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twdmusicboxmystery · 1 year ago

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Daryl's Button and Beth's Knife

@galadrieljones

New little promo thing for DD. Thoughts?

@galadrieljones

@wdway

You know I totally want to read into this. First of all the foggy image I want to say could easily be anyone, but then the fog parts and we get a clearer look and know that it is Isabel. Maybe meaning a mysterious female figure is on the horizon.

Isabel is wearing a head covering, it could easily be mistaken for the hood of a cloak/poncho. Beth had a red cloak/poncho and her prison cell. The image that I'm really happy/excited about is that white button on Daryl's shirt. The shirt that has the highlighted button is reminiscent of the one that Daryl wear in Alone. There's no way of missing that button. And of course I'm relating that white button to Beth's heart necklace. Why would they want to emphasize a button?

@galadrieljones

I had the same exact thoughts. The fact that they shroud her in fog, and they do the same to Laurent, both times wearing hooded garments, reminded me of how they used to do similar stuff to Leah.

When I was wondering if Beth possibly could be Leah, a big part of that was because of how often they would shroud or obscure her face. When she takes off her mask and is wearing that fade scarf, and we see her for the first time with her blond ponytail, she looks so much like Beth my heart practically stopped.

Then, when Daryl is dragged off to Meridian, we see her face obscured through the burlap sack from his pov. We will later see her multiple times half-shrouded in darkness, and also from a distance so that all you can see is her small stature and her blond ponytail.

I thought, gee, if they wanted to go back and reshoot these shots with Emily Kinney to communicate Daryl’s psychosis, they 100% could, and it would have a massive effect. It’s around when I thought they might have changed Leah’s hair to run cover for Emily Kinney, should she be spotted filming. Everyone would just assume it’s Lynn Collins. I think something similar is going on here for sure.

@galadrieljones

Also I am also wondering why they are zooming in on Daryl’s clothes. I agree it does look a little like the light brown plaid he wears in Alone. That button we also noticed as looking like a necklace in the trailer. This is a little strange to me. I don’t really have a read on it yet.

@wdway

I definitely think that button being highlighted is for us TD'ers that are looking clues and hints. My mind went straight to the button on Beth's necklace.

@galadrieljones

Also I am also super excited. I keep thinking about it. Like it’s finally sinking in the finally we get a show that’s just totally about Daryl, and everything in it will pertain to DARYL. Not Rick, not Michonne. Just very excited.

@wdway

You expressed my feelings so well. It'll be Daryl's story and yes, there will be a bigger plot but it's going to lead to something... Laurent story will to a large degree will conclude by the end of s1, so what's the plot for s2, other than Carol and Daryl honeymooning I mean.

I think I read a while back that the actress that plays Isabella was seen on set maybe the first or second episode, but no mention after that. According to the carylers Carol will be seen in s1e6. We saw pictures of Norman and Melissa with Daryl holding a map. Why are they still in Paris? What is it that they're looking for now?

I also have taken note that in all the previews when they show all these beautiful landmarks and locations we still have not seen any hint of the Louvre Museum and we know we will see it this season. Many questions, many possibilities.

@galadrieljones

Oh, also for the record, omg I had not even thought of Beth’s necklace. How many times have I drawn Beth in Still/Alone, and yet I forgot about the little button! But it’s a really good theory, because why on earth are they showing us this button? It’s the one thing that stands out in the scene. The rest is all black. Just a black scarf, black jacket. These things are nondescript like blank canvases. I’m sorry I’m about to go on a minor rabbit hole right now. Please ignore me until you are free lol

Okay, so I went back to the trailer, to see the deal with the button in that one scene where he’s getting hauled off to jail or whatever, toward the end. But I just ended up rewatching the whole thing. Note that we don’t see it all the time. It is hidden at first. We only start to see it as the trailer wears on and his clothes become more disheveled. It seems to be attached to an undershirt, which only peaks out after he’s been roughed up. You can see it in the shot of him being hauled off, because he’s clearly been stripped of his jacket, bag, and weapons, which all cover him up and weigh him down.

This button thing made me think of a couple things. First, about trophies, emblems, talismans, whatever you want to call them. Daryl is a collector. Sort of like Beth, he uses his body to display important bits of inventory. Some of it seems for like, meta-analytical purposes. Like, it’s symbolic, for the audience. But it’s well-done, because it also seems to fit his character.

Not all characters are like this. It’s rare. Some characters will get one or two things, like Rick with the red machete, and many characters wear interesting necklaces. But for Daryl, it’s more than that. There are really conspicuous things, like the walker ears in Chupacabra. These are trophies, and they’re remarked upon in the dialogue of the show. But Glenn points out that it’s too conspicuous for Hershel, so Daryl stops with all that.

There’s other stuff that’s more subtle, though. The vest, with the angel wings, which change over time and fall apart, and are eventually repaired by Judith. The blue angel wing is particularly meaningful, and is like an emblem, of his family. The angel wings are a good example of a meta symbol. It means something to Daryl, but it also means something to us and in terms of his characterization in the story.

Daryl also carries Beth’s knife for a long time. He wears the red rag in his back pocket. He wears the bandana, too. He hangs the bandana in his back pocket. Daryl’s arrows also tell a story, by changing color. In his apartment, too, particularly in Diverged, we see that he has kept all sorts of things from his life, and that, though he is a simple man, he appreciates adornment.

Norman has reassured fans that Daryl still has Beth’s knife, too. It’s basically like he’s wearing around his whole life all at once, like a turtle carrying its home on its back.

It’s actually a really good, subtle mode of characterization for Daryl, who grew up very poor, with nothing. It makes sense he’d be a bit of a hoarder. Like a racoon, in a way. Collecting shiny things. But also, like I said, a turtle. He’s lost too much, and so he hangs on to whatever he has left, and he displays it in little ways.

This idea, of hanging onto little things has recently resurfaced with maggie in Dead City. Maggie’s inventory is very key in Dead City, in ways it hasn’t really been before. She’s got Glenn’s ring on her razor necklace. She’s got her little box of photographs and a sketch. The writers are reminding us about how we hang onto our past.

And with Maggie, she basically has weaponized every last inch of her inventory in a protective manner. She is also like a turtle, but her shell, we can think of as armor, not as much a home. She’s always protecting herself, to the detriment of her relationships and all those who love her.

Ginny also has her stuffed dinosaur. Negan is now covered in strange tattoos. The different ways that characters hang onto the people and lives they’ve lost is very interesting. It even calls back to Rick’s boots on the boat, the phone with the drawings of Judith and Michonne. It’s by discovering his old things that Michonne learns Rick might actually still be alive.

It’s also interesting because it’s so similar to Beth, who keeps repurposing her necklace throughout seasons 2-4. It breaks like multiple times and she keeps fixing it. And it also reminds me of her prison cell, which is adorned with a ton of stuff. She hoards, too, but for different reasons than Daryl.

Okay, now, Beth’s knife. I want to point out first that in the trailer, Daryl gives Laurent his knife, similar to how he gives Beth his knife in season 4. Only, with Beth, that moment is off-screen. So only those paying close attention will notice this. The knife he gives Laurent actually really looks distinctly like Carol’s, with the finger holes. But it’s not Carol’s knife. Carol’s knife is like a modern combat knife you’d see a soldier carrying. Daryl’s knife is much simpler and looks almost medieval.

At first, I was concerned because I did NOT want him to be carrying Carol’s knife lol. Of course, it’s not. I think they want us to think about this, too. The trading of knives comes back again and again.

Anyway, back to Beth’s knife, which we know that Daryl has, because Norman told us. How did Daryl get Beth’s knife? Well, Carol gave it to him. But how did Carol get Beth’s knife? That we don’t know. There is a bag of stuff that one of the cops is carrying when the trade goes down at Grady. I know it’s been speculated that maybe Beth’s stuff was in there.

I’m not sure it really matters right now. What matters is that Carol had the knife, which means they DID have Beth’s stuff, somehow, and Daryl loves stuff.

So I went back to Coda, as usual when things get weird. I specifically wanted to see whether Beth is wearing her necklace during the exchange. I couldn’t remember. She is NOT shown wearing the necklace, which means it is probably with the rest of her stuff, ie: the knife.

All of this is a preamble toward the thesis that this button could be Beth’s button, which Daryl repurposed and sewed to an undershirt, which he wears all the time. The button would be close to his heart. It would not be recognizable to anyone but him, and nobody would ask him about it, which is important, since he clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. I wonder if they will do many little things like this as the series goes on, to remind us of Beth?

I’m not quite done lol. One more branch to this rabbit hole. This made me think about Davon. Like Coda, Davon seems to be an important keystone episode that we’re coming back to again and again.

In DD, we know that Daryl will be naked in a bathtub, stripped of all his emblems and all his stuff. Instead, all he has are physical scars, which he can’t escape or shed no matter what he does. It seems like he is uncomfortable in the bathtub, considering what we’ve heard about him grabbing Isabelle’s hand sharply. I think it’s probably at least in part because he’s been stripped of his stuff.

The only other time we’ve seen Daryl with his shirt off, other than when he is quickly changing, is in the episode “Open Your Eyes,” when he literally just takes off his shirt and hangs out with Dog on the couch. It feels like a random scene to just show of Norman’s chest lol.

But I think it means that, with Dog, Daryl can just be who he is without worrying about who he was. He doesn’t have to explain. Dog is, ofc, a Sirius symbol and a symbol of Beth, calling back to Alone.

Anyway, in Davon, Davon is stripped of his boots when they have to take his leg. When he wakes up, he freaks out, because his boots are missing, and they hold all he has left of his loved ones, his emblems. In the episode Davon, Davon seems to fall for a French woman named Nora.

They go through a lot of little Bethyl motions, like with the strawberry and the piano. This woman also has a son, who has gone missing, and who Davon rescues. In the end, however, the woman cannot see past her own teachings at this commune. She forsakes Davon and believes the lies told about him. This causes Davon to have a major coming-home moment, realizing that whatever they had, it wasn’t real.

I think that while Isabelle will not forsake Daryl, they are definitely trying to make the audience think that Daryl is going to have a love story with Isabelle. The bath, the soft, sweet conversations. She is gentle and delicate in ways that Leah was rough and harsh. We want these things for Daryl, so it would be easy to root for this, if you’re not shipping him with someone else.

This is, ofc, why the Carylers are super pissed lol. But in Davon, which is clearly some sort of blueprint for DD, with even the letter “D” being a parallel at work (Daryl/Davon), even if Davon is taken with the French woman for a while, she remains loyal to her “cult” in the end. Even after he saves her son, she won’t leave her family for him.

I don’t think that Daryl is going to have a romance with Isabelle, but we may think he’s going to for a time, even if only during the promo season. We might see Isabelle tain feelings for him, but ultimately, she won’t leave her convent, her sisters, or her Abbey.

That means that she is, ofc, not Daryl’s “happy ending.” I know we know this, but there’s nothing more fun that taking things apart and actually communicating what we know to be true with evidence from the show.

@wdway

I just wanted to send you the button shot from when the guys are carrying him away.

I obviously lightened it. What I also want to say is look at how his head is positioned this gives me major throwback feelings from episode Them of when it started to rain and he closes his eyes and tilts his head up to the sky.

The other thing I noticed when with the shot from Twitter is how the button is showing so prominently, he's also wearing a string tie around his neck which to me screams the black cord of Beth's necklace.

@galadrieljones

Love it. He’s definitely looking up to the light in this shot.

@wdway

Humm... I definitely see some similarities here. The top picture I'm sure you recognize from Alone. The third shot from DD spinoff trailer. The last is from Them.

30 Days Without An Accident.

The cloak/poncho in the background of Beth's prison cell.

I never thought how similar this would be until I saw these two shots.

Seriously, I mean Sirius(ly) am I delusional or what.

@galadrieljones

@wdway do you think it is HER button or that it’s just tptb asking us to look closely?

@wdway

I think it's a matter of symbolism that they want us to connect to Beth. I don't think it needs to be her actual button. I would love if he wore or had her actual heart necklace, but the button I think is a focus for people like us who will notice and geek out, but most of the audience will never even notice it. That's why I think it's just a little nod letting us know they want us to keep the faith.

@wdway

I just can't get over how her backpack straps are so reminiscent of Daryl's suspenders. And then they're both have on the neutral tannish shirt underneath. I've heard a rumor that there are people that have not watched Still and Alone a million times like we have and would never connected these things. That's hard for me to believe, haha.

@galadrieljones

Wait there are people who don’t watch Still and Alone like once a month…?

@twdmusicboxmystery:

*Gasp* No, I can't even imagine that. 😉

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #team delusional #team defiance #td theories #td theory #beth is almost here #bethyl

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heizelnutlatte · 5 months ago

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💬 Star News: Kwak Sunyoung Press Interview for Crash (Highlights)

During an interview with Star News in a cafe in Gangnam District, Seoul, on the 21st, actress Kwak Sunyoung shared her experiences with a car chase accident that occurred while filming the ENA drama 'Crash' (written by Oh Soojin, directed by Park Joonwoo).

'Crash' is a no-brakes, straight-ahead procedural drama about a Traffic Crime Investigation team that tackles road villains with steering wheels instead of swords. Starting with a viewership rating of 2.2% for its first episode, 'Crash' gained popularity, surpassing 5% and achieving 6.6% by episode 12, according to Nielsen Korea. Kwak Sunyoung plays Min Sohee, the team leader of the Seoul Namgang Police Station's Traffic Crime Investigation team.

Before the interview, Kwak Sunyoung commented on the high viewership ratings: "Although I dreamed of higher numbers, this was a project where ratings weren't everything. The audience's response was very positive... Everyone was so happy, and there was some sadness, but still, happiness prevailed. The entire cast is asking when season 2 will start, urging us to begin soon. We should move while we are busier and healthier."

Asked if she expected the drama to do well, she said, "I thought our work was fun. I believed it would be enjoyable and resonate with many viewers. We even made predictions and pledges about the ratings. I had high hopes, but I'm not disappointed. I'm truly grateful for these numbers."

Some have said that the ratings are low compared to the quality of the work. "We actually had a 10% pledge. It was fun thinking about carrying viewers in our car. We considered creating content like asking questions in the car, more like a taxi service. We couldn't fulfil it, but someday we will," she said with a smile.

Kwak Sunyoung had previously confessed during the production presentation of 'Crash' that a car was totalled during the filming of a car chase scene. Asked to elaborate on the incident, Kwak Sunyoung recalled, "Actually, it was a scene where Sohee was filming alone without the team. It involved suppressing a revenge driver who had a grandmother and child in the car, and I was late for work because of it. The martial arts director and others thought it would be good if the actor did it themselves. I also thought I could do it because it went so well during practice."

"The scene was under control, so it wasn't difficult. I had succeeded in the drift, and only the J-turn was left. But I had never reversed at high speed before, so I panicked during filming. I had already crossed the lane, and the car was close to the sidewalk when the accident happened," she continued. "I was wearing sunglasses, which flew off. I was mostly worried because the martial arts director was beside me, thinking,'What if he got hurt?'' I don't remember anything from that moment. Suddenly, I found myself standing there holding my sunglasses."

She added, "The car was too badly damaged. I felt upset that I hadn't managed it properly. We had to stop shooting, and all the staff went into a meeting. The schedule had to be changed. They told me to go to the hospital, but I couldn't. I didn't even feel the pain," she recounted. "We had about three cars available, so we discussed and decided to reshoot. After that, we didn't do any more car chases. The cars were too precious to get more, so we decided to proceed safely. We shot while being towed with wheels underneath. I went to the hospital later. But the driving scenes were really done by us, and we filmed them safely."

Regarding the action sequences in the drama, Kwak Sunyoung said, "I had heard there was a lot of action, so I attended action school for a long time. I learned basic techniques, including how to fall and practise coordinating movements so that I could apply them directly on set. It wasn't scary because everyone was so receptive, and acting is all about reaction. The first action scene involved a used car sale, and although I had practised a lot, it was my first real situation. I was worried about accidentally hitting someone's head or a flower pot."

When asked about the chemistry among the actors, she responded, "The atmosphere on set was very positive. We were all good people, and naturally, when you meet through work in such manufactured circumstances, the atmosphere is bound to be good. It felt like meeting complete characters. This made interactions on set quite natural. There were five of us who were all introverts according to our MBTI, and we were all 'I's. Our group chat started during the press conference. Someone took the initiative."

She added, "The good chemistry was also influenced by the director. He trusted the characters and let us do as we wished within a broad framework. There are things that come out naturally within that framework, and he lets us bring all those things to life. I think we acted comfortably."

Specifically about Lee Minki, Kwak Sunyoung noted, "Lee Minki helped a lot as a senior. He has so much experience that he led well and was receptive to however I acted. I received a lot of help as a junior during filming. Looking at overall experience, he's been a senior by one year. I learned a lot from him."

She also had to perform a scene where she throws Lee Minki. For this, she even practised throwing her husband in real life. Kwak Sunyoung recalled, "I practised whenever and wherever possible. We were waiting for our son's school bus. It was too early, so there weren't many people around, and we were standing on a hill. I wondered if it would work here, so I pretended to dust off his shoulder, grabbed his arm, and tried to flip him over," she said. "My husband has good physical reflexes, so he didn't fall, but he was like,'huh?' It was when I had been practising a lot, so it seemed reflexive for him to try and save himself. I ambushed him at that time. At home, I would try to flip him over from time to time, so he also learned how to defend himself," she said, eliciting laughter.

Kwak Sunyoung - Star News, 2024

#kdrama #korean drama #kwak sunyoung #interview #crash #lee minki

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brwncns · 2 years ago

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FLEETING ENCOUNTERS - MAGNETIC FIELDS by Giorgos Gousis

A man and a woman meet on a Greek island. She is there by car. He is carrying a box of bones to bury. In MAGNETIC FIELDS, director Giorgos Gousis tells the story of a fleeting encounter. We interviewed him ahead of the Greek Film Festival Berlin where the film is screening.

What was your starting point for the film? The start of this film was a pure necessity that we were feeling to do a film and we were looking around for any excuses, for any starting points. I had vacations with my DoP, my cinematographer, and we really liked the landscapes and the impact of the island for a road film. After that, we met Elena, the protagonist. We were shooting a music video with her, with the same camera, a MiniDV. We liked the result, the feeling of the picture, and we really liked Elena. So we said, let's make a movie as soon as possible altogether. And there it was, a starting point to sit down and write something. What do we have on our table right now? For some reason that I don't know, it was a glimpse of the moment, we decided that we'll do this film improvising, without script, like an adventure, for us also. I had this feeling of a road film with a woman that changed directions. Elena had told me from her personal life that there was a moment when she stopped dancing. She saw herself in a mirror, and she couldn't recognize herself. And that that was the starting point for this character and also for the story.

So it was collaborative with the actress Elena Topsalidou, actor Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos and DoP Giorgos Koutsaliaris from the very beginning. I always start the project but then I’m talking and discussing with the others. Also, when, when we wrote the storyline with the other actor, the male actor, we improvised and we said, let's pick things from our lives and put them in the characters and in the story. In the 10 days of shooting, there was always something happening, and then we were checking the shots, the ideas and decided to let’s put it in another scene also. Stuff like that.

Like an ongoing process. Did you have something like a structure in the beginning with an ending in mind? We had a synopsis with scenes, one after another. A small description of each scene. No dialogues, no locations.

How many takes would you usually do? You said you shot it in 10 days. Were there a lot of moments where you thought, oh my God, we have to change the scene, and you did very different variations of the scene? Or was that pretty smooth?

(Laughs.) Most of the scenes were in one shot. A few of them, there were three takes. And there were some things that we didn't use it at all. It was one time that a scene didn't work, at all. It was all always wrong. The location was wrong, the lighting was wrong, the acting was wrong. And then I was looking for a moment to reshoot this. It was the scene at the tree where they meet again then Elena tells him to come with her to help him with the box. This scene was totally different. And in a break of another scene, I saw this landscape and said, let's do this scene again there, in the most simple way. And it worked with one take.

You need to have a lot of trust and a good connection to your actors for an approach like this. Did you rehearse scenes before or did you not want to do that to keep it alive? We didn't rehearse, at all. We were talking a lot about past things, about the moment. What is this character is feeling right now? What kind of things are in his or her imagination at this moment? Do you think you should tell her this or that?

For a director, it can be quite a magical thing when you see what comes from the actors in that moment, in contrast to having an idea, or a script and every dialogue written. Was it stressful for you because you think, what if this doesn't work, what do we do then? Sometimes, but I'm used to this feeling cause I started with a documentary. So I like this adrenaline. I'm more focused on the moment and thinking a lot about what's going on. What else can can be said or what else can we do?Also, the trust, you know, you create a family, and then you trust them and they trust you. It's something like love. You feel that they can overdo things, and that you will save them at the end. Even even if it doesn't go well. Like you say, I think that this thing doesn't work, let’s let's find something else. It's stressful. You have a fear. But also I feel more alive and more connected. I don't want to be flat and safe with a script and do exactly what we have already organized and imagined.

You were mentioning love. It’s is a big theme in the film, a kind of unfulfilled love. A moment that could go into different directions but it remains just a moment. And then they separate again.

That was there from the beginning. We felt that there was no room for sexual attraction in this story, particularly to those two characters in those moments of their life. At the end, it’s a film about the power of companionship. It's love, but it's not sexual.

In Greek, there are different words for different kinds of love. Yes. In Greece, we use agápe for the word love, érota for love which includes passion. But for me, the right word for this story is companionship, the love feeling you feel with a companion, if it's your friend or your lover or your ex-lover or your partner. It's something that is not driven by sexual attraction. It’s not the main thing of this kind of love. If those characters were 25 year old, it would be different. But at this moment, they feel that if they have sex, it'll be a distraction.

It’s also about this passing of time and looking back at your life. You have this encounter that maybe changes something or gives some new inspiration, but whether they will see each other again or not, is not that important somehow. You never know. But I feel that in my life, sex is a totally different thing than it was in my twenties. It doesn't have this impact.

Maybe using MiniDV adds a layer to this nostalgia, to the passing time. How was it for you to shoot on this format? For us, it wasn’t about the vintage thing. But there is something nostalgic. It’s like a painting, it’s unique. So you have this specific kind of image that we felt fits the story. We knew that you could saturate the pictures a lot. It would be the feeling of a painting, of impressionism in this fairy tale. We thought that it's going to give a layer of a specific universe for this story.

There's something of a fairytale in the atmosphere, also through the images. At the beginning and the end, it's more realistic. But in the center, they are getting lost in a dream.

I felt that the car is a real character in the film as well. Tell us more about the car. Where did that come from?

We were looking for a car and we knew it would be destroyed. I knew it had to be an old car, and it had to be a car that looks like Elena. I really like the design of the Renault, the square form. But it was white when I bought it, and I painted it, to make it a character, to be unique. You can see it in the landscape easily. I knew that Elena gives names to her cars. So I asked her to give a name to this car also. The box that Antonis is carrying is another character in the story. Two metallic items that they carry with them. And both items decide to leave them.

It almost sounds a bit mythological, the woman in her car, like a knight on a horse, and the guy carrying this item. It had to have a huge impact of symbolism, yeah, but not melodramatic. When we had this idea about the box, we were thinking a lot about what would be his adventure. What is he going to do? We knew that he had to do a simple thing, but with a deep essence. When we thought about the box with the bones, we immediately said, it's not someone that he’s related to. It's not his mother or his father or his ex-wife. It's someone that he doesn't really know. If it's not your relative, it's weird. There's no connection or drama. But here's a symbol, isn't there? And there's humor.

There are a lot of things in the film that don't work. Like the car breaks down, the roads are not finished, the place where they want to bury the bones does not allow it because of bureaucracy. Do you see this place with the two characters also as a symbol for Greece? No. I’m not doing this thing to show the world whatever we experience here. It’s perfectly normal in Greece to have bureaucracy troubles, so we use it as an aspect. But the main essence is that it really doesn't matter. You will find another way then. That’s the main thing, that whatever happens, it's not a problem actually. It's just an adventure. Don’t see problems, see adventures. You keep going and enjoying whatever is happening as an aspect of your story. I think Greeks and Vikings had this mythology about the sagas. They felt that problems are just more interesting stories in their saga.

There’s a moment I really liked, where they reach a broken road, destroyed by the rain. They think now they can finally get rid of the box, but then this older guy appears and they have this little fight. And I felt the older guy was kind of enjoying this conversation, this back and forth. They have this discussion, but there's something underlying, there's some connection still. He calls him „my friend“ at the end. It's funny. I didn't know that guy. I was looking for someone to play the guy at the graveyard. A friend of us who was working as a line producer is from the island and showed me some of his friends. I saw this man’s face and said, okay, let's bring this guy. He came to the church, and he gave this performance by first take.

A natural talent. I had to bring this guy again somewhere in the film again, because it couldn’t just be one funny moment and then nothing. We had found this bridge and were discussing the end of the road scene. I thought, let's bring this guy there again. He brings them back to reality for me. They are lost in a dream sequence, something like that, and he's coming and says, you are just bullshitting, go home, it’s enough. But it’s super fun that there is this separation, this gap between them. It’s like a little stage. And it's good there is this gap because it cannot get physical. They can say whatever they want without being attacked.

You’ve also done documentaries. Do you want to continue making features, maybe using a similar approach of improvisation, or do you want to try other things? I'm writing a feature film now. I have to fund some money, so I have to write something. But at the end, I believe that it's gonna change a lot. For me, the script is just the base to start working. But also if I had an idea for a low budget project, I would do low budget again. I feel that I always have to a low budget idea waiting for me. An opportunity to do it with the same few people as crew and as an adventure.

As you say, it’s quite difficult to get funding without a script. And even then it takes a long time to finance. How did you fund this film? Was that your own money, did you have a producer before the film was made, or did you get the sales company attached after the film was made? It was my money, 6,000 EUR. I spent some of this money to pay our costs, like food and stuff like that, and to buy the car. That's it. No-one got paid. With the prizes, the tickets and the success of this film, we all got paid in the end. I would do this thing again. Not with 6,000 but with 50,000, to have some money to pay the people. For me, the problem is that if you don't have a script and no-one can read the thing, no-one will give you money. If a script needs money, you have to start this funding process, so you always need to have another project that doesn't need all this stuff. For me, the perfect situation is to have the money to do my own productions someday.

How do you see the Greek film scene in general? From outside it feels very alive, and there are a lot of interesting things happening. How do you see it? The past years, there was a lot of new blood. There was this boom with festivals and the Greek weird wave and stuff like that. But for me, the most interesting thing is the end of the festival area, the festivals as the point and the target for a film. I feel that they’re losing their power and their impact. There’s a lot of directors now that care more about how the movie will be shown in theaters, how many people will see it, directors who have a connection with the actual crowd and not the festival career. I always feel that the cinema of the seventies and sixties was the right place to go to again. Take some risks and talk directly to the people who are going to see your movies - not because you believe something is a good subject for nowadays, or a distributor or a festival will take it.

I feel that the sixties, seventies were such a free time, the kind of movies that were made then, the freedom and playfulness. How do you know if that’s still relevant or not or you are stuck with your film taste in the past? The risks they were taking in the 70’s produced interesting films. Even if was not the best film of the era, it could still be an interesting film. I watch films from the 70’s, the 60’s, the 40’s. I just watched SUNSET BOULEVARD again. It's a fucking fresh film. If it was a film from today, it would be perfect. It's a classic film. It means that it feels original in every time. In every time, you would watch this film and you would feel that it's for now. It’s so easy to film something now. We don't need to have expensive cameras or a big crew. I was in Los Angeles for the Greek Oscar campaign for MAGNETIC FIELDS. Every road, every everything, is like a possible location for filming there. An hour out of the city, there's a desert. I don’t know why people in Los Angeles don’t do MAGNETIC FIELDS every year. Take a fucking camera and your friends and do this film.

Could you imagine doing a project in another country? If I had someone in Los Angeles, a producer and we can find hundred thousand and do a film like with three actors n the desert, I would do it, yeah. Easy. yeah. For the US, it’s nothing. I went there with my DoP, we took a car and drove in the desert until we found Las Vegas. We were talking a lot during the trip. Here you could have this scene, there something else. I like the feeling that I could bring a small crew and two Greek actors. And if the story has this feeling, two Greeks traveling there for a reason, it would be perfect for us because we would have this observational perspective as strangers. And also the protagonists are strangers.

Two Greeks in Las Vegas, maybe. In the desert. (Laughs.) I have the idea of two Greeks going to Las Vegas to kill someone.

A hit man or a hit woman or a hit couple. It’s a hit couple.

That sounds good. They're together in life and they also work together.

Beautiful and romantic. Love and death, close together. I have to write the treatment and then we'll see.

Giorgo, thank you so much for this interview.

#interview #film #greece

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garthofshayeris · 11 months ago

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I watched it a second time, so here is my list of random things I liked/noticed. Also some amendments to my original thoughts!

I said that the movie did not suffer from having too many villains, and upon first watch I actually thought they totally removed characters they claimed would be in it. That's not what happened. It turns out there just is a character named Karshon, but they aren't like...the actual character Karshon, if that makes sense? Karshon is just the name of a councilwoman lol I was expecting a shark. I didn't even know the councilwoman had a name until the second watch, because they do not name her during the first two scenes she's in, and then it's worded very strangely when she is named. Also they were not a villain anyway, but I went into it thinking Arthur and co. would also be dealing with a humanoid shark, along with everything else...

Same with Stingray, who is named once but also is an original character for the movie so idk why they didn't refer to her by name more? I actually liked that character too, I feel like they cut a ton of stuff for her. I don't know why her name was Stingray. Do they all have codenames? Manta is the only person who calls her by name.

Further things that stuck out:

The good/funny:

Orm being emaciated and then suddenly buff and his pants fit perfectly after he's in the water for seven seconds. It was so funny and weird and felt very comicbook-y. I don't care that it didn't make logical sense.

Topo was so funny and I like that he made noise. I like that Orm knew who Topo was as well

At one point Topo tackled Arthur and it felt like Momoa actually fell during that scene but they didn't want to reshoot, so they just made Topo tackle him???

Orm's Naruto run

The baby in the duffel bag was so funny I'm putting it here again. The overall trust in Shin was also unintentionally funny. Manta, why did you not leave him on the ship, you KNOW he's upset you stole that baby

Manta looked SO much better in this movie. I know to keep it "realistic" he needed the power suit to fight in the first movie, but he looked so GOOD and comicbook-y in just the helmet and the bodysuit

Jabberjaw

So many fish had boobs? A snail had boobs. This is not a criticism, it's just weird after the first movie really did not give any fish boobs.

I liked seeing the different parts of Atlantis and all the different tech

This was probably the case in the previous movie as well, but Atlanna's costume is made up of small Aquaman symbols as the scales.

They refer to their history as "the chronicles" which was one of my favorite parts

Manta had a lot of female goons compared to most goon-using baddies in media which was very feminist of him. I also liked how weird their leather wetsuits were.

The indifferent/negative:

Idk if this was naive of me, but after the first movie I assumed Arthur ruled...all of Atlantis? But he only rules that one city? They should have just called Atlantis "Posiedonis" like Vol 5 (or another name I guess?) because it got confusing that he was the king of all Atlantis and united the kingdoms or whatever but then also...did not do that.

Upon second watch, I don't understand the Fisherman taking Orm to their own special prison. See the above point, but Arthur should have been in charge of his own brother's jailtime tbh

I could not figure out where Atlanna and Mera were supposed to be during the beginning scenes. Do they not live there? Why is Atlanna in Atlantis at all instead of with her husband she hasn't seen in 25 years? Why isn't Atlantis insisting that their heir is raised underwater? I need ANSWERS and I feel like the answers were cut for some reason

They mention a dog and he's only seen twice and it's very brief. Why did they bother adding the dog, especially since the dog isn't Salty?

It was weird that the Fisherman kingdom never showed up. Probably because they don't have boobs.

tbh the second watch made it more obvious that Kordax should have been Slizzath. It makes me want to write a full sequel/third movie that makes Slizzath the baddie lol

Kingfish was fine but it felt like a time waster. Probably because I thought one of the sharks was Karshon and kept expecting him to talk

omg this is such a small thing but I assumed all conversations were taking place in Atlantean so when Manta attacked the city, did the speeding warnings sound like absolute gibberish to him or was he able to understand Atlantean because he was possessed?

Arthur says a line that sounds so much like he's calling pirates "cum lickers" but there's no way he is saying that......I tried really hard to listen to the line on the second watch and it still sounds like "cum lickers." I think I need to watch it with subtitles.

MY OFFICIAL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM. Spoilers ahead.

OKAY. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It was very fun and it did not have the problem of too many villains that I was expecting based on everything I read. If that was the result of the rewrites and reshoots, I am happy for them.

A lot of the visuals and smaller adventures felt very Silver Age! There were certain creatures that were directly from the 60s, which I appreciated. Topo was lovely. If you know me, you know one of my major gripes with some of the recent Aquaman comics is that they do not lean into the animal sidekick thing anymore. And the group of whales straight up killing all those people? THAT is the Aquaman content I like to see.

The horror elements were just enough to balance out the sillier parts. Although I knew Arthur Jr was never in any actual danger, this is the closest DC has come since the 70s to making it even somewhat realistic that they would kill a baby. Like, I knew they wouldn't. But for once I said to myself, "they've established this enough that I believe this threat." You know my stance on DC trying to bait another Death of a Prince...

The cursed Trident possessing Manta was giving such Preboot Orm vibes. I liked it, I appreciate a slow possession arc. Manta was scary and felt like a real threat, which is difficult to achieve when he's a human and he's fighting people so much stronger than him. Shin was also SO good, you knew he was going to redeem himself but it still felt very natural for him to do so. Idk why Manta trusted him with the baby duffel bag tho, after all the times Shin clearly was snooping and giving Manta disapproving looks. Also why did they put that baby in a duffel bag lmao

Overall, it was a pretty straightforward story that felt easy to follow. This isn't always the case for superhero films, so it was refreshing. And a good end to the franchise. This actually felt like it would have been a great end to a TRILOGY, and that we were missing a middle story...

HOWEVER.

Not to make this about me and my blorbo but.......this would have made a lot more sense as a story about Arthur and Garth. I'm sorry, but it's true. Every time I saw a Silver Age reference, I just said to myself "oh yeah, that's a story with Aqualad in it, but now it's Orm." I KNOW that Orm needed his lil redemption arc, but if Patrick Wilson was not besties with James Wan, I don't think he would have gotten one.

Because Kordax was Slizzath. He just was. They took Slizzath's story and renamed him Kordax. So many parts of the movie I was like "this is adapted from Tempest (1996)" BUT IF THEY HAD USED SLIZZATH WITHOUT GARTH I WOULD HAVE BEEN PISSED so I get it but I don't get it, you know? But Kordax was just Slizzath.

I posted a few years ago about my ideal Aquaman trilogy, and tbh this felt like my ideal third movie, plot-wise and tone-wise......except my vision was about Garth, not Orm. Orm could be there, I guess, but imo he should have had a sequel redemption and then the third movie should have introduced the evil sorcerer thing. It would have made perfect sense to need Atlan's blood, thinking they're fine because they saved the baby but then Garth accidentally bleeds on the altar and unlocking his powers, and releasing Slizzath. PLUS then he could freeze the ice caps again with his new found powers lmao I'm worried about the implications.........nobody in this universe has ice powers.....

I get that it would have been hard to introduce a new character for a sequel with absolutely no chance at a third movie, so I do understand that Garth was never an option....but holy shit, Garth would have been a perfect fit for this movie.

AGAIN, not to make it about my blorbo .......

also I cannot believe they killed Vulko via plague?? I almost laughed out loud. It's absolutely because they could not reconcile that is Vulko was alive, Arthur would not need Orm's help lmao RIP Vulko I choose to believe you were hanging around as a ghost like in Vol 5

One last gripe but omg Atlan's trident looked so BAD in some scenes??? It looked very prop-like, and not metal at all??? did anyone else notice it? It's really bad on the iceberg scene. The costumes were actually great but omg that trident prop lmao

OVERALL, it was a really fun movie. I'm happy to say that I liked it. I think it will get bad critic reviews and really good audience reviews. It just felt very fun and heartfelt. The action scenes were also well lit and easy to follow, and that alone should convince people to see it

I'm going to see it again tomorrow and I want to make a list of the other random things that I noticed. I know I'm missing a lot. How did ya'll feel about it??

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meu-light · 2 years ago

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...which basically confirmed that a huge portion of all the scenes we've been waiting for are going to air in the FINAL EP, I'm 110% sure they're going to end the show on a cliffhanger, announce season 2 in Impact Arena and I'll be left feeling empty for around a year (if not more)...

I mean, most BLs take about 3-4 months to film. If I'm not mistaken, KP started filming around November and finished in March and began airing in April.

I don't think finding the time to film is the problem, if anything, it's organizing the casts' schedules and the locations (if I'm not mistaken, one of the locations, the Main Family's headquarters, was closed to the public because of Covid and that's why they were able to film so much there and that could inevitably change since the world is slowing crawling out of the pause Covid put us in) that could present a challenge since this is totally out of the directors' control .

The good thing about this cast, is that none of the actors are super famous (with the exception of, like, Jeff who is in a different company than BOC and Perth, who's a fan favorite, but his character died) therefore its not like they have obligations or commitments with other promotional stuff, sponsors and such and therefore scheduling them and organizing all the actors so that they're all available simultaneously to film isn't too much of an issue.

Then the matter of personal time off and whether the actors and/or the directors themselves have any projects or whatever, or they want to take some personal time off/a Vacay instead of throwing themselves back into filming, which seems more likely, to be honest, than anything I mentioned above.

After all, they're humans and they also deserve some rest especially after such a successful series.

First of all, Hi~~

Yeah, usually thai shows take that much to film. They film in queues (usually from Q1 till Q20something and if things don't go as planned they add Qs, Cutie Pie finished at Q30something if I'm not mistaken). I remember that while the first EPs of KinnPorsche were airing, they were shooting/reshooting some scenes (not really sure if they were shooting or reshooting, because their schedule did get pushed back and they had to add a bunch of Qs).

I totally agree on you with the schedule thing, I myself manage a 13-member group and doing the schedule is a HUGE responsibility and it's hard af.

As for locations, I don't really know how permissions work in Thailand, but if it's similar to how it works here, issuing a single permission to shoot on a certain location can take up to a few months, and the cost can be insane, depending on the amount of Qs they want to do and how many crew members will be present.

Now, for personal time, half of our boys took around 2 weeks off recently, I'm suspecting that the rest of the boys will take some time off before Impact Arena (if they haven't done so already because they keep moving around so fast and it's hard to keep up). I think that's totally reasonable, the boys should rest, and tbh BOC is doing pretty well on those kinds of stuff, I can see the boys are travellering and taking time off, AS THEY SHOULD.

For Jeff and Perth, although they are not in BOC, up until now they've been treated with nothing but respect and that's what they deserve. Perth's had a pretty hectic schedule since last year, and he's also doing streams and YouTube, I hope he rests a bit before Impact Arena. Jeff's been releasing new music every few months, ffs human! REST!

With the mention of Impact Arena, let's bring in the KP World Tour, July 24th and 25th are just the beginning, tours of this kind can take MONTHS to complete and considering how much they've been preparing and the amount of sponsors they have (and who those sponsors are) I don't think they'll kick off the tour and finish it in one big trip. What I have in mind is that they'll go by continent, for example, start with one part of Asia, rest for a bit, and then go to the next one. Until the tour is complete, I don't think production will be given a green light, and if it does, it's not going to go straight to filming.

As far as I know the writers of the books are involved in the script writing process for the sequel. A possible casting may be needed because we're definitely going to need new actors for any new characters that may appear in the sequel of the show. Newcomers bring the need for acting classes and workshops, workshops can take up to 2 months to complete. Also we don't know if P'Khom, P'Pepsi and P'Pond would be down to directing the sequel or if any of the crew members would be able to come back, which means that they may need to work on that as well.

I'm not going to talk about the possibility of BOC looking for new investors and sponsors, just because a show is popular, it doesn't mean everything goes smoothly like butter (no pun intended).

So yeah, according to my calculations, if we do get a sequel or a season 2, however you guys want to call it, the shortest amount of time for it to be ready to air is a year. Why? Because I don't think that BOC would throw away their hard work by rushing with a 2nd season that is nowhere near the quality of the 1st one.

Is it going to hurt waiting? Sure! Do I believe it's totally going to be worth it? HELL YEAH!

Anyway, I hope they come to Europe for the tour, I really want to meet them~

Spread the love~ 💕

#kinnporsche the series #kinnporsche the series la forte #kinnporsche

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poppy-in-the-woods · 3 years ago

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Alex Rider and the weird Spanish dub (Or I found a clue/spoiler for next season??)

So, as some of you may know (or not, IDK) I am, in fact, Spanish. I watched the two seasons of Alex Rider in English first, because they were easier to find (if you know what I mean). But then I found them in Spanish too, and something strange happened.

Possible spoilers under the cut.

You know the “find the widow, find SCORPIA” speech Yassen gave while he was wounded, right? Well, in the Spanish dub, apart from that he says “go to Croatia”.

“Find the widow, go to Croatia, find SCORPIA, find the truth about who you are”.

That’s what he says.

O. M. G.

You can imagine my face when I heard that. I had to watch the both versions next to each other three times to convince myself I had not missed the Croatia part in English.

Giving the recent mishap with the Spanish dub of Arcane (where one sentence was transformed completely, so it had a totally different meaning), after my initial shock, I was skeptic this was something else than a mistake, but I’ve asked a friend who is a voice actress, and she told me a very interesting thing. Two, actually:

1) The script they use is provided by the producers of the show. To translate it, they tend to hire the people with the best ratio of rates/time, and sometimes, mistakes can happen, but it’s not the usual.

2) Usually, what arrives to the dubbing studios is not the finished product. We’re talking movies without the especial effects, with the wires visible, in black and white... so, sometimes, scenes that had been already dubbed can be subjected to changes in the original version.

Her theory when I explained the case is that the studio had already dubbed the scene and in the English version, that line was cut, but in the Spanish dub it was used regardless because it still fit.

I don’t know about you, but it makes sense to me.

I’m probably wrong with this, so take everything with a grain of salt, but there’s at least two things that support the change:

1) When Jack asks Alex where he wants to go, they put the scene of Yassen and Alex again as if Yassen’s words are a clue bigger than they seem, and then he says “I have an idea”. He’s very confident about that, like he knows exactly where to start.

Pardon me, young lad, but with the information you have right now, it’ll take at least a couple of weeks to find a lead to that mysterious widow.

If they cut the “go to Croatia” from the final scene and didn’t make any changes to other scenes (no reshoots or anything) it will make sense why Alex seems so confident.

2) I have not read Scorpia, which everyone seems to think it’ll be the next book adapted (and it makes sense), but I am aware it takes place in Venice.

Venice is a tricky place to locate anything because it’s mad expensive* to film in (even if only 6 of the episodes take place in the city, it would be very expensive), and it’s also very hard/expensive to recreate in a studio, even the interiors.

If you search what films have been shot in Venice they’re not that many, and they often feature the city in a bunch of scenes, not in its entirety. And while I’m pretty sure it can be a cost assumable for some studios, not so sure about this one. For me, it makes sense to move the action to Croatia: less expensive to shoot in, less expensive to recreate interiors that match in studio.

So maybe that is why. If you want to check for yourself that I am not lying with this, here’s the link to the montage with the two scenes next to each other.

I still hope they locate season 3 in Venice because I really love the city, but if not... well, there’s nothing I can do about it, so better enjoy the season when it comes out. (There’s gonna be a third one, right? Right??).

So that’s that on that, I guess.

*I have tried the Italian film commission page to confirm prices and such, but they have no information, only telephone numbers of each subdivision, and I am not about to fake being a producer/location scout/whatever to check this, but I’m pretty sure it’s safe to assume filming in Venice is not cheap.

#alex rider #alex rider tv #alex rider spoilers #poppy's thoughts

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evanpeterssource · 3 years ago

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Evan Peters and Billie Lourd Discuss the Art of Dying Onscreen

BILLIE LOURD: Let me set the scene for you: I’m sitting outside my house in my never-washed car, because that’s the only silent place in my home, and it’s not even in my home. I have a wireless breast pump with me, so if you hear a weird sound, that’s what that is.

PETERS: I’m in my bedroom, currently in my PJs. I worked a night shoot last night and am doing a night shoot again tonight. So, I’m drinking coffee and trying to wake up and get back into it.\

LOURD: I know how that goes. My hands are on my temples for you. Okay, Ev, I’m fucking obsessed with Mare of Easttown. I do not watch any shows because if I ever have free time, it’s usually spent napping or just lying in a silent room. But I failed all my nap times with watching this show. You’re a fucking genius.

PETERS: Thanks Billie. I appreciate it.

LOURD: Tell me the story of how it all came to be.

PETERS: They sent me the script and it said that Kate Winslet was going to be the lead, and that it was an HBO crime drama. So I was like, dude, I’ve got to really work on this one. I did the self-tape thing, so it was super awkward and weird.

LOURD: It was a self-tape? Wow.

PETERS: Yeah, I sent that in, and then the director and writer and showrunner were like, “You want to have some lunch?” And I was like, “They’re going to tell me to redo the tape, I know it.” And then they offered me the part, thankfully.

LOURD: That’s when you know you’re a really good actor, is when you get a part off a self-tape. I’ve never done that.

PETERS: Oh come on, you’re a great actress. You can do that single-tear thing.

LOURD: I do have a single-tear thing!

PETERS: That’s incredibly hard to do.

LOURD: Only when there’s a promise of bratwurst at Krafty’s will I do a single tear. What was the scene that you had to tape?

PETERS: The earlier scenes, where I’m coming in and meeting Mare and she just does not want me there at all.

LOURD: I was going to say, if you had to do that drunk scene, or the breakdown scene, that would be a nightmare. Did you know you were going to die? How did that make you feel? I’m a therapist now.

PETERS: It was a little stressful trying to navigate that. You had a finite amount of time to cram in all this stuff. Because you knew how it was going to go, and you wanted it to have an interesting arc, but… poor Zabes.

LOURD: Dude, it was fucking devastating. Zabel is so sweet, and you’re like, “No, he was on such a fucking upswing!” You’ve gotten shot in the head a couple of times now, which is pretty rare for an actor.

PETERS: Yeah, he’s got to work on that quick draw. But it was a cool scene to shoot. We kind of stretched out time and it was like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, where it was a stare-down, and you’re like, “God, this feels like a really long time to be staring at people.” But Craig, the director, was like, “We’ll edit it. It’ll look good.” And nowadays, everything’s CGI, so back in the day they probably would have used blanks to help with that, but it was just a click. Or the other actor going, “Bang!” and all of a sudden you would have to get shot in the head. And you’re like, “What are we, 12, playing with guns?” It was such an awesome set that they built. They found this property that was like an abandoned bar, with a house on the back. And then set dressing came in and made it that amazing, creepy, disheveled, messed-up house that it was. So it was really cool to be in there and feel like, “Oh my God, we got the guy.”

LOURD: It’s amazing to watch you piece it together and look at each other and hear the pipe banging. It’s so suspenseful. We’ve got to talk about Kate. Can I call her Kate? Should I call her Kate Winslet? She’s so fucking magical. What was that like working with her.

PETERS: I was pretty terrified and nervous and stressed out before meeting her. I’m such a huge fan, and she’s one of the best actresses of all time. But she was so warm and down-to-earth and immediately disarming. What’s really cool is that she’s very collaborative. I thought she was going to be like, “Nope, I’m right. You’re all wrong.” You know, because she’s brilliant. But she was very open to new ideas and exploring things. I found that really reassuring, and surprising, since she’s set at such a high caliber.

LOURD: That’s so cool to hear. I feel like every actor’s dream is to get to work with her. Did you stay in your accents all the time? I always wonder that when people do accents.

PETERS: I was in it the whole time. I’m not good enough of an actor to be able to pop in and out of it. Somebody on set said there are different levels. There’s the learning it, there’s the “I have to stay in it,” and then there’s, “I’m so good that I can pop in and out of it.” Kate was that. She was incredibly English throughout the whole thing. Like [in British accent], “Oh, hi, Zabes. How are you doing babes? You good? Everything good? Okay, great.” And then she’d be like [in Philadelphia accent], “Let’s go get a hoagie. Let’s go down to the shore and check out the store.” I was just like, oh my god. How do you do that?

LOURD: That is so trippy. I don’t think I could do that.

PETERS: No, I could not do that. She’s really impressive that way.

LOURD: What was your favorite scene to do with Kate? I have to stop calling her that. Lady Winslet?

PETERS: There were so many. The bar scene was pretty awesome because it was so improvised.

LOURD: Oh, really?

PETERS: Yeah, it was just kind of fun to be at a bar with Lady Winslet.

LOURD: That’s my dream.

PETERS: But there was another scene that I really liked too: When I first got in the car, and I’m like, “Hey, are we carpooling?” And she’s like, “Ugh, this fucking guy.” And then I get in the car and she slams on the gas and I almost smoke my head. I thought that was really fun because it was one of the earlier scenes that we shot, and it set the tone for how much Mare was annoyed at Zabel being there.

LOURD: How did you do the bar scene? Are you allowed to get drunk?

PETERS: No, you can’t get drunk unfortunately. But I would say I’ve done a ton of research over the years. You know, at a couple of your birthday parties.

LOURD: Would you rather do a death scene or a killing scene?

PETERS: Oh, that’s a hard question. It really depends on how you’re killing or dying. Dying is such a challenge, as an actor.

LOURD: I don’t like dying.

PETERS: It’s so hard. It’s like, how do you do it? And does this look believable? Can they see me breathing? It really depends on how you’re getting killed as well. There’s so many questions and so many ifs.

LOURD: Killing me in American Horror Story was such a laugh. I hope they put in parentheses, “She said sarcastically.”

PETERS: Yeah, that was a pretty horrific day.

LOURD: That was a rough one. I’ve watched it back and I can definitely see myself breathing. And the eyes are so hard, like to actually keep your eyes open. I feel like I’ve made the decision to close my eyes. Do you do open-eye or closed-eye deaths?

PETERS: I like to do a little halfsies—a little open, a little closed.

LOURD: I like it. Split the difference. Have you been on the streets since Zabel died? Do people come up and hug you and thank god that you’re actually alive?

PETERS: No. I’ve gotten some text messages that were like, “Sorry, man. You’ve got to work on that quick-draw.” I’m super stoked that people like the show.

LOURD: It’s one of those shows that’s now part of the zeitgeist. Even my baby loves it. How long did it take to shoot?

PETERS: Gosh, we started in October 2019, and then I was supposed to be done at the beginning of March 2020. I had about two or three weeks left. Then the pandemic hit and they punted it to September. I was like, “Oh man, I’ve got to keep learning this accent for six months.”

LOURD: And not eat all the double doubles in sight. You had to keep that accent and keep that bod.

PETERS: Yeah, it was a challenge.

LOURD: What do you think would have happened with Mare and Zabel if Zabel didn’t die? It’s a real thinker.

PETERS: Ooh, that is a real thinker. I think they would have gone on a few more dates and then Mare probably would’ve realized that Zabel’s not the one. Zabel would have been devastated again.

LOURD: I think they could have had a shotgun wedding in Vegas and lived happily ever after. It could have been great.

PETERS: I like that for Zabel. That sounds good.

LOURD: Do you think you would have moved to Easttown or would he have gone back?

PETERS: I think he definitely would have had to move out of his mom’s place. For sure that would have been step number one.

LOURD: Were you sad when he died or did you think that this was the perfect ending for him?

PETERS: I thought it was an interesting ending to the character. He kind of came in, and then it was so shocking, but that’s the way death is in real life. You’re never really expecting it, and then it happens.

LOURD: It’s amazing you got to know the whole arc of the character before you played him.

PETERS: Yeah, it’s rare to get all the episodes beforehand. You make a choice in episode two and then you get to episode seven and you’re like, “Oh wait, that was totally wrong, what I did in episode two… Can we go back and reshoot that?” And they’re like, “No.”

LOURD: Did knowing the ending affect how you played him? He was so lovable anyway, but did knowing he was going to die make you play him even more lovably, if that’s a word?

PETERS: Yeah, that did play into it. There was talk about making him a little bit more arrogant and cocky. But I thought, when he dies, it’d be more tragic if he wasn’t that. So we tried to make him a little bit bumbling and not as good of a detective and really trying. We wanted it to be as shocking and sad as we could.

LOURD: Did you do any actor-y stuff? Like, a cologne you wore? Or did you wear a special hat?

PETERS: That’s so funny. I wish I wore a special hat to work every day , like an old-school 1940s detective hat. I did always have my coffee mug. There was a little bit of a Zabel-mug thing going on. And there were rituals. I would write in the mornings and try to get into it, stuff like that. But god, I wish I wore a hat.

LOURD: We should incorporate that into our future careers, to make sure we have a hat for every role we play. And then you could have a case at your house of all the hats you wore.

PETERS: That’s so goddamn funny.

LOURD: People are going to be like, “Billie Lourd is a psychopath.”

PETERS: Oh, you know what I did do? I wore a cross. You can’t see it, but when he died, I wanted you to see the cross on his neck. He’s got this weird thing with religion where he was raised religious, but then being in the line of work that he’s in and seeing all this death and awfulness, you start to question that. And then his mom is very religious. So I wanted him to be, underneath it all, a little bit religious and hopeful and needing the protection of god when he went out into the field.

LOURD: That’s way better than a hat.

#evan peters #billie lourd #interview #mare of easttown spoilers #txt #ours #extraordinaryxmen

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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 4 years ago

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April 2021 Picks

And we’re back with the end to another month. April! Wow! Lots more great picks to talk about this time. Lots of new ones to the list too. So, let’s dive in!

Spoiler territory ahead!

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER

or should I say Captain America and the Winter Soldier

I just finished the finale last night, so it felt right to start off with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I really enjoyed it and I feel the episodes got stronger as the series went on. Each one felt like a mini-movie and I was upset it was over and had to wait another week for another one. I think the finale was my favorite. Especially the reveal of Sam as Captain America. I love his suit, his speech and the montage of everyone watching him. The last part of the episode was definitely my favorite and one I can watch on repeat. I loved seeing happy Bucky and him goofing off with the kids in Louisiana. He deserves so much happiness as he has now accepted he’s no longer who he once was. Bucky and Sam’s relationship is fantastic and I can’t wait to see it more. I know there’s a possibility of a second season and they have to be in a future MCU movie. Regarding the villain, I feel I was confused for most of the show as to what their objective was. I’m curious if this is because they had to reshoot parts during the pandemic. I also am mad with Sharon. Like what happened with her? She is definitely the true villain of the show. I also don’t love that we haven’t seen the end of Walker (but Wyatt Russell did a fantastic job). I also loved Torres and I hope he becomes the next Falcon. Definitely so different vibes from Wandavision, but just as good!

THE IRREGULARS

This is a show that more people need to be talking about! It was SO GOOD! I feel like I heard some buzz about it when it first came out, but not much after. It follows the teens featured about who live on the streets during Victorian London. The leader of their group, Bea gets approached by Dr. John Watson (that’s right...as in Sherlock and Watson) to take on a case that has more supernatural qualities. The story takes off from there. I think the group dynamic was fantastic. There wasn’t a character I didn’t like and each one brought something else important to the group (which they even bring up towards the end of the show). [I’ve watched a few cast interviews since finishing the finale and they seem like they get along really well in real life too.] There is a kind of love triangle, but it didn’t bother me and was over fast. I did like both combinations though. Lots of twists and turns along the journey. I have no idea if there will be another season, but there should be. It didn’t end on a major cliffhanger, but definitely ended in a way where it could continue nicely. Come on Netflix.

HBO’S THE NEVERS

From one show set in Victorian times to the next. The Nevers just premiered on HBO and HBO Max earlier this month. It follows an ensemble of characters, similar to other HBO shows, ranging from characters who are called “the touched” to men in government who are against them. Being “touched” means they have a special talent or power, which can range from healing to speaking other languages, being extremely tall, or being an expectational inventor (I seriously love Penance. I just don’t know how to explain her ability). Amalia True and Penance Adair are two of the main characters and they help bring in others who are touched to a remodeled orphanage that is a safe haven for people like them. Of course there are those who are against them existing. This seems to be at least two groups as someone is abducting and experimenting on some of the touched, but we don’t know who they are...yet. I love the fusion of a historical setting with a fantasy element. I am very excited to see where the show is headed. I also love seeing so many of my favorite British actors on the screen together.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND

Time for a throw back. Fans of ABC’s Once Upon a Time might remember the short lived spin off following Alice in Wonderland (and some of Aladdin). It only lasted for one season of 13 episodes, but I remember loving it and I am so happy I can rewatch it on Disney Plus. It reminds me of why I enjoyed OUAT so much and I think this show deserved another season or more crossover with the original show. (Luckily the Knave got that opportunity.) I think it should have aired as a summer show or when OUAT was on hiatus, this way more fans would have tuned in. It is something I’ll believe forever.

Anyway, I’ll stop ranting now... I love Alice. I think she’s a badass and a fierce warrior. If you follow some of my posts on my other blog, Lydia-yougowith-Stiles, you’ll know that I love a warrior romance and Cyrus and Alice fit that perfectly (even if they are apart for much of the series). I also love Alice’s hair and outfits. Everything about her is cool. Her relationship with the Knave is one of my favorite friendships ever. I think they balance each other out so well and how they spend most of the journey together. Back in the day, I totally shipped them, but now I definitely don’t. (Even though I don’t love Anastasia.) This is definitely worth the watch if you’ve ever heard of Once Upon a Time or not. There is very cheesy CGI especially for 2013, but once you get pass that you’ll love it.

ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST

It was on a longer break than I expected, and I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would (which I know doesn’t sound good for a show), but I am still loving all the episodes this season. It feels like there are more musical numbers, which I love. Mandy Moore is killing it with the choreography. There are so many amazing moments. I also was a big fan of the newest glitch episode. Everyone is so talented and I also like that we’ve started to hear from more like Jenna and Tobin. Leif has become one of my favorites. I don’t love the new neighbor next door, but I think we’re done with his storyline. I’m not loving the Zoey love triangle, but I do like her with either Simon or Max. She seems really happy with Simon now. (FYI: I haven’t watched the most recent episode yet. The glitch one was my latest.) Can’t wait for more!

KUNG FU

CW’s newest show this month was Kung Fu, which I just learned was a reboot. It follows Nicky who returns after 3 years to her home in San Francisco. Her family has mixed feelings as she has had no contact with them for the last 3 years. She is now a Kung Fu master and warrior, out to avenge her mentor’s death and stop a villain from acquiring mythical weapons. The show gives me Arrow vibes every time I watch it. It has similar flashbacks each episode to an earlier time in Nicky’s life. While Nicky’s mission is different, the style just gives me early seasons of Arrow vibes, which I am not complaining about. It stars Legacies’ Alyssa Chen, who I didn’t love on Legacies, but instantly fell in love with Nicky. I think she’s a bad ass character and love how she’s fighting for the underdogs on the streets of San Fran, while also taking down a bigger evil. The love triangle is heating up and I’m definitely team Henry (even though there’s some mystery there). I think he’s great and once again we have an awesome warrior romance. They balance each other so well and it’s only been like 3 episodes. Now they’ve also been sleuthing together and it’s just amazing.

NANCY DREW

Are you sick of hearing me talk about CW’s Nancy Drew? I hope not because I’m going to fangirl again. I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH! I can’t wait till Wednesday comes and I tune in a little after it starts, so then I can fast forward on my DVR. Then when the episode is over I basically start it all over again and watch select scenes that were awesome. (More specifically, they tend to be Nancy and Ace scenes because I love them and we’re entering so much angst I don’t know if my heart will be able to handle it!!!)

I’ll say it a thousand times: THIS CAST IS EVERYTHING! Their dynamic is amazing. You can have any match ups and it’ll be a great time. There is not one person I don’t like. I was so upset that there wasn’t a new episode last week (especially because it was my birthday). I loved the last one with the Hardy Boys and that Nace reveal! OMG! I’m so sad that Grant has left again because we barely had him, but I feel he’ll eventually come back. He has to. I loved the ending when he spoke to Thom by signing to him. (My heart!) I seriously can’t say enough great things about this show. It is not your typical CW show and deserves more love and views. So happy a third season has already been confirmed!!

LAST NOTES

Just started Shadow and Bone on Netflix and am loving it! I’m sure I’ll have an entire post dedicated to it when I’m done. (Currently going to start episode 6.) I have no background on the universe or the books (just what my sister is filling me in with as we watch). I definitely plan on reading Six of Crows after this!

So what are you enjoying? Let me know. I’m always looking for more shows to add to the list! Can never have enough.

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catchester · 3 years ago

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Guardians of the Galaxy, Ragnarok, and Classic Loki

I was discussing Classic Loki's costume with someone online and I admit, in the small teaser, I was really disheartened.

Yes, it was a faithful copy of a classic Loki costume, but comic book costumes are ridiculous, especially older ones. And if that wasn't bad enough, his pants looked like a nappy.

I'd been mostly impressed with the mixture of drama and comedy but this outfit was just a step too far for me. I was not confident in where the series was going.

Then in the next episode, they took this walking visual joke and gave him not only a full, but a fulfilling character arc.

I admit, Classic Loki is my second favourite variant, just pipped to the post by alligator Loki.

And isn't that weird? Alligator Loki is objectively more ridiculous, not in his costume but in his whole character. He's a freaking reptile FFS! But I love him.

And that reminded me of a discussion I'd had with a Ragnarok fan who would hear no wrong said about her movie. The points i brought up with her had nothing to do with Loki, I chose the slavery

It's on Sakar

Valkyrie is a slave trader selling people into certain death because no one wins forever, but somehow a hero,

And that Odin build Asgard using slave labour.

And there's the colonialism, related to the third point.

Both of these issues went totally unaddressed in a movie that didn't even need them. They could have written it a different way and still had a good movie.

I mentioned how T'Challa went into the afterlife to berate his father and ancestors for their wrongs and promise to correct their mistakes, while Thor went to his colonising, slaver father and... asks for advice? Really? That's like showing Thor asking Robert E Lee for advice.

She of course, argued that they were making entertainment, not the colour purple or 12 years a slave. Of course that's a straw man argument, but I reminded her that Black Panther had plenty of humour, and GotG literally sends itself up all the time, and even has a goddamn dance off with the villain, yet it still made me care enough to cry about the death of a tree!

Ragnarok had me wondering why Thor tortured his brother, do heroes do that now? Thor isn't even an anti-hero, he's just straight up hero. That scene just left me cold, it wasn't funny and because it was played for laughs, I didn't empathise with Loki. I mean, he just looks constipated.

You all know how much I love Loki, I've written enough stories about him, after all, but Ragnarok Loki is just meh. I care that he was being tortured from an intellectual perspective, because it feels wrong for the hero to do that, and his betrayal of Thor cam out of left field, but I don't feel sympathy for him. I can't relate to him, I feel neither love nor hate for him, I'm just indifferent (to all the characters actually).

The only thing that rouses any emotion in me is Taika and the rage his mishandling of important issues and dismissal existing character arcs brings out in me.

Contrast this torture scene with GotG, which had me sympathising with Nebula while she was being tortured because, sure she's a bad guy, but she's also a well rounded character and her torture wasn't being played for laughs. We know she's been tortured, in one way or another, her whole life. Yes, she's bad, but I can relate to her because I understand her.

Then this Taika fan said something that was more telling than she knew, and was actually 100% correct. Taika thinks comic books are ridiculous, and he's out here making a Road Runner movie.

And it suddenly hit me, she was right.

Everything in Ragnarok is treated the same way an anvil falling on Wile.E.Coyote's head is treated. There are no consequences. There are no lessons learned. There are no character arcs. At the end of the Road Runner series neither the roadrunner or the coyote had changed in any way. They were 2 dimensional, both literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately for her argument, 30 years ago we had what is still arguably the best cartoon Batman series ever, Batman the animated series. It took it's two dimensional animated characters and gave them three dimensional personalities. 30 years later it's still hailed as brilliant.

And I think that's why Classic Loki and GotG can take utterly ridiculous characters (let's face it, all superheroes are ridiculous to some extent) but while some even acknowledge how silly their comic book heroes are, they actually take the characters, the story, and the issues raised seriously.

Yes, Classic Loki looks like a joke, but he's never viewed as one from the crew's perspective.

Alligator Loki is even more preposterous! Who even made his horns, and who puts them on for him? But while the show acknowledges how silly he is with our Loki's questioning, he's a Loki and everyone treats him as a Loki. Yes, he injects some comic relief, but the laughter is never at his expense. He's even shown to be able to hold his own in a fight.

Rocket is a talking raccoon, but he's never laughed at. In fact he's even pitied once you learn what happened to make him that way. He's ridiculous, but he's not a joke. And yes, he makes jokes about how ridiculous they all are (bunch of jackasses standing in a circle) but while a comedic character, the joke is not on him. He's a fully formed, well rounded character. We care about him.

Yes, Star Lord is an idiot at times too, but his heart is in the right place and he wants to do the right thing. So you think he's gone mad when he has a dance off with the villain, but you quickly realise he's being an idiot for a very good reason and is playing to his strengths (and using idiocy as a strength is clever). I think we also understand, because he's a fully formed character, than his humour is a defence mechanism. He plays the fool because that's the niche he's carved for himself to help him cope, but that doesn't mean he is a fool.

Ragnarok wanted to be GotG, but Taiks forgot the part about while it's ridiculous and fanciful, the characters aren't a joke.

To Taika, if it doesn't get a laugh, it's not important. The few serious or touching moments we get are as a result of the MCU bigwigs forcing changes in reshoots, or forcing Taika to stick to the script.

There are no character arcs. You could argue that Loki goes from villain to hero or anti-hero, but he's already been through that journey in Dark World. Why did he regress? Who cares, it's not funny, he's just a bad guy again, forget about the plot holes and just laugh at the guy being killed smelling like toast!

Thor turning away from his father's teachings, like T'Challa did, would have been a wonderful character arc. Seeing his dad, realising his dad was wrong that and he needs to do better, and calling on his own inner strength to protect his people. That would have been a fulfilling arc. Instead he still needs advice from his colonising, slaver father. And this is actually one of the few scenes that wasn't played for laughs. It had so much potential, yet Taika just didn't care enough to reach for it.

Ragnarok is a road runner movie where our heroes toss a series of ACME anvils and dynamite at each other and the bad guys, but like the RR cartoon, there are no consequences. Just like Wile.E, they get straight back up again and lob another anvil at someone.

Hulk has been murdering innocent slaves for quite a while now, but he doesn't care. You'd think Bruce Banner might care about what his alter ego has been up to but no, this good, gentle, introspective, intelligent and caring man doesn't give one single fuck, because it's ACME Hulk and murdering innocent slaves has as many consequences as crushing them with an ACME anvil.

And I think that's the difference. Yes, your characters can be utterly ridiculous, but the crew must take them seriously and make them fully rounded characters who face consequences. Consequences are how we learn and grow.

And if they don't take the movie or characters seriously, you end up with a 2 dimensional story that no one cares about, because you haven't given them a reason to.

I don't care why Wile.E is trying to kill RR. I don't care what his motivation is. I don't care when he gets squashed or blown up, or falls off a cliff, because he's not a character, he's a caricature.

Ragnarok is just a collection of caricatures.

#thor ragnarok #MCU #gagnarok #loki series #Classic loki #old man loki #alligator loki #guardians of the galaxy #peter quill #rocket #nebula #black panther #gotg #gotg 2

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taetaespeaches · 4 years ago

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“Are you always this much of a brat?”

jungkook x reader genre: fluff (college au) word count: 2K

a/n: I wrote this for my lovely angel, @babeejeon. This is not part of the long-term couple! This is just film student Jungkook and student reader working on a class project together. This is pretty unedited so good luck, y’all! I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading! :))

YOU knew the dude was cute. You’d known that since the first day of class. However, eyeing him from a few seats away as he focused on taking notes, his eyes squinted to see the projector screen, was a lot different than seeing him in action as he concentrated on the camera screen, his eyebrows pulled together. The man was stunning.

Breaking character, a small smile formed on your lips as you were supposed to be looking solemnly ahead. Jungkook let out a sound of frustration as you giggled. “I’m sorry, you just look so serious, Mr. Director Man.”

“I am serious,” he defended with a boyish smile. “I’m trying to get us a high mark, remember?” You playfully rolled your eyes as he shook his head at you. You and Jungkook were partnered together for a film assignment in your digital story telling class, an assignment you had been worried about all semester as you didn’t have an ounce of film experience. Fortunately for you, Jungkook was actually a film major, which made you feel infinitely more confident in the project.

When he found out you wrote, he easily came up with the idea to make a film about one of your stories, you as the subject with a voiceover of your narration. Little did either of you know, you were almost physically incapable of filming a scene for five seconds without breaking into laughter, which was not a great visual to put with your “sad boi writing,” as you had dubbed it when explaining it to Jungkook.

“Ok, I didn’t think I’d be this bad in front of a camera, but I have seen your films, Kook. I still have total faith in you to pull this off,” you complimented him.

Giving you an unconvinced nod, he looked around the street, planning the next shot. “I think we’re almost done, maybe just one more shot of you walking away from the camera and I’ll follow you.”

“Ah, a scene I can’t screw up,” you grinned. “Good thinking Mr. Director.” He chuckled again, and you decided right then and there you had never seen a prettier smile before.

Set up for the shot, you waited for Jungkook’s cue to start the scene. “Ok, walk,” he shouted out to you, however, you stubbornly refused to move. “Walk,” he yelled louder.

“You’re a director, Jungkook,” you shouted back, looking over your shoulder at him. “Say action.”

“Are you always this much of a brat?” He questioned teasingly, you throwing your head back in amusement.

“Kind of,” you shouted to him, Jungkook chuckling at you.

“Are you ready?” He asked, you nodding exaggeratedly so he’d see it. “Ok, action.”

You began walking, however, five seconds into filming the shot, you tripped on a crack in the sidewalk, though catching yourself easily. Turning around you found Jungkook with a wide-eyed stare and you began laughing loudly, drawing the attention of the people walking by.

“Jesus,” Jungkook breathed out through his laughter as he approached you. “At least you’re a good writer.”

“Thank you,” you smiled, taking the backhanded compliment. “Did we get some ok footage at least?”

“I think we can make it work. I mean, you look good on camera,” he told you, a blush instantly heating his cheeks, as he looked down at the camera, looking over a piece of his film.

“I do?” You pressed annoyingly with a wide grin, Jungkook’s shy smile directed toward the camera as he avoided your gaze. “You look good behind the camera,” you told him, sincerity laced in your tone. “Like you belong there.”

His doe-like eyes softened as he looked at you in surprise. “Thanks,” he said simply before turning the camera off. “I think we got it.”

STEPPING into a café near campus that many college students frequented, you quickly scanned the room, doing a double take on the very man who had been occupying your mind for most of the semester. He had taken up a permanent residency in there since you started working with him on this film project, and the sight of him sitting across the café from you had your heart racing.

Forgetting completely about the drink you came to order and take to-go, you started toward Jungkook, his eyes lifting from his computer screen just enough to catch you in his eye line, doing a double take of his own.

His eyes widened in what almost looked like panic as he ripped his ear buds of out his ears, sitting up straighter in his seat.

“Fancy meeting you here,” you greeted with a smile, your eyes looking from Jungkook to his computer to the notebook he had sitting open next to the keypad.

“Hey,” he said back, still coming down from his surprise, a faint smile on his lips. Your eyes glanced over the notebook just barely catching the title of your short story for your digital storytelling class scrawled onto the top of the page.

Your eyes lit up in excitement at the realization. “Are you editing right now?”

“I-yeah, but it’s not done,” he told you with a panicked edge in his voice.

“How is it so far? Did the footage turn out ok?” You asked.

“Uh,” he started with a small breathy laugh. “You’re smiling and laughing in most of it.” You stared at him with a serious expression, understanding that was not a good thing. “Yeah, we might have to reshoot,” he told you, looking at the computer screen as he clicked through different scenes.

“Fuck, really?”

His eyes flashed up to inspect your face, noting your concern. “Yeah,” he told you with a sympathetic expression.

“I’m a bad actress,” you pouted, Jungkook grinning as he shook his head.

“No, you’re really not,” he told you sincerely. “Kinda think you were born to be in front of a camera.”

Holding back a smile, you dropped your gaze to the table. “What if I gave you a happier story? I could re-narrate.”

“You have another piece?”

“Let me see the footage.”

He pulled the top of his laptop down a bit defensively, to which you glared at him. “I didn’t know you were so protective of your work,” you teased.

“I’m usually not,” he said quietly.

Pausing a moment, you cocked your head at him thoughtfully. “Am I that bad?” You giggled, Jungkook shaking his head immediately in protest before realizing you were kidding. Pink tinted his cheeks as he flashed you a small smile with a scoff.

“It’s really rough right now. I only have a fifteen second intro and then the rest of it just doesn’t fit the vibe of your writing,” he explained, frustration taking over his features.

“Oh the vibes, huh?” You smiled. “Well we gotta get the right vibes, bro, let me look.” Jungkook laughed, his eyes meeting yours for a moment before they glanced back down to the computer. “I’m gonna have to see it eventually, Kook.”

Letting out a big sigh, Jungkook ticked his head to the side. Wordlessly, he opened his laptop wider before handing you one of his ear buds, placing the opposite one in his own ear. “Like I said, I only have 15 seconds done, but there is music,” he told you. “To capture the vibes,” he added with a smile.

“Love music,” you said stupidly, trying to ease his nerves as you sat down next to him and pushed the ear bud into place. “Blow me away, Spielberg.” He chuckled before pressing play, resting his chin in his hand as he nervously awaited your reaction.

Your eyes were glued to the screen as a slow lo-fi kind of beat started playing into your left ear. The screen faded from black to a shot of the sunrise glowing through the street, people walking in and out of the shot on the busy weekday morning.

The scene cut to a close up of your side profile, your hair blowing into your face before you pushed it back, your hand and wrist partially covering your features from the viewers. The camera cut to a zoomed out shot of you from the same angle, showing you seated on the curb of the street.

Next, the shot showed you from across the street, your melancholic expression on display as cars drove in front of you, cutting you in and out of the frame.

The music continued to play as the next shot displayed a closer view of your somber stare, however, it suddenly broke into you smirking as Jungkook’s groan sounded overtop the music. Your laugh played through the ear bud, followed by Jungkook’s giggle.

The following shots were meticulously pieced together shots of you breaking character, making faces into the camera, throwing your head back as the sounds of yours and Jungkook’s laughter mixed overtop the soothing beat. It didn’t take a videography expert to notice how the shots faded in and out skillfully. Jungkook had taken his time putting the film together.

“I thought you said it wasn’t done,” you said softly, eyes still on the screen as your heart raced at the footage. It was shot so… romantically.

“It’s not,” he defended as if being accused of something.

“But it’s amazing,” you told him, peeling your eyes from the screen to look at him. “I’m serious, you were made to do this.”

“Your story doesn’t fit though,” he told you quietly, a pink tint on his cheeks as your gaze fell to his lips.

There was a delay before you turned to take your backpack off, digging inside for a moment. Looking back to Jungkook to see him watching you, you held your journal up. Flipping through to the most recent entry, you placed it in front of him, allowing him to tentatively take it from your hands.

You watched as he read over the words, poetic in their form and romantic in their intent. His lips curved at the corners as he read further, taking in the sentences about his passion for film and how watching his eyes as he filmed a scene could convince you to take up videography as a hobby yourself. You wrote about his bright eyes and the crinkles that formed around them when he flashed his beaming smile. He took in the words that described how you became weightless when he was around, and if he didn’t reach for your hand soon you’d float into the clouds and never return to earth.

Finishing the piece, he looked up at you with wide eyes and a flattered grin, though you could tell he didn’t want to assume.

“Yeah, it’s about you,” you told him with an embarrassed breathy chuckle. “And from what I just watched, I’m pretty sure this writing will fit right into this film.”

He nodded slowly, looking back down at the journal, scanning the words once more. You watched his lips as he did so, aching to feel their touch.

“But if we don’t have to refilm, how will I find an excuse to hang out with you more?” he teasingly asked, looking toward you to notice you staring at his mouth.

“Good question,” you whispered. “Maybe you could kiss me and then take me out on a proper date,” you suggested.

“In that order?” He asked, his hand reaching up to cradle the side of your face, his thumb soothing over your cheek.

“Yes, please,” you barely spoke.

Leaning, in, he wore a smile just before your lips met. His hovered over yours for a moment before you impatiently leaned into him, catching his lips. He easily fell into the kiss, opening his mouth slightly against yours, just enough to show you how badly he had been wanting this moment with you. Your hands grabbed onto waist as he pulled away reluctantly, not wanting to break the kiss but aware that you were in a very public café.

“Fuck,” he whispered out, you giggling in response. “I wanna do that again.”

“Jeez, Jeon, take me out first,” you teased before leaning toward him again, catching his lips in a soft, sweet peck.

The man smiled against your mouth before kissing you repeatedly. “I will take you out,” he whispered. “Over,” he kissed you, “and over,” another kiss, “and over,” and another kiss, making you giggle into the action, “and over again,” he promised.

Smiling, you gave a single nod of your head. “I like the sound of that, Mr. Director.”

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bleh-bleh-blehs · 4 years ago

Text

Are you there?

Tom Holland x Reader

A/N- This is my submission to @hollandsrecs‘ fic bingo. This the most mature thing I have ever written (kinda graphic), so please don’t read if anything triggers you. This is completely a figment of my imagination. Please, please leave feedback, like and reblog. I think that’s it. Enjoy:) feel free to call me out for my mistakes

Warning- Trying to do suicide (graphic), taking compromising pictures without consent, posting compromising picture without consent. (PLEASE NEVER DO ANY OF THESE)

Word count- 2.5k

Tom was in a hurry, so much hurry that he forgot to take the correct number of his new assistant. He didn’t even bother confirming it. To be honest he wanted to sleep; he wanted rest. The countless stunts, shoots, reshoots had drained every single ounce of energy he had.

They were half way shooting but Tom’s previous assistant couldn’t keep the privacy of both Tom and the movie secret. Hence David was introduced.

Tom wanted to leave so badly that he forgot to tell David that he was taking a break tomorrow. The director was shooting some scenes that did not include him. And Tom consulted his day off with the director at the last minute. If Tom was not on set then why would David be there too.

“Come David pick up the phone.” I was the sixth time Tom had called the number, which he thought belonged to his P.A. He let out an irritated sigh, his head was pounding and Tom thought it would almost burst now.

“What do you want?” The call was answered finally. But the voice on the other side was of a girl, in a quiet whisper. Her voice was a bit hoarse as if she was crying.

Tom didn’t even bother about him calling the wrong person or informing David. He was now worried about the person who answered his call. ”Are you alright?” he finally asked. This was the only thing he felt was right to say.

“Why do you care, and who are you?” she replied with a gulp. “I was trying to call someone else and I have clearly called the wrong number, but now I am worried about you. Your voice sounds like you’ve been crying for hours. So therefore I am gonna ask you again. Are you alright, darling?”

And then he heard nothing, it was radio silent on the other side. Tom checked his phone to see if the girl had hung up, but she hadn’t. “Are you there?” he asked again.

After a few minutes of what Tom felt like an eternity, the girl replied. “I am not.” Was all she said before she broke down into tears.

“Hey, hey, hey, drink some water and talk to me.” Tom tried to calm her down. He forgot about informing David about his day off, he totally forgot about his headache. He was genuinely worried about the girl he had accidentally called.

“I just want to die, I am done with this mental torture.” she cried uncontrollably. “ Please don’t think about dying. Think about your friends and family, think about how much your death will hurt them. Please dear, don’t take any wrong step.” Tom said, already panicking.

“My family will hate me after they know what happened. And I don’t have friends, not after what happened to me.” Tom was more confused now, he wanted to know what happened to her. And can only guess that whatever it was, it was bad enough for her to think about dying.

But Tom will not ask her now, maybe later but right now it was important to calm her down and help her with whatever he can.

It wasn’t your fault that everyone judged you; called you names. You always preserved yourself for someone you trusted; but that didn’t since a bastard thought it was good to take you to his bed when you were drunk.

And if that was enough he took your nude photos when you were sleeping and posted them on the university’s instagram account, operated by students, where every single student of the university can see it.

And since from then you were called words that you never thought would be given to you.

Your photo was taken down by instagram but you were sure that people had it saved in their phones. You didn’t have many friends but the one you had left you alone. You were alone in this place that had become hell for you.

The teachers paid no mind to students’ business. Everyone either looked at with great hate or made a comment about you. You didn’t even exist for them before this scandal.

You tried to stay strong but everybody has their breaking point.

And you decided to end it all. The only thing that would save your parents from being ashamed of you. The only thing that would end it all.

Here you sat with a blade in your hand, focusing all of your courage to bring your other up. As you were just about to cut your wrist your phone rang. You didn’t bother to answer it and focus on the task you were doing.

You let it rang again and again, you didn’t let your phone bother you. But then you lost all the courage you have had build to kill yourself. And you looked at your phone to find that an unknown number was calling you.

You finally answered it asking “What do you want?” to whoever was calling you so desperately. Your voice still hoarse from all the crying you have done before.

“Are you alright?” a voice asked, it was laced with worry . You felt as if an angel had called you to stop you from ending your life. You sobbed at the thought. Even his voice sounded angelic.

“Why do you even care and who are you?” His sweet voice confused you a little bit. Why would someone worry about you and he didn’t even knew you.

“I was trying to call someone else and I have clearly called the wrong number, but now I am worried about you. Your voice sounds like you’ve been crying for hours. So therefore I am gonna ask you again. Are you alright, darling?” He replied. You started to process his words in your head, thinking if you have heard him correctly.

“Are you there?” he asked a few minutes later. Your mind was debating on telling your problems to a stranger but at least he was listening.

“I am not.” You said before breaking down into tears.

“Hey, hey, hey, drink some water and talk to me.” You tried to calm yourself as much you could.

“I just want to die, I am done with this mental torture.” you said. “ Please don’t think about dying. Think about your friends and family, think about how much your death will hurt them. Please dear, don’t take any wrong step.” he immediately said. How can someone be so kind in this world. You totally believed that he was an angel.

“My family will hate me after they know what happened. And I don’t have friends, not after what happened to me.” You were sure that he must be confused and you wanted to tell everything but not right now. You checked the time on your phone, it was almost 1am.

“I will tell you but I think we should sleep now.” you said praying that he will let the topic go. You just wanted some rest. And since it was the weekend there will be no shity comments and the judging glares for you.

“Ok but promise me that you’ll not hurt yourself.” he told you. “Yes I won’t and I owe you answers, so will not leave you hanging.” You sat up straight, you were tired of everything and the worry in his voice was the only thing that made you really rethink your decisions.

“You don’t owe me anything darling” he replied. You smiled loving the way he called you ‘darling’. “I never asked your name? By the way I’m Y/N.” you heard him chuckle and swear to god it sounded so cute.

“I am Tom and I think we should sleep because I am in desperate need of sleep.” he yawned and you chuckled. “I don’t wanna sound like a cheesy person but laugh sounds much better than your cry.” You laughed at him. “Oh, does it?” “Yep.” he yawned again.

“You should sleep.” you tell him. “Yeah, and so should you. Have you eaten anything today? If you haven’t, then eat something before sleeping. Okay.” He said firmly.

“I will. Bye Tom and thank you for listening to me.” You said before getting up, throwing the blade away. “Yeah bye and the pleasure was all mine. Goodnight Y/N” he said before hanging up. You were really hungry; you literally stopped eating properly since your photos were released.

You and Tom talked the whole weekend away. You told him about you losing your virginity to someone so cruel, who finds it funny to show everyone your modesty. You decided not to go to university since you would lose all your confidence because of what been happening to you.

And Tom supported you in your decision. It was final semester anyway and your final exams were going to start by the end of the week.

You studied for exams without paying attention to the chaos happening in your life. Late night talks with Tom kept you sane. You walked into your university with embarrassment and paid no mind to what others had to say about because at the end of day you will call Tom and tell him how brave you were.

No matter how busy he was, Tom would always return your call. He even ordered pizzas for you. But sadly he is gonna leave soon and you begged him to meet you but he always said “I will meet when it is the right time.” and you huffed at him. “When will the right come.” you whined.

“Patience my darling. And tell me where that div lives.” you laughed at Tom; The way he switches his American accent his British accent always made you both fascinated and made you laugh.

“I have already told you his name. But I don’t exactly know where he lives. At first I thought he lived in the frat house but he lives in one of his father’s expensive apartments. “But what is the most common place to find him?” Tom asked. “Parties. You can always find him at parties.” You said scrunching your eyebrows together, wondering what Tom was up to. “Are there any parties in the near future where he would definitely be?” he asked.

“Yes, there is a party on saturday, where I think he would be.” you said scratching your forehead. Why was he asking these questions, you thought.

“Can you go there?” Tom asked, he had this master plan and David was helping him in it.

“Tom I stopped going to parties after what had happened to me.” He heard the fear in Y/N’s voice. “Don’t worry darling, I am going there too. Just text me the address and you wanted to meet me too right? We will just show horse fuckers that you are not alone.” he heard you sigh.

“Fine, only because I want to meet you.” You said. Tom turned around and showed thumbs up to David who returned the gesture. “Thank you darling, I have to go now. Talk to you later.” Tom said rather excitedly.

Saturday came quickly and here were standing in front of your mirror having second thoughts about your dress. It was showing a bit of your cleavage and your thighs. But then you thought ‘fuck it’ you are getting ready for Tom and didn’t want to think about what those idiots are comment about our body.

You started to feel nervous as soon as you walked into the party. Many boys whistled at you, called you names, many gave you a grossed out expression. And you waited for Tom to come because what else could you do?

Tom arrived at the party 5 minutes later after he got your text saying that ‘you have arrived there’. He knew that every second for you was hell there alone. The obnoxious loud music was hurting his ears.

He told David to cover for him because Tom didn’t want anyone to recognize him. Well he doubted that anyone can recognize since they are so drunk but he was proven wrong when some girls walked near him. David helped him push to push past the crowd.

“Which one do you think is Y/N?” David asked him. Tom smiled and pointed at you standing in the corner. “The one who is alone, trying to cover herself and is also looking for someone.” he started to walk near.

“David can please shut this loud music.” David mumbled a quiet ok and left towards the DJ.

“Y/N.” you heard someone call your name. You turned to find Tom, no Tom Holland standing beside you. “Hey darling.” he said. His voice was the same as the voice you have been hearing since past month.

How can you be so idiot and not realise that you were talking to a celebrity. The celebrity you had been crushing on.

“I know I am handsome, darling but you don’t have to stare.” he chuckled and you pouted. You were well aware of the glares you were getting. “You are much more pretty than I have imagined.” he said, intertwining your and his hands.

“Where is he?” He asked you and you looked up towards the crowd to find the person who had destroyed your life. You found him almost immediately, he stood there with a neutral expression on his face.

You nodded in his direction and Tom got into action. “You are the one I’ve heard about. Aren’t you?” Tom looked so intimidating like this, anyone in their right mind would know that he was angry. David made sure no one was recording this.

“Well I think I am pretty famous if you have heard about me.” That jerk had the audacity to smirk. “Only the bad things.” Tom said as he backed that div into the wall. “You know you can get sued for posting someone’s nudes without their consent and you even took them without her consent.” Tom gritted his teeth at him.

“Oh really and who is gonna sue me. Y/N? She doesn’t have enough money to do that.” His smirk grew wide. “Oh in that case David.” Tom motioned towards David. On the queue Davis gave a pen and document to you and told you to sign them.

You signed them as fast you could and gave them back to David.

“There you go, she has sued you. David will submit the document tomorrow. I hope your father is proud of you. Come on darling let’s get out of here.” You took his hand and left very shocked kids behind.

“Oh my god you are Tom Holland.” you start to fangirl as soon as you sit in his car. ‘Yes darling, the one and only.” he chuckled. “Can I hug you?” you blurted and started to laugh. “Of course Y/N, you don’t have to ask me.” And he engulfed you in a tight hug which reciprocated.

You felt unbelievably safe in his arms.

Your love for Tom only growed with time and Tom felt the same. You were with your family currently, searching for jobs in London because you didn’t want a long distance relationship.

And Tom couldn’t be more happier than picking you up from the airport, knowing that you are going to live with him.

He can’t be more grateful that he called the wrong number that day.

Permanent Taglist:-

@spidey-reids-2003, @musicalkeys, @mischiefmanaged011, @parkerpeter24, @missguidedlani, @justanothermarvelmaniac, @whatthefuckimbisexual, @peterspideysstuff, @halfblood-princess-505, @liestookmyvibes, @captainchrisstan, @rnatasha, @seutarose , @adriannajackson, @tombob2005, @ethereal-beauty-p, @hollanderfangirl

Mutuals who I thought might be interested:-

@chloecreatesfictions, @hollandtown, @fallinfortom, @azaraspirit

#hrficbingo1k #tom holland x reader #tom holland #tom holland imagine #reader insert #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you

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skybird13 · 5 years ago

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PSA to Non-LGBT+ Creators

I made a thread about this on Twitter that seemed to resonate with a lot of people, so I figured I would do a slightly longer version here.

If you're not LGBT+, or even if you are but you're not familiar with the history of LGBT+ portrayal in media, you may not understand the power that subtext has in our community.

Many of us have been conditioned from the time we started consuming media to read between the lines for our representation, because until very recently that was the only place we could find it. Even today, totally open rep is an anomaly often handled with various degrees of skill and conscientiousness, ranging from the pretty damn good to the stuff of literal nightmares. Subtext is still the norm.

So when you, a creator, choose to include LGBT+ romantic or queercoded subtext in your narrative, you have, for all intents and purposes, stepped into an arena where the rules are a little different from what you're used to.

There are three major things to take from this, in my opinion, though others are free to add to this if they wish:

1) If you're going to play around with queercoded subtext even a little, it had better be with the intent of following through. I, and a lot of others, are getting sick and tired of having rep dangled in front of our faces only to have it yanked away with a "haha, so sorry, we were just having fun" and "it was never meant to go that way". We're done dealing with it and we're done staying quiet about it when it does happen.

2) However subtle you think you're being, cut it in half, then fold it in quarters, and halve it again. Mathematically, I have no idea what that comes out to, but if you're going to attempt a subtle and slow build-up for an LGBT+ relationship (and honestly, a lot of us really wish you wouldn't, because it feels too close to the teasing and baiting we've already endured in the past, but if you must) understand that slipping that shit past us is significantly more difficult than it often is for other audiences. LGBT+ people are used to living in subtext. For the longest time, we were only allowed to exist in subtext. We know what it looks like.

3) If someone (preferably outside experts brought in to look for this very thing) tells you that particular kind of subtext is there, listen to them. Even if you yourself don't see it. If it's your intention to follow though and you want it there, great. Job well done. If not, take it the fuck out. I don't care if that means a massive rewrite of a 700 page novel, or two months of reshooting live action scenes, or four months of meticulously nitpicking your animation and rethinking the accepted takes from your VAs, any of which might very well result in a delayed release. Take. It. Out. Rewrite, reshoot, redo.

The mess I and a lot of others find ourselves in right now is rooted in a variety of factors, and it's occurred to me that creator ignorance and negligence are probably chief amongst them.

I'm not saying creators shouldn't be able to portray people who aren't like them. As a writer myself, I find that to be a dangerous line of thought that would eventually culminate in the removal of all diversity from any singular story, but you do need to be aware of the gaps in your own knowledge and comprehension. Even if you feel no doubt whatsoever that you have responsibly and successfully portrayed members of a minority group to which you do not belong, you still absolutely should have several people from that minority group look it over and give you feedback.

Because chances are, you missed something.

#fair game #rwby #writing #lgbt representation #tagging my fandom #but this applies to all y'all #clover ebi #deserved better

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hellyeahomeland · 4 years ago

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Hi Sara. In the commentary section to the news about ‘Essex Serpent‘ on MacRumors user CJ Dorschel who worked as a consultant for Homeland reveals details about re-writing and re-shooting of parts of season 5 because CBS/Showtime thought they were too close to reality after what happened in Europe in 2015. With the information given there the title of episode 5x11 reads like a joke for insiders. There is also a lot about why and how Quinn’s letter got into the show.

Omg, this is kinda wild. Here’s the full text:

I was a consultant with show runner Alex Gansa on seasons 4 and 5 while a field agent in Berlin. Many of us in the IC were consultants. Gansa really wanted to tap into the sociopolitical global thread and much of what was written and shot was done a year before a season aired. I remember in season 5 in Berlin the main story arc and climax included [SPOILER ALERT] attacks on numerous European cities, not just Berlin and Quinn (Rupert Friend). It was written and filmed in 2014/early 2015. Then came the Paris attacks in November 2015 and CBS/Showtime met with Gansa, Danes, and a few of us to discuss what should be done as the show paralleled exactly what was happening and it the material would have aired right after the attacks. We had to rewrite the ending and removed Paris, Brussels - numerous EU capitals and cities - and changed the climax for the season. Otto’s attempts at discrediting Carrie (Danes) were not due to romantic interests - he was secretly funding Syrian‘s fighting al-Assad in Syria to atone for his past families associations with Nazi Germany and thought his financial and other support was to overthrow Assad and stop his Russian funded war against those who opposed him (Putin has his own interests in the Middle East - the only warm water naval port Russia has in the Mediterranean requires the Ukraine and access through the Middle East hence Russia’s support of middle eastern princes and nations). That all came back to haunt him as they attacked Europe instead. The entire ending had to be scrapped and reshot within weeks. We removed everything but the attack on Berlin and focused on Quinn and Carrie and the aftermath and made Otto’s intentions of removing Carrie as she was getting too close to his organizations work in Syria as a love interest. Rupert Friend wrote the letter that Claire Danes reads to him on a flight back for reshoots at Alex Gansa’s request. He put it in an envelope and no one read it until the scene was shot. Before the scene was filmed, production located an abandoned hospital outside Berlin and padded the walls of a room with used mattresses for a quick makeshift recording studio and Friend read the letter that was to be played during the scene. Danes read the letter while production played Friend‘s recorded audio on set - it was the first time anyone read/heard what Friend wrote. The reactions from Danes was her actual response to what Friend wrote for his character. They only did one take. So what you’re seeing in the hospital scene with Claire reading Quinn’s letter was one take and Danes’ actual emotional response. I remember the set was so quiet for a minute afterwards you would hear a pin drop. Quinn was supposed to have died in season 5 but fan response brought him back. I wasn’t involved in seasons 6 on. That always stuck with me. As for some who claim Danes isn’t a good actress - far from it. She was and is brilliant. She was very invested in the series as she is very sociopolitical active in life. The series finale with Danes’ character living in Moscow and looking over the wall of articles - those were all actual articles from countless newspapers and released documents of events since 9/11. A poignant commentary on real world events and wars that the series perfectly addressed. I’m very interested in Danes’ next project. I know it will be excellent and recommend everyone give Homeland a watch.

I had to read the bit about their original plan with Otto and Syria a few times to understand... that certainly does make the title “Our Man in Damascus” make so much more sense. From the comment it seems like the last two or three episodes needed to be reworked, but even without that rework, and going with something more simple, the season was too complicated. A spaghetti plot season, albeit one with an emotional core (Carrie/Quinn) that was rendered so completely moot by Quinn not dying.

Keeping Quinn alive for season six is the single biggest mistake this show ever made and I will never understand it. There is something intensely cruel about bringing him back because of “fan response” but in this totally altered way that no fan wanted. I don’t even like the guy all that much and I can say it’s messed up. But we’ve exhausted that conversation over the years.

I think we knew everything about the letter -- except for maybe the mechanics of how it was shot. Is it wrong that I don’t have much of a recollection of Claire’s emotional reaction and instead I just remember how amazing her hair looked and her cream-colored cardigan? Her Grim Reaper ensemble in the final scene is an all-time Carrie Mathison LOOK. She was serving.

#there are so many 'what ifs' for this show #what if they'd done the 'carrie helps brody commit suicide by murdering him' thing in s2 #what if they'd actually killed quinn at the end of s5 #okie dokie #i love 2 open the pandora's box of wtf happened from fall 2015 to spring 2017 on this tv program #but it's sort of boring around here lately #ask #hyh ask #anonymous #by: sara

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per-ineptia-ad-astra · 5 years ago

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fixing The Menagerie

The circumstances behind The Menagerie pose an interesting writing problem: how do you take an already shot, totally completed episode for an earlier version of a TV show that differs considerably from the version that actually made it to air, and turn it into an episode that you can use now, as part of that later version, in a way that actually makes sense for your audience? That would be challenging enough without the additional problems that 1.) you can't reshoot any of the original episode because you no longer have access to the sets, costumes, most of the cast, etc., and 2.) the whole reason you're doing this in the first place is because you can't get a completely new episode out in time to meet your air date, so whatever your framing device is it has to be something that can be shot and finished very quickly--and cheaply, because at absolutely no point in the making of this show has there been spare money to throw around.

When I recapped The Menagerie (eons ago, it now seems) I said in the conclusion to the second part that I thought the framing device used wasn't as effective as it could have been. So, I figured I’d put my money where my mouth was and see if I could come up with another one. Before I start I want to put out the same disclaimer I used for the Return of the Archons post: I am not a professional TV writer (or a professional anything) and I intend this only as a fun exercise and not an angry and serious screed about the writing quality of TOS, which I do very much love for being what it is. I can only offer what, in my opinion, would make a more enjoyable episode, which may not necessarily be what you would find to be a more enjoyable episode. And if you already greatly enjoy The Menagerie as it is, you probably won’t want to read this.

For the purposes of this post, I’m going to take The Cage itself as written. It has its own problems, and that might be worth its own post at some point, but I’m not going to take it on here. We’ll assume The Cage exists exactly as it was produced, and the problem now is entirely focused on how to turn it into an episode—or two—of TOS.

(And, just to get it out of the way: I’m not going to talk about how either The Cage or The Menagerie play into Discovery, AOS, or the rest of Star Trek in general. It’s obviously a very important episode backstory-wise, but for this, right now, I’m just going talk about it purely as a TOS episode.)

So, with that out of the way, let’s talk about The Menagerie for a moment. What’s wrong with it?

Well, the framing device could certainly have been worse. It’s not terrible. Hell, Part I even won a Hugo, so, guess I’m up against the Hugo committee on this one. But, there are a number of things that I find awkward about it.

In a general sense, there’s the way that, once the flashbacks start, the story is attempting to maintain two separate threads of tension: the flashback story, with the tension being on what’s going to happen to Pike, and the present-day story, with the tension being on what Spock is doing, why he’s doing it, and whether he’s going to wind up getting the death penalty for it. This second thread starts out well—by this point in TOS, we’ve gotten to know Spock well enough to know how out of character all this is for him, which makes the mystery quite gripping. However, once the flashback starts, the story struggles to maintain the tension of this second thread. The attempt to keep the present-day story as tense as the past story only results in breaks away from the action for scenes in the courtroom where something or someone stops Spock from showing the footage, which never results in anything because by the next commercial break they’re back at it. Most of these interruptions are either arbitrary (the screen goes off for no reason and then comes on again for no reason; fake!Mendez randomly decides he’s had enough and tries to stop things) or just not that interesting (Pike fell asleep), and with each one it only becomes more obvious that the only real purpose they’re serving is to pad out the framing story.

The resolution of the present-day story is also rather unsatisfying for a lot of reasons. After so much tension built up about what’s going on and why Spock is acting this way and is his life on the line and is Kirk’s career on the line and how’s he going to get out of this...it turns out that Mendez has been fake this whole time, so nothing he said or did since Kirk left the Starbase matters at all; Starfleet casually waves the whole thing aside with no repercussions, making all the build-up about Spock risking the only death penalty remaining in the Federation mean nothing whatsoever in the end; and we never really get a satisfactory answer as to why Spock insisted on carrying out his court martial the way he did. Sure, eventually the Keeper says the whole court martial was basically staged to stall Kirk so he wouldn’t focus on getting control of his ship back, but not only does that raise further questions—if Mendez was only ever an illusion sent by the Talosians, why did he try to stop the court martial several times? Why did the Talosians turn off the footage at a crucial point, and why did it come on again?--there’s also no reason given why Spock couldn’t just recount what happened himself, which could have taken up enough time if he was careful enough about it, instead of needing the Talosians to broadcast a video version of the events.

There’s also the simple fact that Pike’s ending is itself rather dubious. I suppose this one comes down to a difference of opinion between me and Gene Roddenberry (one of many) since both The Cage and The Menagerie end with a character going to permanently stay with the Talosians, with no concern at all expressed about the fact that the Talosians are cruel, torture-happy, and frankly insufferable wannabe-slavemasters who see humans as nothing more than brute animals to be caged, bred and make to work. I said I wasn’t going to tackle The Cage here so I won’t go off about its ending, no matter how much it pisses me off. But The Menagerie is also at fault here, because it needlessly repeats the exact same problem (with a bit less sexism, but still). The ending of The Menagerie gives us no sign that the Talosians have reformed in any way, and no explanation as to why they suddenly care so much about Pike to go to all this trouble for him. We’re just expected to believe that Pike’s gonna go have a nice happy illusion-life with them even though the last time we saw them they were trying to breed a race of human slaves. Really, Gene? Really?

On that note, the treatment of disability in both The Cage and The Menagerie bothers me a great deal. The effect of Pike becoming disabled is to essentially strip him of all his autonomy. I mean no disrespect to Sean Kenney here, but if they’d replaced him with a mannequin it wouldn’t have made any difference at all to the episode, because in The Menagerie Pike is not a character, he’s a prop. We’re assured repeatedly that Pike thinks and feels as much as he ever did, but we have to be told that by other characters because the episode certainly never takes any opportunity to let us in on any of it. Here’s the sum total of what we know Pike thinks about the events of The Menagerie:

1. He doesn’t want to visit with Kirk and McCoy at the beginning of the episode but allows Spock to stay.

2. He tells Spock “no” when Spock tells him his plan.

3. He keeps repeating “no” the rest of that day, which everyone is confused by but no one makes any effort to understand.

4. He falls asleep at one point.

5. He votes for a guilty verdict for Spock during the court martial, when asked.

6. He says “yes” when asked if he wants to go live with the Talosians.

Pike is treated with sympathy and the respect due to his rank and history, but mostly he’s an object of pity. We’re told he can move his chair himself, but he appears to be confined to one small hospital room that’s not even set up for his needs, and he spends the entire episode being moved around by other people. Everyone talks about how bad his situation is, but only Spock attempts to do anything to improve it—and he does so knowing that Pike doesn’t want him to do it. When Pike tells him “No,” Spock doesn’t ask any questions, he doesn’t try to find out what part of this whole thing Pike is objecting to, he just overrides Pike’s objection on the assumption that Pike is only concerned about Spock doing something so very illegal, a concern he pretty much disregards. He turns out to be right—as far as we can tell—but for all the information Spock has at the time, Pike might have been saying, “No, I don’t want to live with the Talosians.”

It doesn’t need to be that way. Pike’s condition is certainly very severe, but as I mentioned in the recap, there are plenty of other things that could have been done for him, or at least attempted. And even if none of those were done, there are other ways that the episode could have developed his character, or at least treated him like a character. Spock’s discussion at the beginning of the episode could have been a mind meld that allowed us to hear Pike’s thoughts on the matter. Spock could have heard his objections and addressed them, and he and Pike could have come to come to an agreement and actually become co-conspirators instead of Pike spending the entire episode as a helpless hostage to Spock’s plan. We could have gotten a scene of Pike and McCoy interacting after Spock tells McCoy to look after Pike—McCoy’s not only highly suspicious at that point and unlikely to be greatly put off by Spock's order to not ask Pike any questions, he’s also the one who gives a whole speech about how cruel it is that Pike “can’t reach out, and no one can reach in”--so give us a scene where he does reach out! We could have had a scene of Kirk talking with Pike—he’s certainly got plenty to ask the man about, both in general and in regard to the current situation. All he has to do is put a little extra work into how to frame his questions. The Talosians could have delivered a message from Pike at the end, or one of them could have astral-projected in earlier to have a telepathic exchange with him. We could have seen Pike express himself by moving his chair, turning towards or away people when they talk to him, interjecting a “yes” or “no” into a conversation instead of only replying when asked something, or repeating a response incessantly to show that he’s emphatic about something. (Yeah, we kinda get the latter when he’s saying “no” over and over early in the episode, but that’s only treated as a “what could he possibly be trying to communicate??? oh, if only we knew!” moment.) There were so many ways Pike could have been treated as a character, as a person, instead of a plot element who exists to be pushed around in his chair and have speeches made about how tragic his situation is.

Both The Cage and The Menagerie end with a character who is disabled choosing to spend the rest of their lives isolated from the entire rest of humanity on a barren planet inhabited by jackass aliens because, as everyone around them nods and solemnly agrees, that’s a better fate for them than living among human society. To be clear, it’s not Pike and Vina seeking solutions to their problems that I object to. If Vina wants to be represented by what is essentially an avatar of her own choosing, or if Pike feels that an illusory world offers better quality of life for him, that’s entirely their right. But when life with the Talosians is set up as a situation so horrible that we see four characters literally willing to die rather than remain on Talos 4, and then have two disabled characters say “actually it’s better this way if I stay here,” you kind of wind up with a message that looks a lot like “being disabled is a fate worse than death.” I doubt that was intentional, at least not entirely, since we see other disabled characters in TOS who are treated considerably better—but there it is, all the same.

This is not to say that there’s nothing of value in The Menagerie’s framing story. The tension between Kirk wanting to trust his friend but being forced to act in authority over him because he’s undeniably done something very seriously against the rules, and he won’t tell Kirk why, is great while it lasts. Spock’s character is expanded considerably by showing us that there are some things he places above his honor and obligations as a Starfleet officer—and indeed above his own life. We see a bit of his history, a glimpse of a relationship with a former captain that he respects so much that Spock will put everything on the line to secure a better future for him; and we see how much he respects and values Kirk, that he foregoes the chance to explain himself—and thus gain an ally and aid in his cause—because to do so would put Kirk in danger as well. And we get that great little moment where Spock tells McCoy to call security on him and McCoy has absolutely no idea how to react. And we get backstory! And kind-of-continuity! Okay, it’s not much backstory, but by TOS standards it’s practically a goldmine.

I don’t want to throw all that away. But I think there must be some way to address the problems without totally losing the good parts.

It’s only fair, though, that any attempt to improve the episode should keep in mind the circumstances it was made under. I don’t know enough about budgeting and producing TV in the 1960s either generally in or in this specific case to know exactly what was available to them when it came to producing The Menagerie, so I’m just going to try to deduce roughly what we might have to work with based on what what was in the finished episodes:

Much of Part I and all of Part II take place in preexisting sets, either the Enterprise ones or the shuttlecraft interior set. The new sets include the Starbase 11 exterior—which is mostly a matte painting—Mendez’s office, Pike’s hospital room, and the Starbase computer room. The computer room is a redressed Engineering set; I suspect the hospital room is also a redressed existing set, but I don’t know for sure. It’s quite simple regardless, and is clearly mostly using existing pieces (the bed and the chair). Mendez’s office is likewise set up with pretty standard preexisting TOS set dressing pieces, with the exception of some cut-outs outside the window standing in for the Starbase exterior.

Discounting any background extras we have five new characters: Commodore Mendez, Piper, Chief Humbolt (the computer room guy), Lt. Hansen, and Pike himself. Of these, only Mendez and Pike have much significant screen time. So, we can assume that hiring an extensive guest cast is probably not on the table here.

Most of the original cast from The Cage are probably not available. Pike we know is definitely out—Jeffrey Hunter wasn’t willing to come back after The Cage failed, and probably would have been too expensive to hire for two episodes anyway. Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett were, obviously, still working on TOS, so presumably we could incorporate past-Spock and Number One if we really needed to. Since Malachi Throne was also on hand for The Menagerie, we could record new dialogue for the Keeper (as The Menagerie did indeed do), but presumably no new footage (Throne voiced the Keeper, but they and all the other Talosians were portrayed onscreen by female actors). I don’t know if any of the other original cast could have been gotten back, but since they weren’t, let’s assume we can’t use them.

Let’s also assume that all of the sets, costumes, makeup, etc., from The Cage are inaccessible. In reality I’m sure at least something was still kicking around in storage somewhere, or was reused for TOS, but there’s no point in trying to figure out exactly what, so for simplicity’s sake we’ll say anything we might want to use from The Cage has to be recreated from scratch, and if it can’t be then we can’t use it.

Because the entire reason this is going on in the first place is because the effects work was making TOS run behind schedule, we can’t have much in the way of effects for The Menagerie, especially post-production effects. There’s a shot of the planet Starbase 11 is on, a matte painting for the Starbase 11 exterior, a couple uses of the transporter, Pike’s chair and makeup, some shots of the Enterprise and the shuttle flying around in space, and some things being shown on screens—and I think that’s more or less about it.

So. If I was told that I had to take The Cage and wrap it up as a TOS episode with the above restrictions in mind, here’s some things I would keep in mind:

If we look at this from a starting-from-scratch perspective, it seems to me that if you have an episode that you need to incorporate into your main show that has an almost entirely different cast, and one of the characters from your original episode, who has never once been seen or even referenced in your main show, is played by an actor that you can’t get back, the simplest thing to do is to not show that character. We don’t actually need Pike himself to be onscreen for The Menagerie. That he would be at least mentioned in some capacity, sure, but we do in fact have the opportunity to avoid putting some poor dude through five hours of makeup by simply having Pike remain offscreen. We'll probably wind up putting someone else through five hours of makeup, but we'll get to that in a bit.

For me at least, if the Talosians are going to re-appear, they either need to still be villains in some sense or we need to know that they have begun to change their behavior in some way. To have them simply show up again and be treated as friendly after everything that happened in The Cage, with absolutely no acknowledgment of the fact that they did do everything they did in The Cage...it just doesn’t make sense, and it’s much too distracting for me to get past.

Although I’ve set the rule that I’m not going to change The Cage itself, The Menagerie being a sequel to those events opens up the opportunity to follow up on the ending of The Cage in a different direction. In other words, I’m going to rescue Vina, because her fate in The Cage really, really bothers me.

Insisting on the preexisting footage being literally shown as a video in-universe has always felt pointlessly awkward to me. It’s so weird that the characters have to stop and go, “Hang on, what? Where’d this come from? This can’t possibly be security footage. Why does it have different camera angles?” to forestall the exact same questions the audience were probably having at that point. And, as I said above, there’s really not a good explanation as to why the footage did have to be shown in that manner. It seems to me that it would be much simpler to have the flashback footage be just that: a flashback. A story which is being recounted, but not literally shown, in-universe. By doing so you avoid having to open up a bunch of dead-end plot threads about why the footage looks the way it does and is being shown the way it does. I think we can give the audience at least enough credit to assume they’ll understand that if a character starts recounting an event, and the scene cuts to footage of that event, that footage is a representation of what the character is saying, not literally something being shown in-universe.

I’m not going to bother with the whole “going to Talos 4 warrants the death penalty!!” thing. It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to begin with, and it never actually pays off in The Menagerie. We can manage a better source of tension than that, I think.

All of this would ultimately take my version of The Menagerie in a pretty different direction than the actual episode, I admit. It's a rather drastic change, but, if I was tasked with writing a framing story for using The Cage in TOS, here's how I'd do it:

The Enterprise is out tooling around doing their usual business when Uhura picks up a distress call from a ship stranded in space. It’s very faint, distant, and there’s something odd about it, but of course they’re gonna follow up on it because that’s how they roll. So they head off in the direction of the call, but the funny thing is that as they get closer, Uhura says that the source of the distress call appears to be moving around. They follow it, send some hails, and finally get back a scratchy, staticky response: it’s coming from a ship that’s been heavily damaged, and the crew is no longer able to steer it, so it’s drifting erratically through space. Kirk has Uhura send a hail: “We’ve received your signal. Keep broadcasting it and we’ll find you.”

They keep following the ship. It’s difficult—the call is weak, and the Enterprise has to go carefully or risk overshooting it. After they’ve been chasing it for a while, Spock points out that they should be wary of entering a nearby star system, because it contains a planet all Federation ships are warned to avoid. Kirk, of course, doesn’t want to give up on the damaged ship, but Spock steps over to his chair and quietly says, “Captain...I should warn you that it may be the lesser of two evils to abandon this ship, rather than risk going too close to Talos 4.”

Kirk, of course, is stunned to hear Spock say this, and asks what makes Talos 4 so dangerous. Spock says it would take rather a long time to explain. Kirk says that Spock almost sounds like he’s familiar with the place, and Spock replies, “More than familiar, captain. I’ve been there before.”

[dramatic sting, cut to commercial]

Since it looks like the damaged ship will take a while to track down, Kirk has McCoy, Scotty and Spock convene in a briefing room to hear Spock’s story. Spock gives a short introduction: “What I am about to tell you, gentlemen, occurred as I said thirteen years ago, when the Enterprise was under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. I’ve pulled up the log entries of Captain Pike pertaining to this time to provide his own perspective on the matter, as it was he that had the closest encounter with the Talosians. At the time, the Enterprise had only recently escaped a disastrous encounter on Rigel 7 which had resulted in the deaths of three crewmen and injuries to several more, including myself. Some of the injuries were beyond the capacity of the ship’s doctors to treat, so we were en route to the Vega colony for treatment when we began receiving a distress signal...”

Spock’s voice-over fades out over a transition to the Cage footage. We watch that--perhaps interspersed with the occasional bit of narration from Spock, or a question from Kirk or McCoy or Scotty--until about the point where the landing party encounters the fake survivors' camp and Pike is captured by the Talosians. Then Spock is suddenly interrupted by Sulu calling Kirk to the bridge. Everyone hurries up to the bridge, where Uhura reports that the distress call has suddenly disappeared. Sulu says it's not just that: somehow, he doesn't understand how or why, his sensors are suddenly showing that they're not on the same course or even in the same place that they were only moments ago. Somehow, they've wound up in the Talos star system--and they're heading directly for Talos 4.

"It is just as I feared," Spock says gravely. "This has all been a trap."

Kirk orders Sulu to change course, and he tries—but somehow the ship doesn’t divert even a little. It’s like the helm just isn’t responding. Kirk does all the usual things, telling Scotty to do something, etc, nothing’s working, and then Uhura reports that they’re receiving a hail. And it appears to be coming from Talos IV.

Naturally Kirk tells her to put it on. The voice on the other end is staticky and faint. "Greetings. Is this...the Enterprise?"

"This is the Enterprise. I'm Captain James Kirk."

Silence for a moment. Then the voice on the other end, obviously surprised, says, "Captain Kirk? Not Captain Pike?"

"Captain Pike no longer commands this vessel."

There's a long pause. "I see. We were...in error. We apologize for the deception, Captain Kirk. It was important that we bring Captain Pike to this planet, but we feared that his...past experiences here...would leave him unwilling to come close enough to hear our message.”

“That would be a most logical decision for Captain Pike, were he here,” Spock says coldly. “Considering the nature of those experiences.”

“You speak as though you are familiar with what transpired here before, then.”

“I am First Officer Spock. I was present aboard the Enterprise as Science Officer during the events thirteen years ago.”

There’s an even longer pause. When the voice returns, the signal is even more crackly than ever. “Our apologies, this communication is...difficult to maintain. We must wait to deliver the message in full until you are...closer to our planet. However...until then...you may be assured, Spock...that this time...” [pause for more crackling] “This time...the intent of the Talosians...is peaceful.”

The signal cuts out, and Uhura can’t get it back. The ship appears to still be locked on course for Talos 4. With seemingly nothing else to do for the moment but wait, everyone goes back to the briefing room, where Spock continues recounting Pike’s story.

At some point, Spock has to pause so everyone can go take a break, and everyone else files out of the room while he remains behind for a moment, staring at the computer contemplatively. Then suddenly, we hear a voice saying, “Spock--” and Spock turns around in surprise. We can’t see exactly what he’s looking at, only a soft glow at the edge of the camera, and then the scene cuts away.

Kirk’s grabbing a nap in his quarters when he’s woken by an urgent message: they’re still some way from Talos 4, but the ship appears to have stopped moving all on its own. He hurries up to the bridge, where Sulu tells him that it seems like they’re having some kind of computer error with the helm, but they can’t track it down yet. In the middle of all this, Uhura whirls around and exclaims, “Sir! Shuttle bay reports Mr. Spock has knocked out the tech on duty and is boarding one of the shuttles!” Kirk yells for security to get down there, but they are, of course, too late: Spock rigged the shuttle bay doors to open automatically and flies out before they can stop him.

Stunned and confused, Kirk orders Uhura to raise the shuttle, which she does.

“Spock, are you out of your mind?!”

“Negative, captain. My reasoning is quite sound, though I regret I cannot explain it to you just yet.”

Kirk yells for the tractor beam to grab the shuttle, but Sulu can’t get the tractor beam to respond either.

“You need not be concerned, captain. I believe it is well within Mr. Scott’s abilities to repair the computer in due time.”

“You did this to the computer?”

“It was necessary. You will find the transporter similarly incapacitated. I could not risk you coming after me, or stopping me. Not yet.”

“Spock—do you know what you’re risking by doing this? You were the one who warned me not to go near Talos 4!”

“Yes, captain. And it is because I know what the Talosians are capable of that I am doing this. Either they are telling the truth, in which case there is no danger...or they are not, in which case it is better that I alone risk doing this.” A pause. “Jim...wait 24 hours for me. If I do not contact you by then...you must leave in all haste.”

“I’m not leaving you behind!”

“You must. 24 hours.” And with that, Spock ends the call. As Uhura’s trying fruitlessly to reestablish contact with him, she suddenly looks up and says, “Captain...we’re receiving a message from...Fleet Captain Pike?”

“What?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well...put him on.”

So Uhura puts Pike on speaker, and Kirk says, “We’re, er, in the middle of a bit of a situation, sir...what can I do for you?”

“I might ask what I can do for you, captain. Mr. Spock left a message requesting that I contact you.”

Stunned pause for a moment. “He did what?” Kirk finally says.

“About an hour ago. I regret I wasn’t able to return his call earlier, but it’s the middle of the night here...Kirk, what’s this all about?”

Kirk sighs. “It’s a long story, captain, and I don’t entirely understand it myself. Uhura, patch this into the briefing room...it’ll take a while to tell.”

A little later, we see Kirk and McCoy sitting in the briefing room as Kirk finishes up explaining everything to Pike. “What do you make of that, captain?”

“I’m not sure what to make of it, Kirk. I can’t imagine why Spock would want to go to Talos 4. All Federation starships have been warned away from there ever since our encounter with them, and Spock’s well aware of that.”

“Yes...Captain, I confess I’m not familiar with the entire story of that encounter myself...Spock was telling us about it before he, er, left, but he hadn’t finished. Could you enlighten us about the rest of it? We do have your logs, of course, but you might have more information--”

“Yes, I see what you mean. I’m not sure I’ll be able to help, but I can at least tell you what I know...”

Pike continues telling the story where Spock left off. Around about the point where Pike and the others escape from the cell, there’s a call from the bridge reporting that their sensors show that the shuttle has landed on Talos 4. Frustrated, Kirk wonders once again just what Spock thinks he’s doing down there.

We then cut to a shot of what looks kind of like the barren landscape of Talos 4, only this time there seems to be a small surface settlement among the cliffs. Then we see Spock entering a small, plainly decorated room with windows looking out to the rest of the settlement. “I am here, as agreed,” he says, and then the camera turns to show us a figure wearing a robe and a hood sitting at a table in the middle of the room.

“Welcome, Mr. Spock," the figure says. "Won’t you sit down?”

Back aboard the ship, Pike finishes telling Kirk and McCoy the story.

“So...that’s all of it?” Kirk says.

“Yes. We left Talos 4 and never looked back. Never heard anything from the Talosians, either, but Starfleet marked the place as too dangerous to visit just in case.”

“Poor Vina,” McCoy murmurs.

Pike sighs. “Leaving her there is one my greatest regrets. She seemed determined to stay, but...Even put in a request to go back, once, but Starfleet wouldn’t allow it. Too risky. I often wonder what happened to her. If she was really happy with them after all. But, as you may have gathered, Kirk, none of this explains just what the devil Spock thinks he’s doing--”

He’s interrupted by a call from Uhura: “Captain—message coming from Mr. Spock!”

“Put him on! Spock, what’s going on? Are you alright?”

“Quite well, captain. Has Captain Pike contacted the ship yet?”

“I’m on the line right now,” Pike says. “Spock, what do you think you’re playing at?”

“Ah, captain. I have someone here who wishes to speak to you.”

We then cut back to Spock sitting at the table with the figure, who takes his communicator and says, “Hello...captain.”

Pike is too stunned to speak for a moment. “Vina...? Is that you?”

“The very same. I’ve missed you.”

“I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Between them, Spock and Vina explain just what is going on. There's been a change in Talosian society since the Enterprise left. Not all of the Talosians agreed with the plan to breed a slave race to begin with—others felt that they could, and should, attempt to reclaim the surface themselves. The incident with Captain Pike brought matters to a head, and a rebellion erupted shortly afterward. Once in power, the new leaders dedicated their efforts to repairing their ancestors’ machines and establishing a colony on the surface.

The reason the Enterprise was lured back to Talos 4 was Vina: she's had medical problems as a result of the crash and the botched surgery, and it's been getting worse for years, to the point that she likely won't live much longer if she doesn't get proper treatment. The new Talosian leaders wanted to make up for what their predecessors had done and gave her the best care they could, but simply didn't have the human medical knowledge to fix the problem. So Vina asked if they could help her get home, instead. The Talosians were concerned, however, that the Federation wouldn't believe a genuine call for help, given their history, so they hatched the plan to lure the Enterprise, and Pike with it, back to Talos 4. They've been waiting for quite a while, listening to subspace chatter, hoping the Enterprise would come near. Once it did, they put out the illusion of the damaged ship to bring the Enterprise close enough that they could maintain an illusion over the helm controls, making sure the helmsmen were not altering their course as they thought they were.

When they discovered that Pike was no longer aboard the Enterprise, they instead sent a telepathic message to Spock, hoping that his own experience with the Talosians would make him see the difference between their current society and the old one, and thus be more likely to believe them. They had to wait until the ship got close to Talos 4, because the new society of Talosians have been deliberately letting their psychic powers weaken, attempting to break the addiction to illusion that was holding them back from reclaiming the surface. They were able to keep up the illusion of the damaged ship for a while, but couldn't manage that and the illusion on the helm and extended contact with the Enterprise at the same time, making the whole thing very nearly fall apart at one point.

Kirk demands to know why Spock ran off on his own, and Spock explains that while he found the Talosians' message plausible, a risk remained that this was all an elaborate set-up. They might have been attempting another pass at the plan that failed thirteen years ago. If that was the case, Spock would be the least risky member of the crew to make contact with them, since as a non-human he wouldn't be suitable for their plans. Since he knew Kirk would never agree to that, he took the shuttle and hacked the ship's computers to ensure that they wouldn't be able to follow him, at least for a while. He now feels confident that this is not a trap, though, as the Talosians' powers have weakened enough that his own mental defenses are strong enough to mostly see through them.

So Vina accompanies Spock back to the shuttlecraft, and they fly back to the ship. Vina's taken to Sickbay while Kirk confronts Spock about stealing the shuttlecraft. Spock says he'll accept all punishment, but felt he had to do it--he saw what almost happened to Pike on Talos 4, and couldn't risk the same fate happening to Kirk. But he also felt he owed it to Pike to investigate Vina's story, and help her return if that was truly what she wanted. Kirk lets the whole matter go, because of course he does, telling Spock not to try that shit again because he can't lose his best officer and all that.

Kirk and Spock go to visit Sickbay, where McCoy reports that with proper Federation medical care Vina's prognosis is good. Kirk wants to talk to her, but McCoy tells him to wait because she's got another visitor. Kirk glances around the doorway and sees Vina sitting up in bed looking at a video monitor, from which Pike's voice is coming. Kirk smiles and says he'll come back later.

Everyone goes back to the bridge, and with the computer damage now fixed, they're preparing to leave, when Uhura reports that there's a call coming from Talos 4. Kirk has a short conversation with the Talosian on the other end, who is glad to hear that Vina will be alright. They also ask that Kirk relay a message to Pike, extending their apologies for what he went through, which Kirk assures them he will. He then adds that the Federation would likely be willing to open trade negotiations with the new Talosian government, and the Talosian says they may take them up on that. And with that, the ship flies off.

Most of this story would only require the existing Enterprise sets, and potentially some brief shots of the shuttle interior. The only new locations needed would be the Talosian settlement exterior, which could be a matte painting, and the inside of the building where Spock meets Vina, which wouldn't require much dressing. The only non-main-cast characters would be Pike, Vina, and the Talosian that contacts the Enterprise. The Talosian is a voice-only role. Pike is also a voice-only role, and would require someone who can approximate Jeffrey Hunter's voice, but it's a lot easier to find a sound-alike than someone who's a sound-alike and a look-alike--plus Pike would be thirteen years older than in The Cage, which allows some leeway. I don't know if Susan Oliver would have been willing/able to come back to play Vina, but if she wasn't, a hood, wig, careful camera shots and some old-age makeup would probably serve well enough to disguise another actress. The only special effect needed is a bit of glowiness for the Talosian that appears to Spock just out of frame.

As for the fate of Pike himself, I don't want to erase a disabled character, but I also don't really feel that Pike's appearance in The Menagerie does any justice to him as a disabled character. Did Gene always envision that kind of fate for him or did he simply seize upon it as a plot device in a desperate moment? I don't know, so in the end I decided to leave it more or less open. There would be considerable leeway for multiple options that would still allow him to serve the same role in this episode: he could be commanding another ship, he could retired and settled down somewhere, he could have suffered an accident as he did in canon and spend this entire episode talking through a voice synthesizer. Imagine whatever one feels most suitable to you.

This is only my own take on the story. I know it would have considerable repercussions to later Star Trek canon and I'm not going to make the claim that those repercussions themselves would be better than what actually happened. It's certainly a more hopeful ending than The Menagerie, on the whole, which may not be everyone's cup of tea. But it was an interesting exercise.

#trek talk #1.11 The Menagerie Part One #1.12 The Menagerie Part 2 #fix-it post #fixing The Menagerie

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