#the pilot was good! especially loved the auditions and the final bit where we see all our friends from across the season :)

[angstics]

seinfeld season 4 is even worse in comparison to how good season 5 is…

[forgiveness-in-the-misery]

Skwisgaar's Psychology

After rewatching Metalocalypse a total of three times ever since the news of the potential finale movie I kind of had a realization; I really fucking love Skwisgaar. I also started by halfway through rewatch two realized that his story and background and general psychology is really fucking fascinating to me.

So I am going to do my best to discuss his character and his psychology and how we see him progress through the show....I already did this with Toki a while back and kind of would love to do it with Murderface and maybe Pickles as well, I'd say Nathan, but he's the....least fucked up in a sense.

Skwisgaar let's start has the most dialogue in the first couple of seasons of the show and even then it isn't overwhelming compared to the other members of the band. By season four he speaks very little and rarely.

When we are introduced to him in the beginning of the show he seems to be like the rest of the group; a diva spoiled rich rocker who has been grossly wealthy for so long that he's forgotten how to function as a human.

You also with the first season especially have this running gag that isn't even a running gag that Skwisgaar or Toki will say something weird and then the other will add onto it and they just say weird shit about life and death or the violence of man, it's weird, and strangely endearing.

Which speaking of how those two play off each other brings me to the fact the pilot episode immediately establishes that these two are almost always together. The band goes to a grocery store and everybody splits up, except for Skwisgaar and Toki who go off together when in all reality that isn't remotely necessary. We also learn in that first episode that Skwisgaar gets pissed when Toki teases him and calls him a woman despite Skwisgaar calling him one like a second earlier and also that Skwisgaar is sexually attracted to elderly women.

Two things are heavily associated with Skwisgaar as a character; he is extremely sexually active and he's got his guitar with him in 99% of scenes. Skwisgaar also doesn't appear to be the most talkative, he can be bitchy and throw tantrums like the rest of his bandmates, but also seems to be more prone to crying and becoming anxious or worried for his friends and their wellbeing/safety, in terms of socializing he seems to be a bit awkward and seems the most comfortable communicating through sex and music. He's teasing and can be a dick, but there's no real edge to it. He also while seeming in some regards to be a bit....dumb to be blunt about it seems to actually be rather smart, though often seems to just keep that to himself probably because he knows who his friends are and they aren't prone to listening to people.

Season one wasted no time in introducing the band's parents and this included Skwisgaar's mother, Serveta. One thing that I do find super interesting is that he is the only member of the band who comes from a single mother, technically it isn't interesting, but the theory (probably canon) that their fathers aren't really their fathers at all and that their mothers became pregnant by the Deth Star makes it interesting. To me at least.

With Skwisgaar's mom in regards to the first season of the show we quickly learn that their relationship is strained. She's an older woman who just like Skwisgaar is very sexually active, we see her come onto Nathan's father who is married and sitting with his wife and son, Skwisgaar's reaction to this is to get upset and begin frantically playing his guitar. Skwisgaar spends a good portion of this episode drinking and at one point saying that ever since his mom got there his stomach had been hurting and he'd just been feeling like absolute shit. When we see him bonding with his mom he's brushing her hair and looking like he'd rather be dead or any place else, seeing him helping her groom is weirdly a red flag to me.

We learn by the third season of the show that his mother is intensely vain and in love with herself, she resents Skwisgaar because being pregnant with him and giving birth to him ruined her 'perfect' body and I'm sure the years where he was too young to fend for himself annoyed her because it meant she couldn't party or have men over or run off whenever she wanted, something I get the feeling that changed when he was about ten years of age. In a bonus video that comes with the first season of the show you see interviews with the band on various random topics; one of the scenes that is...uncomfortable to say the least is when family is brought up. Skwisgaar begins to say something, but trails off and becomes visibly upset before saying he's just going to shut down for a while, Toki confesses some more physical abuse before also shutting down.

I'm going to take a guess that Skwisgaar only had his mother when he was growing up and she only had him, I'm sure she has parents and maybe even siblings and aunts and uncles, but it appears that she has absolutely no relationship with them and Skwisgaar most probably never met these people.

The walls of Serveta's home sport dozens of headshots of herself and a couple of pictures of Skwisgaar as a kid thrown up by the front door almost as an after thought. It's likely and most probable that Skwisgaar was thrusted into the position of caretaker and even a husband sort of position when it came to his relationship with his mom; given the task of looking after her, holding her hair back when she pukes after a night of drinking, doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. We know when he was about ten or thirteen years old he came home from school to find his mom having sex with two men, an event that scared him and led to him being chased by wolves and falling into a pit where if he weren't a demi-god he legit would have died. I feel like his mom reached a point with him where she stopped caring whether or not he saw her....personal life, perceiving him as an adult despite still just being a boy and also seeing him as somebody who is taking up space in her home and preventing her from having fun.

When she marries Tyr they're all over each other constantly....until Skwisgaar and Tyr become friends and begin spending time together, then she cheats on him. She was jealous that her latest man wasn't giving her constant attention and got angry at the concept of sharing him with her own child, which is super fucked up.

Skwisgaar throughout the show has a fake persona. He likes to pretend he in some way is like his mom; he likes to pretend he has his head up his own ass and doesn't need anybody but himself, he loves himself more than he could ever love another person. Which isn't true. At all.

I think that growing up with a narcissistic parent who emotionally neglected and emotionally abused him put him in a position where he had to shut down like that. He had to learn at a very young age that crying and yelling and being angry gets nothing done except maybe piss his mom off more, after finding his guitar he threw himself into music and appeared to shut himself off socially, preferring music over human interactions.

Music is something that Skwisgaar can rely on no matter what happens; he will always have a guitar, he will always be able to create music even if it is just for himself and nobody else. People come and go, people physically hurt you, people emotionally hurt you, or make you feel worthless. When we see the flashback to the night Magnus was kicked out of Dethklok Skwisgaar is faded into the background, almost like a ghost with his slumped shoulders and his hair curtaining his face as if he wants to just disappear. When they're auditioning for a replacement Skwisgaar is positive he doesn't want somebody else in the band, that they are fine just being four.

I think it comes from the fact he was terrified of repeating what just happened with Magnus, finding somebody he might think he can bond with over music only for that person to turn into a monster who makes him feel like he can't even do the thing he loves more than anything correctly....Then Toki came in and when they had their duel it quickly turned from a competition into a conversation. Because that's the one way Skwisgaar knows how to communicate, the way he is the most comfortable with; he likes to communicate through guitar and finding somebody who he could speak to through music excited him.

It's clear for obvious age related reasons that Skwisgaar has/had a care taker role where Toki is concerned. I mean he was about 15/16 when Skwisgaar took him into the band so he was a literal child, even when he's older Skwisgaar still looks out for him and is in his own sense immensely protective where he's concerned. Skwisgaar is also that way with the rest of the band even if it's more subtle. He worries about his bandmates, if they get injured or nearly killed it bothers him and he doesn't want anything to happen to them. When the band is going to break up he completely shuts down, because admit to it or not they had become the only family he ever had. I think Skwisgaar is so hard wired from his childhood to care for people that it's something he can't shake and maybe with the band he doesn't feel its a bad habit, because unlike with his mom, his bandmates arent forcing him to look after them. It's something he does because he wants to do it.

Of course in regards to his attraction to older women that definitely comes from issues relating to his mother....I don't think it's in a creepy Freud way, but more so just wanting to feel cared for back. Very obviously he can't exactly approach any of his bandmates and ask for a hug....well except maybe Toki and Pickles if he's super drunk or high, but outside of those two instances....they aren't people he could exactly just ask for validation or comfort or consolation. They aren't....good with that shit. Older women though usually have a tendency to be coddling and kind, Skwisgaar probably learned that as a teen or in his twenties, I think it's less about the sex factor and just feeling important. In terms of sex with people closer to him in age (I will die on the hill that he's bisexual, because he keeps just throwing it out there that he would blow a guy and he had multiple three ways with Melmord) I think it's a distraction for the most part, he uses sex the same way he often uses music, and honestly....He grew up seeing his mother have men over constantly.

Skwisgaar didn't grow up seeing love or healthy relationships, he saw his mom parade various men through the house and maybe she kept some of them for a while and I doubt the relationships were healthy and I'm sure he knew that his mother didn't love any man she dated or married for a short while. Even in the show he isn't fond of love or marriage, the only time he dates somebody is when he moves back to Sweden and finally starts to get his life together in a more healthy sense and that relationship didn't feel like it was based on sex. It was based on physical and emotional affection and it was the only time Skwisgaar ever looked actually happy in terms of intimacy.

Sex is a job, a chore for him; he's the God of Life so it's technically what....it's y'know his thing, creating life. As a lot of people notice....he seems far more sexually active after him and Toki's second fight in regards to music and petty bull shit. Season four is essentially the season where Salacia gets what he wanted aka the band tearing itself apart and you can see them all fall apart individually. For Skwisgaar falling apart means closing himself off, throwing himself more into his guitar and more into sex. He becomes more of a tool and an object as if that's all he wants to be, because being a person who opens yourself up and lets people in and tries to care about people ends up with you being hurt, badly.

Which does bring things back to his super complicated slightly homoerotic to the point even the show had to mention it for a hot second relationship with Toki.

We can gather from Doomstar that Toki was far more into music when he first joined Dethklok which I think worked out great for Skwisgaar, because as I said before; Skwisgaar communicates through music and this gave him somebody that he could talk to without the awkwardness of verbally conversing.

Though that changed clearly and you can feel that Skwisgaar is bothered by it, like in some weird way it feels like a minor betrayal. Toki notoriously never practices or puts in a lot of effort in terms of making music which Skwisgaar often comments on, complains about, or gets on him about. Reasonable. Guitar is part of who he is, but at the end of the day a talent that made him rich, that's what it is to Toki.....Skwisgaar on the other hand his guitar is literally an extension of himself and seeing him without a guitar in his hand for longer than a single scene gets weird.

Still despite the two of them losing the art of communicating through their music....they're close. Super fucking close. If you watch Metalocalypse and tell yourself going into the show that you're going to focus heavily on a single character or on a certain relationship you notice a ton of shit. Like you notice that Toki and Skwisgaar almost always sit together, stand together, talk over one another, finish each others weird sentences or ideas, copy each other to the point they spend an entire episode bickering like children over copying each other, and often spend their time hanging out together. Again. They're really close as if they're a single person split into two.

They're close to the point that inverse their fans just to some extent assume the two of them are fucking and madly in love and I mean I'm gonna be honest just objectively speaking here I would not be surprised to find out they have had sex before at least once or more times. Just saying.

That aside though and just sticking to the platonic here....They're close, Toki means as much to Skwisgaar as guitar does, and that's saying a lot. One big reason I want to bring up their relationship is that his relationship with Toki brings to light Skwisgaar's issues with death or more specifically death where Toki is concerned.

In season one when Toki has a bit of a breakdown and Pickles suggest they kill him, Skwisgaar looks tense and uncomfortable and says that he doesn't like the idea because it's a lot and it makes him feel not so good. In a deleted scene where the band watch Nascar together Pickles ask Toki and Skwisgaar if they were supposed to be dead or in jail or something because it's the same episode where they got shit faced and got into a high speed chase. Skwisgaar when responding about it changes the word dead/death out for sleep, stating they were supposed to be put to sleep but just had to do community service instead (Toki corrects that it was jail, not being put to sleep). In the deleted IKEA scene when Toki stressed says maybe the two of them should just kill themselves Skwisgaar immediately freaks out and later when they return to Nathan and Murderface they both look super emotionally fucked up and when Nathan ask if they had been crying Toki gets defensive and says no while Skwisgaar beginning to cry again says they had been crying. Then of course after Toki ruins Skwisgaar's reputation and becomes Magnus Jr. for a few weeks and ends up having a panic attack and making an ass of himself....Skwisgaar thinks he's having a heart attack and freaks the fuck out terrified that he's dying.

Then finally for a compilation of Skwisgaar not handling Toki dying well; in Doomstar before they go in to save Toki Skwisgaar makes the sorrowful comment that sometimes he wonders if they should have stayed a one guitar band. It isn't him being a dick, he isn't saying this isn't worth it. He's saying essentially that Toki was stabbed, kidnapped and possibly murdered and it's completely his fault; if he hadn't taken Toki in then none of this would have happened. Which immediately leads me to believe that post the funeral episode that Skwisgaar spent those months high and drunk and late at night blaming himself for Toki being taken/murdered. That's a lot of blame to put onto yourself and to say its your fault solely because a few years ago you took this kid in off the streets is honestly heart breaking.

Early on in the series there's an episode where Toki's pissed that he isn't seen as Skwisgaar's musical equal, he wants solos, and Skwisgaar turns him down. Which through the series and within that episode itself we easily learn why Skwisgaar never gives him a solo; Toki has performance anxiety and he never practices and quite honestly knows almost nothing about guitar. It's valid. Either way in this particular episode Toki gets pissed and decides he wants to take lessons, Skwisgaar offers and Toki turns him down because last time they tried...he kind of just ended up beating the shit out of Skwisgaar. (to be fair don't dump a bucket of blood on your friend's head) So he goes off and finds an elderly man to teach him how to play guitar, Murderface being a dick decides to tell Skwisgaar that Toki is super good at guitar now and.....Skwisgaar doesn't react well. He gets pissed off and has nightmares about Toki becoming better than him. He even confronts Toki and his guitar teacher and threatens to kick him out of the band. When he realizes at the end of the episode that Toki is still....really not great with music....he's chill again, everything is forgiven.

I kind of think that episode is a reason people perceived Skwisgaar as a dick or is one reason, but honestly he isn't being a dick. I mean sure, a bit, but they're all dicks. The thing is guitar is a crutch for Skwisgaar, it is super important to him and he doesn't know who he is without his guitar, without his music. So somebody else threatening to take that from him freaks him out and he reacts poorly to it.

Then we get to near the end of the show when the same issue arises except completely different. Toki again later in the series ask Skwisgaar for a solo and Skwisgaar annoyed refuses him, Toki being the mild psycho shit that he is decides to just kind of ruin his life as revenge. Again by this point in the show its kind of obvious if you actually pay attention at all that Skwisgaar keeps telling him he can't have solos because Toki never fucking practices and even in the studio Skwisgaar has to record most of the rhythm guitar parts. He's also known since Toki's audition that the kid is prone to choking up and making mistakes, so he's technically protecting him without just outright confronting him.

Toki writes a book calling out Skwisgaar as an abusive tyrant and an over dramatic bitch. Admittedly Skwisgaar is a slight diva and just like the rest of them can be a total asshole, admittedly to a lesser degree than the others. What's really fucking interesting for me personally about this episode is that Skwisgaar is catatonic and depressed for 99% of it. He doesn't speak. This starts literally the second that Toki releases his book saying that Skwisgaar abuses him, this is before Skwisgaar's career goes down the toilet, his career hadn't been impacted by this yet.

Skwisgaar falls to pieces because Toki, Toki who he's known since he was just sixteen and took in off the streets and they're always practically attached at the hip and have been since day one just released a book calling him an abusive monster.

I do have a feeling one reason this fucked him up is because he might be terrified that he's turning into Magnus without realizing it, that perhaps he has become an abusive monster and has been making Toki feel the way that Magnus made him feel towards the end of his time in Dethklok. I think there also is probably something soul crushing about the person you love platonically or otherwise referring to you very publicly as abusive. Of course all of this worsens when Skwisgaar's career begins to fall to shit, eventually towards the end when Toki is at the top of his ego trip being a prick Skwisgaar does confront him, that in itself is interesting.

Skwisgaar goes in way calmer than I would be in that situation, sure he gets pissed off as they bicker, but again he's waaayyyy fucking calmer than anybody else would be especially since Toki just yells at him through the entire conversation. Of course interestingly is that Toki perceives Skwisgaar in a way that isn't entirely true, he thinks Skwisgaar mocks him and thinks of him as nothing which isn't true at all, when he says Skwisgaar laughed at him he just responds that he never did that and he sounds slightly hurt by that. They're both hurt and none of these men are good with healthy emotions. Skwisgaar never loses his shit on him in the entire conversation, he looks like he could easily go ape shit but instead warns him that the audience will eat him alive the second he fucks up.

Which turns out to be true, Toki fucks up and people begin turning against him which leads to him having a severe panic attack. Like I mentioned before Skwisgaar thinks he's dying and tries to save him, scared out of his fucking mind at the concept of Toki dying. Which....the dude just spent several weeks treating you like garbage and calling you a monster who abuses him, if Skwisgaar was actually a shitty person then he would have laughed at him or mocked him or given him shit about this moment for years to come....but he doesn't do any of that. He is worried about saving him, probably terrified that if Toki dies then their last conversation was a fight.

Their dynamic changes a lot after this, not in a way that's overly obvious unless you watch it closely. They spend a lot less time together and what feels almost out of character initially in Dethcamp is....Skwisgaar easily going along with Murderface and bitching about Toki, because....again can't stress the Scandinavian dudes are always attached at the hip and now suddenly he's easily saying mean shit about Toki. It feels weird until you remember that not long before this they had a massive fight, Toki called him abusive and momentarily ruined his career and most likely afterwards tried to act like nothing happened at all while Skwisgaar probably wasn't capable of doing that.

Occasionally in season four Skwisgaar and Toki will sit together or stand together, still talk or have that physical closeness but it's far between and you see Toki spend a majority of his time with the toxic trio: Murderface, Rockso, and Magnus. Skwisgaar spends his time typically with Murderface and Pickles then near the end spends most of his time with Nathan.

Skwisgaar is a person who grew up in a home lacking affection and love or safety, he didn't grow up with examples of love or healthy relationships and as far as he's concerned relationships are a waste of time and energy because they all end the same.

Of course for as much as he says that, as they all say that....it's bull shit. He cares deeply about his bands and him trying to act near the end like Dethklok was just another gig it isn't, these people are his close friends and his only real family. Seeing Pickles and Nathan fall apart wrecked him and having Toki turn on him so easily gutted him. Skwisgaar is a super emotionally fragile person, he seems absolutely terrified of showing anger or aggression as if it's something he's never been comfortable with or learned when he was young gets you nowhere or perhaps there were men around who were violent and loud and it made him scared to ever be that way. He's the only one of the band we never see really lose his shit or be randomly aggressive and violent, he also strangely enough cries the most out of them canonically. People always make the assumption Toki cries a lot, but like canonically he cries waaayyyy fucking less than Skwisgaar.

I really find Skwisgaar interesting....clearly and this analysis might be a jumbled mess, but there's strangely a lot of things to unpack and things I probably didn't even touch on as much as I could have, because this is already insanely long. I have a deep appreciation of him rewatching this show now that I'm older and far more into analyzing works of fiction.

I hope that this was remotely coherent.

[lunaajade]

Everything You Need to Know about “Shadow and Bone” on Netflix (*UPDATED: POSSIBLE LANGUAGE OF THORNS ADAPTATION INFO)

 Since it’s recently been confirmed that we’d be getting S&B content in a few days (finally!), I thought I’d compile and summarize as much info as I could to refresh everyone’s memories! Please spread the word/share this post to those who aren’t up to date! (I’ve seen some people online who are worried about how it’s going to turn out, and I’d like to be able to hopefully reassure those people)

Now, there’s a LOT of stuff, so there’s always the chance I missed/forgot something. This post will be split up into categories based on type of info, so here we go! I went back and listened to/watched both of the big live streams (NYCC and the S&B Charity Competition), went on the Grishaverse Reddit, etc. to find as much (extra/bonus) stuff as I could. (If I missed anything/got something wrong, please feel free to leave a comment!)

Update: A lot of people have been asking where it was confirmed we were getting content soon. I found out from one of the update accounts I follow.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

General/Key Info About the Show

-This first season will be adapting both “Shadow and Bone” and what has been dubbed a “Book 0″ (most likely meaning prequel/backstory/set-up) for “Six of Crows” -In relation to the above point, the timelines are being brought together for the show. (Normally in the books, the two series are set two years apart)(We don’t know how exactly or what this means for the story, but I have a really interesting theory that I thought up in relation to this, message me if you’d like to hear it.) -Leigh acknowledges and understands that some of us have doubts and are worried about the show, but she has publicly assured us (numerous times) of how much she loves the show and cast, how well she thinks the crew/writers did in bringing the Grishaverse to life, etc. See a later point below in the Facts/Tidbits section -The first season will have 8, one-hour long episodes -Alina has been made half Shu (half Asian) for the show! Leigh stated that was decided on after she and Eric had a lengthy discussion on Alina’s character. -The main cast (as in confirmed to be in all episodes) is comprised of Jessie Mei Li (as Alina), Archie Renaux (as Mal), Ben Barnes (as the Darkling), Freddy Carter (as Kaz), Amita Suman (as Inej), and Kit Young (as Jesper) -Wylan and Nikolai are NOT in the first season. (Nikolai didn’t appear until the second book, and Leigh confirmed that at this point in the story, the Crows had not met Wylan yet.) -Other cast members include Danielle Galligan (as Nina), Calahan Skogman (as Matthias), Daisy Head (as Genya), Sujaya Dasgupta (as Zoya), Luke Pasqualino (as David), Julian Kostov (as Fedyor), Simon Sears (as Ivan), Zoe Wanamaker (as Baghra), and more! -The Darkling will also be called “General Kirigan” in the show. From what we know, The Darkling will be the “enemy” to Ravka (so in essence, General Kirigan is his alias/fake persona (what he’ll most likely be referred to for most of the show), and no one knows that he’s actually their enemy. (Meaning it’ll most likely a super big moment when they learn their general was actually the Darkling in disguise)). -The show was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary. (And additional filming took place this past fall in Vancouver) -In order, the 8 episodes are titled the following: “A Searing Burst of Light”, “We’re All Someone’s Monster”, “The Making at the Heart of the World”, “Otkazat’sya”, “Show Me Who You Are”, “The Heart is An Arrow”, “The Unsea”, & “No Mourners”.

Other (Fun) Facts/Tidbits About the Show

-Upon seeing Jessie’s audition, Leigh loved her audition/portrayal of Alina so much that she apparently stated that she wanted her to play Alina or she’d be out of the project. She was sent five auditions to watch, Jessie’s was the third, and she said she didn’t bother watching the rest of them. -Leigh stated that she and Eric Heisserer (the creator of the show) said they were on the same page from the first meeting. All other past meetings with producers and companies about possible adaptations had left her with a bad feeling, but she said they’d had the same ideas about inclusion, story, staff, etc. She said she’s loved the respect he’s shown towards the work (and, in a way, to us the fans) -Netflix apparently also has the rights to adapt “The Language of Thorns” , though we’ve gotten no info on that adaptation yet. (UPDATE: I just watched a Leigh Bardugo event from Feb 2019 (a few weeks after the show was first announced, I think): As of  that day, she said that she thought that they were going to use LoT more for "texture” (IMO that might mean worldbuilding?) in the show. And I don’t know if she was talking about LoT specifically because she was very vague, but she said that there were certain things in the show that she thinks readers will be really excited about. Again, this was over a year ago, back when they were still in pre-production and stuff, so don’t take my word for it. Besides this, I couldn’t find anything else relating to a possible LoT adaptation. Maybe they’ll have the stories from LoT appear as actual folk tales told in the show, and that’s the “adaptation”? IDK. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHnw8Ygw5c&t=1906s)) -Leigh is an exec. producer on the show! I’m no expert, so I don’t know how much say/power she had in the process, but she definitely had some. -There is a RAVKAN edition of the “Shadow and Bone” book that Leigh says makes a cameo in the show! -Jesper’s guns had custom etchings done on them by a Hungarian antique gunsmith! (And they were so good that Leigh and Eric said that it looked like it belonged in a museum--they were also described to be quite heavy!) -Eric Heisserer is the creator of the show, he is an award-winning writer, well known for “Arrival”, “Bird Box”, and more. (If I remember correctly, Leigh said that he’d reached out to her about making the show!) -A DeKappel painting (maybe the one owned by Van Eck?) was confirmed to be in the pilot episode. -Pekka Rollins and Tante Heleen have been confirmed to be in the first season, but their casting has (up to this point) not yet been revealed. -Bo Yul-Bayur is confirmed to be in the show! (Though Kuwei has not) -Leigh will have  a cameo in (I think) Episode 5! She will be wearing a Materialki kefta and will be opening a door, if I remember correctly. -A lot of the crew was also extremely passionate about the project and fans of the books -The “Lives of Saints” book that was published in October is an actual book/prop that is appearing in the show! -I’m personally fine with Mal, but Leigh says that Archie is going to change everyone’s minds with his portrayal! -The costume designer for the show is Wendy Partridge, known for her work on “Thor: The Dark World”, “Pompeii”, and more!  -The composer for the show is Joe Trapanese, known for composing for “The Greatest Showman”, “Straight Outta Compton”, “Lady and the Tramp”, and more! At the NYCC Grishaverse panel, they revealed a little bit of the score (”Grisha Theme”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxIEbsHKJA 

Fun Cast/On Set Stories/Facts

-The cast all loves each other, and are all extremely passionate about this show, which is great! (Leigh said that on her second visit to the set, she heard them singing together) -Leigh says that Ben Barnes once snuck up behind her on her first day on set and scared her by whispering “Fine, make me your villain” -Freddy’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows”, but most specifically the first line of chapter 2 (”Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason.”) -Jessie would apparently come to set on some of her days off to support the cast and crew! -Sujaya has stated that her favorite Grishaverse character is Nikolai! (#Zoyalai) -Freddy has become famous/popular with the fandom, one of the reasons being because he often comments on posts/live streams asking something along the lines of “What was it like working with Freddy Carter? xoxo” -Danielle loves Nina and her journey in “King of Scars” -According to a Tweet, Freddy and Leigh said that there had been a scene with “a very pesky gate”--Freddy said that it “wouldn’t be proper to tweet the expletives [he] used that day” and that he thinks he “scarred” Amita and Eric. -Amita’s favorite thing about Inej is her silence, and her favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows” (as of May, where we learned this during a live-stream, she said she’s read it three times and listened to the audiobook twice.) -There was a waffle truck on set on the last day of shooting! -Calahan says that if he could play any other Grishaverse character, he’d want to play Nikolai! -While she did work with the trainer to get more physically fit, Amita learned most of her knife techniques by herself! -Leigh said she cried a lot while on set! (She said there was one scene they were shooting that she has a very clear, vivid memory of writing many years back--based on the context of which she was talking about it, if I had to guess, I’d guess she’s describing the Winter Fete.) -Leigh also said that on one of her first days on set, it was funny/weird to see all the extras in First Army uniforms chilling on their phones, drinking coffee, etc. -One of Calahan’s favorite character dynamics in the books is the dynamic between Kaz and Matthias -There was a moment where Amita was fully in costume and doing amazing, graceful knife work, only to trip and fall when she’d finished. -Amita and Jessie and Sujaya were best friends on set. -Sujaya loved everything about playing Zoya. (Especially her confidence) -Leigh says one of her favorite props was Kaz’s cane, especially because of what it meant to her and the story. -If he could be any Grisha order, Calahan says he’d want to be a Corporalki -Calahan loves Matthias’s journey/arc. -Kit’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Crooked Kingdom”!

Links

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65iI1YXrbU (NYCC Grishaverse Panel) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHou5rVs6o0 (S&B Talent Show Charity Live Stream ft. the S&B Cast!--the IG video got taken down because Archie deleted his IG account and switched to a new one) -https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319 (”Shadow and Bone” on Netflix!) -https://twitter.com/shadowandbone_ (Official “Shadow and Bone” Twitter!) -https://www.instagram.com/shadowandbone/?hl=en (Official “Shadow and Bone” Instagram!) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRh-Pmbynww (Annoucement made by cast when filming wrapped! (can be found on the social media accounts, but here’s a link to YT)) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bpY8uLtyB4 (A S&B Cast Crack video by HeartPhantom--it highlights a lot of the inside jokes and memes that we’ve gotten to witness among the cast, and also just generally shows off how hilariously chaotic everyone is (this cast is the definition of chaotic good, lol))

[mayquita]

Colin O’Donoghue on Playing Heroes and Villains in ‘Wizards,’ ‘The Right Stuff,’ and ‘Once Upon a Time’

From the creative mind of Guillermo del Toro and executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Chad Hammes, the final chapter in the Tales of Arcadia saga sees its characters go on an epic time-travel adventure in Camelot. Wizards follows Douxie (voiced by Colin O’Donoghue), a 900-year-old wizard-in-training who, along with Jim (voiced by Emile Hirsch), Claire (voiced by Lexi Medrano) and Steve (voiced by Steven Yeun), must ensure that good prevails over evil, in the escalating conflict between the human and magical worlds.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, Colin O’Donoghue talked about being a part of the Tales of Arcadia world, why he was so delighted to get to voice an animated character, what he loved about his character’s journey, getting to revisit Camelot, and what the voice recording process was like. He also talked about why the upcoming Disney+ TV series The Right Stuff appealed to him, whether he was personally satisfied with the ending of Once Upon A Time, and the great time he had playing Captain Hook.

Collider: When this whole project originally came your way, did you know that Trollhunters would only be one part of this whole Tales from Arcadia world, and that there would be also be 3Below and Wizards?

COLIN O’DONOGHUE: I did. I understood that would be the case. I came in, in the second season of Trollhunters, and I knew the character would also be in 3Below. I was in the background, and a character that made people go, “Who is this guy? Why is he there?” I think it’s really good that was teased. It’s worked pretty well, and he was a lot of fun to play. Especially in Wizards, it was really great fun.

How did you get involved with this project? Was this something that you had to go through an audition process for?

O’DONOGHUE: What happened was that they reached out to my agents about it. It was a few years ago, so I can’t remember if I had to do a quick voice recording, just so that they could hear it. But I think that they’d seen Once Upon A Time and had heard my voice. I was stoked. I was delighted to get the offer. I couldn’t wait to do it. I was gonna go study animation in college, so I’ve always been fascinated with the whole process and I’ve always wanted to do an animated film.

This character definitely goes on a big journey in Wizards. What was it that you most responded to, with his story? What did you love about the journey that you got to take with him, now that he’s at the center of the story?

O’DONOGHUE: I loved the relationship with Merlin, and with Archie, as well. I thought it was fun to see him try to be this apprentice wizard, who so desperately wants to become a master wizard and prove himself to Merlin, and getting to see how he progresses, or if he’s even able to do it or not. That was something that I was really happy to explore.

What was it like to find and establish Douxie, in the beginning, in just these little bits, and then really get to dive into him and get to know him so much more, over this season? Did you always know who he would be, at the end, or were there things that you really got to learn about him, along the way?

O’DONOGHUE: I knew that he was a wizard, and I knew that he was quite a powerful wizard. It was just so much fun, having these tiny little things with him that made an impact with people. And then, to really get to do everything that I did on Wizards was fantastic because he really is a great character to play, and a lot of fun. And also, the writing on this show is just so great to get to live with for awhile and really explore.

It definitely seems a bit tricky to explore the origins of the entire mythology of the trilogy while also taking these characters on their own new adventure. How did you feel about the way that it all tied together and the way the story ends? What was your reaction to finding out how things would all play out, by the end of it?

O’DONOGHUE: I was amazing. Whether it was on this or on Once Upon A Time, I’m always amazed at how writers, especially in fantasy, keep track of everything, let alone tie it all together. I’m always amazed that they’re able to do that. And in Wizards, they’ve really done an incredible job of blending the three series together into this one final thing. I just think it’s so smart and so clever, the way they do it. I couldn’t do it. That’s why I’m an actor, and someone else is writing the show.

I was very impressed with how we get to see some of the past characters and we get to see the mythology of Camelot. Pulling all of that together was really impressive.

O’DONOGHUE: I was excited to get to go to Camelot again. We did a season of Once Upon A Time in Camelot, so it was fun to see the version of Camelot that they did in Wizards.

What was the recording process like on this? Were you always in a booth alone?

O’DONOGHUE: I was always alone. I live in Ireland, so most of what I did was done in a recording studio in Dublin. Sometimes, if I was in L.A., I’d go in, but it was always on my own. It’s interesting. It takes a little bit of getting used to because nobody is really feeding you lines. You just say each line, and take a stab at what you think the other character would be saying or reacting to. But I really enjoyed it. Once you get used to that, then it’s really a lot of fun. You get to really ham it up. Maybe a lot of people would say that I’m a ham, but you try to be a little bit more subtle, so it’s fun just to be able to go for it, in animation, because they animate it over the top lines.

Do you know what the time span of work was that you did on this?

O’DONOGHUE: No. It’s been a while. I can’t remember when we recorded the first recording for the first episode of this. It must be a year and a half ago, maybe. I’m not entirely sure. I was in Florida shooting The Right Stuff for five months last year, so it might even be two years. I’m not entirely sure.

Were there ever any major changes, along the way? Did anything change, while you were doing the recording of it, or did everything stay pretty close to the scripts?

O’DONOGHUE: I think everything stayed pretty close to the scripts, if I remember rightly. I don’t think there were any major changes. I might be wrong in this, but when the script was locked, it had gone through so many iterations, at that point. Because they’re creating everything, and every blade of grass, once the script is locked, that’s it. There can be an additional line sometimes, or you might have to do an alternative line, but in general, the script is pretty much locked.

When The Right Stuff came your way, what was it that most interested and excited you about that project?

O’DONOGHUE: I knew the book. I’d read the book, and I’d seen the movie. I’d actually had a meeting at Appian Way, a couple of years ago, and randomly, they gave me the book before there was ever a script, just to have a read of it. And it was one that I really wanted to do, but I was doing Once Upon A Time, at the time, so I didn’t know if I’d be free for anything. Getting to play Gordo Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven, was just amazing. Also, that time period in American history, and the style of it, being from Ireland, that’s America to me, with a ’59 Corvette, Coca Cola bottles, and that kind of style of buildings. And the pilot script was just absolutely fantastic. It was incredible. It was an amazing opportunity to get to play somebody who’s a real-life hero.

Is that the kind of project, as an actor, where it’s hard to get out of your own head? Especially when you’ve read the book and seen the movie and you connect to the project before you even go do it, is it hard to then deal with the pressure you put on yourself?

O’DONOGHUE: I didn’t have a huge amount of time to think about it because somebody else had been cast in the role and they fell out of it. I had a day and a half to figure out what I was going to do before I was on a plane to Florida. It was good ‘cause then I didn’t have time to put pressure on myself. I didn’t have time to panic about what my Oklahoma accent was gonna be. It was actually good, in that respect. So, I wasn’t really nervous about it. I knew the cast was amazing, and I knew the quality of the script and that Appian Way was involved. I was just really excited. And because I played Captain Hook for so long on a show and became so recognizable as that character, it was great to go do something completely different, in a completely different genre and style. I had to shave my beard and look completely different. And then, I got to play an astronaut and test pilot. Who doesn’t wanna do that?

After being on Once Upon A Time for so many seasons, and now having had some time and distance from the show, how do you ultimately feel about the ending and the send-off that your character got? Is it something that you feel personally satisfied and happy with?

O’DONOGHUE: Yeah. The end of Season 6 did exactly what I thought they should do to close off the story of all those characters in Storybrooke. And then, it was fun in Season 7 to get to explore a completely different version of Hook and such a different character. At the end of it all, it was important for Regina to get some sort of redemption. That was always the way that the show should finish. I’m also glad that Eddy [Kitsis] and Adam [Horowitz] had the opportunity to actually finish the show the way they wanted to finish it, and the way that they had seen it. The show wasn’t canceled before they had a chance to finish it.

Captain Hook must have been such a fun character to get to put your own stamp on.

O’DONOGHUE: Yeah, my version of Hook was the first time that he wasn’t an older, villainous, mustache-twirling kind of guy. As soon as I put on the black leather trousers, the coat, and the eyeliner, that was it. You become Captain Hook. It was fun to do that, and getting to play so many different variations of the character, over the year. That was the good thing about Once Upon A Time. There were so many different realms and time periods that they were in and out of, so it was great. He was a great character to get to play.

Wizards is available to stream at Netflix.

[entertainment]

Entertainment Spotlight: Will Vought, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Actor, comedian, and writer Will Vought stars in the most recent season of the critically acclaimed dramedy series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Additional television credits include The Good Wife, The Good Fight, both Lipstick Jungle and Love Bites, Bones, and Wilfred. Will is also an accomplished comedian, having toured the country opening for Wayne Brady. He got his start in the entertainment industry by contributing to Scott Shannon’s #1 morning show on 95.5 WPLJ, offering David Letterman updates and recaps, which opened the door for him to work for Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Following his work with Conan, Will was offered a position in the West Wing of the White House, working for former President Bill Clinton, where he still continued his radio work on the weekends as the youngest morning show host in the country at just 22 years old. Will went on to serve as head writer for Wayne Brady during his time hosting the The Late Late Show prior to James Corden in 2014 on CBS, and he continues to collaborate with renowned actor and comedian Paul Reiser, including shopping a television pilot they wrote together with Julie Bergman. We got the chance to ask him some questions. Check it out:

Do you have a favorite character arc from season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?

For Season 3, I’m finding myself really interested in Susie and her journey. I don’t want to spoil it for those getting ready to start the new season or binge the series; however, in the first two seasons, Susie’s been hustling and primarily being of service to Midge while her personal life hangs on by a thread. In season 3, there are so many more layers introduced and opportunities that will ripple into not only her clout as a comedy manager but also her personal life. Also, I’m really invested in Lenny Bruce. Having read so much about him to see his plight on screen told through Amy’s lens is incredible. I don’t know anyone in comedy that doesn’t appreciate what Lenny Bruce did for comedians. The end of the Season 3 premiere is absolutely priceless seen thought the eyes of Tony Shalhoub’s Emmy Award-winning performance as Abe Weissman - Midge’s father.

If everything that you did was narrated, whose voice would you want narrating your life?

HA! That is a great question, and I’ve had to think about it. At first, I thought of the late great voice-over artist Don LaFontaine who moviegoers would remember as the “In A World…” guy who made millions voicing almost every movie trailer ever! BUT…truth be told I think that I would love Seinfeld's voice and lens, and I think it would make my day to day activities far more entertaining to listen to, especially when on the phone with my therapist.  

Can you tell us about a time you bombed (on stage or in an audition)?

Well…the thing that pops to mind was an audition for NBC’s series called Lipstick Jungle. At the time, I was living on Long Island and decided to make the mistake of driving into Manhattan for the audition. Traffic was abhorrent, and you would think that there were mass casualties on the Long Island Expressway resulting in me being almost an hour and forty-five minutes late for the audition. The director of that episode was the one and only Timothy Busfield, whom I loved on Arron Sorkin’s The West Wing. Tim played reporter Danny Concannon - Senior White House Correspondent.

I had no idea that Timothy was going to be at the audition and was mortified when I showed up and saw him in the room because I was so late. It’s not unheard of to not be seen at all if you are late, let alone hours late. I read for the part and left. Tim was gracious. A month later, I got a call saying that I didn’t book that role; however, they were writing me another role and wanted to hire me for it. While on set shooting, Tim told me that when they asked him if he had any ideas for the part and he said, “That guy who came in 2 hours late. He was great. Hire him.” So I thought I bombed — but it worked out in the end.

The USO Tour scene from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel broke the record for the most number of background actors used in a scene for tv in the state of New York (850). What was it like being a part of such a huge production?

I’ve never worked on Star Wars, but that’s what I was thinking of when we were filming that. It was by far the largest set I’ve ever been on, and yes there were almost 1000 background actors there for almost an entire week, who made up the audience of the USO show that you see in the season 3 premiere. When I met with Amy and Dan for the final audition for the role of Major Buck Brilstein, it was at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn in a small room that’s not much larger than a small studio apartment in Manhattan. It was the three of us and Emmy award-winning casting director Cindy Tolan. We did all the material from the episode, and to juxtapose that to being in an actual hanger with 1000 extras essentially filming a USO show that’s scripted — it was a historic moment in television that wasn’t lost on me.  

What was the audition experience like for your role on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?  

I kind of talk about that above. I had a great experience. As with anything, you have to go in a number of times, and then the final callback is with Amy and Dan Sherman Palladino. You are 2 feet away from her, there is a camera, and Cindy Tolan, the casting director, and you create the world and do the scenes — WORD PERFECT! That is a huge thing, and something I was told going in. Be word perfect every time. Their words are like notes on a page. Each one carefully picked and placed, and my job is to take them off the page and bring them to life with a sensibility of 1959 and a guy that’s a major in the army who always wanted to be a comedian but never really got the chance. So, my character is literally living his dream in this episode. Beyond that, you bring your A-game, nail it, and it’s up to Amy and Dan. It happened to go my way, and as I told Amy, I was grateful to get the invitation to play in her world. She wrote and directed this episode, so it was extra special.

Is there a specific role or moment that you feel has defined your career up to this point?

We’ll — this is pretty significant re: working with the Palladino’s.  I thought that The Good Wife was a big deal at the time — as I was part of Bob and Michelle King’s storyline that revealed Josh Charles’ character was murdered.  

It seems that I’m only allowed to act opposite actresses that have won 2 Emmy’s and 2 Golden Globes for Best Actress. LOL.  It’s truly a hard question to answer as each project is different, and as an actor, you hope that one job will open a door or opportunity to another.  That’s what I’ve found, at least over the past few years, so it’s certainly a slow burn.

Years ago, I was the low man on the totem pole at NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien. I was an intern in the writing department under John Groff and often got the chance to appear in sketches on the show. This was an invaluable experience. There was an afternoon where I asked Conan (as I was cleaning his office) if he knew this was what he was going to do from the beginning. I’ll never forget what he said. He told me that, “In his wildest dreams he never thought he would be hosting a late night show.” He described show business as being on a highway. He was a writer in college, wanted to be a writer and set off on the highway with the goal of writing in mind. Along the trip, there were exits: Mad Magazine, The Simpsons, SNL. After each exit, he gets back on the journey. If you want to be a teacher or doctor or lawyer, you know exactly what to do. Go to X school for X years, and then they declare you as such. Boom. You’re it. Hollywood is not like that. Everyone’s path is so different, and how we get to where we are is almost inconsequential when compared to the culmination of the journey. I’ve been blessed to do a lot of different things so far and work with incredible talent that truly moves the needle in this business, and I hope for more opportunities.

What’s your favorite bit or joke from one of your stand-up sets?

I have a new bit I’m working on that’s fueled by my natural anger toward this situation.

I hate paper straws.

If this makes me a horrible person, so be it. If “they” think I don’t care about the EARTH or ENVIRONMENT and support the extinction of humanity because of this — so be it.

Paper straws? Really? Who did this make sense to? Who thought it was a good idea to combine PAPER and WATER?

I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time — but it doesn’t work. Three sips into my iced coffee and the thing has disintegrated, and I’m now drinking iced coffee and paper!

If you think paper straws are a good idea, let me ask you one question. Would you like to use a paper condom?

In the future, you’ll be standing in the rain telling your friend you can’t understand why she’s pregnant and soaking wet from holding the paper umbrella.

I will say that if we do switch to paper condoms …. I don’t know about the environment, but we will absolutely ensure the survival of humanity.

Lighting round! Describe each of the following in one word: Who you are, what you value the most, and what you’d be if you were a food item.  

I AM WILL VOUGHT.

I VALUE MOST: MY SON.

IF I WAS A FOOD ITEM, I’D BE A BEYOND BURGER!

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m working on sending out subliminal messages via Transcendental Meditation to Adam McKay for a coffee meeting that would result in being cast on the 3rd season of Succession on HBO.  I’d text him, but I don’t have his cell. Do you?

Thanks for taking the time, Will! Catch Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime Video. 

Photography: Emily Assiran | Grooming Laila Hayani | Styling: Natalia Zemliakova

[fuckyeahwarriorwomen]

Copy of article below thge cut, should the original ever go away

Leading up to the 20th anniversary of the March 10, 1997 premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Yahoo TV is celebrating “Why Genre Shows Matter” and the history of how these shows have tackled universal themes (e.g. how much high school sucks) and broader social issues.

Perhaps because they seek to imagine the world that’s possible rather than the world that is, genre shows have a long tradition of striving to expand the horizons of what’s possible for women on television. Within the realm of space operas alone, there’s a direct line that connects Lieutenant Uhura’s prominent perch amongst the Enterprise‘s largely male bridge crew on the original Star Trek to The Expanse‘s fiercely independent engineer, Naomi Nagata. And each point along this continuum helps inform the next: commanding officers like Babylon 5‘s Susan Ivanova and Voyager‘s Kathryn Janeway are linked by a devotion to duty, if not necessarily temperament, while Killjoys‘ scrappy bounty hunter, Yala, could have been a student of Firefly‘s highly-skilled soldier, Zoë Washburne. On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate the accomplishments of one such influential intergalactic heroine.

Her name is Aeryn. Officer Aeryn Sun if we’re being formal, one of the interstellar outlaws at the center of Farscape, the wildly ambitious Australian/American space serial that ran from 1999 to 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel. Bred from birth to be a loyal Sebacean soldier in the Peacekeeper army that patrols her section of the galaxy, Officer Sun switches careers after inadvertently ending up aboard a living spaceship named Moya that’s occupied by a motley crew of jailbreakers. These convicts-turned-comrades include towering warrior Ka D’Argo, blue-hued priestess Zhaan, flatulent deposed despot Rygel XVI, and John Crichton, an Earth-born astronaut who is very, very far from home. Created by Rockne S. O’Bannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company, Farscape enjoyed a bumpy four-season stateside run that ended prematurely when the network declined to fund a fifth and final year. (Sci-Fi later aired, but didn’t finance, a wrap-up miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, in 2004.)

The original cast of ‘Farscape’ (Credit: Everett Collection)

One of the joys of Farscape is that its defining house style is the lack of a defining house style. Episodes can range from standalone homages to body-switching comedies and vintage Loony Tunes cartoons to densely plotted multi-part stories that don’t conclude with conventionally happy endings. The primary constant amidst this narrative and tonal juggling is the turbulent love story between Aeryn Sun and John Crichton. Revisited today, Farscape stands as something of a bridge between eras of space opera, linking the last wave of episodic space adventures like Star Trek: Voyager and Stargate: SG-1 to the intensely emotional serialized narratives that later drove Battlestar Galactica and its ilk. Aeryn is both a traditional and transformational figure as well; raised to be an impersonal enforcer in the Imperial Stormtrooper mold, she comes to live out a promise that John makes to her in the very first episode: “You can be more.”

“Oh, I’ve got chills down my arm,” says Aeryn’s alter ego, Claudia Black, as she reflects on the character and those prophetic words nearly two decades later. “Her evolution as an individual takes off in an extraordinary way [after that].” Over the course of Yahoo TV’s hour-long conversation with the Australian actress, it’s clear that she does regard Aeryn as an individual unto herself, one who took on a life that sometimes superseded the actress’s own. “I was always happy to hand the character off,” Black says. “I would say [to the producers], ‘If I’m going in the wrong direction then please find someone to serve Aeryn, please. Because she deserves to have the full love of a person who can give you what you need.’ She was honestly such a privilege to play, and I never abused that privilege.”

And Black very nearly didn’t get that privilege. The role had already been cast when she first auditioned for Farscape, but the creative team encouraged her to read for Aeryn anyway. That reading later led to a screen test opposite Tennessee-born Ben Browder, who would be playing John Crichton. (Interestingly, Browder’s casting is, in part, what opened the door to Black inheriting the role from the English actress who had originally been chosen as Aeryn. “Because of the Australian co-production agreement, if they brought in a lead actor from America, the second lead had to be Australian,” Black explains. “So thank god for our union!”) Immediately recognizing the crackling onscreen chemistry between them, Browder pushed hard for her to land the role over network skepticism. “I was a controversial choice for sure,” Black says now. “I was just lucky in the end.”

Whatever the circumstances of how she got the role, Black climbed aboard Moya with strong ideas about how to play Aeryn. Superficially, the character is part of the wave of warrior women that swept through genre shows in the ’90s and early ’00s, whose ranks included Xena, Buffy, and even Cleo of Cleopatra 2525 fame. But as conceived by O’Bannon and carried forward by executive producer David Kemper, who became a driving creative force behind the show, Aeryn cuts against that archetype as well. Unlike Xena, she doesn’t necessarily relish battle; it’s something that’s been programmed into her. (Although, as Aeryn memorably remarks in The Peacekeeper Wars: “Shooting makes me feel better!“) She also reverses the arc traversed by Buffy and Cleo, which begins with them in places of perceived weakness — as a cheerleader and exotic dancer, respectively — and leads towards empowerment.

Because of her militaristic upbringing, Aeryn starts from a place of fierce strength. Her journey over the lifespan of the show, then, becomes about softening what Black describes as Aeryn’s “jagged edges” without surrendering her agency. “I’ve always loved science fiction because of the way it affords us an opportunity to look at humanity from an outsider’s perspective,” Black says. “And Aeryn really gets to experience it firsthand the best way that humans can, which is through love, in all of its forms. When I look at humanity, and my own life, we have to break before we can grow. That’s really what happened with Aeryn; she became stronger with softer edges.” (For the record, Aeryn may start out as a superior fighter to Buffy, but Black says that Sarah Michelle Gellar would easily mop the floor with her in real life. “Sarah has a black belt in karate, and I have two left feet! I always felt like a bit of an imposter [as Aeryn] just on the physical front. If I could push the reset button, I’d go back and get good at some form of martial art.”)

But that stronger-to-softer arc is also more treacherous to navigate than a traditional empowerment story, flirting, as it does, with the fanboy-friendly stereotype of the buttoned-up ice queen whose resolve (and inhibitions) melt when love, generally in the form of a strapping male hero, comes her way. The risk of falling headlong into that tired trope is something Farscape had to deal with throughout its run, especially as the core of the show was always the romance between John and Aeryn.

And while that romance takes a number of unexpected twists and turns — most boldly in a Season 3 storyline that saw Aeryn committing herself fully to a cloned version of Crichton, only to see him die and then have to re-learn how to love the original John — it ultimately culminates with two staples of a standard love story: a marriage proposal and a pregnancy. “It seemed pretty clear to me that Rockne’s intention in the pilot was that this was going to be a love story for the ages,” Black says. Not only that, but it was a love story penned by a largely male writing staff who had their own opinions about how to depict Aeryn’s gradual acceptance of Crichton’s love that sometimes ran counter to Black’s feelings. “I recall moments where they wanted me to be more vulnerable with Aeryn, and I didn’t want to be because I didn’t think it was time and I didn’t think she was ready,” she says. “But it wasn’t my place to say.”

Nevertheless, she persistently found ways to make her voice heard, whether it was by talking one-on-one with specific writers or her co-star, who was equally eager to avoid certain genre show clichés. Black recalls one instance early on in the show’s run when Browder actively pushed back against Sci-Fi’s directive that John Crichton demonstrate the same sex drive as James T. Kirk. “They wanted Crichton to have an alien girl of the week. Ben put his foot down and said, ‘No, he’s not that kind of guy. This isn’t the story I want to tell.’ And on my side I was saying, ‘Yeah, what does that say about Aeryn if she’s going to fall in love with a guy [like that]?’ We wanted to investigate and have them experience the more positive aspects of attraction, as well as what’s worth fighting for and what’s worth dying for,” she says. “Maybe the show would have continued longer if we’d been able to please the network! They know what they’re going to need in order to keep [viewers] interested and tuning in. But we’re very proud of what we managed to make regardless, because of those choices.”

The ongoing battle that Black personally waged throughout Farscape‘s run was ensuring that Aeryn maintained control over her own body. In the genre shows of her era, the female leads were stronger and savvier than ever, and that translated into fashion choices that expressed their own body confidence and sexuality. Xena rode into battle in a heaving breastplate, while Buffy fought vampires in halter tops and Relic Hunter‘s Sydney Fox always donned a tight tank top before exploring some ancient tomb. But flashing cleavage, leg, and midriff also made those characters desirable pin-ups for the male audience courted by networks and advertisers. (Farscape added its own version of a pin-up type midway through the first season in the form of Chiana, a grey-skinned con artist with a plunging neckline and a voracious sexual appetite.)

But those fashions didn’t make sense for a soldier fighting in an army where men and women’s bodies were interchangeable. In fact, Black remembers reading a very specific direction to the makeup department in the production notes for the pilot. “When I take my Peacekeeper helmet off [for the first time], the note read in big print, ‘She looks masculine.’ They thickened my eyebrows — which are already thick! — and shaded my face in very minimal makeup. All of the on-set gallery images of me in the first season are with that very masculine makeup.”

Aeryn in her ‘masculine’ Season 1 appearance (Credit: Everett Collection)

By Season 2, though, Aeryn’s appearance underwent a noticeable change; her hair got longer and straighter, and her Peacekeeper uniform gave way to outfits that walked a line between practical and revealing. Black, who describes herself as a feminist, agreed to these cosmetic changes as she felt they were part of a “natural progression” for Aeryn. “I was honoring where she had come from at the same time having to find a way to let her grow into whatever it is she was going to become,” she says. (This clip from Farscape‘s aforementioned Looney Tunes-inspired episode, “Revenging Angel,” neatly summarizes — and satirizes — the female body types commonly featured on genre shows that Aeryn deliberately defies.)

Already objectively beautiful, Aeryn’s sexuality continued to emerge as she grew into her new self. Even so, Black could sense it wasn’t emerging quickly enough to satisfy certain expectations. “I felt that I was being pushed to show more flesh than was necessary,” she admits, pointing to one incident in the show’s fourth season where it was written into the script that Aeryn would sit poolside in a bikini. “I just said, ‘I will get in a bikini for you if it makes sense, but this woman’s world is falling apart.’ It was the last thing I thought Aeryn would do [in that moment]. It felt really frivolous and superficial to me.” (Black had already donned a bikini to play pregnant Aeryn in a hallucinatory scene in the Season 4 premiere. “They not only had me in a bikini, but they gave me a pregnant belly as well, which is really hard to pull off and make it look naturalistic,” she says.)

Black remembers shooting down an even more egregious bit of flesh-flashing in an earlier episode. As an international production, Farscape frequently shot extra scenes for certain ad-free European markets that would fill the time normally allotted for commercials. The cast referred to these filler sequences as “Euro scenes,” and they rarely involved big story or character beats. According to Black, this particular episode dispatched D’Argo and Aeryn on a planetside mission, and the writers cobbled together a Euro scene that she describes as “absurd.” “They said, ‘Let’s have a scene where we cut to them by a lake, and Aeryn turns and sees a bunch of soldiers across the lake. Aeryn takes off her clothes, swims across the lake, and fights these soldiers completely naked, then comes back to D’Argo and off they go.'”

In later seasons, Aeryn naturally progressed towards more revealing fashion choices (Credit: Everett Collection)

“There were so many things about it that were so bizarre,” she continues. “I said, ‘You know what, please explain this to me, how this honestly can fit in.’ In the end, they just said, ‘All right, fine — we won’t do it.’ That’s what I felt I was having to haggle for a lot of the time: my right to keep my clothes on until it was appropriate. I’ve always felt as an actor — and I’m sure other females have felt like this as well — that when you sign on the dotted line and enter the business that somehow you’ve given your body away as a piece of property, and you spend the rest of your career haggling for pieces of it back.” And the actress credits Browder with backing her up in her fight for Aeryn to be in full control of her own femininity and, by extension, her destiny. “Aeryn is really as feminist as I am, but she’s nothing without Crichton, which is an interesting statement to make,” she says. “So as much as we praise Aeryn, we must give full credit to Crichton and to Ben for shaping him the way that he did. It’s the space that he gives her. He’s such an exquisite champion of her growth and development, that it becomes possible for her to grow to her full size.”

In the 13 years since the concluding Peacekeeper Wars miniseries, rumors have occasionally flown about Farscape‘s return. At one point, there was talk of a webisode series following John and Aeryn’s child, D’Ago Sun-Crichton, but funding never came to fruition. (The show did continue in comic book form for a time, but publication ceased circa 2011.) Black, whose recent credits include stints on The CW genre shows Containment and The Originals, has no updates on any future revivals, and jokes that if Aeryn and Crichton ever do return, they’ll be “tired, ornery, and not really wanting another battle.”

Claudia Black as Dahlia on ‘The Originals’ (Credit: Annette Brown/The CW)

In a way, though, Aeryn’s larger battle has already been won. One of the breakout characters on Battlestar Galactica — which premiered in December 2003, nine months after Farscape‘s series finale — was Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, who displays some of the same steely spine, and jagged edges, of Officer Sun. And today’s genre TV landscape is populated with women who, consciously or not, reflect Aeryn’s assertiveness, independence, and refusal to conform to societal (or genre) norms of appearance or attitude, whether it’s Orphan Black‘s Helena, Sense8‘s Nomi, or Jessica Jones.

For this Scaper, she lives on off-screen as well. When my wife and I learned that we’d be having a daughter, we thought about all the things we wanted for her life. To know that she, and she alone, is in control of her body. To be strong in the face of injustice. To be confident in her own power. And to know that when she chooses to give her heart to another person, that person will be her champion, and give her the space to grow to her full size. And so we picked a name that, for us, would embody all of our hopes and dreams for the individual she’s becoming with each passing year.

Her name is Aeryn.

[debbiewilder]

Hello friend I feel like you would know the answer to this: did Ruth ever overtly, metaphorically, subtextually or literally explain why she slept with Mark? To Debbie or otherwise? I can't remember at all

Hi there, hope you and your loved ones are staying safe!

In 1x09, at that party to raise money for GLOW, Ruth says, “I’ve made a lot of terrible decisions. Some of them I don’t even remember. I hit rock bottom when I slept with my friend’s husband. I was really wasted at the time. But, the second time I wasn’t. I knew what I was doing. I was sober and insecure and I think I was acting out of this deep well of resentment I didn’t even know I had. And, it was just buried. And then it all came out. And I fucked up a real friendship.”

(This is yet another instance of Ruth and Debbie’s relationship making the show within the show work, how they actually make each other and the show better. They get money because of Ruth’s real admission here. Ruth gets her job at GLOW because Debbie comes in screaming at her, not because of her monologue. But I digress so…back to Mark.)

This answer in 1x09 is as close as we come to an overt reason for why Ruth did what she did (as far as I remember), and throughout the series we see Ruth act out because of her resentment of Debbie and insecurities when it comes to their relationship. So, this tracks.

But, Ruth is a pretty unreliable character throughout the series. In the first episode, she basically says that has no clue why she had sex with Mark, says “It just happened.” And Debbie calls bullshit on that. So, while I do think what Ruth’s saying is true in 1x09, there are potentially a lot of other layers at work here too.

Before they have sex for the second time, Mark repeats what Ruth said–Ruth thinks there are shiny people (like Debbie) whereas Ruth and Mark are always overlooked so they deserve something good too. In the locker room scene in the pilot, we see Debbie discounting how Ruth feels. Before that, we see Ruth humiliated in an audition, she has to ask her parents for more money, her life seems like a series of humiliations. And, then, finally, we get to Mark. Mark is actually listening to how Ruth feels to the point where he repeats her words back to her. Plus, Mark feels the exact same way.  That’s a really important aspect of this too I think. She’s being listened to, heard, understood. She’s not getting that anywhere else. That relates to her insecurity too, sure, but I think it’s another layer to why she does what she does.

Also, he climbs a trellis to get to her. Ruth is treated like nothing in her relationship with Debbie and in her audition (which I said above) and in acting class, but Mark is climbing a trellis to try and reach her. To him, she’s not only worth listening to but also worth the effort of climbing a trellis. Ruth must feel pretty powerful in that moment.

Plus, in that sex scene, she dominates Mark. At the same time, Debbie is trying to fold herself ever smaller to become exactly what Mark wants. So it must be pretty satisfying, make Ruth feel pretty powerful, to dominate the man who is belittling the friend who is constantly belittling her. That might be a confusing sentence so here are a couple of things to attempt to make that clearer–

Mark -> is always criticizing/belittling Debbie -> is always criticizing/belittling Ruth

Ruth -> dominates Mark -> is always dominating Debbie = Ruth uses this as a way to dominate Debbie

In other words, I think she also uses sex with Mark to even out the power imbalance Ruth feels is present in her relationship with Debbie. Ruth is constantly talking about how easy everything is for Debbie (which is bullshit, her belief in that is totally based in insecurity), and I think this is her way to grab at a little power over Debbie. Also, to actually have Mark in such an intimate way, to have what Debbie has, in some fucked up way must make her feel a bit shiny too. It’s a way for her to be Debbie. Which…I mean, I’m sure Ruth’s insecurities must lead her to want that at times. Also, Ruth often wants to not be herself, that’s part of why she turns to acting. So, it relates to that too. 

Plus, Debbie acts like Mark is the pinnacle of her existence in the locker room scene in the pilot. So, Ruth gets to destroy what is most precious to Debbie, basically Debbie’s whole worldview, since Debbie’s already taken acting from Ruth in a way by getting parts when Ruth couldn’t, by acting like Ruth still going to scene study class and pursuing acting in 1x01 is pathetic.

Ruth knew that Debbie was unhappy in her marriage (“You never loved Mark.” “You were miserable.” she says in 2x07) and Ruth was horrible at communicating (in part because of her insecurities) so part of her having sex with Mark might’ve been to communicate all that she couldn’t say to Debbie. Of course, I’m sure Debbie never said she was unhappy in her marriage. Never even was aware that that was the case (Debbie says “I was happy” even in 2x07), tried to convince herself and Ruth otherwise. But Ruth and Debbie deeply understand each other, even though at the same time they also can't see each other clearly because of their insecurities. So, Ruth understood anyway. Also, in some ways, I think that deep down, these two characters are very similar at their core. So, in part it might be that she knows Debbie could never be happy in that life because Ruth could never be happy in that life. But, regardless, she could see through Debbie’s facade. Yet Ruth felt she couldn’t say anything. So she did something to communicate anyway--she had sex with Mark. 

Plus by doing this, she can prove that the person who’s always acting like she’s better isn’t. I mean, it’s especially ironic when Debbie has lines like “Don’t you want to be happy and have a family?” in the pilot. And, then Ruth is off having sex with Debbie’s husband like two scenes later.

But also, if we consider that Ruth wants Debbie in a non-platonic way, I think her having sex with Mark is the closest she can get to having sex with Debbie. There’s something very non-platonic about the whole thing? Plus, given how Debbie quickly forgets about Mark and focuses completely on Ruth. And, Ruth’s reasons for having sex with Mark almost all tie back to Debbie and their relationship.

So, yeah, while I think a lot of it does go back to what Ruth says in 1x09, there are a lot of layers to it. Anyway, there’s probably more but that’s what comes to mind!

[dalekofchaos]

Few simple changes that I think could've saved Solo A Star Wars Story as a movie

Just a few things I think could’ve improved Solo

Anthony Ingruber plays Han Solo.  He looks like Harrison Ford, he talks like Harrison Ford, and he even played a young Harrison Ford in the film Age of Adaline. Anthony Ingruber had even audition for the role of Han Solo and the fact he didn’t get it for a guy who had so much trouble, they needed to bring in an acting coach. Alden was so unconvincing as Han it was laughable. Anthony Ingruber was the perfect person to play Han and he should’ve been Han Solo. If Anthony played Han, it could’ve been as great as Donald’s take on Lando. 

Han Solo picks his own name. Han is a rebel without a cause. He doesn’t care where he came from, so a random Imperial Officer should not be given Solo his last name. This is Han’s story, he should tell the officer that he’s Han Solo. Han not calling himself Solo was a really bad sign.

No L3-37, Qi’Ra and no Maul. Qi’Ra derailed Han as a character(I’ll explain more later), L3 really served no purpose and her being inserted into the Falcon is both fridging and takes away from Han making the Kessel Run and Maul served no purpose to be in a movie about Han Solo when Han does not believe in the Jedi or the force

Replace Qi'Ra with Sana Starros. Danai Gurira plays Sana

Focus more on Han Solo as a character. The problem I had with the movie is it focuses on everyone but Han and was just showing how he gets his things

Keep in the Imperial Cadet deleted scene in. It shows Han is a good pilot, that Han wanted to do the right thing while his time in service, but the Empire cares more about equipment than lives. In a sense, Han begins as optimistic and happy before and during his time with the Imperials, and then when we meet him after he's been an Imperial for a while, he's thoroughly beaten down by it and that's what turned him into the cynical bastard we saw at the start of New Hope.

Change the Battle of Mimban to Battle Of Kashyyyk. Reason? This is where Han would save Chewie. I always loved the Legends take where Han's superiors wanted Chewie dead, but instead Han saves Chewie. So here, we would soon realize that the Empire is here to beat down a Wookie Rebellion. Han is tasked by his superior officer to kill the captured Chewnacca. Han chooses to save Chewie and stuns his superior officer. Han and Chewie flee the planet and that's when Beckett's crew picks up Han and Chewie

Han is mentored by Beckett and it makes him the callous and cold smuggler we know him to be in A New Hope. Their relationship is similar to Fast Eddie and Vincent in Color Of Money

With no Qi’Ra, Beckett’s connection to Vos would introduce us to Lando

Focus more on Han and Lando’s friendship. Show us why Han and Lando have a strong friendship, show don’t tell. Have Han and Lando being smugglers in arms. And finally Lando would not leave he would patch himself up and return to help Han in the end. We really needed to see why Han sees so much reverence in his friendship to Lando in ESB. What we got from Solo makes Lando’s betrayal unsurprising. We needed to see why Lando was willing to sacrifice an old friendship to save Bespin from the Imperials, the emotional weight of Han and Lando’s friendship wasn’t there in the movie, it needed to be there so their friendship should’ve been one of the core elements of the movie.

Make Dryden Vos more of a legit threatening villain. Paul Bettany used to play really fucking evil gangster characters and that’s what I was hoping Dryden was going to be playing, but he was barely there. Make him cruel, and a clear danger. Prior to the meeting, show him execute an underling for insubordination and have him say “sorry for the mess”  and show us that Beckett is in a horrible debt that he can’t seem to get out of, a mirror of Han and Jabba’s relationship in the future

The heist would be to steal Coaxium from a complex security vault on Kessel

Han and Sana would get “married” as a pretense for the big heist, while Lando and Chewie make the big score. 

Han would make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs on his own. Han needed to make the Kessel Run on his own. Having a droid being part of why he made the Kessel Run takes away the great feat that Han made and brags about in ANH. It shows he’s a great pilot and has what it takes. That’s kinda what we needed to see.

Beckett sells everyone out to Vos as per canon

When Vos has Han at his mercy, Lando comes to make the save and they kill Vos together

Han shoots Beckett first. But not because it was right or because of the money. Because Han saw it coming. Han learned everything from Beckett. Beckett would say “I would’ve done the same thing, kid.” and Han would say “I had a great teacher.” There needed a slight moral conundrum. Han respects Beckett and has learned a lot from him, but also knows that he absolutely can not be trusted and will inevitably kill Han without a care in the world if it means Beckett gets a better deal.

Han would only give Enfys Nest the Coaxium in exchange for a reward. So Enfys would give Han, Lando, Sana and Chewie enough stolen money the Marauders acquired throughout the years to be the perfect reward. Enfys asks Han to join the Rebellion, but Han makes it clear he’s in it for the money

The movie would end with Han and Lando playing Sabacc for the Falcon, maybe tweak it a little so it’s both a dice and card game, so that way Han uses the Dice we would see in TLJ to win the Falcon. This way it makes way more sense as to why Leia and Ben would feel emotional over the dice. It’s the lucky Dice that won the Falcon, it brought Han and Leia together and it’s something worth Ben feeling emotional about instead of Han’s jilted ex lover’s dice 

Han should end the film leaving him as a guy who is mostly only going to get involved in capers due to the money. So that we can still make sense of the scene in ANH in which he takes the money and leaves (on Yavin) but only afterwards has a strike of conscience and returns to help Luke.

Solo wasn’t really a bad movie, I think it is a fun movie with great potential. The problem is they focused more on the future and not in the now, a movie about Han Solo does not focus on Han Solo and it’s not necessary at all and the story is very forgettable, and it really is just a cash grab. There is nothing remarkable about the movie and the only two characters who stand out as 100% only enjoyable to me are Enfys Nest and Lando. The rest of the characters just feel like unnecessary adds or barley passable imitations. So these are ways I would change Solo to make it a great movie

They made the movie about everything BUT Han Solo and their attempts to make Han a good man just betrays the character we knew in A New Hope. The reason why I chose to cut out Qi'Ra is because Han Solo having a love interest in my opinion was a pretty poor choice. Han Solo was always implied to be a loner before Leia came into his life. His name is SOLO. Han is a criminal smuggler, if anything he would've been sleeping around like Captain Kirk, especially Han in his 20's. Hell, in a deleted scene for ANH, Han basically has a small fling in the Cantina. As a matter of fact, showing that he was this intimate with someone before Leia takes a little bit of the mystique away from their relationship in later movies. I also felt like Han and Leia worked because they were the only ones who would get under each other's skins, but with here, Han and Qi'ra are just kind of in a relationship at the beginning and it's like "oh we don't even know these people" seeing him so deeply affected over another woman makes Han Solo comes across as a little bit more vulnerable than the Han we met in A New Hope.

Also why even have Qi'Ra when it's established that Han already had a wife in canon? Kathleen Kennedy sure does love her white Brunnettes doesn't she?

As for Maul. Does it need saying? Maul died in Rebels and bringing him back was pointless since mainstream audiences do not know that he survived. Also Han does not believe in the force and believes a blaster is superior to a Lightsaber

This whole movie shows a far more human Han, he's shown to be somewhat empathetic and sympathetic of others. He gives too much of a damn, there's a time or two in Solo where Han chooses to do what's right as opposed to what's right for him, he does jobs without looking for a real reward and that's just not Han Solo. In this movie it's clear that Han has a moral compass, whereas in the original trilogy, he was a lot more morally ambiguous and it was through Luke and Leia's influence and place in life that he began to become good. In A New Hope he had to constantly be reassured that he was going to be preciously rewarded. This completely destroys Han's arc in the original trilogy as this movie implies that Han was always a good guy.

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

BATTEN DOWN THE MIZZENMAST WITH BLACK SAILS’ LUKE ARNOLD

Prepare to be boarded… by entertainment! Next week marks the official premiere of Starz’s long-awaited, Michael Bay-produced pirate drama Black Sails, a series packed to the gills with violence, voluptuousness, and villainry of the blackest sort. Starz is making the pilot available early tomorrow via Machinima and a variety of digital platforms, but to help celebrate the unofficial start of our voyage into troubled waters, we caught up with Australian actor Luke Arnold, who plays the infamous John Silver, a conniving, opportunistic buckler of swash and one of the show’s leads. Considering the show has already been renewed for a second season, we figured now would be a great time to catch up with the rising star.

Nerdist: So first and foremost, I’ve seen the first two episodes and I’ve got to say, I’m really digging the series. I’m excited to see where it goes. Your character is very interesting — he’s very opportunistic and I like that.

Luke Arnold: Thanks, yeah. I know, it’s definitely a lot of fun to play.

N: He’s definitely this sort of iconic character. Tell me about how you got involved with the project and what excited you about this role.

LA: Oh, well, it was definitely, for me, when the pirate show comes up, I think every actor around the world hopes you get a chance to go and be a part of it, you know. As an actor, these are the kind of things you want to do, and this is kind of when you’re young, you think this is what being an actor is. But most of the time it’s not — it’s, like, you’re in a cop show, accused of murdering your wife, or doing some little romance or something, and what you really want to do is swing swords and jump off ships and have a lot of fun.

So when this came up, I was obviously pretty keen to get involved. I was actually in the running for another show that the Starz network was doing, which didn’t end up going ahead, but it meant that when this popped up, I was kind of already on their radar, and really just kind of slid right into the couple of auditions. Met Jon Steinberg, the creator, and I was very happy to get the call, saying I was going to be a pirate.

N: Very nice! I can imagine that would be a good call to get.

LA: [laughter] Yeah.

N: So you’re going to be playing Michael Hutchence in an INXS mini-series, you’re playing John Silver in Black Sails. Rock star, pirate–are you worried about being typecast as a good-looking swashbuckler?

LA: [laughter] If that’s the roles I get to play for the rest of my life, I don’t think it’d be too bad.

N: Right?

LA: Um, but it’s actually funny how different they were. I think it’s very easy to put the rock stars and pirates in together, but I think that the nature of the way Black Sails is approached, and kind of how gritty and real and historically accurate it is, I have to say we’ve been going to the gym a lot more, doing a lot more physical work as pirates than I had to do playing a rock star! The gym — obviously, the physical side of Black Sails was really full-on and a real shock to the system when we started. And then it was quite nice to take a few months off and get out of the gym, drink, smoke cigarettes and jump around on stage. [chuckles] So yeah, and then have the shock on the system of going back into the pirate world afterwards.

N: Oh, yeah, that must have been a brutal return to the gym. I’m sure a lot people right now with their New Year’s resolutions can empathize.

LA: Yeah, absolutely! And one other thing, I don’t know if it was a blessing or a curse that it’s not just me telling myself I have to go back in the gym. You get flown back to Cape Town, and a very aggressive trainer down there made sure, you know — really knocked me right out of rock star mode, I think.

N: I understand you came from something of a stage combat and sword fighting background. I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about that, and how that informed your role on Black Sails?

LA: So it was interesting, because my sword fighting training came from being a young actor, just in — I played Romeo on stage, it was one of my first plays, and it was very exciting. I learned sword fighting for that. And then thought I was going to continue my training. I wasn’t ever planning to be a — you know, really get into fight choreography too much. It was just for my skills as an actor. But then when the guy who taught me got a job on the Peter Pan film, a number of years ago, I went in to check out the sets, and by the end of the day, I had a full-time job!

So I stopped going to school, I did all of my final assessments via e-mail, and I just really entered the film industry. That was really fantastic training, because then after that, I went to drama school, but it was great already having that on-set experience, and really understanding the business and the job of being an actor on set.

Then, it’s interesting, because as far as Black Sails goes, I’m playing John Silver — he kind of has no shame. It’s kind of known, if you’re going to go into a sword fight and fight someone to the death, there’s a 50% chance that you’re the guy who’s going to be killed. Whereas if you can talk your way out, or just turn on your heels and run, you’ve got a much better chance of survival. So really, for most of the time on Black Sails, that’s what Silver chooses to do. So as yet, I keep writing to the writers, going, “Is this the episode where Silver can finally pick up a sword and become a bit cooler?” But as yet, his wit is his greatest weapon.

N: Yeah, that definitely comes across in the series. He’s handy with the sword, but he’s much handier when he can use his brain to weasel his way out of situations.

LA: Yeah.

N: So I want to talk a little bit about the tone of the series. Right off the bat, you’re treated to this sort of double-whammy of sex and violence that puts it immediately in company with shows like Spartacus and Game of Thrones. Talk a little bit about the tone of the series. Is this a project you can show your mom?

LA: [chuckles] Oh, definitely! My parents will be keen to see it. Yeah, I think parents will definitely be fine with it. It’s little cousins and things like that that probably will have to hold off a few years before exposing them to the show. And I think, really, especially in the first episode, I think they’ve done a really great job of–you do want to sell both worlds, here. In a way you want to set up the fantasy fulfillment side of being a pirate. That idea that we’d all love to leave the world behind, jump on a ship and find treasure. But then you also, what we’re really doing in this show, is trying to get more into the historical accuracy and the reality of what it must have been like to be one of these guys, and it would have been brutal, and it would have been tough. And so I think the sex and the violence really comes into painting both of those pictures there.

N: So, obviously, when people hear that someone like Michael Bay is attached to something, they expect a lot of explosions. It definitely kicks off that way. But what do you think viewers can expect from Black Sails, taken as a whole?

LA: Really, I’d say more than anything, Black Sails at heart is a character-driven drama. I think they’ve chosen a great cast of actors. I’m not saying that for myself, but for everyone I get to work with — they’re just fantastic. And the writers are really focused on the characters. And that’s what, now that I’ve seen all of the first season, and love it a lot, that’s what keeps drawing you in. It’s great then, around that, we have some of the best special effects ever seen on television; one of the most impressive sets ever made, and all of these elements which make it a lot of fun, and make it visually entertaining. But at its heart, it’s really about the characters, about their interactions, and really about them trying to survive in a very tough world. And I think that’s what’s going to keep Black Sails going amongst all the great visual side of it.

N: I know, as you mentioned, you guys have been filming on location in South Africa. What’s that experience been like? Do you have a favorite memory or moment from the filming process so far?

LA: There have been so many great moments on this. From the bonding experience at the beginning, of all coming together for our pirate boot camp and going through the hellish training and climbing Table Mountain, and all these things that we did at the beginning, to then — I can’t say too much, talking about some of the great stuff we’ve had to do throughout the season. Some of the most fun ever, there’s some big ship battles coming and a bunch of crazy action stuff, which is just really fun for me. There’s a lot of talking in this show, so then it’s really nice when I have a day where I get to shut up and just do a bunch of action! [chuckles]

N: Awesome.

LA: So that’s already been really fun. But I think one of the funnest things about this show is, because the characters are so good, and the actors are so great, and you get these really kind of dialogue-heavy, meaty scenes, it’s fun whenever your character gets to face off with another character for the first time. And that continues to be fun in this show. I know the writers on this show are actually — a lot of them are writing their own fan fiction already, because if the plot doesn’t bring two characters together, everyone is still waiting to see what it will be like. A lot of them are just writing scenes on their own, and I think that’s really fun. I know for me, I can’t — there are certain characters that I can’t wait till John Silver gets to meet them, just to see how they’re going to bounce off each other.

N: That’s great! You guys should film a bunch of those little fan-fiction scenes and psych people out when the DVD comes out.

LA: Yeah, I think that’d be great! I mean, me and my brother, actually, a couple of years ago, we had our own YouTube channel and would do our own videos. So I’m kind of quietly trying the pitch that maybe in the — maybe I can bring him over to Cape Town and on the weekends we can shoot our own little side stories.

N: Awesome, awesome. Well, I will certainly do my part to boost that signal!

LA: That’s great!

N: So you guys have already been renewed for season 2, which is awesome, but I need to know — can we expect you to have either a peg-leg or a chain of reasonably priced fast casual seafood restaurants by the time that season rolls around?

LA: [laughter] Well, look. The peg-leg won’t happen, but at some point, the leg has got to come off. We’ve got to really turn it… this is Long John Silver, the origin story, as far as I’m concerned. So yeah, that’s going to happen at some point. I don’t know how it’s happening yet. I think the writers have an idea, but they’re not letting the cat out of the bag just as yet. And I think as you — I don’t know if you’ve seen the first two episodes — definitely not having a seafood restaurant, and even though we know that John Silver is quite the cook by the time Treasure Island happens, he has a lot to learn before he’s even ready to cook even the most basic dishes!

N: Yeah!

LA: At some point he’s got to get his knife skills up as well.

N: Exactly, exactly. There’s still time. There’s plenty of time. I just have one last question for you, it’s a bit of an oddball, so please bear with me: What would be inside your ideal burrito?

LA: Ooooh. Okay!

N: It’s the question you’ve been waiting for.

LA: What would be inside my ideal burrito? Um… it’s… look, definitely — I’ve got nothing crazy to offer, but a lot of guac. I think the thing is, we’re on the pirate diet at the moment, which means cutting down on carbs, just a lot of meat — yeah, protein and fat, really, so I’d think three different kinds of meat. Let’s go, like, some pork, beef and chicken, guacamole, and then probably, at the moment, I’d get rid of the tortilla and do it, like, wrapped in lettuce. And there we go — that’s the high-protein, pirate workout burrito.

N: That sounds pretty delicious. I think a lot of aspiring pirates would be happy to chomp down on that.

LA: [chuckles] I’m going to have one right now.

N: Yeah, awesome. Well, Luke, thank you so much. It was awesome talking to you, and I can’t wait to see more of the show.

LA: All right, thank you very much. Great chatting with you. Cheers!

[letterboxd]

Rocketman.

“I’m a straight actor playing a gay icon. We had an obligation to honor that side of his story.”

Taron Egerton, star of the new musical biopic Rocketman, tells Letterboxd about having a takeaway curry with Sir Elton John and portraying the absolute pop icon on the big screen.

They say in showbiz, timing is everything. And Rocketman is very well-timed.

Bohemian Rhapsody proved emphatically that there is a huge cinematic appetite for rock-and-pop star biopics, which have long been the domain of the small screen. That film earned more than $900 million at the global box office and garnered an Academy Award for lead actor Rami Malek.

Working in Rocketman’s favor is the fact that Bo Rhap (as Rocketman star Taron Egerton refers to it) was a widely embraced, award-winning film that everybody agreed could’ve been a little better. And quite a lot gayer.

Rocketman steps up on both fronts, and it’s also directed by Dexter Fletcher, the man credited with salvaging Bohemian Rhapsody after he stepped in to finish the film when original director Bryan Singer was fired during production (Singer retained sole director credit per DGA rules).

Also working for Rocketman: the songs of Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin (played in the film by Jamie Bell), which are incorporated into the narrative with welcome creative flair. Egerton—as the film’s marketing campaign has made very clear—does all his own singing in the film, and he’s pretty darn decent.

Letterboxd recently sat down with Egerton at an exclusive press event in West Hollywood where he talked about his experience making Rocketman, and what it was like getting to know the man who inspired it.

Egerton began by talking about the film’s fantastical approach and how it uses John’s rehab journey as a framing device: Taron Egerton: The mandate for the production was always that it wouldn't be an out-and-out biopic, that it would lean into these elements of fantasy. The movie begins with Elton entering rehab and those scenes are what I’m most excited for people to see, because to see someone who’s so universally known in such an intimate, vulnerable situation, I think is quite unusual. And it says something about Elton and how candid and resilient he is. Elton recounts his life through rehab, we learn his story from being a young child and going to the Royal Academy of Music. And it essentially goes right the way up to the point where he goes to rehab.

On how he felt going into the role: It was terrifying. Because it’s a musical and because it’s a fantasy, it was always a prerequisite that the actors sing. So there’s a tricky thing, particularly following in the wake of something like Bo Rhap, it’s so unmistakably Freddie, the sound of it. So for me it was about singing the songs as well as I possibly could. But we were lucky in the sense that Elton and [husband] David [Furnish] are very close to the project. It started with them, and Elton has been fantastic in letting me be a part of his life for the past couple of years. And befriending me, frankly. Which has made the whole thing feel very personal and very real.

On how he went about embodying Elton John: Weirdly, I found the stuff where I played him older, easier, and I think that’s because all the time I’ve spent with Elton has been older Elton. I haven’t spent any time with 21-year-old Elton. There is footage, but it’s interesting, because people portray such a version of themselves on camera. I don’t know. For me, it all kind of came from the first time I sat down with him and we had curry together. I went over and I had a takeaway curry at his house. And we just talked for about two and a half hours. It’s such a hard thing to describe. When you are given the honor of playing one of the most adored and famous people in the world, there’s such a weight of responsibility that comes with it. And then when you meet them and connect with them generally, I don’t know, it just feels like one of the most important things I’ve ever done. I can’t really describe the feeling of having gone through the whole thing.

There’s an element of getting to look as much like him as you can, which is very helpful. There’s four rough stages of Elton. The first one being his kind of teenage bowl-cut, chunky Buddy Holly glasses. Then into the longer hair, early 20s stuff where we’re in LA. And then the hair starts to go. For the third look I shaved my hair line up higher than it already is by a couple of inches. And for the fourth and final look, I have a bald cap. There’s something about changing yourself completely and the way you look that really conditions how you feel.

One thing about Elton is that at some point in his mid-late 20s, things started to get a little bit out of control and unraveled a little bit for him I think, and there’s something to do with putting a slight gap in my teeth and changing my hair, it just didn’t make me feel very much like me. And so I created this hybrid of me and him.

That’s another thing as well, through getting to know him, I feel like there are some parallels between me and him. I mean, I’m not a genius, but in the sense that some of the neuroses and insecurities, I just recognize some things. So there’s a lot of me in there and my emotional volatility and I’m someone who has very extreme and acute reactions to things. I’m potentially a little emotionally volatile at times. And that is, I think, certainly who Elton was. So it’s just about dialing up those things in yourself, and dialing other things down.

On the film celebrating Elton John’s sexuality: I’m a straight actor playing a gay icon, so I again felt very, very keenly that if I was going to do this and do this properly that we had an obligation to honor that side of his story. So early on the film there is a love scene, it’s between myself and Richard [Madden, who plays John’s manager and lover John Reid]. It’s the first love scene I’ve ever done and it’s two young guys falling in love in a time where it possibly wasn’t that socially acceptable and I think it is a scene I’m really, really proud of.

There is a community that feels a certain sense of ownership over icons that are a member of that community, so we have that responsibility to honor that part of their story. And it’s been fantastic, especially working with Paramount on this, who have always felt very strongly that this was a part of the story that we needed to push and honor and see reflected in our film. And I’m really pleased with it, I think it’s lovely actually.

On the film not shying away from Elton John’s substance abuse: This is not a movie that glamorizes drug use. Elton’s relationship with certain substances was extremely corrosive and bad for his health and nearly cost him everything. And that was an important part of the story for me. The balance is also in making it something that is joyous, celebratory and fun to watch. And that has been the knife edge that we’ve had to walk along. And I hope people will feel we’ve done a good job of that.

On leaning into the truth of Elton John’s volatile personality: A documentary was made by David about Elton 25 years ago called Tantrums and Tiaras. It is no secret that Elton has his ups and downs. We were true to that—it’s who he is. And frankly I think it’s why we love him. So I felt very much when we were on set that I wanted to push it. Because the one person I knew wouldn’t mind me doing that, was Elton. Because he’s not precious. He knows where his strengths and weaknesses lie, and he’s very at peace with who he is.

He’s been through a hell of a lot and he’s been through recovery and he is settled and solid and knows who he is and he’s quite candid about it. So for me I always wanted there to be that duality between this sweet, incredibly caring, generous person, who just has this intense artistic sensibility and volatility, and I believe that is hand in hand with his creative genius.

On how younger audiences less familiar with Elton John might respond to the film: Elton’s music is still so played on the radio but I hope that there’s a world in which we bring music to some young ears that haven’t heard it before. Well, young-ish ears; it’s not the most child-friendly film. But young ears nonetheless. I think there’s a universality to Elton’s music. I don’t think the success of Elton’s music is entirely conditional on the context in terms of time. It was brilliant music in 1971, and it’s brilliant music now. Everyone loves Elton John, but for relatively young people like me to go back and then listen to all the stuff that made his name in the early 70s, things like Amoreena, Take Me To the Pilot, Hercules, Border Song… and you just go, fucking hell, it’s just, it’s mind-blowing, the output. In an ideal world—you can’t plan for it—I would hope that people rediscover Elton through the film.

On what playing the role has meant to Egerton: As with most people, I can pinpoint times in my life as early as five where I was aware of Elton John. I remember that video of him doing The Circle of Life when I fell in love with The Lion King when I was five or six. I remember being twelve and the Greatest Hits coming out, and me and my stepdad, who my mum had just met, who became a huge part of my life, him and I sitting listening to that Greatest Hits album, singing I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues together as he drove me to school.

Then when I was 17 and I auditioned for drama school and sang Your Song. I didn’t get in. Then I sang it again the following year and I did [get in]! I knew it was a winner. And so he’s always been there, Elton John as this kind of, idea. And then in 2016, when I’m still barely able to process the fact that I’ve been in a hit movie, for someone to say “Do you want to play Elton John?” And to go “Well how does Elton feel about it?” and hear “He really loves the idea”. It’s just fucking mental innit?

It’s just insane. Creating the film, without wishing to get too earnest, has felt like a hugely important thing for me. And a hugely important thing for posterity in some sense, because hopefully in the future it will be so many people’s introduction to Elton John. I feel like I’ve poured more of myself into it than I have anything else and so for me I feel very satisfied by the whole experience.

It’s been hard work. And essentially has been my life for the past year, 18 months, with creating all the songs and recording them and re-recording them and changing things and going back after we filmed. But I wouldn’t have changed a second of it. And I would do it all again. There’s not many things I would say that about.

And then, just getting to know him and to genuinely feel a connection with the great man. I sang with him recently, I still can’t believe that that happened. I genuinely get a bit emotional thinking about it.

Sir Elton John has appeared in more than 60 films as various versions of himself, and composed for several soundtracks, including a handful of beloved songs for Disney’s ‘The Lion King’ (Jon Favreau’s new photorealistic version comes out this July). Welsh actor-singer Taron Egerton is, until now, best-known for his leading role in the ‘Kingsman’ film franchise. ‘Rocketman’ is in theaters now. Comments have been edited for clarity and length.

[stopandimagineloveforever]

Few TV shows have arrived as confidently as Schitt’s Creek did when it premiered four years ago; after all, the pilot took under two minutes to introduce its four main characters in instantly striking ways. We open in a palatial estate, where members of the filthy rich Rose family are reacting to news they’ve been defrauded by their business manager and left with nothing. Well, except the titular town, which Rose patriarch Johnny bought for his son as a joke birthday present years before. Immediately, there’s Moira (standout Catherina O’Hara), wailing to her husband about how she’s been “stripped of every morsel of pleasure I earned in this life.” In reply, her husband Johnny (Eugene Levy) complains about the shady business manager that landed his family in this mess. Nearby, their daughter Alexis (Annie Murphy) alights from a stately staircase while desperately trying to get the boyfriend she’s on the phone with to step out of the club he’s in and listen to her problems. And by the door, her brother David boldly berates a government official, calling him a “sick person” that “wants to get paid to destroy another person’s life.”

Dan Levy, who plays David and co-created the show alongside his father and co-star Eugene, is far less confrontational than his character, but no less animated. When I meet him in January for a late lunch at a sparsely populated restaurant in Rockefeller Center, the 35-year-old is upbeat and personable, despite the packed schedule he’d been navigating for the previous few days while doing press for the show’s fifth season.

The entire process is somewhat new to the actor, since Schitt’s Creek kept a relatively low profile in its earlier seasons. But as the show’s popularity has grown — with critics now hailing it as “the funniest show on TV right now,” a “gem of a sitcom,” and an “amiable and deliriously funny series” — so has Levy’s. After serving as the official showrunner for four seasons, he’s become a celebrity in his own right. Yet in midtown, as he makes his way through a grilled chicken caesar salad and a Diet Coke, Levy doesn’t appear to exhibit any of those expected pretenses; he’s quite laid-back and surprisingly gregarious, eager to talk about the little show he made which blossomed into something much bigger than he could have ever imagined.

Before Schitt’s Creek, Levy says he spent some time “figuring it out.” Growing up as the son of a comedy legend, it was nearly a given that he would do theater in high school. But when he graduated and actually tried to pursue acting as a career, Levy was held back by the nervousness he routinely felt at auditions. “As you can imagine, that was quite awkward for me as an actor,” he jokes. Instead, he landed at MTV Canada, where he cut his teeth recapping The Hills on the popular The After Show. That experience, he says, was where the idea for Schitt’s Creek was planted. “I was fascinated by these people who were raised around so much wealth,” he tells me. “And I wanted to know what it would be like if someone like that were to lose everything.”

He eventually took that inkling of an idea to his dad, and together, they fleshed it out into the show it is today. In the earliest stages, Levy recalls looking at “sexy and stylish” series like Sex and the City for inspiration, which ultimately lead to his decision to build each character around a distinct style that mirrors their personality type. Artsy David would be into neutral tones and architectural Rick Owens; business-minded Johnny would always wear classic tailored suits; histrionic former soap star Moira would have a flair for the dramatic silhouettes of McQueen; and boho-chic Alexis would be ready to jet off to Coachella at a moment’s notice.

To this day, Dan still takes the lead on much of the show’s wardrobe. It’s one of the most rewarding parts of his job, he tells me, and it’s a good excuse to indulge his shameless shopping addiction. He sources most of the garments seen on the show online, perusing for new duds on designer resale apps like The RealReal and Grailed, but it’s clear that his sartorial eye is just as keen in person. Upon arriving to the restaurant, the first thing Dan does is compliment my sunglasses, which were sitting on the corner of the table. “Congratulations on those boots,” he told me as we left, pointing down at my footwear. The only apparent downside to his side gig as a personal shopper is that it can be difficult to stop himself from getting too out of control. “I just keep buying for future seasons,” he jokes. “If the show ends, I’m just going to have all these random Alexander McQueen pieces in my room! I’ll have to call up some of my friends and ask if they want to come buy some.”

Hopefully, we’ll never reach that point — at least not for a while, now that the show is finally getting the respect it deserves. Days before our lunch, Levy and his fellow cast members had experienced their first A-List red carpet event when they attended the Critics’ Choice Awards, where they were nominated for Best Comedy Series. “It’s so crazy to think that this little show was there amongst all these real celebrities,” he says, emphasizing the word real in a way that lets you know he still doesn’t understand just how famous he actually is — or does a good job pretending not to, at least. The performer says he was most excited to meet Jodie Comer, but in retrospect, he wonders if he maybe went overboard when he approached the Killing Eve actress to “fan out” and enthusiastically tell her how much he loved her.

Schitt’s Creek didn’t win that night. But it’s not difficult to imagine the show becoming a serious awards contender in the future, especially now that it’s established a real audience. Levy and the entire team are rooting particularly hard for Catherine O’Hara, whose indelible, no-holds-barred performance as Moira has rightfully inspired a few internet campaigns to get The Television Academy’s attention.

Yet it’s probably Levy himself who has galvanized the most fervent response from audiences. His character is one of the only pansexual men on TV today, and in the show’s currently-airing fifth season, his same-sex relationship with newly-out Patrick (Noah Reid) is one of the biggest ongoing plot points. As a gay man, he says it was always important to him to bring positive queer representation to his show — which is ironically why he had David sleep with a woman (sardonic motel owner Stevie) before he ever got with a man. “I did want to play with people’s expectations a bit,” he admits. “David is flamboyant and I knew people would assume he was gay, so I wanted to subvert that and show that you can’t always judge a book by its cover.”

Nevertheless, Levy is now fully invested in exploring the much-beloved relationship between David and Patrick, which he’s made a deliberate effort to ensure is not met with any homophobia in the titular small town. It’s what he would’ve done anyway, but it doesn’t hurt that he’s seen firsthand just how much their relationship means to the fans at home watching. When I ask about the response he’s received from the queer community, it’s the first time during our meal that he seems to get really emotional. “I got a letter recently that made me cry,” he begins, tearing up ever so slightly. “This woman wrote to me and told me that her son had just come out. She didn’t have a problem with it, but she was scared about what other people would think. She told me that my show made her feel a little more comfortable.”

It’s surprising how novel it seems to create a show where homophobia is just... not allowed to exist, but it’s comforting to see how normal it actually looks in practice. Just people being themselves without judgment: It’s all part of this world that Dan Levy was inspired to create after watching too many reruns of The Hills. Back then, he set out to create a show that uncovered what would happen when the self-obsessed wealthy wake up to find themselves penniless. If the series’ first five seasons have offered us any sort of answer, it’s that they will learn and grow, facing truths about themselves and their privilege that will only benefit them in the long run. They will form stronger bonds with themselves and with each other. Hell, they might even find true life-fulfilling happiness.

That is, as long as they find their way to Schitt’s Creek.

Schitt’s Creek airs Wednesdays at 10:00pm on Pop.

[love-takes-work]

Steven Universe Podcast: Volume 2, Episode 10: Garnet

Season 2, Episode 10 of the Steven Universe Podcast, released March 29, 2018, is about Garnet. The official description:

Garnet finally gets her due on the Steven Universe Podcast! Creator Rebecca Sugar and former Executive Producer Ian Jones-Quartey return to reveal why Garnet is especially meaningful to them personally, what hints they deliberately included in the pilot pointing to Garnet being a fusion, and how it ended up that she never asks questions... ever! Co-Executive Producer Joe Johnston and Storyboard Supervisor Hilary Florido also return to speak to writing for Garnet versus Ruby and Sapphire individually, and some of their favorite Garnet moments. Plus, Erica Luttrell, the voice of Sapphire, recalls her audition and offers a great behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like working the voice over booth with Rebecca Sugar!

Since as usual my summary is long, I will provide a highlights list followed by a cut which you can follow for a more in-depth narrative. Enjoy!

Highlights:

Garnet represents Ian Jones-Quartey and Rebecca Sugar's relationship. Like her, they had to maintain their union AND run the show simultaneously.

Rebecca is Ruby and Ian is Sapphire.

Plans to have Ruby or Sapphire show up in "Together Breakfast" were scrapped, though they kept the red and blue lights on the door as Garnet went into her room.

Rebecca and Ian loved checking out fan theories about whether Garnet was a Fusion before it was revealed. Fans once worried that Garnet would unfuse and never come back, or that their fusion was necessary for some dark or desperate reason, but they don't remember seeing anyone conclude that they were simply in love.

Ruby and Sapphire are a classic cartoon couple in many ways and were designed to be adorable together.

A good analogy for understanding Garnet is to think of her a bit like Ruby and Sapphire's child, with attributes of both but completely different from both as her own person.

According to Ian, Garnet is the most impulsive and it's hardest to predict what her reaction to any given situation might be.

Garnet's Future Vision is not the same as Sapphire's. Sapphire's is passive and singular, and with Ruby's impulsive influence, Garnet is able to imagine interfering in the path of fate and creating multiple futures.

Garnet's difficulty in connecting to the present is rooted in her fixation on what might happen and what she'll do or say next. She sometimes deals with feelings of being overwhelmed by blowing off steam with unexpected outbursts.

Garnet's tendency to not ask questions is a reversal of the character trope where a character constantly asks questions to move the story along.

Rebecca describes a pact with Rose associated with her lack of question-asking, which we will get into "very soon."

"Three Gems and a Baby" had an important scene where Garnet unfusing upset baby Steven, which made Garnet worry that Steven wouldn't accept her. The episode once had lines featuring her worrying that she'd showed him too soon.

Garnet's experience in "Arcade Mania" was described by Ian as "soothing" for her--a whole series of predictable futures that she could escape into.

Garnet's stoicism is largely derived from her being frozen into inaction by overload of input from her Future Vision. She can find refuge in her trust and love for someone else, and her warmth in those moments is when she is genuinely present.

A favorite Garnet line from Ian: "We can't fight these things forever. Well, we can, but I don't want to."

One of the most challenging aspects of writing Garnet for Joe Johnston and Hilary Florido is dealing with her no-questions rule.

Joe thinks Garnet is the Gem mom most likely to say something embarrassing.

Joe loved having a chance to look outside Steven's direct POV with "Garnet's Universe."

The Sardonyx arc had to be handled very carefully since it was an episode explicitly about consent in general, but using fusion as a very specific vehicle in the show. Showing how Pearl caused a serious breach by violating Garnet's consent was important, but it was also important to depict a satisfactory resolution for characters who have been through this.

Erica Luttrell originally auditioned to play Garnet.

Sometimes Rebecca has to ask Erica to be more chill in playing Sapphire because she has a tendency to use more emotional, animated delivery sometimes.

Erica gets into character with help from the storyboard images shown during the recording sessions. Her speaking voice is quite different from Sapphire’s voice.

Volume 2 is completed with this episode. The podcast will be back with more mini-recaps in a couple weeks.

You can read the detailed summary below!

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

McKenzie opens the podcast by acknowledging that everyone's been asking for a Garnet episode, and brings up how Garnet's status as a Fusion was hinted at as far back as the pilot. She gives us an overview of the guests for this week and what they'll be talking about, and then she begins with Rebecca and Ian.

Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey:

Kicking off the discussion of Garnet, Rebecca and Ian start with Garnet's origin as they conceived her character at the beginning. Garnet represents Ian and Rebecca's relationship, so she is a mashup of what the two of them wanted. As they began to make the show together, Ruby was Rebecca's avatar of sorts, while Sapphire was Ian's. Since they were together 24/7 as they put the show together, they got very in sync so they felt they were thinking as a unit, and the way they handled it was very much like Garnet because they had to maintain their relationship's stability WHILE also being in charge of this huge creative process.

Ruby and Sapphire were always a planned aspect of Garnet, though they evolved as characters behind the scenes before they were put on the show. They had initially intended Garnet to split up more often than she does, and wanted to show Steven seeing one of them in the Temple as far back as "Together Breakfast" but not knowing who she was. They dropped that plan, but still included the red and blue lights on the Temple door as an early clue. They really enjoyed watching people try to figure that out, and try to figure out the silhouettes in "Fusion Cuisine."

Ian and Rebecca were pretty amused by how dark the theories were about whether Garnet was a Fusion and what that meant for her character. Many worried that if she were revealed as a Fusion, she would unfuse at some point and not come back, or that maybe there was a terrible reason Ruby and Sapphire stayed fused (like, to keep one of them alive or something). No one seemed to hit on the right answer--that they fused because they were in love. They were actually kind of surprised no one seemed to pick up on it since they showed Garnet being so ecstatic about Stevonnie in "Alone Together." 

In Ian's imagination, Ruby and Sapphire are totally classic cartoon characters, like the adorable characters of "Love Is..." or an angel/devil, ice/fire dynamic. Rebecca brings up characters that are designed to be a couple, like a Mickey/Minnie combo where they look identical except one has eyelashes and a bow. She wanted her characters to still have that classic totally-in-love vibe without having that look. They're super cute.

Ian enjoyed getting to explore Ruby and Sapphire's extremes in "Keystone Motel," and they discuss how this was their last episode they finished together, which felt really cathartic. They tiptoe around discussing the way Ruby and Sapphire fight, warning against going too deep since this does represent their relationship as well, but so much of what they fight about is caused by external factors and the way they try to make something bigger than themselves work smoothly. McKenzie points out that the focus on Ruby and Sapphire has distracted them from talking about Garnet herself, who is after all the intended focus character of this episode!

Ian begins by contrasting Garnet with Opal; Opal is a fragile union because the characters who form her can't keep their balance for long, while Garnet is a much more balanced relationship. Rebecca emphasizes that she is her own person, and Ian suggests she holds so much responsibility as an individual. Rebecca says it helps to think of Garnet as sort of a child of Ruby and Sapphire, with aspects of both of them but functioning as a separate entity. Rebecca says the Gems all struggle with their sense of self, but for Garnet it's a specific type of struggle and when she's on top of it it's more stable than anyone. Ian thinks she's the most impulsive, the most mysterious, and the most difficult to predict her actions. Rebecca says her inner world is very complex.

In discussing Garnet's Future Vision, Rebecca says it's different from Sapphire's ability because Sapphire sees "one future" and is a passive player in that future. Ruby is so impulsive that her actions can interrupt those predictions. So Garnet can see options of what will happen if she interferes. She's always caught up in her own mind pondering these things. She's often overwhelmed by this, and that's why sometimes you'll see her blow off steam doing weird things or being unable to connect with the present. But love keeps her in the here and now when she works on it, and she can bring it forward with warmth and focus.

One "rule" for Garnet is that she does not ask questions (in her present state, that is; she certainly asked many questions in "The Answer," before she was sure of anything). Ian and Rebecca knew about the character trope of someone who's there to ask questions and push the narrative along, and they wanted her to be the opposite. She acknowledges that the phrase "Can't you see that my relationship is stable?" counts as a rhetorical question and she takes responsibility for that.

(Chronicler's note: Garnet HAS asked several other questions that are sort of like this, but like Rebecca is saying here, they are in some way not exactly questions. In "Laser Light Cannon," Garnet says "Ready?" to Amethyst and she nods as if answering before getting thrown at the Red Eye, but you could take that to mean she's telling her to be ready. In "Cheeseburger Backpack," Garnet asks "What've you got?" to Steven as an invitation for him to pull out his raft, but you could see that as a prompt for him to show her. In "Rose's Room," she says "Guess what?" but immediately answers her own question with "We have time to hang out now." In "Watermelon Steven," she's included in the couple of "What??" reactions the Gems have when Steven bursts in with his news about his living watermelons, but it’s not really a question so much as an exclamation of surprise. And besides "Can't you see that my relationship is stable?" there is also the recent episode "Pool Hopping" which features Garnet saying "Who knows?" when Steven asks how long they'll be posing for, but she’s not really asking for a who.)

Garnet's refusal to ask questions is an expression of her sureness, but it is also representative of a pact with Rose--we saw it in "The Answer" ("never question this! you already are the answer!") but Rebecca says we'll learn more about the pact "very soon."

McKenzie brings up Garnet's visor and under what conditions she tends to take it off, and asks what this has to do with Steven being slowly let into Garnet's world. Rebecca says that Garnet is so much happier now that Steven knows she's a Fusion, and that before she was always guarding the secret, worried about upsetting him. They bring up "Three Gems and a Baby," when Garnet unfused for baby Steven and he cried, which made her worry that the truth about her will upset him and she needs to keep it hidden. Originally Rebecca thinks there were lines about Garnet being hurt that Steven as a baby couldn't handle that revelation and that she showed him too soon. His opinion of fusion is really important to her, and she worried about it a lot, but for a long time Steven didn't truly understand fusion. He just thought it was something exciting they could do. But she loves that fusion makes Steven happy, since it's got such negative connotations on Homeworld.

Ian brings up how Garnet sees things differently than any other character; similar to how they discussed Stevonnie's hallucinations in the podcast about fusion, Garnet is always seeing these splitting realities and possibilities, and in "Arcade Mania" that's one reason Garnet found the game "soothing." It was full of predictable futures she could master, allowing her a comfort and an escape. 

Her way of being socially awkward, in contrast to the other Gems, is in her hyperawareness; she's so focused on how others might react to what she says that she will often say nothing. She's frequently drowning in all the input and seeming stoic because it's paralyzing, but what brings her out of those loops is trusting and loving someone else. That love and trust can cut through all the potential ways something can go wrong. It's really hard for her when she's wrong because she so wants to believe in someone, like when she believed Steven wouldn't go on the roof in the episode "Future Vision" and then he did.

One of Ian's favorite Garnet lines is from "Marble Madness": "We can't fight these things forever. Well, we can, but I don't want to."

Joe Johnston and Hilary Florido:

McKenzie welcomes her next guests and asks them to discuss how they approach writing for Garnet. Hilary pipes in about how she actually doesn't get many Garnet episodes because her specialty is the characters who are self-deprecating and Garnet is so the opposite. Joe says Garnet is straightforward but soft-spoken, and ready to dive into any situation on impulse if that's needed. Joe brings up the "no questions" rule as a challenge in writing Garnet. Joe says it's more than just a wordplay issue with writing her dialogue; it forces them to keep her direct and definitive. They've sometimes spent a lot of time trying to get Garnet's lines clear of questions.

They move on to discussing writing for Ruby and Sapphire. Hilary again tends not to write for them. Joe says Sapphire is the calm and collected aspects of Garnet, while Ruby's the impulsive and direct parts of her. Hilary says Fusions are always those parts plus more. Because they didn't reveal Ruby and Sapphire for a long time, Garnet as a gestalt was established as an individual far before they started deconstructing Ruby and Sapphire's personalities on screen. Joe felt it was "a fun time" to explore them. Joe actually compares the situation to writing for Opal, who's an "amazing superhero" like Garnet made up of two almost complete opposites. The balance makes a really impressive combination.

In a convoluted discussion of how "fire and ice" (Ruby and Sapphire) sound cool but also sounds like a bad school dance theme, they conclude that Garnet also has the potential to be the coolest mom but also the most embarrassing mom, considering how goofy she gets when she's happy. She completely can't talk on the phone and really can't interact with humans.

McKenzie brings up "Garnet's Universe" and how it revealed the way Steven thinks about his most mysterious mom. Joe really enjoyed the change of making a "different show." Breaking out of Steven's POV is fun. They also bring up, as an aside, how it was fun to have Michaela and Deedee as sidekicks in that episode, but swapping them so Michaela got to play the cool one and Deedee was silly. They proceed to express confusion over whether Hoppy is the frog or the bunny, and the same for Hopper. (Yes, they got it backwards. Hopper's the frog, played by Deedee; Hoppy's the bunny, played by Michaela. Considering Garnet got it confused once in the episode itself, this is awesome.)

McKenzie moves on to "heavier" episodes, invoking the Sardonyx arc. Hilary said the pitch for "Cry for Help" was handled very carefully. How to "honor" all the characters was very important in trying to do something acceptable with this episode. Joe refers to fusion as a "visual allegory for relationships," which Hilary specifies are "of any kind." Joe wanted to make sure their focus on the importance of consent was handled appropriately for a show that can be consumed by kids, and he felt very gratified by how people totally understood why Garnet was so upset with Pearl. 

Hilary said it was important to get it to work within the show's framework as well as making it resonate with people on a level relatable to their own lives. And then, of course, they had to create a resolution--to show how the characters dealt with mending the break. Having an actual fissure in the team so it can't work was huge for Joe. Hilary really wanted to emphasize that this was not a simple mistake, and that you really have to face mistakes of this magnitude while still figuring out how to move forward.

Erica Luttrell:

McKenzie introduces Erica, voice of Sapphire, and asks her how she got the part. Erica says she actually originally auditioned to play Garnet. Rebecca had seen her singing videos on YouTube, which surprised her; she likes to sing but doesn't like to do it in front of people live. Those videos only exist because a friend insisted she should make them so people would tell her she could sing.

Then Erica discusses her initial understanding of Sapphire, saying she interpreted her as feeling a bit heavy because of that burden of knowing the future, and also that she would read as a little cold and icy, and reserved because of her aristocrat background. But Sapphire comes to fall in love with someone who serves her, and Erica thinks that must have been sort of a relief. And she agrees with McKenzie's assessment that it must have been great to have something unexpected happen.

In discussing fusion, Erica says she really loves that fusion increases positive attributes for Gems who combine, but that for Garnet specifically, it's about love and Estelle's delivery conveys so much peace--evidence of genuine love.

Then McKenzie asks Erica to discuss the difficulty of portraying a character who's cold like Sapphire but also imbue the role with emotion. She sometimes has to be told by Rebecca to chill Sapphire out because she thinks she might be letting some goofiness and emotion creep in.

In portraying a character who can see the future, Erica says it can be challenging--humans can have intuition but can't see the future like Sapphire can, and it must be a totally different life to have a voice in your head that is always telling the truth.

And then McKenzie points out that Erica's speaking voice is quite different from Sapphire's and asks how she gets in character. Reading the script helps, and they can get the tone from the storyboards up on a monitor while they record.

Outro:

McKenzie lets us know that this is the last episode of Volume 2, and we'll return with some more mini-recap episodes in a couple weeks.

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

[miyoron]

Miyo’s Anime of Note 2018 Rainbow Edition

2018 was some kind of a year wasn't it? It was long and a pain in the ass but there was some anime out this year I really enjoyed. I'm here to write down a bunch of shows I enjoyed in no particular order. I might put them in the order I watched them in, or I might not. I guess we'll see huh?

Also, I think there's WAY more this year than usual which means I either like things easily, there were a lot of good shows, all of the above or some other reason. Hope I don't get too long winded on you! Also I'm using whatever names I feel like for naming things off, translated, still Japanese...whaaatever~

Pop Team Epic

Pop Team Epic was everything I wanted it to be and more. I've been a fan of Bkub's work since the early days so to see these two shitty girls finally show up on the anime screen week to week was a pleasure and a delight. The decision to make two separate half episodes with different voice actors for Popuko and Pipimi was a wonderful decision that let us experience things like Aoi Yuki as Popuko and Norio Wakamoto as Pipimi. It also shot the wonderful team of ACBU into the spotlight. Their Bobunemimimmi segments were so disgustingly perfect and fit the tone of the show perfectly. It also gave us one of the best moments in anime this year:

Needless to say, I really hope they are doing a season 2 like it's been rumored. I'm on board for SO much more.

Yuru Camp

This was a show I actually watched twice this year and have subsequently watched multiple episodes just on my own. It is one of my favorite things this year and maybe it's just because of how unassuming it is. There's honestly nothing deep to the show. Cute girls dress in warm winter clothing and go camping. However, the way everything is paced with nice warm colors and chill ass music nestles its way into your heart and fills you with a nice cozy feeling. It's like a blanket, the anime. Just wrap yourself up in the wonderful friend times and maybe you'll learn a thing or two about camping and friendship along the way.

Mitsuboshi Colors

Are adults letting you down? Sure, they're not up to the challenge pretty much all the time. But that's why you should just stay out of the way and let Colors come in to save the day! This trio of girls are ready to save their town and to let shitty cops know what's up. Seriously, it's a cute show with a cute group of friends getting into big adventures, even if those adventures are often due to their own misconceptions. It's a good show with kids who act like kids and are always either talking about poop or are sucking at video games. It's a nice show and has some good performances, as well as the best sunglasses of 2018 in my book.

Karakai no Jouzu Takagi-san

A series about a boy and a girl who are totally crushing on each other, even if one likes to keep it deeply hidden and the other would never admit it really. Oh, also she owns him every chance she can get with teasing. It's like a reverse Tonari no Seki-kun if Seki was not in his own world and was actively trying to make Rumi blush or stumble over herself. This premise may sound mean but it's honestly all in good fun and there's something really cute about the pair's friendship with each other. The way the manga apparently goes makes me really want to check it out sometime too.

Oh also there's a great side trio of friends with and I love how dumb of a baby one of them is.

Hinamatsuri

What happens when a yakuza becomes the dad of a psychic girl who crashed in an egg in his apartment and broke all his vases? This series! Hinamatsuri was a show that got me really hard this year at a couple points where I know I had to either fight back tears or take a few minutes to sit their with a quivering lip and watery eyes. It's an incredibly funny show from  the premise alone but when you have the put upon character of Nitta having to take care of the force of nature that is Hina it just escalates it. On top of that though, there's a good heart to it as well. Anzu is a wonderful character and I love her story and her many grandpas. Also Hitomi's story actively hit me hard to where I felt bad for a fictional child to please just be a child for a little while. It was powerful stuff and I loved it.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

I hate Sword Art Online. I've only watched the first series with the original and faerie times, but I hated it so much. That being said, hearing that the new one was actually good made me seek it out and...thank God it is. Llenn/Karen is just a much more compelling character than the power fantasy that is Kirito. The story of a woman who does not like herself in the real world, but finds a new home and life in virtual reality is a nice little story. On top of that, ditching the stupid "if you die in the game, you die in real life" really helped the show out in my eyes. This show is not about stop some huge over arcing villainous plot to fuck over the whole world or whatever. GGO is about trying to save someone from hurting themselves and honestly, that's a lot more relatable. A recap episode in this day in age IS silly though for what it's worth.

Let's take a short break shall we? For a little section I'm gonna call, Fuck, You Let me Down Man.

Amanchu Advance

I put Amanchu on my list two years ago of Anime of Note because I really enjoyed the tale of friendship it told. Amanchu Advance continues that story and shows Teko slowly becoming more of her own person thanks to that friendship. She wants to become a stronger person, a better version of herself and it's through her friends she's able to do this. The series is still very good at showing these moments but the last few episodes of the show are bogged down in a weird supernatural plot with a ghost boy that I wish they would have just tossed down the shrine steps. The twist at the end with it was not worth sidetracking the story for three episodes in a 12 episode story and soured my experience as a whole. I've been told the author likes doing these sorts of things and I didn't mind the lucid dreaming episodes, but this bit just did not land for me and it's a big bummer.

Here's Another Side Category Called Old Anime I Watched And Enjoyed. Yes, that's the full title.

G Gundam

I don't know why it took me so long to watch this series, but I am glad I did. Maybe I just needed friends to be there to watch it with, who knows. Either way, I'm thankful I got to join Domon on his journey searching for the man in the photograph and to experience the Undefeated of the East in his most powerful form. G Gundam is a goofy setting with a bunch of weird but fun characters and their even weirder mobile suits. I don't know how much I can really say on it since I'm sure most people have probably checked it out years ago on Toonami. It's still fun and good and it has a Gundam who is a boxer and a football man at the same time. Gundam Fight, Readdddddy....GO!

Back to my normal list, though I have grouped the next couple shows in a block I am calling the "I wish these had a full 24 episodes even though I understand why they didn't but please make more I'd love it, ok thanks" block.

A Place Further Than The Universe

This show had...a lot of moments where I was sitting there and just processing all that was going on. A group of girls become friends and join a civilian expedition to Antarctica, one of whom is going there to basically go where her mother had spoken of years ago and never came back. It's a show that I felt compelled to keep watching even though I knew I should have stopped for the night, telling myself "I can watch one more episode..." . It just gripped me and sank its penguin fangs into me. Shut up, I know what I said. Seriously though, the cast of secondary characters are just as fun as the main ones and I enjoyed every minute of it. It definitely destroyed me in one of the more heavy moments near the end though so keep a box of tissues handy ok?

Wotakoi

Love is hard for otaku. It's in the show's translated title and everything. Let me tell you, I'm very happy seeing so many anime featuring adults in the work place these days. Wotakoi is a show I felt a very personal connection to, especially its humor levels. Not going to lie,  I am a Kabakura through and through when it comes to my anime watching and purchasing habits. It's a cute love story with a couple of characters getting together out of convenience before realizing maybe there's something more than that to it. The interactions are great and it's very relatable if you've ever had a friends' game night or anime watching session. It's a show that just feels like it knows just how to speak to you if you've been a fan of anime for a long time.

Hisone to Masotan

Hey, you into dragon vore? Then have I got the show for you buddy. All joking aside, Hisomaso is a show with one of the more fun protagonists I've run into in a while. Hisone's blunt and to the point to the detriment of anything that comes out of her mouth most of the time, but there's something about her honesty that's very endearing. The show's pilots are a great cast and their dragon friends are just as charismatic even if they spend a lot of the time cosplaying as aircraft. This show has a nice story about trying to find just where you fit in within the world and sometimes that's hard. Sometimes the best thing to do is dive into the gullet of a big scaly F-15 and ride the free skies to your heart's content. I love you Masotan.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

This show I think more than any others in this block I wanted more of, even though I know why I don't have more of it. From episode one, I got Utena vibes with the music, the auditions, Hell, even the prefight wardrobe transformations. Stage girls do battle with all of their shine to prove who is truly the top star. That's the basic premise and the cast of characters really helps to flesh it out with their own motivations of what makes them keep going to be the very best they can be. I loved all of the imagery in the auditions and the music and the big doofy giraffe just watching from the stands and enjoying the whole thing. Revue Starlight is a stylish show with some amazing animation and choreography that puts most of the things I watched this year to shame and I need more things like it.

STOP IT'S PRECURE TIME

Go Princess Precure

This is me and Cheapsteak's "old Precure" of the year and it's wonderful. It's a story about dreams and fighting for them. The Princess Precures are maybe not the most relatable of characters as they attend a very prim and proper high class school. One is a business conglomerate's daughter, one's a super model, one's a Princess from another plane entirely. But there is something wonderful how they all work together as friends and work to save everyone's dreams, I don't know there's something very good and wonderful about that. I love that even when it comes to one of the villains, a character in the show goes out of her way to help him with his self esteem (and make up). I don't know, I've got a few episodes left but I just love it. Haruka is my favorite Pink Precure I've met so far and she is gonna be tough to beat.

Hugtto Precure

Very similar to Go Princess is Hugtto, with its message of hope for the future because you can't just stay in the present. There's a great cast of characters and they all work so hard to cheer each others' dreams on, all while taking care of a baby and a hamster from the future. I think this show also has the best mid-seasons Cures I've met so far and just...everything with how supportive and good everyone is to each other has me smiling the whole time. Also in the episodes leading up to the anniversary movie this year, we got some of the best big moments I've seen in a show in a while. A lot of the episodes have some amazing animation work as well and just...I like this show a lot especially what it did to show Hana's pre-show back story as well. Pink Cures are really good huh?

Back to business!

Asobi Asobase

Along with PTE, this was one of the weirder comedies that I watched this year. It's often crass or just outright weird, but that's one of its strong points I think. The show's opening is a giant fakeout from what seems like your ordinary "cute girls doing club things" chill show because you're soon hit with some of the weirdest faces and shrieks that I've run into in a while. The characters are a troublesome group of weirdoes who try to do activities like a normal club but fail horribly at it, often due to one or more of them sabotaging it with their own dumbness. It really says something that the sweetest and most relatable characters are the witch girls who practice curses all day. They're really the best though but so are all of the fucking weirdoes in this show. Also there's ass lasers so if you're into that...

Cells at Work

Learn about the human body while dangerous viruses and germs get fucking iced like they walked into the wrong anime. Follow a red blood cell make her way through the blood stream and lose her way every single time. Thrill at the amazingly adorable platelet crew as they get to work each day. Cells at Work is a weird science shounen show with some great character designs and interactions. The way the cells just are working hard and doing their jobs as best they can is great and you want to root for them so hard. Those Killer T and White blood cells and Macrophages just love killing SO much. It's a fun show that teaches you about biology and anatomy in a somewhat rudimentary but enjoyable manner.

Plus I will stress again, the platelet design is beyond cute.

Skullface Book Seller Honda-san

Honda-san is a cute little series you could watch in an afternoon due to its episode count and length, but it's one I could see myself watching multiple times easily. It's a fun window into the window of book store retail and the Japanese publishing industry. The characters have fun designs, mostly normal bodies with some kind of weird mask/helmet on but they're very relatable. Honda-san does his best to help out the customers, even when their requests tear at his very sanity some times. But that's retail huh? It's fun though, go check out this good skeleton!

Bloom Into You

I think this was the show that intrigued me the most this year because I was just hooked on the relationship between Yuu and Touko and seeing how it advanced. Yuu is a girl who wants to be able to fall in love like everyone else her age seems to be able to and when she finally meets a girl who she thinks feels similarly...that darn senpai falls in love with her. It's a very relatable tale even if you haven't been in a lot of relationships. Seeing Yuu realize her own feelings slowly grow towards Touko and the issues that come up because of was something that had me wanting to find out more each week. It also was the show that took me the longest to come to my final thoughts on too due to its ending but ultimately, I'm glad I watched it.

Zombieland Saga

Honestly, I'm glad to start and end this list with certifiable bangers. The concept of zombies becoming idols sounds like it could just go so wrong but it doesn't. It's so good and fun and goofy. The characters are all really fun and goofy but still have depth to them, even zombie brained legend Yamada Tae. I love this show and every character in it and if there were Franchouchou concerts done like a Hatsune Miku tour, I'd go so hard. Zombieland Saga is a good and powerful show and it even has a good ending with a sequel hook. Watch these girls and cheer them on, that is an order.

I normally do a "Shows I'll Watch Next Year" section but I realize I never end up doing it so I'm just going to add one of my current ones I know I'll continue watching.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind

Come on, you knew this was going to be on here right? I'm curious where this gangster plot line is going and can't wait to continue next year.

So that's my list, I hope you enjoyed it. For a special treat to go into 2019, I leave you with the best moment in anime 2018. Peace!

Ah well I got copyright striked so here’s a mirror

https://streamable.com/87z73

[talabib]

How To Pivot Into A New Career

Maybe you’re dissatisfied with your current position and are looking to start a new company. Maybe you want to transfer to a new position within your firm or even change industries. Perhaps you’re a manager who wants your employees to be satisfied and productive.

Regardless of which of these might apply to you, you probably know that making a major shift in your career direction can take time, and – if done badly – can be very expensive.

There are four steps you can use to pivot: plant, scan, pilot and, finally, launch. There’s also a fifth element, lead, if you’re a manager looking to apply these useful lessons for your own employees.

Changing career paths is becoming increasingly common and isn’t something to be afraid of.

We all know the feeling: you’re stuck in a rut in your job, but you’re too scared to switch things up and get out. After all, it might well put your finances at risk. Perhaps your family and friends have expressed concern at your desire to change tracks. They might even say it’s some sort of age-related crisis. But guess what? It’s perfectly normal for you to feel that way.

These days, it’s quite normal to have multiple careers. Few people stay at the same company for their entire working lives before retiring – things just don’t work that way anymore.

In fact, the average American employee stays in one position for just four to five years. Adam Chaloeicheep is a case in point. Chaloeicheep was once creative director of a real estate development company in Chicago, but, burnt out, he left his job and headed off to Thailand to study meditation.

Eight months later he was back. His mind was clear. His passions for fashion, technology, entrepreneurship and brand strategy would now guide him. He went back to school to broaden his skill set and then started his own company, ABC Design Lab. Fulfillment and financial success followed soon after.

Yes, Chaloeicheep’s story is a little on the extreme side. But it’s indicative of a broader trend. A recent Gallup poll showed that up to 90 percent of employees are either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” from their jobs. It’s no great surprise, then, that people are on the lookout for new opportunities.

Crises that make you look elsewhere are in no way voluntary. But you can use that same outward-looking mentality to make a deliberate career shift in a new direction. It’s known as a career pivot, and to do it, you don’t even have to leave your current employer.

Let’s take Amy Schonberger as an example. She felt stuck as a senior creative strategist in a public relations firm, but she wasn’t ready to ditch just yet.

Rather than looking for new jobs, Schonberger started taking responsibility for social media and blogging. Her coworkers weren’t interested themselves. They felt working in social media would damage their reputations.

But Schonberger knew better, and before long, she found herself dealing with the company’s biggest clients. Her status as a social media expert soon led to her appointment to a new, official role: director of digital entertainment.

Step back and define your values so you know what you want to achieve.

It makes no difference whether you want to start a company or if you want to take on a new role at your current firm – change can be overwhelming.

However, you can make things easier by zooming out to get the big picture and thinking about how you want to plant your pivot.

There’s no need to get tangled up in the hows and whens of your pivot just yet. First of all, establish your vision: think carefully about what your broader values are.

Jenny once had a client, Justin, who was sick of working for his family’s real estate business. Instead of delving into the issues of what Justin should do, her first step was to identify Justin's values and status.

Through their discussions, they determined that the most important factors for Justin were his health, financial security, environment and relationships with like-minded people. Based on this information, they were able to discuss Justin’s career options together.

Within a few months, Justin had been accepted to a business school in San Diego on a scholarship. There, he was able to meet new and inspiring friends, in a place that offered an inspiring and healthy environment.

The trick is to keep the focus of your dreams tight. Don’t start thinking long-term and in generalities; instead, define a pivot vision based on your values for the next couple of years.

Consider the jenny’s sister-in-law, Gillian. One day, while on the conveyor-belt career path that would make her a lawyer, she realized she wanted to get off.

She didn’t want to spend the year after law school writing legal documents – she wanted to become more engaged. She needed an environment in which she could be flexible and physically active, and in which she could interact with like-minded peers. Perhaps most of all, she wanted to start a business and a family with her husband.

Gillian had been taking a CorePower Yoga Teacher Training course at the time. Soon after starting, yoga had become central to her happiness.

Even though she passed the bar, she decided to quit her position at the law firm to teach at a yoga studio and get involved in the yoga business. She was able to utilize her unique background to her advantage, and soon had a managerial position at the studio. This work left her feeling far more fulfilled than she would ever have been as a lawyer.

The lesson here is clear: if you clearly define your values and your vision, you’ll be more equipped for large-scale changes. You’ll know just what to do when those daunting decisions inevitably come up.

Pivot to your new career by focusing on your strengths and evaluating your financial situation.

Thinking about making a change to your career is almost sure to stoke anxiety. It would for anyone. After all, you’ll be starting from scratch and losing your current regular paycheck.

To deal with this fear while you’re planting your pivot, you’ll need to evaluate your current situation; this is the second part of planting. It implies considering how your current strengths will help you move on and up.

The result is that you won’t be starting over with a blank slate, as you’ll know exactly where your strengths lie. Ask yourself: Are there any specific challenges I’m attracted to? What energizes me?

Sometimes, your career portfolio can provide the answer. Other times, you might have to look back a bit.

Take Jason Shen. He began in content marketing, but took up a product manager position at a start-up. As he was transitioning into his new role, he found an end-of-the-year evaluation from his kindergarten years hidden among old documents at home. In it his teacher had written, “He especially enjoys computer work, games and making things.”

It was confirmation that his interest in computers and building had been there from the start. And what’s more, it gave him a huge boost of confidence: he realized that he wasn’t some hanger-on to Silicon Valley culture. He now knew that his new position was sure to play to the strengths he had had his entire life.

You can also decrease the stress involved in change by obtaining a better understanding of your financial situation. That way, you’ll know when you can afford to take a big risk and – just as critically – when you can’t.

Let’s look at Andrew Deffley. When he turned 30, Deffley decided to transition away from being a production manager at NFL Films, where he’d been for eight years. He wanted to fulfil his lifelong dream and become an actor, but he knew he couldn’t go into it blindly. He had to take stock of his financial situation and come up with a plan.

First, he would save enough so that he could take a six-month break from NFL Films. He could use that time to see if acting was the right thing for him. Then, if he still wasn’t earning enough from acting alone after six months, he would start up a side hustle of production-related work. That way, he could continue to audition for roles.

These side earnings played to Deffley's strengths by using his already-acquired skills. He was able to keep himself financially secure, while simultaneously pivoting toward his dream career with confidence. It worked out well. Since starting, Deffley has landed roles in web series and TV shows including I Love Ryan? and Orange is the New Black.

Successful pivoters rely upon a network of mentors and advisors.

Once you’ve got a good idea of the foundations required for a pivot, then it's time to scan for opportunities.

Some people think what’s needed at this stage is a career mentor, someone to dispense expert advice in the long term. But it can be a laborious task finding someone to take on this time-consuming role. But no worries, it’s actually better to work with a series of one-off mentors and experts.

In many cases, these advisory sessions morph into longer-term mentorships. When jenny was beginning as a career coach and speaker, she didn’t look for a long-term mentor. Instead, she called up Susan Biali, an expert in coaching and speaking, and asked for a one-off conversation.

During the call, Biali offered to help her on a regular basis, even suggesting they check in each month. They’ve actually kept in contact to this day.

If you think of these conversations as one-off interactions, that’ll park questions relating to long-term mentorship. You won’t feel you’re pushing your mentor for more time in the future.

Aside from these one-off mentors, you should also build up a mastermind group of friends and peers with similar interests, who you can ask whenever questions come to mind.

Let’s consider Luke Schrotberger. He was a consultant to an Alaskan oil and gas group and he wanted to pivot within his company. Schrotberger reached out to a peer for guidance. He had himself pivoted within the company.

Your mastermind group might include friends who have similar goals to you. Jenny and her friend Alexis Grant are just like this. While they were both writing their books, they made sure to be in daily contact to keep each other on track by sharing experiences with each other.

But what do you do when you don’t have friends or colleagues who can help? Thankfully the internet is a savior here. There are loads of courses, sites and communities you can access.

One of these courses worked for Lora Koenig, who found a mastermind group thanks to the program. She used them as a support system as she transitioned from product management to agricultural development as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Ethiopia.

However you choose to find your support network, the general lesson is clear: the relationships you foster at the start of your pivot are sure to help you throughout the entire pivoting process.

Generate opportunities rather than waiting for them to present themselves.

We all know those people who are a bit too passive in their outlook; they sit around waiting for a miracle to happen.

If you really want to switch things up, however, you need to actively scan for new breaks. And the most successful pivoters are those who look for opportunities related to their strengths.

Consider Shawn Henry. In 1999, he’d been at the FBI for ten years and wanted to transition from his job as a special agent into a supervisory role.

However, despite his experience and dedication, Henry found his applications rejected when he applied for four different positions across the agency. Then, he noticed that the position of chief of computer investigations was being advertised.

Although Henry had no experience in the FBI’s computer division, he reckoned that he could lead the division in the face of rising digital crime. He felt he could apply the tactics he’d learned as a special agent – such as wiretapping and undercover work – to the digital realm and to the internet.

He landed the job. Eventually, Henry worked his way up to becoming executive assistant director, the third-most important position in the FBI, before founding his own cybersecurity start-up, CrowdStrike. And it was all made possible by being proactive and using his strengths to sniff out opportunities.

Another way you can create your own opportunities is by doing what’s known as platform-building, which can help make your desired direction known to all.

Photographer Daniel Kelleghan is a good example. After quitting his product photography job at Groupon, he was able to shoot the fashion and architecture photos he’d always wanted to. In the meantime, he used corporate gigs to supplement his income.

Kelleghan was able to gain a cult following for his photos on Instagram. Thanks to Instagram featuring his work, he was able to hit 100,000 followers almost overnight, which gave him an instant breakthrough.

These days, Kelleghan’s platform gives his clients, such as Audi and Warby Parker, a way to get in contact to ask if he can shoot their products. He offers companies the chance to place their products in his Instagram feed, and he especially likes contacting hotels in places he wants to visit. That way, he gets to travel and stay in nice hotels for free.

The point is that Kelleghan never stopped creating opportunities. He achieved success through education, hard work and sheer will. Without that, his “lucky break” would never have been possible.

Before pivoting properly, pilot your ideas with small, low-risk experiments.

You've identified your next big move, and you’ve done it by recognizing your values and finding helpful resources. Now it's time to test out your vision in the third stage of the four-step method: piloting.

The idea here is to seek out ways to pilot small-scale versions of your larger vision. That way, you can determine through experimentation whether your pivot is actually something that thrills you. Based on the results, you can adjust your methods according to your strengths and goals.

Let’s look at Christian Roberts and Bill Connelly, the improv comedians behind Angry Landlord, a New York comedy show. Angry Landlord began as an experimental collaboration, since the comedians wanted to channel their talents into a new format that would fit with their interests.

However, when they looked out from the stage during their third show and saw just eight people in the audience, they knew they’d have to adapt. What was and wasn’t working? What were their strengths?

Then they hit upon the answer: they had to network with comedians and build their brand. As such, they adjusted their approach and started building their social media profile. Before too long, they were posting short YouTube videos and expanding their network of comedians.

Thanks to these efforts, Angry Landlord has been a sellout show ever since.

Sometimes you should pilot in stages, which means incrementally increasing the risk in your experiments. That way, you don’t enact new changes all at once.

Bob Gower did this. He’s a business consultant for Fortune 100 companies but was once working on developing a beginners' bondage course for couples.

Gower set up a series of pilots to test his idea. However, he used the pseudonym Ryan White so as to keep the hustle separate from his day job.

Instead of going all-in with a huge investment in the project, Gower continued his consulting. He thought that if enough people were interested in the Facebook group and the free PDF guide to basic bondage he’d written, he’d see it as an indication that there would also be interest in an e-book. And then, if his e-book was successful, he’d work on developing an online course.

However, the experiments turned out differently than he expected. Gower still liked the project, but realized there wasn’t any point expanding it into a full-time gig.

It wasn’t a waste of time, though. He was able to use his real-life stories about his bondage business endeavor in his consulting work. Not only did it give him an edge, it also made him seem authentic.

Maybe you, like Gower, will find that your piloting will take you down a different path from the one you first envisaged.

Fears involved in launching your pivot can be overcome by setting yourself launch criteria.

Once you’ve evaluated your values for planting your pivot, scanned for opportunities and connections and piloted your putative move, the only thing left to do is launch. But for some people, fear of failure can keep them from actualizing their pivot in the first place.

Don’t get caught in this trap. Identify specific launch criteria to determine when to set your plan in action. You’ll need to engage in some basic troubleshooting and be prepared.

Using launch criteria worked for Tom Meitner. Meitner worked answering customer service emails. His wife, Amanda, did the same job but on a different shift. They never had the chance to see each other.

Meitner knew he was overqualified for his job and decided to write to 300 companies and offer his services as a copywriter. Meitner reckoned that a benchmark of success would be earning $2,500 a month freelancing. If he hit that figure, he would know he could launch properly. Within three weeks he had already made $3,000.

Soon enough, he found himself in a position where he could take on more interesting work, instead of just anything he could get his hands on. Not long after that, he was able to raise his rates, and was making a six figure sum each year – all while working mostly at home.

Meitner’s launch criterium was a financial benchmark, but yours needn’t be. It could also be a specific date, a milestone, an indication of external approval – such as acceptance to grad school – or even a gut feeling.

More often than not, the anxieties involved in launching are rooted in a fear of failure. Just remember, though, that a good pivot also involves diverging from an original concept, especially if it’s clear that things aren’t going to plan. That’s not failure – that’s adaptation.

Take Christian and John. They pivoted from their jobs as commodities traders and began SpringUps, an urban farming business. Even though the start-up was proving to be profitable after a year, it was clear that the project wasn’t going to be the cash cow they’d hoped. It wasn’t enough even to secure the financial future that was so important to them both.

Consequently, they sold the company and parted ways – but they were able to bounce back. Rather than going back to trading, John landed a job at a predictive analytics startup. Christian, on the other hand, took a job in sales at a technology company.

Ultimately, failures are just opportunities for another pivot. And if you feel stuck then just go back to those first three steps: plant, scan and pilot. And that’s how you pivot!

Managers can implement the pivot method within their own companies.

What’s so great about the pivot method is that its usages aren’t limited to those pivoting into new careers. In fact, managers can employ it within their own companies.

Although managers rarely discuss career mobility with their employees, a recent Inc. survey found that 51 percent of CEOs identified their biggest challenge as "attracting and retaining skilled employees."

If you're a manager, it's up to you to begin talking to your employees about pivoting. That’s how you keep good staff.

Let’s consider Courtney John-Reader, an employee at an architectural firm. John-Reader felt she’d run her course as a digital communications coordinator at the company.

Although she liked her projects as well as the company’s work, she felt she wasn’t valued enough, no matter how hard she worked. In the end, she quit.

Sadly, John-Reader’s feelings are common among staff. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to promote and communicate a culture of mobility and recognition.

But don’t discuss with your employees what they could or should being doing. Instead, use the basics of the pivot method: lead open-ended discussions using the simple question, "what's next?"

On top of those efforts in leading a general discussion, you should offer real opportunities for your employees.

Take the business and analytics software company SAS. SAS’s motto is “Pursue Growth and Learning.” It’s therefore keen on helping its employees reach their professional and personal goals. Consequently, the company offers business tools, equipment for hire, research resources and over 16,000 books, all with that aim in mind.

You can also offer career programs to your employees. The supermarket chain Whole Foods does just this. It has job-specific certification programs that its employees can take, such as the training for the American Cheese Society’s Certified Professional Exam. These programs mean Whole Foods employees can gain skills and pivot to work in specialist sections within the company’s supermarkets.

Just remember: be creative! It’s your aim to foster an environment where employees neither stagnate nor quit. It’s up to you to provide opportunities for them to pivot internally based on their skills and interests. In the end, it will be the company that benefits.

When seeking a career shift, begin by identifying your values, strengths and situation. If you then take small steps toward your goal and run experiments to test your way, pivoting can become not only manageable, but a way to keep your career exciting and dynamic. In today's job climate, pivoting provides you with the mentality you need to adapt to your surroundings, while fostering connections and opportunities.

[awkwardnessandbaseball]

CS Countdown to Christmas

Alright y’all, I think it’s time to confess that the last few days will either be belated Christmas, or will be New Year’s themed instead... It’s Christmas Day and I’m still 4 days behind :o

But, here’s day 8!

Challenge: Matchmaker

AO3

Emma couldn’t believe she’d been roped into such a dumb idea as a blind dating game show. She should never have bet with Mary Margaret, especially on football. The woman barely understood what was going on in the game, but her instincts were out of this world.

“The Eagles are gonna kill them,” she’d claimed. “They’ll beat the Cowboys by at least three touchdowns.”

Emma had laughed.

“The birds are good this year, M’s, but the Cowboys/Eagles rivalry is no joke. I think their defense can put up a better fight than that.”

“Do you wanna bet money on it?” Mary Margaret had asked innocently, already knowing the answer.

“I don’t bet money. Too boring.”

“Then what shall we bet?” And Emma just knew Mary Margaret had some dastardly plan ready to go, that she’d planned this from the moment Emma had invited her and David over to watch Sunday football.

But she always was a sucker for a good bet.

“If I win, and the Eagles win by anything less than 21 points, or if they lose entirely, then you are never in your life allowed to try and set me up on a blind date ever again.” Emma was excited. Her chances were good – not great, but good enough to at least try to get the ever-meddling, well-meaning Mary Margaret to back off of her romantic life. Or lack thereof.

“Deal. But if they win by more than 21 points, you have to audition for that show I’ve been telling you about,” Mary Margaret’s eyes were sparkling with mischief.

“That new dating show? No way!”

“I think that’s a fair trade-off, actually. If I can’t help you anymore if you win, then you should have to do something to help yourself if I win.”

“David, tell your wife that I’m not some prize to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.”

“I’m not listening. I’m watching the game. Your bets are your business.” Classic David Nolan, never any help when Emma needed him.

Okay, that was an obvious lie, but he really wasn’t being any help right now.

“Fine, I’ll bet. But only because I know there’s no way the Eagles are gonna win by three entire touchdowns.”

37-9, Eagles. Final score.

So, a month later, a mere week before Christmas, Emma found herself in a skin-tight hot pink dress – so not her color – on a soundstage lit by insanely hot lights, with people powdering her face left and right so she wouldn’t sweat on camera. There were cheesy Christmas decorations everywhere, wreaths and fairy lights and ribbons. A Christmas tree sat in the corner of the stage with fake gifts underneath.

Great.

The premise of the game was simple. She would ask three random guys a bunch of questions, but she wouldn’t be able to see their faces. Then, at the end, based on their answers, she’d have to pick one to go on a date with.

Exactly the kind of set-up Emma hated more than anything, and Mary Margaret damn well knew it.

But she’d lost the bet, fair and square, so she had to make the best of it.

The host of the show, a nervous looking redhead with glasses, made his way over to her.

“Emma? I’m Archie, I’ll be your host this afternoon. I hope you’re excited – we’ve got some really interesting bachelors here today.”

Excited wasn’t the word, but Archie didn’t need to know that Emma was here against her will.

“I can’t wait to get started,” Emma smiled in what she hoped was good enough to look genuine. Archie seemed pleased, so she supposed it was good enough.

Twenty minutes later, Emma was situated in a comfortable chair with a huge wall next to her. She had a microphone in her hand and a stack of cards in her lap. The questions were all pre-written, and then she’d get to make up her own at the end if she wanted.

She did not want.

Emma tried to look vaguely interested as the lights got brighter and the red lights on the cameras went on, while Archie explained the rules of the game to what was supposedly a captive audience.

“Welcome to The New Dating Game!” Archie began. “The rules of the game are simple. Our bachelorette here,” he motioned towards Emma, “will ask questions of three complete strangers. She will not be able to see the men she’s speaking to, and they will not be able to see her. After Emma has asked as many questions as she so desires, she’ll choose one of the men to go on a date with. And, since this is a twist on the classic game show from many years ago, we of course have a few tricks up our sleeves!”

Emma didn’t know about any tricks. She worked hard to keep her smile on, not letting anyone know she hadn’t read the contract she’d signed, which probably explained each of the tricks in full detail.

“First, Emma is allowed to phone a friend! The gentlemen on the other side will be given noise-proof headphones so that Emma can call a friend and consult her, or him! Next, there will be a competition after the first round. Emma will be given three categories, and her bachelors will have to complete a challenge. Emma, of course, will decide the winner. The final ‘twist’, if you will, will be revealed later on in the game. Let’s get ready to play!”

The camera panned over to Emma, and she already felt a layer of sweat forming on her brow. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and vowed to ignore the cameras and just…ask questions.

“Hi, I’m Emma Swan, from Storybrooke, Maine. I’m a police detective, I’m 28, and I’ve been single for a while, so I guess I’m just trying to put myself back out there,” she recited the script Mary Margaret had put together for her. She couldn’t very well admit that she was here for a bet.

“Excellent, welcome Emma! And now, onto our bachelors!”

“Um, hi, I’m Graham. I’m 31, and I’m from Boston. I’m a police officer, so it sounds like we’ve already got something in common. I spend my free time camping, and I…I’m excited to be here.”

Graham sounded nervous, but kind. There was a bit of a hesitation at the end, as though he’d wanted to say something but had changed his mind. Emma had to admit that dating a fellow officer would be nice – they’d understand each other in a way that people who weren’t on the force didn’t really comprehend.

“I’m Walsh, I’m 34. I’m from McCreary County, Kentucky. I know that sounds far, but I’m willing to relocate for the right person,” Walsh paused, as though he’d expected a reaction there, but he was met with silence. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m a business owner, and I don’t have a lot of time to meet people, so I thought this would be a cool, new way to try to date again.”

Walsh sounded…awkward. There was something about him Emma inherently didn’t trust, and the audience’s lack of reaction to his intent to move across the country for a stranger was very telling. She’d already crossed out his name mentally, but knew she’d still have to ask him questions.

“I’m Killian,” a third voice began. “I’m 32, from Portland, Maine. I’m a fisherman, which sounds boring, I’m sure, but I assure you, it’s anything but. I’m a bit of an adventurer, and I’m just looking for someone to be my co-pilot in life.”

Emma’s mouth moved from a forced, toothy grin, to a genuine smile. She loved adventure, was always dying for an excuse to leave the small-town life, even for just a moment.

“Excellent, welcome gentleman! Alright, let’s get started with some questions. The first round will be fairly simple, just basic ‘getting to know you’ questions. Emma, are you ready?”

“Yes, Archie.” She picked up her stack of cards. “Walsh, if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?” She threw him a softball question – almost any answer would be acceptable, really. Emma just wanted to get questioning him out of the way so she could ask the other two some real questions.

“Oz,” he said simply, and she pictured a faceless man crossing his arms over his chest proudly. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“Australia, that’s interesting! Why?”

“Oh, I meant like…from the story. The Wizard of Oz. You didn’t say it had to be a real place,” another pause for a reaction. More silence. “I loved that book as a kid, I just think it would be really neat to go there and meet the wizard, you know? Don’t you think?”

The wizard was a total scumbag and a liar, Emma thought to herself. But sure.

Even Archie looked a bit puzzled by Walsh’s answer, but the cameras weren’t on him. They were on Emma.

So she laughed and went with it.

“Sure! Um, Graham, same question.”

“I’d go to Ireland,” he answered with no hesitation. “My parents came from Ireland just after they got married, and I always wanted to see the place they grew up.”

The response was normal, and even sentimental, the kind of thing Emma should probably be looking for. But the way Graham talked about his parents, she knew he’d had a happy childhood with them. Would he understand her trauma, her fear of abandonment?

Woah, Swan, slow down. It’s only a game, she reminded herself. No permanent decisions were coming from this.

“Okay, Killian, are you a morning person or a night owl?”

He laughed a bit, a soothing sound that Emma found herself wanting to hear more of.

“Well, my job forces me to be a morning person, but truthfully, I’m a bit of a night owl. It makes waking up in the mornings very difficult, especially in the winter when I’m chilled to the bone and it’s still dark outside for hours after my alarm goes off. But I love what I do, so I make it work.”

The sincerity in his voice was obvious. He’d taken such a small thing and made it sound so important, and Emma found herself wanting to learn more.

The first round passed quickly, and she tried her best to divvy up the questions equally, but she knew she was paying more attention to Killian than anyone else.

“And that concludes the first round!” Archie exclaimed, looking relieved to have reached the end of Walsh’s diatribe about his best qualities, a question Emma hadn’t anticipated him answering so verbosely.

They took a short break, and the men were led off the stage through a side door. Emma tried to sneak a peek, knowing she shouldn’t, but all she caught was dark hair, the back of a leather jacket, and jeans that fit just right. She didn’t know which one of them it was, but she was hoping it wasn’t Walsh, because the man looked good.

She headed over to the catering table, grabbing a few cookies before the makeup team came to slap more powder on her face and the hair team came to tease her curls and the wardrobe team came to adjust her dress.

She felt like a museum exhibit, being poked and prodded to be shown off to the masses.

“Let’s get ready for round two! We’ll begin with the competition. Emma, in the envelope I’ve handed you, you’ll find a list of three challenges. You’ll choose one, and your suitors will compete in whichever competition you decide on. You’ll then choose the winner.” Archie turned to face the camera and the audience. “Emma will then be shown a photo of the winner, but only a small piece of him. It could be a hand, or an ear, it could be an entire face, or just a shirt. It’s a surprise!”

Emma really should have read the contract. She plastered on her camera-ready smile again and peeled open the envelope.

“Emma, will you please read the list of challenge options?”

“Um, okay. So first, is poetry – the bachelors will have thirty seconds to compose a poem about me. Next, singing – I’ll choose a song and they’ll each have to sing a verse of it. Finally, open-ended talent – the bachelors have each pre-chosen a talent they’d like to share, should I choose this option.”

Emma thought for a moment.

She thought about what talent Walsh could have possibly brought to the table, and decided that she didn’t want to sit through his magic tricks or whatever else he wanted to show off.

She chose singing.

“And for the song, let’s do ‘Hey There Delilah’. It’s old, but I think most people our age know it.”

Archie nodded his agreement, and they waited a moment for the song to begin. Emma could see a screen out in the audience, above their heads, showing the words to the men.

“Hey there Delilah, What’s it like in New York City? I’m a thousand miles away, But girl tonight you look so pretty, Yes you do. Times Square can’t shine as bright as you. I swear it’s true,”

Emma was pleasantly surprised by Graham’s singing voice. He continued singing and Emma found herself swaying just a little bit.

She was more disappointed than she should have been when Walsh’s turn came.

“Hey there, Emma, I know times are getting hard, But just believe me, girl, Someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar,”

He was off-beat, as though he’d never heard the song before, and inserting her name was a bold move. If she hadn’t already been so turned off by him, she might have thought it was cute, but instead it just seemed like he was trying too hard. He sang the word guitar with a sneer in his voice, as though he were disgusted by the idea of making money with music.

A real catch, this Walsh.

Finally, his turn was over, and Emma was surprised to hear an extra guitar mixed in with the soundtrack playing throughout the studio. The audience gasped, and Emma knew Killian must have been playing right along with the music.

“A thousand miles seems pretty far, But they’ve got planes and trains and cars, I’d walk to you if I had no other way. Our friends would all make fun of us And we’ll just laugh along because we know That none of them have felt this way. Delilah, I can promise you, That by the time that we get through, The world will never ever be the same, And you’re to blame.”

By the time he finished the song, Emma was finished. She knew, right then, that she’d be picking Killian. She just had to make it through this round and then whatever the bonus round held. She just had to pretend that there was any decision-making left to do for a tiny bit longer.

The Plain White T’s were her guilty pleasure – a band no one listened to anymore, but she’d bought each new song, every album, as it came out. When she was alone in her apartment, she’d blast the whole discography, loving the strong emotions each song brought out in her. That Killian had brought out a guitar, and had known the song already…it touched her somewhere deep in her heart, in a place she hadn’t been sure existed anymore.

Mary Margaret was never going to let her live this down.

The audience cheered, some of them even standing, and Emma imagined a faceless body taking a shy bow before sitting back down. She bet he had a nervous tick – tugging his hair or scratching his ear or something of that kind.

Emma wanted to see his face.

“Alright, Emma, have you decided on a winner?”

“It’s a tough call, Archie,” she could see in his face that he knew as well as she did that it was not, in fact, all that difficult of a choice, “but I have to go with Killian.”

The audience cheered again, and Emma wished more than ever that she could just skip the rest of the show and choose Killian now.

“Excellent, and it seems the audience agrees with you! Here’s your sneak preview of your bachelor.”

Archie handed her an envelope, waiting patiently as she opened it. Emma saw the light on the screen behind her change, and she knew the audience was being shown the same photo she was: an eye.

It was, quite possibly, the bluest eye she’d ever seen, framed by thick black lashes. She could see his eyebrow as well, raised as though he wasn’t sure why the photographer had zoomed in so much on his eyeball. She saw skepticism and sass, qualities she liked in a man, as she possessed them herself.

She’d never been so attracted to an eye before.

“Wow, Killian, you’ve got a really handsome eyeball,” she laughed.

He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Thank you. I uh…thank you for picking me as the winner.”

Emma looked at Archie quickly.

“Can I ask a question pertaining to the challenge that isn’t from the cards?”

“Sure, Emma, that’s fine.”

“Killian, did I hear you playing guitar while you were singing?”

“Ah, um, yes. That was the talent I’d chosen, and since I knew the song we were singing, and the guitar was right here with me, I thought, why not?”

“It was very good.”

“Thank you,” and again Emma was picturing him with some sort of nervous tick. She needed to know what it was.

It was Archie’s turn to clear his throat – so much for Emma still playing along, acting as though she hadn’t picked her match after one round.

The second round passed much like the first, but Emma began avoiding questioning Walsh as much as possible, without being too obvious. It was clear that he was angry at not being chosen as the winner of the competition, and his answers were all coming out bitter.

“Walsh, what do you value in a relationship?”

“I value honesty and integrity. And I love when it’s acknowledged that I’ve done something kind for someone, even something small. I think it’s important to remember that even small romantic gestures are, you know, still romantic.”

Was he talking about inserting her name into a song he’d sang two verses of?

Emma looked to Archie for help, but he simply shrugged helplessly. They were just going to have to keep playing the game.

It was during the break before the third and final round that Emma realized she’d never even used her ‘phone a friend’ option. Normally, in real life circumstances not orchestrated by a television game show, she’d call Mary Margaret to complain about whatever moron she’d gone out with. Mostly, they were dates planned by Mary Margaret herself, so Emma was calling to scold her, but even the dates she went on of her own accord usually ended in a phone call.

She could complain about Walsh, she guessed, but she didn’t need to call Mary Margaret to help her choose her winner, which was supposed to be the point of the ‘phone a friend’ option. She’d done that on her own ages ago.

She was really never going to live this down.

“Alright, welcome back, and let’s get started on Round Three!” Archie’s excitement seemed a bit more forced this time, as though he, too, knew Emma had already chosen, and just wanted to get to the end. “But first, our final twist! Between rounds, we polled our audience and asked them who they thought Emma should choose to be her date. If Emma’s choice aligns with our audience’s choice, there’s a special Christmas surprise in it for both of them.”

Oh, God.

She remembered the audience’s reaction to Killian’s singing, to his guitar playing. All of their ‘aww’s at him and Graham, and their silence at Walsh.

She really hoped they were smart enough to know what she’d figured out two rounds ago.

The third round was short, a lightning round where Emma asked a question and the bachelors answered in order: Graham, Walsh, and then Killian, with one-word answers only.

“Why are you on the show today?”

“Love.”

“Se—love.”

“Bet.”

The audience gasped collectively, and there was murmuring as they talked about what that could possibly mean.

Emma paused, despite the clock ticking above the audience, telling her she only had thirty seconds left to finish off any more questions she had.

Killian was here because of a bet?

She shook it off, knowing she’d have to ask him about it later, and moved on. The seconds ticked by slowly, and then finally the buzzer sounded.

“That’s it! Time’s up!” Archie sounded far too relieved, and quickly turned his megawatt smile back on. “Have you made your decision, Emma? There’s still that ‘phone a friend’ option if you--,”

“Killian,” she said firmly.

Archie grinned at her.

“Very well, let’s see what the audience had to say.”

The screen behind her changed again, as did the one above the audience.

7% for Walsh, 26% for Graham, 67% for Killian.

“Looks like you two get our Christmas surprise bonus! First, let’s meet the bachelors you didn’t choose.”

It took all of Emma’s self-control to not tap her foot impatiently and cross her arms over her chest. Instead, she let her arms hang loosely by her sides, forcing her fake, camera-ready smile back on.

Graham came out first. A handsome man with a rugged look to him. Emma definitely found him attractive, but she hadn’t been blown away by him the way she had by Killian. She wished she could give him her number so they could hang out sometime – she could use a friend who worked in the same career as she did, aside from David – but she knew that would be inappropriate, and probably a little weird.

Graham politely shook her hand, and then asked if he could hug her. She nodded, and he wrapped her in a tight embrace. She found herself returning the hug, and wishing once again that they could be friends somehow.

“I have a confession to make,” he whispered. “I’m relieved you didn’t pick me. I’m sort of seeing someone, but we started dating after I auditioned. It’s still new, so I didn’t want to cancel, but I’m just…I’m really glad you didn’t pick me, even though you’re beautiful, and a total catch.”

“She’s a lucky, girl, Graham,” Emma smiled. He nodded at her, and made his exit.

Walsh was next. He was tall, and made up of all angles – skinny and sharp and angry. She wondered if, perhaps, when he smiled, he was more attractive, but she’d never get the chance to find out. He shook her hand roughly, mumbled something about your loss, and then walked away.

Good riddance.

Finally, a leather jacket and well-fitting jeans rounded the corner. Blue eyes stared at her, both eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I didn’t expect you to be so…,” he trailed off.

She looked up at him, pleasantly surprised by the amount of scruff on his face and the artfully messed up style to his hair.

“It’s nice to actually meet you,” Emma said, reaching out her right hand.

“You, as well.” He took her hand in his and, before she knew what he was doing, kissed it. He blushed a bit and scratched behind his ear with his left hand, still holding onto hers with the other.

A nervous tick.

“You mentioned a bet,” Emma said. He looked embarrassed, so she confessed first. “I’m here because I lost a bet, too.”

His eyes widened and his grip on her hand tightened just a bit.

“My friends have been ragging on me for months to put myself out there. The whole thing seemed hokey and fake, but my best friends, Robin and Will, and I were playing Texas Hold ‘Em, and I couldn’t resist when Robin said ‘let’s make this more interesting’. And I can’t resist interesting, but I lost, so here I am.”

“Some friends.”

“Indeed.” He was full-on smiling at her now, her right hand still gripped in his.

“So, are you two ready to hear about the date you’ll be going on?”

Oh, right. This whole thing ended in a date that the show planned out for them. Emma had completely forgotten that there was a point to all of this, that she wasn’t just here to stare into blue eyes and hold onto a stranger’s hand for far longer than necessary.

“Sure, Archie.”

“First, you’ll have private access to the Storybrooke skating rink tomorrow evening. The entire place will be rented out just for the two of you. From there, you’ll head to George’s Taverna for dinner, all expenses paid. Finally, we’ve got vouchers for free three-scoop sundaes at Any Given Sundae.”

“Um, what’s the Christmas surprise?” Killian asked, sounding as nervous as Emma felt.

Archie smiled and pointed up.

Freaking mistletoe above their heads. It figured that a cheesy revival of an old show from the 1960’s would have made mistletoe their Christmas bonus.

Killian looked at her helplessly, as though he wasn’t sure if she’d want to kiss him, and didn’t want to force her. So she did the work for him.

She stood up on her tiptoes and he closed the gap, and there Emma Swan was, kissing a perfect stranger – although, was he really a stranger anymore? She’d learned more about him in the past hour of filming than she’d learned about old boyfriends throughout entire relationships – in front of who knew how many cameras, in front of a live audience.

And she knew Mary Margaret was going to hold this over her head for the rest of her life, but in that moment, she really didn’t care.

[ethanalter]

‘Farscape’ Star Claudia Black Revisits Aeryn Sun’s On- and Off-Screen Feminist Journey

Claudia Black and Ben Browder as Aeryn Sun and John Crichton in ‘Farscape’ (Credit: Everett Collection)

Leading up to the 20th anniversary of the March 10, 1997 premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Yahoo TV is celebrating “Why Genre Shows Matter” and the history of how these shows have tackled universal themes (e.g. how much high school sucks) and broader social issues.

Perhaps because they seek to imagine the world that’s possible rather than the world that is, genre shows have a long tradition of striving to expand the horizons of what’s possible for women on television. Within the realm of space operas alone, there’s a direct line that connects Lieutenant Uhura’s prominent perch amongst the Enterprise‘s largely male bridge crew on the original Star Trek to The Expanse‘s fiercely independent engineer, Naomi Nagata. And each point along this continuum helps inform the next: commanding officers like Babylon 5‘s Susan Ivanova and Voyager‘s Kathryn Janeway are linked by a devotion to duty, if not necessarily temperament, while Killjoys‘ scrappy bounty hunter, Yala, could have been a student of Firefly‘s highly-skilled soldier, Zoë Washburne. On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate the accomplishments of one such influential intergalactic heroine.

Her name is Aeryn. Officer Aeryn Sun if we’re being formal, one of the interstellar outlaws at the center of Farscape, the wildly ambitious Australian/American space serial that ran from 1999 to 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel. Bred from birth to be a loyal Sebacean soldier in the Peacekeeper army that patrols her section of the galaxy, Officer Sun switches careers after inadvertently ending up aboard a living spaceship named Moya that’s occupied by a motley crew of jailbreakers. These convicts-turned-comrades include towering warrior Ka D’Argo, blue-hued priestess Zhaan, flatulent deposed despot Rygel XVI, and John Crichton, an Earth-born astronaut who is very, very far from home. Created by Rockne S. O’Bannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company, Farscape enjoyed a bumpy four-season stateside run that ended prematurely when the network declined to fund a fifth and final year. (Sci-Fi later aired, but didn’t finance, a wrap-up miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, in 2004.)

The cast of ‘Farscape’ (Credit: Everett Collection)

One of the joys of Farscape is that its defining house style is the lack of a defining house style. Episodes can range from standalone homages to body-switching comedies and vintage Loony Tunes cartoons to densely plotted multi-part stories that don’t conclude with conventionally happy endings. The primary constant amidst this narrative and tonal juggling is the turbulent love story between Aeryn Sun and John Crichton. Revisited today, Farscape stands as something of a bridge between eras of space opera, linking the last wave of episodic space adventures like Star Trek: Voyager and Stargate: SG-1 to the intensely emotional serialized narratives that later drove Battlestar Galactica and its ilk. Aeryn is both a traditional and transformational figure as well; raised to be an impersonal enforcer in the Imperial Stormtrooper mold, she comes to live out a promise that John makes to her in the very first episode: “You can be more.”

“Oh, I’ve got chills down my arm,” says Aeryn’s alter ego, Claudia Black, as she reflects on the character and those prophetic words nearly two decades later. “Her evolution as an individual takes off in an extraordinary way [after that].” Over the course of Yahoo TV’s hour-long conversation with the Australian actress, it’s clear that she does regard Aeryn as an individual unto herself, one who took on a life that sometimes superseded the actress’s own. “I was always happy to hand the charactbuer off,” Black says. “I would say [to the producers], ‘If I’m going in the wrong direction then please find someone to serve Aeryn, please. Because she deserves to have the full love of a person who can give you what you need.’ She was honestly such a privilege to play, and I never abused that privilege.”

And Black very nearly didn’t get that privilege. The role had already been cast when she first auditioned for Farscape, but the creative team encouraged her to read for Aeryn anyway. That reading later led to a screen test opposite Tennessee-born Ben Browder, who would be playing John Crichton. (Interestingly, Browder’s casting is, in part, what opened the door to Black inheriting the role from the English actress who had originally been chosen as Aeryn. “Because of the Australian co-production agreement, if they brought in a lead actor from America, the second lead had to be Australian,” Black explains. “So thank god for our union!”) Immediately recognizing the crackling onscreen chemistry between them, Browder pushed hard for her to land the role over network skepticism. “I was a controversial choice for sure,” Black says now. “I was just lucky in the end.”

Whatever the circumstances of how she got the role, Black climbed aboard Moya with strong ideas about how to play Aeryn. Superficially, the character is part of the wave of warrior women that swept through genre shows in the ’90s and early ’00s, whose ranks included Xena, Buffy, and even Cleo of Cleopatra 2525 fame. But as conceived by O’Bannon and carried forward by executive producer David Kemper, who became a driving creative force behind the show, Aeryn cuts against that archetype as well. Unlike Xena, she doesn’t necessarily relish battle; it’s something that’s been programmed into her. (Although, as Aeryn memorably remarks in The Peacekeeper Wars: “Shooting makes me feel better!“) She also reverses the arc traversed by Buffy and Cleo, which begins with them in places of perceived weakness — as a cheerleader and exotic dancer, respectively — and leads towards empowerment.

Related: ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ 20th Anniversary: Joss Whedon Looks Back — And Forward

Because of her militaristic upbringing, Aeryn starts from a place of fierce strength. Her journey over the lifespan of the show, then, becomes about softening what Black describes as Aeryn’s “jagged edges” without surrendering her agency. “I’ve always loved science fiction because of the way it affords us an opportunity to look at humanity from an outsider’s perspective,” Black says. “And Aeryn really gets to experience it firsthand the best way that humans can, which is through love, in all of its forms. When I look at humanity, and my own life, we have to break before we can grow. That’s really what happened with Aeryn; she became stronger with softer edges.” (For the record, Aeryn may start out as a superior fighter to Buffy, but Black says that Sarah Michelle Gellar would easily mop the floor with her in real life. “Sarah has a black belt in karate, and I have two left feet! I always felt like a bit of an imposter [as Aeryn] just on the physical front. If I could push the reset button, I’d go back and get good at some form of martial art.”)

But that stronger-to-softer arc is also more treacherous to navigate than a traditional empowerment story, flirting, as it does, with the fanboy-friendly stereotype of the buttoned-up ice queen whose resolve (and inhibitions) melt when love, generally in the form of a strapping male hero, comes her way. The risk of falling headlong into that tired trope is something Farscape had to deal with throughout its run, especially as the core of the show was always the romance between John and Aeryn.

And while that romance takes a number of unexpected twists and turns — most boldly in a Season 3 storyline that saw Aeryn committing herself fully to a cloned version of Crichton, only to see him die and then have to re-learn how to love the original John — it ultimately culminates with two staples of a standard love story: a marriage proposal and a pregnancy. “It seemed pretty clear to me that Rockne’s intention in the pilot was that this was going to be a love story for the ages,” Black says. Not only that, but it was a love story penned by a largely male writing staff who had their own opinions about how to depict Aeryn’s gradual acceptance of Crichton’s love that sometimes ran counter to Black’s feelings. “I recall moments where they wanted me to be more vulnerable with Aeryn, and I didn’t want to be because I didn’t think it was time and I didn’t think she was ready,” she says. “But it wasn’t my place to say.”

Nevertheless, she persistently found ways to make her voice heard, whether it was by talking one-on-one with specific writers or her co-star, who was equally eager to avoid certain genre show clichés. Black recalls one instance early on in the show’s run when Browder actively pushed back against Sci-Fi’s directive that John Crichton demonstrate the same sex drive as James T. Kirk. “They wanted Crichton to have an alien girl of the week. Ben put his foot down and said, ‘No, he’s not that kind of guy. This isn’t the story I want to tell.’ And on my side I was saying, ‘Yeah, what does that say about Aeryn if she’s going to fall in love with a guy [like that]?’ We wanted to investigate and have them experience the more positive aspects of attraction, as well as what’s worth fighting for and what’s worth dying for,” she says. “Maybe the show would have continued longer if we’d been able to please the network! They know what they’re going to need in order to keep [viewers] interested and tuning in. But we’re very proud of what we managed to make regardless, because of those choices.”

The ongoing battle that Black personally waged throughout Farscape‘s run was ensuring that Aeryn maintained control over her own body. In the genre shows of her era, the female leads were stronger and savvier than ever, and that translated into fashion choices that expressed their own body confidence and sexuality. Xena rode into battle in a heaving breastplate, while Buffy fought vampires in halter tops and Relic Hunter‘s Sydney Fox always donned a tight tank top before exploring some ancient tomb. But flashing cleavage, leg, and midriff also made those characters desirable pin-ups for the male audience courted by networks and advertisers. (Farscape added its own version of a pin-up type midway through the first season in the form of Chiana, a grey-skinned con artist with a plunging neckline and a voracious sexual appetite.)

But those fashions didn’t make sense for a soldier fighting in an army where men and women’s bodies were interchangeable. In fact, Black remembers reading a very specific direction to the makeup department in the production notes for the pilot. “When I take my Peacekeeper helmet off [for the first time], the note read in big print, ‘She looks masculine.’ They thickened my eyebrows — which are already thick! — and shaded my face in very minimal makeup. All of the on-set gallery images of me in the first season are with that very masculine makeup.”

Aeryin in her ‘masculine’ Season 1 appearance (Credit: Everett Collection)

By Season 2, though, Aeryn’s appearance underwent a noticeable change; her hair got longer and straighter, and her Peacekeeper uniform gave way to outfits that walked a line between practical and revealing. Black, who describes herself as a feminist, agreed to these cosmetic changes as she felt they were part of a “natural progression” for Aeryn. “I was honoring where she had come from at the same time having to find a way to let her grow into whatever it is she was going to become,” she says. (This clip from Farscape‘s aforementioned Looney Tunes-inspired episode, “Revenging Angel,” neatly summarizes — and satirizes — the female body types commonly featured on genre shows that Aeryn deliberately defies.)

Already objectively beautiful, Aeryn’s sexuality continued to emerge as she grew into her new self. Even so, Black could sense it wasn’t emerging quickly enough to satisfy certain expectations. “I felt that I was being pushed to show more flesh than was necessary,” she admits, pointing to one incident in the show’s fourth season where it was written into the script that Aeryn would sit poolside in a bikini. “I just said, ‘I will get in a bikini for you if it makes sense, but this woman’s world is falling apart.’ It was the last thing I thought Aeryn would do [in that moment]. It felt really frivolous and superficial to me.” (Black had already donned a bikini to play pregnant Aeryn in a hallucinatory scene in the Season 4 premiere. “They not only had me in a bikini, but they gave me a pregnant belly as well, which is really hard to pull off and make it look naturalistic,” she says.)

Black remembers shooting down an even more egregious bit of flesh-flashing in an earlier episode. As an international production, Farscape frequently shot extra scenes for certain ad-free European markets that would fill the time normally allotted for commercials. The cast referred to these filler sequences as “Euro scenes,” and they rarely involved big story or character beats. According to Black, this particular episode dispatched D’Argo and Aeryn on a planetside mission, and the writers cobbled together a Euro scene that she describes as “absurd.” “They said, ‘Let’s have a scene where we cut to them by a lake, and Aeryn turns and sees a bunch of soldiers across the lake. Aeryn takes off her clothes, swims across the lake, and fights these soldiers completely naked, then comes back to D’Argo and off they go.'”

In later seasons, Aeryn naturally progressed towards more revealing fashion choices (Credit: Everett Collection)

“There were so many things about it that were so bizarre,” she continues. “I said, ‘You know what, please explain this to me, how this honestly can fit in.’ In the end, they just said, ‘All right, fine — we won’t do it.’ That’s what I felt I was having to haggle for a lot of the time: my right to keep my clothes on until it was appropriate. I’ve always felt as an actor — and I’m sure other females have felt like this as well — that when you sign on the dotted line and enter the business that somehow you’ve given your body away as a piece of property, and you spend the rest of your career haggling for pieces of it back.” And the actress credits Browder with backing her up in her fight for Aeryn to be in full control of her own femininity and, by extension, her destiny. “Aeryn is really as feminist as I am, but she’s nothing without Crichton, which is an interesting statement to make,” she says. “So as much as we praise Aeryn, we must give full credit to Crichton and to Ben for shaping him the way that he did. It’s the space that he gives her. He’s such an exquisite champion of her growth and development, that it becomes possible for her to grow to her full size.”

In the 13 years since the concluding Peacekeeper Wars miniseries, rumors have occasionally flown about Farscape‘s return. At one point, there was talk of a webisode series following John and Aeryn’s child, D’Ago Sun-Crichton, but funding never came to fruition. (The show did continue in comic book form for a time, but publication ceased circa 2011.) Black, whose recent credits include stints on The CW genre shows Containment and The Originals, has no updates on any future revivals, and jokes that if Aeryn and Crichton ever do return, they’ll be “tired, ornery, and not really wanting another battle.”

Claudia Black as Dahlia on ‘The Originals’ (Credit: Annette Brown/The CW)

In a way, though, Aeryn’s larger battle has already been won. One of the breakout characters on Battlestar Galactica — which premiered in December 2003, nine months after Farscape‘s series finale — was Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, who displays some of the same steely spine, and jagged edges, of Officer Sun. And today’s genre TV landscape is populated with women who, consciously or not, reflect Aeryn’s assertiveness, independence, and refusal to conform to societal (or genre) norms of appearance or attitude, whether it’s Orphan Black‘s Helena, Sense8‘s Nomi, or Jessica Jones.

Related: ‘Battlestar Galactica’ EP David Eick Revisits 5 Episodes That Remain Relevant

For this Scaper, she lives on off-screen as well. When my wife and I learned that we’d be having a daughter, we thought about all the things we wanted for her life. To know that she, and she alone, is in control of her body. To be strong in the face of injustice. To be confident in her own power. And to know that when she chooses to give her heart to another person, that person will be her champion, and give her the space to grow to her full size. And so we picked a name that, for us, would embody all of our hopes and dreams for the individual she’s becoming with each passing year.

Her name is Aeryn.

Farscape: The Complete Series is available on Blu-ray.

Read more from Yahoo TV’s “Why Genre Shows Matter”: ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ‘Buffy,’ and Other Series That Genre Show Producers Believe Deserved More Emmy Love ‘Luke Cage’ Showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker on Embracing Exploitation Superheroes, Spells, and Sexual Abuse: A Conversation With Melissa Rosenberg and Sera Gamble, EPs of ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘The Magicians’