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phantom-le6 · 3 years

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Episode Reviews - Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 (4 of 10)

Carrying on our look at the first season of Batman: The Animated Series, we present a fourth round of episode reviews, this time starting with a two-parter that introduced one of Batman’s stranger foes to the series.

Episode 20: Feat of Clay (Part 1)

Plot (as given by me):

Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises is lured to a secret meeting with a man who claims to be Bruce Wayne, who wants evidence the company has gathered about businessman Roland Daggett trying to take over Wayne Enterprises through insider trading. The meeting turns out to be a set-up, but Batman’s interference ensures Fox manages to live. However, the men escape and the injured Fox identifies Wayne as being complicit in the set-up.

In reality, the man who set Fox up is Matt Hagan, an actor who is forced to carry out errands for Daggett in order to ensure a supply of an experimental chemical compound called “Renuyu”. The compound makes skin highly malleable, enabling Hagan or any other user to rearrange their features as they choose. However, the compound is also highly addictive, and Hagan needs it to cover facial disfigurements following an accident he had years ago. Daggett insists that his men, Raymond Bell and ‘Germs’, eliminate Hagan for his incompetence, relying on Hagan’s addition to draw him to them rather than try to find Hagan, who was a noted master of disguise even before using the compound.

As predicted, Hagan breaks into Daggett Pharmaceuticals and is caught by Bell and Germs. They expose him to an overdose of the compound and then leave him in his car, where the compound begins to alter Hagan. Meanwhile, Batman has learned his alter ego of Bruce Wayne was impersonated for the attack on Fox, and has remembered Bell, who is distinguished by the radio headset he wears to monitor police radio frequencies. Batman uses this to flush Bell out by pretending to be a police radio operator. Cornering Bell with the Batwing, Batman interrogates him about the impersonation of Wayne. Bell confirms Wayne was impersonated, but passes out before confirming the identity of the imposter. The arrival of the police forces Batman to abandon his efforts with Bell.

Later, Bruce sneaks into Fox’s room at the hospital, but Fox panics and alerts the police officers outside his room, resulting in Bruce’s arrest. Meanwhile, Hagan’s friend and stand-in Teddy Lupus tracks Hagan to Daggett’s factory, where he finds the overdose has transformed Hagan into a clay-like monster. Seeing himself in the rear-view mirror of his car, Hagan roars in horror.

Review:

Apparently, there have been several villains who have taken the name of Clayface over the course of Batman’s history in the comics, of which four had already made appearances in comics by the time this series came round. What the series does is combine the occupation of the original Clayface Basil Karlo, namely being an actor, with the name of the second Clayface Matt Hagan, and then throws in an original origin story for the character. Well, for the character it’s original, but for the show as a whole it’s not very original. As the DC Animated Universe wiki rightly points out, this two-part episode shares a lot of common plot points with the ‘Two-Face’ two-part episode. Even the structure is roughly similar in that part 1 is set-up for a transformation that the principal villain then seeks retribution for in part 2.

However, Hagan isn’t as easy to empathise with and root for compared to Harvey Dent. While Dent was a crusading crime-fighter who was normally a good guy, and who was also friends with Bruce Wayne, Hagan comes off as someone who was probably a bit of a jerk to begin with, and who would probably be working for a creep like Daggett even if the chemicals that ultimately transform him weren’t addictive. In essence, Hagan’s arc is like one big warning about the dangers of getting too caught up in one’s looks too much. That said, he is well-voiced by actor Ron Perlman (yes, I mean the first cinematic Hellboy and Blade II villain Ron Perlman). Other notable actors who have guest roles across this two-parter are Ed Begley Jr. (too many credits to name, but guest appearances in the West Wing, CSI Miami and Star Trek: Voyager number among them), and the now-late Ed Asner voicing Roland Daggett (Asner being most notable in voice acting outside of this series for Carl in Disney & Pixar’s Up!).

Overall, it’s a decent part 1 with some very good guest talent alongside the show’s regulars. It just lacks a bit in originality, and for that it’s only able to score 8 out of 10.

Episode 21: Feat of Clay (Part 2)

Plot (as given by me):

In his trailer at the film studio, Hagan wallows in self-pity and despair as he recalls how after his accident, Daggett conned him into being a test subject for his experimental compound. Walking past posters on his wall, Hagan’s face changes to mimic the posters without him being aware of it. Teddy points this out, and Hagan realises he can now make himself look like anyone, even simulating clothing out of his body. However, doing this requires intense concentration, and when Teddy disturbs Hagan, the disfigured actor lashes out, realising his career cannot be salvaged.

Meanwhile, Wayne is released on bail, enabling him to continue his investigation as Batman, and Daggett insists that Germs kill Fox, despite the fact that Fox is in hospital and Germs earned his nickname by being a germophobe. Hagan also deduces Daggett will try to have Fox killed, and plans to kill the assassin so he can take their place, the better to then kill Daggett. As a result, all three men end up at the hospital. Batman intercepts Germs and manages to corner him in a room where viral and bacterial cultures are being stored for analysis, and uses this to coax Germs into revealing it was Matt Hagan who impersonated Bruce Wayne during the original ambush on Fox.

Before Germs can reveal how Hagan pulled off the deception, a police officer appears to apparently arrest Germs. However, it swiftly turns out the office is Hagan in disguise; he abducts Germs and takes him to the roof, intent on throwing him to his death. Batman pursues and saves Germs, and the dark knight is startled when he sees Hagan’s face change on reflex to try and mirror his own. Hagan uses his shape-shifting powers to try and kill Batman, but the effort soon exhausts him and he is forced to flee. Elsewhere, Hagan finalises his plans to kill Daggett, and knocks out Teddy when he tries to talk him out of it.

Later, Roland Daggett appears on a talk show hosted by TV journalist Summer Gleeson to promote “Renuyu” to the public. When Summer takes questions from the audience, an overweight woman in the audience storms the stage, grilling Daggett about the chemical’s side-effects and addictive properties. The woman then transforms, revealing it is actually Hagan in disguise, and the audience flees in terror. Hagan, now calling himself “Clayface”, attacks Daggett, but Batman intervenes. A fight ensues between the two that moves from the stage to the control room, Batman subduing Daggett along the way.

In the control room, Batman activates videos of Hagan’s films, causing him to shape-shift out of control as his body tries to emulate all the varying and conflicting characters at once. The police arrive as Hagan’s out-of-control changing continues, and they see his face briefly become that of Bruce Wayne. Hagan then smashes the control consoles, electrocuting himself. He laments that he never got a death scene this good when he was still an actor, and won’t be around to read the notices. While Wayne is cleared of all wrong-doing, Batman experiments on a piece of Clayface left behind and realises electricity has no effect on it. Combined with the actor’s choice of words, Batman realises Hagan gave them all a fake death; his body at the police morgue turns out to be an empty shell, and elsewhere a disguised Clayface laughs at his seeming triumph.

Review:

As I noted with part 1, the whole Clayface intro two-part story is quite derivative in its plot structure, having so many parallels to the Two-Face intro episodes that to a casual glance, they could appear identical. However, part 2 does compensate for this with more than just a great cast of guest voices like part 1 did. In part 2, we see Clayface show off his powers, and that’s where this episode comes to really stand out. Unlike some DC heroes, Batman faces a rogues’ gallery composed almost entirely of otherwise normal people who are either just insane human beings or some form of professional criminal. As a result, he’s often challenged more by their insanity or something technical they’ve done.

Clayface, on the other hand, opens our animated Batman up to facing a foe who presents a challenge because he has a physical super-power that the caper crusader has to contend with. Metahumans aren’t the norm for Batman solo adventures, but it’s fun to see them because they serve as evidence for why someone like Batman ultimately ends up as a member of the Justice League. It’s his ability to get through the initial clash, learn from it and be prepared the next time around that ensures Batman can win even against a super-powered adversary. However, even with this we’re not quite up to top marks, but we’re close. I’d give this episode 9 out of 10.

Episode 22: Joker’s Favour

Plot (as given by me):

Average Gothamite Charlie Collins is coming home from a bad day at work when he is cut off on the freeway by multiple drivers, including Batman and officers of the GCPD. However, the one that compels Charlie to return the favour complete with a string of abuse turns out to be the Joker. Horrified at his mistake, Charlie then tries to flee, but the clown prince of crime pursues him. Charlie, in the heat of the moment, states he’ll do anything to make amends, and the Joker agrees, stating that at some future time, he’ll ask a favour of Charlie.

Two years later, Commissioner Gordon is to be honoured with a testimonial, something that sits ill with the Joker, and he plans to crash the festivities. Despite having two henchmen and a right-hand woman in the form of one Harley Quinn, Joker decides to call in the favour owed to him by Charlie Collins. Charlie has moved cities and changed names, but the Joker has managed to keep track of the man, and insists Charlie return to Gotham if he doesn’t want his wife and son hurt. At Gordon’s testimonial, which is being held at the Gotham Peregrinators Club, Charlie’s favour for the Joker is open the door for Harley while she pushes a giant cake in. However, Charlie decides to try and warn Batman, and uses a club exhibit to make an improvised bat-signal.

Charlie performs his task as Harley brings the cake in, disguised as a uniform cop. However, Charlie finds his hand is now glued to the handle, and the cake emits a gas that paralyses everyone not involved in the Joker’s scheme (the Joker’s men, Harley and Charlie all wear gas-masks while Joker springs up from inside the cake). The Joker pins a bomb to Commissioner Gordon’s suit and leaves with Harley and his men, planning to kill Charlie along with the assembled officers. However, Batman arrives, having spotted the improvised bat-signal as he’d been leaving the club as Bruce Wayne. At Charlie’s warning, he uses his grapnel gun to shoot the bomb outside, which results in the destruction of the Joker’s getaway van, after which he frees Charlie from the door, telling him to stay with the recovering police officers while he tackles the Joker.

Batman is quick to take down Joker’s henchmen and Harley while Joker gets outside. There, he is confronted by Charlie, who in mad desperation threatens the Joker with one of his own bombs that was thrown clear of the van. Joker pleads for Batman to save him, and the dark knight appears in time to apparently talk Charlie down. However, Charlie soon tosses the device to the ground, where it turns out to be a gag bomb instead of a real one. While an amused Batman takes the Joker into custody, Charlie looks forward to returning to his normal life.

Review:

This episode has quite a lot going for it. For starters, it’s another Joker episode, which are generally sure bets to be interesting once any Batman show knows what they’re doing with the character. Second, it’s a Joker episode with a very interesting premise of putting an everyman kind of character in the middle of everything. That alone helps the episode to stand out as something different, and that’s before we consider that the everyman character is being voiced by Ed Begley Jr. In and of itself, that last point might not seem like much, but if you compare Charlie Collins to the character Begley was voicing in the ‘Feat of Clay’ two-part episode, it shows this chap has an impressive range for voice-acting.

However, all of this is relative pre-amble to the fact that this is the episode that first featured the show’s major break-out original character of Harley Quinn. From the simple act of episode writer Paul Dini creating Harley as a guest character for this episode, her character has taken Batman’s original medium of comics and all other Batman mediums by storm. It’s hard to believe given the episode isn’t giving her a proper intro with origin story and all the rest, but luckily the show would later address that. However, I think that just goes to show how strong the character was, or possibly just how much Batman lore must have needed that character without maybe realising it. Factoring all this in, I’d say this episode is another top scorer; 10 out of 10.

Episode 23: Vendetta

Plot (as given by me):

Convict “Spider” Conway is being transported from Stonegate to give evidence against crime lord Rupert Thorne, but the transport boat is blown up by a bomb mid-transport. The officers on board spotted the bomb and got off in time, but Conway is missing and everyone begins to assume the worst. When Batman finds a toothpick like those used by Detective Harvey Bullock at the Stonegate Penitentiary docks, and later learns Bullock was once suspected of taking bribes from Thorne, he assumes something even worse; that Bullock planted the bomb himself.

Bullock is taken off the Thorne/Conway case because of this unsavoury history, while Batman goes to interrogate Thorne. The crime lord claims he wasn’t involved and that Conway’s testimony won’t damage him at all. This seems to confirm Batman’s theory that Bullock blew up the boat to prevent anything come to light about his own past with Thorne, but Commissioner Gordon is adamant Bullock is clean. However, when someone dressed like Bullock abducts another criminal, Joey “The Snail” Martin, from his police cell, Bullock is arrested.

Batman examines another piece of evidence found at the docks, a scale which looks reptilian but has human cellular structure. A chance phrase of Alfred’s combined with the scale gives Batman an idea. He eventually discovers Joey and Spider have been hidden in a cave with an underwater access and confronts their abductor, who identifies himself as a former professional wrestler named Killer Croc. Croc was apparently born part-crocodile, which gives him a massive strength advantage. Despite this, Batman is able to tie Croc up long enough to capture Joey and Spider and leave.

Back at the Batcave, Batman is able to trace Croc’s past; he became a pro-wrestler after a stint as a side-show attraction, then turned to crime when he came to Gotham. Initially penny-ante, Croc was later arrested by Bullock and convicted based on the testimony of Spidey and Joey. Realising this, Batman intercepts Croc when he tries to corner Bullock in the detective’s car, after Bullock has been released on bail. Batman and Croc take their battle into the sewers, where Batman ultimately wins, bringing Croc back to the surface for Bullock to take in. Bullock soon returns to duty with all charges against him formally dropped.

Review:

Here we get a fairly simple, but nonetheless decent, intro episode for another of the metahuman monsters that occasionally get a spot in the Batman rogues’ gallery. This time it’s Killer Croc, who has a fairly simple backstory and doesn’t require the kind of introductions we’ve seen for many of Batman’s other foes. The backstory for Croc is so simple, in fact, that it doesn’t lose anything from being worked into a Bullock frame-up plot that allows us to also see a major supporting character in Batman lore developed further. My only criticism would be that Croc’s proper name of Waylon Jones from the comics isn’t used, and that right at the end he gets identified as ‘Killer Croc Morgan’ by the news reporter. It might seem like a minor niggle to some, but between that and the frame-up seeming a bit advanced for the simplistic Croc, I give this episode just 8 out of 10.

Episode 24: Fear of Victory

Plot (as given by me):

Amidst reports of star athletes having panic attacks that cause them to lose, Dick Grayson’s college room-mate and American football player Brian Rogers is on the verge of being signed into the professional American football leagues. As they discuss this, Brian receives a strange telegram wishing him luck, but also reminding him that only a fool knows no fear. Later at a crucial game, Brian suffers a panic attack of his own, and later when Dick is out as Robin assisting Batman, he has a panic attack while scaling the side of a skyscraper to tackle two thieves.

Investigating Dick’s college dorm, Batman discovers the telegram is coated in a substance that is blocked by their gloves. Performing an experiment back at the Batcave, Batman deduces that the chemical is activated by adrenalin, causing major panic during moments of major excitement such as high-pressure sporting contests. The nature of the chemical clearly indicates the Scarecrow, but Robin contends that Scarecrow is supposed to be locked up at Arkham Asylum. A visit there swiftly reveals, however, that Scarecrow has escaped and somehow terrorised an orderly into keeping the escape a secret.

Elsewhere, a man identifying himself only as ‘Lucky’ collects another big win from Leon the Bookie, who sends his enforcer after the man to find out how he is managing to win so many bets. Lucky turns out to be the Scarecrow, and uses another drugged telegram to cow the enforcer into submission. Batman explains to Commissioner Gordon that in order to finance his fear experiments, Scarecrow is drugging top athletes and then betting against them or their teams, depending on the sport in question. That knight, Gotham’s professional American football team the Gotham Knights have a game that Scarecrow is likely to target, so Batman goes to intervene, Robin going along despite not yet having recovered from the fear chemical himself.

At the game, Robin spots the disguised Scarecrow entering and follows, quickly deducing that this time, Scarecrow has tampered with a player’s helmet rather than going for the telegram trick again. Watching the game from the lighting scaffold in the stadium roof, Scarecrow is puzzled as the targeted player doesn’t have a panic attack, and is then surprised when Batman confronts him. Scarecrow threatens to drop a vial of fear toxin on the crowd if Batman doesn’t back off, but then opts to drop it to keep Batman too busy to follow him. However, the vial lands on a lower platform instead.

A scuffle ensues that causes the vial to fall towards the crowd, but Robin arrives in time to swing out and catch the vial, overcoming his panic attacks and saving the day. He also reveals he was the one who swapped out the dosed helmet for a safe one. Scarecrow is swiftly returned to Arkham and Brian Rodgers is signed up to play professional American football.

Review:

Quick bit of house-keeping; as a Brit, I cannot stand how Americans call actual football ‘soccer’ and their version of football, well, football. After all, football is supposed to be played, as the name implies, with one’s feet. Why the Americans apply this name to their version when they almost never use their feet to move the ball is just silly to me. Also, given the shape of the ball, I’d say what they’re really playing is rugby, albeit with a better set-up in terms of ensuring player protection and, hopefully, no stupid rules prohibiting passes in the direction players are meant to run. So, for anyone wondering why I’ve insisted on using the term ‘American football’ all through the plot outline above, that’s why.

So, that having now been explained, let’s consider the episode proper. While this was the first episode to be aired featuring Robin, it’s the second from a production stand-point, and in all honesty it’s one episode that might have been better going ahead of the earlier Robin episode ‘Christmas with the Joker’. The fact that Dick is at college, and thus less available to act as Robin, is more directly shown here, so really this should have been made as well as aired first, then the Christmas episode done later on both counts. Robin’s arc in the story about overcoming fears is a decent, albeit highly cliché one that at times slightly undercuts the episode’s quality.

To some degree, the return of Scarecrow with a more terrifying appearance helps compensate for this, but then also undercutting the episode is the obviousness that the Scarecrow is the culprit. Between the episode title (and title card), not to mention the series of fear-related incidents with top athletes, it’s somewhat painful having to wait for Batman to make the connection the audience made five minutes earlier at least. It’s like watching any episode of Columbo, where the audience gets to see what actually happened first and then has to wait ages for the detective to work it out.

That way of presenting mysteries is almost as daft as calling a sport football if it’s not going to involve primarily foot-on-ball contact. The audience should always be in sync with or behind the detective, and if you get there ahead of them, it should be from your own deduction, not because the book, TV episode or film spoils the solution for you while making the detective work for it. Overall, this isn’t the best episode of the series by any means, and I give it just 5 out of 10.

Episode 25: The Clock King

Plot (as given by me):

Hamilton Hill, the future Mayor of Gotham, catches a subway to work at his law firm, and finds himself sitting opposite businessman and efficiency expert Temple Fugate, who is preparing for a hearing regarding a judgement of $20 million dollars against his company. Hill warns Fugate that he needs to unwind a bit before the court hearing or the judge may rule against him by misreading his tension as guilt. Taking Hill’s advice, Fugate takes his coffee break 15 minutes later than normal and goes to the park instead of staying in the office. This leads to mishaps that result in him appearing late and dishevelled, prompting the judge to rule summarily against Fugate, causing the demise of his business.

Seven years later, Hill is now mayor of Gotham and in the process of starting a re-election campaign. On his way to a fund-raiser for the campaign, Hill is detained when traffic lights at an intersection are tampered with, and at the same time a poster mocking Hill is unveiled on the side of a building. Bruce Wayne is also caught in the traffic mishap, and spies the culprit on a nearby rooftop. He attempts to interfere as Batman, but the culprit (Fugate now lightly disguised as the timing-obsessed Clock King) manages to escape through his expert use of timing.

Batman’s investigations of the traffic incident soon give him Fugate’s name, and when a bank is the subject of a targeted black-out to disable its time locks, the dark knight deduces this to also be Fugate’s work. At the bank’s vault, Batman is trapped inside by Fugate, who reveals via audio recording that he has left a high-speed vacuum pump to drain the vault’s air. The pump will take less time than Batman’s cutting torch, and it’s rigged with a vibration-sensitive explosive to prevent Batman tampering with it. However, Batman is able to break open the audio cassette and use the magnetic ribbon to rig up a pulley system; using this, he moves the pump to the vault door and then sets it off by hitting it with a batarang.

The bank vault, however, was ultimately successful in that while Batman is getting free, Fugate sabotages the opening of a Gotham subway station by making two subway trains crash at the station. Only minor injuries are reported, but in the confusion the mayor has gone missing. Batman, hearing of this and recalling Fugate having a lot of plans of a clock tower, swiftly realises Fugate has kidnapped Hill and taken him to the tower.

At the clock tower, Fugate has tied Hill to the clock hands, which will crush Hill at 3:15; the time Hill suggested Fugate take his coffee break at seven years earlier. As Hill’s law firm represented the plaintiffs in the case against Fugate, the timing-obsessed criminal has become convinced Hill’s advice was deliberate sabotage, and thus he various crimes throughout the day have been about exacting revenge on Hill. Batman arrives and engages Fugate in combat inside the workings of the giant clock, until Fugate’s clock-hand sword jams the gears, causing a catastrophic collapse. Batman and Hill escape, and while there is no sign of Fugate in the aftermath, Batman believes that a man with Fugate’s use of timing could easily have escaped as well.

Review:

While the main antagonist of this episode shares his codename and use of timing with a DC Comics villain that was mainly a foe of Green Arrow, this show puts a different person behind the name and modus operandi, complete with a different origin story. It’s a decent story, and one that certainly breaks a major convention of the series by having Batman operate in the daytime instead of being a strictly night-time crime fighter. However, that sort of change is good because it adds somewhat to the variety of the show while also taking the main character out of his comfort zone a bit. On a personal note, I also enjoy this episode because what happens to Fugate illustrates why if you’re someone who is worried about being somewhere on time, you should never listen to any advice that might put you behind schedule.

Hill might think what he’s suggesting will help Fugate, but it’s clear he’s not really engaged with Fugate and doesn’t understand the man. Anyone who is this good with timing clearly needs everything to run like, well, clockwork in order to be relaxed. I know because I’m often the same way and can’t stand the idea of being late to anything even where it might be the social norm. If being late is going to cause someone anxiety, don’t try to suggest that they do anything that’s going to risk making them late. Don’t tell them to have their break at another time or to get out of their routine; let them stay in their routine because odds are they need that routine just to keep calm.

As much as Fugate goes overboard on the revenge, Hill deserves the opening salvo of the traffic incident and poster graffiti, and so does anyone who tries to advise others on how to calm down without knowing them. Also, changes in routine and getting outside won’t help if the source of anxiety still exists. Anxiety, like every problem in existence, has only solution; deal with the problem at its source. Got an illness? Go for whatever treatment wipes it out or lets your immune system do so. Don’t like the current government? Vote to change who runs it and get everyone you can to vote the same way? Want to stop discrimination of any kind? Fight every kind actively, aggressively and never, ever just say ‘I’m not that kind of bigot’ and then do nothing else. Problems are only ever solved by action, not evasion.

So overall, this is a good episode with an interesting premise and a story that highlights the folly of giving well-meant advice if you don’t really know the person you’re advising. It’s not one of the highlights of the series, but I’d be hard-pressed to consider it a flop of any kind. I’d say about 8 out of 10 for this one.

Episode 26: Appointment in Crime Alley

Plot (as given by me):

Roland Daggett wants to buy up and redevelop Gotham’s Park Row, a formerly nice area of the city that has now become a slum so infested with crime that it is better known as Crime Alley. However, most of the residents of the area cannot afford to live anywhere else, so they are resisting Daggett’s plans. To that end, Daggett hires an arsonist known as Nitro to destroy the slum and make it look like a faulty gas main ruptured. Daggett asks that the explosion occur that evening at 9pm, which is when Daggett will be otherwise occupied giving his speech to the Gotham Better Business Council.

Bruce Wayne deduces Daggett is up to something as he watches news commentary on the Park Row situation, but he has his own appointment to keep in the area an hour prior to Daggett’s deadline, one he has apparently never failed to make. Bruce heads to the area as Batman, but is delayed when a girl comes running out of an apartment building screaming for help. Batman enters the apartment to find three crooks trying to terrorise the girl’s mother out of the place. The dark knight swiftly defeats the crooks and learns they’ve been strong-arming everyone in Crime Alley to leave, suggesting they may be working for Daggett.

Meanwhile, Crime Alley resident and physician Dr Leslie Thompkins realises Batman is running late and sets out to look for him, insisting to her friend Maggie that she’ll be alright, having lived in the area for 30 years. However, Leslie is abducted and tied up by Nitro and Daggett’s henchman Crocker when she discovers them rigging explosives in a condemned building. When Batman learns Leslie has gone out in search of him after he was delayed, he begins to search for her. He is then delayed when a desperate Crime Alley resident holds a clerk from Daggett Industries hostage for serving him eviction papers. Batman manages to diffuse the situation and resumes his search for Leslie.

A check of Leslie’s apartment reveals nothing, apart from a scrapbook that explains the nature of her relationship to Batman; Crime Alley was where Bruce’s parents were shot and killed, and Leslie was there to comfort the grieving Bruce, being a colleague of Bruce’s father as well as a local resident. Seeing a homeless man staring through the window, Batman confronts him and learns of Leslie’s abduction. He is delayed getting to her by having to stop an out-of-control tram trolley, which forces him to abandon the Batmobile and finish his journey on foot.

Finding Crocker and Nitro in the midst of completing their work, Batman locks them inside their own van and diffuses the bombs Leslie is tied up next to. Leslie urges Batman to forget her and get everyone out of a nearby hotel that has become a sanctuary for many people with nowhere else to live. As Daggett gives his speech, sections of Crime Alley explode, but when Daggett later appears on the scene, it turns out all the residents and most of the buildings are still ok. Only a few condemned buildings are taken out by the blasts, and Daggett’s men are under arrest. However, Daggett denies any involvement and pins the blame on the neighbourhood’s high crime rate.

As Daggett leaves, Leslie urges Batman to let it go, and the pair walk away to keep their appointment, each laying a rose at the place where Bruce’s parents were murdered years before.

Review:

When it comes to adapting Batman’s supporting cast from the comics, there are a few characters who get over-looked in most versions, and Dr Leslie Thompkins is a major oversight in most incarnations. While Alfred’s place as Batman’s butler and Bruce Wayne’s surrogate father figure is generally ensured in every iteration of the character, the surrogate mother role played by Leslie is less featured. The fact that this series actually bothered to include her at all, and does so with such accuracy to the source material, is another example of why this show remains so iconic and definitive in terms of Batman adaptations.

Of course, the key to making this work is two-fold. First, the episode is apparently based on a specific comic-book story, which wasn’t something this series or later DC animated universe productions did very often. Second, they had Diana Muldaur, better known to Trek audiences as Dr Kate Polaski from season two of Star Trek: TNG, voicing Leslie, and while I didn’t generally care for her TNG character, she brings the right warmth and kindliness to her role in this episode. We also get Ed Asner back as Roland Daggett, which helps to ensure Rupert Thorne isn’t the only animated series original criminal that’s getting repeat appearances. It also gives the episode a suitably notable antagonist to keep it interesting. Overall, I’m inclined to put this one in the top-scorers club for this series; 10 out of 10.

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plush-anon · 4 years

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Happy Halloween Scooby Doo! Review

Muahahhhahahhahahaha! Thanks to the Walmart tradition of stocking movies for sale weeks before the intended release date, I have myself a copy of what claims to be Scooby Doo’s FIRST Halloween adventure!

…in spite of movies like Witch’s Ghost and Goblin King, holiday specials like WNSD’s A Scooby Doo Halloween (which had a haunted Scarecrow too…), BCSD’s EL Bandito (for Dia de los Muertos - obvs not the same, but most companies act like it) and Halloween, The NSDM’s Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle, and the DTV short film Scooby Doo and the Spooky Scarecrow (which, ironically enough, did NOT take the opportunity to feature Dr. Jonathan Crane).

So let us take a look now at Happy Halloween Scooby Doo! and see whether this film will be a graveyard smash of a treat, or a black licorice bomb of disappointment.

Full review (and SPOILERS TO GO WITH IT) are below the cut in my new review format; if all goes smoothly, I’ll go with this for future Scooby films.

WARNING: This review is very long.

One minor note before we begin: the Special Features actually include BCSD’s Halloween, WNSD’s A Scooby Doo Halloween, and PNSD’s Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner

...so they were AWARE this was not the first Halloween adventure of the Scooby gang, and yet still use that tag line. Hm.

Still, kudos for including them - this’ll help boost the reasons to keep this movie, if it turns out to be a real Milk Dud of a movie *ba-dum tish* :D

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The movie starts off rather abruptly, actually - no slow pan over the setting, just WB Animation credit and BOOM, we’ve cut to a Halloween parade and Elvira is talking.

I’m of a mixed opinion including Elvira on top of having Bill Nye and a Batman Rogue - while she most certainly fits the Scooby aesthetic, it doesn’t feel as grand an impact after her weird little cameo in Return to Zombie Island (ugh) and I’m not sure how well the movie will balance her in wait a minute

wait just a

WAIT A MINUTE

Did - did that parade float skeleton just sing Crystal Cove as the town’s name?

oh no.

Oh No.

....also their song is terrible and they should feel terrible.

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Fred: We got him! Banh Mi Shop, second floor!

me: the heck is a Banh Mi Shop? *mild googling noises*

So I guess Jonathan Crane really had a craving for a Vietnamese sandwich before he enacted his Halloween scheme.

...you think he’s a lemongrass chicken type of guy or a BBQ pork guy? It’s always hard to guess at these things, esp when coffee and pumpkin spice aren’t on the table (as per fanon, of course)

-----

Velma: We have a flawless track record!

So I guess WB is just gonna ignore the past few DTV retcons established in 13 Ghosts and Return to Zombie Island?

I mean that rather defeats the purpose of them existing at all, but fcuk YEAH I can get behind throwing that retcon garbage out of canon!

And STAY OUT!!

------

Shaggy, talking about ghosts being real: I’m like the boy who cried wolf - I keep warning you but like, you won’t believe me until I finally get eaten!

Yet again, Warner Bros makes a wolf reference to Shaggy. Yet again, I am torn asunder between wanting werewolf!Shaggy in a new Scooby property, and fearing for the appearance of werewolf!Shaggy in a new Scooby property.

-------

Velma: Point is, being afraid is a waste of time!

Scarecrow, LITERALLY EXPLODING THROUGH A BRICK WALL three buildings away:

------

He’s floating through the air and t-posing to assert his dominance 🤣🤣🤣

Gods bless animation 😁

------

Daphne @ Shag and Scoob locking themselves in the van: Are you serial?

Me: wait, SERIAL? *re-reads captions* yup, that says “serial”.

Is this an editing mistake? I don’t think that works here…unless that’s supposed to be a joke on how they always do this. But then why would that be an irritating surprise, they literally do this EVERY episode 🙄

-------

Oh hey, Red Herring’s Party Screams truck has Red Herring running out of it

Could this be a hint to how the story goes? The villain appearing on a literal Red Herring?

Naaaaaah, WB’s not THAT smart

-------

So if we take @captainbaddecisions crack theory on Jonathan Crane being Shaggy’s uncle seriously, does this mean that Jonathan is using magic to fly, float fear toxin orbs around himself, and making things explode, a la the family trait of Crack Theory A?

Logically he’s probs using wires or magnets or some shit, but it’s a fun thought to entertain 😁

------

Welp, we finally get the opening credits! … with Jonathan Crane smashing through the Mystery Machine’s windshield, set to a slow poppy song straight from the 60s, and spewing the title of the film out in glittery pink mist.

All the while Scooby and Shaggy throw candy at each other, deliberately obtuse to the cloud of fear toxin enveloping their friends and the townsfolk, the steady destruction of the Mystery Machine they’re laying in as multiple cars crash into it and send it spiraling, and the general mayhem and destruction that Scarecrow is causing

Never change, guys, never change

--------

I just choked on my lemonade

There’s an article plastered to the roof of the Mystery Machine titled “Talking Dog Confounds, Ignites Ethics Debate Over Dog Labor”

ahahahahaha

-------

Annnnnnnnd there goes the Mystery Machine, tumbling in the air and over the roads with Shaggy and Scooby still inside without seat belts. Will they perish in this horrible road accident? Will Death finally come to claim them at last?

Of course not. This is Shaggy and Scooby we’re talking about - I’m almost positive they can survive anything up to and including a nuclear bomb. This is child’s play to them.

-------

So they “capture” Scarecrow… by pinning his cape to a tree with crossbow bolts.

And they do not try to at least tie up his arms or his hands in ANY capacity.

JUST the cape.

...you know, Velma, for a team with a “flawless” track record, you guys are making a hecking TON of mistakes in facing against one of Batman’s ROGUES GALLERY, ESPECIALLY with no Batman in sight, good freakin’ grief. 😩

------

Yaaaaaaaaas, this Scarecrow design is LUSH

He’s got the lank, the height, the BTAS costume colors, the elongated face with beaky nose and pointed chin and angular cheekbones, the eyebags like Gucci, the furrowed brow… honestly the only thing missing is the more reddish color hair, and even that isn’t mandatory. I love 😍

Not to mention the HOT DAYUM voice he has - low and velvet rough and so godsdamned particular in a way that could either tie in to obscuring a southern accent as in fanon or just as a stringent academic, oh my yes. He’s voiced by someone called Dwight Schultz, who’s most well known for playing Captain ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock in the OG A-Team show, and someone called Reginald Barclay in Star Trek TNG and Voyager, if any of y’all know that character in particular.

And of course, the first line he says is a delightfully wry “Oh, but I AM getting away with it,” with the sort of smirk that absolutely lends credence to why he’s a threat to Batman, and not some simpering wimp that can be defeated with some crossbow bolts in a tree.

I think I’m going to enjoy this movie at least somewhat, so long as we get to see him 🥰🥰🥰

(tho on a side note: Daphne why on EARTH are you trying to film Crane saying the meddling kids line? Do you have a video compilation of past villains who’ve done that, and you hope to add his to it? Was your phone damaged when you went up against the Riddler a few DTVs ago and you want a second shot at recording a Gotham Rogue saying it? Bc I don’t think a Gotham Rogue would be too pleased with seeing himself as a Mystery Meme on the Youtubes, you get what I’m saying?)

-------

Okay, so the floating orb things are explained away as fear toxin bomb drones somehow… despite looking nothing like the other drones and being much smaller with no visible propulsion, while also flying unassisted through and around objects to explode against places once flung…

(tho interesting note, none of them are aimed directly at the crowds, just behind them - odd, that)

But how did he heckin’ FLY at the beginning?

Yeah, they show him wearing wrist-mounted grappling hooks at the end of the intro song sequence, but they are NOWHERE IN SIGHT at the beginning - and I do mean in sight, since he emerges against a backdrop of flames. There was nothing there (see the T-pose above for further evidence), and nothing there when he FLEW THROUGH THE MYSTERY MACHINE’S WINDSHIELD AND FLEW BACK OUT AGAIN. And these things are pale silver, which stands out like crazy against the darker backgrounds, so no hand-wavy ‘they were always being used’ bullcrap we’ve seen in other movies.

Hmmm *scribbles in notepad* note to self, add notation concerning Crack Theory A on magic!Shaggy to “Uncle Crane” theory files - evidence denotes that Crane is able to fly (or at least hover in mid-air unassisted) for terrorization purposes. May boost strength of CTA by family association, lending credence to magic inheritance along the bloodline...

------

“Avocado Toast Generation”? Crane, I honestly don’t know if you really mean that, or if you understand just how much that phrase gets under any Millennial/Gen Z kid’s skin. Having seen multiple variations of your character, it really could swing either way (tho kudos on the dead switch idea - very nice 👍🏻)

Although this does lead to an interesting stand-off: Fred, upon seeing the town threatened with 3 days worth of fear toxin, immediately moves to let Crane go, while Velma stops him and refuses to consider compromising if it means Crane escapes. They both look legitimately frustrated at the other for taking the stance they do.

Fascinating~

------

Hmmm

Crane honey, I don’t know if your drones are made of flash paper and hope, or if Scooby and Shaggy are using the reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally old candy (the stuff made about ~3 years ago most neighborhoods give out to the teenagers that knock around midnight on Halloween) to shoot them down, but either way you may wish to speak with the manufacturer about this

Then again, this IS Shaggy and Scooby - they probably could’ve spat marshmallows at the drones and brought them down with equal success and explosions

(and good on them for shooting those down! Atta boy 👍🏻)

-------

Aw dang it

1. They still have Crane captured and now in handcuffs (despite having… you know… NOT been bound by anything except cross bolts in his curtain cape thing)

2. Dwight Schultz has decided to pitch his voice higher and more nasally than what he has. Hopefully this is more of an incredulous sort of pitch than something that sticks for the rest of the movie, ugh.

Also, I think they’re framing the movie to be more Velma-centric this time around - she’s the one explaining to Crane how they tracked him down, apparently through a piece of fan mail he sent Elvira (is that the only reason she’s there? Also why was Velma examining random pieces of fan mail for toxins, Elvira probs gets hundreds a week irl) and it looks like they’re framing something up on how fear isn’t something you can pretend isn’t there. neat!

------

whajit

53rd?

53rd?!?!

ONLY 53rd?!?!?!?!

Boooo, Scarecrow’s WAY more popular than that! I call foul

---

Okay why is Daphne’s schtick so far to spit laaaaaaame slang after every sentence Velma says

I would rather this not be her schtick

Actually could she go back to filming mystery stuff, bc at least I can pretend it’ll build into the OG Zombie Island Daphne

----

Phew, his voice has returned to its low, raspy goodness

also, Crane needs to learn about personal space, good grief

(interesting clue brought up tho - Crane only steals tech that CAN’T leak his toxin, ergo it can’t be tracked until he releases it. Sensible use, given that Batman probs tracks it if it does.)

----

Velma: I’m not afraid of you, Crane. Fear is an illogical reaction to an imagined threat.

Crane:

-----

Crane: Fearless, then. Intelligent. Proud and stubborn. You remind me very much of the one person in this world I care about.

uhhhhhh

Yourself? Harley? Edward Nygma? Ichabod the raven? Idk, I’m honestly curious as to where this thread will go 🤔🤔🤔

-----

Fred, leaning against the Mystery Machine: Guys, it’s gonna be okay. She told me!

O_o

Fred? Honey? Are you sure you weren’t supposed to join Crane in the transport vehicle back to Arkham?

----

OH SWEET JESUS SHAGGY GREW YAOI HANDS

WHAT THE HECK

THAT’S WAY MORE UNNERVING THEN YOU GUYS NOT BEING AFRAID ANYMORE

(although the fact that they’re both unsettled by NOT constantly shaking or having their heart racing is honestly kind of heartbreaking. Y’all need therapy, good grief)

----

Shaggy and Scooby just chewed up candy (wrapper and all) to make themselves a Halloween costume of… what looks like barfed-up candy (ew)

Before then proceeding to dance so well that everyone around them also starts dancing in a 60s-70s era rainbow light show and giving them candy

I worry for these two sometimes - that kind of power seems to be getting to their head 😬😬😬

---

Oh hey, acid green toxic waste is spilling from an 18-wheeler onto the Fear Toxin drones and emitting a purple pink haze that envelops a pumpkin patch! That won’t do anything suspicious at all I bet!

(wait is Poison Ivy going to come into this at some point)

(also major kudos to the music here - very 80s horror synth, I like)

----

So the Pumpkins have grown faces, limbs, consciousness, the ability to fly and a lust for human flesh

And they appear to be led by the Pumpkin King of the Pumpkin Patch mentioned in the Charlie Brown Halloween special

He’s not as friendly as I pictured him being, sadly 😕

---

Why is this random ass cop coming up to FD&V to say that they’re in over their heads… AFTER the mystery’s been solved?

Like dude, you’re only making yourself suspicious at this point, go home

----

Huh, interesting - the gang are being interviewed for a tv news network while they’re considered the town heroes

Why am I getting bad vibes from this…

Eh, it’s probably nothing

----

Velma: {Shaggy and Scooby} are, um… REALLY into the Halloween spirit.

Shaggy: THIS ISN’T COSPLAY, VELMA!

I’m dying 😂

------

Holy Shit

Velma just snapped and went off on Shaggy and Scooby for acting scared and doing nothing to help wrap up the mystery

(even though these guys are the ONLY reason that the gang didn’t have to choose between setting Scarecrow free and poisoning the entire town for 3 days straight, but hey, what do I know - I’m just writing an in-depth reaction post to this movie and taking note of details like this, clearly I know nothing *eye roll*)

Last time I saw Velma critique the guys’ usual mystery solving shenanigans, it was much more low-key and without knowing they were nearby

But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence

------

What the

Bills?

Bills?!?!

Fred just mentioned that fixing the Mystery Machine was going to leave a hefty bill and that they may need to get dishwashing jobs to earn money

Which is more of a job you might expect a high schooler to get on the go and yet

They actually have to pay bills

How old are they here??!

------

wait a tic

THIS is how they introduce Bill Nye?

He just calls up Velma with no explanation other than Velma saying “Oh hey, it’s Bill Nye!”

I just - what?!?!

How do you know him so well that he can just pull up your number and call you, and then geT YOU A NEW FREAKING CAR LIKE

WHAT?!?!?!?

Was there a Scooby episode with him in the past two years where the fcuk did this come from

------

Also the car is dressed like Bill Nye

And he can talk to the gang directly as the car

So that he can solve mysteries with them whenever he wants

This… this was not what I was expecting to come about from the Bill Nye cameo

(alas, poor predictions of being Crane’s roommate, you will not come to pass this day) 😔

-------

Ooooo, purple haze throbbing on the horizon! That’s always a good sign of things to come! 😀

------

And now Daphne’s… asking Elvira to mentor her fashion wise. And Elvira’s taking her on as her unpaid intern/personal assistant.

Yooo, movie, can you pick a direction and stick with it for Daphne? You’ve gone from her spewing outdated slang to wanting a costume for trick-or-treating, and now this.

-------

Welp, now I can say I saw a giant pumpkin dog vore an old woman

I didn’t WANT to see that mind, but I guess I can say it now 😐

------

OH SHIT NO

IT TURNED HER INTO A FLYING PUMPKIN SHAPED LIKE HER FACE

ABSOLUTELY UNSETTLING, 0/10 WOULD NOT RECOMMEND

-------

At least we get a nice scene of Daphne kicking the pumpkins’ collective butt

Something normal

------

Elvira: WOW! You’re a regular Mary Sue!

*falls over cackling*

------

And now there’s a giant purple fissure opening up in the concrete to swallow the town of Crystal Cove whole

(good, i whisper softly into the darkness of my living room. Let it fall)

--------

Man, I feel so bad for this single father right now

He’s gotten wrapped up in all of this nonsense with his daughter, and he is just Distraught at being chased by Jackal Lanterns, having the town collapsing under his feet, and having to gorge jump in his sedan to get away from the worst of it

It’s okay, Mike Dad - we would feel the same way in your shoes

-------

Hologram Bill Nye is wearing Cat ears and cat whiskers/nose, and is cleaning his hands like a cat cleans its paws

Why was this the movie we found out Bill Nye was a furry

Why Warner Bros

Why would you inflict this upon us in a Scooby Doo-Scarecrow mystery

-------

Hey, can Jonathan Crane return now? The movie needs its dignity back.

------

A clue on the whys here - the town was built on top of a MASSIVE lithium deposit, with the talks to mine it being scrapped due to environmental concerns. That’s actually a decent lead in for why some

-------

Welp

The Jackal Lanterns just went full Mad Max with the Halloween Parade floats and cars

No, I don’t have any idea why either, just roll with it

-------

Nice, they confirmed that Fred’s full name is still Frederick Herman Jones XD

Also a great little action sequence with Daphne - while there’s not much movement, they frame the scene dynamically, with some good quick wordplay. Very nice.

--------

Velma has a mind palace

Aight

--------

Velma: Shaggy, I could kiss you!

Oh, to hear this as a child, when I still hardcore shipped Shelma *sigh*

------

Oh thank gods we’re going back to Scarecrow again

------

Shaggy ate some Scooby Snacks, leapt out of a moving vehicle, and onto the backs of two flying pumpkins that he promptly reined in to fly to Crane’s prison transport

...yet again, I am amazed at the sentences I am led to type for Scooby Doo DTVs

------

Ah, how very Hannibal Lector of you, Jon

Man, he actually looks very meek in normal clothes - red long-sleeved shirt and grey slacks

-----

Hmmm

So Crane ISN’T behind the Jackal Lanterns - in fact he’s outright befuddled by them. This means his whole spiel to Velma earlier about both of them being caught in the same trap was… metaphorical? The breakdown doesn’t actually go into WHY he thinks they’re in the same trap - Crane’s whole schtick is tied to accepting fear, not denying it, so why would they be the same?

Either way, someone is using both him and Mystery Inc to do something to Crystal Cove (please be Red Herring, please be Red Herring, please be Red Herring)

Actually, that reference at the beginning really WAS a red herring - they framed it as being Jon the whole time when it wasn’t. Kudos!

Additional kudos to having Jon be seen more out of mask than in - he is a looker, and I aim to look as much as I can ;)

-------

Annnnd Daphne’s now trying to convince Elvira to switch clothes with her

I don’t get it - how on earth did we get from Daphne trying to find a good costume for trick-or-treating to asking Elvira to switch oh there it is nevermind.

-----

There is literally a scene where a giant buzzsaw is slicing towards Crane

and he just

stares at it

going “huh, that’s different”

And I LOVE IT

------

And here we have another fascinating scene: Velma going to free Crane from his cell, as Daphne tells her to just leave him to die by pumpkin

I’m wondering if they meant to draw a parallel between the two here - Velma starts by reciting a nursery rhyme, then overcoming her fears in order to release madness to take control. It’s not done very cleanly - mainly bc we barely have any time with Crane in this movie - but I wonder if they meant to insinuate that Crane was like Velma once, where he refused to acknowledge he was afraid, which caused him to lose focus on his initial goals

Idk, ignore my ramblings

---

Crane, smirking: I’ll need my personal effects - extenuating circumstances.

Me, fanning myself: I’ll need you to remove yours first

(i am not even kidding, Crane is an absolute DILF in this movie and it flusters me. Stupid sexy animation)

---

YAAAAAAAAAAASSSSS

SCARECROW TO THE MOTHERFCUKING RESCUE BABY, SCYTHE AND FCUKING ALL!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

----

FCUK YEAH THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

HE HAS A DANCE LIKE QUALITY WITH SOME OF HIS FIGHTING MOVES

VIOLENT DANCING BRINGS THE GIANT JACKAL LANTERN DOWN BABY

THEN HE BACKFLIPS AND GYMNASTIC SWINGS INTO THE VAN

ROCK IT SCARECROW FCUKING ROCK IT

(minor note here, but the subtitles show Dr. Crane instead of Scarecrow - unsure if that’s more that the movie calls him Dr Crane or if it indicates he’s acting more heroic than villainous)

---

GODDAMNIT

THE GIANT PUMPKIN SNUCK VINES INTO THE VAN AND STOLE HIM BACK

WHEN CRANE WAS... wearing a seatbelt before, but isn’t now.

...

BOOOOO

---

Yet again, we find a Scooby movie that attempts character development, but with Velma

Unlike Shaggy’s Showdown however, I’m mixed on how successful it is.

For starters, Velma hasn’t been this cocksure in other DTVs we’ve seen, so it’s a bit odd to see it now. While not 100% out of place - after all, the gang DID capture one of Batman’s Rogues Gallery on their own - it still feels a touch forced. Compare that to Shaggy’s Showdown, where Shaggy has ALWAYS been a coward (one that, in more recent years, writers have had willing to abandon his friends for safety), so the character development there feels more natural.

The progression of events with Velma actually work somewhat okay - but again, here’s where past DTVs come to bite them in the ass. The past handful have had the gang be wrong, have had them fail, or catch the wrong guy. This makes Velma’s attitude here at odds with the other films, something that sticks more due to a character that’s appeared in the past few films as a minor inconvenience - a Sheriff who keeps telling the gang not to interfere, they’re doing things wrong, etc. If this had been a character who was completely wrong in the past AND SHOWN TO BE WRONG FOR HIS OPINIONS, while the gang never guessed wrong, this would work much better. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and here we are.

I think it would have flowed better if Velma’s cockiness came solely from catching Crane on their own. Have a random cop character or reporter or whatever (just not the recurring cop), insinuate that the gang is in too deep with Scarecrow, that he should be handled by the adults or professionals or whatever. Velma could bristle, overcompensate, and THEN fall from her pedestal like we see, reach out to the gang and commiserate over feeling scared, and grow. Again, it’s not too far to reach for, but they handle it poorly; as a result, the outcome feels a little more shoehorned in.

It’s an honest shame, bc we haven’t had a Velma centered story since Frankencreepy, and we all remember what a hideous fcuking mess THAT was *shudders*. Still, it somewhat gets its point across, I guess.

---

Fred why did you rip your shirt off

Actually better question why do you not have nipples

---

Awwwwwww

Velma just apologized to Shag and Scoob for snapping at them earlier, and admits how she doesn’t appreciate how much they make Mystery Inc what it is

Also she eats a Scooby Snack with them and admits they taste pretty good

----

Huh

Velma’s mind palace is the Mystery Machine driving through space

Also Shaggy and Scooby are able to telepathically follow her in and communicate with her

Literally, they actually followed her into her head telepathically, and show her their memories of things she hasn’t gotten to see tonight (while also possibly enhancing her ability to remember things, given how much DETAIL she captures perfectly of things that she would maybe have glimpsed in a millisecond AT MOST)

...another tally for Crack Theory A of magic! Shaggy and Scooby *scribbles*

-------

Fred, be very very thankful that there are no people operating those pumpkins in person cause uhhhh

Those traps would be spraying red instead of orange

------

Another weird music choice - the gang goes up to fight the Jackal Lanterns, but the music is the same 60s bubble we heard earlier

Not terribly atmospheric, really

(wouldn’t a Smashing Pumpkins cover of Scooby Doo be more appropriate, or did you guys spend all your money on hiring Elvira and Bill Nye?)

------

Dang

Velma just admitted her fears and jumped into the mouth of the Mega Pumpkin, before getting Fred to use the app from earlier to shut it down, revealing it to be a giant drone surrounded by smaller pumpkin drones

This feels… counterintuitive, but I’ll try to explain at the end

---

Okay

I’ll admit it

The Whodunnit is actually pretty decent in concept

There was a sprinkling of tidbits that could be assembled for the final conclusion and still make a decent amount of sense, all to find the sheriff doing it

Only he isn’t a sheriff

He’s a former Tech CEO who was also busted by the gang years ago in a case the Sheriff kept bringing up throughout the movie - due to his prison sentence, he lost more than half his wealth and the opportunity to expand it further with the Crystal Cove Lithium deposits

He was also someone who sold tech to Crane for his fear toxin distribution, where he got the idea to frame him for it

(tho on a side note, Crane is an absolute dork and a terrible liar - just look at the email he sent XD and that profile pic, my gods)

He deliberately picked at the gang for the past few DTVs (specifically 2: Return to Zombie Island and Curse of the 13th Ghost) to fracture their confidence, undermine them, etc - all so that in one fell swoop, he could retake his fortune, frighten everyone in town away from the mines so they couldn’t interfere, frighten away the gang (while also ruining their reputation as mystery solvers), and take Crane off the docket so he couldn’t identify the CEO when he pretended to be the sheriff

This… is actually a pretty damn good plan, for a Scooby villain. He was patient, manipulative, and clever, learning how best to tie up loose ends and win back what he lost. A clever revenge story that came so close to coming to fruition, and could have honestly been sold convincingly…

...if it hadn’t been done so much better in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

Yeeeaaaah, this movie basically lifts the rough framework up from that one - past mystery villain comes back to attack the gang and ruin their reputation (tho this one decides to also make his fortune back and tie up loose ends with former criminal contacts, a la Crane). Gang is embarrassed in front of the news folk, another villain is framed for it (like Old Man Wickles of the Black Knight fame), and the gang must reconcile to foil the villain for good.

Although it also??? Merges elements of Frankencreepy in it?? The movie is focused on Velma, who is struggling to admit when she’s wrong (which ties into her fear, somehow… I’ll think on that point a little) and things purportedly go haywire when she won’t bend. This… isn’t illustrated as well here, since there’s very little direct cause-and-effect from Velma’s actions that would prove this point - that insisting her way is the right, best, and therefore only way to go ends up making things worse.

As much as I despised Frankencreepy (and I DESPISED IT), it did do that part well - showing that refusing to budge on something can lead to you hurting your friends (literally, in that one), and that admitting you were wrong and need help isn’t the end of the world.

(that movie also had former villains returning to gain vengeance upon the gang using psychological warfare, hm - may need to go over that one again, unfortunately).

It’s a shame, too - the basic elements for this plot are all here, they just need to be polished and reworked a bit to make a really fascinating movie.

------

Anyways, back to the asshat CEO who just… faked being a sheriff. Because white people can get away with that so long as they have the outfit and the car *throws up hands* (the sad part is this is probably something that actually happens)

As he drives away we see a familiar silhouette looming in the cornfields, watching him approach

Velma had Bill Nye on speaker, so he could record the entire confession for the federal officers nearby (who were taking Scarecrow back to Arkham), and track the phone signal to his exact location

And right as his holographic call cuts out, we see the shadow of a Scarecrow looming over him, causing him to scream.

When the feds arrive at his final location, both his body and the money have vanished. The car still sits, engine running, before the crows leering over him from the field vanish into the sky.

-------

Now that he’s dead, the gang walks and finds themselves at a Halloween party, with friendly faces and good food. The mystery is solved, though the culprit may never be found again.

Then Daphne admits to NOT trying to steal Elvira’s costume for Halloween, but instead trying to steal Elvira’s identity and replace her.

Something that she’s apparently nearly gotten away with on past mysteries working with Phillis Diller

*sighs* movie, why couldn’t you just stick to the costume schtick? This is just… so much worse.

-----

From there, Elvira walks off to wrap things up, reveal the monster face on the back of her head sans wig (which was also a monkey), and start the credits, where we see the gang working to bring the Mystery Machine back to its former glory a la Frankenstein pastiche.

This movie… this movie is a hot mess, but at least it’s an OKAY hot mess.

It really does feel like someone started writing a decent Velma-focused movie concerning the Scarecrow and a past Mystery Inc villain interfering, but was bogged down by notes from higher-ups: Wait! Write in Elvira! Also write in Bill Nye! Hey, let’s have a Mad Max car chase with the Jackal Lanterns! And have Daphne obsessed with literally becoming Elvira! Also make reference to things that we’ll insist be explained this way instead of a way that makes sense! Great!

(seriously tho, we never find out who Crane cares about most that reminds him of Velma, what the heck?)

It’s like two or three different scripts were smooshed together without being cleaned up - stuff is said that doesn’t get resolved, the celebrity guests don’t get to breathe much and feel squished together, and the build-up for the villain feels… less impactful, even knowing that he’s been in the past two films.

It might have worked if he’d been in… let’s say like 5 or 6 DTVs in a row, speaking roles for dissing the gang growing in each (ex start with “Good job kids! But maybe next time, leave it to the professionals, okay?” and growing more bitter from there), but only 2 feels kind of meh. Still, I do appreciate the clues we got to collect together, and they all work in the final breakdown of the scheme - some DTVs can feel like they pull stuff completely out of nowhere, so kudos there.

I appreciate what they wanted to do with Velma - give her a character development arc similar to Shaggy’s in Shaggy’s Showdown. Unfortunately, it wasn’t set up quite so neatly: they blended her ‘refusal to admit fear’ with her overconfidence that she was always right, and it led to a weird conclusion. To face her fears, she leapt into the Giant Pumpkin, which… proved that she was right all along about it being fake, and that solves things somehow. It doesn’t address how she can get something wrong sometimes, it doesn’t really address what she’s afraid of (which is honestly quite good: she’s afraid of failing in a way that allows bad guys to escape justice and in a way that hurts her friends), it’s just a bit of a mess. Points for aiming the focus the right way (and in a way that DOESN’T sexualize the underage teenage girl, unlike some DTVs cough cough Frankencreepy cough cough), but it’s very very messy how it goes about it.

The movie actually balanced pretty well for the whole gang - no excessive focus on one leaving the rest in the dust (too much at least - Fred was a touch underdeveloped, but nowhere near as annoying as past iterations have been. Shaggy and Scooby were kind of meh in some places but great in others, while Daphne was just odd. I think they were trying to recapture the BCSD Daphne characterization, but they failed. Still, she did spend some good time kicking ass with the pumpkins, so that was fun.

Now for the Rogue, Jonathan Crane. If you like Crane, this movie gives you: maniacal Scarecrow, calm and creepy Crane, a brief glimpse at fanboy!Crane (he admits in his own awkward way that he’s a fan of Elvira, and later tells her he loves her work - it’s fun), and (best of all for me) a heroic Crane - one who helps the protagonists and ends up kicking ass pretty damn well, brief as it was. And while DILF Crane is always a treat, he feels underutilized in this. In comparison, Scooby Doo/Batman Brave and the Bold really utilized a lot of different aspects of Riddler, to the point he actually does feel pretty menacing by the third act. It’s a shame we don’t quite get that with Crane, but I do love seeing him 1. More out of mask, and 2. Acting as a good guy (in his own way), so he’s enjoyable on the whole.

I kind of wish that the whole movie was spent more with Crane, but again, the script is a bit of a mess on this part - the fact that he’s not completely screwed over is a goddamn miracle.

Elvira was… okay. She didn’t have much of a purpose beyond getting the plot started and giving Daphne some hooks to play off of. Bill Nye (abrupt as his introduction was) did provide some necessary elements to the mystery, as well as the tech; he wasn’t too bad by the end. (still a touch bitter we didn’t get ex roommate Nye, but hey, what can you do)

Humor was… mixed. Some good, some meh, but very few long enough to feel painful. Some bits felt extraneous at times, but they did help to build to the conclusion, so points for effort.

At the end of the day though, I’m probably keeping this more for Jonathan Crane than anyone else. It does have a lot of fanfic potential tho 🤔🤔🤔

That’s all from me tonight, folks! Hope you enjoyed my own little breakdown of the movie.

#happy halloween scooby doo #plush reviews: final thoughts #jonathan crane #scarecrow #spoilers

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solesurvivorpaigeargot · 3 years

Text

9 Things about Me Tag Game

I was tagged by... multiple people, most recently @thewookieruns and @tarberrymentats.

Rules: tag nine (9) people you want to get to know better, and then answer the nine (9) questions below.

Favorite Color[s]: Dark green, bright powder blue, vivid violet

Currently Reading: I'm in the middle of a re-listen of a bunch of old favorite series from Garth Nix; The Abhorsen series, Keys to the Kingdom, Seventh Tower... they were middle school favorites, that inspired me as a kid, and I'm coming back to them now and loving them all the more as audio books [ The first three Abhorsen books are read by TIM FUCKING CURRY!!! ] After that, I've got the collected works of Lovecraft on my list.

Last Song: Angry Too by Lola

Last Movie: Digimon: The Movie. Yes, the one Fox Kids produced from all those film festival movies from Japan getting cut down to their underpants and pasted together. Yes, with the intro cartoon intact. I'm allowed to feel nostalgic :P

Last Series: Last NEW thing I consumed? Gravity Falls, 6 years late to the party, as usual so I can avoid all the people telling me how to feel about it. Last series I watched a piece of? Star Trek: Voyager. I missed Neelix.

Sweet, Savory, or Spicy?: Balance, my friend. It's all about balance. But I do have a sweet tooth-- it just needs a lot of bitter to go with it, thus my deep love of dark chocolate.

Craving: Tea, I haven't had my morning cup yet.

Tea or Coffee: YES, BOTH, PLEASE! But in the right amounts, at the right times. I am a smaller person with some pretty intense ADHD symptoms that feed my disposition towards anxiety; too much caffeine can send me straight to the goddamn moon with a panic attack if I'm not careful, so I tend towards tea in the morning until I know what kind of day it's going to be. After that, I may enjoy a cup of coffee for the caffeine, or go decaf for the flavor. My evenings are often completed with a cup of chamomile to help with the winding down, too.

Currently Working On: THE JULY 11TH STREAM ON TWITCH!! Also launching Artists of the Apocalypse. There's like four other projects and at least a dozen other ideas I've got on the back burner, but sadly progress has halted on those until I can get back on my medication. Right now, I need to stay focused on a singular task, or everything is gonna grind to a halt... that that would suck for everyone who's so excited about all this, including me.

ONWARDS!

I never know who to tag for these things, so feel free to @ me and blame me if you feel like filling it out XD

#Tag game #about Loor

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depizan · 4 years

Note

Character moments: I forget your fandoms offhand so I present a selection. Londo Mollari, Captain Kirk, Akaavi Spar.

I’ve never seen Babylon 5, so can’t do Londo Mollari. (Okay, to be accurate, I saw the first few episodes when they originally aired, but due to life I wasn’t able to keep up with watching it. I’m now not very good at sitting down and watching TV shows, so I’ve never gotten around to watching it. I should, some day.)

Captain Kirk (I assume you mean original!Kirk?)

First impression: My god he’s smug. So smug.

Impression now: While he does have moments of obnoxious smugness, he’s really a pretty decent person and a good, if sometimes flawed, commander.

Favorite moment: The entirety of Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home? I mean, there’s just so much good stuff there.

Idea for a story: I’ve never really contemplated that.

Unpopular opinion: The popularity of this opinion varies, but Nu!Kirk is very definitely not the same person as original!Kirk. I think the writers got distracted by the smugness, and also memetic!Kirk and it took them three movies to even kind of approach the heart and decency under the smugness that original!Kirk has.

Favorite relationship: Kirk and his crew. They just all play off each other so well.

Favorite headcanon: Dogs? He seems like he would like dogs.

Akaavi Spar

First impression: Mandalorian Batman! (Mostly because of her entrances and exits.)

Impression now: All right, so she’s a lot more murder-y than Batman, but she is ridiculously competent and capable of appearing and disappearing at will. She’s also one of SWTOR’s least evil “token evil teammates.”

Favorite moment: Her intro, where she slaughters the people she was theoretically working with, then just Batmans out of there is pretty epic, but I also like a lot of her chats with the Smuggler. She doesn’t get the Smuggler, the Smuggler doesn’t get her, but there’s still mutual respect and a longing to understand one another.

Idea for a story: I don’t know, but it would definitely involve her and the Smuggler being baffled by one another.

Unpopular opinion: I cannot wrap my head around the fact that she’s a romance option. Partly, that may be because I think she’s a lesbian, but mostly I just can’t fathom what she could possibly see in the Smuggler. Friends, teammates, okay, but romance??? She’s too Mandalorian to hook up with any possible canon version of the Smuggler I can think of.

Favorite relationship: The Smuggler is the only relationship she even has in canon. She doesn’t seem to do more than tolerate the rest of the crew. (Honestly, if they hadn’t decided to go the jealousy route because she and Risha are both potential love interests for the M!Smuggler, I really think she and Risha should get along. And Bowdaar. The three of them should be spending a lot of time commiserating over the insensibility of their captain and crewmates.)

Favorite headcanon: She keeps trying to convince the Smuggler that some form of regular fighting practice is necessary. How are you all even still alive, oh my god.

#character meme #brightephemera

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zyrahaas · 5 years

Text

°✧｡ [ZAZIE BEETZ , CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER] IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE KILLMONGUR JOINED VELIA FROM BERLIN, GERMANY APPARENTLY THEIR NAME IS ZYRA AMELIA HAAS AND THEY’RE A MAGE. THEY HAVE BEEN FIGHTING AS SOLO FOR A WHILE NOW. DIDN’T PEOPLE SAY THEY WERE NOT A BETA TESTER? I HEARD THEY TURNED TWENTY-SEVEN THIS YEAR. LET’S HOPE THEY MAKE IT OUT ALIVE.

Hii! for all the newbies, Hey there, hi there my name is Beau and THIS... is my new bionic baby Killmongur. I totally blame Megan for my need to have a muse as petty as Jal ( I love them) . If anyone would like to plot or take one of my bionic woman’s wanted connections please leave a <3 on this post and like The Genie of the lamp I will appear in your inbox. Anyway let’s get to what yall are here for Killmongur’s intro.

:[ ...SIRI ACTIVATING...

... DOWNLOADING OLD FILES FROM COMMS...

...File transfer complete...

:[ ...SIRI ACTIVATED ...

... LOADING RECALL...

OPERATOR DESIGNATION: ZYRA AMELIA HAAS

AGE: 27

DATE OF BIRTH: JUNE 8, 2003

JOB DESIGNATIONS: BARTENDER :[ analyzing... FORMER DRUG DEALER.

:[ BEFORE UPLOAD...

TW: DRUGS

◎: OPERATOR ZYRA IS THE MIDDLE CHILD TO KARL AND LEIGH HAAS. THE HAAS FAMILY APPEARED TO HAVE A STRONG CONNECTION. OPERATOR ZYRA HAS A TWIN SISTER INEJ. THERE WERE VERY CLOSE GROWING UP. HER ELDER SISTER JOHANNA AND THE YOUNGEST EMILLIE SHE WAS NOT AS CLOSE WITH.

◎: GOING THROUGH PRIMARY SCHOOL, OPERATOR ZYRA EXCELLED IN MATH AND SCIENCE. WHILE HER TWIN EXCELLED IN MUSIC AND THE ARTS. ZYRA HAD A TYPE B PERSONALITY THOUGH SHE OFTEN PROTRADE C TYPE ESPECIALLY AROUND HER OLDER SISTER.

◎: ONCE SECONDARY SCHOOL STARTED, OPERATOR ZYRA STARTED TO GET INVOLVED IN THINGS OTHER THEN SCHOOL. ACTING OUT, SKIPPING SCHOOL, FAILING GRADES. :[analyzing... studies show that a middle child is often one to act out in the hopes of gaining the attention from their parental figure.]

◎: OPERATOR ZYRA HAD A SUSTAINS ABUSE PROBLEME AT THE AGE OF 16. WEED, COCAIN, MOLLY, ADERALIA, ALCOHOL TOBACCO. IT WAS A YEAR LATER THAT SHE WOULD BE KICKED OUT OF HER FAMILY HOME AT 17.

◎: TO PROVIDE FOR HERSELF, OPERATOR ZYRA RESORTED TO SELLING DRUGS. IT WOULD BE TWO YEARS LATER THAT SHE WOULD MEET HER BOYFRIEND WHO GOT HER AT JOB A LOCAL BAR. A FEW YEARS LATER AT THE AGE OF 20 SHE GAVE BIRTH TO HER DAUGHTER

◎: OPERATOR ZYRA USED VIDEO GAMES AS AN ESCAPE FROM HER GROWING PROBLEMS. HER BOYFRIEND LEFT HER FIVE YEARS LATER. HER PARENTS TOOK CUSTODY OF AURORA SHORTLY AFTER THAT. PLAYING VIDEO GAMES BECAME HER WAY OF TRYING TO GET THROUGH THE DAY.

:[ AFTER UPLOAD...

TW: VIOLENCE, MENTIONS OF DRUGS

⦿: ONE OF THE FEW PLAYERS THAT DIDN’T FREAK OUT ABOUT BEING STUCK IN THE GAME. OPERATOR ZYRA TOO IMMEDIATELY TO THE GAME THOUGH SHE DID HAVE SOME PROBLEMS. SHE WENT THROUGH WITHDRAW IN HER EARLY DAYS. WHILE SHE DIDN’T KILL ANY PLAYERS SHE HAD KILLED QUITE A FEW NPC’S THAT PISSED HER OFF. SENSELESS VIOLENCE JUST TO TAKE THE EDGE OFF.

⦿: LATER SHE MET X WHO TOOK HER UNDER IS WING AS A SORT OF MENTOR. INVITING HER TO JOIN CIRCUS. THEIR ALIGNMENT MATCHED WITH HER OWN AT THE TIME. WITH NO DRUGS ( X’S RULE WHILE SHE GOT CLEAN) SHE WAS CONSTANTLY ON EDGE.

⦿: OPERATOR ZYRA REMAIN WITH THE CIRCUS FOR TWO MONTHS BEFORE SHE LEFT. HER REASONS FOR LEAVING ARE UNKNOWN TO ALL EXCEPT FOR X. :[anaylzing... journal entries from Operator Zyra suggest it has something to do with saving a child who had wandered onto a high level. the entry states... “she looks just like her. I thought it was my daughter for a split second and all I wanted to do was cry. I have to get home but I'm not the only one. There are kids in here, they are just babies and they need looking after.

⦿: OPERATOR ZYRA TOOK UP THE JOB DESIGNATION OF INFORMATION BROKER SHORTLY AFTER THAT. BEING A SOLO AGAIN WAS DIFFERENT THIS TIME AROUND. LEARNING ALL THAT SHE COULD THANKS TO SOME ‘SMALL’ INFORMATICS THAT SHE GAINED AND PROTECTED. CIRCUS AND CATALYST WERE ONE OF THE FEW GUILDS THAT SHE TRADED INFORMATION WITH FOR LOW PRICES. AS WELL AS UNITY, SINCE THEY OFTEN HELP TO TAKE CARE OF HER ORPHANS :[anylzing... While none of the children where her’s Operator Zyra took on a special liking to many of them and made an effort to help them monetarily when she could.]

⦿: AFTER THE BATTLE ON FLOOR 51 ZYRA WAS BADLY WOUNDED. WHEN SHE AWOKE SHE WAS TOLD THAT THEY COULD HEAL HER LEG AND ARM AND EYE OR SHE COULD OPT FOR A BIONIC-ALLOYED LIMBS AS WELL AS A BIONIC OPTICAL LENS :[ analyzing... Operator Zyra has high interest in science fiction. It is possible that she wanted to emulate 7 of Nine from her favorite sci-fi tv show. Reminder to ask Operator Zyra what is Star Trek Voyager.]

:[CONNECTIONS...

RIVAL: THANATOS : DESIGNATION: PAIN IN MY ASS:

THANATOS AND OPERATOR ZYRA DO NOT GET ALONG VERY WELL. A MUTUALLY DISTRUST; THIS IS EVIDENT IN THE WAY OPERATOR ZYRA OFTEN INSTERGATES A CONFRONTATION WITH THEM WHEN EVERY THEY ARE AROUND EACH OTHER. HOWEVER, THEY HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO WORKED TOGETHER WHEN NECESSARY. RELATIONSHIPS SHIFTING FROM ALLIES TO RIVAL CONTINUALLY.

BFF(S): ( WANTED CONNECTION OPEN TO ALL) : DESIGNATION: FRIENDLY

THIS PERSON HAS SEEN OPERATOR ZYRA AT HER WORST AND HAVE SEEN HER AT HER BEST. THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE THAT SHE HAS CONFIDED IN WITH NO PRETENSE, TELLING THEM ALL OF HER SECRETS BECAUSE SHE TRUST THEM WITH HER LIFE.

PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: WANTED CONNECTION OPEN TO ALL) : DESIGNATION: FRIENDLY TO/ OR NEUTRAL -TEQULIA

THESE PEOPLE COULD BE FRIENDS OR COULD JUST BE PEOPLE SHE LIKES TO WORK WITH BECAUSE THEY WILL GET THE JOB DONE. REGARDLESS, OPERATOR ZYRA LIKES HAVING THEM IN HER CORNER. AND THEY AREN’T HORRIBLE DRINKING BUDDIES EITHER.

BABY DADDY ( WANTED CONNECTION) : DESIGNATION: DOUBLE PAIN IN THE ASS

THE FATHER OF AURORA, OPERATOR ZYRA LIKELY DIDN’T KNOW THAT HER FORMER BOYFRIEND WAS EVEN IN THE GAME. HE WAS A BAD INFLUENCE ON HER AND SHE WOULD RATHER KEEP HER DISTANCE BUT IT IS HARD. SHE WANTS TO HATE HIM BUT A PART OF HER HOWEVER SMALL OR BIG THAT MIGHT BE... CAN’T SEEM TO QUIT HIM COMPLETELY ... AND IT PISSES HER THE FUCK OFF.

#veliaintro #[⦿:: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT]#ZYRA HAAS #KILLMONGUR #// I BE ON IN THE LATER TO HAVE KILLMONGUR DO SOME REPLIES TO STARTERS CAUSE THIS TOOK LONGER THEN I THOUGHT AND I'M SO SLEEPY 😭

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ichfreddyhier · 5 years

Text

Disco 2x02

CAN WE TALK? CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Disco what? Don’t get me wrong this is pure and utter excitement and ABSOLUTE disbelieve!!! I love it so much, sooooooo here is a rant. (Also I probably am beginning to overload my friends with these rants so now I’m making the public suffer)

Spoilers btw

Tilly and Stamets friendship is to live for! Stamets actually opening up to her and talking about Hugh and how he saw him in the Network and everything is so soft and so much hurt and Paul seems like he really needs a hug! And Tilly just being herself! She is so pretty!! Can we talk about how gorgeous that woman is?! Also I am so here for their friendship!

Let me just talk about Tilly in general, she is so sweet and adorable and loving, but also so smart and she is compleatly devoted to her friend and her job, look at her extracting that bit out of that giant asterorid!! I was very scared for her when she got hurt... Thankfully they have a good Doctor giving a lt of sass (the sass she gave pike oh my salty heart) , sadly STILL not the the doctor we all want back. My spaceboos just deserve to be happy. Anyone one esle got the strongest gay vibes from May? I was so confused, but I loved it. She has a fascinating accent. The message she recorded for Tilly was so sweet? Earthquakes? Aww

I could make this post complety about Tilly tbh, she is so awesome. Also when Saru came to visit her in sickbay? How sweet was that honestly. The scene where she runs out of medical bay and in the wrong direction and we see her running in the other one, what a QUEEN. Where she storms on the bridge proposing her scenario? RE-VO-LU-TIO-NA-RY

Also what is it with my shroom buddies talking to dead people, first Paul with hugh now Tilly with May (btw both so gay). Look how proud Brunham is when Tilly talk about how she wants to locate the red signals.

Also Paul Stamets just interrupting the bridge and just being like I heard there was a problem I am here for it. Paul is such a mess, I get the strongest chaotic good vibes from him, but sometimes I dont and he is such a clear, yet complex character. I mean when I’m watching I can see him, his actions, how he is and yet the Paul Stament i my head is different? But not massivly it’s just the little things that I notice and in some moments his character is so clear and understandable but the next it’s an idealised version created by my own and other imagination and input. I love Anthony Rapp with all my heart, ever since I’ve first seen rent. I didn’t activly follow him or any of the other cast members, but everytime I watch rent I check in on them. Now can you IMAGINE my surprise when I started watching Star Trek discovery and I saw that pale ass scientist and my brain goes waiiiiit a minute. (I only started Diso recently bc I rewatched the entirety of Stargate and Star Trek first (well maybe not Universe and I’m still kinda on Voyager but shhhhh)) And then I saw Wilson Cruz and I thought he looked so familiar... anyways wrong direction. Epsiode 2 okay

I just want Hugh to come back. Also did anyone notice that throughout season one Wilsons name isn’t in the Intro and season two episode one it is and it gave me so much hope but episode two it isnt?!?!? What?

Micheal and Spocks relationship is something, I can’t wait for them to meet. And Burnham asways looking so broken when she talks about him? I honestly didnt know what I was expecting, but damn. The way she talks to Pike about it? And PIke tells her that Spock is in psychiatric care? That was so heavy, I despreatly want them to interact.

The people of new eden are so weird to me but also so interesting, I love their religion, honestly earth should just take advice from them and smash all our religions together, that be such a mess. Also how star trek basically warns us about world war 3 coming soon, an atomic war. Yay

I can’t wait for the ext episode, seriously watching it now was such a bad idea? I should have waited till like Wednesday or something ahhhhhh

31rst of January, can’t wait disco, please bring my gays back

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aceofwands · 7 years

Text

Ria hateblogs Discovery Episode 4: “CBS cares not for its fans The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For the Lamb” (originally livelogged to @kendradaynes)

here we go. I've seen some upset comments on already - so boy am I excited to see how awful it is!

ohhhhh good, we're getting some previously from the Klingons. so. keen. to see more awful acting through prosthetics!

we begin with ... weird lightning that's pulling rock/metal together ... and pull out through clouds to a uniform being replicated

at least the effects are cool right, that's all we're here to see right

loooool a holographic mirror. obvs. I mean why use a real mirror amirite?

Tilly brought back Michael a box that's pinging at her. oh lol it's the last will and testament of Captain Georgiou.

why would you make a box that pinged until you opened it??????

oh great. it's Saru again.

they step out onto the bridge at Red Alert?? the rest of the ship showed no sign of being at red alert. and Michael and Saru seem surprised. oh lol ofc it was just a battle sim

jfc there was a terrifying bridge crewmen with a huge bug head

UM. WHAT. PAUSED IT TO EXPRESS OUTRAGE AGAIN: Lorca is now lecturing the bridge crew, about how they have the only new propulsion drive ('Displacement Activated Spore Hub Drive' which is about the kind of dumb name I'd expect) in the fleet, and when it's up and running they can materialise anywhere in the known universe, "But we will be alone. We will not have backup. There's just us, and we get one chance." WHAT

WHAAAAAAT

WHAT KIND OF RUBBISH NONSENSE BULLSHIT IS THIS

Starfleet is NOT going to make ONE DRIVE for ONE SHIP to do ONE SNEAK ATTACK BY ITSELF. and it's not going to put this drive for this sneak attack on a SCIENCE VESSEL

it's SO fucking RIDICULOUS

you'd think the Federation has never fought any wars or been in any battles, the way this storyline is written!

LORD. had to pause again. to write a long angry sentence about how Lorca and Michael now stepped out of a turbolift into a DARK CORRIDOR which is lighting up as they walk through section by section. JUST. STOP. YOU STUPID STUPID SHOW

he's showing her his creepy weapons lab

Lorca: "I study war"

Michael: "these are some of the deadliest weapons in the galaxy" (they included katanas in a box. wtf. that’s the deadliest weapon Earth has? I don’t think so buddy)

now he's showing her the creepy creature he picked up from the ship

"why would you keep something so dangerous on board your own ship?" GOOD QUESTION

"we need the best weapons available" ... he wants to use its properties for weapons. and wants her to do it.

THIS IS THE WORST

good it's the dumb intro that I can ignore to rant about how fucking STUPID this show is

WHAT THE FUCK

THIS. IS. NOT. STAR. TREK.

it's not even REMOTELY Star Trek

it's SO far away from everything that makes Star Trek, Star Trek

EVEN IF I accept that Starfleet does weapons research - WHICH I DO (though I don't think we need a show about it) - I do NOT believe for one second that it takes place on ONE science ship called Discovery! they'd have labs on a base somewhere. a whole TEAM of scientists and weapons experts!

oh lord. Klingons again. please no.

just discovered Klingons can move their eyes and hands and that's about it

great I have to read dumb subtitles. the stupid white Klingon is drawing dramatic holographic art. everything on this show is about drama

OH LOL

I KNOW WHAT PEOPLE HATED NOW

the white Klingon and lady Klingon ATE CAPTAIN GEORGIOU

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

YES

okay so Klingons eat the hearts of their enemies .... but pick the flesh from their skulls? since when

oh gross they're trying to develop Klingon houses. and I could just not care less.

and it's impossible to hateblog and read all the subtitles. it's so hard to follow or care about these Klingons

back to Michael - Landry said Lorca thinks they'd make a good team ???? how?

I reeeeeeeeeeeeally hate Landry: "let's call it ripper, it's what it looks like, what it does"

it resembles a tardigrade from Earth. it was a stowaway on the Glenn. Michael's like 'lol, nothing in its biology suggests it'll be helpful'

Michael: "It can only be what it is, not what you want it to be."

Landry: "it's amazing how much I hate Vulcan proverbs"

It’s amazing how much I hate Landry and her casual racism against Vulcans (speciesm?)

back to Lorca, receiving a holomessage from an Admiral. got a distress call from Korvan II, which produces 40% of the Federation's dilithium. and Discovery is the only ship close enough to help ... because it can use its new drive even though it's only made small jumps so far.

right, cause I really believe the Federation would leave their major source of dilithium undefended in a war (or not have closer ships ready if their defences went down)

Admiral: "You have no doubts." Lorca: "None." cut to Stamets: "there is no way in hell we'll be ready to jump that far"

Stamets is explaining they don't have the navigation ability ... the drive is based on probability? idk it sounds so dumb and nonsense

ugh more Klingons. some dude named Kol just appeared, painted in red. oh he's the one from the first eps. saying he's now come with humility. I hate the dumb ships, they have cathedral lighting ffs!

Kol's saying they need this ship back in the war. but they're running out food and don't have dilithium processor blah blah blah who CARES

sooooooooo boooooooring

Spore Drive is online (that's why they have black alert btw, when they're using the spore drive)

oh good, another android or robot, that makes sense for this time period

the monster down with Michael is NOT PLEASED they're activating the spore drive

oh lord, so much dramatic music and reaction shots

this drive works by them spinning and then jumping. they just jumped into the corona of an O-type star

WHO COULD POSSIBLY HAVE FORESEEN THIS

it's not like Stamets warned you he couldn't control it or anything

Stamets broke his nose, Doctor Culber just said 'hold still or you'll wind up looking like a Tellarite' which I'd usually take as humorous but there's so much racism on the show who can tell (I’d also usually be on board for their snarky flirty banter, but in amongst this dumpster fire, who cares!)

Lorca is still being an ass to Stamets

OHHHHH

Lorca: "the Discovery is no longer a science vessel, it's a war ship"

Stamets: "that is NOT the mission I signed on for, I’m as scientist not a soldier"

Lorca: "then get off, leave the ship"

Stamets: "if I go, I'm taking everything, my spores, my drive, everything on this ship is designed around my specialty" (what)

Lorca: "everything on this ship is the property of Starfleet, Lieutenant"blah blah blah more fighting

SOOO BAD

Lorca's playing the audio transmissions from Korvan II over the shipwide audio. to make everyone feel like shit. esp Stamets

now Landry is getting weapons, trying to sedate the creature, and cut its claw off

LOL IT IS NOT SEDATED

WHO COULD HAVE GUESSED

HAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Landry is dead!!!

Michael just emergency transported to sickbay, cause that's a thing they can do at this time

Lorca: "find a use for that creature, don't let her death be in vain". it's HER OWN FAULT SHE DIED. if she wasn't such an impatient idiot (or you hadn’t pushed her to ‘get results’). if she listened to Michael.

OH LORD. cut to, Klingons in the wreck of the Shenzhou, wearing their DUMB EVA suits. the faceplate looks more like a Gorn/ (they're stealing the dilithium processor from it)

I just reeeeeeally don't care about any of this. it's so boring. like, the complete absence of excitement

blah blah the white Klingon and the lady Klingon are talking a lot. idk if it's supposed to be like ... flirty? ewwww I think it is. give me Martok and Sirella any day

I cannot wait for the next 20 mins to be over so I can be not watching this.

LOL we're back to Michael and Saru. and he just said she'd fit in perfectly with Captain Lorca (as an insult). this crew is perfect for each other, ALL AWFUL

Tilly has brought some spores to Michael, who's now offering them to the creature. lol it's like licking her like a dog kinda

idk Michael's just real bad at following orders. they didn't ask you to make friends with it!

what's the bet the monster lives in the spore dimension. lol, even better, it eats spores???

the other ship was using the creature to navigate. SO ETHICAL

they've beamed it into the spore forest

Stamets was supposed to be interested, almost nice for a change, but he has the same frown on his face

@kendradaynes: “this show is a car crash”

IT IS! OMG IT'S SO BORING

now we're back on the Klingon ship again

STOP. WHO CARES

HAAAAAAAA. Kol just took over the white Klingon's ship by offering them food from his own ship, and they swore loyalty. the whole Klingon story with the divided houses and whatever is SOOOOO DULL

HA. lady Klingon fell into line with Kol

back to Discovery. they've beamed the creature into the reaction cube and the tech from the Glenn is activating

...... ...... .....

I've just realised. it's Equinox.

THE PLOT IS FUCKING EQUINOX

VOYAGER DID THIS 20 YEARS AGO! except they were on the ETHICAL SIDE

how does the ship interface with the creature to navigate????

IT MAKES NO SENSE

poor creature

Lorca is like, orchestrating the viewscreen battle

they dropped some bombs and jumped away with the drive

OMG. HYSTERICAL. LAUGHTER. just cut to some kid in her dad's arm on the surface of Korvan II: "who saved us?"

FAKE

why does this REALLY IMPORTANT dilithium mine have no defence or base for its population? they’re out on the surface being killed like???

LOL the white Klingon was left on the Shenzhou. but the lady Klingon beamed over after him. of course she's ~devoted to him~because we all know that female Klingons want nothing more than to stand behind a powerful man Klingon

blah blah she's going to take him to her own house. to have the matriarchs teach him things "you never knew were possible". but he has to sacrifice, and I quote, "everything"

good

lord

you cannot make up how bad this dialogue is

Michael's back in the lab feeding the poor creature some spores. it sounds super unhappy. WHAT A SURPRISE

"hey, you feeling better?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME

this is unethical BULLSHIT

this is the exact OPPOSITE of Star Trek

oh, it's okay, Michael says she's sorry, that makes it okay

the pillows are printed with a delta with "USS DISCOVERY" on it. I can't

lord I hate Tilly. go away

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. Tilly's giving this speech about how Michael shouldn't be afraid to open the will box. cause "I watched you tame the most incredible creature" (torture is not taming!) "and you're not afraid of anything"

STOP

soooo fucking dumb

this show is a train wreck

a dumpster fire

a trash heap

I hope everyone's happy

Michelle Yeoh has appeared again

as a hologram telling Michael her will

handing down her most important possession, handed down through centuries of her family

sucks to be all those people who ridiculously though Georgiou would come back

lol it's her telescope

w o w. another 50 mins of my life I can't get back

oh good, more action in the next one

great. Mudd in the next episode. Lorca captured by Klingons. Michael worried about how much more they can torture the creature. I'm SO excited - ha. not.

#anti Discovery #hateblogging #Star Trek Discovery #STD #episode 4

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chronotopes · 7 years

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Star Trek TOS for the show thing!:D

my all-time ultimate fave character: jim probably tbh

a character I didn’t used to like but now do: it took me a lil bit to warm up to bones i think

a character I used to like but now don’t: omg no way! i love all of them always and forever. or at least i can’t think of anyone from the main crew that i’m like this about.

a character I’m indifferent about: uh i can’t think of anyone from the show, but david marcus if the movies count… like he’s all right but when he died i was like Whom

a character who deserved better: uhura! for obvious reasons! More Goddamn Screen Time (and maybe give her narrative arcs in the new movies that don’t revolve around fighting with spock, or is that too wild of a concept?)

a ship I’ve never been able to get into: bones/either one of the other trio members… idk if this is blasphemy but he comes off pretty straight to me. i like him a lot but he’s pretty solidly friends with both of them.

a ship I’ve never been able to get over: k/s lol

a cute, low-key ship: uhura and chapel!

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it: omg i don’t think star trek fandom has THAT MANY ships… anyway i can’t think of any.

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened: SPOCK AND THAT BLOND GIRL FROM ALL OUR YESTERDAYS…. the only thing that’s healed me re: that episode is reading in leonard’s autobiography about how he read the script and went “uh, what the fuck is this” and they were like “mr. nimoy we’re so sorry we will write in a half-assed excuse” and he writes something along the lines of “a flimsy reason, but at least it didn’t contradict spock’s character”, which was My Exact Reaction when that happened

my favourite storyline/moment: again, not actually on the SHOW, but probably the entire little mid-movie trilogy that is wrath of khan thru voyage home. love these…. husband dying and going rogue to get them back… antics. if i did favorite moments we’d be here all day

a storyline that never should have been written: see ‘a ship that is totally wrong’

my first thoughts on the show: omg this is such a good and chill show. love the colors. oh kirk and spock are more in love than i thou

my thoughts now: the intro playing in my head on repeat constantly and me writing several theses in my head at once about why the new movies are bad

#asks #pilferingapples #askbox memes

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trekfm · 6 years

Text

259: The Redemption of Tom Paris

Tom Paris Mini-Marathon.

Of all the characters on Star Trek: Voyager, arguably Tom Paris had the biggest turnaround, from his character's beginning in a Federation penal colony in "Caretaker" to seeing the birth of his daughter in "Endgame." In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Zachary Fruhling and Suzanne Williamson compare their episodes picks for a three-episode Tom Paris mini-marathon.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Strap Him to the Couch (00:02:09) It's Goofier Than Spock's Brain (00:04:42) The Tom Paris Story (00:09:07) In the Navy! (00:11:39) Dick Dale and the Del-Tones (00:16:33) The Sappier of the Two (00:21:21) He's in Need of a Friend (00:23:19) Closing (00:25:41)

Hosts Zachary Fruhling and Suzanne Williamson

Production Suzanne Williamson (Editor) Zachary Fruhling (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Bruce Lish (Associate Producer) Joo Kim (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Associate Producer) Patrick Carlin (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

New podcast episode!

#Star Trek #Voyager #Podcast #To The Journey #Trekfm

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periodicreviews · 6 years

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Orchestras and Backing Tracks

Last week, at the very last minute I learned that an orchestra would be playing songs from Final Fantasy XV at PAX East in Boston on that upcoming Friday. So I did what any sane person would do. I paid too much for a plane ticket, left work at 12pm and made it into a seat in the auditorium at 8pm. The orchestra was great and not just because I feel obligated to say that due to the amount of money it cost.

But, it reminded me of a post I started to write but never finished about the use of backing tracks during orchestral performances. Everyone uses them, but when do they start to hurt rather than help?

Specifically, this is going to reference the Video Games Live on 5/18/2014 versus 3/23/18, “Star Trek The Ultimate Voyage” 50th Anniversary concert on 1/22/2016, and the Video Game Orchestra performance at PAX East 2018 on 4/6/18.

Video Games Live

After seeing Video Games Live for the first time in May 2014, it started my “obsession” with these concerts featuring music from movies/video games. I had an amazing time at that show, not just because I had wanted to see Video Games Live for quite some time, but also because of the energy of the crowd and the quality of the orchestra which if I remember correctly was the Orlando Philharmonic. The general format of all of these concerts is that the orchestra plays the main theme or a medley of themes while video of gameplay or cutscenes plays along on a screen. After this show I went on to see the Star Trek, Pixar, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, and Zelda themed concerts, but whenever the topic of orchestra concerts would come up, I would always tell people “The others are good, but Video Games Live is the best.”

3 years passed and I’d sufficiently hyped myself up for a repeat of the same level of greatness for the 2018 show. But unfortunately, it fell very short. When the orchestra walked on stage, I could immediately tell there was a problem. The stage wasn’t filled with a full orchestra like last time and there were probably on 20-25 players. The number of players isn’t necessarily the issue, but the fact that it was different got me wondering what had happened. Later on, Tommy Tallarico, the guy who runs it all/plays guitar in the shows, introduced them generically as fantastic players from Central Florida. Maybe scheduling prevented them from getting a full orchestra like the Orlando Philharmonic again.

This isn’t necessarily an attack on freelance musicians since I’ve seen orchestras where there has been a great ensemble of non-related musicians. But it did seem like a few of the players weren’t masters of their craft since I swear that I heard a few incorrect notes during the night. Not that that also doesn’t happen in large orchestras, but at least with a larger number of players, it’s harder to hear those mistakes.

Another issue was the fact that on the screens, in between showing gameplay footage, they showed closeups of various instruments being played. At first, I assumed there were multiple cameras but then I realized that the lighting in the videos didn’t match what I was seeing in real life. This footage was from a completely different performance in another time and place. I’m assuming this footage was being used to create the feeling of a larger orchestra, but the result was that it highlighted just how empty the stage in front of me was. I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was being actively deceived and at that point I couldn’t care less about the rest of the performance.

I said the point of this post was about backing tracks, so let me finally get around to discussing that too. I’m aware that just about everyone uses backing tracks. It’s physically impossible for someone like Michael Jackson to dance all night long and *still* have enough lung capacity/composure to hit every note perfectly like you hear it on the album. They’re also helpful when it’s hard to reproduce an array of sound effects and post production effects, such as the intro to Metallica’s “Blackened” which features a recording of a guitar being played in reverse or “One” which features bombs/gunshots. In the case of the Video Games Live 2018 performance, it felt like just another layer of the deception.

Either on accident or on purpose, the backing track was so prominent in the mix, that it was not accurate to call it backing but rather leading. For some tracks, like the Metal Gear Solid 2 theme, the lack of synthesizers on stage required them to be played through the use of the backing track. But for other pieces, it felt like the orchestra on stage wasn’t even playing and that I was just listening to the .mp3 file. It felt like they were playing this backing track so loud to make up for the lack of musicians on stage. At that point, what honestly is the point of seeing the orchestra live? I can listen to the mp3 file any time I want to, but I’m paying extra money to experience it played live.

It wasn’t all terrible though. The truly standout moment of the night was the accordion player they brought on stage to play various covers, seemingly from memory. It felt like I was seeing something original and not being deceived at all. He also took requests from the fans to play something from Suidoken which had the most requests on the Facebook event page.

I want to note as a disclaimer that I attended this with a group of friends and everyone else seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience, since they were all seeing it for the first time. The guy in the row behind me seemed to have the time of his life as he was screaming the whole night.

Star Trek Orchestra

Video Games Live 2018 wasn’t my first experience with the feeling of being deceived. That honor goes to the “Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage” concert.

Given my experience at previous concerts, I expected 6 segments with one for each crew. Although there was indeed a segment for each, they were interspersed between themed segments. There was a montage of Klingons, from TOS to Into Darkness. There was a montage of all the alien races, from TOS to Into Darkness. Followed by others about family, risk, love, etc. These themed segments would’ve been fine, but I felt the editing could’ve been better. I wish I had noted a specific example at the time but I’ve since forgotten it.

Another problem with these Star Trek montage segments, was that the music they used was the main theme from each series. So when I saw the theme for Voyager playing with clips from TOS and Enterprise, it felt very jarring. Depending on how you watched the series, you may or may not have sat through the opening theme for every episode. But let's say you did. I would argue that the opening theme for each series has a dual role. To begin with, it's composed with the crew and the direction of the series in mind. Then over time, you began to associate the story of the series with that particular music. It’s hard to associate the music with anything else after watching 50+ episodes.

I do respect that for the segments dedicated to each particular series, they would just let the scene play out in full while the orchestra accompanied it. There was a scene with Janeway on Voyager from the “Year of Hell” and another where Picard played his flute solo. I also respect that for these series specific pieces, they went in chronological order from TOS to Enterprise.

If I were doing this show, I would've kept the chronological ordering. But before showing a scene in full I would use an extended form of the main theme over a montage of clips from that specific series laying out the premise and the characters, perhaps with dialogue from the various characters. At the end of the show, maybe I would do a big montage with clips from all the shows and movies.

Again, I digress because this post is supposed to be about backing tracks and not why I regretted my purchases. When the orchestra first started playing, I thought it sounded weird for some reason but I couldn’t pinpoint what was weird about it. I’d been to Dr. Phillips Center for other orchestras and it sounded different from those other times. At one point, the audio and video stuttered for a second and you could hear the backing track drop out.

I realized that the backing track was making the orchestra sound fuller than it actually was and with the secret revealed, I couldn’t shake the feeling of deception. My assumption was that the backing track was being used because of the massive “bridge” set on stage that limited the number of performers they could fit. Personally, I could care less about set decoration. It looked nice, but wasn’t worth the cost of a degraded performance. And especially for a series that doesn’t require strange synthesizers or sound effects, the backing track felt unnecessary.

FFXV Video Games Orchestra

Before the various fixes to the story/DLC, I had told many people my favorite parts of Final Fantasy XV were the music and the combat (things which had been refined over 10 years, unlike the story which only came together at the end). The soundtrack has some great battle themes and some great emotional themes that really enhance the game as a whole. Previously, a live performance of FFXV songs from Abbey Road Studios had been streamed by Square Enix. They also later performed two piano concerts in Japan which I have yet to hear. I also attended Final Fantasy: A New World and Distant Worlds, each of which played only a single track from the games, “Safe Haven” and “Apocalpysis Noctis”. But I needed more.

The XV concert featured a small 10-15 orchestra with a band composed of keyboard, drums, guitar, bass, synthesizers, and 4 vocalists. The performance was great not just because of the quality of the musicians, but because of the energy of the performers. I enjoyed they all got their chance for a small solo either within the tracks or during the “solo” segment. There was a good energy between the performers as they joked with each other and seemed to be having a great time. The orchestra itself seemed to be nothing formal, but just a collection of various players and that didn’t seem to affect the quality of the performance. That’s not to say Tommy Tallarico didn’t joke around with everyone during Video Games Live, but I think I was just hating it all at that point and no joke could bring it back.

“But Andrew, what about the backing track?” Right. So there indeed was a backing track, most prevalent during the intro to Veiled in Black. I was a little confused why the orchestra just didn’t play this intro part since they were all there just kind of sitting, but I guess they just made that decision for some reason. But besides that, the backing track remained in the background where it should be. The musicians on stage always seemed to be louder in the mix and it allowed them all to shine through. For some tracks like “Home Sweet Home”, it appeared they didn’t play a backing track at all, or it was just so quiet I couldn’t hear it. That track in particular is an emotional piece and the extra layer of originality/uniqueness from the live performance makes it just incredible. The other standout tracks were an original arrangement of Luna’s theme, an original arrangement of Noctis’s theme with vocals, and a super extended Chocobo theme with the incredible leader guitarist.

In conclusion, if I’m paying to see it live, I want the backing track in the background and don’t try to deceive me. You’ll probably get away with it for 90% of the audience, but for that other 10% that has been to enough shows, they’re going to hate it.

#video games live #pax east #star trek #video game orchestra

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