#you want evidence comparing how the relationships are written in the movie? screenshots and everything? just say the word

[matoitech]

oh okay promare wiki so aina maybe having a crush on galo cuz she talks about him to her sister sometimes is added despite not holding much weight OR being Canon Confirmed but god forbid you put anything mentioning galo and lio being gay on there. i get it

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #180 - Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: No.

Format: DVD

1) So with the first film writer James Gunn had written a darker script meant to poke fun at the original series and gain a PG-13 rating, but after the cast signed on this was changed into a family friendly film. With the sequel, writer Gunn returns and this time everyone knew what kind of movie they were going to make from the beginning (which relates to some more solid structure in this film than the last).

2) Scooby-Doo Theory holds that whoever the protagonists talks to first is the person who did it. The first person they talk to in this film is Alicia Silverstone’s Heather Jasper Howe who ends up being the bad guy.

3) Okay, Coolsville opens up a museum exhibit about Mystery Inc. and their past foes. It is said that the gang, “donated,” the costumes. But…why are the costumes their’s to donate? Aren’t they police evidence? Do they steal the costumes from every crime as some sort of weird trophy and stash them all in a storage locker somewhere? Am I overthinking this? Let’s move on.

4) What the heck!? Seth Green is in this movie!?

5) Linda Cardellini continues to be absolutely excellent as Velma Dinkley, but one side we get to see in this film that we didn’t in the first is lovesick puppy Velma. Her crush on Seth Green’s Patrick is portrayed as cute, sweet, honest, and is just enjoyable to watch. I think Cardellini is great in both of these films and gets an even greater chance to shine in this one.

6) I always liked The Evil Masked Figure in this film.

I think it’s purely a taste of aesthetics. I like the metallic head, the hair, the cloak. He’s not really a character so much as a plot device and he does pale in comparison to the classic monsters which populate the film, but I just dig the design.

7) I think the early action set piece of Shaggy and Scooby getting pulled around the museum by the Pterodactyl Ghost is a little stagey. It FEELS like they’re on a film set as opposed to even the fun of the cartoon chases. But that just may be me.

8) What the fanboy in me loves about this film is the way it brings in all the classic monsters from the old cartoons. James Gunn is a fan himself and it shows because - much like he is able to fill up Guardians of the Galaxy with notable characters, references, and alien species - he brings in a lot of A-list villains from the show. The Black Knight Ghost and the 10,000 Volt Ghost in particular were always favorites of mine and it is REMARKABLY fun to see them, the Tar Monster, the Zombie, Captain Cutler’s Ghost, and The Miner 49-er brought to live action (among others).

9) Okay, so Heather Jasper Howe’s reporting is 100% slander and illegal. She is taking everything Mystery Inc. says out of context to make them appear bad in the public light. Yes, she’s the villain, this is part of the plan. But unless you’re working for an obviously biased news source like Fox News you would not be allowed to get away with this. Still, when I start to question the realism of a Scooby-Doo movies the whole thing falls apart.

10) The primary conflict for Scooby and Shaggy in this film is them questioning their worth/value to the team. This makes for surprisingly interesting character conflict and an equally surprising emotional arc for the film. I like it!

11) According to IMDb:

The original Scooby-Doo episode dealing with the pterodactyl ghost featured a villain and motive that were quite different. The pterodactyl/hang glider costume was used to smuggle pirated music, with the small-town mayor behind the whole scheme.

12) I cannot begin to express how funny my tiny eight year old self found this joke.

Shaggy [after the gang goes through all their notes, which Scooby has been jotting down]: “Scooby-Doo, what’s your conclusion?”

Scooby: “Bunny!”

13) I have a feeling this film had a product placement agreement with Burger King. Scooby was drinking from a Burger King cup earlier and then this:

14) I may have watched The Mummy too many times.

Fred: “What could possibly happen by ringing a doorbell?”

15) So Shaggy messes with a record player and “Baby Got Back” starts playing. Which begs the question: WHO ON EARTH HAS A VINYL OF “Baby Got Back”!?

16) According to IMDb:

At one point in the film, Scooby and Shaggy are pretending to sing into a toilet brush "microphone". The song they are actually singing is Strangers in the Night - Frank Sinatra's version featured the improvised scat lyrics, "Scoo-bee-doo-bee-doo", lyrics which then-CBS executive Fred Silverman chose as the name of the new cartoon series. The original name for the dog was "Too Much", a popular catchphrase of the era.

17) The entire Black Knight Ghost chase through the mansion is very cartoonish, which I mean as a compliment. It feels like it is ripped straight out of an old episode of the cartoon, speaking again to the great way James Gunn handles the source material.

18) Why is Daphne wearing a shirt with her own face on it?

19) Again: this made me laugh so hard as an eight year old.

Black Knight [after Velma kicks him in the nuts]: “Right in the round tables!”

20) This film was released in 2004, can you tell?

Fred: “…this mystery goes down like a dot com and Coolsville digs us again!”

21) I ship Velma and Daphne. I have a feeling so does James Gunn.

(Screenshot taken of a GIF originally posted by @ezekiels)

22) Linda Cardellini gets to be exceptionally funny in this film for one BIG reason:

Patrick: “Do you have to go to the bathroom?”

Velma: “No, I can’t in this outfit.”

23) The Faux Ghost.

This is a wonderful concept featured in the film which once again shows off just how deeply familiar writer James Gunn is with the source material. Just the idea that a bar for all the people Mystery Inc caught exists is wonderfully fun. The art design and characters all stand out in a wonderfully fun scene.

24) Whoa, this is pretty deep for Scooby-Doo 2.

Old Man Wickles [about being a masked villain]: “We needed people to believe we were different than we were. Maybe because we believed there was something wrong with who were in the first place.”

This also means the song which plays in the club - “Thank You For Letting Me By Myself” - has much more meaning than one might initially expect.

25) This line was improvised.

Velma [after she lets out a squeak]: “That was my outfit, I swear.”

26) It’s kinda fun seeing Seth Green go into psychotic badass mode on this goon. My primary experience with him is through “Buffy” where he mostly plays his character as emotionally controlled. This is a fun change from that. Also, Shaggy gets in a sick burn because of it.

Shaggy [after seeing Patrick act a little crazy]: “But we gotta make like your personality and split!”

27) What even is this movie!?

Old Man Wickles [after Scooby gives away his position hiding in a bush]: “Darn bushes toweling at me again.”

AGAIN!?

28) Ah, the potion gag.

So there was a lot of work trying to figure out exactly what gags to use. At one point, Scooby was going to turn into his hand drawn counterpart as a replacement to a much less favored gag of Scooby turning into George W. Bush. The filmmakers didn’t want to compare 3D Scooby with 2D Scooby so they had him turn into the Tasmanian Devil instead. It’s kinda random and pointless, but not unenjoyable. It’s kinda fun to watch, it just has nothing to do with the rest of the plot.

29) In this moment, I am Shaggy.

Shaggy: “We’re gonna die!”

Daphne: “Think positive!”

Shaggy: “We’re gonna die quickly!”

30) Okay hold on a second: the monsters share the same hatred of Mystery Inc. that their portrayers had? But why? They’re not the same people are they? Do they have the memories of their human counterparts? Are they the vision of the criminals who portrayed them fully realized?

31) The old high school clubhouse scene is a surprisingly poignant moment of vulnerability and character interaction for Mystery Inc. The flashback - even though it’s a little cringe worthy seeing the young Mystery Inc (with their awkward imitations of the main cast and weirdly dubbed over voices from the main actors) - allows for us to understand the core of their relationship. In a lot of ways, this is the beating heart of the film. Mystery Inc and the friendship they have with each other.

32) Again: I am Shaggy.

Shaggy [while being chased]: “This is tied for the most terrifying day of my life!”

Velma: “Tied with what?”

Shaggy: “EVERY OTHER FREAKING DAY OF MY LIFE!”

33) HOW DID THE BLACK KNIGHT GET A GHOST HORSE!? Wouldn’t they need a horse costume to do that?

34) Ah, Buffy speak used by a “Buffy” actor.

Daphne: “Taste the pain Mr. Glowy Ugly Thing!”

35) I love this.

Velma [after Shaggy and Scooby say they’re trying to be more like the gang]: “That’s funny. I always wanted to be like you guys.”

This speaks greatly to just how freaking important Shaggy and Scooby are to the group. They’re the beating heart, it’s called Scooby-Doo for a reason. And the fact that Velma is able to so honestly and believably say she wants to be like Shaggy and Scooby is a surprisingly touching moment in the film.

36) It only took Velma 45 years to admit this.

Velma [after her glasses fall off]: “I’ve got to consider contact lenses.”

37) According to IMDb:

The Cotton Candy Glob is a tribute to the Cotton Candy Monsters who appeared in the story "Goop on the Loose" in the Scooby-Doo comics published by DC Comics, where the culprits were a child and two henchmen trying to get revenge from being fired from a carnival. The Cotton Candy Monsters were mentioned in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Terror, Thy Name Is Zombo (1989).

38) I JUST got that the game of keep away they play with the monster making control panel reflects the game of frisbee we saw them playing in the flashback.

(GIF originally posted by @leaveatraill)

39) Tar Monster seems like he has a ridiculous amount of power. Like he can single handedly nearly kill ALL of Mystery Inc. Why not just release the Tar Monster on the world? I feel like THAT’D be a better plan!

40) The Evil Masked Figure is unmasked and revealed to be Heather Jasper Howe. But her hair and makeup are perfect. Shouldn’t she have - like - helmet hair or something?

41) Scooby running to Shaggy like they haven’t seen each other in ages is totally unearned. Shaggy just put on a mask and took it off and Scooby acts all excited! But, it’s still kinda nice.

42) What the heck? This film has a secret mini movie!?

A commercial!?

Much like the first Scooby Doo film, Monsters Unleashed is hardly a cinematic masterpiece but the kid in my absolutely loves it. The characterization is continually strong (as is the acting), it’s a lot of fun to see the old monsters in a live action format, and it’s just an enjoyable 90ish minutes. There are movies which have aged worse so if you have fond memories of this or are a fan of the Scooby-Doo franchise, give it a watch.

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Trelsi: The Pleasure of Un-Orthodoxy

I have to advise honest High School Musical fanfiction writers that they must shelve their fear of being un-orthodox. The HSM fandom is one of the least balanced I have ever seen, and I’ve been part of a few other major fandoms within the last couple of years. With almost no criticism applied to the major couple, Troy and Gabriella, then there should be no fear of going against the grain, even if that means a substantially smaller reading audience. I’ve just spent a couple of hours rewriting and adding to notes for my major Trelsi story, as I’ve been dilly-dallying on it for a while, working on a couple of smaller Trelsi projects. I love this story madly, because I’ve got loads of unorthodox additions, structures and changes that I want to make, all of which have been thought through over the last six months. 

The deal is this: non-Orthodox HSM fandoms are often better considered than the canonical pairings-- particularly Troyella. I’ve discussed the patent problems with Troyella in a current series I’m writing called “The Marvel of Trelsi”. Check it out if you like chunky paragraphs, unbridled sarcasm and endless footnotes. This is because the non-orthodox ships must often sift through a large body of script and photographic evidence in order to build a case for their ship. Of course, this is not always the case, and this does not guarantee that anyone will agree with that interpretation. I personally much prefer a case for a ship that is built on script evidence, rather than photographic evidence, as the script is less prone to manipulation than photographs-- a screenshot could mean anything to anyone at any time. But even so, the non-Orthodox shipper often has to look beyond what they are given, whereas the Troyella narrative is so imposing that it does not lend to critical thinking. 

Of course, there are many non-Orthodox ships that I consider implausible or ridiculous. Not everyone bothers to do their homework. And building a case for a ship does not mean that one has considered the legitimate future for that ship, which I argue is somewhat important. (Depending upon how seriously you take these things). But they have often yielded potential scenarios of greater interest than what was given to us via Troyella. I consider Trelsi to be very much in this vein. Because so few fans are willing to consider Trelsi outside of Kelsi being a useful accessory to promote the Troyella relationship, then very few people are willing to actually think the potential through (soon to be discussed in my above-mentioned series) and see how that compares to the canonical narrative. I have to appreciate the very small audience willing to consider these things, but I continue, because these links and possibilities should be explored.

I don’t know about the writing process of other authors, although judging by the quality of  some fics that I’ve read in the fandom so far, I assume that many don’t have one. I like to write detailed character notes before even writing the first letter of the first chapter. I have to get to the very bottom of the character, and this is honestly where some of my best ideas with regards to the Trelsi ship have come from. In fact, I drew heavily from my character notes in order to write my current series on Trelsi, and vice versa. Up until today, I had been procrastinating on finishing my character notes for Kelsi (ironic, given that I managed it for this series!) and finally completed them today. Previously, I had been considering whether her inability to criticize Troyella would be a significant flaw, until I dug a little deeper and thought about why she supported this “relationship”, and discovered the real reason (which I will discuss in “The Marvel of Trelsi”! XD), which gave me a whole new perspective. I was like “YES-- this makes sense!” It’s amazing when you discover more about the character whilst writing them and then being able to develop the plot. And I contend that this comes from un-orthodoxy; I have to think outside the box and work with the limited materials available to me on Trelsi in order to justify deviating so wildly from canon. 

I wrote an amateur list of “Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Nots” for the Trelsi fandom, which I now think wasn’t detailed enough with problems that I had when reading Trelsi fics. One of them includes an inability to write Troy Bolton as well as Kelsi Nielsen. I have seen a wide range of characterizations for Troy which range from an unrealistic, macho jock (not sure what script evidence supports that) to being a complete wimp and pushover, which, despite Troy’s plummeting self-esteem, is not true either. In fact, I discussed this in a footnote for my Trelsi series, that Troy can pluck up the courage to walk away from Gabriella during HSM II, when she had been deceiving and manipulating him whilst pretending to flirt with Ryan. There are clear moments when Troy is willing to try and persuade Gabriella, to disagree with her, to try and make her see reason. Just because he is not successful in these attempts does not turn him into a glob of jelly. Another characterization that I wish to challenge is that of Kelsi as being the perennial shrinking violet throughout the movies. I alluded to this during my “Thou Shalts/Thou Shalt Nots”, but I believe that time has given me enough perspective to expand upon that. It appears popular to portray Kelsi as always been the hapless, innocent, shy and sweet girl. I hope that I have brought more nuance and complexity to her as a character here and here. If you can’t see a decided evolution in Kelsi’s character throughout the canonical movies, then I must conclude that you were watching different movies. The key is to understand how much of Kelsi’s shyness remains, and how to balance that with an increased confidence. Because Kelsi takes love VERY SERIOUSLY (check out my analysis of her lyrics), there is little room for playing around with her characterization. This also undervalues the stories that rely too heavily upon the “Kelsi has a crush on Troy theory”, which I will deconstruct in my next instalment for “The Marvel of Trelsi”. (It’s coming. It’s coming... :D)

Another joy of unorthodoxy helps me to challenge the Trelsi fics where the result is a seamless happily-ever-after. I hate HEA endings with a passion-- so much so that I have committed myself to never writing one, whether for fanfiction or for an original. I’m currently working on an original story where I want my protagonist to fail in his quest, because the quest is so deep-rooted and draining that I’m not sure it can be won. It’s not that I advise being pessimistic in unorthodox pairings; I understand the desire to give two underappreciated characters a happy ending. But unorthodoxy is precisely just that. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Think about that. You need to deal with Gabriella, you need to deal with her friends, you need to deal with the dreaded status quo that the Wildcats claim has disappeared, but really exists throughout the movie canon. Personally, I embrace this challenge, and I’m very excited about adding in all my unorthodox changes to the Trelsi storyline. For me, I see no profit without a struggle, and I want Troy and Kelsi to struggle. I see no other way for them as a couple unless they have struggled first. Don’t follow the grain of Troyella where there is no struggle from the start, and everything only gets sweeter and sweeter. If you have a significant problem with Troyella, then you get to deconstruct this myth-- but don’t go overboard and decide to demonize Gabriella, or make Troyella into something worse than it is. (Although it’s difficult to see anything worse as far as relationships go). Play around a little within canonical constraints and plain old common sense. 

I despise fluff in most forms. I read Trelsi fic to learn from the characterization and to add to my headcanons. I actually do not read Trelsi fiction to enjoy the fluff, because I don’t generally enjoy fluff. I understand the appeal, but it never draws me in. Am I too much of a realist? But we are dealing with teenagers, if one sticks to the canonical narrative, and whilst that may be an argument for fluff, it certainly isn’t an argument for unrealistic platitudes of love. Despite the fact that Kelsi is a heavy romantic idealist (as is Troy), that does not immeidately translate into a sugary relationship with anyone. This is why I cautioned against sugary Trelsi stories. But don’t get me wrong, you can still get some classic romantic moments between Troy and Kelsi. I know, because I’ve been planning stories for the last six months. It’s just a matter of understanding what constitutes Troy and Kelsi’s relationship, that it is made up of small, notable and largely quiet moments, often demonstrated during when one of them (usually Troy, but it can also be Kelsi) is at their lowest. So from a writing technique, aesthetic and sadistic viewpoint, I prefer to challenge Troy and Kelsi before they deserve any romantic moments together. I take this same approach to all the romance fiction that I’ve written for other fandoms. If they haven’t suffered, then they don’t deserve it. 

(Fun fact: I used to hate the romance genre, and swore never to write it). 

I have attempted to demonstrate a romantic moment here:

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“Today, he looked casual, almost invisible, with his black jeans, sneakers and black shirt. Casual and handsome, she added, quite forgetting that she should have outgrown such thoughts by now.  

“Why don’t you play the rest of it?”  Without waiting for response, he had jumped off stage (she couldn’t help admiring his agility) and the next minute, was sitting next to her on the piano stool. Distracted by this, and possibly by his deodorant or aftershave or whatever, she stared at him before remembering that this wasn’t Junior Year, and she hadn’t only just met him, and she should just play the damn thing. 

“It’s kinda rough right now--”

He smiled. “Didn’t sound like it.” 

Relenting, she played it. And somehow, maybe because it was her first time, or perhaps because only Troy was there to hear it, she felt drawn in far deeper than she’d intended, so much so that when she’d finished, it took a moment to return to reality. Just the bare bones? No, she had accessed something deeper in the three or four minutes she’d played, and wasn’t sure how to retrieve it, capture the moment in a bottle and repeat. She stared at the keys, her fingernails and then the crumpled manuscript in front of her as though they’d suddenly appeared.  Jesus Christ. And finally, she glanced at Troy, embarrassed about zoning out on him. 

“Er… so yeah. That’s the song. So far.” 

For a moment, he didn’t answer, his eyes fixed on hers. “Wow… That’s… That’s nice.” 

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As you can see, I’ve reused the scene from HSM I, after Troy hears “What I’ve Been Looking For” in order to demonstrate the emotional connection that Troy feels-- canonically, I might add-- towards Kelsi’s music. Obviously, this is rough, so it will be edited properly, but right now (at 22:11pm), I’m thinking it’s not too shabby. Yet. :D I am going to have some fun coming up with more scenes, some already which are in my head. 

I’m onto writing my character notes for Gabriella Montez, which I will finish sometime later this week. That will certainly be fun as I seek to understand her motivations, and why she gets away with such atrocious behaviour towards Troy Bolton. 

Stay unorthodox! :D