#villains + boffins playing together

[foxsoulcourt]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: 007 Fest - Fandom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ato & Foxy Characters: Ato-the-Bean (QB-Z10), Foxy the Villainess (or is she?) Additional Tags: fest fic, Fest intersects RL, It's the most wonderful time of the year!, MI6 Cafe 007 Fest 2023 Summary:

Can a boffin and a villain truly be friends? When a Q Branch Minion receives an odd text from an old (and villainous) friend with a new grand plan, she can't help but board a plane to The Island.

@ato-the-bean​ + I did a thing 😉

[avengingkjct]

When Fate doesn’t get Her Way

This was inspired by my earleir headcanon about them dying together. 

If Bond dies before Q, he dies for his country. He dies protecting what he loves.

Bond dashes down the corridor towards the control room he had seen earlier. He rounds the corner, narrowly missing the stream of bullets coming from the men chasing him. He has to bring down the compound.

His original mission had been to take down the mastermind behind this particularly elaborate set up to plunge the modern world into a nuclear war. But that didn’t matter anymore because intel had come in too late because one of their own had betrayed them, because the mastermind was now flying away from this mess in a helicopter and because Bond had to stop a set of nuclear missiles from launching. One of which was clearly labelled: England.

Bond reached the control room, already unlocked for him courtesy of Q who was watching miles away in the safety of Q branch. He glanced at the nearest camera and gave it a look of gratitude. Once inside the locks clicked back into place and Bond moved towards a panel with switches. He had seen this set up before in the lairs of other villains. He knew the destruction they would cause when all were flipped and he knew he wouldn’t have the time to make it out.

Bond flipped the first. 

“Bond,” warned Q in his ear no doubt having seen the data on his laptop. Q and his team were locked out against the program running the missiles but they were still fighting it.

“You won’t break it in time,” Bond reminded him of his earlier assessment as he flipped the next set.

“But..” there was a quiver in Q’s voice and Bond’s heart lurched.

“I have to Q,” he said firmly but with a desperateness that tinged the edges. He was doing his job, his duty. A duty he felt deep in his bones, in his core, the same duty that had pushed him all those years in the Royal Navy and then as a spy, as a double-oh. He had to do this because he loved England, he loved his home and James Bond could not live with himself if he had lived while all his friends died. He could not live if his home ceased to exist, couldn’t stand the idea of England not being there with its cities and its people and with Q. If that warhead with England marked so boldly on its side was released then that would be the end of Bond’s everything and Bond could not let that be.

“I know,” Q whispered.

And oh, it broke Bond’s heart as he continued to flip switches and thought about how he’d never see London again, never see another opera, how he would never join Tanner for a beer at their pub. How he would never get to tease Moneypenny again. Or see Q’s smile when Bond tickled him. Or get to feel Q when Bond was enveloped in one of the boffin’s hugs. It broke Bond’s heart that he would never see Q again, never get to kiss his unruly curls, or pull him in close at night. He would never see their cats again. Never chide them for stealing his food.

His finger hovered over the final switch.

“I love you,” Bond said.

“I love you too.”

Bond flipped the final switch.

The entire compound shook as explosion after explosion went off getting closer and closer to Bond. He could hear the clattering and rumble of walls crumbling down.

A boom sounded from nearby.

Bond took a deep breath.

For England, he thought, for Q.

 Q heard the explosions through Bond’s earpiece feed and watched as sections of the compound went off in flames and the trackers of the missiles began going offline one by one until there was nothing but static on the monitors and silence on the comms.

Q branch was quiet. No one dared to say a word. Everyone’s eyes on their quartermaster, waiting and watching.  

Mallory had come down with Tanner and Eve when the mission had turned critical. They stood behind Q exchanging worried glances with one another.

Q removed his headset placing it down on the table.

“Agent down,” he said to the silent room still facing away from them all and very still.

“Q, you should go home,” said Mallory, a part of him hoping he won’t have to fight the boffin. To Mallory and everyone else’s surprise Q agrees.

He remains silent as he packs his bag. Q’s heart is cracking, fissuring at the edges and he fights to keep it together, to keep his composure. He hands the controls over to R, who gives him a sympathetic squeeze and Q has to try harder not to break in front of his department. He waves off Moneypenny’s offer to take him home but agrees to be accompanied by an agent if only to appease Mallory.

Mallory watches them leave, notices the darkening storm in Q’s hazel green eyes and begins to worry, reasonably so.

When Q walks through his front door he’s beginning to crack and he tries not to remember the various times Bond broke into his flat at the beginning of their courtship. He shuffles down the hall dropping off his bag and coat in his room before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. He avoids looking at Bond’s belongings. Bond’s shampoo. Bond’s razor. Bond’s shaving cream.

By the time Q is done he has reined in his emotions just enough to execute his plan. He’s holding his hurting heart together, for now.

He dresses in a pair of soft, well-worn pyjamas. The ones Bond had gifted him last month just because.

He puts on the kettle and makes himself a cup of tea.  

In no time he is headed to the bedroom with a cup of earl grey and he settles himself in the middle of the bed with his laptop. His cats, Huxley, Turing, and Beretta (the kitten Bond had saved in Russia) all follow him. They curl up around him, warming him up.

Q opens up his laptop and gets to work.  

True to who he is, Q rains down a fury fuelled by heartbreak, grief and anger. James should have made it. The mission should not have gone to hell the way it did. Their agent should have thought twice before double-crossing MI6. James should have made it. Within hours Q has tracked down the responsible parties, has collapsed various networks, tipped off the correct foreign agencies, has made just the right people angry, and killed a few others. All with carefully calculated finger taps on the correct key combinations.

And then it’s done. Just like that. Nothing grandiose because that’s just the way the game is played. There is no trumpet flare. There is just Q and the emptiness in him and around him. He pushes his laptop and empty mug away and has to stifle a sob.

The cats crawl into his lap, nudging their foreheads against him. Turing reaches up to paw at his cheek and Q’s heart shatters. He cannot hold it together any longer. He draws the cats in and sobs. Painful, lonely sobs wrack his slender body as Q mourns everything he has lost.

  Back at MI6, Mallory is watching his inbox flood on one monitor while the other has various news tabs open. Arrests and tragedies are taking place in Russia, in the part of Russia where Bond had originally been sent. Mallory was afraid of this.

The PM is going to be calling him soon and Mallory knows he’s going to play dumb and then there will be an investigation to make sure MI6’s hands are clean. They won’t find anything. Mallory knows the range of Q’s skills has seen it firsthand. They won’t find anything.

That does nothing to assure Mallory. They may not get Q this time but there may—there will be other chances. With resignation, Mallory picks up a pen.

An hour later Mallory is handing Eve a prepared kill order missing his signature. Eve reads it over and then looks up at him with wide eyes. Mallory nods in the direction of the tv. The news is displaying a fire at a warehouse that had once been under investigation.

“Just in case,” He says.

Eve solemnly nods.

  A year later 006 follows Q into a dark alley on an equally dark night. Q turns to face him. His cheeks are more hollow, and his green-hazel eyes lifeless.

“Take care of the cats, please, Alec.”

 Nobody is around to hear the shot.  

[sheriddleston]

two is company, three’s a crowd [1/2]

JAQ mini-fic for polyamory day, woohoo! Was getting a bit on the long-ish side so I’ve split it into two parts :P Also I like to think Alec and Tanner make good drinking buddies, ssshh let me have my headcanons.

Warning: Some mild(?) infidelity. There’s a kiss but it’s complicated, trust me.

Alec kisses James for the first time when they’re both drunk off their arses, drowning their respective demons and it escalates into more far too quickly because they’re both idiots like that. They don’t talk about it the morning after because they’re both also emotionally-constipated idiots.

But it keeps happening again and again, after a post-mission high or when they each come home from a close shave. It’s only when Alec notices the second toothbrush in his bathroom that he realizes the trouble he’s in.

But fuck it. He’s barely ever had anything as good, as certain as James in his life, he doesn’t give a rat’s arse now.

It all culminates when M puts them on a mission together and there’s a villain and a countdown and it’s either him or James- and well, Alec’s been gone from the start really. The choice is too obvious. The only problem is that James will likely blame himself, then drink himself to oblivion, the piteous bastard.

Alec doesn’t expect to wake up again after that. But he does.

The doctors putter about and tell him about comas and expectations and good Samaritans and lack of any official IDs. Almost more than a whole fucking year’s gone by. Wonderful. And he’s not back in bloody England either. Fantastic. At least the healthcare’s free, thank fuck for public hospitals and overworked doctors.

There’s a lot of dodging questions and months of physical therapy before Alec decided he’s had enough and finds the embassy. Then there are more questions and mild, torture-free interrogations before they believe that yes, he really is 006 of her Majesty’s Secret Service back from the dead.

Things have changed by the time he gets back. They’ve changed a lot. M is dead for starters and so is the last Quartermaster; they’ve both been replaced. There’s been a whole incident involving some ex-agent named Silva and James-the-drama-queen spent some three months previously playing dead. So neither of them currently have a flat. Why isn’t he surprised? James is currently also out of the country and won’t be told of Alec’s return until the mission’s completed. He gets it, he does. He hates it but he gets it.

At least Tanner’s still there. Good, old dependable Tanner who is definitely hiding something from Alec. It takes about two days and a lot of ‘celebratory’ drinks before Tanner cracks. James is seeing someone. The new Quartermaster to be exact. It’s apparently serious.

Alec calls bullshit. James doesn’t do serious, hasn’t since that bitch broke his heart in Venice. James plays, that’s all. It has to be.

But turns out it isn’t. He knows from the moment he strides into Q-branch and sees the tight set of the boffin’s mouth as he looks over Alec, like he knows exactly what Alec wants from him. Alec jabs, Q returns them all in stride, witty and clever with grey-green eyes that see right through Alec and seem to find him wanting. This one’s special, he thinks. And he’s no push over.

Apparently, James could do serious, he believes it now. He just couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do it for Alec. That’s fine. It’s fine. Three years for Vesper and just the bloody one for Alec. But it’s not like James ever pretended they were anything more than friends who occasionally shagged. He doesn’t owe Alec anything.

If Alec spends the next two nights getting completely pissed though, that’s nobody’s business but his own. And Tanner’s. God bless Tanner.

James comes back eventually of course and fuck Alec’s traitorous heart for lurching at the sight of him in his new flat. And fuck James too, for having the gall to look at Alec that way, like he’s something precious, like he can’t quite believe Alec’s there. If James starts crying or some shit like that, Alec really will have to shoot him. He tells the bastard so.

After that, he’s not entirely sure who moves first but James is kissing him, hot and messy and desperate and Alec kisses back because he’s dreamed of this for months, it’s what kept him going for so long but-but

Alec pushes James back. Tells him not like this, not when they’ll regret in the morning and then he says go back to Q. Seals his own fate really, with that one. James gives him an unreadable, lips red and pressed together. Then nods. Whatever you say, Alec, he replies and leaves.

Alec slumps down on the sofa, fists his hair in his hands and thinks that he really should have been able to be more selfish. He really should have. But he thinks of Q’s steely grey-green eyes and thinks he’d rather not incur the wrath of that one.

He brings out another bottle of alcohol instead. After a moment, he calls over Tanner.

[waitedforgarridebs]

Fix-It #2: The Final Problem is "Staying Alive" (1/3)

Why Bond Air and TRF are linked

Going into series 2 now, and we all know where that leads: The Reichenbach Fall.

But why did Sherlock Holmes have to die – without actually dying?

Soon after the pool, Sherlock gets himself into very deep waters – only this time, it will be almost impossible to fix the situation again.

Even for Mycroft.

This is part #3 of the "Game Theory" series (x).

Interlude: The series 2 timeline conundrum

It was Mrs Hudson, in her dress, with the deerstalker.

The timeline of series 2 is a bit... wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey.

Referencing this thread (x), but long story short: Sherlock wasn't all keyed up, put himself through cold turkey and harpooned a dead pig because of Irene, but because of what happened at the pool.

Therefore, Sherlock and John went to Baskerville before they ever got involved with Irene’s photographs

The same newspaper in both scenes indicates that Sherlock's desperate search for the last stack of cigarettes in his flat happened on the same day Irene first decided that "it's time" to go and attract Sherlock's attention.

And looking at the following exchanges, one can't but wonder whether one really should stick to the timeline of John's blog, where "By Royal Appointment" and "The Hounds of Baskerville" are listed with a one year gap (!) in-between:

So, since the real timeline of those two episodes isn't exactly linear, I just want to point out that our favourite torture scene at the end of THoB…

… could have happened at any given point in time – and not necessarily "right after THoB".

Back to the pool

Because this is where we left off in the last post (x) – and Sherlock and John just almost died together.

Which left Sherlock a bit… wired.

This "game" between him and Jim escalated pretty quickly, and he probably only realised when he saw John strapped in Semtex how much he actually had risked by agreeing to rush headlong into this “game”.

Then again, Jim Moriarty is probably the most interesting and diverting opponent Sherlock has been facing in a really long time, if not ever, so going back to dealing with those ordinary clients now must be a real downer.

Therefore it's not surprising to see Sherlock suddenly taking so many cases, not only in an attempt to occupy himself, but also trying to find a truly interesting mystery.

Exactly this increased activity, in combination with John's blog, quite "accidentally" results in them becoming an internet phenomenon and eventually builds up Sherlock's reputation as "boffin" detective.

Not every case seems to be worthy of Sherlock's attention, though. And whenever simply ignoring the boring cases doesn't help, Sherlock goes out and harpoons even-toed ungulates.

Or hacks into John's computer and reads the emails to his girlfriends.

Tl;dr: He's horny bored.

And a bored Sherlock is never a good Sherlock

Because, even if he himself is blissfully unaware of it, he's getting dangerously close to discovering a lead to another project of the real Moriarty.

Again.

Aren't we lucky that Sherlock would rather go and fight an invented super villain, while being dressed up as a ninja (x), than notice the number of people suddenly coming to Baker Street inquiring about the missing bodies of their dead relatives.

Still, this starts to become quite of a problem: Not only could every next client finally make Sherlock notice the pattern he so far blindly has been ignoring, but John is also blogging in great detail about all those strange cases regarding bodies which are not where they are supposed to be, and how BAFFLED, and flummoxed, and bamboozled Sherlock is about all this – on a publicly accessible website which has been gaining a lot of traffic and attention lately. 

(x) (x) (x)

Provided that potential clients continued dropping all those clues about the Bond Air project at this rate: Even if Sherlock won't draw the right conclusions from all of this, somebody else out there eventually might.

And then Sherlock's boredom-induced hunt for a missing rabbit gets him involved in yet another top-secret, conspiracy-laden government project...

Granted, this way at least he stops poking at project Moriarty for a couple of days, but breaking into a military base using a master keycard he nicked from his big brother certainly goes on the "con" side of the "Sherlock's utility" list.

Let's put his time and gift to some actual use!

And since Sherlock is not the only "princess" to go around and cause trouble these days in order to alleviate their horniness boredom, maybe he'll even get a knighthood out of it.

Sending the gay detective to extract some compromising photographs from a lesbian dominatrix who's trying to blackmail the Royal Family – what could possibly go wrong?

… damn.

Tfw your distraction turns out to be linked to the secret you wanted to distract from.

Or to be a bit more picturesque: Mycroft's carefully constructed house of cards didn't only collapse just now, but got crushed by the weight of a grounded passenger jet.

(x)

"Bond Air" is Mycroft's "Skyfall"

Thanks to Sherlock's deduction, the whole Bond Air operation is now compromised and therefore cancelled – the plane will never fly.

We know that this was not the only plane Mycroft and his people equipped with dead passengers, and that they collaborated with at least two foreign countries for this whole operation – however: The following statement, together with Mycroft's extreme distress in the final third of the episode, do seem a bit "exaggerated", if they really were talking only about planes…

Years of planning to intercept bomb attacks on planes, that seems to be not only very specific, but also a bit... inefficient.

(Also, corpses don’t usually have that long of a shelf life.)

But if we were talking about deceiving terrorists by redirecting and controlling crimes in general, "months and years of planning", as well as Mycroft's very emotional breakdown in this specific episode suddenly do make a lot of sense…

Because Mycroft's worst nightmare just came true: By making the wrong deduction at the wrong time, Sherlock just ended up doing something very bad.

Sherlock inadvertently busted Project Moriarty

And the "funny" part is: Sherlock is absolutely unaware of what he did.

But that is the thing about Sherlock: Very often, he just deduces things – unable to control it himself.

And he doesn't think about the consequences of what he just happened to deduce before he voices his conclusions. So, depending on the circumstances, this can in fact make his genius more harmful than useful.

SHERLOCK: There’s a margin for error but I’m pretty sure there’s a Seven Forty-Seven leaving Heathrow tomorrow at six thirty in the evening for Baltimore. Apparently it’s going to save the world. Not sure how that can be true but give me a moment; I’ve only been on the case for eight seconds.

(And we've all seen how that one ended…)

There is a certain irony to the fact that Sherlock didn't have to know anything about the true motives behind the Bond Air operation – it being tied to project Moriarty, that is – to make ^this momentous deduction.

Hence all of Mycroft's efforts to distract his brother and to keep the situation under control turned out to be in vain�� In the end, all it took was an ill-timed deduction meant to "impress a girl".

Bond Air is exposed, the terrorists know about the bomb – it is only a matter of time now until someone else eventually figures out the truth about project Moriarty.

And if a worldwide "network" of criminals ever were to realise they had been played like this the entire time – by secret services and governments…

… millions of innocent citizens would fall victim to the vengeful wrath of a lot of very dangerous people.

This whole thing has become too woolly, too messy...

The sting operating "Moriarty" needs to be stopped immediately, and the traces leading back to the legitimate authorities behind it all obfuscated as thoroughly as possible.

It is convenient enough that outsiders who've already been in touch with Moriarty think of him as a "consulting criminal", hence "a person", and that he is thought to be the one and only leader of this worldwide network of criminals.

A sudden and moreover unexplained "disappearance" of Jim Moriarty, however, would only cause unwanted suspicion; there needs to be a convincing reason for him to permanently cease his activity as a consulting criminal.

And what could be more permanent than killing this "person" off…

(x)

Not only is this the proper way to deal with such a "loose end", but one also wouldn't have to fear the revenge of any of Moriarty's now disgruntled clients due to cancelled deals and unsettled grievances.

"Moriarty" has to die – because one can't really take revenge on a dead person

But in order to actually nip any burgeoning hard feelings in the bud, the story behind Moriarty's downfall has to spread to even the furthest branches of the network as quickly as possible.

Hence merely an obscure, whispered voice would not suffice; not only would it take too long, but its (obviously non-existent) credibility would need to be established and proven first, etc etc etc ...

An already well-established, widespread, fast-paced and reliable information channel is needed.

"I love newspapers. Fairy tales – and pretty grim(m) ones, too."

And one thing is certain: The more sensational the news, the faster and wider it will spread.

How utterly convenient that "Jim" now happens to commit The Crime Of The Century.

That alone would already be a good enough story by itself, but it doesn't quite fulfill its actual purpose: As of now, James Moriarty only is being accused of attempting to steal the crown jewels (among other things), and therefore he is nothing more than an "ordinary" thief.

But remember: The whole point of this was to make the world believe that James Moriarty is a "consulting criminal" and the leader of a huge underground network.

Jim officially needs to become Moriarty's face

Because then, if Jim was to die, Moriarty (and eventually his network) would die with him.

But it wouldn't have been very convincing for Jim to just go out there and claim to be the most evil mastermind to ever have evil'ed – which is why he actually got his hands dirty and broke into all these places. 

The three most secure places in the country. 

And then he got acquitted of the charges without having to show any proof for his "innocence" to the jury.

That's quite a feat.

And, on the surface, also a very marketable skill set for a criminal mastermind.

So far, there's nothing really remarkable or fishy about it: Advertising for his criminal business seems to be a good enough explanation for why Jim did what he did – but if it had been the actual reason, the episode would have ended right here:

Having managed to vanish without a single trace after getting all this public attention, James Moriarty would have gone back to his now booming consulting business and happily continued to sit in the centre of his web till the end of days.

There was no need for Richard Brook

If James Moriarty actually broke into all these places in order to advertise, he wouldn't have gone and activated the self-destruct button by "creating" Richard Brook only six weeks later.

But there was a Richard Brook, and eventually the story ended with both Jim and Sherlock committing (fake-)suicide on the rooftop of St Bart's.

As if this had been meant to happen all along...

… and, to quote Moffat, "what a waste of a scene that would be". (x)

;)

Up next:

Part 2 of this post.

Link to part #4 of the series (x).

Follow @the-game-theory or me myself for updates.

Why is the series called “Game Theory”? (x)

My never-ending great big thanks to @mollydobby, as always, for the discussing and betaing. 🍪

Also, and I forgot that in the last two (ugh!), many thanks to @callie-ariane for her transcripts (x); what would the fandom do without her!

And since I did announce a SURPRISE last week: As you already noticed, the series 2 post has got multiple parts – two of which will be published next week on Tuesday AND Thursday! :)

(^because there actually is a little cliffhanger inbetween the next two, and I don't want y'all to suffer... ♥ )

Tagging people – if you’d like to be tagged in future posts as well, feel free to write me!

@elephant-in-the-bloom @may-shepard @wiscolina @devoursjohnlock @sarahthecoat @wibblywobblybowtie @violetvernet @etherealweekes @etoileetiolee @thewarriorprincessinthefield @shylockgnomes

[gyrlversion]

Dumbo flies again! Everything you need to know about blockbuster

The whimsical story of a flying baby elephant melted hearts when it hit the big screen in 1941, and has been a family favourite ever since.

Now, 78 years on, a whole new generation of children are set to fall in love with the tiny elephant with the big ears with Disney’s live-action remake of Dumbo. 

And thanks to an array of technical wizardry, the computer- animated junior jumbo looks just as real as his human co-stars.

So just what did it take to bring this £90 million epic to our screens?

From actors in purple suits covered in tennis balls to an RAF hangar and rumours of an on-set romance, Alison Boshoff reveals the secrets of how Dumbo took flight — and all without a single real elephant . . .

The live-action remake of Disney’s Dumbo, which stars Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbin, is set for release on March 29

Based on 1941 animated classic (pictured), the storyline faces some changes including Timothy Mouse, who originally hlps Dumbo, being dropped 

The British Boffins who made magic

Like Disney’s 2016 remake of The Jungle Book, the computer-generated animals in Dumbo are hyper-realistic, but have been given human expressions. With his large, liquid, blue-green eyes, the adorable Dumbo has reduced preview audiences to tears.

But bringing Dumbo to life took some doing, with British visual effects firm Moving Picture Company — who won an Oscar for The Jungle Book and are working on this year’s Lion King remake — adding in all the CGI elements after the scenes had been shot.

For the actual takes, the cast came face to face with a range of models and human stand-ins.

Bringing Dumbo to life took some doing, with the British visual effects firm Moving Picture Company behind Oscar-winner The Jungle Book adding in all the CGI elements after the scenes had been shot

Colin Farrell, who stars as former circus performer Holt Farrier, explained: ‘We have a couple of people in green suits, and a couple in aluminium outlines of how big an elephant would be with eyes represented by little tennis balls.

‘The baby was green and the mama was purple, and I guess when they draw it, that’s how they separate it.’

In one scene where the elephants are seen walking off a train, the ramps were pulled down by a hydraulic pump to make it look as if they were bending under the beasts’ weight.

Other special effects included making the straw from which Dumbo first emerges move as if a real elephant was wriggling out.

Danny DeVito, who plays circus owner Max Medici, said: ‘There’s a fake trunk coming out, and the special effects people have little filaments that move the hay. And that’s really cool to watch.’

There’s an animal rights agenda  

The original film was a simple fable about an elephant who could fly, if only he believed in himself.

In the new film, the human storylines have been vastly expanded. Set in 1919, just after World War I, much of it is about the men who run rival circuses.

The question of whether it is right to exploit animals is also answered in a way that will appeal to modern sensibilities.

Originally set as a fable about an elephant who can fly, the new version looks at animal rights abuses and whether it should be legal to exploit any animal

Farrell’s character is a war veteran who has lost an arm. ‘He was away for five years, and by the time he comes back, the two children have been raised by the circus and his wife has died,’ says Farrell. ‘So he is a single father ill-equipped to deal with parenthood or the changes in the circus.’

Holt’s friend Medici, in financial trouble, buys an elephant to try to bring in the crowds. Mrs Jumbo has baby Dumbo — and when it’s discovered he can fly, Medici thinks his troubles are over. However, the villainous V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), wants Dumbo for his amusement park, Dreamland.

Farrell adds: ‘It’s a new narrative . . .There’s the shyster type of circus leader with a heart of gold, that’s Danny. Then there’s the evil, megalomaniacal owner of the really big fantastical circus.’

…But Timothy Mouse is dropped  

After losing his mother in the original, Dumbo is helped by Timothy Mouse, who persuades him he can fly with the help of a ‘magic feather’. 

Yet Timothy doesn’t feature in this version. Instead it is Milly and Joe, the children of Holt Farrier, who discover that Dumbo can fly after he inhales a feather and, while sneezing it out of his trunk, becomes airborne.

Finley Hobbin and Nico Parker star as the children of Holt Farrier to replace Timothy Mouse. They realise that Dumbo can fly when he inhales a magical feather

Roles for Batman and the penguin  

Dumbo is directed by Tim Burton, who revamped Alice In Wonderland into a billion-pound blockbuster in 2010; critics say he is about to repeat the trick.

Though Burton has a reputation for the Gothic and phantasmagorical, many of his films have scenes that touch the tear ducts.

Who can forget the magical moment in 1990’s Edward Scissor-hands where Johnny Depp, as Edward, carves an ice sculpture and creates a blizzard under which Winona Ryder dances? 

Describing his attraction to the Dumbo project, Burton said: ‘It’s symbolic of things that don’t fit in, and trying to find your place in the world.

‘Also, circuses always seemed to have that kind of . . . you know, just weirdos from all over the world, and that was always appealing.’

Child star with a ‘lioness’ Mum  

Nico Parker, the 14-year-old daughter of British actress Thandie Newton and director Oliver Parker, makes her acting debut playing Milly Farrier. Finley Hobbins plays her brother, Joe.

‘At first it was nerve-racking remaking such a classic story,’ said Nico. ‘In the end, though, I got swept up in the magic of it all — the costumes, stunts, effects.’

As Nico was 12, a tutor provided her with lessons on set. But this wasn’t the only person watching over her. 

Nico Parker, the 14-year-old daughter of British actress Thandie Newton and director Oliver Parker, makes her acting debut playing Milly Farrier

Mum Thandie said: ‘Having a mother and father in the industry . . . she’s been on endless sets. It’s not that she takes it for granted, but it’s not a world she feels she’s not entitled to be in.

‘She has her mum right there like a lioness checking that everything is looked after.’

Romance on the flying trapeze 

Neither cares to confirm it, but director Burton, 60, appears to be enjoying a romance with 38-year-old French actress Eva Green — who is also his muse.

She appears in Dumbo as trapeze artist Colette Marchant.

They met when she starred in his 2012 film Dark Shadows and seem to have started dating in late 2015, about a year after he and actress Helena Bonham Carter announced their 13-year relationship was over.

Did Walt mock his striking staff?  

At only 64 minutes long, the 1941 original was the shortest Disney feature ever made. The new version is 130 minutes.

Walt Disney declined to write more for the first movie, saying: ‘You can stretch a story so far, and after that it won’t hold together.’ It was based on 1938 book Dumbo The Flying Elephant, by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl.

Following on from Pinocchio and Fantasia — both costly and relative flops — Walt instructed animators to keep the film inexpensive.

Veteran filmmaker Tim Burton (right) is in the director’s chair for the first time since 2016’s Alice Through the Looking Glass. Colin Farrell (left) stars as Holt Farrier

The characters are simpler and backgrounds less detailed, with the film costing just £715,000 (£12.2million today) to make — half what Snow White had in 1938.

Yet it became an instant hit and was the most successful Disney film of the 1940s, grossing £1.2 million (equivalent to £20.5 million) during its original release.

Time magazine even had plans to honour Dumbo as ‘Mammal of the Year’. But then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and they opted for a more serious cover.

Dumbo’s beautiful animations took some time. A scene where the clowns decide to ‘hit the big boss for a raise’ seems to be Walt mocking the animators who went on a five-week strike during production.

Hankies out…the song is back  

One of the most poignant moments in the 1941 film is the lullaby Baby Mine, sung to Dumbo by his mother during a brief reunion. 

It has been re-worked by the band Arcade Fire for the new film, where it is sung by Glaswegian actress Sharon Rooney — made famous by E4 TV drama My Mad Fat Diary — who plays circus performer Miss Atlantis.

A behemoth in Bedfordshire  

The 2019 Dumbo was mostly shot in Shed 2 at Cardington, Bedfordshire — a behemoth originally built by the RAF during World War I to hold airships.

Movies shot there include Batman Begins, Inception and Fantastic Beasts. The total amount of floor space is 223,000 sq ft — or five acres — making it five times the size of the largest sound stage available in Hollywood.

The sheds fell out of service after an experimental hydrogen-filled airship, the R101, crashed during its maiden voyage in 1930, killing 48 of the 54 people on board.

Cardington became a storage station and the RAF ended its association with it in 2000. Warner Brothers started using it in 2005 and the hangars became available for renting by other film studios in 2012.

Sets created in Shed 2 for Dumbo included a full-size circus big top. Farrell said: ‘Cardington, the stage is like nothing I’ve ever seen.

‘I’ve been lucky enough in the past 20 years to be around some extraordinary sets. But I’ve never seen anything like the boulevard.’

Oscar winners’ artful outlook  

Production designer Rick Heinrichs, who won an Oscar for Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, is behind the look of the film.

He wanted it to look like a painting by American Depression-era master Edward Hopper. Period circus costumes are by Colleen Atwood, who has won four Oscars.

The sequel that never happened  

After the millennium, plans were made for a Dumbo II, with him and his circus friends stranded in the city. There were to be twin bears, Claude and Lolly, a zebra, an ostrich and a hippo.

Announced in 2001, it was cancelled in 2006 by the new chief creative officer of Disney Animation Studios, John Lasseter.

DUMBO arrives in cinemas on March 29.

The post Dumbo flies again! Everything you need to know about blockbuster appeared first on Gyrlversion.

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New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/arachnids-in-the-uk-recap-spiders-invade-sheffield-in-a-scary-funny-doctor-who-romp/

'Arachnids in the UK' recap: Spiders invade Sheffield in a scary, funny 'Doctor Who' romp

Jodie Whittaker in Doctor Who: Arachnids in the UK (BBC)

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The fourth episode of Doctor Who S11 has landed. Here’s everything you need to know about ‘Arachnids in the UK���:

What’s it about? The Doctor brings Graham, Yaz and Ryan home to Sheffield, only to find the city overrun by giant spiders – and a blowhard American business tycoon whose similarity to a certain US president is entirely intentional.

Verdict: Given Doctor Who’s track record of turning everyday objects into the stuff of nightmares, it’s surprising the show hasn’t done more with spiders over the years. After all, with even the word enough to send some people scurrying for the hills, it feels like half the work’s already done.

‘Arachnids in the UK’ more than makes up for the oversight, however: it may be a shockingly poor pun, but it’s a terrific Doctor Who story, mixing big scares with big laughs and plenty of feels.

In many ways, it evokes the the contemporary, urban milieu of Russell T Davies’s watch – especially the scenes set in and around Sheffield’s Park Hill council estate, where we meet Yaz’s family for the first time. But in Hallowe’en week, Chris Chibnall pushes the terror further than Davies was comfortable with: make no mistake, these oversized arachnids – some the size of vans – won’t do anything to help spiders stage a PR fightback. (Though it does address the age-old jibe about them not being able to get out of the bath in somewhat spectacular fashion.)

Chris Noth as Robertson in Doctor Who: Arachnids in the UK (BBC)

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Not all the meanies in the story have eight legs: Chris Noth’s Robertson, a blowhard business tycoon with presidential ambitions, is terrific panto villain (if you can call a character based on the current leader of the free world a panto villain, which you absolutely can). We get the measure of him right off the bat with his brutal dismissal of Yaz’s Mum (“You’re fired” being a less than subtle nod to Donald Trump’s former job on The Apprentice). This is a man who expects the world to jump to attention at the snap of his fingers, which makes it all the sweeter when the Doctor bowls in and takes command, reducing Robertson to the role of emasculated bystander.

It’s a very funny episode, full of moments of charm for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor. I loved her awkwardness in Yaz’s flat (“Am I being weird?”) and her baffled response to being asked if she and Yaz are seeing each other (“We’re not, are we?”). There are plenty of emotional beats, too. Graham’s return home is deeply moving (“I’ve got so much to tell you”). And the Doctor has never looked more lonely and vulnerable than when struggling to say goodbye to her friends – and rarely more excited by anything in the universe than the giddy thrill of “tea at Yaz’s”. It’s delightful stuff.

Director Sallie Aprahamian’s CV includes a fair chunk of children’s TV, and she’s clearly enjoying being let off the leash here: parents can expect plenty of requests to sleep with the lights on this week, and no doubt the odd damp sheet too. Aprahamian’s vision is well supported by the show’s new FX house, Double Negative, whose CG spiders are of the Hollywood quality you’d expect from the digital boffins behind Blade Runner 2049.

How gorgeous, too, is the TARDIS’s kaleidoscopic tumble through the time vortex – surely the most stunning in-flight sequence we’ve ever seen in Doctor Who? (And one that put me in mind of Miguel’s journey into the candy-coloured Land of the Dead in Coco.)

Falling out of that polychromatic lightshow onto the streets of Sheffield is a beautiful example of how Doctor Who juggles the fantastic with the domestic. It’s also a reminder that being British is key to the show’s USP: audiences are hardwired to expect this sort of stuff in New York and LA, so it’s glorious to see giant spiders creeping and crawling over South Yorkshire. And fighting said critters with a blast of Stormzy is another very British – and quite brilliant – touch.

Story Continues

Sheffield is a fine city, of course, but by the end of this episode, Graham, Yaz and Ryan have decided they want more. They’ve had a taste of life with the Doctor, and now they’re hooked. But she can’t guarantee their safety. “When I pull that lever,” she tells them. “I’m never quite sure what’s going to happen.” And neither are we. That’s the magic of Doctor Who in a nutshell.

Doctor Who: Arachnids in the UK (BBC)

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Doctor’s notes: The Doctor used to have a sister. She’s worried she might be socially awkward in her new body. Or maybe she’s just nervous.

Fellow travellers: We meet Yaz’s family: mum Najia, sister Sonia and dad Hakim (who is lovely, but makes terrible pakora). Yaz hasn’t met anyone special because she’s “married to the job”. Ryan gets a letter from his dad, and is annoyed by its reference to Graham as not being “proper” family. Is he slowly warming to the idea of him as his granddad? Graham has started talking to Grace. By the end of the episode, all have decided they want to swap Sheffield for adventures in space and time.

Isn’t that…? Chris Noth (Robertson) is best known for playing ‘Mr Big’ in Sex and the City, along with roles in in Law & Order and The Good Wife. Shobna Gulati (Najia) has been a mainstay of British TV for 20 years, most famously as Anita in Dinnerladies and Sunita in Coronation Street.

Location, location, location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2018.

Scary monsters: Giant spiders, mutated by “a soup of toxic waste” beneath Robertson’s hotel.

Quote unquote: “Something’s wrong with the spider eco-system in South Yorkshire.” The Doctor

���In the end, every living thing has the same instinct: to come back home.” The Doctor

“You can’t be President if you fire Yaz’s mum.” The Doctor

Shobna Gulati appears in ‘Arachnids in the UK’.

“I want more. More of the universe. More time with you. You’re like the best person I’ve ever met.” Yaz, speaking for every viewer there.

Gadgets and gizmos: The psychic paper is back, showing the Doctor to be a “crisis investigator”. Which is pretty on the money, actually.

Best bit: In an episode packed with scares, laughs and high-octane thrills, perhaps the most affecting moment is the Doctor’s response to the simple offer of staying for tea: “Definitely, yes I would! I love tea. Tea at Yaz’s? Amazing!’

Worst bit: The Doctor’s solution to Sheffield’s spider problem seems rather effortless, and brings the story shuddering to something of an abrupt halt.

Scariest bit: The Doctor, Ryan and Jade exploring Anna’s flat is deliciously creepy. Monsters literally under the bed – what could be more Doctor Who than that? Anna’s body covered in cobwebs is also a memorable image (was anyone else reminded of Robert Smith in the video for The Cure’s Lullaby?).

Funniest bit: “Are you Ed Sheeran? Is he Ed Sheeran? Everyone talks about Ed Sheeran round about now, don’t they?”

Huh? The story is predicated on rather a lot of unlikely coincidences: Of all the cities in all the world, the spider infestation just happens to be Sheffield, Yaz’s mum just happens to be working at the hotel, and their neighbour at the testing lab. What are the odds?

Back in time: Grabbing vinegar from the kitchen cupboard to fight off a marauding monster in a flat feels like a deliberate nod to Jackie Tyler melting a Slitheen with a jugful of acetic acid in 2005’s World War Three.

Next time – ‘The Tsuranga Conundrum’: Injured and stranded in the wilds of a far-flung galaxy, The Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan must band together with a group of strangers to survive against one of the universe’s most deadly – and unusual – creatures.

Read more

Shobna Gulati praises Doctor Who‘s “truly inclusive” cast

Doctor Who ‘Rosa’ recap: an emotionally-charged instant classic

Jodie Whittaker’s Yorkshire accent baffles American subtitler

Source: https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/arachnids-uk-recap-spiders-invade-sheffield-scary-funny-doctor-romp-195341574.html

[foxsoulcourt]

CHAPTER 6 POSTED: NOW COMPLETE!  

Chapters: 6/6 Fandom: 007 Fest - Fandom, James Bond (Craig Movies) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ato & Foxy, James Bond/Q Characters: Ato-the-Bean (QB-Z10), Foxy the Villainess (or is she?), James Bond (mentioned), Q (mentioned) - Character Additional Tags: fest fic, Fest intersects RL, It's the most wonderful time of the year!, MI6 Cafe 007 Fest 2023 Summary:

Can a boffin ( @ato-the-bean​ ) and a villain truly be friends? When a Q Branch Minion receives an odd text from an old (and villainous) friend with a new grand plan, she can't help but board a plane to The Island.