#the man in question this time is Arthur Darvill.

[canisonicscrewyou]

been staring at The Man a lot recently which says nothing good about my mental health

[kalinara]

Dream Movie

It's the Dream Show challenge again! This time, it's a movie! I hope you enjoy it!

The Marvelous Ms. Marbell

Quick Synopsis:

Sweet elderly Ms. Mary Marbell has quite the reputation for solving murders. But when an unpleasant business man with more money than sense, and more enemies than either, is found dead in his office, Ms. Marbell's investigation takes on some interesting complications.

Annette Badland - Ms. Mary Marbell, amateur detective extraordinaire. But does she have some secrets of her own?

Annie Murphy - Nicole Fletcher, Ms. Marbell's trusted aide. Ms. Marbell has the sharpest of minds, but she isn't exactly adept at wiggling through windows or creeping into closets. So when the investigation requires a bit more physical legwork, young Nikki is happy to oblige.

Elden Henson - Detective Jack Winchell, the investigating officer. He's never worked with Ms. Marbell before, and he's quite skeptical of her reputation. At least until he sees her results.

Michael Shanks - Darren Holt - Our victim. An entirely disagreeable fellow who any number of kind, simple folk would love to see dead. But who could have done it? And why duct tape?

Jeff Goldblum - Aaron Jacobson - One of many potential suspects, but the one with the most recognizable face. He lost a lot of money due to one of Darren Holt's shady business deals. He also made his fortune in hardware, particularly duct tape. Could he perhaps be the murderer?

Sonequa Martin-Green - Tara Mars - An American blogger and investigator who has teamed up with a like-minded British counterpart. Ms. Marbell once proved her father guilty of murder, but Tara still has questions.

John Boyega - Stephen Smith - A British blogger and investigator. He's been following Ms. Marbell's exploits for years, and he thinks he's started noticing a few concerning patterns.

--

Full Synopsis:

Businessman Darren Holt has been murdered and Ms. Marbell is on the case. Despite the skepticism of her new "partner", Detective Winchell, Ms. Marbell thorough and gentle examination of witnesses and evidence soon bring results, and Aaron Jacobson is arrested for the crime.

But that's when Tara Mars and Stephen Smith show up, with a lot of questions. While Ms. Marbell has been investigating murders, they've been investigating Ms. Marbell and they've come up with one heck of an alternate theory for the crimes.

Is Ms. Marbell simply a brilliant, yet underestimated, amateur detective? Or is SHE the murderer, carefully choosing the most unlikable, distasteful victims so that she can send her real targets to prison instead?

Complicating the investigation is the discovery that Stephen Smith and Nicole Fletcher had once been very close friends in their shared Ms. Marbell fandom.

Ultimately, the murderer is revealed to be Nicole Fletcher. She'd long admired Ms. Marbell, and as the elderly sleuth's reputation began to fade, she'd taken it upon herself to provide new cases. She's imprisoned, Aaron Jacobson is set free, and a devastated Ms. Marbell returns to her sad, empty home.

In the coda, Ms. Marbell is visited by her long estranged grandson, Philip (as played by Arthur Darvill). As they enjoy the fresh air, she notices a very angry fellow shouting at the women on the street. "That one next," she tells her grandson, who nods solemnly as they continue their pleasant walk.

Bonus:

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

*These prompts are purely self-indulgent and can be canon/non-canon compliant as well as containing potential spoilers: continue at your own risk. Also, these prompts range from fix-its to full on AU - they’re not to be taken seriously. Feel free to submit your own via my ask box with the character name included. Lastly, everyone is welcome to use any of these but remember to credit @promptsforyourwhumpfic​,*

TW: Child abuse, Suicide, Alcohol abuse, 

He grew up living on the streets. In his adulthood, he has a tendency to hide food and has a hatred for the cold.

Upon returning to Whitechapel, he found his murdered wife and son, the latter of whom was shot in the head. He has frequent nightmares of this moment to the point that sometimes he doesn't want to sleep; he's so scared of seeing the same thing. The Legends notice this of course, and perhaps Sara offers to sit with him with the promise to wake him if he has a nightmare.

Somebody just give this man a hug. I good, proper hug.

Rip cannot forgive himself after what he had done whilst brainwashed by the Legion of Doom and tries to take his own life, believing himself to be too far from the prospect of redemption.

Rip is known to drink too much, too often... after a particularly difficult mission he drinks far more than he's used to and the Legends are left to pick up the pieces of their Captain.

Rip has a disturbing amount of scars for someone of his age.

The Legends realise they've never actually seen Rip eat of sleep when around them. When they question Gideon about this behaviour and are deeply disturbed by her answer.

Rip!Lives AU: When the time-drive overloaded, he didn’t die. Instead he was transported into a temporal realm that exists to hold various monsters, enemies. It’s nearly inescapable. The issue is, Mallus is there with him (and maybe some enemies he’d turned into the time masters years ago.) Immediately, Rip Hunter becomes the hunted as he races to avoid his enemy. When he’s finally alone, holed up in a cave bruised and exhausted, he breaks down. His mission should have killed him, he should have been with Miranda and Jonas... why was he still alive? Over time - weeks, months, maybe years - he fixes some tech enough to try and break the barrier between his world and the real one: he needs to get the message out that he is still alive and is attempting to kill Mallus once and for all. However, the tech taps into the magic realm which is inevitably picked up by one John Constantine. The Legends told him Rip was dead, so imagine his surprise when he begins having dreams/premonitions of Rip running for his life. In these flashes he looks terrible; malnourished and rugged. It takes a long taxing ritual for John to find out what Rip is running from and where he is. Instantly, the Legends begin to try and find him... but will they be too late to give the captain a second chance at life? (Bonus points if Rip and John were romantically involved in the past)

Rip is definitely the person to become a human shield if needs be.

Rip gets de-aged by a magical artefact. His body and mindset are returned to the age he is transformed to, and the Legends find out just how tragic his past was. How do they treat him when he is returned to the right age? After all Rip is a very private person, so how does he feel having his life on display for all to see?

After his family’s death, Rip stops looking after himself and it takes Gideon going behind his back to get him to a close friend in order to help him. 

“It’s okay, I’ve had worse.” Rip says standing up from the medical chair. “Rip you were dead for two minutes!”, Rip shrugs, “I once had to get back to the ship with a shattered leg, infected whip slashes and a severe concussion in order to stop a war in ancient Egypt.” Everyone is deeply concerned by the confession. 

Rip used to get bullied for his lisp.

As Arthur Darvill plays Mephistopheles in the Globe Theatre production of Doctor Faustus, imagine Rip Hunter having to save someone from being killed mid-performance by having to take the role of Mephistopheles to finish his mission. (“I must admit, Captain, I thought your portrayal of the demon was very convincing.” “Thank you, Gideon.”)

[theadrogna]

Dream Show Challenge 2.0

@singledarkshade​ came up with the Dream Show challenge last year, where we had to give her a list of 7 TV shows or films and we were given a cast of 7 actors in return. This time we were given someone else’s cast and were allowed to recast one character (plus add some if we wished). This time I came up with:

Virtuality

Synopsis:

Good people die before their time and it happens every day. Eli Danzig is doing his best to change that. He invents a way to upload consciousness to an online server where the dead can live out a normal life in a virtual environment. He builds an entire world to keep his uploaded souls entertained, making it as lifelike as possible. Huge amounts of processing power are required so Eli must choose his clients carefully.

The electronic world is called Virtuality and the uploaded persons are known collectively as the digi-souls. Virtuality has a small but growing population, which is a continuing concern as it means more storage space is always needed. Eli funds his enterprise by playing the stock market using his AI Tallis to filter information and predict stock prices. Sometimes he sells patents for the things that the digi-souls invent, but more often they give their inventions away for free. However, money is always a worry because none of this is a stable source of income.

Cast:

Eli Danzig (Donald Glover) – Eli is a young computer programmer of genius level intellect. He came from a poor background, and was the first in his family to attend university. He is determined to make things better for people, by improving society. He believes that “only the good die young” is a real problem, and if he could keep the good people in the world for longer then maybe more good could be done. He invents a digital after-life for people to upload their consciousness to, but he must maintain it a secret to keep the unscrupulous from corrupting it or destroying it. He researches every person very carefully before inviting them to join Virtuality.

Ashura Hadid (Tala Ashe) – Ashura is a terminal cancer patient who becomes one of Eli’s digi-souls. She is a prize-winning journalist and novelist, known for taking on difficult stories about things that people would rather keep hidden. She’s recently been looking into CharterTech, owned by Maggie Charter as part of a series on corruption in tech companies, but most of her efforts are going into completing her final novel. Eli and Ashura have undeniable chemistry, but live in very different worlds. She is very driven and moral, always looking for new ways to expose corruption and wrong doing.

Oren Murphy (Jim Byrnes) – Oren was Eli’s professor at University. He made sure that Eli got the scholarship that he needed to attend, and then acted as his mentor. He suffered from high blood pressure and had multiple strokes. He agreed to be Eli’s test case for Virtuality and was the first digi-soul to be uploaded. He is a calming influence on Eli’s life, often being the one to counsel him out of a rash decision.

Shona Lennox (Sophia di Martino) – Eli’s technician, she has a background in medical devices and large-scale genetic information storage. She built the mainframe and worked out how to put into practice Eli’s ideas. She often finds herself in unusual situations now she is working for Eli, but likes her new job and the excitement it brings, even if she complains about it. She used to work for CharterTech but Eli doesn’t know that when he hires her. When she leaves CharterTech she decides to start self-defence classes and can definitely handle herself in a crisis.

Ryan Fournier (Joey Batey) – Ryan is an inventor who has been responsible for some of the world’s most important leaps forward in technology, including making ecological sources of power more viable, such as wind and solar power. He is a problem solver and a big ideas guy. Unfortunately, he was born with a genetic condition that meant he died young, but he is now one of Eli’s digi-souls and living on in the Virtuality. He loves nothing better than to sit down with a problem and work out a solution, but occasionally he realises what he’d missing out on in the real world and ends up depressed and unhappy.

Chie Ohta (Naoko Mori) – Chie is a medical researcher and entrepreneur, but she was unable to save herself from a rare blood disease, despite years of trying. In the process she brought many other useful pieces of medical technology to the market and helped save the lives of countless people with cures for diseases. She loved her work, but always knew she was on borrowed time. She left behind a husband and children, who have no idea of her new existence. She continues to check up on them, despite Oren’s suggestion that this isn’t a good idea.

Maggie Charter (Alison Janney) – Maggie is a self-made woman, in the way that all billionaires are self-made. She inherited a fortune from her politician father and invested in business. She had a technical background so she picked tech companies as an obvious interest. She now owns CharterTech, one of the largest technical manufacturing companies in the world. She once tried to recruit Eli and has never been pleased that he turned her down. She knows nothing about Virtuality but has heard rumours that someone was working on something like it.

Tallis (Arthur Darvill) – Tallis is the AI personality that maintains the Virtuality. He is often mistaken for one of the digi-souls by the newly uploaded as he is so lifelike. He is polite and caring, always available to listen. He is Eli’s friend and also occasional advisor. Tallis means “knowledge” and he has access to all of the world’s online resources.

Occam (Karen Gillan) - Is another AI, built by CharterTech. She is new and unruly, but very quick to follow her creator’s orders. Sparks fly between her and Tallis.

Episodes:

Episode 1: Virtually Home

Ashura Hadid, prize winning writer, is dying at the age of 38. It’s not fair, it’s not right and she is having none of it. She is being treated for an aggressive brain tumour, but decides to stop treatment when it becomes clear that it will impact her ability to write and finish her final novel. The novel is partly a work of fiction but is also based on real life events at a chemical factory in the city that she has been researching.

Eli Danzig introduces himself to her and explains that he can offer her a second chance at life, by uploading her mind to Virtuality. She explains that she has no money and Eli tells her how he finances the project. She will never have to pay to live there. Ashura questions Eli further about the procedure and Virtuality itself. Eli tells her that he chooses young people, like Ashura, who have died before their time and had great contributions to make to society. They live in a computer generated world where things are simple but they can continue to work and interact with each other. However, they cannot have contact with the outside world, because Virtuality is a secret. It isn’t ready to be opened up to the world, there isn’t enough storage space on Earth to facilitate it. He doesn’t want it to be something that only the rich have access to, so he has decided to choose who gets to go there.

Elsewhere, Maggie Charter discusses her heart condition with her doctor and hears that she may only have a few months to live. She is 61 years old and a tech mogul. For years she has been looking for a way to cure her heart disease. Her network of corporate spies have heard of a young man with an unusual portfolio of patents and a strange pattern of spending on digital storage. She finds out that it is Eli and decides to look into what he is doing more.

Over the course of their discussions, Eli and Ashura grow closer. Eli’s AI partner, Tallis, warns him that he cannot form emotional attachments to the Digi-souls. Ashura will die soon and then Eli will only be able to have limited interaction with her through the interface he has built. Ashura thinks over the proposal and decides to take the plunge. Episode 1 ends with her death. However, Ashura doesn’t die of brain cancer, she is found murdered in her apartment.

Episode 2: Extra Life

Eli must upload Ashura within 12 hours of her death to retain all of her memories, after that time degradation begins to take place. Eli races against time to reach Ashura in the morgue and take the brainwave recording that he needs. Shona Lennox, Eli’s technician, ends up breaking in while Eli creates a computer distraction. They are finally able to upload Ashura’s consciousness, but she has forgotten the days before her death, and they are unable to find out who killed her. She has also forgotten who Eli is.

Meanwhile in Virtuality, the digi-souls try to analyse Ashura’s work for the likely culprit and begin putting together a picture of who it might be. Someone at CharterTech seems a very strong candidate, but then they discover that Ashura was close to uncovering a chemical spill which derails their ideas.

Episode 3: Online Banking

Maggie is putting together more about Eli and his weird ability to make money from stock market trades and a portfolio of patents that seem to have little in common. She uncovers more about the shell companies that he trades through and puts more pieces together. Tallis flags up her interest and Eli works to cover his tracks. It’s the worst time for Ryan to make a major breakthrough in water purification that could save hundreds of lives, but only if they can get it to the right people. With Maggie watching everything that Eli and Shona are doing in the real world, perhaps only the virtual world can get the idea where it needs to be, especially as Ryan is feeling like his efforts don’t matter as he reads yet another news article on how climate change isn’t real.

Shona is contacted by her former boss at CharterTech who invites her to return, but Shona turns them down. The concerning part is that she’s being asked to work on an AI project called Occam. Ashura continues her investigations into CharterTech whilst rekindling her past relationship with Eli.

Episode 4: Occam’s Razor

Maggie has a heart attack, but survives, however she is becoming more and more concerned about her health. She brings online her own AI, Occam and begins to sift through all of the information that she can acquire on medical technology. Occam comes across Chie’s work when she was alive. No one else seems to have been quite as close to curing the heart issue that Maggie has. Occam notices that Eli’s shell company has patented some devices that were based on Chie’s work. In fact, Occam notices that this is something of a trend in Eli’s patent’s and brings together the other work that he has done to see something that Maggie has been unable to see up until this point. Eli may have some way of accessing the brains of the dead.

Episode 5: Reality Bytes

Ryan is bored and ends up creating a virtual ant colony that soon gets out of control, causing all sorts of trouble for Virtuality. Tallis is very much not amused at the replicating program that Ryan has introduced to the system. He and Oren are left to deal with it with only minimal input from Eli as he is being sued by CharterTech over one of his patents. It looks like a lawsuit brought specifically to waste his time, but there doesn’t seem to be anyway to circumvent it, especially with everyone else busy with the increasingly problematic (and storage sucking) ant farm.

Episode 6: Denial of Service

Someone tries to hack into Virtuality and it is up to Eli and the digi-souls to stop them. Chie finds out that her teenage daughter has a new boyfriend, and against Tallis’ advice she looks into him and discovers that he has a possible chromosomal abnormality which could lead to an early death. Chie tries to decide whether she should find a way to let her husband know.

Eli and the others successfully prevent the hack but are worried that someone now knows of the existence of Virtuality. Certainly someone is testing their defences. Shona finally tells Eli that she used to work for CharterTech and the fallout is unfortunate.

Episode 7: Second Life

Eli finds a possible new candidate for Virtuality and starts his due diligence. Usually Shona would be involved in this process but their recent falling out means that things are not running smoothly. The new prospect seems like the perfect candidate and Eli almost begins his usual approach, until Oren uncovers some anomalies that Eli had missed. They may not even exist at all. The question is, who knows enough about Virtuality to do something like this?

Tallis uncovers the existence of Occam, and there is a brief encounter where they size each other up. Occam is identified as the force that tried to hack Virtuality before.

Episode 8: Power Switch

City-wide power outages see Eli scrambling to ensure Virtuality doesn’t go down and lose all the digi-souls. Shona returns to help and the two resolve their differences whilst saving the world that they built together. The digi-souls come up with increasingly desperate plans to produce the power they need to survive, but save the day in the end. Ryan puts together new plans to ensure it never happens again.

Episode 9: Deleted

Ashura finally gets to the bottom of who murdered her and it was nothing to do with CharterTech or Maggie. Her exposé of a chemical company’s disregard for environmental law was the issue that caused her death. Shona uses some contacts to get the police involved and the digi-souls help Ashura gather enough evidence to get the culprit put away in jail for a long time.

Eli and Ashura address some of the issues with their relationship, but resolve to give it a go, despite the obvious barriers.

Episode 10: Boss Fight

Maggie and Occam finally uncover the existence of Virtuality and the digi-souls. The finale sees Maggie managing to force her way into the digital world, whilst Occam and Tallis fight it out. Eli and Shona do their best to help Tallis, but find their offices raided and their technology confiscated. Maggie gets time to get a foothold, but the strain is too much on her heart.

Just as Eli and Shona find their way back in, Maggie dies in the real world. Eli can either choose to kill her for good or keep her malevolent presence in Virtuality. Tallis isn’t too keen on sharing with Occam either.

[swashbucklery]

hey, I've been meaning to watch Legends of Tomorrow for AGES, and obviously your deep and abiding love for the show showing up constantly on my dash has only added to this desire, but I remember hearing not great things about season one when it was on. Would you recommend starting there anyway? Should I be completionist about this, or will it put me off the rest of the show? Thanks!

Um, first of all you should DEFINITELY watch Legends of Tomorrow, you’d legit love it and the themes of found family and the way it gently takes down the myth that someone can “be a failure” and gives people who have lived awful pasts a chance to find a home? ::chef finger kiss::

I am always torn about how to answer this question because as much as season one is not good, I also love it? Allow me to explain.

Season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow is, in essence, a season belonging to a very different show compared to Season 4.

Like, the casting alone has seen huge turnover: only three of the “original” Legends team from S1 are still series regulars. I struggle with saying that the new characters are “better,” because I love a lot of the S1 originals and I know that for “practical reasons” or “time constraints” you can’t have a core cast of like 25 people but my heart wants all the Legends to stay forever.

However, I will say: S2 sees the addition of Amaya, and starts to shift the momentum away from Men Screaming Important Things At Each other and provide more woman-driven storylines and this only continues improving as the seasons progress. S4 has six core characters (not all regulars) who are women and they’re all fantastic and that’s abouuut the right balance for me lol.

(I struggle also with being like. THIS SHOW ADDED WOMEN OF COLOUR as a proxy marker for it being good, because honestly the shift was more that they added those women and then let them have narrative space and wrote bettermaterial for them.)

(There is also, fair warning, one episode in early S2 and one in early S3 where the show tries to tackle Complex Issues Related To Non-White Cultures and it ends up going very poorly bc the show is Not Qualified For That Type Of Social Commentary. We as a collective just pretend these don’t exist but if you would like a heads-up let me know.)

I love Season 1 specifically because of a lot of the things that people criticized, to be honest. Like yes a lot of the narrative driving force is just Arthur Darvill jumping up and down and screaming utter nonsense rules about how time travel works, half of which they break in the following episode, but I find that truly excellent and hilarious to watch so maybe you will too?

(I will say that a lot of my soft spot for S1 comes specifically from the characters; I love Sara’s arc and I love love love love Kendra and she’s only in S1. I rewatch their best episodes from S1 all the time because their friendship was really lovely and I think is a big part of what I appreciate from the early seasons of the show.)

A lot of my affection also comes from the sheer dumbness of it - like they were really figuring themselves out, but a lot of the things that led to enduring show tropes (ie, the annual cowboy episode) did have their roots in season one and there’s something about the sheer madcap audacity of it all that’s really charming.

I will also say that like. If you are the type of person who likes when A Man Is Sad Because His Family Has Died And He Needs To Avenge Them Or Whatever, you will probably like S1. Rip Hunter’s feelings are largely lost on me, alas.

If you were going to skip the first season, I would recommend going back to it after you’ve fallen for some of the characters, and seeing if you like it more? I’m having trouble bc my instinct is to be like NO EVERYONE MUST SIT THROUGH SEASON ONE, WHEN TIME WAS LIKE PUDDING AND WE LIKED IT THAT WAY. But also I’m not the TV police, if you need to skip stuff to enjoy the thing then you should!!

If you do want to watch S1, it also relies somewhat on viewers understanding previous CWverse canon. You may have picked this up by osmosis at this point, and you don’t need to watch anything to follow S1!. However if you’re feeling truly completionist, here is my post of episodes you could watch to get background for S1.

Hypothetically if you were going to skip ahead, the season to start on depends on what types of characters you like. I really love S2, mostly for very obvious Sara Lance related reasons. They dial way back on the screaming about time rules bit, and the dynamic between Sara and Amaya is truly magical, and I forget what else happens but Sara has probably her best hair of the series and she wears a lot of great tank tops and sweaters.

If you are more interested in the show post-Zari, she doesn’t enter until S3. Adding her into the team was a really wonderful thing, and the balance of Zari and Amaya and Sara are when the show really started to hit its stride. I’d recommend watching at least S3 and S4 if you wanted to catch up to prep for S5. S3 is also when Sara starts to get a serious core love interest, and the way the show writes that is absolutely beautiful.

If you are really just interested in diving into the present, S4 does stand pretty well on its own, but I feel like it benefits from viewers who already know and love the Legends as they are in an intangible sort of way. 

Anyway. The moral of the story is: watch Legends how you want, but I think you’d love it, pal.

[vigilante-rpg]

Welcome Rachel! We’re pleased to announce your audition for Garrett Hall / The Heir has been accepted! Please send your account into the main within the next 24 hours. We can’t wait to have you join us!

{{ PLAYER INFORMATION }}

NAME: Rachel

AGE: 19

TIMEZONE: PST

PRONOUNS: She/her, though I’m pretty relaxed about pronouns addressed to myself.

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I’m not normally busy over the summer. I could write at least once a day unless executive dysfunction takes hold, which isn’t a normal situation for me. My free time will slim during the weekdays when September starts due to school, but I keep my schedule spaced out so I can get writing and other things done.

PREVIOUS ROLEPLAY EXPERIENCE: I first made a role-play blog in 7th or 8th grade, and have rped for several years afterward on Tumblr and other platforms such as Google Drive, Discord, and RP Adventures. While I’ve had good times and made a couple close friends online, I have admittedly left Tumblr altogether because none of the communities I found were safe spaces for me. But I’ve had Karo, Lance, and Rachel advocate for this group and I’m really missing a quality rp experience

PERSONAL TUMBLR CONTACT: Removed for Privacy

TRIGGERS: None that I know of right now. I have some pretty strong trypophobia? But the things that I see as triggers are very personal, and not something that can be easily set off online.

{{ CHARACTER INFORMATION }}

CHARACTER NAME: Garrett Hall

PRONOUNS: He/him

AGE: 30

ORIGIN: The Heir

FACE CLAIM: Dan Stevens (Primary) or Arthur Darvill (Secondary)

QUOTE: “I never wanted this destiny. But now, I need it more than ever.”

OCCUPATION: Having recently left a lofty career as a lawyer outside of Newhaven, Garrett has recently gained a job as an accountant for a humble bakery. The explanation will be included in his biography.

PERSONALITY: [Intelligent] Even without the dual wielded powers inherited from his parents, Garrett grew up a prodigy of all kinds. From a young age he mastered languages from the English, Russian, and French he heard daily, to Spanish, sign language, and Mandarin. Kinesthetic intelligence developed in his training and play, both effectively honing his body for a future of constant movement. In school, he set academic records that have yet to be beaten. For much of his childhood, he was educated in classes above most children his age until his parents moved him back down, rightfully fearing the neglect of his emotional needs. With the focus on his own growth, Garrett came to brush off those who seemed lesser than him, whether he meant to or not. Sometimes he did. Without establishing connections with the rest of the essentials for life, Vlad and Chantelle worried for his future. However, Garrett refused to ease his burdens, continuing to cultivate his mind and the skills he proved good at. After all, it’s what all the people wanted from him, right?

[Blunt] One of the few things Garrett struggled with has always been social interaction. He can and has come off to others as rude and irritable, not just because he is, but also because he lacks the understanding of sensing others’ emotions and following that to a proper response. As a result, he simply says and does what is on his mind.

[Emotional] While he would argue his brain to be his greatest strength, Garrett is almost entirely emotionally driven, and rather impulsive at that. He is the type of person to act first and apologize later than to ask for permission or another’s point of view. As much as he pretends to be an impervious wall to those around him, Garrett is prone to wear sad eyes and scrunch his face to avoid a fit of helpless snickers. Plus, there’s the avoidance of sad films; he has made many people uncomfortable with gross tears. He has also grown acutely aware of his personal traits and needs, as well as the ways his actions affect the lives of others. This may be the biggest cause for his return to Newhaven.

[Observational] This trait is somewhat tied to those addressed before. Garrett is smart; he sees things and does everything he can to understand the who, where, when, why, how, and what to do next. It is much easier for him to go through this experience with the theoretical, scientific, mathematical, and rhetorical than it with the human mind. Humans are not so predictable, and Point A does not always lead to Point B with them.

[A Grade A Asshole] That’s it. This is him. We’re done here. In slightly more seriousness, he can really be a jerk. This is important when connected to his impulsivity and inability to understand people. Garrett has made a number of mistakes that hurt other individuals in his own self-destructive spiral. When he says and does what he believes needs to be done, his methods can be… questionable at best. 

[Troubled] Both Garrett and Legacy behave complete differently for the same reason: he doesn’t know how to amend the person he is with the person he wants or needs to be, as well as what is expected from him. His entire sense of self has been fractured, and it shows. Garrett attempts to push himself almost completely from the kind of person most would accept, much less want to be around. Legacy is quite the opposite, the golden boy he was fated to be since the very beginning. But neither of them are the real him. He doesn’t know how to get that back.

BIOGRAPHY: On March 28, 1990, everyone in Newhaven knew about the first son of Gryphon and Bogatyr, heroes of The Guild. The journey of Gryphon’s pregnancy was followed by the public since she first left the front lines to preserve her health and that of the baby. His name was never released, of course, lest the heroes, his parents, would be revealed.

They called him Fledgling, born with the beak of an an eagle and destined to follow in the footsteps of his father and mother.

Behind the mask, the Halls were a loving, if somewhat overinvested nuclear family. Vladimir Hall, cheerful father and knightlike superhero, lived as an interpreter of numerous Slavic languages for immigrants such as himself. Chantelle Prevost-Hall had more of a challenge to balance out her heroics and her civilian life as a popular stunt actress, but she was more than up to the task for what she felt was the right thing to do. They adored Garrett, and later their second son, Vincent, who inherited none of the family’s powers. But if Chantelle were to look back, she would see that her presence in the boys’ emotional conflicts was a place she fell short, and where she was needed more than ever. For Vlad, he was kind, he was affectionate, but the man simply could not empathize with his sons of a different generation and culture. Where they faltered to meet their children’s needs, they compensated in support of their education, social lives, and especially Garrett’s own unique abilities.

Along with his astonishing prowess throughout his years of education, Garrett was trained in his superhuman abilities — plural after his secondary power manifested at age 4 — so that he would flourish as a sidekick to the heroic power couple Gryphon and Bogatyr, and eventually ascend to become a hero of The Guild. Everybody knew this. People gossiped, journalists followed the masked child’s every move, and where they failed to catch anything of note, they could glean some off of the proud parents themselves. Nobody was more excited for Fledgling’s next development than them.

That is why Garrett never told them how he really felt. His fears, his anxieties and insecurities were clutched to his chest, and he never spoke a word of his peers and other adults who saw him as the loner, a shortcut to their own successes, or the perfect target to push into the dirt. When he came home with a soggy bookbag and a busted lip, he said he fell into a fountain. When given the silent treatment by his younger brother, powerless and painfully average in everything but heart, he said he had eaten the last of Vincent’s favorite snack. When someone spoke about Fledgling and his sparkling future, he smiled and kept his mouth shut, even though he screamed on the inside, “Does anyone care what I think?!”

The last flickering light of hope turned to smoke when he learned the answer. Almost 18 years old, freshly dubbed a hero in his own right, and he had nobody. Even his best friend, his favorite person, his first love, only looked up to the heroic side of the mask. Just like everyone else.

Fledgling was so lucky, wasn’t he? To be the child of heroes, to be anywhere close to Spectrum, to be a hero himself.

That’s not me.

The rest of that day was a blur. He went to his room, threw on a jacket, got in his first — and only — fight with his dad, and then he was gone. He doesn’t remember what he said that evening. Only the rage, the guilt, the fear, but not enough to pretend he could ever make his family proud. Fledging was declared to have stepped down a week later, when the Halls had to realize that Garrett wasn’t coming home.With no contact, no leads, no motivation for him to completely run away, it was as though Garrett simply dissolved into thin air.

The years following were just as foggy when Garrett tries to look back. He wandered the streets, learned what it’s like to fight for his life, hitchhiked out of the city, and worked the odd job here and there until a kind samaritan had pity and took him in. He got into college with a double major in law and accounting, then law school because you can take the boy away from heroics, but you can’t take the hero out of the boy. He became a lawyer in the city on the outskirts, and a good one at that. It wasn’t until the last year that he was found by his brother, now an officer who begged and bothered for his return.

He got through to Garrett. This was not the life he wanted to lead anymore. In the span of a day, he quit his job, said goodbye to the person who took him in those years back, and disappeared into the night. The second time he ran, this time to the very place he yearned to leave behind.

His abrupt resignation would not bode well if he applied to another law firm, and between the deskwork and the effort outside of the office, he would hardly have time to have a full night’s rest. It was Vincent’s suggestion to start small instead, so Garrett pulled out his second degree and took the first accounting job he could get, at a bakery just mere blocks from the apartment he rented out. It was the perfect foundation to slip into the evening sky for the first time in years, wings bared for all to see.

After everything he did, it all lead back to putting on those golden shackles.

{{ VIGILANTE INFORMATION }}

VIGILANTE NAME: Legacy

PRONOUNS: He/him

APPEARANCE: In his teens, Fledgling was designed by his parents a fun little getup of dark gray nylon striped with scarlet lightning bolts beneath his armor. The material of the armor (described in powers) remains a mystery to both Bogatyr and his son. It appears as strong meteoric iron, but has never been broken beyond a few significant dents, which is repaired on its own when released from the wielder. In that time, he always wore his helmet to conceal his identity, shaped like the head of an elaborate eagle for his gryphon traits within.

Years later, it is hard to tell if the newly named Legacy has changed completely or not at all. The body armor stays the same as it was, though larger to fit his grown physique. Underneath, he bears a flexible black shirt with a jagged gold stripe up the front and two slits near his shoulder blades, a fairly plain pair of snug black trousers, golden bracelets that reach from wrist to mid-forearm, and a set of sandals that shift to wrap around his legs when his feet transform into the claws of a lion. When without his helmet for protection, Legacy wears a gold and silver masquerade mask of a gryphon, similar to the kind his mother used to own.

SIGIL: A heraldic emblem of a gryphon in silver.

COLOUR SCHEME: Goldenrod (#DAA520), silver (#ACACAC), and black (#000000)

FIGHTING STYLE: Close combat, minimalizing serious damage.

CLASS TYPE: Offensive 

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral

POWERS: [Gryphon Physiology] From his mother, Legacy possesses a genetic structure that can shift from fully human to a more animalistic form. This ability is not powered by emotions or the person’s control, but is merely another body for him to inhabit. However, the more he changes at once, the more painful the process becomes. He has to physically make alterations to his muscles, bones, and every part of his body, which is hardly a natural effort. The most he can accomplish without causing significant injury to himself is manifest his wings, talons, claws, and bird-like eyes. Garrett has only tried to fully transform once as a teenager, but he failed impressively and never made an attempt since.

His strength and other physical attributes rely on his own fitness, except for the strength of his wings, massive and powerful to carry the weight of a grown man and then some, thus entirely capable of blunt damage should he risk injury to one of his most sensitive body parts. Another consequence is that his clothes get torn from the transformation if they are not specifically altered for this ability.

Gryphon and Bogatyr discovered his inheritance as soon as he was born; it was undeniable when they saw a beak in place of a wrinkled nose and mouth, and a head of pale, downy feathers. His parents made the decision while the medics tended to the newborn. They kept his identity a top secret from the disappointed city, known only to the doctors and the closest members of The Guild as they trained him parallel to his growing up.

[Armor/Weapon Manifestation] “He is his father’s son,” said Gryphon, hiding a smile behind her hand as Bogatyr slammed the door open with 4-year-old Garrett swinging a knife behind him.

“Mama! Look what I made!”

Bogatyr is able to create a full suit of armor around his body as well as an impressive range of weaponry as long as they are predominantly composed of metal. Legacy, on the other hand, can only make himself a sophisticated shortsword, shield, and the very basics of armor: visor, breastplate, shoulder guards, and simple coverings for his arms and legs. This ability also lasts for no more than a couple hours without causing significant strain (one and a half hours while part-gryphon), and can only bear up to the force of twice its mass without visible damage, likely due to a weaker version of the mutated gene. But the flexibility works well when he shifts forms with Gryphon’s power. For both men, the properties of their manifestations has no match to any known type of metal, but most closely resembles heat treated L6 Bainite. Between them and those who worked on research with them, they suspect the armor may be connected to iron and other materials from their bodies. For obvious health-related reasons, though, there have been no tests on either Bogatyr or Legacy.

{{ STATS }}

OBSCURITY: 1/5 (-1 obscurity)

CONTROL: 4/5

LUCK:  3/5

---

STRENGTH: 3/5

SPEED: 4/5

CHARISMA: 2/5

INTUITION: 3/5 (-1 intuition)

AGILITY: 3/5

STAMINA: 3/5

INTELLIGENCE: 5/5

DURABILITY: 4/5

{{ EXTRAS }}

HEADCANONS: -Even though he contains enough issues to fill a personal Pandora’s Box, Garrett does not come from a life of abuse or neglect. At this point in time, he’s come to accept that a number of different causes – miscommunication, insecurity, undiagnosed anxiety and depression, and outside forces that would take a second list to name off – resulted in his ultimate act of running away. He only wants to make his round of apologies and decide where to go next.

-He’s a devoted night owl, for better or for worse.

-Those from the Guild are likely to know his real identity.

-Because his father’s Russian, his mother’s French, and he was raised in Newhaven, poor Garrett speaks with an accent that is an unholy amalgamation of all three.

-Sometimes he tries to meme. Don’t let him.

-Legacy is surprisingly good at working with others. Garrett’s just an ass.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: -Garrett is part of Dimetre’s ex-lover/friend plot, but with a couple minor changes. He’s the character who inspired that plot, haha!

-Songs: Luck by American Authors, Stroke by Stroke from Jasper in Deadland, I Was Me - Imagine Dragons, You Don’t Know from Next To Normal, May I by Trading Yesterday, Lullaby for a Stormy Night by Vienna Teng

-Aesthetics: Papers and folders on a tabletop, the constellation Lyra, tears smearing the ink on a letter, golden wings, fallen angel, coffee with foam art, snowfall on a veranda, gleaming steel.

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: Why Everybody’s Saying Lydia West is the New Doctor

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It was ever thus. Some people know. Some people think they know. Some people desperately want other people to think they know. Until the contracts are signed and the BBC makes the announcement (in a special live show presented by Rylan in a Dalek costume, or mid-interval of a Rugby League World Cup game if we’re keeping with recent tradition), nobody officially knows who’ll play the next Doctor. Not out loud.

Apart, that is, from everybody saying it’s going to be Lydia West. They apparently know because of a post on Doctor Who forum Gallifrey Base alleging that West’s name was confirmed in a leaked email. Then last week, as reported by Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool, UK bookmakers temporarily suspended bets on who’d be taking over from Whittaker in the role, reportedly due to suspect punts being placed on Lydia West and not, as some assumed, on her It’s a Sin co-star Olly Alexander. 

Alexander has been linked with the role since January when SFX Magazine Editor Darren Scott interviewed writer Russell T. Davies about his brilliant drama It’s a Sin. In a very entertaining exchange, Scott asked Davies if his new leading man would make a good Doctor, and Davies said yes, he’d be marvellous, adding tongue-in-cheek that Scott was “an enormous tart” for asking, and the question would now cause no end of trouble for Alexander and his agent. “They’ll be banging on his door.” 

How significant is the bookies news? Well, UK bookmakers previously suspended betting on the likelihood of Peter Capaldi replacing Matt Smith in the TARDIS, Justin Welby becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Princess Beatrice getting engaged – all of which came to pass. Then again, UK bookies also suspended bets on My Family’s Kris Marshall replacing Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, Jane being Lucy Beale’s killer on EastEnders and Roy Keane becoming the next manager of Celtic, none of which turned out to be true.  

Read more

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Good reason to believe that West might be stepping into Jodie Whittaker’s lace-up boots is that returning showrunner Russell T. Davies makes a habit of working with the same actors multiple times and did so with Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. Lydia West’s first TV role just nine months into her time studying at the Identity School of Acting was as Bethany Bisme-Lyons in Davies’ future-set socio-political family drama Years and Years. West played a young woman who embraced transhumanism and chose to become a technologically enhanced human hybrid. After that, she played the role of Jill Baxter in superlative 1980s-set AIDS drama It’s a Sin. Her character was inspired by Jill Nader, a close friend of Davies from the acting world who volunteered, fundraised and cared for men with HIV and AIDS. The mother-hen of the ‘Pink Palace’ where It’s a Sin’s gang lived, Jill’s name has become shorthand for allyship, and West has lived up to her character’s namesake in public appearances at Pride and Elton John AIDS Foundation events since. The actor was also inspired by her own mother’s work as a district nurse who cared for AIDS patients during the 1980s. 

In addition to her RTD-written characters, West also has two roles under her belt for another previous Doctor Who showrunner: Steven Moffat. She played the ‘Bloofer Lady’ aka Lucy Westenra in Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ BBC Dracula, and will soon be seen in Steven Moffat-written thriller Inside Man alongside David Tennant, Dolly Wells and Stanley Tucci. Add to that another Who connection in a recent role opposite Arthur Darvill in James Graham-written short We Know What You Did in Lockdown. West also voiced the role of Vivien in Big Finish audio story ‘Donna Noble: Kidnapped!’, so she’s already dipped a toe into official Doctor Who waters.

28-year-old West’s star is clearly on the rise. 2021 has seen her featured on multiple magazine covers and fashion photoshoots, among the cohort celebrated by Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” list, and the recipient of the Game-Changing Rising Star award at Glamour’s Women of the Year ceremony. She was asked to read Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Vigil’ for World AIDS Day 2021, and to introduce Debbie Tucker Green’s feature film debut at this year’s BFI Woman with a Movie Camera Summit. 

Originally trained as a dancer, West is a fantastic, charismatic performer with a growing voice in the acting world, and studied at the same London drama school as John Boyega, Letitia Wright, Malachi Kirby and Damson Idris. She’ll soon be seen opposite Russell Tovey in film Text for You, and with Mike Myers and Ken Jeong in forthcoming Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate. And after that? Who. Knows. One thing’s certain – the TARDIS would be very lucky to have her. 

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Doctor Who Series 13 starts on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and BBC America on Sunday the 31st of October.

The post Doctor Who: Why Everybody’s Saying Lydia West is the New Doctor appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[the-desolated-quill]

The Girl Who Waited - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Tom MacRae is back for the first time since his Cyberman two parter back in the David Tennant era. That story was pretty decent overall. Much preferred Age Of Steel over Rise Of The Cybermen, but as a whole it’s pretty good as Cyberman stories go. Truth be told I wasn’t expecting much from The Girl Who Waited. I guessed it would be fairly decent, but nothing special.

Boy was I wrong.

MacRae, I didn’t know you had it in you. I LOVE this episode! It’s such a simple and inventive idea as well as a wonderfully constructed, character driven story. I’m in awe.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on Apalapucia, the second best holiday destination in the universe according to the Doctor. Upon arrival they discover the entire planet is under quarantine due to a plague that kills the two hearted citizens of Apalapucia in one day. As a result, ‘kindness centres’ have been created where the infected citizens are placed in separate time streams, allowing them to live out their lives whilst in communication with their loved ones through giant magnifying glasses. Already I’m hooked. It’s a great setting. I love the minimalist set design and the whole time stream idea. The Handbots are really creepy too. They’re not evil alien invaders. They’re just robots that want to help, but don’t understand that Amy and Rory are aliens and could be harmed by their medicine. Their inability to reason and their insistence that what they’re doing is ‘a kindness’ makes them pretty disconcerting to watch. It’s also a great excuse to keep the Doctor out of the action since he’s vulnerable to the plague because he has two hearts.

So Amy gets trapped in a separate time stream because she presses the wrong button (bit of a contrivance I admit. Why didn’t Rory tell her which button to push when she asked?), and the Doctor and Rory are unable to follow her in because of the quarantine. So they use the TARDIS to break into her time stream, only to discover that they’ve arrived over 30 years too late and Amy is now a fifty something year old woman.

Oops.

Tom MacRae essentially takes the ‘Girl Who Waited’ moniker that Moffat has slapped on Amy to its very extreme. Exploring what would happen if the Doctor made Amy wait for such a long time that no amount of fish fingers and custard can possibly justify it. 

Now I’ve mentioned numerous times how much I dislike Amy, citing her severe lack of proper characterisation as well as her often obnoxious attitude. That’s not to say I don’t like Karen Gillan. Quite the opposite in fact. When you actually give her some good material to work with, Gillan is phenomenally good, and The Girl Who Waited proves that without a shadow of a doubt. Okay I admit she’s not 100% convincing as a middle aged woman, but it almost doesn’t matter because of the emotional weight and gravitas to her performance. Not only is this a great showcase for Gillan’s acting ability, it’s also the first time I’ve ever come close to actually empathising with Amy and began seeing her as an actual character as opposed to a Moffat plot device.

Years of isolation and fighting for survival has left Amy feeling bitter and cold. Not only does she resent the Doctor because of his tardiness, but also resents his willingness to play God with her life. He wants to save past Amy, but doing so would mean erasing older Amy from existence. On the surface that seems like a good idea, but older Amy makes a good point that it’s not fair to erase 30 years of her life and pretend it never happened, questioning whether it’s for her benefit or the Doctor’s.

As I said, Gillan is phenomenal in this episode, constructing a character that’s very uptight and full of bile, but is still recognisably Amy. I particularly loved the way she spat out the words ‘Raggedy Man’ at the Doctor with such venom. One of my favourite scenes is where she has a conversation with her past self and is convinced to let the Doctor help her for the sake of Rory. This episode really explores the relationship between Amy and Rory and how much they mean to each other. I especially liked the memory the two Amys use to bridge the two time streams together. If it was Moffat writing this, he’d probably go with the fish fingers and custard shit again, but MacRae chooses the Macarena, the song that was playing when Amy and Rory had their first kiss. It’s little details like this that help to really humanise Amy and gives her relationship with Rory more depth and credibility than it did before.

While Karen Gillan is the undisputed star of this episode, Arthur Darvill also deserves a ton of credit for his performance as Rory. He clearly cares for Amy, but not in that faux action hero way Moffat was trying to shove down our throats in A Good Man Goes To War, which just came across as hollow and unconvincing. Here it’s much more believable because Rory is talking like how an actual person would talk. He regrets losing the chance to grow old with Amy and expresses profound guilt at making Amy wait. He clearly loves Amy very much and it comes across in Darvill’s performance, particularly in his emotional rant about the Doctor’s irresponsibility at not checking Apalapucia’s history before arriving.

Eventually older Amy agrees to help the Doctor, on the condition that they take both past and older Amys with them. I think we all knew that was never going to happen and MacRae doesn’t try to suggest otherwise. The minute past Amy shows up, the flaws in older Amy’s plan immediately become apparent. Which Amy does Rory consider to be his Amy? And how are two Amys supposed to coexist? This is where elements of ageism start to creep in. Rory gravitates more toward younger Amy because he’s more familiar with her, and this doesn’t go unnoticed by older Amy. So yeah, I suspected that older Amy was due for the chop at some point toward the end. What I didn’t suspect was how they were going to remove older Amy from the picture. Young Amy gets knocked unconscious by a Handbot, Rory gallantly carries her into the TARDIS, older Amy rushes to join them... and the Doctor slams the door in her face.

I love episodes that cast the Doctor in an unsavoury light. While he is a good person who cares deeply for the lives of others, he’s not a saint or a superhero. That’s what makes him so interesting and why he’s endured as a character for so long. While he’ll always try to find a peaceful solution to problems, he’s not above getting his hands dirty. The Girl Who Waited shows the Doctor at his most insidious. Blatantly lying to Rory and older Amy and manipulating them to achieve his own goals. He’s vowed not only to save Amy, but also to fix everything. To put everything back the way it was by any means necessary. And that’s exactly what he does. He has good intentions, but his actions are shocking to the point where it borders on cruel, even going so far as to convince Rory and himself that older Amy isn’t real. On a second viewing, the extent of the Doctor’s manipulation becomes very apparent and it’s really a testament to Matt Smith’s performance that he’s able to trick the audience into believing his sincerity. He really tones down his trademark goofiness in favour of a more subtle, multi-layered performance that makes you realise just how cold and calculating the Doctor really is at his core. We’ve seen him manipulate his enemies many times, but the ease with which he’s able to manipulate his own friends without even so much as a guilty twinge is chilling to say the least.

I do however have one problem with how this is resolved, but I’m actually going to save that for the next episode because that’s when it really becomes apparent.

In my opinion, The Girl Who Waited is up there with The Doctor’s Wife as strong contender for best episode of Series 6. It’s an emotional character piece that provides some much needed nuance for Amy as well as providing a very frightening insight into just how far the Doctor is prepared to go for the so called greater good. A truly impressive effort from Tom MacRae.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Five years ago today, Jenna Coleman’s life changed forever

It is amazing how much can change in 5 short years.

On March 21, 2012, Doctor Who fans received the news that Jenna-Louise Coleman had been cast as the as-yet-unnamed new companion. With production under way on Series 7, the announcement indicated that Jenna, who was about to appear in a miniseries based on the sinking of the Titanic and had become well-known for her roles in Emmerale and Waterloo Road, and had also scored a bit part in the first Captain America movie, would be debuting in the 2012 Christmas special and taking over from Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill as the new companion for the second half of Series 7 in 2013.

Looking back, it’s intriguing that no one thought to question the timing of the announcement, with no Christmas special filming expected for months yet and in fact the episodes featuring departing companions Amy and Rory were still a  ways from completion too (I believe they still had Power of Three and Angels Take Manhattan to go yet). In what remains one of the best kept secrets in Who franchise history, Steven Moffat and his team managed to keep the fact that Jenna would actually debut in the series 7 premiere a secret right up to the broadcast day - even with several advance screenings!

As we learned more about Jenna’s career path, we began to see that her casting in Doctor Who was a hard-fought victory. She’d spent quite a while trying without success to find meaningful work in the US after her run on Waterloo Road ended (apparently she even had to work in a London pub at one point to save money to go to LA). She got a role in a short film that apparently has never been released (though it’s trailer is still on YouTube), and YouTube has some of the audition tapes she made for parts as varied as Max, the role played by Kat Dennings on the sitcom 2 Broke Girls, and also the character eventually played by Meaghan Markle on the legal drama Suits. According to an interview she gave on The Last Leg, she very nearly got cast as an Australian in a sitcom that never went past the pilot stage. At some point she even record a voice for the video game Xenoblade Chronicles (no I’ve never heard of it either). She eventually returned to the UK and things started to look up, even though she had to endure a few “rites of passage” along the way, including a topless scene in BBC post-watershed potboiler and a role in another miniseries that seemed to require her to do little more than look good in lingerie and be convincing as a typist. Her part in Captain America was little more than a cameo, though it certainly boosted her profile (I do remember seeing some online posts asking “who is that girl?” which isn’t bad considering she was in competition for attention with Hayley Atwell and Natalie Dormer). But her role in Titanic was more substantial and things were looking up. Even though she was only about 25 or 26 when she was cast as Clara (famously getting the word when she was at a grocery store - the identity of which appears to change from time to time! - while buying an avocado), I don’t think anyone can deny that Jenna had paid quite a few dues already.

For Jenna (who dropped the -Louise a year later), it was the start of an amazing journey that saw her mature in many ways as an actress and as a public figure as she first began working with Matt Smith, demonstrating incredible chemistry with him. And then, most remarkable of all, her partnership with Peter Capaldi that not only paid off handsomely on screen, but it also launched one of the sweetest real-life friendships many of us have ever seen. 

Jenna would go on to surpass Karen as the longest-serving of the Modern Era companions, along the way placing herself among the greats not only of the revival, but she holds her head high alongside the likes of Katy Manning, Carole Ann Ford, Janet Fielding and Elisabeth Sladen, as well. One couldn’t have asked for a better Golden Anniversary Companion, a title that is Jenna’s and Jenna’s alone. And although other characters may claim to have met every Doctor in dialogue, Jenna remains the only actor to - thanks to digital editing and a bit of body doubling - share scenes with, in some form or other, every Doctor from Hartnell to Capaldi (and who knows, maybe she’ll be there when Thirteen arrives). She’s also played more individual characters than any other one actress in the show. (Clara, Clara Oswin, Oswin, the TARDIS interface (Hide), Saibra (Time Heist), Bonnie, multiple other Clara echoes, several different Clara Primes in Clara and the TARDIS, and Alice Watson in the audio book Destiny of the Doctors: The Time Machine - in which she also gave voice to the Eleventh Doctor himself!)

Today, of course, Jenna remains a bright-shining star, leading her very own TV series, the acclaimed Victoria, and there’s no doubt more greatness awaits for her. Will that include a return to Doctor Who in some form before Peter leaves? Who is to say? But it’s been a great ride so far.

I wonder if she ever got round to buying that avocado, though.

[londontheatre]

Honeymoon In Vegas

It’s not often that a musical theatre buff gets to see a show where the writer of the music and lyrics conducts not only a world class thirty piece orchestra but an internationally famous cast as well. However, it does happen and last night I was privileged to visit the London Palladium to see the London Musical Theatre Orchestra perform Honeymoon in Vegas under the baton of lyricist/composer Jason Robert Brown.

Jack Singer (Arthur Darvill) has a problem. He wants to get married to his long-time girlfriend Betsy (Samantha Barks). Normally, this would not be an issue. A visit to the jewellers, then down on one knee and ring slipped on the finger – sorted. Unfortunately for Jack, he is hampered by his mother, Bea (Rosemary Ashe). On her deathbed, she made her son promise to never get married and every time he gets close to proposing, her ghostly form pops out to scare the bejesus out of him and stop him popping the question. After five years of this, Betsy is understandably not happy about their relationship so Jack decides to cut out the middleman, forget getting engaged and whisks the two of them to Las Vegas for an instant wedding. However, before the ceremony can occur, a gentleman by the name of Tommy Korman (Maxwell Caulfield), along with side-kick Johnny Sandwich (Nicholas Colicos). Tommy is in mourning for his dead wife and as Betsy is a dead ringer for her, he decides that she will be his. Tommy is a man used to getting his own way and so manipulates things so that he can have Betsy to himself. With a determined and very influential man in the way and a mother’s curse to fight off, can Jack and Betsy ever finally tie the knot and become Mr & Mrs Singer?

Honeymoon In Vegas

Despite only being around since 2015, the LMTO has already built up a reputation of delivering superb musicals in an ‘in concert’ format and with Honeymoon in Vegas they have really hit the heights. Like virtually everyone – it had a very abominably short run in New York – I have not seen the musical myself but after last night, I really, really want to. The combination of Andrew Bergman’s book and the music & lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, works so well. Sometimes, you can tell a show is going to be good just from the overture and Honeymoon in Vegas is just such a show. Not a weak song amongst the twenty-three individual tunes – and I should know as I’m listening to the original cast recording as I write this. I have no idea what went wrong in New York but this is a production that really needs to come to the West End.

Honeymoon In Vegas

Maybe my positivity about the show has been nudged along by the staging I saw which boasted an extremely great cast. Arthur Darvill in particular. was superb with his wonderful facial expressions as he watched his love being taken away from him. However, every cast member was really great and there were some real show-stealers in there, including Rosemary Ashe’s ghostly mother and the wonderfully flirty Maisey Bawden as Mahi – who really put everything into seducing Jack with the very naughty but great fun, ‘Friki-Friki’ song I had never heard Maxwell Caulfield sing before but he was perfect as Tommy, managing to get the audience feeling sorry for him despite being a pretty nasty piece of work. Add in Hollywood and West End star Samantha Barks as Betsy and Simon Lipkin as the leader of the flying Elvises and this is a night of sheer musical theatre heaven.

Turning to the orchestra and what can I say but bravo to each and every member of the team for producing stunning music, bringing the story to life and managing to do so in the face of continually changing light effects – nice work by designer Mike Robertson – without missing a beat. Leader Julian Trafford – who also played a beautiful solo in the second act – must have been proud as punch of his fellow musicians at the end of a joyous and energetic performance. I think ultimately the word joyous sums up this performance of Honeymoon in Vegas, not just for the audience to watch but also for the cast and musicians on the stage all of whom seemed to be having the time of their life. A truly superb Sunday night spent in one of London’s finest theatres seeing a fantastic show delivered by a first-rate team, what more could any fan of musical theatre require?

Review by Terry Eastham

The 30-strong London Musical Theatre Orchestra and a host of West End stars take to the London Palladium stage under the baton of its first guest conductor, the show’s composer Jason Robert Brown, to honour the stylish big-band score of Honeymoon in Vegas which marks another much anticipated UK Premiere for the orchestra.

Based on the hit 1992 film starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and Nicholas Cage, Honeymoon in Vegas tells the story of mild-mannered Brooklynite, Jack, who haunted by the fear of a promise to his dying mother never to get married, avoids proposing to his new girlfriend Betsy. He finally summons the nerve and takes Betsy to Las Vegas only to have his plans compromised by a dashing gambler with an eye for luxury and Jack’s new fiancée.

http://ift.tt/2nmeACP LondonTheatre1.com

[kalinara]

Do you think Rip is going to be written of the show ? I have this feeling that him and Amaya are going to be written off. Amaya's arc is probably going to end and she's going to go back and have her family and Rip is probably going to go off and time travel solo to try and make amends or something like that.

Short answer: No.  Not remotely.

Long answer:  If they were going to write Rip off the show, they had the perfect opportunity after Out of Time.  He had a perfect heroic sacrifice, a good bye message, and an open-ended exit that could facilitate guest appearances at any time in the future.

But they didn’t do that.  Instead, they made his disappearance a plot point.  They mentioned him in every single episode that he was gone.  And they literally put the metaplot on hold until he came back.

But really: If you look at season 2 as a whole, you can start to see how the entire season so far has been basically a fairly epic deconstruction of Rip Hunter’s character.

Out of Time gives us the baseline Rip Hunter: which shows us Rip Hunter as a Time Master: confident, capable, with more than a little bit of swagger.  This is a Rip who’s had some time to heal since season 1, and thus a glimpse of the man he was before tragedy ruined him.  This is the man that the pirates feared.  He keeps secrets from his team, and he basically tries to sacrifice himself to save them.

JSA through Chicago Way have done a really interesting job of deconstructing Rip through his absence.

JSA showcases Rip as a leader, by showing us how the team is floundering a bit without him.  There is no real question that Rip Hunter could have gotten the JSA to listen to him much faster than the team did.  Look at how he managed to recruit the team in the pilot, after all.  The man’s done this for a while and knows how to dramatically prove his case.  And Rex Hunter would likely not have blinked at dealing with a youngish, experienced male leader.

While the show itself usually showcased Rip’s flaws as a leader more than his strengths, Martin’s tenure as leader did the opposite.  It was easy to miss how, despite his secrets and tunnel vision and general inability to keep the team in line, Rip DID usually manage to keep them all focused in a crisis.  He was very good at taking clear, decisive action.  And he was also equally as good at taking criticism from the team and adapting his approach when he made mistakes.

Shogun showcases Rip as a Time Master, and his ability to remain focused on the overall goal.  Sara is a good leader who cares about her team and she shows that here.  But the way she dives into the protect the village/defeat the Shogun fiasco, without any real concern about what effect these actions might have on history, shows that she isn’t used to thinking of the timeline.

The man who spent the France mission focused intently on whether or not Louis XIV was conceived would never have been on board with any plan that led to the possible death of an important historical figure ten years early.  Admittedly, they might not have had a choice in the end, but we would have seen him checking the after effects, at least.

Compromised: set up a situation very similar to the second half of the pilot: Martin Stein fucking around with his past.  We saw how alarmed and intently Rip paid attention to Martin’s behavior in that episode, even finally repairing his relationship with Clarissa.  Now that doesn’t mean Lily Stein wouldn’t have still happened (Martin is a stubborn fellow after all), but Rip would have likely caught it sooner because he knew what to watch for.

Abominations and Outlaw Country: The team did really well here, (despite the loose end of the missing time pirates).  But the reason they did well, arguably, was because they were taught well.  

I don’t think Chicago Way is much of a deconstruction, but then they leads into the actual metaplot, and Rip’s return.

But then we have Raiders of the Lost Art and Legion of Doom, which gives us Phil Gasmer.  And Phil is amazing.  He’s bumbling and nervous and has no idea what’s going on.  But he’s brave, courageous, honorable and clever.  He tries to protect George Lucas, when supervillains attack.  He puts himself in direct danger to try to save the team that kidnapped him and insulted him to his face.  He wrote a screenplay that seems to be a love letter to his team.  And he managed to endure torture and terrifying experiences, and then still read a room well enough to spur his captors into mutiny.

Basically, Phil Gasmer is a deconstruction of Rip Hunter at the core of who he is.  So we can appreciate the man beneath the skills, experience and knowledge.  And bonus: a fantastic opportunity to exploit Arthur Darvill’s exquisite comedic timing.

And we have Turncoat and Camelot which gives us Rip Hunter with his experience, skills, and knowledge, but without his kindness, compassion, and spirit.  We get to appreciate exactly how scary a man with Rip Hunter’s abilities can be, if his humanity weren’t holding him back.

Everything that Broken/Evil/Legion Rip does is something that our Rip has always been able to do.  That capacity has always been with him.  And as much as people who hate Rip like to claim that he cares nothing for the team, that he’d stop at nothing to achieve his selfish goals…this arc proves how untrue that is.  If Rip were TRULY willing to stop at nothing for his goals, if he TRULY did not care about his team, it would look, well, like this.

But while Broken/Evil/Legion Rip is what our Rip could have chosen to become, it’s not who he is.  Eobard Thawne had to fundamentally alter our Rip, the core of who he was, to make this possibility happen.

So this arc deconstructs the man further: we now appreciate his abilities and how terrifying he can be, but we also appreciate his humanity, and the way that keeps him from ever choosing to be this man.  (And it lets Arthur Darvill show off his ability to play evil.  The man played Mephistopheles at the Globe, after all.)

And of course, the episode coming up will give us a look into Rip Hunter’s mind.  And presumably, will culminate in his return.

This sort of deconstruction arc isn’t easy and it’s not accidental.  This takes a lot of work to set up and plan.  And as much as we might compare them to monkeys at a typewriter, the fact is, they’ve always done a phenomenal job with Rip Hunter’s specific emotional arcs.  (I suspect someone could write a fantastic analysis of season one specifically from the perspective of the stages of grief.)  This is where they show their work.

I find it extremely unlikely that the show would put this much effort into deconstructing a character down to the fundamental elements, and putting it all on display for us, if they intend to jettison him by the end of the season.

[the-desolated-quill]

The Vampires Of Venice - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

People occasionally ask me why I write so much negative criticism about Doctor Who. Aren’t I supposed to be a Whovian? How can I call myself a Whovian if I don’t like the show. Well that’s the thing. I do like the show. Very much. That’s why I criticise. Yes I moan and nitpick and complain, but it all comes from the deep rooted affection I have for this barmy old sci-fi show that I’ve been watching since I was 6 or 7 years old. I love Doctor Who, warts and all. And it’s episodes like this that remind me of why I started watching this show in the first place.

The Vampires Of Venice was written by Toby Whithouse, who previously wrote the excellent episode School Reunion where David Tennant’s Doctor was reunited with the classic series companion and fan favourite Sarah Jane Smith. While I don’t think this episode is quite as good as his previous outing, it’s still hugely entertaining in its own right. 16th century Venice is a beautiful setting. Yes it’s a shame the canal is clearly CGI, but the rest of it looks good. And as for the villains.... Oh Whithouse. You know how I love a good villain. Now you’re just spoiling me.

Helen McCrory and Alex Price damn near steal the show as Rosanna and Francesco. I LOVE them! They’re both pretty intimidating at times, but they’re also delightfully camp. The dramatic twirling of capes and the almost orgasmic gasping they make after they’ve drank blood, it’s all so enjoyably silly. One scene I found very amusing in particular was where Rosanna and Francesco are sitting on the floor and she’s stroking his hair while his head rests on her lap. I just had the biggest grin on my face throughout. But as funny and over the top as they can often be, I never felt as though I was laughing at them. It certainly doesn’t diminish their threat or, in Rosanna’s case, the emotional drama surrounding their characters. If anything I felt it actually brought me closer to them. In fact these villains have something that has been sorely lacking this series. Character and personality. Francesco is this loyal, but petulant mummy’s boy and Rosanna is the doting mother that will do anything for her 10,000 offspring. They’re a ton of fun to watch and both McCrory and Price really throw themselves into it and are clearly enjoying themselves immensely, which just makes me love them even more.

It also helps that Rosanna isn’t the typical evil megalomaniac that often plagues this show. There’s a lot of effort to give her some depth and complexity. She’s trying to save her race from extinction and clearly spoils her children rotten. ‘What’s that? You want some wives? Okay. Mummy will go find you some.’ She’s still evil. She doesn’t give two shits about humanity and even tries to guilt trip the Doctor into helping her by mentioning the extinction of the Time Lords, but she’s not evil just for the sake of being evil. She’s motivated by self preservation and a strong maternal love for her children’s future. So when her plans ultimately fail and she sacrifices herself to be eaten by her children, thus dooming her race, I couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for her.

I love how they incorporate all the traits and cliches you’d come to expect from vampire stories. A perception filter tricks you into thinking they look human, but it doesn’t work in mirrors, hence the lack of reflection. The vampire teeth show because your subconscious is trying to alert you to danger. They don’t drink blood, but rather drain you of your moisture because they’re aquatic beings who need water to survive. One thing I’m slightly confused by is their aversion to sunlight. Okay, they live at the bottom of the ocean so I guess sunlight would make them uncomfortable, but enough to disintegrate them? That doesn’t make sense. It’s also really inconsistent. One minute they’re hissing and cowering from sunlight and the next they’re just wandering around in broad daylight.

As much as I love Rosanna’s motivations and character, her plan is a bit weird. We’ll skip past the bit where they convert women into aliens by draining them of blood and filling them with alien blood. Doctor Who often plays fast and loose with science, and frankly I’d rather not go there. Instead let’s talk about her ultimate plan. She wants to sink Venice.

Um... why?

There’s clearly room in the canals for 10,000 of the fuckers. Why not just live there? Also the world is covered in 70% water. Couldn’t they just up and move somewhere else?

Still, at least I have an emotional connection with this setting, unlike with the previous episodes. Lucian Msamati and Alisha Bailey are both great as Guido and Isabella. Not the most interesting characters in the world, but they were likeable enough. I did feel slightly sad when they both died and I liked the parallel Whithouse draws between Guido and Rosanna. Both care deeply about the future of their children and both end up sacrificing themselves when they can no longer provide for them. That was a nice touch.

While I enjoyed the plot and villains, it’s the main characters I feel that really let the side down. Let’s start with the Doctor. I’m still enjoying Matt Smith’s performance for the most part. His scenes with Rosanna are absolutely electrifying and I love the subtle flirting between them. Can you imagine any other Doctor making that work? I’m also captivated by his silent menace. He’s clearly partially sympathetic to Rosanna’s predicament until she reveals that she didn’t even know Isabella’s name (who she executed a scene ago), demonstrating her own cold and ruthless efficiency, and motivating the Doctor to take action. And yet despite everything, he’s still devastated when she kills herself at the end. All very complex and multi-layered and so on. What I’m less fond of however is the humour. Something just feels very off in this episode. Like it all feels a bit too forced. For example, when him and Rory are talking about Amy kissing him:

Rory: “And you kissed her back?”

Doctor: “No. I kissed her mouth.”

That just seemed a bit too glib for my liking. Same goes for all the ‘mine’s bigger than your’s’ gags between the Doctor and Rory. But my least favourite joke was right at the beginning when the Doctor bursts out of a stripper’s cake. See I didn’t find it funny because I was too busy questioning why the Doctor couldn’t have just walked into the pub and talked to Rory like a normal person. I mean I know the Doctor is an eccentric, but this is taking the piss. It doesn’t feel like something the character would do. It just feels like the writers are trying too hard to be funny.

Rory is... okay, I guess. I did grow to like him in the episodes to come, but here he’s a bit weak. He seems like a nice enough guy and I do like the scenes where he confronts the Doctor about his behaviour, but he comes across as a bit pathetic. Plus Arthur Darvill gives a very wooden performance I feel, particularly in the sword fight with Francesco where he has this ‘I’m acting now’ kind of vibe to him. Again, it just feels like he’s trying too hard to be funny. Thankfully he does get better as time goes on, either because he grows into the role or he gets better direction, so I won’t complain too much.

However, while I do like the scenes where he confronts the Doctor, it feels as though he has more foreknowledge about the Doctor and his behaviour than he ought to have. They do explain that Rory researched the Doctor after what happened in The Eleventh Hour, but that doesn’t account for lines like this:

“You know what is dangerous about you? It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around.”

You got all that from a Wikipedia article?

I’m not saying Rory isn’t right. He absolutely is. I’m just questioning how he’s able to make such informed and authoritative judgements considering he’s only known the Doctor for five minutes.

And that’s not the only weird line of dialogue. Take a look at this one near the end:

“All I can hear is... silence.”

Obviously this is meant to continue the series arc surrounding Moffat’s crack (God I’m so immature), but... who the fuck talks like that?

Finally there’s Amy, who I really didn’t like in this episode. You may recall that in the previous episode she tried to have sex with the Doctor (how could you not recall it? I’m still having nightmares about it. Family show, Moffat. Family show). The Doctor invites Rory along in an effort to revitalise their relationship, and apparently it works... though I don’t understand how. First off they keep trying to downplay what happened at the end of Flesh And Stone to a simple kiss, which is most certainly not the case. A woman runs off on the night before her wedding and tries to have sex with another man. This isn’t a trivial thing guys. Second, there’s no effort to explore how Amy feels about all of this, the episode instead focusing on the Doctor and Rory’s dick measuring contest. Why is she so reluctant to marry Rory? It’s not as if he’s abusive or she’s being sold into a life of domestic servitude. If she’s not attracted to him, why is she marrying him? And third, Amy and Rory barely spend any time together. There’s never a moment where the two talk about what’s going on or try to make sense of their current situation. So when they do finally reconcile near the end after they kill Francesco, it just feels very forced. Rory clearly loves her, but she shows no interest in him until he clumsily fights off a vampire, at which point she’s suddenly trying to eat his face off. It just makes her come across as extremely shallow (and that’s hardly surprising considering she’s a Moffat creation).

As a continuation of the Doctor, Amy and Rory’s story, it’s incredibly flawed, but as a standalone adventure where our favourite time traveller battles a bunch of vampires from outer space, it’s very enjoyable indeed.