#good thing that was a deleted scene in the 2003 movie | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vavuska · 3 years

Text

Who changed Lola Bunny?

Malcolm D. Lee explained, “This is 2021. It’s important to reflect the authenticity of strong, capable female characters. … So we reworked a lot of things, not only her look, like making sure she had an appropriate length on her shorts and was feminine without being objectified, but gave her a real voice. For us, it was, ‘Let’s ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others.'”

(See the complete interview here: X)

So, gone are her curves, thigh-high drawstring shorts and midriff-baring crop top. Instead, Lola Bunny now takes on a sportier look wearing a more standard basketball vest and leggings under her track shorts.

But, let's see more deeply what determinated this choice:

1. Being mad at a fan art is sad, people.

Before, a sad 50 yo guy starts complaing about how "cancel culture" or "politically correct" ruined his life - Really? Changing a cartoon bunny from a movie you didn't see for a decade ruined your life? Wow. Someone should really review the list of their priorities -, let's see how really Lola looked in the 1996 original Space Jam.

Here we have original Lola Bunny:

(Here you can see all Lola's scenes in Space Jam: X)

Yes, Lola walked in a sexy way that show off her curves, or at least she seemed to have curves (a little breast, tight waist, long legs, bootie), but those are not big as in the fan art you are seeing around, and Lola's curves are not evidenced during the match or when she played. Is more her attitude and posture that made her look sexy. However, althought her curves clearly changes every time she is doing something different, from action to action, there are some scenes in which she is purposely made sexy, with saxophone music as soundtrack and male-gaze sections that ends in the same way, Lola surrounded by a bunch of horny and howling cartoon guys.

That's appropriate with Jessica Rabbit: she is purposely made and designed as a parody of the femme fatale from old hard boiler movies, in which attractive, mysterious women were portrayed as evil and manipulative gals who hide criminal intentions. Jessica, with her intentionally exaggerated body, subverted the misogyny of 40s and 30s detective movies: she is kind-hearted, truly loves her naive and goofy husband Roger and uses her powers (beauty and cunning) to protect him. Her body too is used for comic sketches, while this not happens for Lola, that's just a serious and indipendent basketball player. So, the male obsession for her body is out of place, expecially because she reacted with anger at being misconsidered only for being an attractive female bunny. “Don't call me doll” is her catch phrase. So, it seems strange she didn't react at all at the very sexualized presentation at the final basketball match: Lola simply shows her basketball skills, ignoring or accepting passively the reaction of the honey crowd of wolves around her. (Please, notice the association: Lola “admirers” are wolves, predators, while Lola, their object of desire, is a rabbit, a prey)

This is the cartoon version of cat calling: they are like a group of men who sit on their porches and whistle at girls everyday when they walk in from of them. A normal girl or woman would pass over this thing, even if they are bothered, unconfortable or embarassed, because they are more scared by a possible violent reaction of this whistling horny guys at their legitimate anger objections. But here, we are talking of Lola, a strong Looney Tunes bunny, and she could smash that damn basket ball on wolves' face, breaking all their teeth. That would be very a Looney reaction. But Lola doesn't react at all at this situation. Here, on my opinion, screenplayers missed an opportunity, but probably they thought to have already did too much with Lola's personality and “girl power”.

Remember also that Lola is the only young cartoon female character we see in the whole movie. So we can't do a proper comparison with other female relevant characters' rapresentation. (See here for a deeper analysis of Lola's origin and development: X)

However, compared with Bugs, Lola looks more fit, more humanized than Bugs. Lola has clearly a definited breast and booty, but it looks like is more her posture that makes them relevant. Lola has clearly shoulders back to show the rack. Bugs is anthropomorphic but remains an animal, has no shoulders or pectorals more like a human and looks a bit over-weight (fat belly). And his posture don't keep that stomach in, chin up, and march forward.

Lola, on the other hand, has a more human structure. That's why I say she has curves. An example are Mickey and Minnie who are two beans in the same way it is not that Mickey is a bean and Minnie has small tits, they are structurally alike.

Lola's body remembers highly No-Ribs-Jasmine from Aladdin (see the gif for reference). That unrealistic Barbie-like waist that was so popular in the 90s and 80s. (See here for references: X and X)

Now, we are changed a lot from the past 24 years. Barbies didn't have that impossible, unrealistic waist-line anymore, Disney princess concept has changed (see Merida and Moana).

Lola concept is changed in 2012: her design for the new cartoons is totally different and her personality too. She wear a blue or violet dress, almost flat-chested and she was made annoying and silly, just to make a contrast with Bugs smarter. Just like Daffy Duck is dumb as hell and his new girlfriend, Tina Russo (no more dear old Melissa Duck), is way smarter than him. Tina is tough, street-smart, rebellious and feisty. But we will see this thing in the next point.

2. People on the upper floors hated Lola personality.

Lola Bunny had only few lines in Space Jam, but she definitely passed the first impression that she was draw only for make male characters fall in love. Lola was a good basketball player and show it off, in front of a skeptical and then astonish bunch of cartoon guys and also Michael Jordan. She also had a strong personality and said it clear to Bugs she didn't like being called "doll". Lola was beauty and curvy, but not a cheerleader. Lola was a basketball player. Remember this part, because we will talk about basketball in the next point.

If at the box office Space Jam was a success, at Warner Bros there were those who turn up their noses, and they are important people, from the upper floors, who accused the film with Michael Jordan of having completely distorted the philosophy of the Looney Tunes. They blamed Lola Bunny more than everything else. Producers of Warner Bros said she was too perfect for the moody group of Warner cartoons: she was too sensual, provocative and independent, totally alien to that core of crazy characters that act as an exaggeration of the vices of 'man.

And fans hated her too. Chuck Jones, creator of the Merrie Melodies said: "Lola Bunny is a character with no future, she’s a totally worthless character with no personality."

So, Lola Bunny was deleted. Lola would make only some brief apparitions in some comics edited by DC Comics, in Baby Looney Tunes, in which she was a toddler with a very similar personality and resemblance to Space Jam adult version, and also as playable character in some unsuccessful videogames.

Years passed and projects for a sequel of Space Jam never become reality, so in 2003 Warner Bros relased Looney Tunes Back in Action. But Lola wasn't here, because the movie purposely want to make a deep cut with what we saw in Space Jam, according to what said it's director Joe Dante. This movie was a totally failure, but it gave back to Looney Tunes their craziness.

Years passed again, but this time is 2011, 10th of May on Cartoon Network was relased the second episode of The Looney Tunes Show. The series aimed to strongly relaunch the Looney Tunes, long gone from the glories of the past, updating the stories of Bugs Bunny and associates in a sitcom key, with the rabbit sharing a house with Daffy Duck in a suburb of Los Angeles. All interspersed with sketches by Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner done in CGI and the updated return of the Merrie Melodies. But the big news of the second episode is that LOLA BUNNY RETURNED.

And Lola was a character with some relevance within the series, even if something didn't seem right with her. Lola looked different, she was no longer the rabbit version of the femme fatale seen in Space Jam: she was naive, talkative, with her head in the clouds, crazy to the point of becoming Bugs Bunny's stalker. Bugs after having fallen in love with her at first glance understands on the first date that he absolutely can't stand Lola. She is no longer the Lola we used to know, even if the appearance is similar and the name is the same. Lola is effectively a Looney Tunes now. And the fans like her, the public like her, Warner Bros like her.

(See Lola in The Looney Tunes Show here: X)

But this is a big walk in behind from the indipent character we used to know in Space Jam. Lola was turned into the stereotype of the crazy girlfriend for a while. And this is not a surprise, if we remember that in 2012 were popular the "overly attached girlfriend" meme template. (See here for references: X)

However, in The Looney Toons Show Lola has some very funny moments, while in Space Jam she was more serious and a little out of space among the other characters. (See here for references: X)

3. What women wear when they play basketball?

Women's National Basketball Association was only created in 1996. So, women's basketball were not considered - and still is not considered - as important as men's basketball at the time Space Jam was filmed.

In Space Jam 2 there will be WNBA players with a significant role, for example Diana Taurasi and Nneka Ogwumike.

Professional female athletes aren't that curvy because curves are determined by body fat and they have a little.

As a busty volleyball player, I can say, dear people, breats could be very annoying during sport activities: it could be a pain, when you run or jump. That's because a lot of women wear sport bra to compress and support their breast. Sports bra may also include layered cups or a high neck to keep everything in place and protect from painful hits, so women can be safe and comfortable during workouts.

Female basketball players didn't wear crop-tops and tight shorts to play. They wear exactly what Lola wears in the picture above: long sleeveless tees, large shorts and maybe protective gears such as knee pads, sleeves or braces to reduce chronic pain caused by the immense burden put on the knees in basketball, to prevent bruises caused by collisions and hard fall and to provide support after a significant knee injury like an ACL tear. They could wear also compressive arms sleeves to help muscles that are sore or overworked to recover faster. The sleeve enables your blood flow to circulate quicker to the heart, which helps you heal and recover quicker.

Wow. WNBA wears Exactly what wear NBA players. So surprising.

4. This is only a promotional character sketch, not what Lola would look in the movie.

Space Jam 2 would be developed in CGI and there are a little preview frames going around, included one showing Lola jumping and you can see her breast shape. But she totally looks like a comic cartoon character. It's not humanized. It's not designed to be the sexy love interest. She doesn't look out of space among the others anymore, expecially because seems that there would be also Tweety's Granny and Melissa Duck or Tina Russo as players too.

5. Reality.

Really? You want a human anthropomorphic rabbit? Well, Lola as a rabbit would have something like six nipples, but no human-like breast. And, also, real life girls have ribs. No one in real life is that thin. Oh, well, if you don't considered Pixee Fox, a model who had surgically removed six ribs and wears daily a compressive bust corset (yes, like the one that made Elizabeth Swan faint in the first movie of Pirate of the Caribbean) to look like a cartoon fairy (Tinkerbell, you are the one to blame for this).

(See here for references: X)

In conclusion, we can say that all this controversy is based only on a porny fan art and that Lola “new” graphic isn't change too much from the original Space Jam movie. It's just a little more cartoonish.

We can also firmly remeber that Space Jam 2 is going to be developed for children, to relunch Looney Tunes among new generations of children, who are the largest buyers of merchandising (including Happy Meals surprises) and consumers of new cartoons that surely would be developed, if Space Jam 2 would be a success.

However, we should admit that those kids probably know better the 2011 version of Lola than her original version and that 2011 version was more appreciated by fans and producers. Lola's voice actress, Kristen Wiin won BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award in 2012 and was nominated for that prize also about three times in the following years. Also Rachel Ramras, Lola's voice actor was nominated for BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award in 2016 for her role in Looney Tunes: Rabbit Run.

We don't know anything about Lola's personality in Space Jam 2, so we can't do a proper comparison or a prevision, but, according to what Malcolm D. Lee said, we can assume that original personality of Lola would be preserved.

The controversy is relevant only for Lola's body and not for her personality, and that's is highly rappresentative of what impressed more this bunch of grow-up kids. They grow up to be like the horny wolves and they are howling because their prey is not available anymore.

And, to be honest, being so obsessed with the breast and the body of a cartoon character (that is clearly made up for kids) it's not sane at all. Sorry to say that, but sometimes people need to drink from a bottle of truth.

208 notes · View notes

miskatonique · 3 years

Text

HERBERT WEST CHEAT SHEET !

since my muses are not super well known in the contemporary rpc ( and i’m too lazy to do a full about page at this very moment ) i decided to put together little posts for them that give their general backgrounds, vibes, and plot possibilities !

this is a mix of canon and headcanon, and these are subject to change / adapt as i get more used to writing the characters

BACKGROUND:

Films: Re-Animator 1985, Bride of Re-Animator 1990, Beyond Re-Animator 2003

We don’t talk about Beyond Re-Animator......

Dr. Herbert West, 24 in the first movie, 27 in the second movie, idk like 40 in the third movie. Mad scientist to the MAX. In the novelization Herbert is an orphan who gets passed around in foster homes before eventually going to undergrad at NYU and pursuing his theory about the re-animation of dead tissue. Mostly people think he’s sort of crazy until one of his articles catches the eye of Dr. Hans Gruber at a university in Switzerland, and he invites Herbert to come work alongside him. Herbert eventually grows to respect Gruber as both a mentor and father-figure.

Herbert and Gruber develop a reagent that affects re-animation in dead animal tissue but they know that for their results to be taken seriously they need to do a human trial. Dr. Gruber volunteers but the dosage of the reagent is too large, and though it brings Gruber back to life it quickly overwhelms his system and he dies again. Herbert is taken into psychiatric custody in Switzerland but is eventually released.

Herbert returns to America and specifically sets his sights on Miskatonic Medical School in Arkham, Massachusetts because one of the staff, Dr. Carl Hill, used to work with Gruber years ago, and even went on to plagiarize some of Gruber’s work and publish it in America. Herbert makes it his secondary goal to absolutely terrorize Dr. Hill, and because he’s a chaotic gremlin in human form he’s very good at it.

Herbert continues working on perfecting the reagent, rooming with Dan Cain and eventually pulling Dan into the experiments as well when Dan’s cat dies and Herbert is able to prove his research by reanimating it. Herbert isn’t perturbed when Dan’s talk with Dean Halsey goes south, and just digs his heels in and insists that the only way to truly prove that the reagent works is to reanimate a human cadaver.

Results are just as bad as you’d expect. Sure, the cadaver reanimates but it also wrecks the morgue and kills Dean Halsey. RIP. Herbert insists that they reanimate him and the dean comes back less like himself and more animalistic, trying to kill both Herbert and Dan before his daughter Meg shows up and stops him. Despite it all, Herbert manages to wriggle his and Dan out of any suspicion from the police but Dr. Hill takes an interest in Herbert’s work once he does exploratory surgery of Dean Halsey and finds out he’s technically dead.

Dr. Hill confronts Herbert in his laboratory and threatens to steal Herbert’s work and take it for his own, offering Herbert the meager honour of being his assistant. Herbert promptly murders Hill via decapitation but decides not to let his fresh corpse go to waste and reanimates both Hill’s head and his body, which come back to life and knock Herbert out and steal all of his work.

Yada yada, Herbert gets Dan to help him go after Hill, the big climax happens. Herbert is able to prove his theory about overdose by shooting up Dr. Hill’s headless body with a bunch of reagent, which backfires and Herbert is left for dead all tangled up in Hill’s intestines, but not after he ensures that his research is safe with Dan.

They never explain how Herbert survives the first movie but he sure is alive in the second movie! It’s roughly 3ish years after the first film, so he’s got his doctorate now and he’s drug Dan all the way to Peru so they can be volunteer medics in a civil war. This obviously gives Herbert an unprecedented access to fresh bodies for his experiments.

Eventually he and Dan head back to Miskatonic Hospital, where they’re able to get jobs and a creepy cute little house that used to be a mortuary so they can continue the work. Herbert is now obsessed with the reanimation of separate parts and convinces Dan to help him build an entirely new life from parts. Dan’s not on board until Herbert shows him Megan Halsey’s heart and promises that they’ll build the body around it.

Dr. Hill’s head also somehow survived the first movie and it tries to terrorize Herbert, along with a cop who’s investigating Herbert for stealing corpses. Herbert eventually kills and reanimates the cop, and then gets into even more trouble when all of the other strange creatures he’s been reanimating start coming after him because they’re being mind controlled by Dr. Hill’s nasty head ( don’t ask me okay, this script was written in literally 6 weeks it makes no sense )

Anyway Herbert and Dan successfully bring their creation to life right before getting attacked by Dr. Hill and his army of weirdos, all while Dan is having a mental breakdown because he thinks the creation is his dead girlfriend Meg. In the chaos Dan and the creation escape separately while Herbert and Hill and co. get trapped under buried rubble and are left for dead ( AGAIN ).

But surprise! Herbert isn’t dead! We don’t know how he survived but we do know that at some point in time Dan turned over evidence to the authorities that led to Herbert’s arrest and imprisonment. The third movie picks up with Herbert who’s been in prison for 13 years and the dumbass new hospital doctor is a fanboy of Herbert and brings in some of his reagent. Herbert basically starts a prison riot, chaos ensues, this movie is Not Good, but the important thing is that Herbert escapes prison with his work and gets to walk off free and definitely alive into the night <3

VIBES / PERSONALITY:

His work is EVERYTHING to him -- there have been multiple times where Herbert has put his work above his own bodily safety or chance of survival, and I guarantee he would do it again, too. Herbert is mostly focused on being able to do the impossible simply because it’s “impossible.” He’s able to convince Dan to help him because he reasons the practical applications of his reagent, like saving lives by aiding in surgeries or helping with amputations, but at the end of the day Herbert is only concerned with discovery, acclaim, and giving classical science a big ‘ole middle finger.

He can be incredibly manipulative when looking for a specific action or behavior in the people close to him. This mostly is seen in how he treats Dan, often reeling him back in with promise of how much good their work will do in the world when Dan starts to get squeamish. Herbert is also really good at finding the sorest spots in someone and pressing on them, but usually only does this when he wants to prove a point or if he really hates someone.

He gains a lot of power by seeming like the more “level-headed” person in an altercation, but he can get extremely excitable or aggressive, especially when something goes well with his research or if it’s being threatened.

He’s genuinely a good doctor, doesn’t freak out under pressure, has neutral-good bedside manner, is very decisive and isn’t afraid to make difficult decisions when it comes to a patient’s life. However, Herbert considers himself a scientist first and a doctor second. The work on reanimation will always come before anything else.

He’s a HUGE fucking nerd, he loves making puns or little zingers whenever he can fit them into a conversation. He also likes playing practical jokes, though he doesn’t do it often. He’s got a great evil giggle.

Oh he’s terrible at taking care of himself. There’s a deleted scene from the first movie where Herbert is shown to be injecting himself with a weakened version of the reanimating reagent because it helps keep his brain sharp and makes it to where he doesn’t have to sleep. What a NUT. I think he probably weans off this habit, by force or choice. His sleeping and eating habits are still pretty bad, though. Definitely the kind of person who doesn’t eat/sleep/rest unless he’s genuinely about to collapse because of it.

Oh he’s also sooooooooooo gay. gay gay gay homo sexual.

There are very few people he outright respects or enjoys spending time around, and with everyone else he is absolutely so bitchy and rude. He doesn’t give a single shit about being polite. Also ACAB.

PLOT POSSIBILITIES:

Got any canonically dead muses? Want them to be alive again? Herbert can help with that! He’ll definitely want to make sure they stick around and observe them to see why the reagent worked so well, maybe do some extra tests, so he can also double as a really annoying, creepy roommate. Score!

Med student muses? I have a new classmate for you

Ever wondered what your muse would do if they saw someone graverobbing, or smuggling body parts into their house in the middle of the night? Do they stop him? Ask questions? Offer to help? Now’s the chance to find out!

He could always use a new assistant since Dan keeps abandoning him after every movie, jfc, loyalty is so hard to find these days

Meet-cute where one of his reanimated creations tries to murder you and he saves you from it <3

#( SAVE TAG: H. WEST. )#ooc #this one especially is very infodumpy #i think that's why i was putting it off cuz i knew it was gonna be long a;lskfjda #herbert is the reason i started this blog..... i love this little bitch so much....#not even sure if this is coherent besties !

9 notes · View notes

nervouslywaitingforlife · 3 years

Text

Detective Conan has a shot ton of Dubs - a post. This is a long post going over a lot of details of Detective Conan (which is why theres a read more as this is long)

This is full of lost media and the many odd dubs that Detective conan has, I hope you enjoy.

Fox Kids dub

This is the earliest dubbing of Detective Conan being done in 2000 and the one with the least amount of any infomation.

All we know is that it was going to be called Conan's Capers, there is a pilot which is a mash up of the first episode and the third episode which was cut down to 7 minutes with episode one being cut down to 5 minutes. All elements of murder and violence were cut or censored.

For example, in episode 1 and the scene in which Gin hits Shinichi and gives him the aptx, in this dub Gin scares shinichi by saying "boo" and Shinichi falls to the ground, the aptx is supposed to give Shinichi amnesia not kill him.

Also all of the names were changed as well:

• Shinuchi Kudo to Peter Gray

• Conan Edogawa to Conan Issac

• Ran Mouri to Rebecca Lacey

• Kogoro Mouri to Slick Lacey

The pilot 7 minute pilot is lost though was rumoured to be shown on tv once and we only know infomation due to a leak in 2000 and this article from a magazine.

The reason it didn't air was due to the cuts needed to the anime as it would cost more than just dubbing over the animation.

The Miramax / ABC Family dub

In 2002 another dub of Detective Conan was made by Miramax Television hired by Fox Family. It was made in 1997 and aired in 2002 / 2003, it aired 110 episodes or 5 seasons the name was changed slightly to Detective conan: Case Closed.

It was edited a fair bit but not as heavy as the 2000s dub. It follows the initial script though there have been alterations to make it understandable. There is some swearing though only mild. The violence, murder and threats were toned down or deleted. It was made to be more funnier though it wasn't a ghost stories dub or anything. Alcohol, smoking, drugs and nudity were given the 4kids treatment and got recoloured or removed into something tamer. The most interesting thing is that the episodes were shortened to 10 minutes , making two edited episodes fit one run time.

Names were changed again:

• Shinichi Kudo to Jimmy Kudo

• Conan Edogawa stayed the same

• Ran Mouri to Cherry

• Kogoro Mouri to Richard

• Ayumi Yoshida to Amy

• Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya to Maxwell

• Genta Kojima to George

• Ai Haibara to Anita

Most don't have a last name.

To my knowledge this is also lost media, I cant find any of the episodes for this dub. Theres a lot of trivia about the series and it seems that the voice actors had a lot of fun.

Singapore dub

In 2003 a dub was produced for the Singapore under the origional name of Detective Conan. 52 episodes were dubbed by Voiceovers Unlimited. And were dubbed by some well known Singapore dubbers like Chuck Powers who did 50% of the voices in the Singapore dub of Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Though over the years this dub has become lost, as it was only released on VCD and for a while we only had the opening and ending for this dub. Though in 2020, 22 episodes of this dub were found and restored. This can be good for people who have grown up with this dub and want to watch it again.

Funimation dub

This is the most well known dub of Detective Conan, if you've seen any dub of Detective Conan its probably this one. This dub was aired in 2004 and called Case Closed, it aired 130 episodes though they were actually 123 japanese episodes though some episodes were cut into multiple smaller episodes. They did the first six movies and did the voice acting for the only english released Detective Conan game The Mirapolis Investigation.

The names used for this dub are the same as the Case Closed manga:

• Shinichi Kudo to Jimmy Kudo

• Conan Edogawa stayed the same

• Ran Mouri to Rachel Moore

• Kogoro Mouri to Richard Moore

• Heiji Hattori to Harley Hartwell

It was aired on Adult Swim but had low ratings as well as low DVD sales, which is why there hasn't been more from this dub. Even though it was Dubbed up to season 5, though 11 episodes were missing from the dvd, these missing episodes include the introduction of Ai Haibara.

The Animax / Philippines dub

This one I nearly missed due to the lack of information on this one. There are two dubs for the philippines one in english and one in Filipino. I'm only talking about the English Dub as if I get into other language dubs then I'll be here all day.

This dub was done by Animax Asia in 2006 and only 52 episodes were shown. This dub uses the character's origional names and the original title Detective Conan. I can't find much infonation on this dub, I just find infomation on the Filipino dub.

Bang Zoom! Dub

This is the most recent dub of detective conan, currently they have dubbed the 22nd movie Zero the Enforcer and the special Episode "one" so far. To my knowledge they are only dubbing the movies, with the Episode "One" Special being the most recent being released in 2020. The names are the same as the origional japanese one, though the title is Case Closed: One Truth Prevails.

#origionally posted on amino but im also posting it here as it took me like 2 hours to get the info #yikes long post #detective conan #case closed #what else am I supposed to tag this as #conan's capers #i guess #i workes on this for most of today #as you can tell i was proud

13 notes · View notes

smokeybrandreviews · 3 years

Text

Smokey brand Retrospective: Red Pill Me

Cinemacon has passed and there has been a lot of awesome sh*t revealed. On the top of that list, obviously, Spider-Man: Far From Home has me geeked to high heaven but there were a ton of other noteworthy reveals. There was some Batman reveals, a few Mission Impossible 7 and Top Gun 2 trailers, plus audiences ever got a surprise screening of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Now, that would be great on it's own but cats even got a little sizzle real for Matrix Resurrections: The long gestating fourth Matrix film. Apparently, this thing is releasing in December. I am lukewarm at best. I have fond memories of the Matrix trilogy as a whole but, since it’s final release some twenty years ago, the Wachowskis have been revealed to be one trick ponies. They kind of suck at film making. I mean, i liked Speed Racer but i just generally enjoy Speed Racer. It helped tremendously that Christina Ricci was Trixie, too, but everything after that was kind of balls. I also really like V for Vendetta but that’s not real their movie, they just adapted it. I guess you can say that about Speed Racer, too. Anyway, in light of there near Shyamalan-esque track record with their films, i wanted to revisit the first three Matrix films and see if they hold up, to try and muster some sense of excitement for what comes next.

The Matrix

Of the trilogy, this is easily the best film. Everything about it is exceptional. The Matrix was a whole ass shift in the cultural zeitgeist. It was a lot of people’s first experience with accessible cyberpunk and I'll always love it for that. I’ll also love it for normalizing Hong Kong style action sequences and giving us the most breathtaking application of Bullet Time I've seen to date. The Matrix s why the theater exists. If you’ve never seen this thing on the big screen, you missed out on something very special. I had just just turned thirteen when it released and checked it out at the dollar theater. I had only ever seen anything like this, in anime. Seeing all of my favorite Eighties OVAs filtered through the big budget Hollywood lens was incredible. I even like the rather pedestrian narrative. I think the story worked for what the movie was trying to do. It’s a shame the Wachowskis have tried to rewrite history about the narrative as of late. I understand the underlying themes of identity and sexuality but come on? That’s some college film theory bullsh*t that got tacked on after the fact. Now, if the original script is to be believed, then, yes, all of that, but what we got is not so profound. This is a basic Chosen One narrative with Dope ass effects that were ahead of it’s time.

A fr as the cast, what can i say? These motherf*ckers were perfect. Keanu Reeves as Neo was inspired. It’s wild to say that because dude is a plank but it works. He’s the POV character, he’s who you see that world through. Making him a blank slate so to speak, helps with immersion and that is a world you definitely wan to be immersed within. This was my first experience with Carrie-Ann Moss and I've loved her ever since. Her Trinity fast became one of my favorite characters and I'm actually pretty excited to see where she is in the new film. Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus was an interesting choice. I wasn’t mad and it worked perfectly but it was weird seeing him in such an active, action oriented, role. That said, for me, this movie is made by Hugo Weaving. He is absolutely monstrous as Agent Smith. He’s got this scene chewing energy that mirrors Christoph Waltz’s Hans Landa and we all know how much i love that Nazi f*ck so that’s really high praise. To this day, I've got his Humanity is a Virus speech memorized. It was just that f*cking good! The Matrix is an exquisite watch and it is absolutely mandatory viewing if you consider yourself a fan of cinema.

The Matrix Reloaded

Whoo, boy, talk about a drop in quality. Reloaded released four years later in 2003 and it screams Studio Mandate. I was a sprightly eighteen years old when this thing dropped and made it a point to see it opening day. I really enjoyed the first outing so i figured this one would be just as amazing. Indeed, i remember leaving the theater thinking to myself how decent of a sequel it turned out to be. It wasn’t better than the first but it didn’t sh*t the bed like most follow-ups do. Fast forward to present day and, after watching this thing again for the first time in probably fifteen years, it’s kind of f*cking bad. Like, as a cinematic experience, it’s pretty tight Everything is amped up. Tons more action, way more bombastic set pieces, stakes have been raised considerably; The Matrix Reloaded is everything you want in a summer blockbuster sequel. However, that’s it. Everything else is worse. The acting has become way too hammy and the new cast members fit into this narrative like a square peg in a round hole. Why is f*cking Niobe even in this thing? Who even is the Merovingian? Why is Mouse? The pacing is all over the place, too. Like, this thing stops dead in it’s tracks on several occasions but that’s not the worst of it.

The worst thing is the narrative. What the f*ck even is the story trying to be told in this movie? It doesn’t make any f*cking sense. The Matrix was, very obviously, a standalone film. That was a closed narrative. Neo’s story had been told. Everything after that is unnecessary. This movie is an exercise in the unnecessary. I appreciate all of how unchained and manic Smith is in this but, outside of that, what the f*ck was the point of this whole narrative? It’s filler. This movie is filler and it feels like it. The returning cast is serviceable and seeing Zion was interesting. I like how all the survivors are just sweaty black people. I literally hated everyone added to the cast though. Well, that’s not quite true. I rather enjoyed Collin Chou as Seraph. Dude was inconsequential but i love seeing Asian martial artists not name Li or Chan getting some shine. Also, Monica Bellucci is in this and i kind of just love her in general. Her Persephone is absolutely disposable but she looks damn fine in that plastic wrapped dress of hers. I literally can’t be bothered mentioning anyone else. They are that forgettable. This movie is that forgettable. And it’s arguably the best of the two sequels.

The Matrix Revolutions

Talk about going out with a thud. Man, i saw this with my best friend, rest in peace B, and we both hated it. He was an even bigger fan of The Matrix than i was so his disappointment was palpable. I’ll never forget his visceral reaction when that rainbow spread across the super happy Hollywood ending. Dude was hot and he had every right to be. The first Matrix set up this intriguing, immersive, world full of fanatic visuals, great piratical stunts, and a very through provoking premise. The second Matrix was your basic Hollywood sequel; More shine, less substance. But Revolutions? Man this is peak Wachowski fail. You saw hints of this messiah sh*t in the first, it’s literally a Chosen One narrative, but thy went all in on that sh*t in Reloaded. By the time Revolutions finished, this whole narrative was so far up it’s own ass, it didn’t know which way was up. It just f*cking ends. Everyone is dead and it’s over. The Wachowskis went heavy on the Jesus imagery, they were not subtle, and the f*cking conflict just ends. Robot don’t stop using people as batteries. Flesh and blood Humans still have to live in Zion. The only thing that’s changed is Neo’s dead and Agent Smith has been deleted. That’s it. The Matrix still exists, people are still trapped in it, and everything that happened in these films doesn’t f*cking matter. Literally right back at the start of the whole goddamn conflict. Revolutions is so f*cking disappointing, dude, by every measure of that metric.

Hugh Weaving is still pretty good as Smith and Keanu does his best imitation of white bread as Neo but, like, everything else is just so pedestrian. Plus, this thing is long. Like, unreasonably so. Why the f*ck is this movie two hours? The entire trilogy is kind of like that but it’s most egregious in this one. This story could be told in ninety minutes, just like Reloaded. Why the f*ck do i have an extra half hour of bullsh*t in this? Like, that whole “Neo Lost” arc was unnecessary, in both sequels. F*cking why? I don’t hate Revolutions. It’s not a “bad” film per say, it’s just disappointing. It’s the poster child for the law of diminishing returns. The Matrix Revolutions is the what happens when you let creatives with fresh egos, run amok with one hundred and fifty million f*cking dollars. So much spectacle but even less substance that Reloaded and that motherf*cker was a hollow mess. Still, The Matrix Revolutions is better than anything Michael Bay or Zack Snyder has ever made so i guess it’s got that going for it.

#The Matrix #The Matrix Reloaded #The Matrix Revolutions #The Matrix Trilogy #Smokey brand Retrospective #Keeanu Reeves #Carrie-Anne Moss #Hugo Weaving #Lawrence Fishburne

3 notes · View notes

adultswim2021 · 3 years

Text

The Brak Show #24: “Enter the Hump” | November 2, 2003 - 11:30 PM | S03E05

Here’s one I’d put in the good column. In Enter the Hump, Brak’s dad gets bit by a radioactive camel as well as some radioactive bats, causing Brak’s dad to sprout a hump, bray like a camel (which involves facial shape-shifting), and also be able to hang upside down from the ceiling.

I think this one is pretty good, actually. There are a few memorable scenes, including a lengthy and hilarious cameo from Space Ghost who reveals that he’s been holed up in Brak’s basement. There’s a great bit here where Brak calls him George and not Space Ghost. Another great scene involves Thundercleese showing up to laugh at Dad. It all adds up to a good time. Man, The Brak Show would be considered a good show if you just deleted half the episodes. The bad half, I mean. When the series is over I may have to make a list of the good ones. It’s a keeper, mate!

MAIL BAG

Is there anything on TV right now worth even the slightest bit of shit? I feel like I've been just watching youtube and old shit for the past 5 years and its driving me bonkers.

Buddy... I’ve got no FUCKING idea. I am so mired in watching old movies and rewatching old shows that I’ve lost my status as the guy to ask this question. Did you not ever know that I used to be that kind of guy? Well, I was. I am going to set a timer for five minutes and I’m going to list all the shows I’m aware of that are actual television shows that I think are WORTH WATCHING. Not even favorites! HERE WE GO:

Rick and Morty

is It’s Always Sunny still on

Joe Pera

I heard Beavis and Butt-head is coming back.

The HBO Looney Tunes

was that Johnny Ryan show he did for Nickelodeon good? still on?

heard good things about Atlanta. Don’t know what it is

Oh there’s a show I think on hulu called like Lodge 49 or something. My wife loves it. Seems good!

Hey South Park! that’s still on right?

Smiling Friends. Is that what it’s called? It’s on Adult Swim

WILD ON E!

pathetic showing but what are you going to do? I’ve lost touch! I’m a hasbeen!

Sorry if I'm uneducated, but what's SNL?

Suck Nuts, LADY! (we are married). the parenthetical is part of it, because Lorne believes in traditional marriage. Traditional marriage! What a fairy’s tale!

I never heard Tom Scharpling's radio show but I know him from podcasts and stuff. Pretty unassuming but funny guy. He has a book coming out. Did you read it? Would you recommend it.

It’s a national best seller, you gotta respect that. The book is good I read it in very close to one sitting. It was NICE

Sorry, it turns out I skipped a paragraph at the end where you mentioned and recommended Tom Scharpling's book. And while I'm not one for squealing myself it seems like it is a glowing rec. Wow. I simply don't have anything more to say. Thank you!

You are welcome and I’d like to hear that squeal from ya real soon. Oh, make sure you buy it using this link! I’ll get a little percentage of the sale if you do. Thanks.

What if someone said "say hello to my little friend" and it was Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force! How delightful.

That guy is all smiles and I for sure would be too. Thanks.

#adult swim #the brak show #adultswim2021

3 notes · View notes

gintamajustaway · 4 years

Note

Are there any other popular fandoms like JoJo and AOT that you did not get into? Me personally, it was AOT and FMAB. AOT was justing meh to me, and while I enjoyed FMAB, I did not stay in the fandom for too long. I get flak from my friends for not being into such classics, but I personally do not care for them, and I feel like it should be fine to not like the same things as your friends.

LOOOOOOL oh my god yes, probably most of them and the timing on this ask is actually great because I just had a discussion about this kind of stuff with a great friend of mine the other day. Not specifically about popular anime/manga necessarily, but just how incredibly fucked up fandom culture and fandom mindset is anymore. The whole thing is fascinating and honestly just wild to me because I’ve never been able to relate to it. Like, just reading this and if you look it up on this blog, I’ve talked about Fullmetal Alchemist (both Brotherhood and the 2003). It’s one of my favorites of all time. It’s the only anime I’ve bothered to buy all the manga for and have the complete collection because I just loved it that much. Having someone come into my ask box and say they didn’t care for it, I feel absolutely nothing. Because there’s nothing wrong with that and it doesn’t matter to me at all?? Everyone is different, everyone will like different things and have differing opinions, so I don’t understand why so many people have taken on this really fucked up fandom mentality that they need to attack someone or make a big scene about things that don’t matter.

I can obviously only speak for myself about any of this and using my own experiences here, but just like when I was having that discussion with my close friend recently, we both noticed that the best and longest relationships we’ve had with people online are with people that aren’t super invested in fandom. We enjoy anime and movies, but I swear the absolute best and most down to earth people that I’ve grown attached to and consider important to my life are the people that are chill and relaxed and none of them have ever or would ever attack someone online over something stupid like anime or fictional characters. I’m going to throw this example out there because it fits really well with this topic: Not too long ago, this random chick I never knew existed made this big long callout post about me and put it in the main Gintama tag. In this post, she called me all kinds of things -- arrogant, selfish, narcissistic, and a bunch of other buzzwords.

Why? Because I’d deleted my fanfiction over two years ago and she wanted to publicly let me know I’m a horrible person for doing so. And then, in the same post amongst all these nasty things, she begs me to repost all my fanfiction. So, this is a piece of that ‘fandom mentality,’ but then you also have to add in the fact that she’d posted in a public Gintama discord group her intention to make this callout post and they all agreed that they should and encouraged her to do it. These people that I’d never met and that know absolutely nothing about me were saying things like, “Yeah you can tell a lot about a person when they delete their fanfiction.” And one of the people involved in wanting this callout post to happen was someone I’d spoken to before, had only been extremely nice and inclusive to, and on top of that she was still following me. I don’t know if it was to keep tabs on me or what, but the whole thing is just wild to me and I’m endlessly fascinated by this whole fandom culture mentality because I don’t understand it. If you don’t like me, that’s totally fine, I won’t hold that against you as it’s not a big deal to me. I’m confident and strong enough as a person to be able to withstand if some random stranger doesn’t like me, but if you don’t like me then lol why are you following me?

But what’s so fascinating about this callout culture is that these people legitimately think that ganging up on people they disagree with is good and they’re doing the world some kind of service by treating people like shit. Whereas for me, sitting where I’m at as the one that had been attacked, I’m so glad I was never part of anything like that. Calling people out over something as stupid as fanfiction? God, I can’t imagine. Some of my favorite artists had deleted their work due to reposting and do I miss it? Of course! I loved their talent and creativity, but more than anything, I respect their decision to look after themselves. It’s wild to me that some people don’t possess this really simple concept and get so involved in getting things for free and consuming all they can that they completely lose sight of reality. I could seriously go on and on about this subject because I’m being completely honest when I say it’s incredibly interesting to me. What’s also kind of hilarious about it is that the groups that go around attacking people rarely stick together. There was this phenomenal post on twitter that a friend sent me. Here’s the link to it, I highly suggest giving it a read and reading the comments too because the whole thing hits the nail on the head.

Anyway, all of this rambling has a point and that point is this: maybe you need better friends. I’m absolutely not saying they’re bad people or that there are good things about them that you enjoy because I’m definitely sure there are! But if they’re genuinely making you feel bad over something as stupid as “you don’t like this anime,” then find people in a better mental place to hang out with. I am not kidding when I say my best online friends that I’ve had for literal years and talk to every single day through discord or texting, they are extremely well adjusted and enjoy anime/writing/drawing casually. From experience I’ve found that the people super obsessed with anime, feel entitled to free stuff from writers/artists, talk trash about people in cliques, stalk people -- these are the ones you want to avoid at all costs because they may be your “friends” but if you do anything they consider to be “wrong,” their next target is going to be super easy because it’s going to be you.

#anon #long post #not Gintama #small shout out here:#if any of my followers feel like they're trapped or stuck #or don't fit in because they can't relate to fandom mentality #hit me up #send me a message #I'm always down to chat #(just may take me a hot second to respond since I only get on here like once or twice a week)#you can always ask for my discord #I'm on there everyday #peace out

12 notes · View notes

steve0discusses · 4 years

Text

Yugioh S4 Ep21: Duke Puts on Duel Disk, Immediately Takes Disk Off

So last time we ended, Yugi and Tea were stranded in the middle of an ancient warfield that was hundreds of feet off the side of this cliff topped with a seldom used railroad track.

And yes, this is all somewhere in what should be one of the most populated parts of the Bay Area.

Amazed that this school uniform can go through such rugged terrain. But then again, last season it got hit squarely with a fireball, so...this school uniform is essentially a Batman suit.

But I just want to point out that Yugi didn’t take the duel disk off before vaulting up this cliff. Tea has a bag youknow...but gotta sweat up the duel disk that our entire world relies on.

It would be very funny if this season ended abruptly because Yami either dropped this thing on the ground and finally broke it, or just plain forgot he needed to charge it’s batteries.

And so now we just walk...kind of in the direction where they hope Joey and Tristan are?

I do appreciate that although Pharaoh is completely lost in a foreign country, he will not admit it.

(read more under the cut)

On the other side of the tracks, Joey is dragging his Sisyphean stone.

Please admire that this entire scene takes place somewhere in the Grand Canyon. Like it’s episode 20 and I just still can’t get past how they went to California and didn’t include a single beach.

Mai has decided she’s done screaming off the back of a motorcyle, and has decided to come over to Dartz’ lair to scream where the traffic isn’t quite so bad.

And she just rage quits.

Is this the first rage quit we’ve ever had in this show about games? Incredible.

Also, I didn’t realize you could just quit the end of the world cult in the final hours of ending the world, but I guess it doesn’t really matter much to Dartz. Whether Mai ends up killing Joey or doesn’t end up killing Joey, it’s still a soul in the Leviathan bucket so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, in the actual dialogue of the show, Dartz tells Valon that Mai’s basically going to get what she deserves and no one here needs to even do anything to change or stop it. But, it was still somewhat surprising that this 10,000 year old serial murderer world destroyer was so down to shell out some relationship advice. Almost like maybe he has somewhat of a fatherly concern for his stupid ass murder boys. Kind of. Sort of.

Enough to try and tell Valon to leave this one alone because she’s gone maniacal pixie dream girl and there’s no coming back from that.

In order to have motorcycle gangs, you have to have bearable enough traffic for said gangs. That’s why we just don’t have a motorcycle gang problem in real deal California like a lot of 70′s-80′s movies would have you think. They’d only be able to drive in like...one lane, and they’d get constantly cut off and driven off the road by Google buses.

TBH the Google bus is our true modern motorcycle gang, there are just so many of these damn buses. And also, I deleted a lot of text right now when I went off about the ongoing bus war, which is absolutely a thing here. The motorcyclists are just doing me a solid by not being a car on the road and staying out of my lane.

In a more realistic version of this show, Mai would have never made it to the desert, she’d be too busy watching only one single car able to turn right onto Octavia every light cycle because of all the damn private buses and uber cars flooding our itty bitty one way streets.

And to try and tame Mai, Valon decides to do this...motorcycle stand off?

It’s like he’s trying to catch a feral cat.

At some point one of them stops, and like I was focused too much on how good their brakes are to pay attention to who stopped first.

Probably Valon, because Mai is completely insane.

And so then he just...

Y’all I know they had to give Valon motivation to be in love with Mai, but this kids show jumped through so many hoops to make this very unhealthy relationship appear like Valons love was pure and true while still showing that this is a very unhealthy relationship. Kind of a hard balance.

It’s actually interesting how much work they put into Valon’s very tragic and problematic relationship after they’ve dodged every other problematic relationship this show has brought forth.

Like the villain with a heart of gold is a trope, but it’s a trope that works. There is no hope in the world that this relationship could pan out. They’re not a misunderstood pair like he thinks they are. They’re freakin terrible and they don’t deserve each other. But he’s gonna try and do it anyway.

We get to watch Valon bargain (mostly with himself) about how this relationship (which exists mostly in his head) is going to absolutely work out, because to him, if he feels so intensely, eventually she’s gotta feel the same. Most people haven’t murdered people, but it’s still a very relatable type of situation that the show displays without getting too preachy about how it’s clearly bad news. They just introduce it for the audience to come to their own conclusions, and I was really surprised by that level of maturity.

I’ve been sitting here saying “There’s no way this show could balance Tea with Yugi and the Ghost in his head. There’s no way they can really touch on Kaiba and that paper card. There’s no way that this show knows how to do a relationship because they don’t want to get involved with that weird gray area.” and you know what? Maybe they can.

Like they’re doing it right now. Did they just need 4 seasons of people complaining to go “Fine! I’ll write out the problematic relationship! I’ll do it!” because--this works for them. They finally did it.

Now, I’m not saying it’s Oscar worthy or developed beyond a trope, I’m just saying I’m genuinely surprised to see it on this show, and they should have done it more often. It’s a super weird pairing, but way more interesting than like...all that time we spent with Serenity because I actually have something to look forward to. (which will be when Valon inevitably dies in a ball of tragic glory)

So many romance stories give me nothing to look forward to, y’all. You have to give me something. Like, I’ve been reading a lot of not great romance in my life, and you have to have some sort of time limit in place for me to care about your couple. To have only have so much time before the other person gets married, moves, ends the world--I don't care--but man that time limit is crucial and so much romance just...forgets.

Like Bonnie and Clyde, Romeo and Juliet, and other ill fated couples, Valon and Mai end up being interesting because we just love seeing people fall into pieces. Hell, I just finished watching Tiger King and damn, what makes that show so good is that you are just waiting on that time limit to see how bad it gets. (and it’s crazy, super recommend Tiger King, although it’s very clear that they pushed the drama a little beyond realism but man. Good TV.)

Of course there’s always the chance that maybe Valon just got bored. But, youknow.

Anyway, it IS a romance on Yugioh, so we do have to very quickly drive a truck through it.

Man.

What are they DOING here?

It took me kind of a while to remember that Mai would be going where Joey would be living, which is most likely where Raphael dropped off Arthur Hawkins. But, if you don’t remember that fact, this is the most random thing ever.

Like you got this huge ass desert in the Califorizonado mesas, and then BOOM enter Rebecca Hawkins, just omnisciently lording over all of the West and just so ready to fight you.

Every girl interested in Yugi Muto has this thing where they’re normally pretty chill and then they just snap and get angry as hell.

PS she’s in a different outfit now, but I don’t feel like changing her font color. I’ve had some Photoshop.......incidents.......and I don’t think I have this plaid pattern anymore and I don't feel like making a new one yet.

I mean Valon’s got the green outline on his text, so I figure we’re good.

Also, Rebecca wears a tie clip?

This 12 year old girl wears a tie clip.

And like don't get me wrong, this was 2003-4, alt rock was big, and yes, we did have tiny Avril Lavigne ties at American Eagle. I will admit that I very much considered getting an Avril Lavigne tie at one point in my life, but didn’t want the commitment of needing to pair it with a skirt.

But either way, old man tie clips aren’t alt rock. The only thing that makes Rebecca’s outfit not exactly that alt-grunge Avril Lavigne look is that tie clip. They were SO close to making her look cool. Just so close.

Also the bifocals. But anyway...

So Valon was going to straight up ignore Rebecca, because he has a warped sense of morality and will not kill a 12 year old (but will kill a 17 year old). But, Mai did ask nicely.

Thankfully, because of Valons weird sense of morality, he did not pull out the Oricalchos. Instead he pulled out...a new mechanic!

OK.

Fine, whatever. I don’t go over cards in this show so I don’t have to even worry about this.

And Rebecca and Duke freakin lost, because Duke is never allowed to win. Rebecca may have won if Duke didn’t join this battle with his ass luck, just throwing that out there.

And Mai is like “wow, Valon is doing a really good job. He’s right, he IS amazing”

and she bolts.

And back on the tracks, we see another group of our protagonists sprawled on the desert floor.

REALLY lucky that this train track only has one operating train that is currently out of commission because you should not lie down on a track like this. Probably goes without saying that this is a great way to die. But youknow...the world is also ending so sure, why not? Getting killed by a train is probably more pleasant than the Leviathan.

And then, because we MUST talk about commuting, lets see Kaiba’s commute on this huge ass very normal plane.

I know.

That’s just a normal ass plane.

Even Kaiba needs to take a break youknow? And maybe since he hallucinated last time he drove a plane he decided to just...not drive one for a while. Probably a good move.

On the way, we get to see Seto’s form of parental advice. It was weird.

Like in the actual dialogue of the show Seto is just SO CLOSE to giving good advice and then just slips in these chestnuts where it’s like...well that’s gonna be like 12 years of therapy for Mokuba in the future Seto, thanks for that.

Also lets welcome back Seto’s dueling jacket. Been a while, big sleeves.

Also, the Aurora Borealis has also hit the plane, which is very Twilight Zone of them.

...

Correct me if I’m wrong but Alister was in Dartz’ room during that convo with Mai.

like...just a few hours ago?

Was that a hologram of Alister in Dartz’ boardroom or did the animation team forget?

Oh Alister.

Also, I just want to point out that the same day Seto sent Roland out to fix his problems, was the same day that Kaiba got hella abducted, just a few hours later. Man, Roland. Turn around for like 2 minutes and Seto’s back into cards, they’re both abducted by cultists, and they’re both half-way across the world to California. It must be hard to be Roland.

Anyway, if you just got here this is a link to read the rest in chrono order. All four seasons.

Hope y’all are staying safe in this Pandemic time, goes without saying. Been a weird couple of weeks, but thankfully the internet is still here to help us all keep sanity.

35 notes · View notes

yeonchi · 4 years

Text

Kisekae Insights #14: Dealing with changing Doctors

The main incarnation of the Doctor in my project is the Fifth Doctor, who is largely based on the BBC Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors. After Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi announced that they were resigning from the series, I decided that it would be time to begin planning the endgame to my project. This also meant that I would not be adapting the BBC Thirteenth Doctor.

Since my project relied on the BBC episodes, I had to find ways to transition the Doctor into a different character without regenerating him. Take a look at how I got around the regeneration storylines for my project.

For context, the picture at the top is meant to show the Fifth Doctor’s appearance in the Moushouden Series, which is essentially Matt Smith’s face on Peter Capaldi’s costume. I remember someone posted something like this on Facebook years ago. Saving it never occurred to me and by the time I wanted to find it, it was either lost or deleted, so that’s why I decided to recreate it myself. I may not be an artist, but I know a thing or two about putting transparent PNGs on other backgrounds.

Eleventh to Twelfth

The Next Gen Series largely takes place between The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor, but without Clara. Clara was dropped off at home just after Hiroki and Akari’s wedding and she would not return until Series 10.

So how did I deal with The Time of the Doctor? The Siege of Trenzalore happened concurrently to the events of the Series 9 finale, which was a lot shorter than the 900 years as shown in the original episode. Like in the original episode, the Daleks ended up being the only aliens fighting against the Doctor and the Silence; the downscaling of the timeline makes the other aliens look like absolute jokes. Hiroki would have interactions with the Doctor in between his involvement in the Battle of Sekigahara and the Ōsaka Campaign.

At the same time that Hiroki and his comrades are attacking Honnōji and Nijō Castle, the Daleks are unleashing an all-out attack on Trenzalore. A Dalek confronts the Doctor at the top of the clock tower and accidentally taps into his hatred for the Daleks after scanning him, leading the Dalek to begin exterminating some Daleks before being exterminated himself. Handles dies when a Dalek shoots him.

The Daleks only retreated from Trenzalore after Hiroki enters an Osterhagen Station some distance away from Honnōji. The Time Lords also close up the crack in the wall as well. The Doctor heads back to Earth as it is destroyed and restored by God in a literal deus ex machina. He goes back to Earth to find Hiroki and the story continues from there.

That was the first part of the transition which I did in 2014. The second part of the transition took place in 2017 with the first episode of Series 10, The Advent of the Doctor, which was partially inspired by Deep Breath. Clara rejoined the Doctor when she answered an ad in a newspaper (that was placed by Missy). When Hiroki and Akari were firing cannons at each other, the Doctor threw his coat in the way, causing it to be destroyed. His new costume debuts at the end of the episode.

The regeneration scene in the TARDIS did not go to waste as I used it in an alternate telling of Hiroki’s regeneration into his final incarnation. In the original version, I used the War Doctor’s regeneration to show Momoka’s regeneration into Hiroki, but in the alternate version, the regeneration reset Momoka into her previous incarnation before he went back home to say goodbye to Akari.

Twelfth to Thirteenth

This was a bit more complicated to plan out, but the execution is less complicated because unlike the last section, it doesn’t involve a lot of things happening at the same time. I also aimed to answer a question that was raised with The Name of the Doctor – if the history of the Siege of Trenzalore was changed, how could the Clara echoes have existed?

The background to this stems from the fact that the Fifth Doctor’s incarnation is the final one. With the Doctor being born from Hiroki, a pocket of regeneration energy remained in the latter, which he would use to regenerate into his various incarnations and prototypes (using up portions of that pocket in the process). When the First Doctor was forced to exile, he was forced to regenerate even though his subsequent incarnation was still considered the same as his previous one. Additionally, as stated in #2, timeline splits caused Doctor Whooves, the Pony Doctor and Jee Gun to be spawned from the Fourth Doctor’s regeneration into the Fifth. They were given a pocket of regeneration energy each, which would allow them to regenerate once (the Pony Doctor gave his to Doctor Whooves, so he could regenerate twice). As a result, the Doctor was only able to regenerate six times (including the War Doctor’s regeneration), though he had enough regeneration energy to spare, which he used to heal River Song’s hand and give strength to Antoni (who would attempt to steal it to give to the Daleks).

In order to set up the transition, we need to go back to the Series 11 (BBC Series 9) finale, Hell Bent. In that episode, the Doctor had Rassilon and the High Council banished from Gallifrey. They ended up on Earth in 2003 just in time to bear witness to the start of the Last Great Time War on Earth. While three members of the High Council stayed in Hong Kong to observe the Time War, Rassilon and the remaining members inserted themselves into higher positions at UNIT Central Control in Geneva. They ensured that the authorities would turn a blind eye to the chaos going on as a result of the Time War (because children fighting in wars is an issue in other countries but not in my project).

We then move to the third Space Squad movie, which takes place following the end of Gokaiger. In 2018, Rassilon became obsessed with getting his revenge on the Doctor for banishing him from Gallifrey and allied with Fūmakūdō, the villain group of the Space Squad movies (Fūmakūdō is the project’s counterpart of Genmaku and the name is derived from the villain groups of the three Space Sherriff series, namely Makuu, Madou and Fuuma). He goes to UNIT HQ and tells them that they are decommissioning the Superhero Project. At the same time, he has the Doctor’s TARDIS taken from the UNIT hangar (as he was on the GokaiGalleon for the duration of the series) before he brings it into the Makū Dimension.

Rassilon then uses the TARDIS’ Eye of Harmony to power up the Axis Converter, causing the console to explode and expose the heart of the TARDIS as the Makū Dimension expands throughout time and space, opening up portals everywhere. Later, Rassilon confronts the Doctor in Trenzalore. Before the Doctor can morph, however, Rassilon uses his gauntlet to freeze him in place before fast-forwarding time around him. The alien fleets attack Trenzalore and the TARDIS becomes the tombstone the Doctor saw when he first arrived on Trenzalore. Rassilon lets go of time and disappears.

The Doctor goes into his TARDIS and discovers that its history has been damaged along with the console. He decides to merge himself with the exposed heart of the TARDIS, causing the centre column to become a direct link into his timestream. At the same time, he also discovers that the TARDIS’ timestream has been split in two between himself and Hiroki, allowing Hiroki’s version of The Name of the Doctor to happen alongside the original version.

Being inside the heart of the TARDIS for too long is no better than looking into the Time Vortex. The Doctor plans to use his regenerative energy to repair the TARDIS and the timelines, but he is forced to stop when the events of the episode happen. The Great Intelligence damages the Doctor’s timeline, but Clara undoes the damage. When the past Doctor goes in to save Clara, the present Doctor uses his strength to maintain the stability of his timeline. The Doctor’s timeline has been fixed, but there is still a little damage that the Clara echoes forgot to fix, specifically around the start of his current incarnation’s life.

It is then that Ritsu Tainaka learns of her alternate self’s status in 1968 New York as an echo of herself. By the time everyone meets at the damaged TARDIS on Trenzalore, the Doctor’s past self has already left. She goes into the Doctor’s timestream and sends an echo of herself to patch the last of the damage. With his timeline repaired, the Doctor repairs the TARDIS and brings Ritsu out of the heart as they join with their comrades to defeat Rassilon for good.

Following the Monk invasion (which Australia managed to fend off for six months), UNIT summons the Doctor as they need the TARDIS to process the physical checkups of all Rangers and Riders. They discover that the Doctor is in his final incarnation and that he had built up a resistance to severe injury through fighting as GokaiRed. He passed on his powers to Kai following Rassilon’s defeat, meaning that he has now lost that resistance over the seventy years he spent guarding the Vault.

The events of the Series 12 (BBC Series 10) finale happened and the Doctor regenerated, but his appearance didn’t change. Upon crashing into the Barrier Base’s core (without damaging the Base itself), he is met by Hiroki, Akari and Brigadier Cheng Xieyun. The Doctor is taken to the sickbay, but when three generals from UNIT Central Control (namely the three members of the High Council) take over, they have the Doctor teleported to Geneva.

During a fight with the High Council, who were working with Madame Kovarian of the Silence, the Doctor is shocked by a group of Silents before being finished off by Kovarian. The Doctor is killed, but he comes back to life, now knowing what happened to him and why he didn’t change his appearance when he regenerated. When the Doctor merged himself with the TARDIS to repair it, it knew the Doctor had no regenerations left and so, gave him energy from the Time Vortex to repair both itself and the Doctor, but the full potential of his abilities wouldn’t be awakened until his regeneration, of which an extra one was gifted to him by the TARDIS.

As a result, the Doctor and his TARDIS are now one with each other. The Doctor is immortal as long as the TARDIS isn’t destroyed, although the same can’t really be said for the opposite because it would be too overkill. The chameleon circuit has been repaired so that the TARDIS can change its internal or external appearance at will. At the same time, the Doctor has also become a part of the chameleon circuit, meaning that he can also change appearance at will. However, the Doctor can decide to keep his and the TARDIS’ current appearances for the sake of familiarity.

Following this bout of exposition, the High Council are defeated and Madame Kovarian was taken to the Papal Mainframe, where she was tried for her crimes before Mother Superious Tasha Lem. The Doctor rejoins the Gokaigers and alternates between the TARDIS and GokaiGalleon. Technically, this new incarnation is known as the Infinity Doctor, but for all intents and purposes, he will continue to be known as the Fifth Doctor.

This has been my way of getting around the Doctor’s regeneration storylines for the sake of my project along with an alternate interpretation of what happened to the Doctor after Twice Upon a Time. Timeless Child, eat your heart out. I’d take this over that confusing storyline about the Doctor’s ascension and descension from absolute godhood.

#kisekae insights #doctor who #eleventh doctor #twelfth doctor

1 note · View note

dalekofchaos · 5 years

Text

FN-2187 is a story worth telling

I’m kind of sad over the complete lack of interest in telling Finn’s past life as FN-2187 in either a novel or a graphic novel series. We got to hear Poe’s story and what he was doing prior to TFA and what Black Squadron was up to during the events of TLJ. I wish we got a graphic novel series for Finn where Finn decides to tell Rey, Poe and Rose his past as a Stormtrooper.

A lot of people think because of the movies believe Finn was just a janitor. He was not. That was one of the jobs Stormtroopers took. Finn was an Elite Stormtroopers and one of their best.

The Poe Dameron comics were not about Poe's life, they were about his personality, skills, character, and the Resistance. So I ask, why can't/couldn't the same have been done with Finn pre TFA? A comic series exploring his character while world building the First Order.

There is so much to tell. You could start with Finn vividly remembering his family and how he was abducted and recruited for the FN Corps.

You could even show the ruthlessness of The First Order by showing initiation for the FN Corps is only granted by forcing the children to kill each other in a Hunger Games/Battle Royale to see who the strongest and who deserves to be welcomed to the First Order. This would be in separate groups of the children who are abducted to determine who gets to be put in the FN Corps. We could see Phasma returning to the room, only to see a young Finn covered in blood and dried up tears. Phasma will only say “Welcome to The First Order, FN-2187.”

Wouldn't it be interesting to see how Finn, a brainwashed soldier broke free of his mental conditioning, learned the truth of the FO yet still tried to be a good soldier. It could flesh out his relationship with the squad he led, as well as Phasma and Hux.

It could’ve also showcased the brotherhood and friendship Finn had with FN-2199 ("Nines"), FN-2000 ("Zeroes"), and FN-2003 ("Slip").

The biggest thing it could do is finally show Finn's skills as a soldier, his brains, while giving so much needed world building First Order. We could also finally show what it's like as a FO stormtrooper from a sympathetic POV.

Through the avenue of a Finn comic series you could also flesh out Hux, Phasma, Nines, Zeroes, Slip, and even characters like Kylo and Snoke. It doesn't have to cover spoilers, just make the one note more dimensional while giving Finn so overdue respectful content

It could end with everyone asking Finn “what was the moment you decided to leave” which then we would see the FTA deleted scene of Finn in the village

youtube

It could end on Finn saying "I was raised to do one thing, I used to think I’ve got nothing to fight for, but now I have something worth fighting for."

#Star Wars #Finn #FN 2187 #Rebelfinn #Rebel Finn

27 notes · View notes

unfortunate-stranger-losers · 5 years

Text

Six Baudelaires AU, Part One: Reference Guide

A quick guide for everything I intentionally referenced in The Six Siblings, Part One: There’s No Happy Endings, Not Here and Not Now.

{ao3} {tumblr}

Without further ado...

Chapter One / Prologue - in which the Baudelaires make a Fort

“Mother and Father are gone again, and we can’t get Sunny to shut up.” [...] “Where are Mom and Dad?”

This is relevant throughout the entire fic; the Netflix!Baudelaires (Violet, Klaus, Sunny) refer to their parents as “Mother and Father”, while the Movie!Baudelaires (Lilac, Nick, Soli) refer to them as “Mom and Dad.” This is because they did so in their respective adaptations.

In case you missed the origin of the Movie!Baudelaires names:

Lilac is also a purple flower, similar to Violet.

Nick and Klaus are both diminutives of Nicholas.

Solitude and Sunny are both popular candidates for S Theodora Markson’s first name in the prequel series, All the Wrong Questions.

Lilac said, moving up next to the crib and smiling as some hair fell out of her ponytail and into her face- ugh, she’d have to braid it back before breakfast.

obvious reference to the fact Movie!Violet has four braids at any given time.

Lilac sighed. “Vi, can you pass the hone- is that my sweater?” Violet glanced down at her outfit, and then glared at her sister. “Well, it’s not like you were going to wear it.” “That’s mine, Nancy gave it to me for my birthday!”

“Nancy” is a lowkey reference to goth movie character Nancy Downs, from The Craft (1996).

But there were Klaus and Nick, sitting in the corner. Klaus was covering his ears and rocking back and forth, while Nick was grabbing blankets out of a box and putting them over him, nervously fiddling with the edges and bouncing up and down as he ran.

Most of the Baudelaires’ reactions to the storm are referencing the fact that they’re autistic and/or adhd, and the loud thunder is overstimulating for Klaus and Solitude especially. [I also used this as a reference in part two of my Stranger Things crossover, If I Go (There Will Be Trouble), with Klaus and Sunny.]

As Lilac dictated what to do, Violet grabbed some rope out of a box, and threw blankets over it as Lilac tied it to loose planks and metal structures. They kept doing that, until the blankets made up a small enclosed area. Lilac dug some pillows out of another box, using those and the extra blankets to fill in the floor of the blanket fort.

obvious reference to the blanket fort scene in the 2004 film.

“Music box.” Lilac explained, and she grabbed something on the side, winding it up and then opening it. Slowly, notes started playing, sounding a bit like a jazz song.

Reference to Ellington’s music box in All the Wrong Questions, which was probably playing either “Black, Brown and Beige” or “Solitude.”

“Snahpro.” Solitude said, which meant, “I’d rather [Mom and Dad] were here with us.”

Hint: spell “snahpro” backwards. ;)

Rest of the fic under the cut.

Chapter Two - in which the Baudelaires receive some Distressing News

“But I was reading about tide pools yesterday,” he said, “And I’d like to see what’s here.” “Hopkins,” said Solitude, which probably meant, “Let him look at the tide pools, we’ve got time.”

“Hopkins” is a reference to Kailey Hopkins, the American Girl doll Girl of the Year 2003-2004, whose story centered around tide pools.

“Lilienthal,” Sunny said, which meant, “Or the hang-glider.”

Otto Lilienthal was the first person to make repeated successful flights with gliders.

[Lilac] said there was “always something” that could be done to better any item, any piece of trash. Anything could be useful… except Violet’s ugly clothes, nobody could fix that disaster.

obvious reference to Movie!Violet’s catchphrase.

[Solitude] would have the same smile while succeeding in finishing a puzzle as she did when she was playing fetch with Nick- “fetch” being a word which here meant that he would throw whatever was closest to him and she would catch it and bite it.

obvious reference to the short scene in the 2004 movie.

“Ready.” Nick said. “Asill.” said Soli and Sunny.

“Asill” is a combination of the words “As I’ll”, aka the popular phrase, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“They just get back from a trip.” Violet said. “Maybe they needed to follow up on something today?” “What would they need to follow up on that we couldn’t be there for?” Nick asked. “Maybe they’re just-”

Lowkey, Nick was going to suggest that maybe their parents kicked them out of the house so they could have “alone time” together. He’s lucky he didn’t get to finish this thought, as Lilac probably would have throttled him.

“How do you do?” Violet asked. “How do you do?” Klaus asked. “Odo yow!” Sunny and Soli both said. Nick stared at them. “You all sound like robots.” he said, before turning to Mr Poe. “It’s nice to see you, Mr Poe.”

a reference to the popular meme format:

Klaus and Nick stared at the burnt pages, while Violet made her way over to a broken grandfather clock she had spent hours of her life repairing and fixing and adding additions too; it was almost completely shattered.

A reference to her clock/toaster in The Bad Beginning, Part One.

“Nick,” Lilac said, glancing at Solitude, who she was currently holding, “You’re scaring her.” “I’m scaring her? Lilac, our parents are dead! We’re going to be shoved to the first person who might be related to us, and til then we have to sleep on the floor. We don’t have anything, our house is gone-”

Nick’s freakout is a reference to a deleted scene from the 2004 film that goes similarly.

“Deciduous,” Soli said, which probably meant, “Can I bite it?”

“Deciduous” is a term used for when leaves are shedded from trees.

What [Lilac] didn’t say, was that while she couldn’t remember seeing it before, or the Eye on top, it looked… it looked familiar, somehow. But she couldn’t say where she might’ve seen it before.

A reference to Book!Violet being able to vaguely remember VFD activity. Lilac takes that subplot in this fic.

Chapter Three - in which a wild Count Olaf appears

“Which one is the eldest?” Olaf asked. Poe paused, glancing between Violet and Lilac. “Well, they’re twins, so I don’t believe it matters.” “We’re the twins.” Nick said, gesturing to himself and his brother. “Lilac and Violet are not.”

Start of a running joke where Lilac/Violet and Solitude/Sunny are confused for the set of twins, as they look more similar to each other than the fraternal twins Nick and Klaus.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Nick said, “Well, I’ve got a good feeling about this.” “Nick-” Lilac warned. “No, really, he seems like a great guy.” Nick said, dropping Solitude on the ground and starting to wander around the room. “I mean, the house is falling apart, sure, but I’m sure it’s nothing. We probably won’t die the second a storm comes around. Oh, and I’m sure we can just find some rat traps lying around, I thought I saw a mouse on the way up.” He paused, glancing to the side, and then said, “Ooh, one bed, fantastic.”

Once again, a reference to the deleted 2004 film scene.

“Hey, maybe we could take off that wallpaper.” Violet suggested after they all worked for a few minutes, glancing at a part that had already peeled off. [...] Klaus turned slightly, smiling at Nick and saying, “It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please.” While Soli and Sunny stared in confusion, Nick laughed, and Lilac and Violet also smiled slightly. Nick then continued, “For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow.” “The wallpaper’s not yellow, though.” Lilac noted, though she still smiled. “Don’t be a spoilsport.” Violet said, before continuing the quoting from a short story the older children all enjoyed. “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane! And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!”

The siblings are referencing the 1892 short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which was written to highlight the "medical, professional, and societal oppression against women at the time.”

Chapter Four - in which Nick and Klaus finally get into a Library

“They don’t have anything more recent than twenty years ago, and the Librarian doesn’t say anything, other than asking me if I’ve been good to my Mother.”

reference to a VFD codephrase as revealed in The Unauthorized Autobiography; a librarian will ask “Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?” which means “I have a message for you.” The message will be given if the volunteer replies with, “The question is, has she been good to me?”

“Hmm?” Soli asked. “I don’t remember that.” “That was before I liked you.” Nick said, grinning over at the toddler. “Remember? Took me six weeks, and then we were best friends.” “You tried to throw her off the roof.” Violet reminded him. “That’s just sibling bonding.”

Reference to the best movie of all time, Addams Family Values (1993), in which Wednesday and Pugsley take a dislike to their new baby brother and attempt to throw him off of the roof.

“Tagenon.” Sunny said quietly. “I wish we had pancakes, this oatmeal has no flavor.”

Foreshadowing to Sunny’s future interest in cooking.

“Pasta Puttanesca.” she said, holding up the cookbook she’d been flipping through. “That sounds Italian.” Lilac noted. “I wonder what it means.” Klaus said. “I think it means ‘very few ingredients.’” Nick said. “That’s great.” Lilac said, looking like she didn’t care at all. Klaus considered a moment. “I don’t think that’s right.” “I don’t think you’re right.” Nick retorted.

Reference to both Movie!Klaus and Netflix!Klaus’s reactions to “Puttanesca” - “that’s Italian for ‘very few ingredients’” vs “I wonder what that means in Italian.” Fun fact: “Puttanesca” roughly translates to “prostiitute.”

Chapter Five - in which Dinner goes Badly

“Vanukas.” Sunny said. “And Chocolate Pudding for desert.”

“Vanukas” is Finnish pudding.

Chapter Six - in which the Baudelaires are Cast in a Play

Sunny raised a small hand. “Caedis,” she said, which meant, “We could just kill him.”

derivation of the Latin verb “caedo”, which means “to cut, beat, kill, defeat”

“Funus.” Soli laughed. “I could hide the body.”

derivation of the Latin noun “funus”, meaning “funeral, death.”

“Standoffish” was not a word the children would use to describe Count Olaf. Lilac would have been more inclined to use “pure evil” had she not been worried something might happen to her siblings if she did.

Reference to one of Movie!Violet’s lines.

Slowly, Count Olaf got to his feet, walking around so he was standing beside Lilac, and he reached forwards and stroked her on the chin, staring deep into her eyes. “You will participate in this performance. I would prefer it if you…” he smiled darkly, “Volunteered to perform, but I believe you orphans are familiar with the term in loco parentis. That is a phrase that here means that I can order you to participate, and you must obey.”

Reference to VFD.

Chapter Seven - in which the Baudelaires read up on Inheritance Law

“I mean…” Klaus paused. “She couldn’t be scared, could she? Lilac doesn’t get scared.” Nick glanced over at him. “Klaus, we’re all-”

Reference to a line from The Bad Beginning, Part One that is quoted directly in the next chapter: “We’re all frightened, Klaus.”

Chapter Eight - in which Lilac and Violet attempt a Rescue

Soli sniffled. “Parvula,” she said, which meant, “I had to move out of the crib, but I didn’t care, I was just happy to have someone to play with.”

Feminine form of the Latin noun “parvulus”, meaning “infancy, childhood.”

Lilac nodded. “When… when Mom and Dad brought you home, boys, and Soli, and Sunny, they told me… they told me, ‘you are the eldest Baudelaire child. And as the eldest, it will always be your responsibility to look after your younger siblings.’” Violet flinched, glancing away, and Soli sniffled a little.

The reason Lilac does not mention Violet is simply because she would’ve only been eleven months old when Violet was born, not old enough to remember anything her parents told her. Violet flinched because her parents had never told her the same thing, or at least not to the extent of Lilac, which just feeds into her inferiority complex.

“Devil’s tongue knot.” Lilac nodded; they’d both memorized the knot when they were younger, after reading about the female Finnish pirates that invented them in the fifteenth century. Violet had thought it’d be useful to know a knot that twisted in such a complicated and eerie way, and while Lilac agreed, she’d honestly learned it because she thought it’d be a good way to impress a female Finnish pirate, should they ever meet one.

Baby Lilac was a baby gay for female Finnish pirates.

Lilac froze a moment, and then her eyes darted towards Violet, whose face fell into a look of horror the second she realized what Olaf was implying. Then Lilac turned back to the Count, a darkness and hate behind her eyes as she spoke in a growl of fury her siblings had never heard come from her voice before. “Don’t fucking touch her.”

A running joke is Lilac constantly reprimanding her siblings for their language, though she swears herself on occasion. However, she herself will say “fuck” almost exclusively when Olaf is threatening her siblings- especially Violet, who, as another teenage girl, is in just as much danger as Lilac- and when she is threatening him right back.

Chapter Nine - in which Violet has a Plan

“If we fail-” “We won’t.” Violet gripped tighter onto her sister’s hands, and she stared her in the eyes. “You’re Lilac goddamn Baudelaire, and you are not giving up here.”

this is a reference to me being salty at the ending of the 2004 film.

“God, we should’ve just murdered Olaf on day one.” Nick said. “Just all dogpiled on him and punched him til he stopped moving, and then claim we don’t know what happened.”

a reference to the original shitpost that inspired this au.

“Then we better get moving.” Nick said. “I saw the troupe member Violet said was guarding the stairs in the crowd, so we might be able to get up that way. We won’t have to climb the tower.” “Good, cause I can’t climb for shit.” Klaus said, wiping his face with his sleeve. “We wouldn’t do as good as Lilac or Violet anyway.” Nick shrugged. “If we had to make something.”

Once again, a reference to me being salty at the ending of the 2004 film.

Chapter Ten - in which the Baudelaires crash a Wedding

Softly, Violet looked over at her, and grinned slightly. “Your makeup’s ridiculous.” she said, giggling.

You may have noticed a pattern in me being salty towards the ending of the 2004 film.

Chapter Eleven - in which the Baudelaires meet their next Guardian

“What sort of scientist is he?” Lilac asked[...] The siblings all looked out the windows, and after a pause, Nick said, “Well, Li, there’s your answer.” As Poe’s car pulled up to the steep gravel driveway to the enormous stone house before them, they could see a vast, green lawn, covered in shrubs and hedges that had been trimmed to resemble long serpents.

A reference to Movie!Violet asking what kind of scientist Monty is while walking beside several hedges shaped like snakes.

“Sayonara.” Soli giggled, meaning, “Good riddance.” “Yeet.” Sunny said.

In The Reptile Room book, it is mentioned that “yeet” is one of Sunny’s ways of saying goodbye. But also it’s funny because of a recent meme.

Solitude looked up curiously. “Serpentium?” she asked, meaning, “What reptile room?”

“Serpentium” is a derivative of the Latin noun “serpens”, meaning “snake.”

The second Nick entered, he glanced down at Solitude to see her eyes light up completely.

And Solitude’s interest in Herpetology has begun.

“That is one of the smallest frogs in our collection.” Monty said. “But size is no guarantee of power, is it, Solitude? That frog is very long-living, can switch genders at will, and is incredibly adaptable. You can name them if you like.” Solitude looked like Monty had just given her the world, and the tiny frog hopped onto her shoulder. She giggled as it curled up against her, as if preparing to fall asleep on her sleeve. "Babbitt!" she cried with delight.

The introduction of Solitude’s pet.

Babbitt is named after Natalie Babbitt, the author of the book Tuck Everlasting, which features a toad as an important character.

Babbitt is based on a Wood Frog, though they are not an exact correlation; while they display many behaviors/physical similarities, Babbitt’s ambiguous species has some unique traits, such as genderfluidity and a longer lifespan.

Chapter Twelve - in which Sunny makes a Friend

“Ink!” Sunny said, meaning, “And I can play with the Incredibly Deadly Viper!”

A reference to Inky’s name, which is revealed in The End.

“Okay.” she finally said. “Um… Sunny, say goodnight to your siblings.” “Nocte!” Sunny yawned.

“Nocte” is derived from the Latin noun “nox”, meaning “night.”

Nick fell asleep quickly, too, but Klaus stayed up a bit more, playing with the cylinder in his hands and occasionally staring towards the window, where he could’ve sworn he heard something outside, but… it must have been nothing.

A reference to the VFD code phrase, “If there’s nothing out there, then what was that noise?”

Chapter Thirteen - in which Monty receives a New Assistant

While Solitude was slightly jealous that Sunny had befriended such a large snake, she had her own pet; she’d named her tiny frog Babbitt, and the small animal tended to jump onto her shoulder or into her dress pocket whenever they had the chance.

See the reference list for Chapter Eleven for notes on Babbitt.

“Cheup!” Sunny called to the crocodile in the corner of the room. “Don’t be sad! Uncle Monty will be back soon!” “Sun! Cor!” Solitude called, meaning, “Sunny, the broken-hearted crocodile just sounds like it’s saying ‘woe is me,’ he’s not actually sad at the moment.”

“Cheup” is a combination of the words “cheer up.”

“Cor” is the Latin noun for “heart.”

“You were just reading about alligators.” Klaus said. “They’re different.” “Not really.” “Sinensis.” Solitude said. “Klaus is right, actually.”

“Sinensis” is part of the scientific name for a subspecies of alligator, the alligator sinensis.

“Serpe?” Sunny asked, looking over. “Can we bring the Incredibly Deadly Viper?”

“Serpe” is derived from the Latin verb “serpo”, meaning “to crawl”

Chapter Fourteen - in which the Baudelaires go to the Movies

“We’re fine.” Violet said. “What was screaming?” “Nothing.” Nick said. “If that was nothing,” Violet glared at him, “What was that noise?”

A reference to the VFD code phrase, “If there’s nothing out there, then what was that noise?”

“How did he find us?” Klaus asked. “That’s the wrong question.” Violet said, and they stepped back again as they heard more pounding on the door. “What do we do?”

A quote from the Netflix show that is most likely a reference to All the Wrong Questions.

“Propositum,” Solitude said, meaning, “He must have some scheme, we just don’t know what it is.”

“Propositum” is a derivative of the Latin verb “propono,” meaning “to make known, declare.”

The movie itself was very confusing for the children; it had subtitles in the same language it was spoken in, the characters all spoke in stilted and unrealistic dialogue, and whenever a bell rung, Nick and Klaus would hear Monty count every eighth word, write it onto his ticket, and then look at the confused, unrelated jumble of words and erase the sentence, muttering something about paranoia.

Monty knows there is a message in this movie for him in Sebald code (see: The Unauthorized Autobiography), but he is counting every eighth word instead of every eleventh. Thus he does not get the message.

“Poliziotto?” Sunny asked, which meant something like, “Do you think Uncle Monty called the police?”

“Poliziotto” is the Italian noun for “police officer.”

Chapter Fifteen - in which the Baudelaires crash a Car

“Video!” Sunny shouted, which meant, “Anyone could see that!”

“Video” is a Latin verb meaning “to see.”

“He’s an actor, he could’ve-” Lilac began. [...] “How’d he get rid of his tattoo?” Klaus asked quietly. “Makeup, it has to be.” Lilac said. “He’s an actor, he’d know where to get some.”

A reference to the fact the Movie!Baudelaires realized he could have used makeup faster than the Book and Netflix!Baudelaires.

“Omicido?” Sunny asked, which meant something like, “Do you think he’d kill Mr Poe?”

“Omicido” is an Italian noun for “murder.”

“Squamate,” Solitude said, cuddling Babbitt to her face, which meant, “I would rather see more reptiles.”

“Squamate” is a derivative of “Squamata,” the scientific name for the largest order of reptiles.

Chapter Sixteen - in which Solitude leads a Jailbreak

“Okay, that was clearly one of his troupe members.” Klaus said. “The- I’m not quite sure what their gender is.”

A reference to the fact the Netflix!Baudelaires pick up on disguises faster than their Book counterparts.

As Babbitt hopped out of her pocket and across the floor, she said, “Recente,” which, in this case, meant, “It was in the newest one, so it should be on one of the ends.”

“Recente” is a derivative of the Latin adjective “recens”, which means “new, recent.”

“Or we could just have Sunny bite us a lockpick.” Violet said. “I don’t think she can do that.”

A reference to Sunny biting Violet a lockpick in The Reptile Room, Part Two.

Lilac said, hiking up her skirt and starting to tie it back; she remembered, briefly, how her Mother had taught her how best to tie back long dresses and skirts if she planned to run in them.

actually useful information

“Would you rather break open the lock with a flamethrower?” “Yes! Was that an option?”

A reference to this incorrect quote, which is, of itself, a reference to a line from the television show Brooklyn Nine-Nine, episode 3x10, “Yippie Kayak.”

“Lilac?” Violet asked, watching as Solitude tried to squirm out of Nick’s arms to reach a cage that was being carried by. “Do we know an Aunt Josephine?” “I…” Lilac shut her eyes. “I think I vaguely remember the name.” “Josephine Anwhistle.” Poe said. Lilac considered. “Yeah. Auntie Josephine. Fierce Auntie Josephine.” “We have an Aunt Josephine?” Klaus asked. “Yeah.” Lilac said. “I… it must’ve been before you boys were born, but I do remember someone saying ‘Fierce Auntie Josephine’... I must’ve met her when I was young.”

A reference to Book!Violet being able to vaguely remember VFD activity. Lilac takes that subplot in this fic.

Nick placed Soli onto the floor as he started shoving books into his suitcase, trying his best to fill it up, and she wandered around the room, crouching by the corner a moment as the screeching iguana was carried away over her head. When he finally picked her up, she cried a bit quieter, putting her head on his shoulder and keeping her hands in her pockets.

This is when Solitude puts Babbitt into her pocket to smuggle out of the Reptile Room.

“Bye, Ink!” Sunny called. “Amo! Mox!” This meant, “I love you! I hope to see you soon!”

“Amo” is a Latin verb, meaning “to love.”

“Mox” is a Latin adverb, meaning “soon.”

Chapter Seventeen - in which Aunt Josephine is no longer Fierce

“What do you remember about Aunt Jo, Lilac?” Nick asked.

The Movie!Baudelaires call Aunt Josephine “Aunt Jo.”

Soli bit her lip. “Timor,” she whispered to Nick, meaning, “Someone’s been to crazy-town.”

“Timor” is a Latin noun meaning “fear.”

“Sunny doesn’t speak fluently yet.” Klaus said. “She does know some English words.” “And Italian.” Nick said. “Mom taught her some of that.” “And Father taught us some Latin.” Klaus added. “But Sunny and Soli mostly just use baby talk.”

Italian and Latin are the languages I use most for Soli and Sunny’s speech.

Beatrice knew Italian from here career in the opera.

Solitude, who had bent down to look under her crib, sat back up and said, “Cooke,” which meant, “It kind of sounds like a Rattlesnake.”

The journalist Alistair Cooke recommended cooking rattlesnakes.

Should also be noted that Solitude bending down to “look under the crib” was her hiding Babbitt under there.

“Dorel,” Solitude said, pointing at the crib. “I’m too old for that, I moved out of cribs back when Sunny was born.”

Dorel Industries is a Canadian manufacturing company that makes cribs.

They stared for a moment, and then Nick said, “Well, I’m gonna go disassociate in front of the fridge.”

y’all are never gonna let me live this post down and honestly keep going i love it

“Hirudinea!” Solitude threw up her arms. “Then who cares?”

“Hirudinea” is the subclass that leeches belong to.

Chapter Eighteen - in which the Baudelaires break into a safe

Klaus eventually got bored of the grammar books, and he was dismayed to find that the only non-grammatical book that Aunt Josephine didn’t have put away somewhere was Anna Karenina, which he’d already read twice.

Anna Karenina is required reading for VFD.

Solitude spent most of her time finding a new room to hide in, as she’d seemed to tire of Nick never letting her out of his sight, but she felt very bad about this; whenever they found her, she’d look very guilty, and she’d apologize for worrying them.

She’s sneaking out to play with Babbitt.

“Scripto,” Solitude huffed, petting Babbitt, “Not actually paying attention to things we like.”

“Scripto” is a Latin verb, meaning “to write.”

“Roh.” Solitude said, also taking a photo to show Babbitt. “Wrestling.”

ROH (Ring of Honor Wrestling Entertainment, LLC) is an American wrestling promotion.

Chapter Nineteen - in which Aunt Josephine gets a date

Before Lilac could stop him, [Nick] reached forwards and grabbed Olaf’s leg, pulling on it and pulling back the pant to try and show the tattoo. Violet and Klaus screamed as their older sister raced forwards and pulled him back, but before she could, Nick stared, wide-eyed, at a peg leg, instead of an ankle.

A reference to a similar scene in the 2004 film.

Lilac pushed Nick behind her, terror filling her as she shouted, “Nick Liam Baudelaire, what the hell was that?”

Nick’s middle name is taken from his actor, Liam Aiken.

Chapter Twenty - in which Lilac gives her siblings allergic reactions

“Dead fly.” Solitude said, but thankfully none of the adults heard her and asked why she’d want something like that, nor why her dress pocket was squirming.

While this is an obvious reference to Soli wanting to feed Babbitt, it is also a reference to a similar request made by Wednesday Addams in the 1964 sitcom The Addams Family, episode 1x10, “Wednesday Leaves Home.”

Chapter Twenty-One - in which the House falls

“So what do all these mistakes mean?” Violet said. “It’s substitution, isn’t it?” Nick said, figuring it out. “The k is supposed to be a c, so c is the first letter.”

Nick figuring it out before Violet is a reference to how fast Movie!Klaus figured out the code in the 2004 film.

“Raef.” Sunny shuddered. “Scared, but alright.”

“Raef” is “fear” spelled backwards.

Chapter Twenty-Two - in which Violet steals a Sailboat

“Irma?” Sunny shrieked, meaning, “Did you miss the fact there’s a hurricane?”

A reference to Hurricane Irma.

Aunt Josephine looked down at the photo, and they were surprised to see her face soften. “Ah, Lucky Smells Lumbermill. In Paltryville!” she sighed. “It’s not far from here, maybe a day’s drive. I remember the day this photo was taken. We were all so young. Look! There’s Ike. Isn’t he handsome? Oh, and Gregor! Of course that was before… well…”

“That was before” Gregor and Ike had a falling out and Gregor was killed in an arson.

Chapter Twenty-Three - in which the Baudelaires go Off-Book

“That won’t matter.” Lilac shut her eyes tight. “I’ll sing us to sleep.”

A reference to the song “Asleep”, performed by Emily Browning, Movie!Violet’s actress. The perfect depressing song to end The Wide Window on.

Chapter Twenty-Four - in which the Baudelaires break and enter

“Well…” Nick bit his lip. “Remember what Mother said? ‘Do the scary thing first…’” “‘Get Scared Later.’” Violet nodded.

A quote from Lemony Snicket in All the Wrong Questions.

Nick bringing it up is a lowkey reference to the fact that Movie!Klaus’s actor, Liam Aiken, narrated the audiobooks to All the Wrong Questions.

They looked at each other and then Sunny said, “Sondheim,” meaning, “Let’s travel through the woods, and follow the road from there; can’t be that much of a walk.”

“Sondheim” is a reference to Stephen Sondheim, the composer of Into the Woods.

Nick and Soli clapped, and Lilac hissed, “Violet Malina Baudelaire, I am going to slaughter you.”

Violet’s middle name is taken from her actress, Malina Weissman.

Chapter Twenty-Five - in which the Baudelaires are put to work

“Good, we could get Nick new glasses.” Lilac said. “I don’t need glasses!” Nick huffed. “I can see just fine!” “Yeah, outta one eye.” Klaus said. “What happens if your good eye gets scratched or burnt or something?”

Nick has amblyopia.

“Parvum!” Sunny shouted. “We’re not midgets, we’re children!”

“Parvum” is derived from the Latin adjective “Parvus”, meaning “small.”

Klaus, Lilac and Sunny seemed the most bothered by this; Lilac kept flinching whenever the pots clanged, Sunny would sometimes hide on one side of the log to cover her ears, and Klaus kept shutting his eyes in a struggle to hold back tears of frustration and overstimulation.

Lilac, Klaus and Sunny are incredibly overstimulated by their environment.

Chapter Twenty-Six - in which Klaus goes to the optometrist

“Simitu!” Solitude said. “We can’t just let him off by himself!” “Oculus!” Sunny said. “That eye building is creepy!”

“Simitu” is a Latin adverb meaning “at the same time, together.”

“Oculus” is a Latin noun meaning “eye.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven - in which Klaus is acting Very Strange

No major references in this chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Eight - in which there is an accident at the Lumbermill

“Records.” he whispered. “Timbales?” Sunny asked. “Any Tito Puente?” “Egieb?” Solitude asked. “Or Duke Ellington?”

Timbales are an instrument used by Tito Puente.

“Egieb” spelled backwards is “Beige,” a reference to Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige.”

That song, as well as the reference to Duke Ellington himself, are a reference to All the Wrong Questions, which took a lot of names from things associated with Duke Ellington.

Chapter Twenty-Nine - in which Sunny has a Swordfight

“Ubi?” Sunny asked. “Where could he be?”

“Ubi” is a Latin word meaning “where.”

Georgina looked furious. “As if this is all about some fortune!” she shouted, swinging her sword and only barely missing the infant Baudelaire’s cheeks. “As if you don’t know what this is about, what with your parents’ role in-”

“Your parents’ role in VFD.” (as well as some crimes they committed for VFD, such as the assassination of Olaf’s parents.)

Chapter Thirty / Epilogue - in which the Baudelaires are enrolled in a School

“Next guardian?” Poe coughed. “Oh, no, I couldn’t find a single person willing to take you in after what happened to your last guardians. But I have a place to put you until I can convince someone. It’s a lovely school, one of my associates just dropped off two twin orphans there a few weeks ago.”

A reference to the fact Esme was in charge of thee Quagmire estate in book!canon, meaning she was probably left in charge of Duncan and Isadora and left them at Prufrock. Both her and Poe work in the financial sector, they could possibly know each other.

They went into the building, and Nick walked up to the first student he came across. “If I was a bathroom,” he asked, “Where would I be?”

A quote from book one of All the Wrong Questions.

Nick saying it is a lowkey reference to the fact that Movie!Klaus’s actor, Liam Aiken, narrated the audiobooks to All the Wrong Questions.

“Your new Vice Principal is waiting for you in his office. You will wait for him on the bench outside.” Poe said, taking them down a hall. “And I will see you once I have found a guardian. Please behave yourselves as you would at a normal school.” “Our normal school burned down with our parents inside.” Nick said.

The Baudelaires were homeschooled before the fire.

They all fell silent, and then Sunny looked up at Lilac. She was still tired, and she whispered, “Browning?” which meant something similar to, “Will you sing us to sleep?”

Once again, a reference to the song “Asleep”, performed by Emily Browning, Movie!Violet’s actress.

She was changing the words slightly to an old tune they used to hear on the radio when they were bored, and on a music box that was given to the boys when they were toddlers by a relative they hadn’t liked much before she was trampled by horses, and playing in a coffeeshop their Father had to duck into one time they were heading to the train station to pick up their Mother from a journey.

The relative they hadn’t liked being trampled by horses is a reference to Lemony Snicket line from The Wide Window, Part One: “The expression ‘You can't lock up the barn after the horses are gone’ was a favorite of a woman who meant a great deal to me, even after she was trampled."

There is also an implication in the last line that the Baudelaires may have been to Stain’d-by-the-Sea, stopping at Black Cat Coffee before going to the Stain’d Train Station to pick up Beatrice.

#asoue #asoue netflix #asoue movie #a series of unfortunate events #six baudelaires au #six baudelaires official fic #six baudelaires reference guide #mine #six baudelaires bonus

37 notes · View notes

iamvelvetin · 6 years

Text

The Definitive Ways of Watching a Kenneth Branagh Movie

There’s a lot to say about Spielberg, Coppola, Kubrick, Wells and how their films are being explained and analyzed--cementing their skills as legitimate craftsmen of the art of motion pictures. Kenneth Branagh (KB) was once in their midst during the late 1980s to early 1990s but decided to fizzle in and out of tackling classical subjects. Recently, he seems to be back in top shape with projects such as Death of the Nile, A Gentleman in Moscow and Artemis Fowl.

So many audience members (having watched him on stage, film or television) claimed at their dismay of seeing KB’s butchering, hammering and picking on their favorite characters and plots. He never seems to do anything right: his films are either too boring, too strange, too luvvie, too stupid, too beautiful, too shit... the list goes on.

How do you appreciate a Kenneth Branagh movie?

1. Basic: It’s a movie. And with it being that, you judge a movie on your own terms--which are extremely subjective.

There are a million reasons why a movie didn’t work for you. If your reason for not liking a Kenneth Branagh movie is Kenneth Branagh, it just means that you just don’t like KB as an artist, fair enough. Expect that you will be grumpy for the 120-minute duration (or, in the case of his 1996 Hamlet, 240 minutes) or lash out that he directed, produced and starred in it.

2. Be reminded that KB often makes himself the subject of his movies by being part of it.

Specifically, as a director, there is no such thing as ‘the author is dead’ since KB creates his artistic interpretation from a book or a play with him as the omniscient voice, which is why it sounds ‘so into himself’. Notice that logistically he casts people who he is familiar with (either professionally or personally) based on their strengths as projections of their characters in the story. These people often help him create a framework of how he would tell his version of the plot.

I only wished, however, that there were more interviews of him as a director (like the Hamlet documentary) rather than him as a director promoting a film or him as an actor in a movie that he directs. Interestingly enough, the person who gives the most meaningful insight about him as a director was Emma Thompson, his then-wife, who he worked with on the first few films of his career. (Henry V, Dead Again, Peter’s Friends, Much Ado About Nothing) and in various theater productions. I feel like the actors who spoke about him (except those who he frequently worked with) then and even now have a glossy impression of him and doesn’t tell everything about how he directs.

3. Both as a director and as an actor, he brings a sense of himself in his films and one has to be ready for that.

KB has a way of telling stories in images and streams of consciousness that he skips imperative details to let the audience come up with their own conclusion, which frustrates the typical crowd. Unlike some critics who claim that this method of his is done for vanity, I’m inclined to observe that this is just the way he thinks or he transitions from dialogue to stage direction to screen. I can’t directly confirm this technique though since KB rarely discusses his directing methods in detail. Anyway, it is just something to be aware of.

KB is in some ways a traditionalist and in some ways an innovator - a balance that has been shifting to both ends throughout his career. For example, imho Love’s Labor’s Lost would have been better if they loosely adapted it from the play and just made it a straight-up musical as some of the production numbers (No Business Like Show Business, They Can’t Take that Away from Me) were actually good and it worked. I think had this production been released in the 2010s, it would have gotten a bigger cult following.

If you want some Branagh-stamped productions, In the Bleak of Midwinter (1995) and Listening (2003) are the only two of his originals. I honestly believe that had he received better reviews on his works, he might have been more confident tackling this route.

This is not strictly speaking in the realm of film but Wallander (2008) was one of the first Scandinavian-adapted series in British television that he helmed. So innovation? Yes, he ticked the box.

4. Remember that if all fails, seek the women.

Observe that Sir Ken is brilliant at making women look ethereal on screen. You never see a leading lady in a KB movie look like she got out of bed. Eh? Murder on the Orient Express? Impecabbly dressed. Cinderella? Shower them in Swarovski. The stepsisters, in their inappropriateness, still looked fashionable. Thor? He got his goddesses right and you even noticed Kat Dennings. Maggie of Peter’s Friends--who was the geek of the group--still managed to look charming. Ophelia looked fragile and seductive despite her nakedness. And need I mention Dame Thompson? Radiant in possibly every frame? You got it.

This is what appeases me to him. He knows how to put women in a good light, which is far from the sleazy cry of how Hollywood and some British films portray them (I’m looking at you #metoo). For the sheer aesthetic of women, KB deserves a little commendation. Unless there are some raunchy deleted scenes out there that we haven’t seen.

Disclaimer: I do not know Kenneth Branagh or affiliated to anything related to KB. Just an avid enthusiast of his work and probably too tired of hearing the next jab at a project that he has not even done yet.

#art #kennethbranagh #movies

26 notes · View notes

smokeybrand · 3 years

Text

Smokey brand Retrospective: Red Pill Me

The Matrix

The Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix Revolutions

0 notes