#w359 reaction

[nobodysdaydreams]

THE WOLF359 CAST IS INCREDIBLY TALENTED AND I LOVE THIS! (or my reaction to the Wolf359 Live Show)

"Another Wolf359 reaction already? But Bods, I thought you said you were busy?" Yes indeed I am my friends, if I wasn't busy, I would have finished the podcast by now. In my younger days, I did all of ATLA in a weekend. Sadly at this age, I can't be doing that kind of bingeing. I'm also tired, because I've been studying all day and figured why not take a little break and watch the Wolf359 Live Show?

I firstly wanted to give a shoutout to @commsroom for not only telling me about when to watch the live show (after episode 26), but also telling me that it is on youtube where you can watch it live so thank you so much!

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts. Especially in this one because it is late, and I am tired.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell

Wolf359 Live Show Reaction:

"First ever life show" - are there other live shows?

Oh okay this is very helpful. So it's in the middle of Episode 26, so right in the middle of what I just listened to, that makes a lot more sense.

I honestly don't care about the audio quality difference this is amazing.

Uh...pretty sure Cutter is not the forces of good... see Doug this is why you always read the fine print! It's like that ominous song...the one that was a tik tok audio? The one about an evil corporation in space? I think it might have been video game music? You guys know what I'm talking about please tell me I didn't imagine this.

YES THE ONE COPY OF HOME ALONE 2 COMES BACK!

PLEASE- the way Doug is telling the story is the way I tell stories "Hilbert strikes back: specifically Doug's circulatory system" 😂

"Palpatine MD" 😂

I love how they enter in as their characters are introduced.

I love Hera though it is weird to hear her voice clear without coming through the intercoms.

Zach is doing a fantastic job I love how he's moving around Minkowski to play both Hilbert and Doug 😂 and he's doing a great job switch characters.

Lovelace!

I love how he crosses over to whisper to Hera, I can just see Doug's character whispering into her intercom or in the general direction of the computer even though it doesn't make a difference to her.

I also like Hera's character position on stage away from the others, it's kind of symbolic.

"Team Eiffel's on the case" I have literally used the phrase "Detective Bods is on the case" multiple times on this blog, why do I relate so strongly to every ADHD character I come across sasjdkfjsl;kdfj;slk. Not the talking to himself too... NOT THEM LOOKING AT HIM IN THE BACKGROUND...oh no...

I love how Hera says "yeah we're all here" when she's always there.

17 months Doug? Oh dear...

"No one told me it was my job" Valid Doug, valid, what you're told when you're spaced out doesn't count. ADHD rule #1. Oh she told him multiple times? Well maybe they could have written it down for him. Would that have been too much trouble?

Hilbert shut up.

Poor Hera. The way she shuts them down 😂

SHUT UP HILBERT. THANK YOU.

Oh not the Pyrce and Carter thing again. Do we ever get to meet Pryce and Carter? Do they work for Goddard Futuristics? Is this a NASA textbook? At first I thought she said something about a price and then "Cutter", and I was like "PLOT TWIST" but never mind it's just the tips book.

Minkowski's Lovelace impression 😂 HIS HERA IMPRESSION IS JUST A HIGH PITCHED VOICE. Hahaha...his Hilbert is hilarious. Her Doug impression. 😂

"No no she's Eiffel, that's impossible" This is perfect, and then the switch back to Hilbert. Comedic perfection. I love it so so much.

"Hilbert you're fine try to be less fine" I love Hera.

"Can I ask you to act like an adult?" "That's not my thing" the comedic timing of this is excellent.

"What do you even do here?" Hold Hilbert's Decima virus of course.

Comms line? With who?

PLEASE 😂OH MY GOODNESS CUTTER. The way he stands up from the audience with his smug little smile...

You just know he's been waiting his entire life to play a role like that. Honestly me too, so good for him for getting to live the dream. DID HE JUST PAT THE HEAD OF A RANDOM PERSON IN THE AUDIENCE. HE DID. HE EVEN HAS A SUIT.

"We'll break bread, we'll dance, we'll kiss-" Cutter man, I'm pretty sure you can't say that. I know that you're an evil corporation that murders people on the regular and unethically experiments on people in space so the law can't get you, but you don't even have one HR rep?

Another call Cutter? What deployment?

"He remotely destroys station, then goes on lunch break" Yep sounds like Cutter.

The way Cutters reenters... it's so dramatic I love it.

They are really gonna have to make sure their stories match.

Huh. "Communication problem of our own." I wonder what that could be Cutter? A little issue at Command?

"Alone at last" That sounds creepy Cutter.

Oh so Cutter worships at the alter of the Pryce and Carter manual too. Maybe he forced them to write the book and killed them. Maybe he wrote it under two pen names to make it sound more legit. Either way I can't imagine him memorizing anyone's book but his own.

CUTTER'S ASKING ABOUT HER FAMILY? oh he's threatening her. IS HE THREATENING HER FAMILY?

They are very low on toothpaste.

"I want to help in every way I can, but I can only do that if I know what's going on" Cutter I hope you die. Painfully. Very slowly and very painfully, and if it doesn't happen in the show, I'll write it into a fic.

Oh he's speaking to Hera now because of what she said... that's interesting. Cutter didn't think of Hera as a person or member of the crew before he realized that Minkowski did.

Doug is me cramming for my exams. DOUG IF ITS NOT A VIDEO CALL YOU CAN WRITE STUFF DOWN.

Or fake an illness.

Oh dear poor Hera.

"Manufacturing errors." I hope that doesn't mean anything bad for those robots, otherwise that has to be sad for Hera to hear.

Okay...I love how Hera and some of the other actors look straight at the audience like they can't see Cutter, but Cutter looks directly at them as if he can see them. It adds so much to the creep factor.

Oh my gosh that manual again. Why is he obsessed with it?

"You'd be shocked at how much I know about the Hephaestus" Cutter knows everything.

AND DO NOT CALL HERA PATHETIC.

Oh my gosh Hera talked back to him for a second. I think she's the only one who ever does thus far, which is odd considering all her code that stops her from doing that.

"A real person" THAT CROSSES A LINE CUTTER.

"I don't know if someone like you can understand this. We're trying to change everyone's lives" CUTTER SHUT UP. YOU ARE THE ONE WITHOUT A SOUL YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK.

YES HERA TALK BACK TO HIM.

Hera's memory files? Personality setting? oh never mind...this is awful that he can just go in like that. Maybe that's why he programmed her with the ability and personality that would talk back to him. So that he can get the truth from someone he can easily destroy.

"The people who made you decided you were a mistake, and you were so desperate to rise above who- what you are" Who made Hera? Are they important? Or did Cutter just scrape her up from a tech company that didn't want her? And Cutter "correcting" himself on that line I hope he's blown into space.

"Don't you dare" wow Hera's still talking back. "You have no idea." DID SHE JUST CONFESS THAT HILBERT IS STILL ALIVE. Oh Hera...

"To err is human" oh dear...

Doug looks terrified. Me too buddy.

It's okay Hera. You deserve better.

"I'm sick!" I love that.

Cutter's like wow, I should have started with him.

The way he puts his hand on Doug's shoulder as if they are in the room together, like he has a way to reach them even if they can't get back to earth, I love the choices the actor's are making.

He knows that Doug doesn't know Pryce and Carter. He's been listening in on him. For sure. Bro. Not everyone has read your manifesto that you by this point probably ghost wrote under two fake names and declared the best book of all time. It's like when a professor uses their own text book, I've heard this song and dance before.

Cutter. Doug should have memorized it but YOU HIRED HIM. He is CLEARLY in no way qualified for this line of work. YOU know that. YOU'RE using him as a science experiment. If I knew my professor was using me for lab science that could kill me at any second, do you think I'd waste time studying for their pop quiz on silly tips?

"How did Renee stop him?" Just say that it was all a blur Doug.

"Getting around security protocols, tricking a multiple PhD...stellar Doug" "Thank you?" Doug that's not a good thing. A target is on your back right now.

Not the arm on his shoulder again. Cutter for SURE killed their HR rep and their IRB rep, and ethics department.

"I would have had to skin you alive" There is no "had to" here Cutter.

3 seconds or incredibly painful things will start happening. WHAT THINGS?

DOUG HOW DID YOU FUMBLE THAT? YOU COULD HAVE JUST PRETENDED YOU WERE NERVOUS BECAUSE YOU FAILED. YOU HAD THE PERFECT OUT RIGHT THERE.

"I got the feeling that I would be the same convo you and I just had" I love the fourth wall break.

Oh dear. LOVELACE YOU BETTER BE QUIET. NO NOT ALL THE STUFF DOUG YOU AT LEAST KEPT LOVELACE QUIET. DON'T BLOW THAT TOO.

"Is there anything I can do for you? I want to help you?" Get. Them. Back. To. Earth.

Cutter's little schoolboy laugh. Oh yikes. He's mad now.

Good job Doug, take the fall. Good solider. No, what are you doing, just say you forgot, don't say you kept information from him intentionally. Faking incompetence is so much easier when you actually are incompetent.

The ultimate sacrifice. He will memorize Cutter's stupid textbook.

"If you keep anything from me again, holiday's over..." I don't like it.

"I want to know the second anything new happens with those transmissions".

Haha...well as a matter a fact, after that last episode...

Exactly. Shut up Hilbert.

Yeah the book is unusually dark. Pryce and Carter have clearly been through some stuff, or it's Cutter being ominous with his ghost written book. At this point, he either wrote it under fake names, or he's a Pryce and Carter fanboy. (Is it spelled Pryce or Price, I just realized I have no idea. I've heard of the last name Pryce, so I'd assume that's how it's spelled?).

"Did I mention that I'm sick"

Careful what you wish for.

Well that was amazing. I loved the way the cast used the space to make the characters come alive, the way they moved, the choices they made, it all fit really well. I really enjoyed watching this. It brought me back to when I used to do high school theater. I kinda of miss it. Hilbert, Cutter, and Doug are exactly the kind of overdramatic and unhinged roles I always loved playing (that is if I was lucky enough to have a director who went for gender bent casting, we as a society really need more comedic relief and unhinged women roles with crazy accents). Although I did once win a medal at state in middle school for a 10 minute monologue that was very much in the tone of Minkowski. I was playing a babysitter.

And ask the show said: back to work. Thanks everyone for listening, I hope you enjoyed my reaction. Only two more episodes left in season two so we should be done soon. Excited to see what comes next!

[commsroom]

prefacing this by saying it's obviously just my opinion, but i've spent soo much time thinking about what makes an eiffel design look the Most Eiffel to me, personally, so here are some design notes:

dark, wavy/curly hair. unkempt. anywhere between just past his ears to about shoulder length. usually tied back in a low ponytail.

scruffy!! never, ever clean shaven. his facial hair is most prominent on his chin, and there's a visible break between the hair on his upper lip and the hair on his cheeks. stubble, short/patchy beard, or hair just on his chin all work well depending on style.

visible arm hair!! and any other body hair that's relevant. generally hairy guy. anything that makes him scruffier looking is important.

long features - long face, long limbs. lanky body type, but with a bit of weight in the gut. bad posture. talks with his hands. wide, open body language: tall-ish with fairly broad shoulders, but most of the space he takes up is in his limbs so he can kind of comically fold narrowly into himself when scared / being yelled at / etc.

(classic Doug Eiffel Arms Behind Head While Leaning Back and Floating pose is always a winner.)

expressive, to kind of an absurd degree. tired eyes. lopsided smile. his eyebrows do a lot of the work: i often see people instinctively draw eiffel with sheepish "─┘└─" shaped eyebrows and it's very real to me. constantly hamming it up even when he doesn't mean to. he has the presence of a class clown that never grew out of it.

prominent nose, kind of "square rounded" in shape with a wider tip <- same as zach valenti's. i wouldn't say he looks exactly like zach valenti to me, but definitely very close, with a difference more in style than features. italian-american by association...?

generic star wars logo tee as his default outfit, but other generic logo tees for things he likes, or "undershirt worn as shirt" also feel true. the key point is that it has to look like he bought it at walmart for less than ten dollars. will wear it until it disintegrates.

not really a guy who accessorizes either, unless wearing his headphones around his neck counts.

rarely wearing shoes. holes in every single one of his socks.

orange is my preferred flight suit color for how it visually suggests eiffel traded one prison for another. needless to say, maybe, he should never be wearing it properly. usually tied around his waist, but he pretty much never wears long sleeves - even if he has the sleeves on, they're always rolled way up.

[hephaestuscrew]

There are so many moments in Wolf 359 where the 'missing information' of the audio-only medium is used to add to the impact of a scene. But a particularly emotionally devastating one for me is when Eiffel tells Minkowski "No, don't make that face, it was… it was the only way" after she learns that he's about to lose his memories in the finale. Because we don't see "that face". We don't know exactly what expressions Eiffel is reacting to there. Was her mouth open in horror? Were her eyes wide in shock? Did her brow furrow with worry? Was there despair in her expression, or anger, or disbelief? We don't see it, and so for the listener, this moment contains all of those possibilities. All we know for sure is that Minkowski heard that Eiffel was going to lose his memories and the expression on her face was not one Eiffel wanted her to make. And to me, that's more powerful than the relative certainty of seeing her expression.

[topayitfoward]

Wolf 359 AU where they’re all influencers

[moldy-guacamole]

w359 live reactions

Ep 7 the sound and the fury

Introooo musiccc

Heraaaaaaaa the girlyyboss

Eiffel you are a little dead boy

Real housewives of w359

I <3 when an ai bot fights the cap of the shipp

Oiiiooooo gravitational fields

Chess tournaments 

Damn the old man is a master at chess

Sounddd???????

Movie night thursday

Home alone 2???

Friday: mustard

They havent killed eachother yett?????

Then girls are fighting

Damn the mad scientist is strange did the plant get to him??????

Ooooooo biological superior????????

Ooooo commanders maddd

lol little spat

Ooooo now there are sidessss

Doug unalived then alived again

Ooooooooooooo hes lying

Okkk but why is hera kinda cool???????

Programming????? 

Oooooooo shes madddd and sarcasticccc

Only halfway through

Hilberts being taken over by the big plant

I should prob make some dinner…

Ooooo hes afraid of both of the girliessss

yknow what imma stop here

Okkkk good overallll

8/10

[emp-t-man]

which character out of the w359 cast do you think would be the most likely to have a weighted blanket?

wait this is actually harder than i thought—

my gut reaction was eiffel, but i feel like after having to lock himself in lovelace’s cryo pod over and over for so long, being in a somewhat enclosed situation like that would make him a little uneasy

i feel like cozying up with normal blankets is something minkowski would like? but i don’t think she’d be too big a fan of weighted blankets, i think the feeling of being constricted would be a sensory issue for her

honestly i think if anyone would own one it would be lovelace, i feel like the security and certainty of something holding her while she tries to sleep would make it a lot easier for her to relax, since she’s normally so restless and would be mentally stuck in a place where she would feel the need to prepare to get out of bed at any given moment due to an emergency

[ichabodcranemills]

yeah, I’m gonna disagree with you on this one, W359 wiki.

The whole point of Pryce and Cutter is that we, as outsiders, cannot understand the half of it (that’s canon, btw), so why would you make such a statement? Because she answers “partners”, when he says “friends”? Do we even know what’s the implication of “partners” for them?

I think there’s definitely a degree of adoration in Cutter’s treatment of Pryce that we don’t see her express in return, but that’s because they’re different people who externalise their feelings quite differently. But when she tells the tale of their first encounter, it’s clear that she admires him. When he scolds her for not respecting their partnership and putting herself in risk, she’s quick to apologise. It’s clear that they are in sync, that their relationship is one entirely based in equality.

And of course, there’s Cutter’s somewhat deranged reaction to when Pryce is in danger. It’s when we learn for sure that their relationship isn’t merely professional (Cutter goes as far as to jeopardise the plan in exchange of her safety) and we never see Pryce as concerned for him as that. But that’s literally because there wasn’t time! (Brave New World is an amazing, massive episode, but still, it could’ve been longer. Some things weren’t given proper time to breathe.) Sadly, we never got to see Pryce’s reaction to losing Cutter, but I truly believe it would’ve been nuclear. In my opinion, in many ways, Pryce and Cutter parallel Jacobi and Maxwell. Imagine Pryce’s expertise and drive aiming for revenge after losing her partner of decades.

TL;DR: okay maybe there’s no canon evidence that Pryce cares about Cutter the same desperate way he cares about her, but also there’s no evidence of the contrary and, given the codependent nature of their relationship, it is highly unlikely she doesn’t.

[old-stoneface]

been trying to put into words what i dont like about the narration of the podcasts "tanis" and "the black tapes", and i think its that the main characters are like...exceedingly bland. they dont have intense reactions to anything, they dont seem to have strong or meaningful emotions, they repeat what their cohosts say a lot. it just doesnt make for interesting listening most of the time. and both of them always speak in this dull monotonous tone that doesnt add literally anything to the show. there are some good parts but i think theyre so focused on being steadfast and unflappable narrators that it makes it boring. i feel like they both have this npr voice they do and they dont wanna break kayfabe. cmon now give us somethin to work with! do a little song and dance! be a little interesting! doug eiffel of w359 fame is a good narrator because hes so self obsessed and grandiose and over-the-top that it makes him interesting to listen to...but the public news radio voice being used for a podcast is sooooooo nothing. go girl give us NOTHING! be vague for no reason!

[tiptapricot]

🍊🍍🥝🍇 ~ fruits for my favourite fruit <3

Ty my favorite bird <3

🍊—Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more? (They’re so interesting! But maybe you have trouble pinning them down, or keep getting distracted by another blorbo)

Layla and Jake from MK auGHh! They both have sm n I have several fic ideas to go more in depth on Jake specifically, but in most of what I have now they’re often relegated to interaction or side appearances even tho they give me sO MANY THOUGHTS!! I think that’s part of the issue bc most ideas would b longer and more involved n I rly only am doing short stuff atm. I rly gotta do some stuff with them soon tho!

🍍—What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

Honestly I’m not much of an AU man, I more like stuff that plays with small tweaks or missing pieces of canon over drastic changes, as for me at a certain point it doesn’t feel like the characters I want to explore anymore. There are exceptions ofc but yeah, generally. Overall I like role swap AUs? I think they can give a good look at how characters got to where they are and how they address issues differently, but again that’s sort of playing in canon sandbox as well. Idk if timeloop counts as an AU or a trope but I like that as well, as well as stuff that’s more… switch around pieces but general universe is the same.

Beef wise, I don’t like no power aus for super heroes if there’s nothing else interesting or it’s not exploring like “this isn’t how it should be” type stuff. Same for modern Star Wars stuff w no aliens or paralleling structures like those? Are just guys now? Those are not the same guys? Both make a lot of conflicts feel less there and changes a lot of fundamentals. Also not a big fan of fantasy AUs for non fantasy properties? But that’s my personal issues w not being as much of a fantasy guy unfortunately 😭 Idk. I’m just not rly an AU guy haha.

🥝—What’s your favorite trope/AO3 tag to write?

Ig nonsexual (but also sometimes sexual) intimacy and 5(or however many)+1’s.

For the first it’s something about exploring people physically, and seeing the ways they find connection and boundaries with touch and contact, it’s just rly fun for me. I loVe sense of self exploration and how sensory input is felt and wanted is a huge part of that. Also has a lot of good descriptors, with warmth and rough/softness, hair texture, eyes and noses and stomachs. Good stuff. Can be gentle or sad or sexy or sweet and I always find at least a bit in all of my stuff.

For the second it’s similar in an examination sense, but more abstract, about seeing the space the character(s) take up and the reactions they have under certain circumstances. It can explore a swath of themes and moments, give a net cast if the characters life and how they’ve moved through it, and it’s relatively bite sized depending on how you go at it, making it perfect for the writing momentum that keeps me going.

🍇 —Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

Honestly probably a lot but I am sO bad at rmring stuff so this is kinda more like? Topics? From the top of my head: Miguel and Gabriella stuff from ATSV, Moon Knight stuff to do with the duat and with Gus, Miguel holding Mayday briefly, uhhh honestly just all of moon knight actually but JDHBDB that’s to be expected. Also post canon W359 but that’s less canon n more the whole shebang.

Send me a fruity writing ask!

[nobodysdaydreams]

LOVELACE IS HERE...

...BUT IS SHE AN EVIL CLONE ROBOT?

Also Blessie is now one of my favorite characters 🌱💕

(or my reaction to WOLF359 Episodes 21-22, mini episode 2, and Episodes 23-24, and mini episode 3).

Gonna keep my intro for this one short and just dive right into it.

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that. And for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs

Episode 21: Minkowski Commanding

Okay. Have I done enough to earn a break? No. Have I done a lot and am complete burnt out? Yeah. So let's do this. I have had a LOT of mutual hype around this episode, so I'm ready to be dazzled.

I'm also eating and work while I listen, so sorry if my notes get short (I say knowing full well I'm gonna get distracted and type insane amounts of notes).

MINKOWSKI? I think this is the first episode she'd done the "welcome to Wolf359" thing. Or maybe I'm just unobservant (I also will often accidently skip the welcome phrase because I press the 30sec ahead button to skip commercials).

Enemy? Being watched? Oh... is this about Blessie isn't it 😂

I love this. We still don't know where Blessie came from and what he wants. Why not take him back to Cutter? Since he apparently loves aliens so much, maybe you can feed him to Blessie. In the meantime I supposed Hilbert will do as a mid-flight snack.

"It took a screwdriver" / "how do we know that's all it wants?"

Uh...

Hm. Interesting. Marks in the vents. I wonder if they are Blessie's.

Oh my this is intense. PFFT- "Slimy thief" 😂

Also maybe it's just me, but unless you have a clear shot and the situation calls for it, it seems to be a pretty stupid idea to be firing a gun off in space.

EXACTLY. Come on Minkowski, you're the smart one most of the time. But I suppose we all have our days.

A net?😂😂😂 This is fantastic.

Maybe they can stop Cutter with some home alone style traps.

"I need to make more acid" oh my goodness-

"The acid may have been a mistake. Turns out it developed an immunity to it. And possibly, an affinity." I'm sorry, WHAT. Hilbert. How. How did you do this.

RETRACTABLE SPIKES IT CAN SHOOT?

And yes, plants need light. But Minkowski, please don't. Please please please don't.

THANK YOU DOUG.

"We admire and support you and we want you to catch the plant monster- this is an intervention" 😂

PLEASE. Doug's imitation of Hilbert's voice and knowing they are the same actor...absolute talent. "You sound nothing like him" (winks at the audience).

Yeah I agree Doug. It is strange for you to be the sensible one in the situation. And again, this feels like you're trying to solve the problem you can rather than the problem that's the most immediate issue. Like getting back to Earth as fast as you can and putting a bullet in Cutter's head.

Wow. That was um harsh. Poor Hera. Oh no.

"Just remember that we're here okay." Aw.

Hour three in the black? This is a dangerous game. I don't like that sound. Florescent moss? Territory marker? Don't like where this is going.

Hilbert: "Ah. Specimen 34. Fascinating hybrid" "I don't care how you made it."

DON'T CARE? I DO. HILBERT: WHAT IS IT A HYBRID OF?

Please tell me it's not a hybrid of plants and a person on the ship.

Please tell me you would not be that stupid.

Can it bred? Is it predatory? "Based on history of parent species" WHO ARE THE PARENTS HILBERT.

Both are possible? Don't like that.

And Hilbert. Why would you make this plant, and why would you make the spiders? Why did you want them to grow this big? What is the goal of this?

Well looks like we'll find out.

Oh dear.

The tentacle is dead?

Minkowski. What about the rest of the plant?

OH DEAR.

Final day? Eliminated tentacles, spikes, and leaves? This needs to end.

HARPOON?

You might be closer to going home if you just...went home. Is Cutter gonna blow you out of the sky? There has to be a way to shut off the ship's tracker or fake your own death.

Found it? Lair? Minkowski almost sounds impressed.

Oh. It built itself a little lamp. A nightlight.🥺 Percival B. Eternal just wants to feel the sun. He must be pretty light deprived up in deep space.🥺

DOESN'T MATTER? MINKOWSKI. STOP.

Minkowski please hesitate. Eiffel is stuck in another trap? Ominous ticking sound? Thank goodness, go save Eiffel.

Oh the plant DOES understand. Huh. Seems like they have an understanding.

But. What was the plant made from?

Sedatives in the tea 😂

Reached an understanding? That's true. It DID have opportunities to kill you. But it no longer wants you dead. Which is interesting, because it did before. And that makes me think that it might want Hilbert dead. Because it took over Hilbert's mind and said to Eiffel "you are no better than the oppressor" so perhaps it blames Hilbert for it's creation.

"It wants what we want. To survive. To make it somewhere. To not be in the dark."

That's beautiful and yeah, Blessie can't thrive in space, plants need light.

Spacecraft? Hopefully rescue. But given that it's season 2, I have doubt. One lifeform.

Who is that? ISABEL LOVELACE? SHE'S ALIVE?

(I say as if I didn't see her name pop up 50x before I blocked the tags...still an interesting way for her to return).

Hilbert you lying liar. Tsk-tsk. Looks like she didn't incinerate. But...she couldn't survive in a pod for a year and a half. So...how?

Is this really Isabel Lovelace?

Is she from the past? The future? Is she a clone or science experiment made by Cutter and Hilbert to trick everyone? Is she the real empty man?

Oh and for the record, I've gotten messages from people asking why I keep talking about the empty man. I assumed that that was a real invisible creature that snuck aboard based on what Hera and Hilbert were saying about it in the alone episode (Hera mentions an invisible unseen presence she won't tell them about, and Hilbert hears a knock on his door and asks "why are you here? You weren't here on the other missions?"), but apparently I've been played like a fiddle. Would for sure fail that psych eval, but it's not even an ethical or standardized evaluation in the first place, so I don't feel bad at all about that.

Also, side note, you know what gets me the most about so many fictional (and unfortunately some irl) "men of great science" who do super bad and unethical things all in the name of their great work? Well, besides all the unethical stuff? It's that most of the time, their "genius experiments" aren't even good science. They're just doing random stuff in the hopes that something will work itself out, usually without any attempt at a control group, sometimes they don't even take their own safety into account, other times they don't even know enough about what they're doing to come to any sensible conclusion or account for unintended consequences. "Oh sacrifices must be made for the greater good, oh genius men like me don't need to abide by ethics" okay well can you at least abide by common sense or is that too genius for you? The point is I don't really care how smart you are, pride cancels out intellect, and at this rate Hilbert and Cutter are gonna get themselves and everyone else killed. I don't think Cutter is even a scientist. He calls himself "Mr. Cutter" (not doctor) and talks about money like he's a business man villain trusting Hilbert to do the science, which, bad move buddy. Bad move.

Episode 22: Mutually Assured Destruction

Don't like the sound of the title.

Oh boy. Two commanders lead to conflict. We're gonna need to establish some ground rules.

Blue ship and red ship collided? Oh Minkowski knows the codes.

"What is the point of an empty gun?" To threaten Eiffel.

Wait..."How did you bring me back here?"

They...they didn't Lovelace.

So who did?

Right, play her the messages from herself.

Vessel to return to earth? Yeah, it does seem impossible. Oh...interesting. An astrophysics figures out how to get back to earth. Then said astrophysicist disappears. What a crazy coincidence.

Oh. THAT'S why they don't have an astrophysicist this time. They want to make sure they don't get that close to getting back this time.

"12 hours later she vanished" ...did she open some kind of gateway, or did command vaporize her?

Ah yes, Dr. Selburg. Yeah he does get sloppy. It seems one of his assignments was to not let them return to earth. But there's a grey door that he opens which apparently allows him to come back each time. Interesting.

Incapacitated him? How? And...how did Hilbert survive?

So...Lovelace was in cryo-sleep and went back to the Hephaestus?

Well...I have a theory: Command sent you back and compromised you so that you would take Hilbert's place as their inside man. Or woman. But it sounds like she's a bit more in the dark about what happened than he is.

Rhea.🥺Aw. A moment of silence for the fallen AI.

Oh yeah. Show her Hilbert.

Yes: "What happened to Captain Lovelace?" Get him commander. Get him!

Oh Hilbert. I hope for your sake this isn't a boy who cried wolf situation.

Oh wow the voice acting of Hilbert choking...true talent.

"They said..." hm. Now that's interested.

"They would never" Hilbert man you are drinking the Kool-Aid, command is using you. You are not indispensable.

Lovelace seems pretty eager for violence.

Interesting...Hilbert terrified of something. We didn't see that with anyone or anything else. Clone or robot replica? Good idea Doug.

I also wonder: was Hilbert always afraid of Lovelace? Or is he only afraid of her now that she's back?

"Is everything a joke to you" at this point, I think it has to be. How else do you survive this?

No long on Lovelace's ship? The computer not turned on before this morning? Then...where has it come from? It's highly unlikely that she would survive in space for three years. But Doug has a point. If these are lies, she should have a better one.

Hera...why are you unsure of whether you can help with the ship? It's hard to tell when she's hesitating due to code interference, having hesitation because the plan is bad, and hesitating because she doubts herself.

Oh yeah...this is awkward. It's like if you discovered another family living in your house and you started touching their stuff (because it's yours).

Oh the music! 📻🎶🎶🎶

Yeah...is there a pattern to the music? Why DO they send that?

Um. Yeah. You might want to drop the plant monster bomb slowly...

Interesting. Hera seems to REALLY not like this new ship. But...why? Again, it's hard to tell when she's nervous, leading them astray, or has a legit concern.

She...she wouldn't be able to go with them. 🥺 Oh. Yeah. They do have families, at least Minkowski does. So...I guess they'd need to go home. But then poor Hera would be all alone. But if they make it back, they could send a rescue party back for her! And she could turn herself off until then or use autopilot.

Ah yes. The empty man. Who apparently isn't real, unless the messages were a code for something.

Uh. Minkowski. What are you doing?

"Nobody's getting left behind" but what about Hilbert? I think he can stay in space for a while. He's been on a lot of missions, so he seems to like it here.

Lovelace. Why were you eavesdropping? Oh wow, interesting gun trap! And "I invented being paranoid" is a very unhinged thing to say.

And explosive device? Lovelace what is going on?

Doug. Doug stop them please. Stop them. What. BOMB. YOU'LL ALL DIE. DON'T DO COMMANDS WORK FOR THEM.

BLOW UP THE STATION! BUT WHAT ABOUT HERA! LOVELACE NO! WHAT ABOUT HERA? WE LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND (well except for Hilbert, he can get blown to bits I don't care)!

Yikes what a thrilling conclusion. And now a mini episode? Seems like a odd time for one. Last time Doug read letters to some third graders, is he just gonna...pause in the middle of this epic standoff to give his thoughts on his favorite movies? I guess we'll find out.

Mini Episode 2: Day One

Interesting this says from "Goddard Futuristics Archives". So they are saving all their messages. Incredibly creepy. Oh this is Doug's first log. Yeah...that's why the logs go to command. Sure.

Yep. It is spooky. Wonder what is making those creaking noises?

Oh poor Doug. Hephaestus is a difficult word, but I would have hoped you'd have heard it enough times by now.

Huh. "Weirdly big for just three people"

...yeah. Almost as if it was made for more people but they decided they didn't want an astrophysicist this time.

"The crew seems nice". 😐

Yeah you DO want to get along with Minkowski. Trust me.

"Dr. Hilbert. Seems friendly enough. Hard to understand what he's saying, but he seems nice enough. I haven't really seen him since we docked here. We've got plenty of time to get to know each other."

Hilarious considering it's the same voice actor, not to mention the irony.

"Creeped out by Hera" and now they are best friends. And Doug, Doug she can hear you. She hears everything.

Poor Hera.

Oh that's it? Huh. Interesting. I wonder if we'll get to hear any other cool logs...

Episode 23: No Pressure

Doug. I've enjoyed listening to you work together for the past episode (which I listened to while folding clothes, sorry for the lack of live reaction).

But Lovelace tried to help you! A fake emergency sounds like a scary idea. She's already on edge. And something tells me that this might lead to a REAL emergency.

Hera. Hera. What is this? This sounds like a very very very bad idea.

Plan B? Hopefully just talk to Lovelace nicely? I don't like this. They were getting along so well! The moth joke was nice!

I do not think this is gonna go well.

"Shut up" good for you Hera.

"This is gonna end well."

I don't think it will.

Episode 24: Tactical Brain Damage

I love the title. But I'm nervous.

Oh boy. Hera. "Communications officer who shall remain nameless" 😂😂😂

"We want her distracted not murderously enraged".

Then maybe this is a bad idea. Wait what? Hera what are your sensors picking up?

This isn't gonna end well is it?

I wonder if Lovelace is treating Hera like that because she reminds her of Rhea. Or however it's spelled.

Big red cable? What does that do?

Yeah. Maybe this isn't the best idea.

Oh. Eiffel is the alternative. Well then.

"Permission to speak freely sir" maybe it's just me, but it's odd that Eiffel calls them sir instead of ma'am. Is that a thing in the military or does Doug just not know the feminine version of the word and no one has bothered to correct him.

"What does Hera know" A lot. Yeah Lovelace. You need to show Hera some respect. She's really nice.

"Well educated guess". I do not like this. I do not like this at all.

Um...HERA? HERA.

Uh oh. Oh no. Don't like that alarm. That's a pretty bad alert.

Um..."I just went some where didn't I?" ...WHERE DID SHE GO? Oh dear? Corrupted code?

"Do you think she'll notice" 😂

I love that despite nearly dying every single episode, they keep their humor. I hope they survive this, but I doubt it.

I hope they at least get a half decent ending and drag Hilbert and Cutter down with them.

"What are the other two doing?"

Oh no. Lovelace is gonna snap.

"You're wrong" "I'm not. But that's okay. Because you still have time. Because my way is the only way."

...Lovelace. Lovelace please be reasonable. Don't forget who the real enemy is. And Doug. You might want to work on your trickery skills.

"Ow" "...is this hurting you?" Oh dear. Poor Hera.

"Would it hurt you?" "Is there a risk of permanent damage?" "Yes."

It's not worth it. It's not worth it. Poor Hera. Good job Minkowski, take care of the crew.

"I know you won't let anything happen to me". Oh okay. It's okay. I didn't need my heart.

And Hera is okay!

haha...yeah Eiffel's plan didn't exactly work out. Please don't antagonize Lovelace.

No. NOT HILBERT. DO NOT GO TO HIM FOR HELP EVEN WHEN HE TRIES TO HELP HE HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT VERY UNHELPFUL.

Mini Episode 3: Variations on a Theme

"The more things change, the more they stay the same".

This would be very scary. They are all gonna need intensive psychotherapy after this.

"Rhea checked in with me, that was then this is now. Hera's polite, her programming forces her to be, but I hear what she's really saying..."

😂The impressions. It's also sad that she misses Rhea.

Breaking bones, tossing her out an airlock, and leaving her to die??? Lovelace, Hera might be cold to you, but the feeling seems mutual, and she doesn't want you to die. The only person she's tried to kill is Hilbert, and if they stopped her from doing that, what makes you think that she'd try to kill you? That sounds wayyyy more like something Cutter would suggest. Where has he been anyway?

"More or less angry if she knew the truth?"

IF HERA KNEW THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT? Does something terrible happen to the AI units? Is she a copy of someone's brain or personality from a previous mission that Lovelace hates?

Normalize explaining things instead of all this ominous foreshadowing. And I know, okay, I know, when I write my own stuff, that's all I ever do. Call me a hypocrite if you want.

This is very creepy. She's lived through this so much and in space there's not much sense of time.

Oh right. Lambert was the communications officer right? Hilbert must have given him the virus too.

But um...didn't he die a horrible painful death?

"But does he know how it ends, what happens when he gets-"

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE GETS WHAT? WHAT DOES THE VIRUS DO?

Any more ominous hints you'd like to drop Lovelace? I get the feeling you have quite a few.

Hera, Rhea. Yeah they are anagrams. I got the spelling right! It's also an anagram for "hear" which makes the "I always hear you" line more powerful.

"Everything...except him. He never goes away. He never changes."

...Hilbert or Cutter?

Oh Dr. Hilbert. Yeah. I wonder why he never goes away. And I don't think either of them feel much of anything at all.

"Stay way from the ghosts."

Easier said than done.

"You can never go home. You were home. And now you're back. And you can never go back."

...DID she get back? Did they wipe her memory and send her back?

"No friends no trust no safety"

WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD TELL THEM WHAT YOU KNOW.

In fact, I think they should all spill all their secrets. Out in the open. That way command has nothing on them.

But for some reason, I think it might be a while before that happens.

I think that's it for today guys, but I hope you enjoyed this. Thanks for reading!

[commsroom]

if w359 were to be adapted (and imagine this is a perfect world where adaptations are perfectly true to source and author intention) would you prefer a live-action w CGI or animated? how should Hera be portrayed?

oh god, okay. first i have to get over my gut reaction to the idea of a wolf 359 adaptation, which is... please no, not in any form, never. literally the nightmare scenario for me. but okay, other than that.

the wolf 359 that exists in my mind's eye when i'm listening to the show is, like... live action, physical sets, practical effects including some puppetry (for the plant monster, notably) - and that's definitely influenced by gabriel urbina citing farscape as the main inspiration for the tone of the show. so, in a perfect world, assuming at least the main characters would still be played by the same actors and everything... like that, i guess? i love to see fan animations, and there's the obvious benefit re: voice actors, but i don't think it would work. the realism and mundanity undercut by larger than life scenarios and science fiction nonsense is a necessary contrast to me, and the characters are just... such Real Life People, when i picture them in my mind.

and hera is definitely a big reason why i don't think the show can or should be adapted to any visual medium. when i commission art, my personal design for hera has that blue holographic look because 1) it's important to me to have recognizable visual signifiers, and 2) i want a way to give her a physical presence for artistic purposes while still suggesting some intangibility + distance. but i don't literally think she looks like that. if you are portraying what hera actually looks like, then there are two heras: viewed from the outside, formless and faceless, basically a disembodied voice without any other autonomous parts to express herself with, and the way she sees herself in her own mind and her own memories. from what we can infer, i honestly think the image hera has of herself is just of a regular human woman.

i don't know if you could portray hera in any visual medium, because... you can't show her, you can't make her a hologram or a face on a screen, and you can't make her... more robotic, with more expressive moving parts of the station, etc. because any of those things would imply something different about her than what exists in canon. like, i love the idea that eiffel looks at hera's cameras when he's talking to her, but it's important that something like hera's cameras never comes across as hera, as a physical presence. if that makes sense? the sense of isolation, the way hera feels trapped, at a physical distance from the others, unseen - that's such a central conflict of her character, the very literal way that her struggles are invisible to the others, and how the contrast between her internal vs. externally perceived self is at the heart of a lot of commentary re: identity, disability, etc. that surrounds her. audio is really the only medium where that can be maintained while still keeping hera an equal presence to the others - maybe there's some commentary you could make by deconstructing audience assumptions in a visual medium, but it would be difficult to make it the same.

... and that's not even getting into how music, and radio, and voice, and sound recording are all thematic components of the show!!

[lady-wildflower]

Yeah, I’m also glad that Riker’s discussion this episode gave some depth to why Riker isn’t with his family - until here it felt like a cheap “oh and we made this character’s relationship fall apart so he can be part of the plot” thing and the idea that Riker’s depression(?) and grief as a result of Thaddeus’ death was too much for Deanna to handle as an empath is an interesting idea for intercharacter stuff (also nice to have it be more plot-helpful instead of just “Deanna says this random person is not lying”).

Shaw’s thing about Picard and Locutus does feel like a mild rehash of Sisko’s reaction to Picard, but tbf it is totally plausible for a lot of people to feel like that about Picard, lotta people got hurt, killed, or assimilated at W359.

Holy moly that new episode of Picard.

My highlights:

Threading the flashback of Picard talking to the cadets throughout the episode juxtaposed with present Jack saying he's happy being alone and doesn't need anything from Picard then BAM, the final kicker of seeing Jack at the bar. And that look of a broken little kid who just heard his father say he didn't care about having a family. Damn. That's why they had to get an experienced actor for the part, there's some serious baggage to heft.

Shaw. I'm liking this guy. He's still a jerk but a broken and smart jerk and I like those.

Finally a tender moment between Riker and Troi (I do desperately await the moment Deanna, Geordi, and Worf find out Beverly and Picard have a kid).

After years of some horrendous, downright silly sounding technobabble from the new shows, we finally got some that sounds believable and has logical connection (I suspect there's an Okuda behind this).

Picard actually taking command and acting like a commander.

Beverly figuring things out on her own because that's just who she is.

Picard and Jack implicitly trusting her plan immediately.

Beverly using the power of friendship to coax Riker out of his (valid) fear prison.

Cute lil space jelly fish babies.

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH JACK WHY IS HE "THE ASSET" WHAT ARE HIS VISIONS AND WHY ARE THEY SO SCARY?? Consider me... as the kids say... invested.

My one small gripe was establishing that OG Jack Crusher was at the academy with Picard. It opens up a weird, undefined can of worms, timeline wise. TNG was vague with Jack's details so it's not canon breaking but now I wish the two friends in "Tapestry" had been Beverly and Jack.

[transarchivist]

(id in alt)

[hephaestuscrew]

I have a fondness for moments which show that the closeness of a character relationship is recognised by other characters, so I want to talk about a few of those moments for Eiffel and Minkowski.

They don't tend to be outwardly affectionate with each other (especially not in front of other people, see my ramblings about their reunion in Sécurité), but these little moments show how it's still clear to everyone around them that they are extremely important to each other...

Ep25 Lame-o Superhero Origin Story

This is one of those moments that feels more significant when you take the timeline into account. Lovelace has only known Minkowski and Eiffel for two weeks at this point. But the strength of Eiffel's trust in Minkowski is still evident to her, just from the interactions she's seen, which obviously exclude the secret meetings they've been having behind her back. Lovelace recognises that when Eiffel obeys Minkowski, it's not out of fear or deference to authority, but out of trust.

When searching for a way to convey how it felt to lose her crew, who she later refers to as "the best people I've ever met", Lovelace asks Minkowski to imagine losing Eiffel. She believes that loss would be comparable to Minkowski. (You could argue that Lovelace names Eiffel here simply because he's the only human member of Minkowski's crew who hasn't betrayed her, but I think it's more than that. If Lovelace didn't believe Eiffel to be very important to Minkowski, she could have described a theoretical loved one for Minkowski to imagine losing.)

Ep43 Persuasion

Here Hilbert assumes that to have Minkowski on side is to have Eiffel's support guaranteed. In matters like this, they come as a package deal. (And Lovelace doesn't question this assessment of their dynamic.) Hilbert is both right and wrong here: right to think that Eiffel will get involved in mutiny-planning if Minkowski is, but wrong to assume that Eiffel won't question a plan Minkowski agrees to.

Ep44 Desperate Times

I really love this moment for Eiffel, Minkowski and Hera as a trio, and one of the nice things about it is that it shows Hera being invested in Minkowski & Eiffel's friendship. She knows their relationship is important to them both and her tone here suggests that she sees a softness in their dynamic.

Ep45 Desperate Measures

Here they are being described as 'adorable' again, although with a completely different tone. Kepler says this mockingly, but it's still an acknowledgement that he's noticed the way Eiffel addresses Minkowski and that he knows that it indicates their closeness.

Kepler doesn't believe that Minkowski would allow the station to fall into the star, not because it would result in her own death and the failure of the mission, but because it would result in Eiffel's death. That's where he thinks her line is. (Also I think it's fair to assume that he was going to say "and Hera" if Minkowski hadn't cut him off.)

[aro-oak]

I hate to say it but the drink sounds in w359 mini ep 10 are the WORST

[triple-a-ace]

i can't sleep and its because of wolf 359