#the original series was completely transformative for tv at its time

[peetum]

My parents were hippie nerds who watched the original. So I watched the vhs's of the original and Star Trek The Next Generation with them, and watched Deep Space Nine on tv. There's episodes with lots of complex thought and direction put into them. Then there's episodes where an alien gets an ear job (like a hand job but on his ears 🤪) or where someone turns into a salamander because they went REAL fast. One day while I was super sick my spouse asked me what I wanted to watch - I said a specific episode of Star Trek (one where the autistic coded android has a day off and wants to use the big computer to play sherlock holmes) its a fun and silly episode with a bit of serious rumination on conciousness and what defines life. This got my spouse hooked in it :3 (especially as they saw themselves in the android character). Quite literally no one isndoing it quite like Star trek!

I love how strong and passionate the star trek fandom is. It actually makes me want to watch the show. Like why are there so many of y'all? Why have you been here for *so* long? There must be a reason and the answers must be in the show

[chacolachao]

what are your thoughts on Amy Rose throughout the franchises history and how a possible year of Amy in 2027 could or should, revitalize her as a character.

Amy Rose was my absolute favorite character (besides Sonic ofc) and I would unironically roleplay as her chasing my friends around in groups of 3 ie. Sonic Heroes in Elementary school haha

This is going to be long~~~

She was my favorite pink powerhouse that my little child brain latched onto like a lifeline. She actually fell right in line with other characters I loved around the same time and would eventually know, both in presentation and personality:

Perhaps this was of its time but there was something very appealing of a cute girly character having a strong personality to me, and was prevalent in a lot of Japanese media at the time. Of course, it wasnt apparent that Amy was a character that filled the "is girl" role because I was introduced to her alongside other characters like Rouge and Cream. The ratio was still abysmal but thats a far concept for someone still in single digits age. Amy's attire, outside of her original classic look had a very 60s Go-Go boots in a halter sunskirt look, along with gold bangles that are a bit reminiscent of Nana's eclectic styling- it was very unapologetic in the space it takes up and leaned into a streamlined coloring that could fit with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles well. She definitely fit in as a part of the group visually. She, of course, gets lambasted for being so over the top in love with Sonic, making it her main motivation in a lot of the games but I don't think it really needed to be that complex. Looking at Sonic, his whole motivation is literally going where the wind takes him and winds up helping people along the way. They utilized Amy the same way, having being around Sonic be her motivation and using it to get her into situations where her personality, drive, and spirit can shine- helping people along the way. It definitely wasnt perfect and it wouldve been nice if they gave her more agency but she wasnt without her bright moments ie. Sonic 06, Sonic Riders. They answered this through Sonic Boom, giving her a calmer, more of an exasperated boy-wrangler role. Which, wasnt that bad to have I think, especially in the tv series. It felt refreshing to have her be more important- and it was completely ok because Sonic Boom was an AU. A different world with different versions of our characters that let people explore other aspects to these complicated personas. It was a lot of fun. The main complaint that I've seen echoed was the fear they would be rid of Amy's infatuation with Sonic, her core motivation for over 20 years- and it would then be replaced with this interesting "girlboss" personality that was blasting through Hollywood at the time.

In truth, there's nothing wrong with the "girlboss" character trope, and there is also nothing wrong with the "boy-crazy" character trope. The main issue here is that Hollywood, the entertainment powerhouse that unfortunately steamrolls through diverse pop culture and transforms other things into itself, has a problem with writing women, girls, and feminine-presenting characters as entirely one-note. Every character will be "girlboss" only, or every character will be "boy-crazy", or every character will be "Well that just happened", etc. Almost never multifaceted or unique in ways that their counterparts have the opportunity to be. That isn't to say no one else falls into these same tropes, or that there isnt such thing as a nuanced female character- just that there tends to be a trend in Blockbuster movies and how the audience deciphers (or refuses to decipher) characters aka. media literacy.

And I think we, in some way, may be afraid that Amy's character will switch from one "one-note" to another "one-note", and fans of the previous status quo will be sidelined. And maybe that will happen. I loved Sonic Frontiers because it told me that Sonic Team wanted to lean into her belief in love and fate, trying to create a new motivation for her that doesnt sacrifice her established characterization. They seem to want to explore a motivation for the motivation she had for years, and I'm here for it. I have no confidence in Sonic Movie 4's characterization of Amy and do not expect them to do something great. If they do I will be happy and go on with my day, but the movie industry in the United States revolves around one thing, and if fans are happy while they pursue that one thing, that's fantastic. But I will not be surprised if she is written in a way that follows whatever trope is popular at the time of release. Does that mean there won't be a Year of Amy in 2027? Nah, they might do it- but what kind of Amy is up in the air.

[ultraericthered]

Nostalgic Lookback: Dragon Ball Z

So when I started watching Toonami, there were just four shows being run for two hours - Sailor Moon, Reboot, Dragon Ball Z, and The Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest. All good shows to be sure, but by far the main attraction for me, the one that I never wanted to miss out on a single episode of, was the ongoing saga(s) of Dragon Ball Z.

At first, I wasn't sure what to make of the show when I first caught it on TV. Why was the sky green and the grass blue? Who were all these green guys? What's the deal with these "Dragon Balls?" Who are the kid, the bald guy, and the blue haired lady? Why does this pink and purple horned villain sound like an old lady when they're being referred to with "he" and "him" pronouns? And why is the guy who's supposedly the main character not involved in any of the action 'cause he's training on a spaceship? I wanted answers, and it didn't take too long for me to get some, though there was obviously a lot of catching up I needed to do. 1999 and 2000 were peak DBZ years for me, as got really into the show, started purchasing lots of merch of it, and witnessed the first US broadcasts of some of the most famed sections of the series, the Freeza and Androids Sagas.

Piccolo was the character who first really grabbed my full attention when I saw him. His design, his voice, and just his presence was so fucking awesome that it always left an impression on me and had me wanting more of the guy. The other character who excited me the most whenever he was on screen was Vegeta, who was one of the main enemies to the good guy characters and had been the Big Bad on the show prior to Freeza stepping up to the plate. Not only were his actions and agenda filled with intrigue, but the turns taken with him were actually completely unexpected to me when I first watched. He's become THE iconic anti-hero of manga/anime for a reason!

Yeah, the Funimation dub for the series honestly sucked more often than it succeeded during its first three seasons, but it was the only way I could experience DBZ at the time, so I took what I could get without much complaints. In the Fall of 1999, Season 3 aired most of its episodes and I got to witness the legendary moment where Goku transformed into a full-fledged Super Saiyan for the first time, and that's one area where the dub improved it, thanks Bruce Faulconer!

Season 4 aired in the Fall of the next year, and it was something else altogether. Cell quickly became my favorite villain in the franchise, and the big climactic episode where Gohan, guided by his deceased father's spirit, had a beam struggle against Cell with the fate of the universe at stake, had me shook and still does with every rewatch.

As for the rest of this post? All this DBZ stuff should make it clear!

I owe so much to this franchise that gave me so much joy as a kid and has continued ever since. Last year, Akira Toriyama, writer of the original manga, passed away on the first day of March. I spent much of 2024 honoring his memory, and at this time of year, I still shall.

Thank you, Toriyama-sensei. I hope you're at peace in Otherworld.

[crowleysgirl56]

The year was 1996. Growing up in Australia one of our free to air TV channels (channel 7 specifically) had a kids morning program that would show random cartoons (shout out to anyone who understands when I reference Agro’s Cartoon Connections). One particular morning I woke to a new cartoon. The animation style reminded me of Transformers and its theme song began with a catchy guitar riff.

🎶Fighting evil by moonlight. Winning love by daylight!🎶

Wait. What?! This is certainly something that Ive never seen before. Intrigued I watched with rapt fascination. There was a talking cat and a girl with beautiful long hair who was actually a secret super hero.

Her name was Sailor Moon.

I was 12 years old and completely hooked. I immediately started wearing my hair in pigtails (I was never able to grow my hair long and it was always terribly thin. Oh that hair envy never went away). I fantasied about how I was also a secret moon princess and one day my Tuxedo Mask would find me and whisk me away. I would look for Luna on every corner, but the talking cat never showed up.

I remember crying so hard when Serena and Darian (original English dubbing!) were separated and ached for them to be reunited (gee, funny how those kinds of obsessions never go away. Or just get transferred…). It was only ever season 1 and 2 that aired here and I was lucky that they replayed it at least three times over the years. I remember there was this one tiny shop at my main shopping centre devoted to anime (a rare thing in the 90’s and early 2000’s) where you could buy VHS copies of season 1 and 2. Unfortunately a poor high school student could not afford $36 a tape.

Years later when Sailor Moon Crystal started, the same English dub cast redubbed the entire original series as well. I eventually collected them and watched them all on DVD, and watched all the episodes I never saw (man, Sailor Moon Super S really rambles doesn’t it).

I loved Crystal because I thought the retelling in a more condensed version (without the filler episodes) got us to the point of the arc much quicker. And I like that Usagi and Mamaro didn’t hate each other to begin with.

With the second part of Sailor Moon Cosmos now watched it brings my Sailor Moon journey to an end (well…not quite an end, I never did get around to reading the mangas). But as a 40 year old woman who’s been obsessed with this show since before I was a teenager, I’m always amazed I still love it as much as I do. So whenever anyone ever tells you “this is just a passing fad. You’ll grow out of it” or somehow makes you feel disparaged for loving something so intensely, remember the things you like are for you and you alone and no one can tell you how to go about loving them.

So here’s to my first love. My first obsession. My first hyperfixation. The first couple that I desperately wished could be together, whose love never strayed far from my mind. Thank you for the journey!

[bakerstreetbabble]

Granada TV Series Review: "The Copper Beeches" (S02, E01)

Season 2 of Granada's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starts with a gripping, dramatic episode, complete with a creepy "bad guy" (played to great effect by British actor Joss Ackland), a winsome heroine (the late Natasha Richardson playing Violet Hunter), and a bloodthirsty hound (not that hound, mind you). Honestly, re-reading "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" just now, I felt like the Granada series took a fairly average story and made it into something much more exciting. Overall, they were very faithful to the source material, but they managed to rearrange a few plot points and use a fine cast to elevate the adaptation beyond its original form.

For one thing, Joss Ackland is extremely creepy as Mr. Rucastle. Sure, he's jovial enough most of the time, but Ackland is a talented enough actor to make every line seem sinister. From the very first time we meet him, we feel as if things just aren't quite right with this "generous" employer. Meanwhile, Natasha Richardson as Violet Hunter gave the role the right balance between a young lady who's getting more and more frightened and the kind of ingenuity that obviously wins the great detective's respect.

Jeremy Brett and David Burke are excellent, as usual, and there's a particularly delightful sequence at the opening of the episode where we are treated to one of Holmes's rants about how Watson has injected too much romance into the stories that Holmes thinks should be cold, logical case studies. We also are treated to a classic Holmes line, as the detective and his sidekick take the train to meet up with Miss Hunter: “Data! data! data! I can’t make bricks without clay.” (This line, which happens back at the flat at 221B Baker Street in the story, is moved a bit later in the TV episode, which I think works quite well.)

I should also mention the little detail of the slight change of setting of Mr. Rucastle's daughter's prison: in the original story, it is merely a mysterious, shuttered wing of the Copper Beeches estate. In the adaptation, however, it has been transformed into a mysterious "turret," which I think works a bit better.  That's what I enjoyed about this episode: the writers, while staying quite faithful to the original story, made minor tweaks to the plot, which ended up giving the story a lot more drama and forward momentum.

This was really a top-notch episode to begin the second season of the successful series. Before I wrap up the review, I should probably mention the entertaining final scene, in which Watson is clearly reading his most recent write-up of the events at the Copper Beeches, with no little delight at the effect his "romantic" storytelling has on his friend. By this point in the series, one can easily tell how comfortable David Burke and Jeremy Brett were becoming in their own roles, as well as in the camaraderie shared by the two friends. It really was a very fine episode to begin the second season!

[princesscolumbia]

https://www.furinkan.com/features/articles/pregnant.html

About a week-ish ago, the above link was posted to the r/Ranma subreddit. I took a look at the article and the tl;dr seems to be as follows:

Once upon a time there was a person who put forth the question to Rumiko Takahashi on whether Ranma's transformation from boy-to-girl was complete enough that Ranma could experience all the consequences of such a transformation, the logical conclusion being, "Can Ranma get pregnant?" The rather infamous 'quote' of "I don't think about that, and neither should you," is purported to come from this question, which told the audience one thing: Don't fucking ask about Ranma's sex life or by Kami-sama, Takahashi-sensei will gut you! This stood as an uncontested truth until the pandemic when someone decided to try and track down the exact source of the quote, at which point they realized this was NOT said at a convention (as had initially been circulated via rumor at the time), but in an editorial that stood in lieu of a an interview that took place over a sit-down dinner between Takahashi and an editor who would wind up garnering a reputation for ginning up drama for its own sake. It's likely a heavily 'interpreted' quote that probably didn't have the intent to come across as cutting or biting and likely had a LOT of questions left on the table that could have been asked as a follow-up. So now that we've answered the question of whether Takahashi-san was actually a rude bitch or not (likely not), if you want to know whether Ranma can get pregnant you are a smelly sex pervert who most likely has cooties and should just drop dead and save us all the trouble of shunning you.

Am I taking liberty with my summary? FU~HUH~HUH~UCK YES! If you want to see what they actually say, follow the link and read. It's not tremendously long and, save for the author's unconscious purity cult bias, is a pretty solid piece of reportage into the infamous "quote," even if the question isn't actually answered. What follows is what I posted to Reddit in the comments section for that link:

I take issue with the foundational premise that the question of whether or not Ranma could get pregnant is inherently puerile or vulgar, which is not only the foundation of the original misquote but also the basis of the article's author's premise. Guess what, people f*ck, including at least two people you (yes, YOU) know. This should not be controversial. Now, I'll grant that, maybe...maybe in the 1990s when the question came up it might have been one of those giggle-behind-a-hand-in-shock kind of things, but we're entering a phase in world culture where uterus transplants for transwomen are being put through clinical trials to allow them to get pregnant. The rights of trans and gender-non-conforming folk are being trampled on the world over. Some transmen are choosing to become pregnant and have children. The hypocrisy of "cis het people get to talk about pregnancy without everyone assuming the question is about f*cking, but you'd better not talk about someone who's even a little bit trans or you're clearly doing it to be filthy, nasty perverts" is being exposed for the comp-het that it is. Asking "does this character who, canonically, transitions back and forth between one biological set of sex organs and secondary sex characteristics multiple times per day have to deal with all the concerns, consequences, and benefits of both forms?" is no longer the automatic, "You can't say that on TV!" that is used to be (and, honestly, never should have been). Soun, canonically, has f*cked. Nodoka, canonically, has f*cked. Genma, canonically (goddess help us all), has fucked. The operational premise of the primary conflict of the series is whether or not Ranma and Akane are going to, eventually, f*ck. The question of "What happens if Ranma gets pregnant?" should only ever be problematic if Takahashi at some point declares that Ranma is an ace transwoman and never wants to birth children, at which point it would be a thing that shouldn't be considered for hard/soft canon purposes because it would violate Ranma's choices in the matter. IMHO, in the reboot I think an episode where Ranma has to deal with attending both the boy's and the girl's sex ed classes would be tremendously funny. It would also have the knock-on effect getting people to think about things like "consent" and "consequences," something our current culture rather lacks.

This was auto-banned on Reddit because, apparently, saying the word "fuck," even with the self-censoring and used in the appropriate context, is a bridge too far for a subreddit attended by people old enough to know what sex is.

This isn't the first time I've encountered problematic behavior on the r/Ranma subreddit. When I pointed out that Ranma's basically saying that s/he just plain forgot about their gender and they only wanted the cure for Akane's sake, this is basically Ranma declaring that they don't care about their 'curse' and is genderfluid/NB, just lacking in the language that we have for those gender presentations (or non-presentation, as the case may be) that we have today, I got the clapback of, "NUH-UH! You're wrong! Ranma's a cis guy!".

(Yes, a cis guy. A cis guy who has 'his' own bras and likely has to carry around period products "just in case" and grows at least a cup-size canonically over the course of the show's run as commented on by Nabiki...and don't tell me Nabiki's not at least bi!)

This was on a conversation about whether Ranma was trans, which is a challenging question given the best word at the time for what Ranma is was 'newhalf,' a term that has come to be associated with sex workers and holds the same cultural niche as "sh*male" in American culture; it's a bit derogatory and is considered to be a slur that is used specifically in a sexual connotation. Couple this with the anime and manga being, at best, parallel continuities (there's SO many places where the two are different timelines I could probably do an entire series of posts just breaking down the differences) AND the fans stitching the two together to create fused variant timelines for their derivative works means that we just don't, at this point, have a solid answer.

Thanks to THAT episode of the anime:

Am I... Pretty? Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood (Peacock link)

...pretty much no transwoman on the planet is going to question that anime Ranma is a transgirl. The parallels to our own experiences that (femme)Ranma talks about during her dissociative state hit entirely too close to home and if a member of the writing team for that episode wasn't part of the queer community I will eat my bra with spaghetti sauce.

It's important to note, as well, that because of the anime, Takahashi is NO LONGER THE FINAL AUTHORITY ON ALL THINGS RANMA. If 'death of the author' is a thing, Takahashi committed honorable sepuku and gave creative control over to a writing and directorial team that is not her.

For the original manga, because Takahashi was unwilling to tackle those questions that give Purity Cultists hives (though why she'd shy away from the pregnancy angle when she was perfectly happy showing Ranma and her mirror clone working as prostitutes is a question I will probably never get answered), it's "open to interpretation" as to Ranma's Genderfluid/NB status, though IMHO the text is as clear as you can get it for the language of the time.

(In retrospect, it's obvious; she should be in the club)

In the anime, though, Shampoo and Ukyo are bi (and fuckin'), Ranma is a transwoman, and Akane is either lesbian or bi and strangled by comp-het to an obvious degree. Ryoga may well be trans as well, though his pig-related curse makes the matter questionable given his lamentations could be either about not having a girl body like Ranma does OR having a pig body, which would suck and result in severe dysmorphia either way.

This is because the anime team chose to tackle those questions, at least tangentially. Rumiko Takahashi, for all she is to be thanked for giving the world Ranma 1/2 (...and a few other things), handed off the baton to other creators. If we want the answers to the questions like, "Can Ranma get pregnant?", Takahashi is NOT the source for that.

That said, if she and I had the chance to sit down over a meal in San Diego during a convention, I'd apologize on behalf of the community for the monstrous tool who misquoted her and ask the questions like another content creator, not some asshat who just wants to stir up trouble for decades to come.

[thatsmutaccount]

Oh boy, this is a difficult one.

Just so we are all clear I'm putting this first thing first: this chapter focus heavily on the theme of incest and has an explicit sexual scene between brothers (both over 18, btw), so if this is something you don't like or find in some way disturbing or triggering, please don't read. The central part also delves heavily into the description of bullying incidents and depiction of a toxic home environment. There is no actual scene, this episodes are only mentioned, still if you find this triggering be warned. These bullying incidents are in no way sexual, btw, just to be clear, just old Rex being an asshole as usual.

Yeah, about this chapter and this theme in particular, let's talk about it. I confess that in canon media it's not something I like. If I read a book or watch a movie or a TV series where there are two characters that are related to each other I do not like to read fan fiction where they are depicted having an incestuous relationship. I explain it in the note at the beginning of the chapter, but basically for me familial love is something completely different for romantic/sexual love, and the two can't be compared or confused with each other. Of course (I think is obvious but better be safe than sorry) I do not support incest in real life and I do not want to romanticize it in any way, the only reason I'm writing about is because is a fictional scenario and because my stories are so out of this world and "cartoony" that honestly something like that could probably never happen.

So, that being said, why am I an hypocrite and write incest stories between fictional made up adults while saying I don't like it? Because I created them to be this way. Rex is messed up, he is in no way a "normal" character: he never had a sane relationship with his family, so he never formed that bond of familial love with them, and vice versa the other never saw him as someone actually related to them. Because his situation is so different and his feeling are so complicated I was able to write this chapter, and others still on this line (you want a real incest-fest? Go read ch 28 of this story, "Family beach fun", that is really messed up XP). Rex is supposed to have this feeling that are not of familial love but of sexual attraction towards the members of his family, and because of this I have no problem writing him this way.

Anyway, rant aside, let's talk story, yay! I like how I wrote it. For once I tried to be more touchy feely with a major hurt/comfort vibe. Still there is a lot of sex and I like how I handled it.

Anyway I'm currently having Rex/Mike brainrot (and just Rex/Mike brainrot) and, for some reason, I want to write more stuff about these two, and by that I mean a lot of chapters with just Mike and Rex being dumbasses in love, and of course I can't because "Rex new life" has its own schedule and has to be balanced with the characters in it. Soooooo... I will probably publish a short long/one shot collection with some prompts that will be just Rex/Mike.

What do you think of this idea? Yay or nay? I would probably take some prompts from around Tumblr and such and just publish them.

Wish me luck not to be banned here in doing so, and enjoy this chapter, see ya dudes!!!!!

*****

CHAPTER SUMMARY: The time has finally come for Rex to confront his brother. Will things between the two finally be explained? Will they get their closure? Or is the gap between them so deep that it can never be bridged?

*****

WARNING: Incest (Borther/Borther); Jerking Off; Blowjob; Anal Sex; Bukkake; Degradation Kink; Slut Shaming; Implied Cheating; Nipple Play; Cumming Untouched; Fingering

ADDITIONAL WARNING: Bullying; Toxic Familial Relationship; Verbal Abuse; Physical Abuse; Unhealthy way of coping; past hospitalization; past charachter death; grieving

[danidoesathing]

I like how Arcane Viktor is both a robot/cyborg and something completely alien to Runeterra. Like, he's still a robot/cyborg of some kind (his voice is mechanical, his skin is metal, there are bolts and screws in his Hexcoreized form, and you can hear faint mechanical whirrs in some of his scenes after he's fully Evolved)-but he's also not the type of cyborg he's normally depicted.

He's less "traditional Cyberpunk cyborg" and more "Spooky Living Metal Alien Robot who wants to assimilate you into the Robot/Alien Hive Mind". Both are still cyborgs/robots, but very different genres of robot/cyborg. (One is Cyberpunk Sci-Fi, one is Space Sci-Fi.) (...Also, the fact that some media uses divine imagery for aliens and/or makes it so that ancient societies worshipped aliens as gods arguably makes this comparison work even better?)

(Slight spoilers for The Expanse.) (The main comparison I use for Viktor's transformations is the Protomolecule Hybrids from The Expanse as a comparison-both the TV and book versions. (The Protomolecule can assimilate and transform both flesh and technology, so it feels a fitting comparison.))

(Also, you should check out The Expanse. It's well written, has great characters and storylines, and has some similar themes to Arcane (class divide and politics) while also being a mostly-grounded Space Sci-Fi series. (Also, Grayson's VA plays one of my favorite characters.) It's on Prime for free, and I cannot recommend it enough.)

YES I LOVE!!! ELDRITCH ROBOT VIKTOR!!! i understand why people were disappointed that they didn't get the Machine Herald from the game (even i will admit i wanted to see that freak in all his glory) but ive always considered him and Jayce Talis as separate guys (as well as the rest of the cast, but those two have the biggest deviation from their original selves. its one of the reasons I call him the Arcane Herald and not the Machine Herald cause. hes not really the Machine Herald) so i was really excited to see him as a fucked up body horror robot wizard. (and honestly i LOVE the switch up the original game lore for his (and jayce's) storyline but the tangent i want to go on is not really relevant to this ask so ill leave it there for now) and i LOVE what we got.

like i keep staring at all this pictures of his in act and im obsessed with his weird ass anatomy. He looks like he's made of wires and fibers but it looks like exposed nerves and flesh. his skin lined with gold and swirls and it pulses and glows, but it's still some intimation of skin. It looks flexible but its still metal. The result of near perfect transmutation using corrupted magic. A cyborg made of the arcane. He's so unnaturally natural. the original was once human and still retains that form no matter what but now its fundamentally changed. fucked up and alien and i love it.

AND THE DIVINITY ASPECT OOOH MY GOD!!! wake up bitch we've forced you into an artificial godhood where you dont know how much control you have over your soul at any time. you will never know how much of your own mind is your own. your own want to help people and insecurities about your body are twisted for the goal of something you cannot understand. You have become the central consciousness for a concept that was never supposed to be conscious. you will kill thousands in it's name, you've ended dozens of worlds, and you do not know how much of it was you, but you drown in your guilt regardless. you wanted to die human but you were loved too much.

(I do like in the concept art you can tell they were making designs for a semi-traditional machine herald (some pretty cool ones tbh!!), but as it goes on it gets weirder and weirder until it's the Arcane Herald. they just kept going he's not enough of a freak yet. keep making him more fucked up.)

I have not seen the Expanse but it IS on my list. and the promise of fucked up hybrids of flesh and machinery AND Shohreh Aghdashloo is. ooooh very nice.

[eliotqueliot]

Happy Valentine's Day, Queliot!

Chapter 3 of you want it darker? || dark king eliot is now live! As a Queliot gift for Valentine's Day!

This chapter does still focus on Eliot's grief, and Quentin's still technically dead (but not really/permanently?). But, as dark and angsty as this story can be, there's a strong emphasis on the Queliot love story. It feels essential to me. Hopefully you’ll agree! Big 🍑❤️ to all of you today (Happy Valentine’s Day, no matter when you read this!) (Yes, today this fic finally earns its E-rating!)

A big thank you to my collaborator @juliawickers❤️who in addition to all the support and inspiration, and creating the original concept, graphic, and fanmix❤️has made an edit for Ch. 2 and now a queliot au: you want it darker? || dark king eliot pin board with Ch. 3❤️

Summary for Chapter 3 specifically:

Eliot sees glimpses of Quentin everywhere. Hears his voice. Feels his phantom touch.

He knows it's really Q. And that no one will believe him. Telling Margo or Julia will only make them worry more.

Meanwhile, attempts to bring Quentin back continue to fail. Will a visit with an old friend help turn things around?

================

Thank you @queliotbingo! ❤️ This WIP as a whole will be marking my Resurrection/Reincarnation, Time Travel, Underworld squares

Thank you @ficwip for Hey, Sweetheart 2024! In addition to meeting the "sweetheart" challenge (several times!), Chapter 3 fits today's themes of 🗺️ Forest and 💕 mutual pining.

you want it darker? || dark king eliot (34561 words) by victoriaandalbert, EliotQueliot Chapters: 3/12 Fandom: The Magicians (TV), The Magicians - Lev Grossman Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh, Margo Hanson & Eliot Waugh, Margo Hanson/Julia Wicker, Eliot Waugh & Julia Wicker, Quentin Coldwater & Julia Wicker, Quentin Coldwater & Margo Hanson, Quentin Coldwater & Theodore "Ted" Rupert Coldwater-Waugh & Eliot Waugh, Quentin Coldwater & Theodore "Ted" Coldwater Characters: Eliot Waugh, Margo Hanson, Julia Wicker, Quentin Coldwater, Alice Quinn (The Magicians), Josh Hoberman, Fen (The Magicians), Rupert Chatwin | Dark King Sebastian, Jane Chatwin, 23rd Timeline William "Penny" Adiyodi, 40th Timeline William "Penny"Adiyodi, William "Penny" Adiyodi, Henry Fogg, 24th Timeline Alice Quinn (The Magicians), Kady Orloff-Diaz, Todd (The Magicians), Ted Coldwater, Hades (The Magicians), Theodore "Ted" Rupert Coldwater-Waugh, The Great Cock of the Darkling Wood, The Great Cock (The Magicians) Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Canonical Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Violence, Blood and Violence, Soulmates, queliot, endgame queliot, Underworld, Resurrection, Dark Fantasy, Margo Hanson is a Good Friend, Julia Wicker is a Good Friend, Quentin Coldwater Lives, Depression, References to Depression, References to Shadeless Julia Wicker, Shadeless Eliot Waugh, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Hand Jobs, Castle Whitespire, Mountain of Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fillory (The Magicians), Goddess Julia Wicker, Crying, Fix-It, Alternate Universe, Suicidal Thoughts, Afterlife, Ghosts, Souls, True Love, royal husbands, Magic, Fairies, High King Eliot Waugh, High king Margo Hanson, King Quentin Coldwater, Queen Julia Wicker, Suicide Attempt, Lucid Dreaming Series: Part 2 of You Want It Darker? Series Summary:

Eliot finds among Jane Chatwin’s things perhaps a way to bring back Quentin—but it comes at an enormous personal cost: during the ritual, Eliot is stripped of his Shade completely. Violently ripping the reigning Dark King from the throne, Eliot assumes the mantle of Dark High King—a truly malevolent force who will do anything to get Quentin back. Even if it means he becomes somebody the man he loves won’t recognize when Eliot rescues Quentin from the Underworld. By any means necessary.

—summary from you want it darker? || dark king eliot [graphic + fanmix] by victoriaandalbert

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

INSIDE OUT 2 slowly treks to possibly unseating Photoreal LION KING, now playing in Japan where the original made around $30-35m USD, while DESPICABLE ME 4 slowly climbs towards the big billion. If it does so, that makes it the first film in the franchise to do that since the third movie way back in 2017. MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU was close but no cigar two summers back.

Both movies continue to fill up the auditoriums at the cinema I work at...

However, a new movie on the block with a curious helping of *2D* animation in it... Is not... The Sony release HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON, directed by Blue Sky alum Carlos Saldanha (ICE AGE 2, RIO 1 & 2, FERDINAND) in his live-action debut. I know some are having a lark at the weird Zachary Levi FX vehicle arriving a year after completion with no marketing, bombing hard, but I can't help but think... That just sucks.

And a big case of "what could've been?" Hollywood's been trying to adapt the Crockett Johnson-written book, first published in 1955, since the 1990s. Animated shorts and a TV series were made, but the movie just stalled and stalled, shuffling through different directors and iterations... And mediums. Sony Animation at one point, in conjunction with Amblin, was supposed to do a feature based on this... So now we got this movie, finished some time in early 2023 with an MPA rating and everything... Months before its initial release date (late July 2023), with no trailer in sight, it quietly packed its bags and left for this summer. I guess they were concerned that being wedged between BARBIE and MUTANT MAYHEM wasn't exactly the best idea...

So, it tried to arrive - unnoticed - nearly a month after DESPICABLE ME 4. Both DM4 and INSIDE OUT 2 charted higher at the weekend box office than CRAYON, which only took in $6m stateside. It's another "animation director goes live-action" endeavor that ended rather poorly. Andrew Stanton and JOHN CARTER OF MARS, Brenda Chapman and COME AWAY, even Brad Bird with TOMORROWLAND. Saldanha now has a picture called 100 DAYS lined up, an effort the Brazilian director is pursuing in his home country, so that's good for him.

It's also another largely live-action family/kids movie - not made by Disney - that didn't add up. They just become rarer and rarer by the year, it seems. I remember when those kinds of movies were everywhere. All your STUART LITTLEs and BABEs and LAST MIMZYs, off the top of my head. I think around the late aughts/early tens, they started to slowly go away, many of them just came up short most of the time. If they do exist, and aren't part of a movie franchise (like, say, WONKA and the SONIC movies), I feel they go to Netflix or whatever. There was IF this year, but that didn't make back its budget despite strong audience response/great WOM. So they still kinda exist?

Anyways, the summer belongs to emotions and gibbering tictacs on the family end of things... Though I saw quite a few parents taking their 4-7yos into DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, and hey, some of today's kids probably see and hear worse elsewhere lol. I recall being allowed, weirdly, to watch SOUTH PARK circa 1999 when I was in 2nd grade but certain levels of violence were off-limits. I don't think my folks would've taken me to see an R-rated Deadpool/X-Men movie in 1999, haha.

So that probably ends the summer seasons, animation box office-wise. I know the autumnal equinox technically begins two days after TRANSFORMERS ONE opens, but I peg the beginning of it there. Bring on the robots!

[talenlee]

The Brilliant Fool

Normally when I write here about a Transformers character, it’s a character who has some significance to me as – well, honestly, as an example of a kind of person I could be, growing up. Blades gave me a lesson about quelling the want for violence inside me and also how defensive violent bf /softboy medic bf was a top tier pairing, and Dinobot gave me lessons about dying well in the face of oblivion, a lesson that I thought I needed really soon when I got it. There are Transformers I love because of jokes, Transformers I love because of association with toys and there are some Transformers that I love because they are, through no fault of their own, completely useless doofuses.

Let’s talk about Wheeljack

Wheeljack is an OG Transformer. Not only was he present in the original TV series, he was the first ever Transformer to be animated, the first one to appear on a cell and the first one to say or do anything. Wheeljack was also in this privileged position because he was from an earlier time, an earlier toyline, one of the diaclone toys that needed minimal changes to come on over. And not only was this the 1980s but this was a Japanese toy from the 1970s, so his toy was a really nice model that was also, coincidentally, made largely out of die-cast metal and had all sorts of lovely detailing and stickers that you could use to show how good you were at putting on stickers unless you were a fumble handed gallumphus like myself.

Don’t worry, I never had a Wheeljack, but I knew someone who did, and that toy was nice.

Anyway, Wheeljack as a character was one of the huge cast of Transformers who got a personality written up in what feels in hindsight like filling out a spreadsheet, where the writer got a picture of a character and had to devise a name and personality for them and keep moving, while also doing everything they could to keep them from overlapping with one another, which, of course, they did. Did you know that Grimlock (A t-rex) and Fortress Maximus (a city) and Brawl (a little guy about the size of a VW bug) are all listed as the strongest Autobot? Making sense of these original bios was like digging through Biblical harmonisation, but at least Transformers admit they’re making stuff up.

Anyway, Wheeljack got given the personality up front of being a crackpot mad scientist working for the good guys, which meant you took an archetype normally full of potential malice and potential goofiness and then just stripped out all the malice. Wheeljack in G1 was a guy who would invent things, and those things would have to be useful to pretty much only anyone in exactly one episode. This meant Wheeljack was either solving the problem of the episode by techno-babbling up a device that would fix it, or causing the problem of the episode by techno-babbling up a device that unfixed something, and sometimes both.

Wheeljack served a good, steadfast, mechanical role in the story of the show and to that end he hung around a lot. He also had a really easy face to animate – rather than flap a mouth or move a visor, his face lit up when he was talking, which meant you just changed its colour. Real convenient, real nice when you wanted to have him talk at length.

But this is just ‘why Wheeljack showed up a lot,’ it’s not by any means an explanation as to why I liked Wheeljack. What I like about Wheeljack is instead something created in the negative space of the character by what the people making it didn’t intend to do.

Here’s how it cooks out. First of all, Wheeljack is an inventor who is memorably depicted screwing up and eating dirt, regularly. He’s an inventor but it’s easy to feel like his hit rate is half and half, and a bunch of the things he makes have the weirdest solutions to them and ways they work. It’s not true in the comics, mind you, those are written a bit less for, y’know, four year olds in the 1980s, but the ‘crackpot inventor’ element sticks around.

The other thing is that Wheeljack’s disguise sucks.

It’s not that he doesn’t look like a car, he sure does look like a car! But Wheeljack doesn’t turn into ‘a car.’ Wheeljack turns into a sports car.

Well, so what you may say, it’s not like sports cars are that rare.

And then I go, he turns into a Lancia Stratos

And you’d interrupt me, comically, — Well, okay, no you wouldn’t, you’d say what and I’m embellishing for the bit — and say, hey, no no, see, you’ve got a specific name for it, a model, that means it got made in some degree of mass production,

And I respond with yeah, we know how many of his type of Lancia Stratos got made. He’s the Group 5 Lancia Stratos. He has specific racing regalia on him for sponsor material. Because he didn’t copy ‘a car’, he copied a race ready Lancia Stratos Group 5. There were only 500 Lancia Stratos made, and only a small number of them – like, less than ten – were ever put into racing colours, and then they were deomissioned. Imagine if while trying to blend into a location you picked the disguise of ‘recognisable celebrity,’ or maybe tried to blend in at the zoo as an endangered animal of which they knew they only had two. This means Wheeljack was in a position to scan the Lancia Stratos Group 5 (which wasn’t run in many races after it failed!) and then drove around after it left!

It plays into the way that his inventions seemed to fail a lot, or seemed to work in weird ways. It depicts a person who has somehow a skillset that’s suited to making big, impressive, technically challenging accomplishments and not a goddamn lick of sense about what he can do with it. This is a guy who can invent a teleportation machine and his idea of how to use it to solve the war is to let humans move more quickly to and from the base to update them on what the Decepticons are doing. This is a guy who makes a blender with a frappe setting that retasks a satellite. This is a guy whose first appearance on screen is using a machine he built that then immediately backfires and sets the tone for him for the rest of his life.

Wheeljack is one of my favourite Transformers, but only in the way that I love to watch the way fans talk about him, because of the beautiful alignment of super genius and fantastic idiot.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

“Monsieur Spade” series (Prime Video)

Monsieur Spade is a TV series directed by Scott Frank in 2024 and based on the characters from the book The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, first published in 1929. The TV series features Clive Owen, Rebecca Root, Oscar Lesage, Cara Bossom, Inès Melab, Luke Tinson, and others.

The series revolves around the detective Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett, who has been leading a peaceful retirement in the small town of Bozuls in the South of France. The year is 1963, the Algerian War has recently concluded, and soon Spade’s tranquillity will also come to an end.

The famous detective Sam Spade ( Clive Owen ) is now 60 years old and lives as an expatriate in the south of France in 1963. Monsieur Spade was an original story starring the character, bringing the iconic literary detective out of retirement in the south of France as Spade pursues a tortuous web of criminal conspiracy revolving around a mysterious young man.

Is Monsieur Spade Based On A Book? Monsieur Spade has interesting connections to a literary work from the 1930s as well as an iconic Hollywood film. Starring Clive Owen as the titular character, Monsieur Spade is a new mystery series from AMC. The show follows the exploits of Sam Spade, a once-successful private detective.

Choosing 1963 France as its main setting, the first season of Monsieur Spade tells a six-episode story that finds its main protagonist diving head first into a murder case. In the story's period, Clive Owen's Sam Spade is years past his prime. Having left the life of a private detective behind years ago, Sam is enjoying the lack of excitement in his everyday activities when he is suddenly forced back into action. As for where this all leads, that remains to be seen. However, this is not to say that Monsieur Spade is a completely original story. It is rooted in the existing material.

Sam Spade is the protagonist of the 1930 novel “The Maltese Falcon”

Sam Spade made his first appearance in The Maltese Falcon, a 1930 novel by Dashiell Hammett, before spearheading a series of short stories by the writer. The book was published as a serial in 1929 and published as a novel the following year. A private detective gets involved in a case to find an expensive but mysterious statuette and indulges with three criminals and a liar.

The novel proved popular enough to be adapted three times in the decade following its publication. While the first two adaptations were not well received, the third adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade is considered not just a great adaptation but one of the great films of the twentieth century.

During this era, stories about “tough detectives” became incredibly popular, with writers such as Hammett, Mickey Spillane, and Raymond Chandler penning some of the best-known entries in the mystery subgenre. Many of them, including The Maltese Falcon, ended up getting the Hollywood treatment.

In 1941, John Huston wrote and directed a film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon and cast Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart in the lead role of Sam Spade. The story, like the book it is based on, saw Spade engage in a multi-part quest to find a seemingly priceless bird statue called the Maltese Falcon. Bogart's performance in the film and Dashiell Hammett's handling of the story helped transform Sam Spade into one of the famous actor's best-known roles.

The events of Monsieur Spade take place well after the events of the book

Although the story told in Monsieur Spade is not based on a book, its protagonist comes from a classic novel. In Monsieur Spade's canon, the events of The Maltese Falcon are in the past. It acts as a sequel to the original 1930 novel. Everything that occurs in the book happened in the series, but it's been decades.

This makes sense considering Monsieur Spade's 1963 setting. Hammett's Sam Spade stories have never ventured this far into Sam Spade's life, meaning that while the show may explore the history of the Maltese Falcon through flashbacks, its overarching narrative must be an entirely new story, making it impossible to predict what happens just by looking at Hammett's work alone.

The series arrived on 14th January 2024

#MonsieurSpade #SamSpade #CliveOwen #AMC+ #TheMalteseFalcon #HumphreyBogart #JohnHuston #DashiellHammett #Hollywood #novel #series #drama

[rescue-ram]

6, 11, 18 for the writer asks

6. First fic/pairing you wrote for? (If no pairing, describe the plot)

Kdjfjd. Don't remember the first real proper fic that I wrote, but I think the very first fic I ever posted to the Internet was like. "What if Pippin had a Yokomon." And it immediately got deleted by the mods on FF.net for being ""spam"" kfkdk.

11. Weirdest thing you’ve ever written/thought about writing/etc.?

I got pretty wild with Kinktober this year- I think the wildest thing I published was the Hawnk voodoo doll fic kfkdkd, though Trapper Jesus is probably a v close runner up in terms of deranged premises. I- and I am genuinely mortified about this kvkkfd- almost wrote a vore fantasy fic (aka character fantasizing about vore/cannibalism, not enacted.) I half-started it and then realized no- no matter how convinced I am this character could plausibly do that- I absolutely can't publish that kdkdjkf.

ACTUALLY 18. How old were you when you started writing fanfiction

Like 10 or 11 kfkck

EDIT I'M AN IDIOT AND COPIED THE WRONG QUESTION FROM THE ASK MEME BUT I SPENT TOO LONG ON THIS LVKDKXJCM

18. Favorite Fic By Another Author

I COULDN'T PICK JUST ONE Links and squeeing below the cut.

Your Cowboy Days Are Over by Sam Donne is one of those fics I read a little too young but is so good- it's exploration of memory and trauma and parental love and the trolley problem is woven in with this great sci-fi setting and a resistance story. Absolutely phenomenal. Another fic by Sam Donne- Nebraska, an Iron Man fic- is a fic I read once a year every year for over a decade and made me weep uncontrollably at multiple points every time. It's one of the most intensely psychological fics I've ever read and dealt phenomenally with depression and autism and the nature of consciousness, and it fundamentally shaped my language of grief. It also currently only exists as a print out in a fire proof bag next to my social security card. The thought of losing that fic forever genuinely makes me gnaw on things!

One other SGA shout out: A Farm in Iowa by sheafrotherdon. My best friend and I were completely obsessed with this series in high school. Sweet wholesome AU fluff, absolutely bucolic.

In adjacent Stargate fandom, cleanwhiteroom recently posted a revised version of Force Over Distance to AO3 and is working revising on my personal fave of her stories Mathematique! Incredibly compelling slow-burn of a plot with deliciously ambiguous relationships and consciousness blending that questions the nature of self and other. Extremely concept rich story.

The Heart's Obligations by schemingreader I THOUGHT was lost media but it is found!!!! Augh. The ULTIMATE transformative fic to me- so wildly AU from its source material, Harry Potter, it's practically an original novel and yet the knowledge that this ISN'T original and IS informed by outside context changes the way you read it. Really well written and well researched historical novel with lines that have stuck with me for well over a decade.

For Man from UNCLE, couldn't decide between Wonderland and Partners, both by Pat Foley. Really interesting and realistic take on the canon material and makes great use of the Cold War setting.

Force of Nature by Jenna Hilary Sinclair for Brokeback Mountain is an ABSOLUTELY TRANSCENDENT "What if Jack didn't die" fic that is so so realistic and well written and touching. Not a happily ever after fic, but also not needlessly cruel, but a very compelling story of Jack and Ennis making a real relationship work while staying closeted in rural New Mexico. Incredible characterization, good OCs, plotty and long enough to lose yourself in, incredibly influential on my writing in ways I can't even express, you WOULD NOT BELIEVE MY SQUEE when I saw she was writing a sequel after a ten year hiatus!!!!

Graduation by bat400 takes some of the dark storylines from Star Trek Enterprise and plays them out without giving them a neat resolution an episodic TV show demands. Fully explores the depths of tragedy but still pulls it back up to that Star Trek optimism at the end without undermining what came before at all. There are some annoying formatting issues in the AO3 copy from when it was imported, but the story itself still shines. A really well written story about grief, moral injury, and recovery.

Okay we've officially exhausted my "off the top of my head" all time favorites and I'm now mentally gibbering to myself about what else I should mention because clearly I have many favorites that rotate in the back of my mind the way normal people think about scenes and quotes from real books or poems jfkdn.

We will close with Sins and Virtues by Quordle, because I VIVIDLY REMEMBER the experience of reading this I think in high school. I remember pawing thorough livejournal for TrapHawk fic recs, absolutely QwQ at the dearth, and there was like. A single line in a review for another fic, "inspired by the excellent Hawkeye/Mulcahy fic Sins and Virtues by Jane Carnall" and I was SO COMPLETELY GOBSMACKED by the concept of shipping Mulcahy with anyone but especially Hawkeye, I just had to track down this fic. I eventually found her personal archive and started reading the series like "Okay... Okay... Augh. AAAAAAAUGHHHHHHH." I was seriously getting up to pace multiple times during Such as We. Something that really made the series stand out to me was how DIFFERENT it felt. It didn't follow the usual rhythm of tension and release in shippy fics, used none of the usual tropes or short hands- it felt very original, and I loved how historically grounded it was. Like I'm sure you've already read it but if anyone else reading this hasn't, highly highly recommend!!!

[mediaevalmusereads]

Redshirts. By John Scalzi. Tor, 2012.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: science fiction

Series: N/A

Summary: Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that:

(1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces

(2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations

(3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: gruesome deaths, blood, dismemberment

OVERVIEW: I generally respect John Scalzi as a storyteller. I read Old Man's War a while ago, so it has been a hot minute since I've picked up any of his books, but I figured I'd give one a go since I needed something relatively light. Overall, I enjoyed myself and I understand what Scalzi was doing: poking fun at sci fi tropes while simultaneously deploying them. There's a lot to like, especislly if you're a fan of Star Trek. I guess my 4 star rating is entirely subjective; as much fun as I had, I wanted a little more from this book, so while it was a blast to read, it ultimately could have had a greater impact.

WRITING: Scalzi's writing is fine for the type of book we're working with. The prose is quick, so you can get through it pretty fast, and it revels in a particular brand of humor that some will enjoy. The prose is also heavily weighted towards dialogue and telling (versus showing), which I normally wouldn't like but works in this context precisely because it's imitating the dialogue of TV shows like Star Trek.

CHARACTERS: I'm not going to look at individual characters in this book because a lot of them blurred together for me. Because the plot is partially meant to mimic an episode of Star Trek, there isn't much meaningful character development, and the differences between the characters are not so impactful that they make them feel like individuals. I often mixed some of the supporting characters up, which I guess could be indicative of some aspect of sci fi, but personally, I wish some of the "redshirts" had felt like real people.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows a group of new recruits aboard the spaceship Intrepid, which has been mysteriously experiencing a high number of recorded crew deaths every time there is an away mission. Led by Ensign Andrew Dahl, the recruits try to get to the bottom of the phenomenon while avoiding their own untimely- and nonsensical- demise.

This story is more enjoyable the more you know what it's trying to do. It pokes fun at the running gag on Star Trek the Original Series, in which "redshirts" (low-ranking crewmembers) are killed off at astonishing rates and in ridiculous manners. It also pokes fun at Star Trek's imitators and episodic TV, primarily at shows who bend the rules of physics or use character deaths for drama. At the same time, Scalzi deploys these same tropes to construct a story that is quick, silly, and ultimately, something of a love letter to sci fi (in the way Galaxy Quest is a love letter to the same).

But what made this book most meaningful for me were the 3 codas at the end of the book. The codas are a little different in tone and reflect more seriously on the idea of what makes a life (and death) meaningful. Personally, I loved this meta-analysis and wished more had been sprinkled in throughout the novel as a whole.

TL;DR: Redshirts is a humorous look at the life of "expendable" sci fi extras and episodic TV writing, poking fun at the nonsense physics and meaningless deaths in shows like Star Trek. While readers familiar with these tropes will get a chuckle out of the narrarive, the codas at the end of the novel will really bring the story into more contemplative territory, and my rating is partially a reflection of my desire to see more from the codas explored throughout the rest of the novel.

[denimbex1986]

Two of Europe's hottest stars sit in a green leather armchair each between a movie poster adorned with a bouquet of flowers. They look like two carefree unshaven Irish lads who could be on holiday in the sun. Paul Mescal wears a white t-shirt, while Andrew Scott sports a turquoise "No problem" t-shirt emblazoned with pop culture alien ALF, the 80s sitcom character whose name stands for "Alien Life Form" .

Perhaps a subtle reference to their new film, "All of us strangers"? It is certainly not about aliens, but is in any case a cosmic love story about two extraterrestrial aliens who find each other in a lonely world. At the same time, it is a kind of supernatural "ghost story" about a queer son who gets a second chance to talk to his dead parents.

- Although the role scared the crap out of me, Andrew Haigh's script was the most original I've read in ages. Everything in this film is rooted in tenderness and love – and who doesn't dream of going back and redefining the relationship with their parents, Andrew Scott wonders rhetorically, making a gesture where he is given the opportunity to discreetly flex one of his biceps at a zoom screen from London.

For a Swedish audience, he is perhaps best known for the role of the arch-villain Professor Moriarty in "Sherlock Holmes" and "the hot priest" that Phoebe Waller Bridge becomes obsessed with in the second season of "Fleabag".

Andrew Scott believes that "All of us strangers" is the most personal thing he has done.

- I love the mix of naturalism and surrealism in this film, it's completely different from anything I've played before. I've always wished I was in Derek Cianfrance's tragic love story "Blue Valentine" and suddenly I get a chance at a film similar to "All of us strangers". I've never before brought myself into the role in the same way and for once I didn't have to work on my accent, smiles the Dublin-born actor who has long lived in London.

In "All of us strangers" he plays Adam, a gay writer with writing cramp who slowly falls for his mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal) who lives in the same soulless and deserted apartment complex in London's East End. Parallel to the budding romance, he commutes to his childhood suburb to meet his dead parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) exactly as old as they were when they died in a car accident when he was 11 years old.

Andrew Haigh got the idea from Taichi Yamada's novel "Strangers" from 1987. After much effort and trouble, he managed to transform the rather traditional Japanese ghost story into something more poetic, psychological and personal.

- I ignited this whole idea of ​​meeting his dead parents again and being able to reconcile with his own past in order to help with the future. It was of course crazy risky, but it wasn't about making a traditional ghost story, but about creating something vulnerable, true and honest that would be an emotional experience, says Andrew Haigh.

In the past, he has directed wayward films such as "45 Years", "Weekend" and "Lean on Pete", as well as TV series such as macho "The North Water" and "Looking", which revolves around three gay friends in San Francisco. "All of us strangers" is his most personal film to date. To get closer, he made the main character a gay writer.

- I am gay and this is a story I have wanted to tell for a long time, a film about the experiences of "queerness", non-heteronormativity, and how it can make people feel like strangers in their own family. The concept of going back in time and dealing with the complicated issues of growing up queer within a family has its own challenges. It's also about the difficulty of parenting and saying the right things at the right time, says Andrew Haigh.

- For me, the film is also about the writing process itself. To investigate one's own past through a fictional world. Not that I look back on my upbringing with a desperate sadness, more curiosity, melancholy and a strange nostalgia. But just like the character Adam, I look back on my own life, says Haigh.

For the director, it was also a highly private experience. Among other things, he filmed several scenes in his real childhood home in Croydon, south London, which he left 40 years ago.

- It was a ghostly experience. Like walking into a haunted house, but it was my memories that were the ghosts. We designed it the same way as when I was a kid. When we finished, I closed the door behind me and experienced a catharsis, as if I was free and could move on, says Haigh.

Nevertheless, it is still not straightforward. In the same vein as he was to film a key scene where the grown-up Adam talks to his father, Andrew Haigh visited his father in the dementia home.

- Although I had the same partner for 18 years, he asked me: "Do you have a wife?". My first thought was, "Oh my God, am I going to have to come out again?", but then I pretended it was raining. Oddly enough, I felt a bit terrified about having to tell him I was gay again - even though he was fine with me coming out in my 20s, says Andrew Haigh.

- So that scene with Adam was extremely difficult to write. I wanted to make it a moment that was as simple as it was meaningful. I was incredibly moved, he says.

In many ways, "All of us strangers" is reminiscent of "45 years", which is also a kind of ghost story. A fate-filled drama about a struggling British couple (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay) who are suddenly haunted by an old love story just in time for the couple's 45th wedding anniversary.

- Yes, I think there was definitely a similarity between the films. But I've always been interested in the past versus the present because that's how we learn throughout our lives. Our first fifteen years have such a dramatic and profound impact on who we become as an adult, he says.

In "All of us strangers" he fills it with pop music from his upbringing in the 1980s; Pet Shop Boys, The Housemartins and, not least, Frankie goes to Hollywood's "The power of love", which becomes a signature song for the entire film and not least its emblematic final scene.

- There was something in that song that spoke to me already as an 11-year-old without me really knowing about it. A bombastic pop song that is loaded with longing. Actually, it was quite subversive to be mainstream, there's a melancholy and darkness lurking beneath the surface, says Andrew Haigh.

Although Holly Johnson's "The power of love" wasn't exactly Paul Mescal's cup of tea, it helped him get in the right emotional mood during the recording.

- Andrew has interpreted the power of love in the most extraordinary way. This is his way of saying that Adam and Harry's relationship is also a grand love story that has its place up there in heaven with all the other heterosexual love stories. I think it's very beautiful, says Paul Mescal who was Oscar-nominated last year for his performance in Charlotte Wells' Aftersun, where he played a tormented father on his first joint charter trip with his eleven-year-old daughter.

He does not think that the self-confident but traumatized Harry is an essential character from father Callum in "Aftersun".

- Harry belongs to a certain kind of family of characters that I have played, but is also completely different. Subconsciously, I'm obviously drawn to this kind of material that deals with tormented masculinity and humanity, smiles Paul Mescal.

Like Andrew Scott, he is a great admirer of Andrew Haigh's films. In addition to the script, Scott was also a decisive factor in his acceptance. Before "All of us strangers", they had admired each other from afar. The recording turned into a bromance in full bloom that ended with intimate scenes where Paul Mescal "went down" on Andrew Scott co-star and licked a kind of cake mix from the co-star's body. In interviews, Mescal has explained that it was such a powerful moment that it almost scared him.

- Yes, there was a special charge between us. We were both very aware of how intense it was and how we were somehow aware of how committed we were to each other. It is very beautiful that the story often lies in the character who is listening, which is quite unusual. The challenge was to tell a story via sexual intimacy. We treated the sex scenes as if they were dialogue scenes, the only thing different was that we were half-naked, smiles Paul Mescal.

Andrew Scott believes that sex scenes between two male actors often tend to be about raw sexuality, but that "All of us strangers" felt radical because it was more interested in highlighting the tenderness between the characters.

- The first scenes when Adam and Harry meet in the elevator and at the front door trigger the film's sexual charge. When they are separated after the slightly awkward meeting, it creates an urge in the audience for them to reunite. When they finally sit next to each other on the couch and they stare at each other, it gets very, uh, sexy. I like the scene where Adam forgets to breathe because he hasn't been with anyone in a long time, says Andrew Scott.

Like the director, Andrew Scott talks about working on "All of us strangers" as a kind of cleansing bath. Before the recording, they both talked about their experiences in the loneliness of growing up queer in the gap between the 80s and 90s.

- Going back in time can be both anxious and nostalgic. For me, the challenge was trying to bring together Haigh's story with my own story, both the pain and the joy, says Andrew Scott the day after the film's Irish gala premiere in Dublin.

Although he was not entirely comfortable with the idea of ​​being in the same room as his parents when they watch the sex scenes in "All of us strangers", he seems to have managed it without a pillow of shame.

- It was a magical evening in my hometown. My family was there and all the other people I love so much. Suddenly it was as if I saw this whole journey that I've been on, realized that this is a deeply personal film that hit me right in the heart. I really love this movie.'