Heathers 2018 aka Peathers Episode 4

I haven't seen a lot of positive about this show. So I'm going to make some posts about the things that are good here. For each episode.

We see Heather Duke pull Kurt into the bathroom. Then explain they only broke up with him to appease Heather C.

While, I don't give a crap about Heather D x Kurt at all. ( their just not interesting and make no sense. ) Its toxic because Heather Duke mostly bullies him but its not a compelling kind of bad.

But at least Duke has some conflict because they like Kurt but Heather Chandler doesn't want Heather Duke to date some jock. Its weirdly posessive but never goes into full on ship tease catagory. Its highlighted here that Heather Duke is trying to have their cake and eat it to by secretly seeing him.

After some JD & Veronica hook up stuff nothing interesting there and Veronica standing up Betty.

We see, A student named Brianna Parker is shown looking sadly at her empty wallet in front of the suicide tee shirt merchandise. The Heathers are selling, before running off near tears.

The next scene shows Parker in a trailer where we hear people shouting. Someone is passed out on the couch. Suggesting Parker has a bad home life and lives in poverty.

This clever bit of context reveals that some of the students who have reasons to be depressed cann't even afford the merch.

The next scene shows Parker proudly wearing a suicide t shirt she made herself. The other students, mock and belittle her for being unable to afford a new one.

She is stunned thoughout the day and attempts suicide by throwing herself from the bench into the circle of football players during the game.

This scene showcases the hypocracy of the anti suicide campign. It being valued for being new and expensive and trendy rather then its message.

Even the teachers conclude she should of tried to kill herself weeks ago to spare Ram the football player. Since no one will think its cool if the poor kid does it.

This bit of insensative dialog sounds like something that would come out of the Heathers movie even in the 80's.

It also shows the tv show did its homework in terms of showcaseing the pretending to care about suicide for clout theme that was always there in the franchise.

Parker wearing a knock off version of her merch causes Heather Chandler's brand to be tainted with her posters being covered over in the background to drive the point home.

She confronts Parker in the bathroom " Transfer to Washington, transfer to Jefferson. Because your future at Westernberg is as useless as your legs."

Lizzy the froster care girl Heather Chandler adopts to replace Heather N actually calls the Heathers out. Pointing out she lives in a bubble to the point she doesn't understand poor kids like Lizzy and Parker. " We cann't help that we're poor kinda like you cann't help the fact your overweight."

This class divide as highlighted by Lizzy is further stressed by Heather Duke stateing at one point earlier in the scene, " Just a case of the poor girl, trying to copy the ritch kids and failing miseribly." It also highlights the obliviousness of the Heathers due to being wealthy.

Heather Chandler takes Lizzy aside and is clearly confused at being at the other end a social justice tirade. To which Lizzy implies Heather taught her to call out injustice.

Its kinda ambiguious as to wheather Lizzy is sincere about her empathy for Parker, but it is also obvious she, is trying to manipulate the situation for popularity points. ( I think she does feel compassion for her honestly but she wanted to undermine Chandler).

Side note, Lizzy she seems to have some Heather Duke movie traits. She comes off as timid and being implied to have endured abuse in the past with her saying she learned to apply foundation to cover up the bruises. Also she manipulates her way slowly into the spotlight.

Heather Chandler threats to reveal Veronica and JD nearly killed her. As she needs a new angle if her " I am Suicide" thing doesn't work. By revealing she got JD on tape at her house.

Next scene is Heather Duke rubbing Heather Chandler's shoulders while trying to persade her, their completely loyal. Ok I take it back about their dynamic not being shippy! Dam!

At first Heather C is a little off put by it, but then she lets Heather Duke keep touching her shoulders. While argueing they can take down Lizzy for her. (Seriously, why cann't this be our toxic queer ship?) She agrees but warns Duke if they screw up, their in big trouble.

Cut to veronica monolaging about how America even packaged Teen suicide all pretty. A line that speaks for itself.

Meanwhile Heather Duke slips a note into Lizzy's locker implying Rem will kill himself because of her. Which causes everyone to gush about how lucky she is . With Lizzy playing it up for sympathy points.

Showing how suicide at Westernberg high has been offically romantsized.

Heather C lights a fire in the trashcan and walks off while Heather Duke watches her nervously afraid what she'll do to them.

Then Betty is revealed is put on the trail of realizing Veronica killed the third member of their friend group when they were kids. With her presenting her findings to JD.

JD goes along with it to try and kill her.

Meanwhile Heather Duke has Kurt break up with them because their too mean.

Duke gets Kurt to admit Heather Chandler wrote his lines for him. Then says Duke will end up alone if they continue to treat people badly.

While he's not wrong Kurt is kinda hypocritical here because one, He hung out with Rem and Ram who still bully people and sing chants about killing babies.

Also he let Duke's emotional abuser write his break up lines for him.

( I need to write a post on 2018 reboot Heather C and Heather D's dynamic one day, because its a lot).

So Betty kicks JD's butt six ways from Sunday. I'm not personally fond of this choice because JD is supposed to be dangerous. They already have him failing all, but one murder.

It kinda takes away from his threat factor. This version of him is already super rediculous. So this is just even more of a downgrade. I think I see what their trying to do parody JD, by making him super pathadic, but the problem is the story also wants you to see him as threat. Its like seriously writers you should of just picked a lane.

Tension rises between Veronica after she saves JD's ass. With her being pissed that he didn't tell her, he was going to kill Betty.

Veronica crashes the car to give him an alibi while musing "JD showed his true colors tonight its time I showed mine."

[fairydust-stuff]

the substitute mother figure angle pulled with this version of the Chandler & Duke dynamic is compelling. With Chandler being able to play a softer more affectionate angle with Duke while still being abusive.

I also get the impression this version of Chandler see';s herself as a guide to those she takes under her wing. Her whole thing with Lizzy was an interesting take. Also Chandler wanting to be seen as a "beacon of hope"

While it gets kinda wasted in terms of narrative payoff but I love the manipulative maternal angle.

“You tried to take my place and become number one and you failed. And why is that, Heather? Because being number one just isn’t in your bones.”

[newsatsix1986]

What is home to you?

To me, it’s a place where you feel your most alive and comfortable, the place where you can be exactly who and what you are without masking at all. It’s where you can be your most relaxed and grottiest self, with no worries.

I have such a soft spot for the homes used in my favourite television shows, especially The Newsreader, and Dale’s Season One apartment is absolutely cherished by me. The gorgeous art deco flat in St Kilda East has a cosy feel, stunning French doors, and gorgeous wooden beams and finishings, not forgetting to mention the fireplaces and mirrors! It speaks a lot to his eclectic nature, and how he has slowly built up his life to where he wants it to be.

When I started the first episode of Fake (directed by our Emma Freeman), I immediately took note of how familiar and at home I felt in Asher Keddie’s character Birdie’s kitchen, and when it panned out to the rest of her apartment, I made the realisation that it’s because it was Dale’s apartment! Naturally, you can imagine that my heart leapt into my throat 😂

No wonder I felt so at home already in this show, it was because I already knew the place in which Birdie lived. Unfortunately Paramount Plus blocks screenshotting, so as an alternative I took some photos of my laptop screen with my iPad, so you can comparatively see the shared space in which both Dale and Birdie lived, 38 years apart from one another. It truly felt like coming home to the piece of media I love the most once again.

Of course, I ended up moving past the initial excitement of Birdie sharing Dale’s place, and was completely engrossed in her story of a relationship going horribly sour through deception and lies. It reminded me of how important it is for us to seek authenticity within our lives, and to keep searching for this, no matter how long it takes, or how many people we must meet, and for us to ensure that we remain true to who we are too. We can be a home for ourselves and others too.

What are ways that you are authentic to yourself, and what are some of your favourite homes on the television? Obviously, Helen and Dale’s places are very precious to me! 🏡💖🌟📺

[artemx746]

how come majority of the best adaptations out there are stage musicals

[citizenscreen]

John Howard and Heather Angel

for Paramount Productions Inc.

film publicity still, 1939

[alternativeboy]

I love Amanda Woodward, the ultimate 90s girlboss.

[fairydust-stuff]

Heathers 2018 reboot episode 5

I am not a fan of this episode at all. I do not like this version of JD. He's all over the place, but I do have some moments from this one I like.

Jade, Heather Dukes gold digging step mom is always a blast! Selma Blair just knows how to make camp work lol!

JD's hallucination of his mom with Moby Dick referances. Basically his unstable mind telling to kill everyone. Or maybe his mom was always evil who knows at this point.

Heather Duke careing about Veronica, its nice that unlike the musical Heather D and Veronica got their movie friendship back. Actually Heather D is even a slightly better friend here. since they buy Veronica slushies and make sure her boyfriend is treating her right.

Everything with JD verses Heather Chandler period. Including his realization of digusted, horror when he realizes she was a pagant kid.

While, I do like the social commentary of Lizzy being arrested for a gun being found in her flowers. I am sad they get rid of Lizzy because other then Jade, she was my favorite oc character. In the tv series and I wanted to see more from her.

I get it, it sets up JD's bomb plan but its mostly filer. I don't like how Betty was dropped with a mention of oh she went to millitary school.

the reveal of Veronica being evil this whole time was good. I know some veronica fans aren't fans of the adaptation choice but I actually don't mind it that much.

So many fans forget this but Veronica is a villain protagonist. Even in the movie she was never the hero.

[eddie-redmayne-italian-blog]

New Photos of all Tony Awards Nominees!!

TONY AWARDS

Photos: Meet the 2024 Tony Awards Nominees

The nominees let their personalities shine at the annual Tony Awards Meet the Nominees press junket.

BY PLAYBILL STAFF MAY 10, 2024

Here they are boys! Here they are world! 

The 2024 Tony nominees filled the Sofitel Hotel with glamour and excitement during the annual Tony Awards Meet the Nominees press junket May 2. See these Broadway stars shine in their first appearance to the media after being dubbed a nominee in these exclusive portraits taken by Playbill's Heather Gershnowitz. 

Winners will announced at the 77th Annual Tony Award on June 16 at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater, starting with The Tony Awards: Act One. The show can be found on streaming for free on Pluto TV. Details are to be announced.

The 77th Annual Tony Awards will follow Act One at 8 PM ET, broadcasting live on CBS (check local listings) and streaming live (for premium-level subscribers) via Paramount+. All Paramount+ subscribers will have on demand access to the broadcast beginning June 17. Stage and screen star Ariana DeBose will be back for her third consecutive year hosting.

All photo nominees here :

Photographer Heather Gershonowitz

[gameofthunder66]

=watched 6/4/2023- 2 [1/2] stars- on Paramount+

endless list of favorite characters: JENNIFER JOLIE | portrayed by Parker Posey from SCREAM 3 (2000)

[saintmeghanmarkle]

📋 𝐌𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐌 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐑𝐎, 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟒𝟎𝐱𝟒𝟎 📋

📌 ARO jam recipients (as of May 27th, 2024)

Tracy Robbins (designer, wife of Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins) *

Delfina Balquier (Argentine socialite, wife of Nacho Figueras) * and Nacho Figueras (professional polo player) *

Kelly Mckee Zajfen (friend, Alliance of Moms founder) *

Mindy Kaling (actress and comedian) *

Tracee Ellis Ross (actress, daughter of Diana Ross)

Abigail Spencer (friend, Suits co-star) *

Chrissy Teigen (television personality, wife of John Legend)

Kris Jenner ('Momager') *

Garcelle Beauvais (actress, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) *

Heather Dorak (friend, yoga instructor) *

📌 Archetypes podcast guests

Serena Williams 🏆

Mariah Carey 👑

Mindy Kaling (actress and comedian) *

Margaret Cho (comedian and actress)

Lisa Ling (journalist and tv personality)

Deepika Padukone (Indian actress)

Jenny Slate (actress and comedian)

Constance Wu (actress)

Paris Hilton (entrepreneur, socialite, activist)

Iliza Shlesinger (comedian and actress)

Issa Rae (actress and writer)

Ziwe (comedian and writer)

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau (former wife of Canadian PM Trudeau)

Pamela Adlon (actress)

Sam Jay (comedian and writer)

Mellody Hobson (President and co-CEO of $14.9B Ariel Investments, Chairwoman of Starbucks Corporation, wife of George Lucas)

Victoria Jackson (entrepreneur, wife of Bill Guthy: founder of Guthy-Renker, leading direct marketing company)

Jameela Jamil (actress, television host)

Shohreh Aghdashloo (Iranian and American actress)

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (actress and singer)

Candace Bushnell (Sex and The City writer)

Trevor Noah (South African comedian)

Andy Cohen (talk show host)

Judd Apatow (director, producer, screenwriter)

source

📌 40x40 participants

Adele 🌟

Amanda Gorman (poet and activist)

Amanda Nguyen (activist)

Ayesha Curry (actress, cooking television personality)

Ciara (singer and actress)

Deepak Chopra (author and alternative medicine advocate)

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris (former Surgeon General of California)

Elaine Welteroth (former Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue)

Dr. Ibram X Kendi (professor and anti-racism activist)

Fernando Garcia (creative director of Oscar de la Renta)

Gabrielle Union (actress)

Gloria Steinem (feminist journalist and social-political activist)

Hillary Clinton (politician, wife of former US President Bill Clinton)

Katie Couric (journalist) *

Kerry Washington (actress)

Chef José Andrés (founder of World Central Kitchen)

Melissa McCarthy (actress)

Princess Eugenie (member of British Royal Family)

Priyanka Chopra (actress)

Sarah Paulson (actress)

Sofia Carson (actress)

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau (former wife of Canadian PM)

Stella McCartney (fashion designer, daughter of Paul McCartney)

Dr. Theresa "Tessy" Ojo - CBE, FRSA (Diana Award CEO)

Tracee Ellis Ross (actress, daughter of Diana Ross)

Unconfirmed - Edward Enninful (former Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue)

Unconfirmed - Daniel Martin (makeup artist) *

An official list of all "40x40" participants was never disclosed

source 1 // source 2 // source 3

📌 Notes:

Names with an asterisk (*) indicate that they follow ARO on Instagram

Notably missing from these lists: Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and wife Nicole Avant, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, Beyoncé, Tina Knowles, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Kevin Costner, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia Rossi *, Brooke Shields, John Travolta, Kelly Rowland, Holly Robinson Peete, Misan Harriman *, Michael Bublé

Wedding guests missing from these lists: Jessica Mulroney, George and Amal Clooney, David and Victoria Beckham, Idris Elba and Sabria Dhowre, James Blunt and Sofia Wellesley, Janina Gavankar, Elton John and David Furnish, James Corden and Julia Carey, Patrick J. Adams and the rest of the cast of Suits, Joss Stone, Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley, Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford [Source]

Sunshine Sachs must've called in a LOT of favors to get so many famous names on board the Archetypes Podcast and the 40x40 project. Vanity projects that went... nowhere.

Without Sunshine Sachs, IMO it's highly unlikely that M will ever be able to reach the same level of celebrity access on her own.

If there are any names missing from these lists, please comment below 👇

Post link

author: SeptièmeSens

submitted: May 27, 2024 at 06:44PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[historyofglee]

On this day in 2012:

the cast of Glee attended the season 4 premiere party at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California.

The event was attended by Jenna Ushkowitz, Darren Criss, Mike O’Malley, Chris Colfer, Kate Hudson, Lea Michele, Jacob Artist, Melissa Benoist, Vanessa Lengies, Chord Overstreet, Heather Morris, Becca Tobin, Samuel Larsen, Dean Geyer, Alex Newell, Josh Sussman, Dot-Marie Jones, Matthew Morrison, and Iqbal Theba.

[blueikeproductions]

Ok.

I’m just gonna say it, I don’t care who it offends:

Earthspark is by far THE weakest show Transformers produced. It’s certainly not the WORST though for the most part it’s still not very good, Cyberverse has that honor at the top worst kids TF show… The adult themed shows are still utterly terrible though and I don’t know if I blame Hasbro or the writers specifically. RiD15 and Beast Machines are far superior shows by comparison, their main faults are being (loose) sequels to (mostly in Prime’s case) stronger entries.

I DESPISE tonally uneven shows made in the modern era due to how subversive modern writers feel the need to make everything. This is why Hollywood is struggling so bad, heck the trending kids TV shows on Paramount wasn’t EarthSpark, the first two things were 2012 Turtles & SpongeBob followed by mostly preschool shows. People just don’t want to watch EarthSpark and if they are I guarantee it’s pirating or taking advantage of a free trial… But mostly pirating, let’s not kid ourselves.

I skipped ahead to the end because I was more interested in Terratronus than really anything else. And I’m told the other episodes aren’t much better.

The final episode of the batch sums up what I think the show was trying to be, because it’s so much course correction. So so sooooo much course correction.

The show has rebranded itself into a more traditional Autobots vs Decepticons plot, but realistically it’s more strictly the Terrans vs the Decepticons. The Autobots don’t really get to do much of anything here. As much as I do like Tudyk in the role of Optimus, and I get he’s a busy guy, but he’s wasted here. They would’ve been better off having the more readily available Peter Cullen be Optimus still.

The positives: The Decepticons back to being proper villains again. Starscream is allowed to be Starscream as we know him and he’s amazing, this is basically the five part pilot Prime Starscream without the universe molding him into the pathetic twerp his Aligned self became (despite a rebound in RiD). The Decepticons rally behind Starscream who seeks to turn Earth into a replacement Cybertron, ala similar plots back in G1 and one instance in Prime. They thankfully soft retcon the domestic abuse thing with Starscream too, which sees him correct Hashtag in his advice from before, to only look out for yourself. As such Starscream is free to be the maniacal gear shaft we all know he can be and what Skybound reminded us he could be! In a way it’s similar to Heathers, where when confronted by Veronica, Heather Duke accepts and admits she is a Mega Bitch because she can be.

The Chaos Terrans are more interesting than the Autobot Terrans. Fully aligned with the Decepticons and powered by the chaotic energy of the Emberstone shards, they’re ready to rumble and tear Witwicky apart. Spitfire is functionally the Foot Recruit in Rise of the TMNT mixed with TFA Wasp.

Nightshade is allowed to be a character and not a soapbox for stock Tumblr-Twitter brand Non-Binary rhetoric. (Turns out the NB people I know don’t like how TV portrays them as only being NB and not getting to be actual people with desires & interests, who knew!) They get to be a cool and quirky scientist and they elbow punch Thrash when he’s being dumb, just what I want to see.

The newest Terran introduced is functionally the matriarch, the grandmother of the Terrans: Terratronus. She is a Titan created on Earth during its early days, and was meant to protect the stone from the Quintessons, who wanted to take it from Quintus and use it for their own ends. She went into stasis lock after tricking the Quints, and eons go by, she was buried underneath the town, and is the source of the tech, ruins and Quintus blessed water. She doesn’t seem capable of Transforming atm, but she’s the final boss of the batch, as Starscream uses the Emberstone to make his own sleeve to control her to destroy all humans to pave the way for New Cybertron.

The negatives: -neck cracks- Oh boy.

If you aren’t already on board with the Maltos, this isn’t gonna endear you to them. Robbie takes over as the leader of the group, a role he was intended to have to begin with, but he’s still overshadowed by his sister. He seems throughly done having the Emberstone gizmos after seeing Starscream is stomping the town with Terratronus, but he gets over it pretty quickly when circumstances happen later.

Mo continues to have this uncanny valley look, and now has this sassy teenage girl boss vibe despite still not being a teenager. She doesn’t crap on anyone she seems to care about, in contrast to most girl bosses, but the energy is still there and it’s off putting. I do at least like she was willing to punch Starscream in the face. I don’t like this incessant need to make all girls action girls. I hated it with Webby, and I don’t like it here. Let Mo be a little girl who likes girly things, and please for the love of Primus, let the next little girl character be this. Can we please go back to Carly, Sari and Mikayla? They’re a much better balance of what these shows are trying to do with the human cast. The funny thing is Dot seems to have the opposite problem, she was initially more stern but loving but she’s lost a lot of her grit now. Dot is where a lot of the sass and grit should be but no.

I hope you didn’t grow attached to the Terracons, because due to things I’ll get into later, they’re deader’n dead. A means to an end to the Decepticons, Starscream yanks out their shards to complete the Emberstone, that part makes sense. It’s what happens later that screams “Slag you.”

The shard plot is dealt with surprisingly fast, I guess an artifact of not being guaranteed a full run in the modern era, and the so called lack of attention spans from kids. If kids can keep up with modern anime plots, they have the attention spans, I hate it when kids are always treated like they’re morons. They just largely have no interest in Twitter-Tumblr writing. On that note, when the Maltobots realize they’ve collected all the shards (including the ones the Decepticons currently have), they have a very forced and cringy dance party that comes out of nowhere. And it becomes a reoccurring b-plot until they’re dragged back into reality by Mo & Hashtag revealing Terratronus. It feels like an attempt to do a similar gag in Fosters, when Herriman starts a party when the cruel Dutchess is adopted, but it lacks the build up and punch, it just happens and it’s embarrassing.

Also while I do like Robbie in the leadership role better than Twitch, the lack of being able to say Transform & Roll Out due to copyright issues is aggravating. Especially when the present Terrans don’t Transform into ground vehicles. Rev Up & Roll Out and Roll to the Rescue were fitting for the Bee Team and Rescue Bots, why can’t the Terrans have their own battle cry?

Starscream piloting Terratronus is more or less a retread of Mandroid and his Howl’s Moving Castle rip off. On one hand, it’s a more impressive version, I wanted a proper MetroTitan fight and this scratches that itch. The problem is that due to the Decepticons petrifying the all the Autobots Dr. Stone style with the Emberstone, it just leaves the children, Thrash and Hashtag to largely run away. The only thing they are able to do is Bubble Terratronus Steven Universe style and leave her in Stasis Lock in the destroyed half of the town. So not a great showing for the grandmother of the Terrans, and it makes Hashtag and Thrash look useless. Thrash even more so.

The Decepticons abandon Starscream really for no reason. Starscream borrows Steeljaw’s plan to make a Decepticon homeworld out of Earth and has the capacity to do so with Terratronus, but outside of killing the Terracons, Starscream has no real interest in killing the other Decepticons. Caught up in his glee, he (accidentally?) knocks the other Decepticons from the cliff they were cheering him on from. Shockwave, fed up with Starscream, makes the others follow him but they also unknown to the kids, get trapped in the same Bubble, unable to outrun it.

While not a negative exactly, it feeds into the awkward restructuring of the show, where it’s trying really hard to borrow stuff from Transformers Animated, a far more popular show still liked today. Starscream piloting Terratronus is very similar to when he took over Omega Supreme, and that’s when he was reduced to a head. It’s also similar to the Lugnut Supremes, though Starscream didn’t pilot them strictly. Him going power mad also harkens to many past instances with the Underbase, the Omega Lock, and the Allspark itself. Curiously the only difference is Starscream wasn’t actually driven insane this time, he was just having fun piloting a giant robot and getting revenge on the Maltos.

Shockwave doesn’t see the point in Starscream’s plan, instead wanting to go back to Cybertron. Starscream rightfully tells off the purple people eater he hasn’t been able to prove if Cybertron even still exists. This is somewhat at odds with Shockwave’s earlier portrayal when he seemed mostly fine at taking over Earth back then. I guess the idea was to give Starscream his own disagreeable follower, but I don’t know if it works with Shockwave here. Maybe Swindle or Nova Storm, though neither are a good fit either…

Also the Emberstone itself is destroyed. The kids try to heal it but it just disintegrates. All that trouble and the life giving relic just goes kaput. Which also means Aftermath and Spitfire are super dead baring some last minute thing in the final episodes that revives them. So the only Decepticon aligned Terrans we get and the best characters get killed off.. Terrific. Mo is mortified but Robbie is surprisingly chill about it, saying they already got what they needed out of it anyway. I hope Quintus wasn’t expecting more grandchildren because he ain’t getting them. The only fix to this is if Terratronus is capable of making new Transformers like the IDW MetroTitans were able to, and that’s assuming she doesn’t die too in a half skid plate way.

Finally the animation. A flash back by Terratronus details how the Emberstone and the Quintessons came to Earth in the first place. It’s rendered a 2D comic book style that far better shows off the stylization the show is tricking for and it looks amazing. The CGI is still good but nothing beats old fashioned 2D animation with polish. Let’s get Mook back to 2D animate Transformers if we can’t get Trigger, but we really need Trigger to do a new TF show in our life time. Because this string of debatable quality CGI for older kids since Prime needs to stop. When the Beast Machines Vehicons, especially the Diagnostic Drone which doesn’t even HAVE a face, are able to express better expressions 20+ some years ago, there’s no excuse!

The next thing needs to either be Bravern or 4S Gridman visually bare minimum or at least have writing on par with Beast Wars and Animated. This is nonnegotiable. We need better writers, and writers who at least are capable of making fun stuff that isn’t tethered by IDW’s bad ideas.

Earthspark is one step forward, two steps back so far. I can at least tell tell they’re trying, and that’s an improvement, but it’s not enough to win anyone back and the changes are gonna cheese off people like Skywalker did to Last Jedi fans… On to the next and presumably final batch I suppose.

[gameofthunder66]

-watched 7/3/2023- 2 [1/2] stars- on Paramount+

Scream (2022) Dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett