#they already changed the uncle ben storyline

[she-karev]

Babysitting Luna (Andrew DeLuca x Alex Karev’s Sister)

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Three of Five

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy/Station 19

Ship: Andrew DeLuca x Amber Karev (Alex Karev’s Sister)

Canon Episode: Season 18 Episode 10/Season 5 Episode 10

AN: I know you guys love the pregnancy storyline so I decided to explore it more. I want to show when Amber and Andrew decided to get pregnant and why.

Summary: Amber and Andrew deal with the aftermath of almost losing Luna. Amber notices Luna isn’t crying so she takes her to the station so Carina can check her.

Words: 2487

January 12th, 2022

“You can say it.” Andrew tells Bailey while they are doing a kidney transplant. During that time, he explained what happened yesterday to Bailey looking for advice or more likely a reprimand, “I’m a horrible uncle.”

Bailey looks at DeLuca in sympathy, “You’re really not. I’ve treated bad parents, bad guardians and bad uncles and you are not a bad uncle. And you said you locked the door on your way back.”

“Yeah, but what if I didn’t?” Andrew asks still beating himself up, “She’s walking and using doorknobs if she got out, she could have wandered into the streets and a car would have hit her.”

“But it didn’t.” Bailey states, “She’s safe and happy and that’s what matters. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, we all make mistakes, even guardians like you.”

“God I am terrified I am gonna fail her or traumatize her. Now I know why Amber was so scared before she came into our house.”

“I was the same way when I had Tuck. My nerves were shot the first year I brought him home. When he was 5, I accidentally slammed Tuck’s fingers in the car door. I could still hear his scream and feel like the most awful parent in the world but my rational side catches up and I know it was an accident.” Andrew feels a little better after that confession, “You don’t have to be perfect to be a parent. You just have to love your kids enough to get through the scary moments and do better next time. If you feel this scared and unsure of your abilities to have her for the rest of the week, me and Ben can take her home with us.”

Bailey clears her throat obviously sad, “The Miller’s supposedly forgot that it was mine and Ben’s week with baby Pru and changed the date to next week. So, we have a house full of toys and diapers that are most likely gonna go to waste. If you want, we can watch her for the rest of the week. No judgement whatsoever.”

Andrew sighs and takes a moment before shaking his head, “No she’s already settled in we can do this.”

Bailey nods proud of him, “Yes you can.”

Later at Station 19

Amber rolls the stroller inside the barn with Jack Gibson guiding her. She knows Carina is doing inventory for the clinic today which makes her the perfect person to go to about Luna who is sleeping peacefully inside the stroller. She sees Carina helping Warren by a table full of pullout chairs.

“Carina.” The Italian OB is surprised to see Amber here and Jack explains.

“Your sister-in-law asked or well demanded really that she sees you. I don’t know why though.”

Carina approaches Amber and Luna, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Luna wandered off in our house yesterday I couldn’t find her for a minute, and she hasn’t cried ever since.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Warren asks.

“She didn’t cry when I ended bathtime last night, she always cries and pulls my hair but not this time. I think something’s wrong; I don’t know if she hit her head or ate something that’s making her like this.”

Carina nods, “Okay well you can take her to a pediatrician in Grey Sloan.”

Amber shakes her head, “No, no, no if I take her to peds or OB they’ll call Alex and Jo and I have to tell them what happened, and they will never trust me again. Please you are my only hope right now.”

Warren shakes his head dismissively, “Look we gotta do inventory just suck it up and-”

Amber’s tone shifts from worried to scary, “One of you doctors drop what you’re doing in the next five seconds, or I will end you.” The three of them look shocked, “One, two…”

Carina steps forward and takes the stroller from Amber who follows her toward the beanery leaving the boys behind. When they reach the empty beanery Carina pulls out the medical bag from under the sink and approaches Amber who takes Luna out of her stroller so she can sit in her lap while Carina examines her.

“Tell me more about what the problem is.”

Amber bounces Luna in her lap lightly, “She’s usually a lot more alert than this. I sat up with her all night, making sure she was still breathing. I felt around her skull but there were no bumps but you’re the baby expert so…”

Carina does a neuro exam on Luna who passes it, “Good job Luna you are so smart.” Carina feels around her head, “There are no bumps, has she been feeling fatigue or vomiting in the last 12 hours?”

“No.”

“Okay we’ve ruled out a brain injury and stomach troubles she could just be relaxing. Unlike her Auntie Amber.”

Amber sighs and looks down at her niece in worry, “It’s just…I couldn’t find her. I went to get her a water and I turned my back for like ten seconds and she was gone when I turned around. Alex and Jo left her with me because I thought I could do this; God why did I think I could do this?”

“Hey, hey do not do this to yourself, don’t make things harder than they seem for you.” Amber sniffles holding Luna close, “It’s not uncommon. In the eyes they seem slow, but babies are like ninjas when they start to walk. They can slip away without making a sound and they are fast on their feet. And the good news is that Luna is very smart, she knows not to wander off outside a place where’s she’s most safe. She knows you and Andrea are watching her and making sure she’s safe.”

Amber sighs at that and Carina makes a suspicion, “Is this about more than Luna wandering off?”

Amber inhales and confesses to her sister-in-law, “Andrew want’s kids, I know he wants kids and a part of me does too, but I can barely keep my niece in place how do I know I won’t do that to our baby too?”

“I know the fear you’re experiencing.” Carina says with compassion, “My mind goes into a dark path, and I sometimes think I’m gonna do to my baby what my papa did to me. I worry that I’ll make them feel like they have to grow up too fast so they can survive me as a parent. I worry that I am going to repeat the cycle of chaos my father started. The same way I know you feel about your parents and whether or not you will repeat their mistakes.” Amber nods confirming Carina is right in this regard, “But if you and I are determined to give our kids the love and stability we never had then there is no doubt we’ll end our family cycle of violence and be the best parents we can be.”

Amber looks at Carina grateful, “Your good at this.”

“I know.” Carina says smugly causing Amber to laugh with Luna still in her lap, “Are you headed back home?”

“Um actually can me and Luna hang out with you and the boys for the rest of the day? Andrew is working and this place is a lot more interesting than my house. Plus, this is the last place that would catch on fire.”

Carina chuckles, “Okay you can come, as long as you help us with inventory.” She leans down to Luna’s face with a smile, “And that goes for you too Dr. Karev.” Amber chuckles and stands up. She puts Luna back in the stroller and follows Carina back into the barn where Ben and Jack are still by the table doing inventory.

“Is it safe?” Ben asks.

Amber grins as she parks Luna next to her by the table, “Yeah she’s fine, I’m gonna help though if that’s okay.”

Jack shrugs, “Yeah sure no problem the more help the better.” Amber helps with the chairs when Jack decides to ask her a question pertaining to the topic of employing doctors at the clinic, “Hey Amber you’re a doctor right?”

Amber raises an eyebrow at that, “Yes? Otherwise, I went to three years of college and four years of medical school for nothing.”

“And you…well you were…” Jack struggles to find the right words to describe Amber who motions him to continue, “You have a different background compared to most doctors right?”

“You mean I was dirt poor and had a family of nightmares?” Amber asks bluntly, causing Carina to grin at Jack’s wince as he tries to mend his words.

“Okay I didn’t mean it like that it’s just that I think the clinic shouldn’t have so many doctors because people from low-income neighborhoods and bad situations they’re afraid of doctors. I mean you and I grew up in the system so we saw firsthand how it can screw over people like us and that includes rich people in white coats.”

Carina rolls her eyes, “Porca miseria do not drag the poor girl into this, she’s just gonna say you’re stupid.”

“No actually he’s right.” Amber says surprising Warren and Carina who look at her more confused than offended, “Carina you know I love you, but you come from a family of doctors you didn’t have to worry about paying a thousand-dollar medical bill because your parents could afford insurance. I grew up relying on my mom’s disability after she got fired until my brothers and I each got jobs when we reached high school. You and Warren don’t understand the viewpoint me and Gibson developed after years of hardship and bouncing around foster homes.”

Ben shrugs, “Okay so tell us.”

Amber starts, “Okay, my oldest brother had to hotwire a car to get me to a hospital when I was two because the ambulance ride would have bankrupted us. Alex and Aaron bandaged my scrapes and bruises until I was 8 and I had a skateboarding accident that gave me 12 stiches on my head. The doc who did it just gave us the bill and walked away. My brother couldn’t pay it until he started his intern year. I’m sorry guys but the white coats are a symbol for death or debt in the communities Gibson and I grew up in.”

Jack grins at his point being proven, “I like her.”

Carina groans at that, “I understand what you’re saying but how do we run a medical clinic without medical experts?”

“Oh, you can’t.” Amber states as she resupplies the medical bag, “I mean the system is broken but a clinic needs doctors and nurses who know sutures and how to run labs. Sorry Jack but your naive to think we can find people who know half the stuff me and Carina know without acquiring an MD.”

“Yeah, she’s got a point.” Ben says.

Gibson thinks for a minute before having an idea that he springs to the doctors, “I could learn to do this, suture. I mean-I mean, if it came to it, right?”

“Well, it won't unless you're planning to become a doctor.” Carina points out.

“Okay, but fine. But, like, think about it. I mean, I-The first time I did CPR, I was 10 years old. Yeah, my foster sister almost drowned in the community pool, and I saw somebody do it on TV and I-I figured it out. So I could probably learn some of what you do.”

Amber grins at Gibson’s attempt, “It’s not like sewing your niece’s teddy bear after the head tears off.” She grins down at Luna who is still in the stroller playing with her teething toy, “It requires focus and steady hands, which are two things you’re gonna learn once you get into Harvard med. Or state if you don’t want to become a stuffy know it all.”

“Andrea went to Harvard.” Carina reminds Amber.

“You just rested my own case.” Amber jokes with a grin.

“I get it but what you probably can't teach is waking up every morning with the goal being to survive. And I think that's…yeah, that's me. That's who I am. That's what this is, right? This clinic is a place for people to go to survive. And they shouldn't have to sign 10 forms with fine print and stare down a bunch of white coats. And it should be simple and, like, clear-cut and not intimidating. And that…that's what the people need to see, right?”

Amber nods seeing Jack’s point as Carina responds, “Okay. But we still need nurses and doctors at our clinic, so who's gonna staff it?”

Jack proposes another idea, “50/50. Compromise. Yeah. Half firefighters, half doctors. And no white coats and no hiding behind the computers and less forms, please. Just less forms.”

The three doctors stand together in front of Jack with Carina speaking for them, “And who's gonna teach you how to do wound care and read urine dipsticks?”

Jack looks stumped by that, “Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um…”

Carina smiles at Jack’s lack of words, “Half and half.”

“I don't know what either of those are. I don't know which one of you specializes in that.” Amber chuckles before strolling Luna away to get the supplies for the clinic together.

That Night

Amber knocks on the door of the station desperate for either Carina or Warren to answer. She left the station an hour ago after helping with the inventory. But then Luna hit the 24-hour mark since she last cried making Amber worried Carina missed something. She knocks on the glass door frantically until Warren answers it with an obvious annoyed face.

Ben opens the door and Amber rushes inside the Luna in the stroller sleeping, “DeLuca who used to be Karev, it’s late shouldn’t you be home reading the little girl a bedtime story so she can go to sleep like you and me are supposed to?”

“Look Carina missed something or something has developed because it’s been 24 hours and Luna still hasn’t cried yet.” Amber says in a panic, “Something is wrong.”

Ben groans in frustration due to his own problems with the custody battle, “Do you want to know why your niece isn’t crying so badly?”

“Yes!”

“It’s because she loves you.” Ben states the obvious stopping Amber short, “You’re a good aunt and great caretaker. She knows she can wander off because you’re there to watch her. She’s so happy she doesn’t feel like crying. Do you want to see her cry?” Ben leans down and lightly pinches Luna’s hand causing her to get fussy and start to cry to Amber’s shock, “There, now she’s crying so please go home.”

Ben walks away from Amber who is now pissed at having a crying baby to deal with because of Warren, “Okay this is gonna get you the creepy uncle status Ben Warren!”

Next Part Here

[hobiebrownismygod]

I see that you want questions about Pavitr too, so! I have an idea and I want to hear someone else's opinion about it.

Doesn't it feel like Pavitr's sub-plot in the film is the most…in line(?) with the "original settings" of Spider-Man (a.k.a. Peter Parker) plot among all the other characters? And not in the best sense of the word. Look: Gayatri OBVIOUSLY plays the role of Gwen Stacy (all that's "fall > rescue by web(successful)" thing). but that's, like…literally her whole character. She almost does not have any lines that reflect her personality? Same with Inspector Singh. Like…I feel that Spot's quantum hole for Pavitr is analogue to the death of Uncle Ben (not literally, but in terms of the level of influence on changes views?) for young Peter Parker. And this is…somehow pretty sad if you know what Pavitr himself thought in the comics about his similarities and differences with Peter-616.

This is actually really interesting and I never looked that deeply into it. I actually agree with what you said to some extent though.

Gayatri is obviously Pavitr’s Gwen Stacy and we can easily assume that one of his canon events is going to be her falling and dying. The bus scene mirrors Gwen Stacy’s fall in TASM really well. It’s the same with Inspector Singh who’s basically an exact replica of the original Captain Stacy. These two aspects connect with the original Peter Parker’s storyline really well compared to the other variants like Hobie and Gwen who aren’t very similar in storyline terms.

However, I don’t think Spot’s quantum hole is Pavitr’s “Uncle Ben” canon event. In the comics, we know Pavitr’s Uncle Bhim dies in a similar way to how Uncle Ben does. I personally think that ATSV Pavitr also had an Uncle Bhim who died and that he already experienced that canon event. I think the Spot hole wasn’t supposed to happen to him so it doesn’t really connect to the Spider-man storyline. Its an anomaly occurrence. Now could it lead to a canon event happening? Yes, but I don't believe it in itself is a canon event or a version of a canon event.

Now one could argue that because he isn’t as “depressed” as the other spidermen, he hasn’t experienced his canon events yet and therefore didn't lose his Uncle Bhim/Ben, however this isn’t really accurate because we know that Spiderman doesn’t really “snap” until his next canon events like Gwen Stacy, the Police Captain, Aunt May, or Venom.

For example, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-man said he stopped pulling his punches after Gwen’s death. Tom Holland’s Spider-man stopped pulling his punches after Aunt May’s death. Pavitr’s Uncle Bhim/Ben dying wouldn’t have changed his personality, besides giving him a bit of trauma, just like for the other Spider-men.

OVERALL, anon, I think your idea is really interesting and I would love to hear more about it, and I do also see the connection between Pavitr and the original Peter Parker. However, I don't think the Spot hole was supposed to happen to him, and I think it'll change his storyline as Spider-man, not add to it.

[gimblestank-the-goblin]

Across the Spider-Verse and Canon Events

Warning: Spoilers for the entirety of the new spider-verse film.

Into the Spider-verse’s plot is a brilliant commentary on the nature of superhero AU’s and the comic industry’s tendency towards retelling the same stories ad nauseum, and to explain why we need to look at both the plot of the movie and the words they use to describe that plot.

The plot of Across the Spider-verse (ATSV) is actually pretty standard. Its one we’ve seen a million times. Certain events have to happen or else something terrible will happen. Its just that in most of these types of movies the reason these events have to happen is fate, or destiny or time travel shenanigans. The hero changed the past and now they have to go back and undo that mistake to stop a “bad timeline” or whatever.

But in ATSV its not fate, its canon. And the events that the Spider-organization is seeking to ensure are the major plotbeats and storylines that define the character of Spiderman. Uncle Ben dies. Gwen Stacy dies. Spider-man lifts the rubble. These are the classic, iconic events of Spiderman’s story. The ones told and retold across a hundred different reboots, continuities and alternate universes.

And if these don’t happen, ATSV posits, the universe will be destroyed. In Spider-Gwen’s universe, Captain Stacy and Peter Parker have to die. She has to lift the rubble. Or else the world ends.

Except, that’s not true (if it was, Gwen’s father wouldn’t have quite the police and Miles wouldn’t be the main character of the movie).

Because those events don’t have to happen for the world to exist.

And that is really interesting in the context of reboots, AU’s, etc. Because in the real world, these events always happen. These are the events the reader’s want. When a reader opens up a Spiderman reboot they aren’t looking for a completely original story. They’re looking for these events. The greatest hits of a story that’s been running since 1962 edited down to perfection. Everything iconic, everything that works kept, and the rest jettisoned or retooled.

And it doesn’t matter what form of reboot the story is. If you’re watching a Spiderman cartoon, this is what you are going to get. Reading a comic where Spider-man is a robot? Same beats, just with a twist.

Because if these things don’t happen… well there’s a risk the fans might not like that. The story might not be good (and we know the original story is good, we’ve been telling it since 1962). And if its not good? Well then its stops getting made. The story ends. The universe ends.

And so every AU plays it safe and tells the same stories.  

Except for Miles Morales. His story was never a reboot, or a retcon or an AU. It was a continuation. Ultimate Spiderman had already done the “greatest hits of Spiderman” before Miles Morales stepped onto the page. And that meant it was free to tell its own story.

And that story was great. So great that it survived the destruction of its own universe and Miles Morales got added to the “main” 616 continuity.

Miles Morales, in his comics, in real life, and in the movie is living proof that reboots can take risks and tell their own stories. The world won’t end. The readers will still read. The audience will still watch.

The world will go on.

So take risks. Tell your own story.

You don’t need to be caught in a web made up of 61 years of canon.

[andthebubbles]

heartstopper 2x05-08 (yeah i decided to finish watching it tonight)

heartstopper 2x05

uhhh so nick and charlie just ran off from the louvre without telling the teachers? hahahahahaaha

darcy!!! grrrrr

as much as i don't care for tao and elle's storyline, it was nice when they finally (? i can't remember if they kissed before this) fucking kissed

ben continues to be annoying

not much to say, really

onwarddddd

heartstopper 2x06

sooo the teacher thing is kinda awkward bc like... just... offering to share a single bed like sorta outta nowhere? skjfngkfjg okay well whatever

yay nick finally said it/came out

darcyyyy <3

why the hell was ben at the party and why was he let in when harry wasn't, i thought everyone hated him, and it's not like he seemed to have any friends at the party anyway, he was just standing around and then he made a fuss in the truth or dare game

truth or dare btw when it involves peer pressure like that sucks

i like tao and elle a lot better now that they're together. they're really cute. esp when they kicked charlie out of the toilet even though he needed to pee lol

i know i said the teacher thing was a bit weird but i meant, more like how it seems to be beginning... you'd think two adults who work together would do it a bit more carefully in case it goes pear-shaped?? also i kinda like mr farouk when he hasn't got a stick up his arse lol, and ajayi is fine ofc

aaah nearly forgot to mention: nick's dad is a fucking dickkkk. absent fathers make me so mad

kinda feeling for isaac here. i also don't like kissing people, it's gross, and people put suchhh importance on kissing... is it meant to feel good or...? all it is is just saliva-ey and wet and gross and sometimes you can even smell the saliva which is ew

heartstopper 2x07

okay before i forget to say it, omg why didn't charlie block ben ages ago on insta

i had already seen charlie's speech to ben on tumblr a few days ago so it didn't get me as pumped (it was very good though) but

NICK'S speech at the dinner table SKSJDNFKNGKFJGN THAT got me pumped (for two broad reasons: 1. yeah why care/who gives a fuck when your dad doesn't give a fuck about you, 2. re your dad seeing you twice a year or some shit like that... so i have an aunt who lives in one country, and her husband lives in the neighbouring country, and they probably only see each other like twice a year, and they're not divorced, and like, what the FUCK are you guys doing; my mum told me she used to (or still does) get really sad about it, so, you know, that thing with nick and his dad really hit hard, even though it's not affecting me personally; i'm just so mad at that dickhead uncle)

also i love tori so much, i so wanted her to stab her fork straight down on david's arm instead of just using her fingers. and then i wanted her to play some major prank on david when she was in the bathroom, like how matilda changed her dad's ... hair product thing into bleach

darcy aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (yeah my mum makes a fuss if i wanna wear a suit too :( ) (she looks gorgeous in a suit btw)

isaac is really going through it huh... like, the bit at the mall/shopping area

(btw so... the UK has sixth form-specific schools? heccc)

heartstopper 2x08

that last scene with nick and charlie!! jdkjgnfkjgkjk

and tara and darcy!!! i felt sorry for tara when she was at the prom but then you also know that darcy's going through some serious shit and... yeah. her home life is awful!! where did she go that night after the prom? i hope tara's parents let her stay over foreverrrr

is tori aroace as well? if we is... could we just have an ace person in s3 if there's an s3...

i detecttt imogen/sahar lol

[aquaaquila]

Hey, we can have more than one Black Cat (if we can have more than one Spiderman), especially since Gina already was a Catwoman on Halloween and she did start more as a morally grey character at the beginning of the series anyway. Or we could make her Spinneret since that's MJ as Spider-Woman basically(though not Michelle Jones which would be closer to Gina unlike Mary Jane). Though we could make Ashlyn a Spinneret instead along with being a reporter (this would happen very late though, like super late, and she would still be a reporter and not as recurring as a superheroine)

But Ghost Spider works too, after all, Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy ALSO deserve to have happily ever after, considering how Gwen Stacy is only used to further develop Peter through her death, which is just so seasons 1-2 Gina being only there to further Ricky instead of being his actual love interest unlike in season 3-4, and normally Gwen and Pete don't get to be together so it's about time we could change pace a bit. (Don't mind me providing 4 different ideas at once, I'm just spitballing as this brain rot also was taking over me for a long time and I love exploring possibilities and Spiderverse in general)

But yeah, it's settled that Kourtney must be a Black Cat as I really have a hard time figuring her out as something else. E.J. as Harry Osborn also works excellently, along with his dad. I also agree with Mr. Mazzara(though let's be real, we they all would be grieving him), however what about Ricky's uncle Ben? Is he going to lose his mom? His dad? At least one of them has to go one way or another.

I figured Nini could be like the family-friendly original Gwen Stacy not to be confused with Spider-Gwen where she doesn't actually die but just moves away and it's still a canon event, and perhaps she becomes Spider-Girl in California. Or we kill her and make her a vampire (a reference to Olivia's new song(I mean, it's not no longer that new but still) Also Gwen has a storyline of having clones after her death that were evil and would've ruined her character if she was actually Gwen).

For Carlos, we could use Cooper Coen, known also as Web-Weaver who is an openly gay Spiderman. He also used to have a boyfriend who is the male version of Silk known as Albert Moon Junior who could be Seb (insert Spiderman pointing meme with Maddox and Seb as both being Silks in this like what).

Are we including Big Red, Mack, Dani, Val, Dewey, Howie, Lily, Jack, Antoine, Natalie, Emmy, and Alex in this? I mean, we have slots for Venom symbiote and other Spider-people variants.

maddox is so spiderman coded

OH MY GOD UR SO RIGHT ??? i saw people on twitter coming up with a madlyn spiderman au where maddox is spiderman and if no one does it i think i’m gonna have to bc LOOK

peter parker is TREMBLING rn

[brakken-spideyverse]

Capping off my Raimi Trilogy reviews, we have...

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

The problem with this film is that it has too many villains! Well, not really. This film has an issue in structure, but it’s not so cut-and-dry.

We’ve since had plenty of films that show having a certain amount of villains (or heroes) isn’t inherently an issue. Heck, Spider-Verse is the best superhero movie ever made, and it has six villains!

Now, were they fighting for screentime in Spider-Man 3?  To an extent, yes. Even so, the pacing is somewhat functional – Goblin is our first focus, and when he’s out of commission, we bring in Sandman and escalate the Black Suit. Once Sandman is defeated, Goblin returns so we get a contrast of how a darker Spidey deals with him, until we culminate with the ‘surprise’ villain of Venom in the finale.

While the Harry and Venom plots are delivered rather half-baked, I would say Sandman is the worst storyline of the film, and his removal would leave so much more space for the other villains to be developed. Visually he doesn't work as a big finale villain like Venom does, while Harry's revenge plotline is a great mirror to what you can do with a Black Suit story, the theme of forgiveness, and lingering guilt. They both fit nicely, but Sandman, not so much.

To be more specific, the retcon of Flint Marko being Uncle Ben's murderer is insulting to the very core of the story, and drags down everything with it, including Flint's personal plot. It mischaracterizes Peter, painting him as emotional and vengeful against the man who pulled the trigger, when an integral point of Spider-Man is Peter’s burden at his own responsibility for his Uncle’s death. Maybe they could have justified this reaction after he dons the Black Suit, but no, his rage in the police station comes completely out of nowhere, and deflates the strides in maturity that Peter has taken thusfar.

But let’s give the film the benefit of the doubt, and say it needed three villains. What if we just remove the Uncle Ben aspect from Sandman’s storyline, and change nothing else. What are we left with? We’re left with a man, trying to do right by the people he loves, yet these actions are misunderstood and lead to unnecessary conflict, and the suffering of innocent people. That works, that’s a strong character! And it’s in these parts where Flint really shines. Sandman’s story can be a reflection on Peter and Harry, without the connection being personal and stepping on two movies’ worth of character development. It feels like this franchise put a little too much importance on the villains being tied directly to Peter in some way - not a common thing in the comics, and isn’t really necessary as long as they can reflect the story.

On the other side of things, the Symbiote introduction is… depressing. As an audience we’re ready to forgive a certain amount of coincidence to allow the plot to unfold. Green Goblin being the father of Spidey’s best friend? We allow it because the relationships feel believable. It also blends into a perfectly natural set-up for Ock’s introduction, as an Oscorp beneficiary. And now, we have the pieces in place for Harry’s turn as the New Goblin, so that’s easy. Sandman’s a little trickier, but if you take out his connection to Peter it works as a wrong-place-wrong-time origin. Eddie is easily justified as a workplace rivalry for Peter. But the Symbiote, oh boy… a shooting star with an alien lifeform happens to crash in the exact spot where Peter is. And then it sits through however many scenes, only striking when the plot decides it should. What makes it such a hard pill to swallow is that the series already gave itself the perfect invitation for introducing the Symbiote – John Jameson the astronaut. He’s irrational after the sudden break-up with MJ, he agrees to a risky exploratory mission, and returns with an odd specimen. Have Peter tasked with taking photos at the landing, or have Connors receive it for study… or literally anything. I heard the script wasn’t complete before they went into production, but it’s right there, ya know? And what’s great about that premise is it would give Jameson a role to play in this film – instead, his presence here almost feels out of expectation, despite J.K. Simmons being consistently great.

My thoughts on how this movie deals with Harry focus around him happily cheering along with the crowd at the Spidey celebration. I know Harry’s meant to have memory loss, but it’s a bit weird to me that he doesn’t retain any negative association with Spider-Man. That lack of Spidey-acknowledgment from our main cast is resurfacing as a problem, since as far as we’re shown in the movies, Harry’s opinion of Spidey is informed only by MJ thinking he’s incredible and then killing Harry’s dad. How would a clean slate Harry react to Spider-Man? Would there be any lingering grudge coming through his amnesia? We don’t know, and the movie has no interest in telling us. In a story focusing heavily on the relationship of those characters, it deems an entire facet of it as unneeded. Aside from that, I don’t hate the amnesia plot, though it could have been interesting if it was revealed to all be an act – would add a nice extra layer to his scenes on additional watches. And boy do I wish we were given a shot of him sitting in the chair below that portrait of Norman.

The moment with Bernard the butler is quite frustrating. It makes no strong attempt to convince us why Bernard kept this secret to himself all this time, nor that Harry should be overly swayed by the revelation, let alone whether he’d believe it. In the closing narration, Peter does his absolute best to sell us on this film having a consistent and powerful message, by informing us that Harry “chose to be the best of himself”. The problem with that is, he didn’t, not really. Only upon learning that Peter was not at fault in any way did Harry shift gears – but his manipulation of Peter’s life, his cruelty and violence toward MJ… those were choices he also made. If they really wanted to have him choosing to be better, we needed a final confrontation with the ghost of Norman, who is just...  absent for Harry’s redemption, despite being our visual key for that inner struggle.

Topher Grace is trying his absolute best with the material for Eddie, and I’ll say I find a lot of his earlier scenes quite entertaining. I enjoy the air of pretentiousness he has, and in a film where the Black Suit causes Peter to dance down the street shooting finger guns, Eddie is the perfect host for such an entity. It’s a shame that the movie didn’t seem to understand some of the main appeals of Venom. In the same way as the films loved tearing Spidey’s mask to get some Maguire acting into the final scenes, Venom gets a similar treatment, forcing us to view Eddie, moreso helming the ‘partnership’ than it being equal footing or the Symbiote having more control. And would it have hurt to throw in a “we” from time to time?

MJ continues her streak of being on the cusp of having some interesting depth, but never fully reaching that. It’s nice to see the struggles in her own goals, though I think it’s incredibly unfair that the movie paints her as a bad performer. And I’m not a big fan of her jealousy towards Spider-Man’s popularity. Peter having an inflated self-image was already a strange choice for this series, taken to annoying heights with the upside-down Gwen kiss. And following that up with MJ kissing Harry… my level of sympathy for these protagonists wears thin. (However, Harry and MJ dancing in the kitchen is great and I say that with zero irony.)

To briefly touch on the music of this trilogy, Danny Elfman was in top form for the first two films - some really gorgeous leitmotifs that carry so much emotion. Nothing gets better than the string and drum combo as the Marvel logo appears. Christopher Young’s score in SM3 often comes off more as ‘heavymotif’. A little too present, a little too obvious. It does wonders for the Birth of the Sandman scene, but his ‘villain’ theme is more abrasive. And I really am not a fan of the Black Suit music - far too menacing right out the gate, and doesn’t really give us a chance to embrace Peter’s thrill at his newfound asset. I find building to the turn is very important in this kind of story, but the music leaves no room for it.

What really shines to me in this movie is the ending. It’s bittersweet, bordering on tragic - and for everything that MJ and Peter have gone through, and done to each other (consciously or not), that actually really works. No final swing, no powerful score, no triumph. Their lives are in shambles, dreams scattered and out of reach, hurt in so many ways – but still holding onto one another and finding comfort in that affection. It feels conclusive, and that has value.

This movie is really messy, and makes a mess of the trilogy to an extent as well. I don’t hate watching it, but I don’t like thinking about it all that much.

-

-

Rating:

[elekinetic]

What part of the Star Wars sequels was your LEAST favorite and what is the thing you would change first in a rewrite

r3ylo. they so very very very badly dropped the ball with their relationship and their characters, specifically ben. oh my god. and listen listen listen, you had PERFECTLY GOOD LEGENDS CONTENT TO RECYCLE RIGHT THERE. i mean b3n solo is already a hodge podge of ben skywalker (luke's son) and jacen solo, so lets just fucking give him jacen's name and reskin rey as jaina solo, jacen's twin sister.

we give jaina rey's kindness, headstrong leadership, and reservation. we make her a little more jaded bc hello, her twin brother left their family and destroyed their uncle's temple to go become a sith lord. that would make anyone a little pessimistic.

we'd follow jaina, who works as part of the resistance under her mother, leia. standard child of divorce stuff: feels like she'll never live up to the expectations of her mother, longs for freedom outside of the diplomatic role she's been assigned, holds her mother to a higher standard than her dad (is it really an ella nancysglock idea if there aren't themes of strained daughterhood & motherhood?) jacen showed force sensitivity from a young age and got whisked off to train w uncle luke while jaina stayed with her mom and learned the politics. (imagine one of our opening scenes being jaina in full diplomatic getup on one of the republic planets, slipping out of a meeting and pulling off her robes, wiping off her makeup. she's just about to jump a balcony to sneak out when she hears a very familiar older female voice say, "you might as well walk out the front door if you're gonna be so obvious about sneaking out." leia. of course.) the first act of ep 7 finds jaina discovering her force-sensitivity. when she goes to find luke in ep 8 (a la rey), there's the added dynamic of "you never knew me as well as my brother" and luke seeing so much of his sister (and han to an extent) in jaina.

rey + ben's soul-bondy thing would be a twin sense thing for jacen and jaina (like what is vaguely established between luke and leia in the ot). luke + jacen would have even clearer narrative parallels (male twin luke brought to the light, male twin jacen brought to the dark). jacen would be a more sympathetic villain bc jaina's draw toward him and care for him are pre-established, as well as the reason their relationship is strained. we'd spend time throughout the trilogy unpacking their complicated dynamic via those soul bond vision communication things that started between r&b in tlj.

now im sure ur thinking, "but ella, one of the best themes of the sequels (which was terribly mishandled) was that you didn't have to be born into a special family to be a hero, that you can choose your family and make a difference no matter who you are!" to that i say: yes. 100%. which is why we're giving finn & poe actual storylines. the other big theme of the sequels is legacy, right. what does it mean to be a skywalker, a solo? thats why we see rey, a nobody, rise to heroism and take on the skywalker name while ben, who was born into the family, fall from grace and struggle with morality (in theory). i think we can do this better though. lets have jaina and jacen BOTH be born into the skywalker family (bc hey, it is the skywalker saga) and watch them struggle with light and dark. lets take that "dark rey" shit from tlj and push it further. lets see jacen seduced by the dark and pulled toward the light because he still cares about his sister. lets see jaina raised in the light and tempted by the freedom of the dark side.

lets also see jaina and finn choose each other as chosen siblings. lets see finn develop a real dynamic with jacen. (finn is a real protagonist in this as well, im just not talking about his role in the story as much in this post. but trust, he is a huge part of the story.) lets see more of leia & poe's mother/son dynamic. lets push those ben/poe parallels further.

tldr. replacing rey & ben with jaina & jacen solo so they're twins now. obviously no romance. finn & poe get bigger storylines and there are much deeper themes about family, chosen AND blood.

[mayasdeluca]

Are you saying Jack left???

Also yeah, why keep inserting him in every single aspect of the pregnancy and make Marina look bad cause of it? Wtf

(Only to come back and claim the baby that is going for sure to be happening and be a boy)

Ppl are saying that Maya is an ahole for threatening ppl to expose them (did I get this right)

Do you think they changed the final and left it pretty bland because of the backlash of the donor storyline?

Usually Shondaland shows end up with a bang, literally 🤣

Anyway, I actually hope Carina ain’t pregnant cause I don’t wanna see, hear or read the words “Jacks sperm donor” in the same sentence for the rest of my life…

He did leave but yes I also expect him to be coming back. Usually if a character is gone for good, an article comes out about the actor leaving the show and none of the cast said anything either about him leaving so...I'm sure at some point he'll be back.

It would be very predictable to assume that Carina is pregnant and yes, Jack will come back and realize he wants to be involved and Marina will still be all for it. But I also feel like that might not be the case because Jack has so many issues and things to work out and really the last thing he should be doing is being involved in a family that really isn't his. He should stick to being a fun uncle like Travis will be, like Ben will be, like all of them at the station will be. It should not be more than that. And hopefully the writers will realize this.

Yes apparently Maya is the worst person in the world for threatening to expose Sullivan and Ross even after being screwed over all season and then some, not getting a fair investigation, a fair conversation, a fair anything. She waited patiently, she tried to work with Sullivan to take down Beckett, she's way more qualified than Beckett, and yet she was still stuck in the same spot. I honestly don't understand what people expect her to do?? And why should Ross and Sullivan be able to just sneak around and do what they're doing and not be in trouble?? It's just one sided bias and I don't blame Maya. It's not like this was her first plan of action, it's a last resort sort of thing. If people can't see that, oh well.

I'm not sure if this was the finale plan all along, it seemed really dull and just like a regular episode. I don't know if it had to do with the backlash, the fact that they already knew they had another season or something else. They still could've done something more exciting though. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the writer's plan all along though given how bad the storylines have been all season.

I hope she's not pregnant either and then hopefully we can see them explore other options on their second try that do NOT involve Jack or anyone else at the station for that matter. Just let them do this themselves. God forbid they give the two most popular characters some more screentime and attention though 😑

[raimispiderman]

From the booklet which comes with the Spider-Man Trilogy Limited Edition Collection blu-ray!

This talks about the making of Spider-Man 3, here’s the bit about the first Spider-Man movie and here’s the bit about Spider-Man 2.

Click for a transcript:

OLD FRIENDS… AND NEW FACES

“The heart of the Spider-Man films has always been the depth of the characters and their interconnected lives. Peter’s love of Mary Jane Watson and his friendship with Harry Osborn have always been the richest parts of our stories,” said director Sam Raimi.

In Spider-Man 3, Peter Parker faces his biggest challenge to date – and the greatest battle of all is the battle within himself.

“We wanted to explore the darker side of Peter’s character,” said producer Laura Ziskin. “When his suit turns black, it enhances and emphasizes characteristics that are already in the host. In this case, it makes him stronger and quicker, but also more prideful and aggressive.”

“When I read the script I was really excited about the different direction we were going with Peter Parker and the other characters and storylines,” said Tobey Maguire, who returned to the role of Peter Parker. “We are covering a lot of new ground here, with a fresh take on the story while maintaining the continuity of the characters from the previous two films.”

In Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man takes on two classic villains: Sandman, who first made his appearance in the fourth issue of “The Amazing Spider-Man” and Venom, one of the comic book’s most memorable villains.

“Marvel comic books – and especially the Spider-Man books – have always had a great bunch of villains to choose from,” noted Raimi. “So many great Marvel artists and writers developed these characters. It was a very easy task to pick up these wonderful tales and images and develop our story from them.”

Thomas Haden Church played Flint Marko, a man haunted by the mistakes of his past, who is caught in a physics experiment gone wrong. “I consider it an honor, really,” said Church, an Academy Award nominee for his role in Sideway, on joining the franchise. “The Spider-Man films stand tall in the pantheon of superhero movies. Many are called, few are chosen, and I’m proud to be one of the few.”

“Flint Marko becomes Sandman when he stumbles into a radioactive test site where they’re performing a molecular fusion experiment and he accidentally becomes fused with sand,” Church added. “As a result, he can change his shape and adapt to his environment. He can be 10, 30, 80 feet tall. He can form giant sand fists, hammers, a mace. He can shift into a sand tornado, or sift into sand. He is as malevolent and menacing as any villain can be.”

Church spent over a year preparing for the role, with a physical training and diet regimen which led to his gaining about 20 pounds of muscle before shooting began. “In the comic book, Sandman was a bulky-muscled guy – he looked like a guy out of the WWF,” said the actor, “For the movie, we decided on a leaner look – street hardened, like Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront.”

Topher Grace joined the cast as Eddie Brock, a character in some ways similar to Peter Parker, who transforms into Venom – Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis. “When I was first talking about the movie, Sam asked me if I knew what ‘arch-nemesis�� meant. I thought it meant a huge villain, but Sam pointed out that it really means a villain who has the same powers and abilities as the hero, but uses them for evil,” said Grace. “Sam has gone to great lengths to make this character Spider-Man’s equal and opposite. You might say that Eddie is the guy that Peter would have been if he didn’t have the good fortune of having Aunt May and Uncle Ben to bring him up.”

Grace, a self-described “skinny guy,” put on about 15 to 20 pounds for the role, working out during the several months before shooting began. During pre-production, Grace was subjected to body scans and motion capture data analysis for use by the costume and visual effects departments.

“They were doing a scan of my body, and someone mentioned that the scan would be really helpful for making my action figure. My action figure!” recalled Grace. “It hadn’t even occurred to me that I would become an action figure! It was very exciting.”

“The Spider-Man books have probably the greatest rogues’ gallery of any superhero comic – there are so many memorable villains throughout the books,” said executive producer and Marvel’s president of production Kevin Feige. “With the villains in Spider-Man 3, we wanted to continue the tradition – following the Green Goblin and Doc Ock – of presenting villains that not only provide spectacle and a physical challenge to Spider-Man’s abilities, but characters that are multi-layered and conflicted.”

“At the beginning of Spider-Man 3, we find Peter Parker pretty much where we left him at the end of the second Spider-Man story,” said director Sam Raimi. “He is coming to terms with what it means to be a hero and the sacrifices he has to make to do the right thing. Peter has never had anyone look up to him as someone they admire. Certainly, he’s never had anyone cheer for him before. This has an unexpected effect on Peter: it stirs up his prideful self. This is the beginning of a movement toward his dark side in this film.”

That dark side is brought to the forefront when he comes into contact with a black substance that attaches itself to Peter’s Spider-Man suit. When the substance turns his suit black, he finds he has greater strength and agility than ever before… but also the substance brings out his pride and his vengefulness. “In the climax, Peter has to put aside his prideful self. He must put aside his desire for vengeance,” Raimi continues. “He has to learn that we are all sinners and that none of us can hold ourselves above another. In this story, he has to learn forgiveness.”

Another fan favorite, Gwen Stacy, made her film debut in Spider-Man 3. Well known to fans of the comic books, Gwen made her first appearance in December 1965 “The Amazing Spider-Man #31” and quickly became Peter Parker’s first love. Bryce Dallas Howard took on the role. Despite the differences between the comic book and screen versions of her character, Howard was able to use the comic book as inspiration in bringing Gwen Stacy to life. “There was a very deep relationship built into the comic books – that became my foundation,” said the actress. “This a person who, had things been different, could have been a good mate for him. Because her father is a police captain, she’s accustomed to someone leaving and putting his life in jeopardy every day and loving him unconditionally. I was able to build on that, to play the character that was written in the comic book.”

“It’s wonderful to bring new actors into the series because, although you have an existing set of rules and storylines you want to adhere to, at the same time you need to shake it up, bringing new voices and energies to the film that we haven’t experiences before, “noted Raimi. “It gives the audience a new experience, with the characters they love, but with a new energy dynamic, with those new faces on screen with them.”

“In terms of logistics and scope, Spider-Man 3 is by far the largest of the three films,” said Ziskin. “Sam has really upped the ante for this film, in terms of action sequences and visual effects involving Sandman and Venom, so it is a gigantic endeavor, with over 1,000 people working towards that goal.”

During production, Raimi relied on key members of his filmmaking team to bring to life before the cameras as much of Peter Parker’s story as possible. “Whenever it’s safe and practical, I like to capture the action in camera,” said Raimi. “Visual effects are an amazing tool for action that human beings can’t do – but if a human being can do it, let’s do it.”

The talented team of stuntmen was ready, but so was the cast. Bryce Dallas Howard, especially, surprised the filmmakers by being game for anything they could throw at her. At one point, the actress found herself hanging from a harness.

After performing several portions of the sequence on soundstages in Los Angeles, Howard was eager to get in the harness again to fly with Spider-Man over Sixth Avenue. “What’s so great about movies is you get to really experience these crazy, crazy stunts, things that you would never emerge from alive in real life,” says Howard. “I knew I would be 100% safe because Sam and the stunt team really protect the actors. So I tried to do as many things as possible, because it’s really fun and a great adrenaline rush!”

Thomas Haden Church was also up to the challenge – in fact, even more so. Whether it was being yanked five feet in the air so he could do a face-plant in the mud, or being chased (and caught) by dogs, or dangling off the side of a set, or falling onto train tracks, or having his face smashed into a pane of Plexiglas, the actor found himself bruised and battered repeatedly, but was ready for anything. According to producer Grant Curtis, “It wasn’t intentional, but it seemed sometimes like if any actor was required to get beat up in any way, Thomas was always drawing that short straw.”

Two members of the production team that played key roles in ensuring that these action sequences were both as safe and as spectacular as possible were special effects supervisor John R. Frazier (who previously served in the same capacity on the first two Spider-Man films) and second unit director Dan Bradley (a veteran of Spider-Man 2). “Working with Sam is like going back to school,” said Frazier. “You have that moment where you say, ‘Oh, this is going to be really, really hard, but a lot of fun.’ It’s  not unusual for me to be on a movie like Spider-Man 3 for nine months, from the beginning planning stages through production.”

One scene that highlights their work is the Subway Drain portion of an elaborate fight sequence between Spider-Man and Sandman. Raimi worked closely with Frazier, Bradley and visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk on the sequence, in which Sandman is blasted by the force of a burst water pipe and, quite literally, goes down the drain. Sam wanted Sandman to melt away, in essence, during this sequence.

“This is the largest water gag for one shot I’ve ever done for a film,” recalled Frazier, who had previously supervised the special effects for Poseidon. “We used 50,000 gallons of water, shooting out of a pipe which blasted the rear of the set fifty feet away. When you see this sequence, the water appears to be a six-foot-thick column of water; however, we made the center of the pipe hollow, and used a restrictor plate to control the size of the column of water. The water is recirculated using pumps, which are able to pump 3,000 gallons a minute. We can fill both tanks in about five minutes, so that we are ready for another take.”

The sequence was covered using eight cameras, according to Stokdyk. “This sequence is where Spider-Man discovers Sandman’s weakness – water. We had to put a CG Sandman in here because the velocity of the water is too great to have Thomas Haden Church or a stuntman perform portions of the sequence. Water is a huge challenge for visual effects, especially on a large scale, so our goal here was to seamlessly integrate the elements for the sequence between practical and CG.”

Bradley and Frazier’s work is also on display in an action sequence during a bank heist, in which a security guard (played by none other than producer Grant Curtis) falls victim to Sandman’s wreath. “As a producer, Grant is uniquely qualified for guarding money,” laughed Bradley, “so Sam typecast him and invited him to spend a lot of time on set being buried underneath tons of sand as one of the armored car guards.”

Apprehensive as he might have been about performing the stunt, Curtis says that it would have been pointless to argue. “I’ve worked with Sam for ten years, so I know that once a decision’s been made, he’s going to get his way,” he said.

The sequence begins spectacularly, when Sandman smashes into the top of the armored call with his fist – which, in reality, Frazier’s team made of polyurethane foam. It was eight feet tall, six feet wide, and weighed over 500 pounds. Then, debris – sand – came flying at Curtis. “On the first take, I anticipated the crash and reacted too early,” he remembered. After an adjustment, he nailed the second take.

At the end of the sequence, the guard is buried in sand. To film the scene, the armored car was lifted and tilted at a 50-degree angle so that the sand could be dumped in and fill the car but with a fraction of the pressure on Curtis. The producer soon found himself beneath 4,000 pounds of ground corncob – the filmmakers’ ingenious substitute for sand.

The idea of using ground corncob as a double for sand did not come immediately to the filmmakers. The first man charged with investigating what kind of sand would make Sandman or solving any number of other costuming challenges, Acheson’s motto was: when in doubt, go back to the original text. “We derive our inspiration, as always, from the comic,” he said. “Sandman is one of those remarkable characters who can change shape, dissolve, disappear, grow, or become mud or concrete. We designed various stages and different scales of Sandman’s evolution, working with wonderful sculptors to create maquettes, small statues of Sandman in his various appearances.”

As much as Sandman required each of the departments to step up their game, so, too, did Venom – Spider-Man’s equal and opposite. Acheson and his team created various stages of Venom’s look, working with Raimi to create a tension in the sculpting of the suit. “It was important to Sam and to James that we keep the suit really sharp and aggressive, as with the tendrils that crawl across Venom’s face at points,” said head specialty costumer Shownee Smith, whose company Frontline Design worked under Acheson’s direction to manufacture the specialty costumes for the film.

For scenes where Brock transitions into Venom, Grace spent an hour being placed into the suit, which added between 120 and 140 pounds to his weight. The actor then spent an additional four and a half hours in makeup for the addition of appliances, including special sets of teeth worn by Grace to give the character the illusion of a larger, more menacing mouth. The filmmakers also attached monofilament to the skin on Grace’s face so that they could pull and distort the character as he makes his transformation.

“At one point while shooting the transition scenes, I thought, ‘What have I signed up for?!’” Grace laughed. “I had black goo poured all over me, wires attached to my face that people with fishing poles were pulling up, and other people below me were pulling down… When you see my character in pain, well, there wasn’t a whole lot of acting required.”

Also interacting with each of the departments was production designer J. Michael Riva, the member of the team responsible for bringing Raimi’s stylish vision to life. Riva was especially proud of his work in cresting the construction site that serves as the arena for the film’s final battle. “Making a construction site doesn’t sound very difficult, but if you have only eight weeks to design and build, it’s practically impossible,” he said. “We used over 20 tons of steel, 100 welders, and 200 carpenters working around the clock, seven days a week to get it done! But we all did it.”

The set took six weeks to complete, using tons of steel from a cancelled building project. A construction elevator, complete with operator, transported cast and crew to the various levels of the elaborate set. For the extensive lighting and electrical needs required for the sequence, a labyrinth of connections was designed and installed 80 feet above the stage floor, using over four miles of electrical cable. By the time the set was ready for shooting, Stage 27 was outfitted with approximately 21,000 amps, enough power to service over 200 homes.

“The great thing about a construction site is that it’s a very dangerous place. First, besides the implied height of the set, you have a lot of steel and rebar lying around at such a site. You can always rely on Sam to see opportunities and come up with an effective way to use these set elements to enhance the danger in a scene,” said Riva. “Second, it was an open structure, pretending to be 50 stories high, open on all sides. It offered Sam a jungle gym of possibilities to web up and down, to do a chase all over the face of the steel structure. The higher they go fighting their way up the building, the more the danger and tensions increase. It’s a long way to fall if you’re not Spider-Man!”

For visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk – the man charged with bringing the visual effects to the screen – those words were the beginning of a two-year process to develop the technology that would make Spider-Man 3 the most visually stunning film in the series so far. “When we began the pre-production process, the computer programs had not yet been developed which could achieve the look of Sandman and his capabilities that Sam wanted to see,” recalled producer Grant Curtis. “However, Scott Stokdyk and his team created new technology to manipulate every piece of sand on our character. The existing technology allowed management of thousands of particles at once – but to animate Sandman the way Sam wanted to, we would have to be able to render billions of particles. In the end, the new software they wrote required ten man-years to code.”

Stokdyk says that he and his team prepared for the challenge by first observing how sand moves in the real world. “One of the first things we did was to organize a sand shoot with Sam and Bill Pope, the difrector ofg photographer,” Stokdyk continued. “We shot footage of sand every way we would need it – thrown up, thrown against blue screen, over black screen. John Frazier, the special effects supervisor, shot it out of an aero can at a stuntman. Anything we could imagine sand doing in the film, we shot.”

“There’s a character the, emoting, but it’s just a pile of sand,” said Stotdyk. “If we’ve pulled together enough grains of sand to make feel something, then we’ve pulled it off.”

In the end, the artists were all extremely proud of their creation. “Sony Pictures Imageworks delivered on Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, but for Spider-Man 3 it changed the industry standard,” said Curtis.

Sandman, of course, was not the only character that posed a considerable challenge for Spencer Cook; animating the black-suited Spider-Man required subtle changed to reflect the character’s more aggressive personality, “He’ll move a little quicker here and there, hunch his shoulders a little more, put his elbows up a little higher when he’s stuck to a wall. We tried to find poses that the classic Spider-Man would not do – where the red-suited Spider-Man was graceful and elegant in his motions, black-suited Spider-Man is more blunt, rough, and reckless.”

In creating Venom, Stokdyk notes that the character has at least three different stages. First, of course, is the initial transformation, in which Topher Grace’s skin is pulled away from his body and tendrils of goo cross his face until they completely envelop him. “As he gets angrier, he turns into more of a monster, more of a beast,” Stokdyk noted. First, he becomes a kind of double for Spider-Man, played by Grace. By the very end of the film, he becomes an entirely CG character – the classic Venom from the comic books, with a menacing, unhinged jaw and a full mouth of very sharp teeth. “Everything is alive on ‘comic-book Venom,’” Stokdyk continued. “The challenge was to make a character that was monsterous, very detailed, very kinetic – but not delicate. Despite all the detail, he’s still menacing.

Stokdyk was also determined to break new ground in terms of live-action integration with the visual effects. The supervisor was on hand during production so that he could be ready to take the ball as soon as the scenes were filmed. “It was important to Sam and me to incorporate as much live-action into the CG as possible,” he said. “The typical reason a shot is animated is because a person can’t do all of it. We wanted to find a way to have an actor or stunt person do part of the action, and synthesize the rest. The goal was to find a balance between keeping the shot real and making it exciting and cinematic.”

One dramatic example of this idea comes early in the film, as Peter Parker finds himself ambushed by the New Goblin – his friend, Harry Osborn. “It was Sam’s idea to show Peter fighting as Peter not as Spider-Man,” said producer Avi Arad. “It’s a terrific amount, because it brings home what a personal battle this is for Peter when you can see his face.”

Tobey Maguire and James Franco completed much of the aerial stunt sequence themselves, doing wire work suspended high above the stage floor. “Tobey is really handy with stunt situations, and he picks it up really quickly,” said stunt coordinator Scott Rogers. “James is also terrific – he’s got a great attitude. Both actors are used to the type of physicality required for their roles, and they excelled.”

For Stokdyk, achieving such great heights would not have been possible without the contribution from his team at Sony Pictures Imageworks, assembling, in the end, between 200 and 250 people to complete more than 900 effects shots. “You live and die by your team,” said Stokdyk. “They were always ready to respond, always on their toes. That’s bit of the process of working with Sam, you have to be flexible and ready to deliver.”

“When developing this third installment, we asked ourselves, ‘What does this young man still have to learn?’” said director Sam Raimi. “We placed him in situations where he’d be forced to confront his absences of character – obstacles that, in previous stories, he might not have been able to surmount. In this way, he would either be defeated or grow into the heroic person who might be capable of overcoming these obstacles. As the depth of our characters grow, they become richer human beings and can achieve more than in the previous films.”

[annakie]

In the last few days I’ve watched all of the Spiderman movies made this century -

1. Except Into the Spiderverse because I watched that a couple of months ago and it’s still fresh in my head)

2. And I haven’t seen No Way Home yet (maybe tomorrow)

Here’s some thoughts.  No spoilers for No Way Home, I’ve avoided them at all costs and truly don’t know what happens in that movie.

McGuire

So I watched all the Toby McGuire movies as they came out, and I was already well into adulthood when they started releasing.  I do remember I loved them and I feel like I saw the first one several times and the last one maybe only when it came out? 

They’re definitely a product of their time and the writing was cheesy in places but also the first one is good.  Toby McGuire does not feel like a teenager at all IMHO but also this series spends by far the least amount of time in High School, it’s like, less than half of the first movie.  But otherwise, I think he does a good job.  The relationship with James Franco’s character felt genuine.  The second movie was still good.  Then the third...

Okay I remembered at the time when the third one came out comic book nerds were mad about “Venom”.  I know nothing about Marvel characters now and I knew a lot less back then and I was like “Ugh, shut up nerds, it’s just some characters in a movie.”

Now, years later after seeing Tom Hardy’s Venom movies, I would like to personally apologize to those nerds I mentally told to shut up, because they were right.  What a disservice to Eddie Brock and Venom that mess was.  Tofer Grace, they gave you some character named Eddie Brock to play but you were not playing Eddie Brock.  I was personally offended on behalf of Tom Hardy by that entire “Venom” storyline.

But overall, I still liked the Toby McGuire Spiderman movies.

Garfield

I’d never seen the Andrew Garfield Spiderman movies.  In fact, I also haven’t seen The Social Network.  Or literally anything else he’s been in that I can think of other than the Daleks Take Manhattan episodes of Doctor Who.

Good to see Garfield’s American accent has improved.

I really didn’t know what to think about his movies.  I didn’t dislike his performance.  I was excited for Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben and Sally Field as Aunt May.  All of the other actors did a fine job.  But idk, for some reason, these movies didn’t connect with me at all.  I literally watched them the day before yesterday and I am struggling to remember who the villains were, except I do remember one of them in the second movie was the same character Franco played in the first trilogy. 

Dennis Leary’s character dying in the first one was predictable but fine, it was a good plot motivator for the second movie.  I did appreciate the things they tried to do differently, though some changes felt arbitrary.  But when MJ died in the second movie I was really ready to be done with the Garfield Spiderman movies and tbh was glad there wasn’t another one to watch.  I didn’t really think they were bad, I guess they just weren’t for me.  TBH I felt like they were trying to hard to be young and hip and I just wasn’t feeling it. 

Also I missed JK Simmons.

But if Andrew Garfield is in this new MCU movie (and I TRULY don’t know if he is) I still think it’ll be fun and I would be excited.

Holland

So I had seen all of the MCU Spiderman movies.  Though I kind of saw them out of order because I watched Civil War --> Infinity War --> Endgame --> Homecoming --> Far From Home.  Something about that had never really let me connect with Holland’s Spidey.  So this time I went back and watched them in the right order, and it helped a lot.  I rewatched all of Endgame even though he’s barely in it because I had only seen it on release day and had forgotten half of what happened.

I’ve never been liek the biggest MCU fan?  I have watched most of the movies except the one or two that’s come out during the pandemic and have seen all the Disney+ shows, but this time I ended up really enjoying the Holland Spiderman movies and performance. 

I also really appreciated not having to sit through a 3rd “Uncle Ben Died And Woah I Have Powers Now!” rehash.  Having Tony Stark sub in as the Uncle/Father Figure was refreshing, worked well and really grounded the character in the MCU.   He was also the most realistically High School Spidey, and I loved his classmates in this one. 

Finishing Far From Home made me excited about seeing the next one, and that’s not that usual for me.

Shameik Moore / Miles Morales

Absolute perfection.  Never change.  Just needs more.  Can’t wait for the second movie.  Both Peter Parkers are super great in this, too.  But again, need more.  Also just hard to compare vs. the other three that are easier to compare.

Anyway, to wrap this up, my favorite Spidey’s are Holland > Miles Morales > McGuire > Garfield. 

[legendary-maddie]

• G E N E R A L . H U X × R E A D E R •

》 Imagine your brother Ben kept his promise to come and get you after he left. Prologue.《

Authors note:

I kept this in my drafts for a long time, because I'm very insecure... English is not my native language and I don't have a beta reader, so... Arg... well I'll give it a try and IF one of you cuties are bored and wanna proofread it... it would be most welcomed ♡

Anyways, I hope you enjoy! It's a prologue to a storyline idea I have...

Your maid took care in dressing you up. The white dress with wide sleeves and plenty of embroidery was floating down your petite form. The back of it was free, only your perfectly curled, black hair covered the view on it.

You felt like a princess, living in a castle with the royal family of House Antilles, wearing fancy gowns and having a maid that style your hair…

Your mother was former princess of Alderaan, but neither existed. Alderaan was destroyed by the Deathstar, many years ago, and Leia Organa turned her back on being a princess and founded the Resistance, becoming their General.

You for your part worked a long time alongside your mother. As a spy you had simple tasks actually. Just visiting planets and cities, checking if the ‘area was clean’ and trying to make new allies, but you were sick of it.

Sick of the Resistance and sick of this whole life as a part of a group which hides behind scrap and fights because of hope.

It was not your intention to leave the Resistance and switch sides, becoming a part of The First Order, no. You just needed… time. Time and space for you to think, calm down and collect yourself again.

Your brother left when you were a young girl, his little angel and he was your role model. He promised to come back and get you but you had already given up hope long ago. He left to become a Jedi, it ended up that he burned down the academy and joined the Knighs of Ren.

Shortly after that, your father Han Solo left too and never said Good Bye to you. He was broken and too ashamed to face you and your mother after what happened to Ben. Actually you couldn’t blame him. You did the same: ran away.

Your mother on the other hand buried herself in work. She worked so hard to build up the Resistance and barely seemed to care for you. Of course she loved you but… it’s wasn’t the same. There were no feeling of a family, everything just broke apart and it was like you standing alone in an empty hallway.

You felt like a traitor when you left her, but now you felt better. The distance felt good.

You crossed the whole galaxy to find the leftover parts of the royal family of House Antilles and found them on a tiny planet where they had build up their old home planet again.

It was just beyond beautiful and peaceful. You couldn’t even imagine that something like that could exist in a world like this.

The one who was in charge for all that was Brean Antilles. He was the nephew of the former Queen Breha Antilles Organa of Alderaan.

He was old and sceptical to you, also afraid that the arrival of General Leia Organas daughter would break the peace they had build up so hard, that the First Order would come and kill them all for hiding a ‘criminal’, as he addressed it.

You explained your situation and appointed yourself as impartial, that no one was after you and no one actually knew your face.

It’s been a whole year now and you enjoyed it so much. No trouble with neither the Resistance and the First Order.

This planet was just heaven and you were grateful to be here. Brean told you it wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the original Alderaan was, but it already was breathtaking.

Brean accepted you as a part of the family and you gave your best not to disappoint him.

Your maid finished setting your dress and hair in the right place, so you where ready to go for a walk in the gardens with her.

She grabbed the small basked filled with fruits and water and quickly joined your side.

Elia was a sweet blond haired girl and became a friend of yours since the beginning.

You guided the way from your private chambers out to the balcony which also lead outside the house to the gardens when you suddenly heard that the doors of your room sprang open.

Your heart stopped beating for a second when you saw men in black armor infiltrated the room, guns immediately aimed at you when they saw your maiden and you standing on the balcony.

Deathtrooper… they where an elite variant of the Stormtroopers and incredibly dangerous.

Immediately you ordered the young girl to run as fast and as wide as she can.

Your eyes widened as they took a step into your way and you ran the opossite way your maid ran, outside the house into the gardens.

You held up the hem of your dress and ran for your life in the direction of the next entrance into the palace but is was too late.

You stopped as more Deathtroopers came in your way. Heavily breathing for air you looked back just too see that they build a circle around you. You were trapped.

“Finally.”, one of them said and you took a step back, just to fall into the arms of two troopers. They gripped your arms and dragged you right in front of the man who seemed to have the lead.

“Let me go!” You did your best to break yourself free from the firm grips on your arms.

“No way. We searched long enough for you, girl.”, was the respond as a transporter landed on the nearby flower field. “Get her in, so we can go.”

.

It was a short trip to that disgusting thing they called their base.

Actually you thought it was quite impressive but you were too angry to admit.

They refused to answer your questions, so you remained to be quiet too. You didn’t wanted to make it worse, than it already was. You were smart enough to cooperate.

You wondered how they found you. And more importantly: why.

It was impossible that they found any traces of you. You were careful during your journey to find a place far away and good enough to hide in. Nobody, not even your mother, knew about your planes. YOU didn't even knew where to go after you left!

Then it came like a lightning strike into you mind.

Brean...

Of course it was him!

He wanted to save the peace on this planet without fighting. Instead he allied with the First Order and betrayed you.

The corners of your mouth twitched down. You looked disappointed and sad to the ground.

Just then, the transporter landed and your heart started to beat faster.

Instead of being scared, you were nervous and curious at the same time. It felt like something significant will happen, nothing bad.

“Get up, girl.”, the black armoured Trooper said. You rolled your eyes as one of them aimed his weapon on you, pointing at the way he wanted you to go. You did what he ordered and slowly raised yourself with mixed feelings.

You gulped, but straightened yourself and raised your head like real princess would do.

With elegant, long steps you walked down the ramp of the transporter. The bright artificial light of the base hurt in your eyes as you stepped outside, but stopped as you saw several people walking towards you.

A few troopers and a men.

He wore black robes with a hood over his head. Dispite the fact that he wore a helmet his presence felt familiar.

Very familiar.

Your heart ached as you walked towards him, while he slid back his hood and took off the helmet.

Holding up the hem of your dress you started running as you recognized him.

Ben.

You felt into his arms and he welcomed you. His wavy black hair tickled your nose as you stood on tiptoes to wrap your hands around his neck. He was still so much taller than you...

You closed your eyes and enjoyed to be reunited with your brother. The feeling was so overwhelming to you that you felt a lonely tear rolling down your cheek.

You opened your eyes, laid a hand on your brothers cheek and looked into his brown eyes. You thumb gently rubbed over his skin.

"You came to get me.", you said in a hushed voice.

"I did." He looked into your face, examining every inch of you. "You... changed."

Of course you changed. The last time you saw each other was 7 years ago. And that was as a hologram. You were only five when he left to train under your uncle to become a jedi. You barely saw each other during that time but you loved your brother so much and you were proud of him.

You were a teenager when you found your mother crying in your father's arms and you knew something happened to Ben.

You studied his face. He too changed, more than you actually. His body became tall and muscular and he looked older, experienced and angry but now you can see hints of relief and happiness. You on the other hand haven't grown that much since your teenager years. Your body got womanly curves and you face more elegant and sharper.

"You too, Ben.", you said as you looked into the same eyes you also had.

Your brother twitched barely noticable as you said his name. His expression seemed to darken.

"I'm not Ben Solo anymore.", he said with a tense voice. You calmly smiled. You knew what he meant with that. He called himself Kylo Ren now, but you wouldn't have felt him if not even the tiniest bit of Ben would be inside him.

He looked up from you. "Let her things packed up and get them on board.", he ordered to one of the black armoured troopers. He turned on his heels and walked straight back into the transporter, followed by the others.

You looked at him questioningly. "Excuse me?"

Your brother looked down at you. His face was stern but caring. "You will stay here, Y/N.", he said. "I need your help."

[agir1ukn0w]

Attention Reylo Fam!

After hearing some disturbing rumors on social media that Lucasfilm may be considering pulling back the release of The Rise of Kylo Ren in order to change some major plot details of Ben Solo’s journey to becoming Kylo Ren (specifically his involvement in the destruction of Luke’s academy), I have decided to write a letter to Lucasfilm asking them, if the rumors are indeed true, not to do so. Obviously it is more than likely that the things I’ve been hearing are no more than supposition, given that I’ve only seen them on Tumblr, however I would still like to voice some of my concerns and the collective concerns of the fandom to Lucasfilm if there is a small chance they will receive my letter and take it seriously.

I have just finished my first draft, and I wanted to post it here so that you may read it and give me suggestions on things I should change or add on in the comments. I value the input of my reylo family, and I want to be as truthful and accurately representative of the feelings of the collective fandom as I can. I will post the draft below the cut, and also, if you would like your name to be included in the signing of the letter (either your blog url or, if you are comfortable, your real name), please let me know and I will add you to the list.

Dear Disney Lucasfilm Ltd.,

I would like to preface this letter by saying think you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the wonderment and inspiration that you have given me these past four years of my life. These movies, tv shows, books, etc. have been a cornerstone of my cultural upbringing since before I can remember and I personally believe that Star Wars is the single greatest tale in the history of the world. I thank you with all my heart for carrying it forward so honorably.

That being said, I still very much believe in this story’s potential to be a beacon of empowerment for those who feel so disenfranchised and even oppressed in the real world. I still believe that this story is capable of making children look up and believe in themselves and their power to make a difference.

I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand the reasons why you made the choices you made with regards to Episode IX: TROS. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. No work of art can possibly please everyone, and I would also like to thank the cast and crew for working so hard and putting their entire souls into these projects these past several years.

This has all been a roundabout way of coming to the main point of my letter to you. Specifically, this letter concerns the character Ben Solo.

I’m sure that you have been hearing and seeing a variety of heated emotions on social media concerning the fate of this character. The first time I met him way back in TFA, I knew that he was someone special; even then I felt a very deep connection with his struggle and began to root for him. The arc that you gave him in TROS was beautiful, and everything I really wanted to see. I’d been hoping for his redemption for a long time, and to see it so beautifully acted on screen was truly inspiring. Although I must say that I really could have done without his death, for the purpose of this particular letter, I will digress from that opinion, even though I know for a fact that I am not the only one who holds it. At the end of the day, Ben’s storyline was fulfilled because he overcame the darkness within him, helped Rey to defeat the ultimate Evil, and brought her back to life with his love. I couldn’t have asked for more.

However, I have been hearing rumors on social media which are very concerning. A few people have suggested that Lucasfilm plans to pull back the release of the comic The Rise of Kylo Ren by Charles Soule in order to change some of the major details of Ben Solo’s story to better fit with what happened in the movie. Specifically, I am referring to the very important fact that Ben actually didn’t kill his fellow students in cold blood and that he didn’t set his uncle’s academy on fire. I don’t know if this rumor is even true, and I pray that it isn’t. The fact that I have as yet only seen these rumors on social media leads me to believe that there is little probability to it.

However, I cannot convey to you the depth of my despair should they turn out to be true. And I know that I am not alone. The fandom has already seen the plates, clearly showing that it was not Ben who set fire to his uncle’s academy. It would be a huge mistake to completely redo them now, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that you would lose the good faith and trust of many people in this fanbase.

I have written this letter to implore you all at Lucasfilm, if these rumors are indeed true, to please rethink your strategies; Speak with your fans directly, understand their viewpoints and how important this character is to so many. I won’t tell you how much I personally love and care for the character of Ben Solo so as not to take up too much space in the letter, but there are many others who love him feel a much deeper connection with the character than I. Should you chose to do this, you would not only be drastically changing important details of the character’s life, but you would also be taking his own past from him. So many dedicated fans will feel disenfranchised. Furthermore, your sales would go down drastically. I cannot tell you how devastated the vast majority of your fans would be. We all want justice for Ben Solo, and if we cannot have it through him living a long and happy life, we deserve to see it through the truthful telling of his past.

Both Disney and Lucasfilm have been major centers of hope and inspiration for me throughout my life. The messages that you send, that even those who have made terrible decisions in their lives can be gravely misunderstood by others, and that they can always make things right, is extremely important to me. And the story of Ben Solo is one which I have followed closely since I saw The Force Awakens for the first time. I believed in his ability to redeem himself even before the information that what happened at Luke’s academy wasn’t his fault came out. Even when it was assumed that he had killed his fellow students, I believed in him because that is what Star Wars is about. Belief, hope, and understanding. In The Last Jedi, Leia says, “Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you’ll never make it through the night.” I have held on to that message ever since I heard it, and it has gotten me through many tough, emotional times in my life. I know that you respect your fans, and we as a fandom have not given up hope that you will do what is right for these characters.

Once again, before I close out this letter, please accept my deepest gratitude for all that this company has done to bring Star Wars into a new generation, inspiring us to go forward and create our own stories and modern myths. I am, and always will be proud to be a Star Wars fan.

Sincerely,

…………

Let me know what you guys think, I am excited to mail this letter!

Peace, Love, and Reylo💜

[e-louise-bates]

I’ve said for a while that Star Wars needs to embrace the idea of a multiverse--ever since changing the Expanded Universe to “Legends,” they’ve ignored this wonderful opportunity to tell a thousand different stories about the SW universe. Or universes.

Even if they don’t embrace it, I have. I’ve already decided that there is one Alternate Universe out there where the Rogue One crew didn’t die, but lived and went on to run a dozen more secret operations for Mon Mothma and then retired to live happily as a family together.

I also insist that there’s an AU out there where the prequels make sense--at the very least, where Padmé doesn’t die and lives long enough hidden on Alderaan for Leia to remember her (this is the least of my complaints about the prequel trilogy, but yet, it still annoys me).

And while I think, in general, the sequel trilogy did a good job with storytelling, it still makes me sad to think of the miserable lives my favorites from the original trilogy ended up having. So I am coming up with my own idea for sequels, and chief among them is that the Han-Leia-Luke-etc generation sees freedom won and peace achieved in their generation; their children’s generation enjoys that peace; in the third generation people have gotten slack and THAT’S when evil rises again.

In this AU, Han and Leia marry and stay together and have five kids. Yes, five. Their eldest is a daughter, named Breha, after Leia’s adoptive mother. As the oldest child of Alderaan’s princess, Breha is named heir to rule the Alderaanian Remnant, and when Leia steps away from her role as princess to lead the New Republic instead, Princess Breha becomes Queen Breha Organa Solo. Except since she is so young, she needs a Regent to act for her, and that’s how Han becomes responsible for finding a new planet for the Alderaanians and stands as their representative in the new Senate, and eventually has to set up a new government for them. (Lando finds all this HILARIOUS.)

Breha has some Force ability, but not enough to become a Jedi; as she grows she develops her skills enough to give her an edge in diplomacy and politics, but that’s it.

The next three children (still haven’t come up with names for them) are all force-users and train with Uncle Luke. At least one of them is a hotshot pilot as well. One probably becomes Leia’s right-hand person in her role as Chancellor. The other is an adventurer and explorer, always out looking for new Jedi for Uncle Luke.

The fifth child, also a girl, is strong in the Force but has no interest in being a Jedi; she inherits the Millenium Falcon and is Han’s right-hand person, being even better at fixing mechanical problems and keeping the hunk of junk flying than Han and Chewie are. Luke tries his hardest to lure her to training, but she learns just enough to safeguard against falling prey to the Dark Side, and calls it good. She’s remarkably stubborn--Leia says she gets it from Han, and can’t figure out why everyone laughs when she says that.

Leia also chooses not to become a full Jedi, because she feels her abilities and talents are better employed serving the galaxy through politics, and being a Jedi would only limit her. She does train with Luke, and she develops remarkable control over the Force, but she is not a Jedi. By choice.

Luke initially starts off wanting to rebuild the Jedi Academy and recreate the Jedi Order exactly as it had been, Mr. Idealistic that he is. He ends up encountering Ahsoka Tano and her apprentice, and Ahsoka rather sarcastically points out that the Jedi Order allowed Palpatine to rise to power and through their arrogance and blindness doomed the entire galaxy, so maybe he might not want to emulate them so exactly? Luke thinks about it, and decides she’s right: it’s time for a different, better Jedi order to rise. Ahsoka agrees, but tells him she’s too old to get involved with this, and suggests to her apprentice that she work with him instead. Her apprentice--a woman with fiery red hair and green eyes named Mara Jade [there is NO WAY I’m building a SW AU that doesn’t have Mara in it] is Not Impressed, but decides to give it a try.

Mara’s backstory is that she was found as a child by the warlord of a planet in the Outer Rim, who raised her to be his personal assassin and to use her Force abilities to harm others. Ahsoka rescued her and re-trained her, but she’s still all sharp edges and sarcasm with a boatload of guilt she’s trying to unload. She Does Not Like Luke. Until they fall in love and get married, of course.

Luke and Mara have three children: Owen, Padmé, and Beru (Luke wanted a fourth so they could name him Anakin; Mara didn’t think it fair to saddle any child with that burden) [I like the idea of them naming one of their children Ben, but first the Legends and then the sequel trilogy took that name, so I’m staying as far away from that as possible. Maybe Obi-Wan visited Luke in a vision and said under no circumstances were any of them to use that name; he had a bad feeling about what might happen if they did.] All three are strong Jedi, though they all take on different roles within the new order Luke and Mara form.

Lando never marries but ends up sort-of accidentally adopting a bunch of different kids, mostly as a result of them adopting him first (something Han takes great glee in teasing him about), and continues to be a loyal friend to the New Republic. Wedge is leader of Rogue Squadron, of course, and eventually ends up marrying Iella Wessiri [as with Mara, she gets to travel over from the Legends universe], and of course there are Ewok jokes.

So they build a strong New Republic, they establish peace, they enjoy peace, and not until their grandchildren’s generation does a new evil start to rise ...

(Have I figured out how the grandchildren’s story will go? Not yet. It will involve Rey and Finn and Poe and Rose, and possibly even a Kylo, though a grandson, not a son, but it wouldn’t follow the exact storyline of the sequels. I still don’t know what the storyline would be, though. But as you can tell, I’m having lots of fun imagining the filler for in between.)

[amandaklwrites]

Movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Genre: Children’s, Family/Action, Adventure/Fantasy

Rating: 10/10

Movie Review:

Man, Prince Caspian is such a great film.

I had seen it when it first came out in theaters (hello! Huge Narnia fan here, of course I did!), and I remember loving it so much. But funny enough, I don’t think I ever watched it again after that initial release. I didn’t even have on DVD until a few months ago. Recently, I had rediscovered my infinite love for Narnia (it was always there, it just came and went at times), so I had wanted to watch all the movies again. And as I watched Prince Caspian, I realized that I didn’t remember anything about this movie. So, it felt like watching it for the first time again!

And boy is it different. I like the take on the story. We have these four children who had grown up and had a whole life in this magical world, and then they return to their old world and have to start from the beginning. Could you even imagine? And the idea that when they do return to Narnia, it’s been like a thousand years since they had left??? I liked that the movie played with their reactions to this realization—that Narnia’s kings and queens had abandoned them, and the Pevensie’s have to live with that.

Before I get too much into the storyline, I should discuss the new addition to this world, the title character: Prince Caspian. I forgot how much I loved Ben Barnes as this role. He’s so fierce and confused and strong, and he’s finding himself throughout the entirety of this movie. He’s seeing the other side—Narnians and his people have been at war for so long. While he’s in the world of Narnia, having to rely on them and the Pevensie’s to help him, he can learn about this other side. He sympathizes with them, he understands the monstrosities his people have made to theirs. At the beginning, Caspian is only focused on one thing: the fact that his uncle murdered his father (ooh, so Hamlet-like!), and he wants revenge. But with the Pevensie children, with the Narnians at his side, he grows beyond that. He even learns that he doesn’t want to be a terrible person like his uncle and won’t kill him! Ben Barnes plays this role so well and you see his development over time, his understanding and learning as he progresses. Gah, if I didn’t already love Peter, Caspian would be my man!

What I also enjoyed was seeing a darker turn on Narnia. We see this land that had been so magical and new, and now it’s been hurt and destroyed, for the most part, for a thousand years since the joyous time after the White Witch’s reign. The Narnians have to deal with the fact that their rulers have returned, and most of them aren’t too happy about it. That was interesting in itself. Not many were rejoicing and explicitly happy that the Pevensie’s were back—they had to prove themselves worthy of the throne they had left (though it wasn’t on purpose). In an interesting way, they had to grow even more than they did in the first movie. They had to find themselves again.

Two of my favorite scenes, which interestingly, were the most brutal ones. The raid at Caspian’s castle was so honest and vicious and quite honestly, too much for a kid’s movie. That was a moment when I realized William Moseley was a fantastic actor—his face, his expression, when Peter had to make the decision to abandon his people that were trapped and killed off. I cried watching that part because the anguish and horror was right there—and it told the truth about being a ruler, at times, having to deal with those losses and deaths, and having to live with yourself after them. I thought William shined through in that moment.

My other favorite scene was the fight scene between Peter and Caspian’s uncle (I think Peter in my favorite?). I don’t know why, so I couldn’t even begin to fully explain myself, but I thought that whole action sequence was one of the most beautiful scenes ever filmed. The way they shot the action, the music, the tricks on the camera, the sound of the metal clashing, the actors/characters themselves. It was a scene that stuck with me afterward, and I couldn’t stop watching it in the first place.

I loved seeing everyone come back—William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley—and how much they had grown up and morphed as actors! I felt like all of their characters had changed a lot (though still themselves deep down) and it all shone through the parts of the plot. Even seeing the White Witch make a return was so interesting and complicated, and the use to show how Edmund could tell the others, especially Caspian, to deter away from her was really profound. And of course, Aslan!! I love how he was there all the time, without actually being there for most of the film. It was so interesting and well done. The new additions were great, too—Reepicheep is so funny and such a delight! Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin was a wonderful character as well, and I liked that he worked as the gap between Narnia and the kids.

The hardest part about this film (in terms of plot, not anything wrong with the film) is when you come to the realization that nothing will ever be the same. Peter and Susan admit that they won’t be returning to Narnia, and that breaks my heart every single time. Because it means that they had learned what they needed, and their ready to move on with their lives, even if it means just keeping Narnia in their hearts (I feel that…). Journeys come to an end sometimes, and though they don’t want to, they know it is time.

I loved everything about this film. The action, the music, the fighting sequences, the raw emotion in the characters, the humor. It was a bit of a darker contrast to the first film, especially for the characters, but it helped spark the movement forward for the world of Narnia.

Definitely a favorite.

[bethsuglywigs]

2x01 q&a

1. What was your favourite scene of the episode? Tell us why!

There are many scenes in this episode I enjoy: Ruby in the Starbucks, Beth laughing because she thinks Dean is dead, Annie and Greg fake fighting, Marcus reveal, and every scene Turner is in...but the emmy goes to Rio shooting Dean...

Name a scene more iconic. You can’t.

2. Was there any scene that missed the mark for you? And if so, how?

It’s not a scene per se, but Stan’s lax of compassion for Beth and Annie seems out of place to me. I get that he’s mad, but he’s known them for literal decades. He probably knew Annie as a teenager and depending on when he met Ruby, maybe have even seen her grow up.

Their families are so close that Sara literally calls Dean “Uncle Dean” in this episodes. And yet Stan, an established loving and compassionate man, is like fuck ‘em. I would have preferred to see him struggle with it at least a little bit, but instead he acts like they are two random women he’s never met. 

This is just part of an underlying weakness in the writing. They keep telling us that the families are close...they just aren’t showing it to us.

3. How much physical pain did s1 ending on a Stan and Ruby fight and s2 starting on a Stan and Ruby fight cause you?

It really does hurt to see them fight. But at the same time, their fighting shows how deeply in love they are and how much they care about each other. Stan and Ruby are always fighting to find a way back to each other. It really contrasts with Beth and Dean, who are never fighting for their love (because they aren’t in love I stand by that). We get to see the way crime impacts these two long-term marriages and it’s really significant how the show consistently shows how Stan is angry with Ruby because she lied to him and risked being taken from their family while Dean is mad about the lose of control over Beth. 

Overall I hate when Stan and Ruby fight, but it really does highlight the depth of their love and the solid foundation of their marriage.

4. Do you think Rio went to Beth’s house with a plan? Do you think he knew he was going to shoot Dean? What do you think he thought would happen when he passed Beth the gun?

Yes I think he had a plan. Rio is known to stalk Beth a bit so he definitely knew she was out of the house. I think he fully intended on waiting for her to get home and intimidating her to teach her a lesson. I don’t think Dean was necessarily a part of Rio’s plan at first, but I think he knew he was going to shoot Dean by the time Beth got home (how long did he wait...imagine having to spend any amount of time with Dean...i’d shoot him too). 

I think Rio was pretty confident Beth wouldn’t shoot him. I think that part of his plan happened exactly as he planned it. I think he mostly just wanted to imply to her that he has killed before and that the only way she can get rid of him is to kill him (which he doesn’t think she can do). 

5. What do you make of Beth’s reaction that Dean was alive?

I think she had already come to terms with the fact that he was dead and that it was her fault. And there was a part of her that was glad to be free of him. I think part of the reason she feels so guilty when he survives is that apart of her wanted him to be dead.

6. Turner has so many great scenes this episode, from the one where he throws Boomer against the wall and threatens him, to heeeyyyyy~ing Beth and talking about her, ahem, playdate with Rio, to their later conversation when Beth tells him she did his job for him, to his last scene with Boomer. Which was your fave, and tell us why!

The buckle scene. I think Turner is a bit dismissive of Beth. I think he thinks she a bored housewife in over her head (and to a degree, she is). In this scene, I think he full expected her to admit her guilt and the fact that she insults him instead really wounds his pride. 

Rio would definitely be a big collar if Turner were able to actually lock him up and yet he becomes way more interested in Beth (who could be a serious asset to him). I truly believe this scene is the turning scene in his fixation with her.

7. Greg and Annie almost get sprung by Ben! Putting the situation with Nancy aside for this particular episode (we have plenty of time to get to that later, haha), what do you think Ben thinks of Annie and Greg’s relationship as he knows it to be on the show, and do you think he’d ever be onboard with them getting back together?

I don’t think he would want them back together. Ben is very mature and I think he would find their high school antics to be annoying. Additionally, I think we would be very hurt when they inevitably breakup again.

8. Stan wants Ruby to throw Beth and Annie under the bus. It’s pretty brutal for a character who’s frequently so generous and empathetic. What do you think this tells us about Stan’s headspace at this point, and how he views Ruby’s actions? And what his relationship is to Beth and Annie?

See question 2...this just doesn’t hit for me.

9. The crime plot this episode is a little different! With Annie and Beth scheming to get into the DNA delivery truck, and Ruby’s amazing Starbucks distraction. What do you think of this overall? Do you think it would’ve worked? And what do you think Beth and Annie abandoning the scheme after realising there were rape kits in the van tells us about them as characters?

I think it probably would have worked. The driver would have had to report the damage to the truck which probably would at least give Beth grounds for an appeal if she was convicted. 

I know they don’t have any money, but Beth should have just gone for a consultation with a lawyer. She would have known that her DNA on a pen cap wouldn’t really be  enough to convict her. 

I did generally like the idea that Beth and Annie are empathetic to other women and that they couldn’t bring themselves to destroy the evidence.  

9. The reveal that Nancy’s pregnant inspires a pretty huge reaction in Annie that bookends her reaction to finding out Greg and Nancy were trying back in 1.08. What do you think has changed across these three episodes that made Annie lean into her affair with Greg? And why do you think she handles the news in the way she does when she knows that Nancy’s on fertility treatment?

Eh this plot point feel a little flat for me because they really already did it in S1. I think the writers just didn’t know what other storyline to do with Annie so they just rinsed and repeated this one.

10. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you hate Boomer in his scene with Mary Pat?

10/10 just for Boomer being in the scene. 100000000/10 for how he manipulates Mary Pat into a relationship with him, especially knowing what he does to her.

11. The Marcus reveal! Did you see it coming before you watched the episode the first time? And how do you feel about it as a character choice for Rio, a connecting point for Rio and Beth, and for the story overall? Do you like it? Not like it? Tell us everything!

I love Marcus. He’s my second favorite child.

I didn’t see the Marcus reveal coming...which brings me to my they aged Rio up when the made him Beth’s love interest. I simply don’t believe s1 Rio had a child. Marcus was born and raised during the hiatus. But I do think Marcus adds a lot to Rio’s character. Before, he was just a bit too nebulous...too mysterious, but Marcus really does ground him a person. It shows he has a life outside of crime, implies he has a family, and implied that his motivations might not be so different from Beths. 

Beth and Rio’s strengths as love interests really come from their similarities. They are truly two sides of the same crazy coin. And the addition of Marcus ties them together in another way. 

Furthermore, Marcus is cute as hell and his little smile add to my viewing experience.

[firelxdykatara]

*sigh* why do people keep comparing r/eylo to zutara and putting them in the same group? Were they not paying attention to the show? Did they not see Zuko's evolution?

Honestly, I really don’t know.

Like, ok, superficially, I can almost kinda get it. Angry boy with a scar on his face and the girl who could kick his ass offering to heal him? Ok, fine. Even aesthetically, red and blue, tol and smol, fine. I can sorta see it. But the instant you dig even a little bit deeper, they just… aren’t the same at all???? Not even remotely????

And, ok, I’ll admit to some measure of bias, because I don’t ship reylo and I don’t like it as a ship, nor do I want it to happen in any way in canon, but like, part of the reason Zutara works so well is that it’s not a hero/villain ship. It’s enemies-to-lovers, for sure, but the vast majority of us ship it because of Zuko’s redemption arc.

Yeah, you’ll see ‘I’ll save you from the pirates’ UST jokes, and a lot of us started shipping it back in book 1, but it was obvious from the beginning that Zuko was going to get redeemed. He may have been a villain, but he was never the villain–he was narratively placed as the secondary protagonist (deuteragonist) of the show from his very first appearance. He was given his own narrative arc that had little to do with the main plotline of Aang’s journey, because while his own journey ran parallel to the gaang, it was separate and distinct because he was on his way to his own redemption even then.

Zuko Alone, in book 2, drove this home even further. You don’t give someone who isn’t the primary protagonist of the show an episode all to themselves (literally none of the gaang shows up for even a second) unless this is a character who’s meant to have just as much narrative significance as the main cast. Zuko was always going to join the gaang, and so much zutara meta and fanfic rests on how amazing and emotionally fulfilling their relationship development was, as friends, and that it would have made so much sense for their friendship to go even further.

Reylo doesn’t have any of that.

First of all, Kylo Ren is not Zuko–not even close. Kylo has far more agency in being dark than Zuko ever did. Ben Solo had loving parents and grew up in a supportive environment. His uncle ultimately made a mistake, sure, but a) we see three versions of that particular story: the sanitized version (luke), the demonized version (kylo), and the truth, and b) kylo already had the knights of ren all ready to go and slaughter a bunch of kids.

He was already dark. You don’t go and murderdeathkill a bunch of kids and people you’d ostensibly been raised with just because you saw your uncle standing over you with a lightsaber he clearly wasn’t going to actually use unless you were already making plans to do just that. You can blame as much of it as you want on Snoke and his influence, but that would be a little like blaming Palpatine for Anakin–yeah, he gets some of the blame for manipulating the situation, but Anakin’s still the one who made the choice to kill a temple full of children and choke out his own wife. Darth Vader may have, in the end, chosen to return to the light, but that doesn’t absolve him of the evils he chose to commit.

Kylo is, tragically, in the same narrative position as Darth Vader was in the original trilogy–and Vader couldn’t even bring himself to kill his son.  But Kylo chose to kill his father. And that, incidentally, is one of the places where Zuko and Kylo are essentially diametrically opposed. Zuko turned on Uncle Iroh, yes, but he didn’t cross a line from which there was no coming back–he didn’t kill him. He, in fact, kept going to see him, trying to figure out why the choice he’d made felt so wrong when it was supposed to be everything he’d always wanted. Meanwhile, Kylo murdered his own father because he was hoping to destroy that last link to his own humanity.

And he succeeded.

Furthermore, Rey is not Katara. I love them both, so much, but they are very different people, and different characters who fulfill different narrative spaces in their own stories. In Rey’s position, Katara would probably have killed Kylo in the throne room when he turned on her after killing Snoke. Or, placing Kylo in Zuko’s place in atla, if he’d killed Hakoda (remembering that Han was the only father figure rey’d ever known)? She would have destroyed him. No fucking mercy

Katara does not forgive easily. It took Zuko not only proving that he was on the side of good (which he did multiple times, one of which he even saved her father), but specifically proving to her that he cared for her and genuinely wanted to help–by helping her gain closure for her mother’s murder. She emotionally connected with Zuko in the crystal catacombs, sure, but when he turned on her she hated him and had no intention of turning back. (Even though, from Zuko’s perspective, it wasn’t a betrayal at all–he’d made no promises, and it was his sister offering him everything he’d ever wanted. As far as he was concerned, the only person he betrayed there was his uncle, which is why it took him so long to realize just why Katara hated him so much. And even then he needed her brother’s help to figure out how to fix it.)

On the other hand, Rey was ready, willing, even eager to believe that Kylo could be returned to the light side–could become Ben again. This after he’d done something utterly unforgiving right in front of her, and tried to kill her multiple times. (Notably, at no point during Zuko and Katara’s antagonistic relationship was Zuko actually trying to kill her. He was trying to capture Aang. The worst thing he did was burn down Suki’s village, and that was largely an accident, because he was trying to get to Aang to capture him–alive.) She wanted to believe there was good in him. Katara couldn’t have cared less, throughout the first two books–and then, when confronted with the fact that Zuko had suffered something to which she could relate, she connected with him… and he turned on her. (From her perspective, she’d just reached out and offered this boy a chance to prove he’d changed… and he threw it in her face. So yeah, she took it incredibly fucking personally.)

Even now, it’s possible that if Kylo comes at Rey with some ‘I’m really light now’ story, she’ll probably want to believe him. But even if Reylo happens (and I’ll stress that I really don’t think it’s going to, and if it does I’ll probably be bitterly disappointed, but what else is new) it won’t even remotely resemble Zutara because they are, at their core, incredibly different relationships. Katara didn’t start warming up to Zuko, after that book 2 betrayal, until after he’d proven himself again and again, and helped her begin to heal from the trauma she’d suffered as a child. Furthermore, Zuko was never that evil to begin with. He was being primed for a redemption arc from the start, and he never even came close to the sort of moral event horizon Kylo pole-vaulted over when he murdered a whole bunch of students in their beds and then killed his own father.

And here’s the thing a lot of these Zuko-lite redemption arcs don’t seem to understand–it’s not a one-size-fits-all storyline. You can’t just slap Zuko’s redemption arc on any old villain, because for a redemption to work, it needs to be tailored specifically to fit the villain in question. And most villains aren’t Zuko–he was a very special kind of ‘secondary protagonist who starts out bad and gets a little bit worse before he gets better and joins the good guys’, which most villains can’t hope to match. If you want to redeem someone who’s canonically done far more atrocious acts, their redemption has to encompass the fact that not only are they getting better, but they are actively atoning for the horrible things they’ve done.

Killian Jones, from Once Upon a Time, had a redemption arc which looked nothing like Zuko’s, because he wasn’t a villain like Zuko. His redemption involved not only coming to realize that he’d been doing bad things for a very long time in search of a vengeance which was, ultimately, not what he really wanted or needed, but also making amends to the people he’d hurt over his very long life (those he still could help, at least). (Interestingly enough, that same show had a great example of a horribly botched redemption, in which we were supposed to take it on faith that the character was Good Now even though she’d never once expressed either remorse for the evil she’d committed [which was a lot more evil than Killian ever had] or a desire to make amends to those she’d wronged. In fact, come the end of the show, she still had a vault full of stolen hearts she’d never so much as made an effort to return, even though many of their owners were, ostensibly, in the same town she’d created through one of her many acts of villainy. It was… kind of strange, to say the least, to see how they could get one villain’s redemption so right and another’s so horribly wrong.)

Anyway, tl;dr: the upshot of this all is, Kylo Ren is not Zuko–he’s not even close–and Rey is not Katara. Their relationships look nothing alike, and even if Kylo is redeemed, it’s not going to look anything like Zuko’s redemption–partly because Zuko was never that bad to begin with and Kylo would have much more for which to atone, partly because their narrative journeys are so very very different–and I have never understood the comparison beyond a very surface-level reading of their character aesthetics.