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stirringwinds · 2 years

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normandy

Some D-Day Matt; I headcanon him as a paratrooper with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. So here’s the jump into France. Content warnings: Injury, violence, death mention. [1k words].

6th June, 1944

Through a thick bank of clouds—and then they’re out the other side—into hell.

Brilliant, glowing white streaks of German anti-aircraft fire light up the inky blackness. So much for ever hoping to sneak in, Matthew thinks drily. The silhouettes of the other C-47 Dakotas race through this lethal gauntlet, hundreds of dark crosses standing out against the blinding, thunderous flashes of light.

Through the open door of the plane, a glimpse of sheer chaos and utter pandemonium above, behind and below. The colourful blue, red and green of the German tracer bullets soaring up to join the hail of lead chasing the Dakotas. Split seconds later—the awful sound of rending metal, accompanied by a deafening roar; the fiery outline of a damaged plane right in front of theirs spiralling down to the ground, its fuselage wreathed in brilliant flames.

Then—before Matthew can even spare a thought for the lost men—a series of violent lurches, like that of the worst out-of-control rollercoaster ride, a thousand times over. He swallows a curse, as he’s thrown hard to the left, his shoulder meeting, bruising against the sharp edge of a metal switchbox welded to the wall, through his jump uniform. He drags himself upright. The C-47 bucks sharply again, as their pilots took evasive measures, slamming several more men to the floor of the plane in a tangle of limbs. Loud cursing and groans of pain, as the paratroopers who were sent careening into one another furiously fought to untangle their individual static lines, which they’d already clipped to the main anchor line running along the aircraft’s ceiling. Minutes earlier, the red signal light had come on, and they’d all completed their equipment checks and hooked themselves up in preparation for the jump.

Their plane banks violently again, this time to the right. Matthew grits his teeth, bracing himself on an icy-cold metal latch. His stomach roils queasily—but the airsickness pills he’d swallowed back at the RAF airbase do their job. More explosions. Another German anti-aircraft battery strikes home. His ears are ringing, his heart hammering in his chest.

Amidst this chaos, the sounds of retching. One man’s dinner has evidently come right back up at the worst possible moment. Matthew twists around, his eyes straining to see amidst the alternating darkness and blinding flashes of the tracer rounds and anti-aircraft fire, the fuselage of the plane lit only by the feeble, crimson glow of the signal light by the door.

The sick man is doubled up on the floor, bent over by his airsickness and the weight of all his gear—all 150 pounds of it, a buddy right behind attempting to haul him to his feet. Matthew bends down carefully, one hand holding his own static line taut so it wouldn’t get entangled. Then, he grasps him by the other arm, and between the two of them, the ill man manages to right himself.

His brown eyes are wide and his face is pale, underneath the areas where the camouflage paint had smudged off, but he nods at Matthew, mutters a prayer, rechecks his static line and flashes a thumbs up.

The much-awaited green light flickers on.

For Matthew, the thunderous cacophony of anti-aircraft fire, and the muttered curses and prayers of the nineteen other men behind him all fade away.

He was good at this, Arthur had always said, the way he could slide into a state of absolute cool, placid clarity. Battle calm.

Time slows to a crawl.

The only thing in the world is the inhale and exhale of his lungs. The solid, reassuring feel of his parachute harness, the weight of the gear on his back and the second, heavy pack strapped to his leg. One of Arthur’s ideas. A leg-kit, Father had said primly, where extra ammunition, rations, machine-gun tripods, whatever—could be stuffed, without overburdening the paratrooper and injuring him upon landing. Matthew was of the opinion that the whole damned thing was likely to be ripped off his leg the moment he jumped, at that wind speed and velocity. He’d said as much to Father. They’d know soon enough.

The knife he’d stuffed down his right boot. His good-luck talisman. It was old, the hilt made of hardwood he’d cut and polished himself, countless seasons ago, underneath the long shadows of the trees and their fading leaves.

The wind rushes through the open door ferociously. Too fast, he notes. The pilots were supposed to ease back on the throttle, slow the plane down for the jump. Naturally, they were panicking.

But there is nothing else to do but to take the next step forward. To lead the way, as the officer in charge of the nineteen other men behind him.

The French countryside is a dark, waiting void below, lit only briefly by the rapid, muzzle flashes of the German anti-aircraft gun batteries and the bright streaks of their tracer rounds.

(Farmhouse, fields, hedges, a church steeple—)

Somewhere below, is their target—the bridge and German garrison in the village of Varaville. Which would otherwise have free reign to cut down the British, Free French, Norwegian and Polish troops coming ashore at Sword beach in a few hours, if he and his men didn’t do their job.

Somewhere—who knew where—was his other father. Francis. Alive, dead or lingering somewhere in between, who knew.

Behind, still making their way across the Channel, under the dark blanket of radio silence, were his father and Alfred. He wouldn’t concern himself with them, for the moment. There’d be plenty of time, later.

Matthew crosses himself. It’s nothing less than an ironic privilege he has, knowing that Death could not hold on to him, would not come for him.

Behind, his men are all mostly silent now; all wrapped up in their own private rituals, thinking about family, lovers, home, on this precipice in between life and death. Their thoughts flow around him, their emotions strong and distinct, but never blurring or mingling with his own, akin to the clear waters running around a stone resting in a river.

The open door of the plane awaits, the icy, onrushing air stinging his eyes, the glowing, incandescent streaks of the enemy tracer rounds and the hot, metallic smell of spent ammunition suffusing his senses.

He shoots his men one last glance over his shoulder; a whole row of tense, wide-eyed young faces shadowed by their helmets, disappearing back into the darkness of the plane, their hands bracing themselves upright as their craft shakes and judders violently.

Amidst the thunderous din, his own expression is equal parts calm and grim. I’ll see you all on the other side.

Then, his mind is clear and cool, emptied of everything except the parameters of the mission, as uncluttered as the darkened, seemingly featureless landscape rushing by far below.

Matthew braces himself, sucks in a breath, exhales once, twice.

And then he steps out, lets himself fall, into the unknown.

#hetalia #hws canada #matthew williams #my writing #death mention #injury

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turtlethon · 2 years

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“Beyond the Donatello Nebula”

Season 4, Episode 36 First US Airdate: November 24, 1990

Donatello teams up with an alien traveller to defeat a mogul planning a hostile takeover of Channel 6.

Season four of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles draws closer to its end with “Beyond the Donatello Nebula”. This is the first episode of the series written by Dennis O’Flaherty, and originally aired in a double-bill with “Big Bug Blunder”.

Donatello’s research of outer space has led to the discovery of a “turtle nebula”, and today’s adventure opens with him attempting to make contact with its inhabitants. Michaelangelo plays a prank on him by pretending to be an alien who promises to provide “the secret of universal happiness and contentment”. When this turns out, inevitably, to be pizza, Donnie takes offense, scooping up his equipment in a gym bag and storming out of the lair.

Splinter remarks that Mikey’s stunt has “caused Donatello much pain”, and that he hopes it won’t last. I could point out that he allowed all of this to play out and did nothing, but I suppose this was necessary in order for the story to progress. Let’s continue.

Donnie scales the Channel 6 building. On the roof, he sets up his equipment. A signal is seen passing through space, where it hits a vehicle that resembles a VW Beetle crossed with a spacecraft. The ship materialises in front of Donatello and its driver, a lizard-like alien in a space explorer costume, emerges to yell at him.

After switching on his universal translator, the alien reveals his name to be Algernon (or “Algie”). The traveller demands that Donatello fix his ship’s “flimmelfarm”. We then interrupt the scene to check in with the other Turtles in the Lair, where Michaelangelo is rolling pizza dough. Insisting that people are too dependent on machines nowadays, he continues kneading without paying attention until the dough expands to cover everyone in the room. I’m not sure what the point of any of this is, other than to remind us the other Turtles exist and are continuing to go about their business.

We jump back to Donatello, who is able to pop the hood on Algie’s ship but soon manages to electrocute himself. The alien becomes agitated, pointing out that he’s late for a job interview for a professorship at Intergalactic U.

Back to the other Turtles again, and this time they’re watching a wide-eyed April report on “Hostile” Hiram Grelch, a Rupert Murdoch-esque media mogul who resembles a pig. It’s revealed that Grelch owns every other TV station in town – I think this might be the first time we’ve even acknowledged that there are other stations in operation – and now he wants to purchase Channel 6 too. (There should be anti-trust regulations preventing this kind of thing, but let’s not get too caught up in the details.)

April signs off by announcing that Channel 6 has two words for Grelch: “fat chance!” She’s then seen screaming before the signal cuts out.

Back on the station’s roof, Algie reacts to April’s screams by reflexively transforming himself into a switchbox on the wall. After transforming back to his normal form, he joins Donnie in rushing downstairs, where two henchmen with futuristic guns have cornered April. They reveal that they work for Hiram Grelch, and promise to make sure she won’t get to make any further remarks as the first act ends.

Act two commences with Vernon cowering for mercy only for the two men to open fire, covering him in glue. April is about to face the same fate until Donatello and Algie intervene. They battle the two goons, with Algie dispensing bolts of power from his hands (which Donnie refers to as “mind energy”), but ultimately get hit by the glue guns. After capturing April, the two men are able to escape.

As the other Turtles speed to the rescue in their van, Algie is able to use his powers to free himself, Donnie and Vernon. After spotting April being shoved into a car outside, Donnie and Algie use a window cleaner’s pulley to lower themselves to the ground, drawing the attention of horrified onlookers in the process. In order to not draw any further attention to himself, Algie assumes the form of a dog that belongs to a woman passing by, causing her to faint from shock. The duo goes on to hail a cab and follow the car belonging to Grelch’s men.

An extended chase sequence follows, with the taxi cab pursuing the car containing the kidnappers and April. The two vehicles pass over ramps, into a subway tunnel where they wind up in front of a moving train, and out through a fish market before the cab loses the other car as it pulls into Grelch’s building. The cabbie explains he can’t go any further, as Hostile Hiram “don’t like strangers”.

Donatello is drawn as Michaelangelo – with both “M” belt and orange attire – as he encourages Algie to use his powers. The alien visitor hits the building with a bolt of energy, but a forcefield surrounding the building causes him to get fried for his efforts.

The other Turtles pull up to the Channel 6 building only to find it surrounded by police vehicles (which are erroneously painted like taxi cabs). Michaelangelo dons a disguise to infiltrate the premises. He assures the cops guarding the building that he’s a representative of the press, only to have them pull guns on him and chase him back into the Turtle van; it’s then revealed that he was wearing a rubber dog head, having selected the wrong mask. An odd scene all round!

Donnie and Algie rush back over rooftops to Channel 6, planning to use the technology of the spaceship to penetrate Hiram Grelch’s offices. They find that the ship has been hauled away and assume this must have been the work of Grelch’s men. Algie warns Donatello that the mishandling of his vehicle could cause Earth to be blown “into the next dimension”.

Grelch is seen taunting a captive April, declaring that within the next twenty-four hours the owners of Channel 6 will sell the station to him. One of his men is seen tinkering with the ship, and Grelch declares his intent to use it to travel into space and buy TV stations on other planets too, which is uh... certainly an ambitious plan, it must be said.

An odd error first appears during this scene and is present throughout the rest of the episode: the taller of Grelch’s two henchmen had normal-looking eyes up to this point, but from now on they’re always unpainted and not filled in, making it look like he has three eyelids on each side. It’s a strange mistake and unpleasant to look at.

Donatello begins hatching a plan, pointing out to Algie that Grelch’s forcefield must use cathode rays, like the ones found “in your television set”. (Once in a while, things are brought up in this show that are a stark reminder of the passage of time, and just how much our world has changed over the last three decades.) He goes on to explain that if the forcefield uses cathode rays, it can be magnified with an electro-photon multiplier. All of this is lost on Algernon, who reveals that he’s a professor of “dribbleglatz” - which we known on Earth as the game of tiddlywinks.

Pressing on, Donnie explains that if Grelch is in a giant cathode ray tube, they can broadcast signals that will be picked up inside it. They go on to select a suitable movie from Channel 6’s library.

The other Turtles are driving around town in the Turtle Van. Leonardo info-dumps about the current situation, and when Raphael points out that they already know all of this, the team’s exasperated leader responds that “I wasn’t telling you, I was telling our viewers!” Pulling to a stop, the trio watch a broadcast in the back of the van from a trenchcoat-wearing Donatello, who has Algie pretend to be a three-eyed alien warlord from the turtle nebula. The creature demands the return of the spaceship and April, which gets the attention of Grelch’s underlings.

Grelch is unmoved by the threats of imminent interplanetary war, dismissing them as coming from an actor in a costume, but changes his tune when a giant version of the alien is seen looming outside his tower building, alongside a fleet of spaceships.

Donatello and Algie travel through a sewer tunnel, emerging in the basement of Grelch’s building where they’re confronted by a group of men playing cards. Donatello battles the group while Algernon searches for the building’s switchbox, eventually cutting off the power to the building. Above ground, Hostile Hiram and his men are briefly baffled as the alien invasion is interrupted by a commercial featuring a used car salesman. Seconds later, the power goes out and the room is dark... until a spotlight appears from the Turtle Blimp, which is now hovering outside.

Leonardo, Raphael and Michaelangelo dismount, arriving to confront Grelch. For the second time in this episode, an incorrect belt letter leads to one of the Turtles being painted with the wrong colours, as Leo uses his sword to free April but has both a “D” belt and purple bands.

For some strange reason Hiram and his men are crawling along on the ground as they attempt to escape. April spots them and uses a glue gun to pin them down. She’s thrilled to do so, noting that usually these kinds of heroics are reserved for the Turtles. Donatello – the real one this time – and Algie meet up with the Turtles, and after the police arrive the group hastily makes their exit. Donatello assures his alien friend that they’ll transport the spaceship away from the scene shortly.

Later, in the Lair, the Turtles and Algernon sit next to the ship. The professor tells our heroes that it runs on “groopnip”, but is unable to articulate what that is until it’s revealed that pizza and groopnip are one and the same. Algie takes all the pizza the Turtles have, loads it into his ship and swiftly makes his exit, teleporting back into the Lair briefly to nab one last remaining slice from a furious Michaelangelo as the rest of the team laughs.

These last few episodes of TMNT’s fourth season have been something of a departure from what came before them: up until recently the CBS Saturday morning double-bills have almost invariably consisted of a traditional team episode written by David Wise with Shredder as the villain, paired with a second story by a different writer that would introduce a new villain and spotlight one of the Turtles. The final David Wise episode for this year, “The Big Cufflink Caper!”, aired on November 10, and since then we’ve had an unprecedented stretch of non-Shredder shows from other contributors: “Leonardo Versus Tempestra”, “Splinter Vanishes”, “Raphael Drives ‘Em Wild” and now “Beyond the Donatello Nebula”. Given the troubled production schedule for this season, with events throughout clearly indicating that many shows ended up airing outside of the order originally intended by the writers, it’s likely that this Shredderless stretch didn’t have much thought behind it, and whatever’s airing now are just the last few shows that are good to go.

Gregg Berger guest stars here as both Hiram Grelch and as Algernon, and the erudite alien professor is a far cry from his most famous role as Grimlock, the leader of the Dinobots in the original Transformers cartoon. This is Algie’s only appearance – a shame, as I think he probably had greater potential to provide further value than most of the new characters introduced this season. Gregg also won’t be appearing on the show again, a missed opportunity in itself.

“Hostile” Hiram is one of the more interesting villains of this season, as his goal is to not antagonise the Turtles or take over the world, but to gain ownership of Channel 6. I’m always up for any story that sheds some light on the inner workings of this station that appears so much in the show, but of which we know very little: its owners are mentioned in this episode but never seen, and even Burne – the highest-up person at the station that we know of – doesn't appear. Grelch’s motivations take an odd and unnecessary turn when he suddenly decides after finding a spaceship that he’ll fly off and take over TV stations on other planets, and I wish they’d allowed him to both figuratively and literally remain grounded. No more Gregg Berger also means no more Hiram, and again there was surely a ton of untapped story potential in this idea of a predatory rival looking to take over Channel 6.

An inviting and breezy adventure, “Beyond the Donatello Nebula” sadly also manages to hint at future avenues that won’t be explored. We’ll return to more traditional fare next time, as Shredder and his crew finally return to action for “Big Bug Blunder”.

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #TMNT Donnie #TMNT Donatello #Donatello TMNT #1990 #Turtlethon #Ninja Turtles #Beyond the Donatello Nebula

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