#danny and tim are doppelgangers

[stars-obsession-pit]

Tim is very confused by the messages he’s been getting from the university he used to attend.

He’d stopped going to classes a while ago, yet for some reason they keep marking him as present and his work as getting passed in.

Nothing actually bad has happened using his identity that he can identify, but it’s still concerning.

Meanwhile, Danny has been having an amazing streak of luck!

Apparently he’s a dead ringer for this “Tim” guy who’d stopped showing up to class, so he’s been able to take that guy’s place and con his way into access to classes and campus resources entirely for free!

[totally-here]

dpxdc twins au except it's no-pulse flavored

Bart’s new roommate looks a lot like Tim. 

Like, suspiciously like Tim. 

Danny’s the same height, has the same shape of nose, same shade of hair, and even frowns like him. He would have been a perfect copy if he acted more like Tim, but Danny definitely holds himself looser than Bart’s ever seen Tim. 

But he still has his face. So, obviously, Bart has to investigate. Maybe he’s a clone, or a shapeshifter, or maybe one of the Gotham rogues decided to get facial reconstruction surgery to look like him, and this was all a ploy. 

Okay, probably not that last one. Bart doesn’t think Tim’s enemies know his identity. 

Anyway, investigation! Bart’ll figure this out himself, and deal with it if Danny needs to be dealt with. And the investigation will start right after he comes up with an excuse as to why he’s back in their third floor apartment when he passed Danny in the hallway a few seconds before. 

Danny stares at him, and Bart stares back. 

“Must’ve been a doppelganger!” Bart blurts out. 

Danny’s silent for a second before nodding enthusiastically and noting that everyone's supposed to have like seven in the world anyway and wow what a wild coincidence that there’s one in their building. 

Bart extends the same courtesy when a week later he walks in on Danny with an iced over pan on the stove. Danny says they should really get their freezer checked out and Bart agrees and asks if he can use the ice for a painting study. 

(They never get their freezer checked.)

Bart finds that Danny’s great at setting up fun things for him to draw, whether he knows it or not. Like the ice, or his collection of rocks, his astronomy textbooks with the pretty covers, his gestures as he rants about his classes, the excited glint in his eyes when he’s talking about his next repair project and how his eyes almost look like they glow in the right light. 

Hm. A good portion of his sketchbook is drawings of Danny, and yet he’s still having trouble with getting the right blue for his eyes. At first glance they’re Tim’s shade of blue, but when he keeps looking they seem to get lighter. Maybe greener?

He should probably stop staring into his friend’s eyes. 

Well, maybe not. Danny doesn’t seem to mind. 

Just like he doesn’t mind when they started regularly sitting very close on the couch, or falling asleep together, or Bart borrowing some of his jackets, or-

Okay, Bart’s kinda seeing a pattern. He and Danny should really have a conversation about if this is platonic behavior or not. 

But not right now, because Bart brought Danny across the river to raid Wally’s board game closet in Keystone. 

And Wally, who’s used to this, just passes by them with a, “Hey Bart, hey Tim.”

“Danny, not Tim,” Danny replies almost absent mindedly, then looks back at Wally, who’s also staring at him now. “Wait, you know Tim?”

“OhmyGod I was supposed to investigate!” Bart says, face palming. It just slipped his mind! And Danny was distracting him with his pretty face that he totally wears better than Tim!

“You know him too?” Danny asks. But he doesn’t look suspicious of them, more amused. 

“How do you know him?” Wally squints at Danny, eyes briefly catching Bart’s in question. 

“He’s my twin,” Danny answers easily. “The Drakes only wanted one kid, so they gave me to their friends the Fentons, who wanted a second one.” He shrugs and goes back to digging around the closet. “Tim and I were always in contact, though. Letters and phone calls and texting, you know?” 

He says it all so casually while Wally and Bart are sharing increasingly concerned looks behind his back. 

Do the Waynes know about Danny? Has Tim never brought him up? Why? Does Danny know about Red Robin? Does Tim-

“Holy shit does this mean Tim has ice powers too!?” 

Or: Tim and Danny are twins. Through a series of coincidences, the first people to find out that aren’t Fentons or Drakes are the flashes.

(This post was brought to you by me recently finishing the 1995 Impulse run, and wanting an excuse to share this panel:

Look they both got called twinks clearly they're soulmates)

[laxxarian]

Danny, Tucker and Sam were all in Gotham, going in a cafe for lunch or a snack when they saw Tim and Dick at a table while the trio was finding one.

Danny, who was about to say something, got his eyes blindfolded by Tucker: Wha—!

Tucker, who covered his friend's eyes: Watch out, Danny! It's a doppelganger!

Sam, whose hands are blocking Danny from the 'doppelgangers': Did Vlad send you?!? Speak to me, you —possibly or not possibly— clones of Danny!

[tachvintlogic]

Tim uses Danny as a doppelganger prompt

Lucius Fox, CEO of Wayne Enterprises, broke his back during a failed assassination attempt. He'll be unable (not allowed) to perform his duties as CEO for a few months while his back heals, so Tim offers to take over as CEO in his stead. Lucius humors the guy and agrees, figuring his assistants will stop Tim from doing any major damage to the company.

A week in, Tim realizes he can't balance a full time job on top of his social life, nighttime hero work, online classes, and investigating the failed assassination attempt. He needs someone who can show up to the CEO's office and pretend to be him. Someone who can't be killed if whoever tried to kill Lucius decides to go after the new acting CEO.

Danny thinks this is a very dubious job offer, but he does look like Tim Drake, he cannot be killed by bullets, and this could lead to a job working in space.

[nana-mizu-shiki]

Danny looked back at Dick pleadingly, eyes big and doe-like.

"I tried to tell you, now look what you've done! Now I know a secret I'm not supposed to, I just wanted to do my jooobb. Please just let me do my job Mr. Grayson..."

He looked so dejected and desperate, it was kind of sad. He knew it though, Danny just didn't care, he wanted to get out of here so he could go back to making bank.

Y'know, to live.

Well- half-live.

Anyways! ....The older looked so confused and worried and now the real Tim is glaring at him suspiciously.... "Oh fudge," Danny thought he said internally. "Don't kidnap me and erase my memory?" He asked.

Tim sighed heavily and pinched his nose. Dick squeaked before-

~~~~~~~~~~~◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇~~~~~~~~~~

Listen. Dick panicked. You can't blame him for punching his little brother's doppelganger in the face when there were two Little Timmies in front of him.

... Timmy does not look at all happy with what is happening....

Infact, he looks more tired than usual. And exasperated. And annoyed. And hes glaring at Dick now. And-

Well. Not happy, that's for certain.

Dick smiles at him.

He regrets it almost immediately.

Please let me do my job

Danny somehow manages to get a job working as a server during a gala event. The uniform sucks, but he wasn’t about to complain when he was desperate for any job right now. He had to flee from Amity after his parents discovered that he was Phantom with almost nothing, but the clothes on his back. So the uniform was definitely worth it with how much he was getting paid. 

What wasn’t worth it though was the amount of rich fruitloops that have approached him. Everytime he turned around someone was there and wanted to ask him questions. Asking things like why he was dressed as a server, and calling him by the name of Tim. It wasn't hard to figure out that everyone thought he was Tim Drake-Wayne. 

He knows that the Waynes are known for black hair and blue eyes, but for him to be getting this much attention for it is just getting ridiculous at this point. Danny would have just brushed it under the rug as it being a rich people are just weird thing. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Dick Grayson, the oldest Wayne child, had grabbed him coming out of the kitchen and into a secluded area. 

“Tim, what are you doing; why are you dressed as a server? Everyone here knows your face, now is not the time to be going undercover!” Dick whispers while looking for anyone that might be watching them. “Go change back into your normal clothes. Well talk about whatever this is back in the cave ok?” 

The fact that Tim Drake goes undercover was probably not something Danny was supposed to know. Also, did he say cave? As in the Bat-Cave? A rock settles in Danny stomach as he realizes that the Wayne's are the bats. Which is definitely not something he should know.

Before Danny can think of anything to say that will get him out of this situation without any problems a voice is already calling out, "Dick! What are you doing back here?"

The owner of the voice is of course none other than Tim Drake himself. This wasn’t going to end well Danny thought to himself as he watch Dick looked between himself and Tim.

How did this become his life.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Prescribed Burn

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/gG3HzaW by blingeekingdave For the health of the forest, the underbrush must burn. OR The strings of fate are tightening around Danny's throat like a noose. A lot has to go wrong before he can have the space to grow. Words: 3530, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 3 of Delusions of Doppelganging Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: Gen Characters: Danny Fenton, Damian Wayne, Jazz Fenton, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake (DCU), Jason Todd, Ghost Ensemble (Danny Phantom), Batfamily Members (DCU), Guys in White | GIW (Danny Phantom) Relationships: Danny Fenton & Damian Wayne, Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton Additional Tags: Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne are Twins, demon twins, Danny Fenton-centric, Trans Danny Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, chekhov's dissection table, Lazarus Pits are Ectoplasm (Danny Phantom and DCU), Neglectful Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, no beta we die like danny, inaccurate depiction of the legal system, inaccurate depiction of government functions, Guys in White | GIW Organization (Danny Phantom), danny does not remember the league of shadows, Ghost Zone Culture (Danny Phantom), Danny Fenton Has an Ice Ghost Core, Ghost Biology (Danny Phantom), the plot demands suffering, Hurt/Comfort, Meddling Clockwork (Danny Phantom), Revenant Jason Todd read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/gG3HzaW

[chaoswarfare]

dp x dc prompt #15

danny escapes from his dimension to gotham after a reveal gone wrong. and an explosion at the nasty burger. and because he couldn’t deal with his parents talking about phantom. and gets dragged by cujo through a portal in the ghost zone. and runs away after being forced to seriously defend himself and hurt his parents.

five different versions of danny somehow find their way to the same gotham and befriend one of the bats. everyone is too busy trying to coax their new friend home to realize everyone else has the same kid from different dimensions with them.

[tondurtoka]

its too great even for me so here’s only result... redraw of this picture!

[confusedshades]

Tim decides to mess with his siblings at first over it. And then hold it over their heads for as long as he could get away with it for.

So it started with him having Danny go out for lunch with Steph, who was aware and could actually tell the difference between Tim and Danny, at a time when he knew Jason or Dick would stop by but not have enough time to actually talk. And then he'd drive past them a few minutes later from the opposite direction of the restaurant.

Then he'd swap it, leaving the house in his favourite T-shirt and skinny jeans, and then have Tam text Dick about the not enough sleep with a picture of Danny in a suit snoozing on his desk.

It goes on like this for a few weeks, with Dick and Jason absolutely confused and unsure of what's happening. (Are there multiple Tims? Is there some kind of doppelganger roaming around? Are they losing their minds?)

Then one morning, both Danny and Tim walk up to the table Jason and Dick are sitting at in a cafe, and watching their expressions is an absolute gem and excellent blackmail material.

The Stand-in Job

Danny loved his job. It was an easy on call job he got rather on accident. But it paid well and gave him enough time to deal with ghost matters outside of scheduled work hours.

Though now he got stuck in a situation his Boss had not provided him with a script and or explanation how to behave for.

Danny was a simple Stand-in. Sort of like a Stuntman kind of job. His boss was paying him to simple take his place during public appearances, or meetings with no big decision he has to sit through just to listen. Or on the easiest of days, to just sit in his boss office so it appears that someone is there while his boss was doing who knows what. Danny doesn't question, that's why his boss liked him.

But again, no where in his contract was described how he was supposed to handle this situation. So now he was stuck having beat up a couple of wannabe kidnappers and some vigilantes talking to him all casually going on and on how 'Tim', his boss, wasn't supposed to do that to not risk his public image. Should he record this as evidence for his Boss? It sounded like these vigilantes were spilling some of his boss' secrets that shouldn't be known to the public.

Tim just needed someone to sit in his place to make it appear like he was there when he had cases to work through. Danny was the perfect hire for it and Tim liked very much that Danny doesn't ask questions, like he understood. Yet when Danny sent him a text questioning how he should behave as Stand-in in front of Gotham's vigilantes.... Tim wasn't sure if he should feel offended or highly amused about his siblings not realizing that the one kidnapped in public hadn't been Tim but his Stand-in Danny.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Prescribed Burn

by blingeekingdave For the health of the forest, the underbrush must burn. OR The strings of fate are tightening around Danny's throat like a noose. A lot has to go wrong before he can have the space to grow. Words: 3530, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 3 of Delusions of Doppelganging Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: Gen Characters: Danny Fenton, Damian Wayne, Jazz Fenton, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake (DCU), Jason Todd, Ghost Ensemble (Danny Phantom), Batfamily Members (DCU), Guys in White | GIW (Danny Phantom) Relationships: Danny Fenton & Damian Wayne, Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton Additional Tags: Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne are Twins, demon twins, Danny Fenton-centric, Trans Danny Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, chekhov's dissection table, Lazarus Pits are Ectoplasm (Danny Phantom and DCU), Neglectful Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, no beta we die like danny, inaccurate depiction of the legal system, inaccurate depiction of government functions, Guys in White | GIW Organization (Danny Phantom), danny does not remember the league of shadows, Ghost Zone Culture (Danny Phantom), Danny Fenton Has an Ice Ghost Core, Ghost Biology (Danny Phantom), the plot demands suffering, Hurt/Comfort, Meddling Clockwork (Danny Phantom), Revenant Jason Todd via https://ift.tt/gG3HzaW

[phantomposting]

Remember those streamer aus that are normally like shipping and stuff? Well I'm more of a sucker for found family tropes and secret twin/sibling aus.

So imagine Danny starts streaming and gets somewhat of a following. His streams could just be gaming, conspiracy theories, space facts, ghost facts, anything really just note he uses a webcam. So one day a bat family member (probably Tim) stumbles across him and is like wow this dude looks like Damian. He starts show this guy around the family like "look I found Damian's doppelganger" and Damian realizes this kid looks exactly like his dead brother. If we take the direction of ghost facts that makes it all the more suspicious.

So Damian religiously watches the streams trying to figure out if this is his brother, if he is safe, if he is healthy, ect. Probably seeing some concerning signs he decides to track him down and boom reunited! This kinda au could also work for siblings of any other batfam members too the possibilities are endless!

[thatrandomsarahchick]

Dc x Dp prompt

Ok, so we know that Jack Fenton is descended from witch hunters in Salem, right?

What if we combine that with Bruce Wayne travelling back in time and ending up in Salem during the witch trials. I'm not completely familiar with that storyline, but from what I gather Bruce gets lost in the time stream after a big fight and Tim has to track down proof in order to get him back.

So Bruce is finally returned to his proper time and is in the park spending time with his boys when he goes pale like he's seen a ghost. Walking past is the Fenton family, in town for a brief holiday while they settle Jazz in for university.

Jack is supposed to be a doppelganger for his ancestor, and walking behind him is that meta he met at a different point during his whirl through time (clockwork had sent him there to save Bruce so that he would survive long enough to be rescued, and Bruce saw him transform back and assumed he was a local meta).

It's not necessary, but even funnier, Danny might not have gone back in time yet, so this could be the thing that prompts Clockwork to send him back.

[aizawaondrugs]

Yeah, that was the idea, like absolutely no relation in the history of relations at all. Kinda like the "Everybody has 7 doppelgangers around the world" thing.

Tim and Bruce would be losing their minds over it

Dick is trying to not think about it and just be happy for Damian

Jason and Steph think it's hilarious and WILL NOT stop teasing the two

Cass is just happy because weirdness aside she can see how good Danny is for Damian and vice versa

And then there's Duke. Just pinching his nose. Trying not to get a migraine. And it's not even from looking at whatever fucked up thing Danny has going on. No. He's just saying "fucking white people" because Damian might only be half-white but this move proved he inherited more than he should've.

(Damian is also very happy because Alfred became a realm's ghost and that means they can still interact with each other ala Danny)

My favorite flavor of deadserious is when Danny looks like if Damian was white and everybody thinks "Of course the only one Damian can fall in love with is himself" but they got to know each other and fell in love without every meeting or getting an actual normal pic of each other

Like. Internet friends to crushes to they-both-think-it's-an-unrequited-crush and when they first meet it's weird and strange and maybe just a bit uncomfortable

And then they have to actively work through the fact that they look so alike but they're just so pathetically in-love with each other's personalities it doesn't actually bother them by the time they finally manage to get together

I want Team Phantom to be completely chill with it bc they've been there from Danny's first "I'm in love with him he's just so perfect and we'll never date because I'm a disaster and he's just so out of my league and-" panic and helped him through it and honestly this isn't even the weirdest shit this week

And I want the bats to go batshit bc they didn't know Damian was interested in anyone much less dating someone and why does he look like Damian is this pseudo incest are they related what-?

Danny and Damian are in a cheesy romance novel, Danny's friends are like "good for you sweetie 🥰" and the Batfam is experiencing psychological horror and wondering if reality is really real because what the actual fuck is this

[duskyashe]

NaNoWriMo Day #15

[masterlist]

=============‹«⟨··•∞•··⟩»›=============

Tim stared at the young red-headed woman sitting across from him in mutual horror. He couldn't remember exactly how he'd gotten into this situation, the last thing he could remember for sure was the fact he'd been on five consecutive days without sleep, which, really, meant anything could have happened between then and now.

A glowing green sausage landed in between him and the young woman, who looked an awful lot like Babs, now that he thought about it, with a slight splat, before getting up and releasing a tiny war cry. It was about to charge Tim when a green blast from his right put the food item out of its misery. Throughout all this, Tim and the young woman never broke eye contact.

"—tom, that menace. If it knows what's good for it, it'll stay far away from Amity Park once we finish the upgrades to the Fenton Strainer! Aren't the two of you hungry? You're letting the ecto-sausages escape!" The man to Tim's left exclaimed. He was wearing some type of orange and black hazmat suit, his hair was black, though it was greying on the sides, and his ice blue eyes held a manic glint to them that Tim didn't like.

The redhead stood up suddenly and cleared her throat. "Sorry, dad, uh, Danny and I just realized we forgot to clean the ecto-filters on the portal, again. May we be excused? We'll grab something to eat later, alright? Love you, thanks! Goodnight!" She said as she rounded the table, grabbing Tim's arm in a white knuckled grip on her way past him into the basement. She shut the door rather pointedly and shuffled him down the stairs into a rather cliche modern mad scientist lab. As Tim glanced around the lab, the Babs lookalike started pacing back and forth, muttering under her breath. Finally, after almost two full minutes of this, she paused and took a deep breath before turning to look at him. "You're not Danny," she declared.

Tim stared at her for a moment. "I'm glad we're both on the same page about that. Who's Danny?"

She gazed at him thoughtfully. "He's my brother. Why do you look so much like my brother? There's way too much resemblance for you to simply be his doppelganger."

"How should I know, I don't even know where I am, let alone who your brother is or what he looks like," he retorted. He looked around the lab again. "Speaking of, where am I? And how did I even get here?"

"Oh, wow," she snorted, eyes widening and covering her mouth with a hand. "You act a lot like Danny. You're in Amity Park, Illinois, in the basement lab of Fenton Works. I'm guessing we somehow picked you up in Gotham a day or two ago, we only got back last night. You were pretty out of it the entire time, either sleeping or mumbling to yourself while staring out the window in a daze."

Tim's eyes widened in shock and a slight bit of horror. "I've been gone for two days?!" He cried. His hands came up to clutch at his hair. "Ohh, Bruce must be so worried!" Tim fought the urge to dig through his pockets for his phone, knowing that wouldn't help anything. He distinctly remembered dropping it in his coffee on day four of no sleep, embarrassingly enough. It had sadly been beyond help. "Wait," he said as something occurred to him. He was almost hesitant to ask, but he knew he needed to. "If I'm here with you guys... Then where's Danny?" The young woman's eyes widened as she breathed a soft curse under her breath.

=============‹«⟨··•∞•··⟩»›=============

Later that night, a cheerfully maniacal laugh echoed through the streets of Gotham, chasing the roar of a motorcycle, sending shivers down the spines of goons and common criminals alike. They had learned the night before to dread that sound. They may be desperate, but none of them were stupid.

"Nope, nope, not happening, I am not going out tonight," Bill muttered as he shut his door and engaged the locks. He quickly sent out a PSA to the rest of the Goonion to stay off the streets, hoping they'd heed his warning. The Red Hood had found a white haired, green eyed friend, and it was a match made in hell.

=============‹«⟨··•∞•··⟩»›=============

Okay, so this is shorter than I'd originally planned it to be, but there's a reason for that! This literally came to me in a dream, but it was all disjointed, and when I woke up to Tumblr mobile's dark theme not working, I couldn't work on it without practically blinding myself (I have fairly sensitive eyes), so by the time they managed to fix the issue with the color palettes on mobile, I'd forgotten some of my dream... It's not the best excuse, but it is the truth (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ sorry... But I managed to sneak Bill and the Goonion from The Panda Red's content in! I'm proud of that (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

Also, I totally meant to have Tim and Jazz introduce themselves at some point, but, uhh (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠) I forgot (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠) oops... And now I can't figure out the best place to have them organically introduce themselves, either, so ¯⁠\⁠_⁠༼⁠ ⁠ಥ⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠ಥ⁠ ⁠༽⁠_⁠/⁠¯ we're just going to leave it!

Thank you all for your comments and support! It means so much to me <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠> you guys rock (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆

Have a good morning/day/night!

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: MOVIE REVIEW: Gemini Man

(Image: polygon.com)

GEMINI MAN— 2 STARS

Ang Lee’s new actioner Gemini Man is the cinematic embodiment of the figure of speech “chasing your tail.” A reminder from The Free Dictionary, defines that idiom as “to take action that is ineffectual and does not lead to progress” and “refers to how a dog can exhaust itself by chasing its own tail.” Boy, is that ever this movie. You have a multiple Academy Award-winning filmmaker chasing a technological benchmark that the industry cannot match. And you have a lead actor exhausting himself (and us) literally, instead of just figuratively, chasing his own tail.

Graying through his temples and whiskers, Will Smith plays his authentic 51 years of age as ultra-professional government asset Henry Brogan. The old guard assassin wants peace after losing his “feel” and growing a conscience after completing his 72nd confirmed kill. Seafront solitude with a little boat awaits Henry in Buttermilk Sound, Georgia south of Savannah. After demonstrating his chops in the opening scene, Smith’s confident exasperation and desire for this slowdown fits the actor’s appeal.

LESSON #1: “TO THE NEXT WAR, WHICH IS NO WAR” — This quote is Henry Brogan’s shared signature toast with his former brothers-in-arms from the old Persian Gulf and Somalia days, which include Jack (Red Sparrow’s Douglas Hodge) and Baron (Benedict Wong of Doctor Strange. The vibe is two-fold. First, there’s a celebration of success in making the world a better place with each dispatched despot and a survivalist wish of someday putting the bullets and triggers away.

Sure enough, retirement is short-lived when Henry learns he was fed spiked intel where the mark he sniped was someone of a less criminal background than he was told. Brogan and Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, bringing only middling sidekick value), the burned babysitter agent who helps him, become loose-ends for erasure by the order of their head government spook employer Clay Verris (Clive Owen, dialed to 50% intensity). Globetrotting from Georgia and Cartagena in the Western Hemisphere to Belgium and Budapest in the eastern one, the chase is on.

The salt-grained rub is Henry’s indomitable opponent at every stop is someone younger, stronger, and faster with recognizable facial features and training. Over 20 years ago when cloning was the rage, Verris used Henry’s DNA as a test to create an experimental line of expendable soldiers packaged with fewer human flaws and more programmed discipline. The force matching Henry’s every movie is his 23-year-old homegrown duplicate raised by Verris as his own adoptive son and following his every command.

LESSON #2: SO MUCH FOR SUN TZU — Paraphrasing, knowing your enemy better than you know yourself is quickly derailed when your enemy is you. Insert the Dramatic Chipmunk, but watch out for the groan-inducing “clones are still people too” and “they get choices too” wet blanket lessons that preach and follow. Gemini Man becomes a battle of seasoned wisdom versus the superior vigor of youth. Brains tend to always beat brawn, and you can see the end result a continent away.

Through de-aging special effects and digital doubles, Smith plays and voices his own “Junior.” This glaze, if you will, is very well done compared to other incarnations we’ve seen with this performance technology. Most of the time, mouths and expressions match with minimal, though noticeable, creepiness. It takes some getting used to, but it’s still Will Smith. Like most of his duds over the course of the last decade, the fit action star is never the movie’s problem.

Plenty of keen and sleek aesthetics are fair to compliment here. The team of stunt coordinator Brad Martin (Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice) and fight choreographer Jeremy Marinas (The Fate of the Furious) executed action sequences that are kinetic and often clever. Two-time production design Oscar nominee Guy Hendrix Dyas (Inception, Passengers) and the art departments created vast arenas for these battles out of the worldly locales. Academy Award-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe (Chicago) shot them bright and tight while long-time Lee editing collaborator and fellow two-time Oscar nominee Tim Squyres (Life of Pi) stitched the work together with deft pacing.

Much ballyhoo is being made about the high frame rate shooting used to enliven all this action. Matching his 2016 effort on Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ang Lee shot this film in full 4K HD for large scale 3D at a 120 fps clip, exponentially higher than the standard 24 fps rate. Good luck finding a theater or setting that can do Gemini Man full justice. There’s not a single theater screen in the country that can perform all three of those specifications and only 14 than can hit the 3D and the frame rate without the 4K HD. Cue your shrug of disappointment.

We can admire Lee for aiming towards new technological heights, but this reeks of hubris over smarts. Upwards of $136 million is a great deal of money and effort to waste on what amounts to an artistic STEM experiment where the intended visual detail and sensory effect will be lost on over 99% of audiences. If home viewing is the second wave of hope for this wannabe blockbuster to make an impression, even the current 4K HD televisions will have a difficult time hitting those technical specifications.

It is unfortunately understandable that this film probably could not be marketed to the masses without revealing the younger doppelganger crux. What a shame. Such a discovery should have been built as a jarring jaw-dropper rather than a foregone conclusion. The trouble is too often production secrets like that cannot be dependably kept safe in this day and age of scoop culture. That and, if you hold your bucket of popcorn to your ear, you can probably still hear the short-sighted marketing gurus at Paramount clamoring that two Will Smiths are better than one. This is not the 1990s or early 2000s Will Smith anymore. He was lucky with Aladdin but he’s not an A-list draw.

Gemini Man could have been something far greater if it traded much of that polish for punch. Other than the inventiveness of the action, there is zero to few potential thrills to be had when you can see every spot coming. The look is all there, right down to the close-up shot selection framed to capture the steely moments ripe for emotional stamping. There’s just no storytelling strength behind those hard stares. One of the mano-y-mano moments in the movie lets loose the clunker of a line “none of this is necessary” and it feels self-incriminating.

This original premise, scripted out by Game of Thrones czar David Benioff and Goosebumps writer David Lemke with a revision from Billy Ray of Captain Phillips, feels very much like a low-end Philip K. Dick concept. A hero is in minor peril wrapped in easy clues with the lightest whiff of unexplored science fiction floating in the background. There is a market for that to a degree. Preposterousness can work around being ambiguous and ill-defined if it has an interesting edge (look no further than the best of Dick). Gemini Man, with all its finely sharpened pixels, cannot lacerate our enthusiasm.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#830)

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[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY AND WAYNE NEWTON

S2;E22 ~ February 16, 1970

Directed by Danny Dayton ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer

Synopsis

The Carters go to Las Vegas to see the shows, but Lucy loses all their money in a gas station slot machine. On their way home they discover a stray pony and return him to the owner, who turns out to be singer Wayne Newton. The Carters take jobs as Newton's ranch hands to make enough money to return to Vegas.  

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter)

Guest Cast

Wayne Newton (Himself) previously played himself in “Lucy Sells Craig to Wayne Newton” (S1;E9) and “Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” (TLS S4;E14). He is one of the best-known entertainers in Las Vegas, known by the nicknames the ‘Midnight Idol,’ ‘Mr. Las Vegas’ and ‘Mr. Entertainment.’ His well-known songs include 1972’s “Daddy, Don’t You Walk So Fast” (#4 on the Billboard chart), “Years” (1980), and his signature song “Danke Schoen” (1963). This is his final episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Jerry Newton (Himself, Guitarist, right) is the older brother of Wayne Newton.  He also appeared in 1968’s “Lucy Sells Craig to Wayne Newton” (S1;E9).

Jerry’s catch phrase is “Oh, gosh yes.”  Although Wayne Newton calls him by his first name, it is never mentioned that the two are brothers.

Tommy Amato (Himself, Bass Player, left) was a bandleader and Wayne Newton’s bass player. He also appeared in 1968’s “Lucy Sells Craig to Wayne Newton” (S1;E9).

Amato is not identified by name in the dialogue.

Tiny Tim (T.T.) is an Angolan miniature horse from South America.  

This is the second and last episode for director / actor Danny Dayton, who also was director of “Lucy Protects Her Job” (S2;E14). 

The final draft of this script by Josefsberg and Singer was dated October 1, 1969.

Following the original broadcast of this episode, “The Doris Day Show” featured ‘Lucy’ supporting players Bobby Jellison, Mabel Albertson, and Hal Smith. 

This episode is filmed on location in the San Fernando Valley. Second unit footage of the Las Vegas Strip featured doubles for the cast. The in-car driving scenes were done using a studio process shot.  

In his introduction to the episode on DVD Wayne Newton recalls that this episode nearly caused a rift between him and Lucy due to the demands of the production.  

Musical Director Marl Young takes over the introduction and enthusiastically recalls writing the jazz background music for the montage of the drive down the Las Vegas strip. Young mistakenly calls “Gary Morton” and “Gale Gordon” “Gary Martin” and “Gale Garden.” 

Sunset Strip Montage

Caesars Palace – opened in August 1966 and is still operating today.  The marquee headliner is Frank Sinatra with Little Richard with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  

La Concha - was a motel that opened in 1961 and closed in 2004. The sign is restored and preserved in Las Vegas's Neon Museum. It was named after the resort community of La Concha, Spain. It was neighbors with the Riviera, which is in the background. 

Stardust – was located at 3000 Las Vegas Boulevard South. It was first opened in 1958 and demolished in 2007. The famed Stardust sign became one of the symbols of Las Vegas. The entertainment roster featured with the spectacular French production show Lido de Paris.

International - opened in 1969 and was known for many years as the Las Vegas Hilton, then briefly as the LVH - Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. It was renamed the Westgate Las Vegas in 2014. Upon opening, the International was the largest hotel in the world. The headliner at the time of the filming of the footage was Bill Cosby with Lionel Hampton. Interestingly, the International boasts the opening of a Children's Youth Hotel!  

Sands - was a historic hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip that operated from 1952 to 1996. The Sands was the seventh resort to open on the Strip. During its heyday, the Sands was the center of entertainment and hosted many famous entertainers of the day, most notably the Rat Pack. The Sands was featured in “Lucy Hunts Uranium” in 1958 (inset).  

Flamingo – opened the day after Christmas 1948 and is still operating today. It is located at 3555 South Las Vegas Boulevard. The hotel was the third resort to open on the Strip and remains the oldest resort on the Strip still in operation today. The headliner at the time was comedian Pat Paulsen.  

Frontier - was the second resort that opened on the Las Vegas Strip and operated continuously from October 1942 until it closed on July 16, 2007 and was demolished. It has the distinction of hosting Elvis Presley's first Vegas appearance in 1956, and the final performance of Diana Ross and The Supremes on January 14, 1970. At the time of filming singer Abbe Lane and comic Dick Shawn were headlining. Shawn guest starred in “Lucy and the Pool Hustler” (TLS S6;E13) in 1968. At one time, Abbe Lane was married to Xavier Cugat, Desi Arnaz's mentor and Ricky Ricardo's competition.

Thunderbird – was located at 2735 Las Vegas Boulevard South and operated from 1948 to 1992.  It was the fourth resort to open on the strip and had a Native American theme that featured a Navajo-based restaurant, the only bowling alley ever on the Strip, and a showroom. The marquee here promotes a stage production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song starring Jack Soo, who had also been in the 1961 film adaptation. Interestingly, the Thunderbird wooed gamblers with the promise of 'Free Nylons with  Jackpots'! From 1976 the property was known as the Silverbird and then, finally, El Rancho.

Bonanza – opened in July 1967 on land formerly occupied by Three Coins Hotel and Casino. It was later renamed the New Bonanza Hotel and Casino. In 1973 it became part of Bally's Las Vegas. It is not connected to the Bonanza Gift Shop, a landmark store on the Strip and one of the largest such establishments in the word.

Riviera - operated from April 1955 to May 2015. It was the first high-rise and the ninth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. Liberace cut the opening ribbon, and became the first resident performer.  The building was demolished in 2016.

The only sign that is missing from the montage is the iconic “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign that is now visually associated with the gambling town. 

Craig notices that Dean Martin is playing at the Riviera. Desi Arnaz Jr. was in a band with Martin's son. Kim says “He's one of my favorites!”  Martin guest starred as himself (and his doppelganger) on “The Lucy Show.” His opening act at the Riviera is comedienne Totie Fields, who will act on a 1972 episode of “Here's Lucy.” In 1975, she was one of the comics to roast Lucille Ball on “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast.”  

Harry's 1970 yellow Plymouth Satellite convertible was previously seen in “Lucy and Viv Visit Tijuana” (S2;E19).  

Also during the driving scene, the background shows a marquee for P'zazz '70, a lavish stage show at the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino, in operation from 1950 to 2000. The show started out as P'zazz '68 and was updated.  

Their drive down the Strip also takes them past The Castaways casino, where Cotton Club Revue 70 is playing. The above snapshot was taken in September 1969, around the same time as filming. Castaways operated from 1963 to 1987, when it was imploded to make way for the Mirage. In 1967, the Castaways was sold to billionaire Howard Hughes for $3 million as part of his spree of buying Las Vegas properties.  Coincidentally, the reclusive millionaire is also mentioned in this episode.

CRAIG (to Harry): “If you didn’t come to Las Vegas to see shows, what did you come for?” LUCY: “He came to kiss Howard Hughes’ ring.” 

The foursome encounter a miniature horse on the side of the road but don't know exactly what sort of horse it is. Lucy says she can't imagine John Wayne sitting on it; Mickey Rooney, yes. John Wayne appeared on both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show” while Mickey Rooney starred with Ball in Thousands Cheer (1943) and as an acting teacher on a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show.”  

Wayne Newton purchased the first five acres of what is now Casa de Shenandoah in 1966. It was raw land, with no well or electricity. The first house was built between 1966 and 1968, along with four stalls for a horse barn. He lived in that home with his parents and older brother. He then acquired additional acres between 1969 and 1972. Construction of the Mansion began in 1973 and was completed in 1976. Today, Casa de Shenandoah is one of the top tourist attractions in Las Vegas.  

Although the episodes were by different writers, Newton and the Carter family remember meeting each other in 1968 (above). Newton remembers Harry because when they first met he asked for two choruses “Hey Big Spender” (which didn’t actually happen in the episode). The song is by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields and was written for the Broadway musical Sweet Charity in 1966 and was included in the 1969 film starring Shirley MacLaine.  

Lucy's qualifications for working on a ranch are that she saw every Gene Autry picture three times. Gene Autry (1907-98) was a Texas born motion picture star dubbed “The Singing Cowboy.”  

Wayne Newton shares that is half Cherokee. Craig says that means he is “one of the original Americans.” Awareness of the plight of Native Americans was heightened during the late 1960s. “Lucy and the Indian Chief” (S2;E3) was shot on location on Navajo land using Native American tribe members for extras.

At the barbecue, Newton sings “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” accompanied by Jerry on guitar and Tommy on bass. Kim and Craig sing back-up while Lucy and Harry look on. “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” is a song by Bob Nolan and sung by Gene Autry in a 1935 film of the same name. In 1970 it was covered by Don Everly.  

When Newton says that Kim and Craig have “good seats” (ie; ride horses well), Lucy misunderstands and nonchalantly admits to having “paddled” Kim and Craig!  Yikes! 

Lucille Ball was an experience rider, having ridden horses in her films and television shows, but here (at age 59) leaves the riding to her children. She does, however, help Harry rope a calf for branding, but only manages to brand Harry instead!

Lucille Ball wears tinted glasses for the exterior shoots, just as she did the previous year on location at the Air Force Academy at the start of season 2. These lenses allow viewers to still see Lucy’s expressive eyes, but also provide protection from the sun’s rays. 

Lucie and Desi Jr. were sent to horse trainer Glenn Randall to learn how to ride the dancing horses used for the episode's finale. Randall famously trained Trigger, Roy Rogers' horse.

Lucie Arnaz later recalled, “We would drive two-hours in rush-hour traffic all the way up to this mountain where we get on with this horse dressage and learn from scratch how to ride so that we could do that show with Wayne Newton. I mean stuff like that just blows my mind."

For the finale, Wayne sings "I've Got the World on A String" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler written in 1932. The song was made popular by Frank Sinatra. Wayne performs this song while on his dancing horse. Kim and Craig are also on dancing horses that perform while he sings.

What Happens in Vegas....

A quick subliminal callback happens in the very first moments of the episode, when Harry’s car drives past the Las Vegas Tropicana. Their sign is only briefly seen from behind [I’ve reversed the image on the left] while the focus is on the Caesar’s Palace marquee. Desi Arnaz borrowed the name from the original Tropicana nightclub in Havana for Ricky Ricardo’s club on “I Love Lucy.” Ironically, the Las Vegas casino hotel opened in 1957, just after Ricky changed the name to Club Babalu. It is still in business today. 

Lucy Ricardo was in Las Vegas for “Lucy Hunts Uranium” (1958, above) hunting for her fortune in the Nevada desert rather than the casinos. The Sands, whose sign is seen in the opening montage of “Lucy and Wayne Newton”, is where Ricky Ricardo performed and the gang stayed during the episode. Location footage featuring the cast was shot in the California desert while a second unit team and cast doubles were filmed in Las Vegas. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were invited to the Sands' fourth anniversary party in 1956.  

Lucy and Ricky Ricardo were also in Vegas for “The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special” in November 1959 on NBC. 

Lucy Carmichael and Viv won a trip to Sin City in “Lucy Goes to Vegas” (TLS S3;E17) where being broke doesn't stop them from being high rollers.

In 1975, Lucy Collins traveled to the Nevada gambling town to meet her celebrity crush, Dean Martin, in “Lucy Gets Lucky”, which also begins with a montage of the Strip, ending on the exterior of the MGM Grand, where the action is set. 

“Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” (TLS S4;E14) also was set on Newton's farm and also featured a horse, although not shot on location.  

The rear-projection shot of the cast driving down the Las Vegas Strip is visually similar to the now iconic image of the Ricardos and the Mertzes driving across the George Washington Bridge in “California, Here We Come!” (ILL S4;E14), which was the first process shot used on television.  

Deja View! As with most rear projection process shots, the Harry’s car passes the same Las Vegas Strip landmarks several times as the scene goes on. 

BYOB (Bring Your Own Bass)!  Kim surprises everyone by asking Wayne Newton to sing. It is convincing enough that Newton’s brought along his guitar, to a picnic by the river, but it seems a stretch that Tommy has packed his upright bass!

Children & Animals! Working on location with live animals causes a few overlaps in dialogue and a few skillful ad libs by the cast. 

Ouch! Talking of the unpredictability of animals, when Harry chases the calf around the pen, Gale Gordon smashes into the barn wall with his right shoulder. Like the trouper he is, Gordon continues the scene! 

Stunt Roper?  When the script has Harry lasso Lucy instead of the calf, the camera goes in for a medium shot of Lucy, with Harry off screen for when the lasso lands around her. It may be that after several attempts, Gale Gordon allowed a more skilled roper to throw the rope around Lucy and then walks into the shot. There is a definite scene change for when Lucy and Harry have (supposedly) subdued the calf in order to brand him. Gale Gordon (63) and Lucille Ball (58) are obviously winded from the scene, but are definitely doing most of their own stunts with the live (and lively) calf. 

“Lucy and Wayne Newton” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5