#rewritten from that one scene in ep 15

[skylerbluexd]

Hands

Yu Tangchun tightened his grip around the smooth band of prayer beads intertwined with his fingers. He counted every bead, calming himself down – despite the fact that he hadn’t even had a reason to be agitated in the first place. He shut his eyes for a second, breathing evenly.

The sharp clicking of shoes against the polished wooden floors announced that Zhan Junbai had returned. He opened his eyes and looked up. Zhan Junbai sat down on the couch beside him, placing a metallic thing on the low table in front of them. His suit vest smelled of sweet smoke.

“A Browning Hi-power, newest model. Shipped directly from Belgium,” he said. He started disassembling the weapon, putting all bits and pieces in a neat line on the table. For every piece, he explained its name and function. Then, with quick and experienced hands, he assembled it again.

He turned its handle towards Yu Tangchun.

“You try it, see how it feels first,” he said.

Yu Tangchun put his prayer beads to the side. He reached for the gun on the mahogany table. His hands shook a bit – he had never touched a thing so capable of violence. It was just a small device, yet it could kill thousands.

His whole family had died by such a destructive creation – wielded by those who felt the only way to topple a dynasty was to get rid of its whole lineage, even the innocent.

The handle felt warm after having been held by Zhan Junbai. He shifted it around slightly in his hand. The white and gold ring with the face of the goddess of art on his finger became a stark contrast with the weapon in his hand. He almost wanted to let go of it, undo the fact that his hands had forever now become tainted.

“Such pretty hands are not meant for such harsh things as a gun,” Zhan Junbai said. He reached over to lightly stroke Yu Tangchun’s wrist, encouraging him to grip the gun tighter. “Pale and delicate as lotus flowers – no doubt hands of a beloved opera singer.”

Yu Tangchun cast his gaze down to hide a small smile.

“Executive Zhan is being too fine with his words,” he said.

“Not at all, I can imagine many pretty things in your hand, but I’ve never seen such elegance embrace such violence. I have to admit, though, that the sight is no less beautiful.”

Zhan Junbai let his hand linger on him for a while, his hand gliding further up from his wrist. Yu Tangchun closed his eyes again. His whole arm tingled, and he started to feel as if he would lose all strength in his grip anytime soon. He quickly put down the gun on the table again.

“When can I begin to shoot? I’d love to be able to defend myself in the future,” he said.

Zhan Junbai took his palm in his hand. The slight roughness of his skin made his own hand feel as if it was on fire. The steady beat of his heart could be heard in his ears.

“If you’d like to, I can teach you after dinner?” Zhan Junbai said.

Yu Tangchun looked up to meet his gaze. Zhan Junbai was looking at him. Yu Tangchun felt like his whole face suddenly became naked under his observing gaze. He felt a slight heat to the side of his face.

“I’d like it very much,” he said.

Zhan Junbai smiled and turned his eyes back to their intertwined hands.

“Good.”

He stood up from his seat, pulling Yu Tangchun’s hand with him slightly. He bent down to kiss the back of Yu Tangchun’s hand. His lips were soft against the skin. Then he moved down a bit – towards the cold ring. He met Yu Tangchun’s eyes a brief moment before lowering his lashes. He opened his mouth just enough to leave a kiss ever so gently on the pale and bony knuckles.

Yu Tangchun let his eyelids droop, shutting his eyes halfway. His pulse raced, and his whole body seemed to tingle. There was even fluttering in his stomach, and it only got worse – moving through his veins like a current of excitement.

“Executive Zhan,” he said, his voice a bit more breathy than normal. He did not know what to say, nothing came out of his mind. It had gone momentarily blank. He didn’t even know why he had addressed Zhan Junbai.

Zhan Junbai let out a small laugh – a chuckle. It was deep and pleasant, the sound vibrating against the thin skin on Yu Tangchun��s hand. He straightened up and let Yu Tangchun’s hand return to his lap.

“I’ll be back in a few hours, tell the servants to make you whatever you need, you’re my guest after all.”

Then he left.

Yu Tangchun felt his heart jumping inside his chest. He grabbed his prayer beads up from the table and started counting each bead with his eyes closed.

Thanks for reading! (It's also posted on my ao3)

[theoriginaleppieblack-blog]

Photo - Confiscated photo from the set of The Rosie O'Dell Christmas Special (1976)

Interviewer: There's always been a rumor that you both reinjured yourselves on the set of the Christmas special. Is that one true or false?

Tristam Lindsey and Alex Logan Simultaneously: False

Tristam Lindsey: Alex had a sort of...setback. He had a harder time getting off the floor than expected. Of course, we could of rewritten the scene.

Alexander Logan: But I wanted to do it as written. And I'd cleared the whole script with the doctor and physical therapist. But when I go to get up...I lost control a bit just like someone turned off a switch and then back on. I'm struggling to catch my balance and land on Duffy's poofy chair and this guy <laughing fondly> runs over like a knight in shining armor. And offers me his fret hand to steady myself with.

Tristam Lindsey: My bad hand! But I caught myself right quick and switched hands. It's even in the photo. Mick got that one off an ABC employee. He thought he was going to make a second career as a paparazzo.

Interviewer: Do you want to talk anymore about the release? Or any last thoughts about the production?

Photo: production still, The Rosie O'Dell Christmas Special

Tristam Lindsey: There was more joy in the making of this than I remembered. It was a hard time but we had friends and we had hope.

Alex Logan: That's really why we've finally brought it out. As a holiday present. To the fans that have been waiting for so long to get a look at it. To our newer fans that have maybe not even heard of it. To the world, really. Happy Christmas, Happy New Years, Happy everything. From Paradox.

Tristam Lindsey: On Christmas Eve we will be releasing a lot of related content on the YouTube channel. Um...it's taken a lot of time and work but all the copyrights have been worked out to put our archive tape of the KBTV broadcast of the special on youtube. So people can see the original context of the thing. The EP will be available for pre-order on Boxing Day with pick-up on Record Store Day, April 19, 2024.

Alex Logan: Our all-organic legacy band, Heirs of the Storm are opening for our old loves, The L.A. Queenz, at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on New Years Eve. It's sold out but there will be a broadcast of the concert on the channel.

Tristam Lindsey: Say yes to live music.

Alex Logan: Peace, It's still a good idea.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Extra:

Tracklist to the EP

A1 Deck the Halls Medley 3:50

A2 Lonely This Christmas 3:05

A3 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 3:15

A4 Gaudete 2:55

B1 Little Drummer Boy 5:54

B2 Oh Little Town of Bethlehem 4:10

B3 Organ Outro 2:09

[pinktwingirl]

Loki Series Rewrite (AKA Loki Series but with Squirrel Girl): Ep 1

Hey guys! Long story short, I wasn’t a fan of the Loki series, so I decided to make my own rewrite (including my favorite Marvel character, Squirrel Girl!) These are basically a collection of scenes that I would’ve either added or rewritten to improve the show. Btw, this is a continuation of my Endgame rewrite where Loki comes back to life after dying in Infinity War, so the Loki in this version is modern-day Loki, not 2012 Loki. Also, the whole Loki x Sylvie self-cest thing made me VEEERRRRY UNCOMFY, so I got rid of it. Their relationship is purely platonic in this. Anyways, enjoy! (This work is in screenplay format.)

INT. TVA - DAY

We pan through the TVA and see agents at work, checking timelines and watching training videos. We see various TVA posters warning about variants and "protecting the sacred timeline."

We then cut to RAVONNA RENSLAYER in her office. She is at her desk, sorting through files. Suddenly, an agent bursts in.

AGENT

Ma'am, we have a situation.

Ravonna follows the agent to a computer, where we see a timeline branching off from the main one.

AGENT

Is this the variant we've been searching for?

Ravonna glances at the computer and nods.

RAVONNA

About damn time...

EXT. CHICAGO BAR, 1986 - NIGHT

We see a woman with long, black hair and a green dress chatting with a man in a bar. The song "Devil Woman" by Cliff Richard is playing in the background.

MAN

Can I interest you in another drink, beautiful?

The woman lets out a flirty laugh and blushes.

WOMAN

Oh, you're too kind.

The man turns to the bartender.

MAN

Hey, can you get my girl here a...

(He turns to the woman.)

What can I get you, honey?

WOMAN

Surprise me.

The man turns back to the bartender.

MAN

You heard her.

The woman has a devilish smirk on her face as she watches them. The man turns back to her as the bartender starts mixing a drink.

MAN

You know, I feel selfish. I've been talking so much about myself, but I still don't know a thing about you.

WOMAN

Well... what do you want to know?

Suddenly, another man approaches them.

MAN #2

Hey, what do you think you're doing with my date?!

MAN

Your date? She's mine, asshole!

MAN #2

I caught her first!

(He turns to the woman.)

I'm sorry, honey, is this guy bothering you?

MAN

Bothering her?! You listen here, shithead-

He grabs the other man and they begin to wrestle with each other.

WOMAN

(Playfully)

Oh no, please don't fight over me...

As the men grow more violent, a bit of green magic shoots out of the woman's hand, causing the first man's wallet to fly into her grasp. She slips by the men, undetected as the bartender tries to break them up. Outside the bar, the woman walks off. With a smirk, she shifts into LOKI, now in his male form. He unveils the tesseract with magic and disappears.

INT. THE BENATAR - NIGHT

Loki reappears in the Guardians' ship, where Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy are waiting for him. Loki smirks.

LOKI

Another successful venture.

THOR

Did they fight?

LOKI

Like bilgesnipe.

Thor bursts into laughter, and Loki hands Rocket the wallet.

LOKI

I also got the wallet, as requested. Although, I don't think Midgardian currency will have much value on the far side of the galaxy.

ROCKET

Who cares about the money? I just wanted the wallet.

(He dumps out the dollar bills and admires the wallet.)

This is nice leather...

LOKI

Anyone else have any travel requests?

QUILL

Oh, I got a whole bunch.

NEBULA

Quit acting like children. An infinity stone is not a toy to be played with.

LOKI

Oh, please. The tesseract and I go far back. If anyone can control it, I can.

ROCKET

You know, I'm starting to think you've just gotten sick of being around us, and now you're just looking for an excuse to get away.

LOKI

I will neither confirm nor deny that.

THOR

By that, he means "yes."

ROCKET

That's pretty rude of you, grease weasel.

Loki scowls at him.

DRAX

Can you travel to Kylos? I would greatly enjoy having some trego fruit again.

LOKI

Certainly.

The tesseract starts to glow in his hands.

INT. TVA - DAY

The agent and Ravonna are still at the computer.

AGENT

He's using the stone again. He's going to time-jump.

RAVONNA

Block it. Intercept him.

The agent presses a button.

EXT. MONGOLIA - DAY

Loki crash lands in the Gobi Desert and wakes up, looking utterly confused as a group of villagers approach him.

VILLAGER

(in Mongolian)

Who are you? Why have you come to our home?

Loki raises an eyebrow and opens his mouth to respond. Suddenly, a portal opens and several TVA agents enter. They lean down to examine the tesseract, and Loki abruptly rushes over to them.

LOKI

Don't touch that!

The agents ready their prune sticks. Suddenly, HUNTER B-15 opens a portal and enters.

HUNTER B-15

It appears to be a standard sequence violation.

(She checks her tem-pad)

Branch is growing at a stable rate and slope. Variant identified.

LOKI

I beg your pardon?

HUNTER B-15

On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the sacred timeline. Hands up.

The agents activate their prune sticks.

HUNTER B-15

You're coming with us.

LOKI

I'm sorry, who's "us"?

Hunter B-15 activates her own prune stick.

HUNTER B-15

Last chance, variant.

Loki chuckles.

LOKI

Look, I don't know who the hell you seem to think you are... But if you don't mind, this is actually your last chance.

(Beat)

Now get out of my way.

Before he can attack, Hunter B-15 strikes him with her stick.

INT. TVA COURTROOM - DAY

Ravonna pounds her gavel.

RAVONNA

Next case, please!

Hunter B-15 forces Loki onto the stand.

RAVONNA

"Laufeyson"... Variant L1130, aka "Loki Laufeyson"...

LOKI

I prefer "Odinson," thank you.

After a pause, Ravonna shrugs.

RAVONNA

Very well...

(She crosses out "Laufeyson" on his case file and writes in "Odinson.")

Loki Odinson, you are charged with sequence violation 7-20-89. How do you plead?

Loki chuckles.

LOKI

Madam, a god doesn't plead. Look, this has been a very enjoyable pantomime, but I'd like to go home now.

RAVONNA

Are you guilty or not guilty, sir?

Loki smirks.

LOKI

Guilty of being the god of mischief, yes. Guilty of finding all of this incredibly tedious, yes. Guilty of a... "crime"... against the "sacred timeline"? Absolutely not, you have the wrong person.

RAVONNA

Oh, really? And who should we have?

LOKI

Well, in my defense, the only reason I ever came in possession of the tesseract is because the Avengers traveled back in time.

Mobius enters the courtroom.

RAVONNA

We're not here to talk about the Avengers. What they did was supposed to happen; you reviving yourself with the tesseract and running around time, causing chaos was not.

Loki laughs.

LOKI

I'm sorry - not supposed to happen according to whom?

RAVONNA

The timekeepers.

INT. TIME THEATER - DAY

Mobius is showing Loki clips of his life and trying to dig deeper into his psyche.

MOBIUS

You know, trying to kill all the frost giants, invading Earth, I don't see anything very mischievous about this...

He plays a clip of the bifrost nearly destroying Jotunheim. A family of frost giants runs in fear as the land is destroyed. A little girl screams as her father is vaporized by the blast. Loki is visibly uncomfortable.

MOBIUS

Look at that. Did you enjoy doing that?

LOKI

Enough of your games. You've made your point.

Ignoring him, Mobius plays the clip of him telling Kurse where to go.

MOBIUS

And then, you tried tricking the dark elves into finding Thor, but instead, you sent them right to Frigga.

Loki tenses when he sees Frigga fighting Malekith.

LOKI

I don't want to watch this.

He winces, trying to keep himself together, as he watches Malekith stab Frigga.

MOBIUS

Well, you're going to watch it. Because that's your life, that's the consequences of your actions, and that is the proper flow of time! Now, why don't you tell me, do you enjoy hurting people?

LOKI

I don't have to play your games-

MOBIUS

Do you enjoy killing?

LOKI

I'll kill you.

MOBIUS

What, like you did your mother?

Enraged, Loki tosses a chair at him. Mobius dodges it, and it flies through the hologram of Frigga's dead body. Loki lunges at Mobius, but he uses the time twister to send him back on the ground. Loki growls in pain.

MOBIUS

Sorry, the time twister just loops you, not the furniture. You weren't born to be king, Loki. You were born to cause pain and suffering and death. That's how it is, that's how it was, and that's how it always will be. All so that others can achieve their best versions of themselves.

LOKI

(Voice cracking)

That's not true. You're lying.

MOBIUS

It is true. Your life ended after Thanos snapped your neck, because you fulfilled your purpose of assembling the Avengers to destroy you. Your purpose was never to become a hero. You're a villain, and that will never change as long as the sacred timeline runs its course.

INT. TIME THEATER - DAY

After Loki escapes and returns to the time theater on his own, he finds a folder of papers on the table. He opens it and reads the first file. It reads "LOKI ODINSON - MAIN OBJECTIVES: MURDER, LIE, MANIPULATE. LIFE PURPOSE: CATALYST FOR THE AVENGERS. OBJECTIVE FULFILLED. LIFE TERMINATED. END OF FILE.

Horrified, Loki stares at the file as tears run down his face. After a moment, he starts laughing as Hunter B-15 enters.

HUNTER B-15

Something funny?

After a pause, Loki shakes his head.

LOKI

Glorious purpose...

INT. TIME THEATER - DAY

Loki is talking with Mobius after being apprehended again.

LOKI

I will admit, the TVA is... formidable. Even an infinity stone is useless here.

(Beat)

You're not going to let me return to my own timeline, are you?

(Beat)

MOBIUS

Normally, no, we wouldn't. But... if you help us... maybe the timekeepers might be willing to make an exception. A rogue variant's been killing our minutemen.

LOKI

And you need the god of mischief to help you stop him?

MOBIUS

That's right.

LOKI

Why me?

MOBIUS

The variant we're hunting is... you.

Have some actual Lady Loki yay! 

So yeah, the purpose of this episode was mainly to re-establish the show within the continuity of my version of Endgame. Squirrel Girl comes in next episode!

@drawntothedarkside Here’s your tag!

[iamnmbr3]

We're missing a step between Waldron's movie script and the Loki series, and that's the TVA series. Imagine: There's a new recruit at the TVA. Let's call him Michael. He's not quite sure how he got here, and things are weird. Time passes strangely. Does he even have an apartment somewhere? Despite the weirdness, he still has a job to do, and that's to help his partner agent Mobius catch the most dastardly threat to ever threaten the sacred timeline. 1/7

Michael is, to put it bluntly, a blithering idiot, clumsy and generally clueless, but he seems (somehow) to have some relevant skills, because he deduces that the threat is hiding in apocalypses. Something something, and Michael and the threat (let's call her Sylvia) wind up stranded in an apocalypse. Here, it's revealed that Michael himself is a variant. He and Sylvia fall in love (they're probably not variants of each other), something something, and wind up recaptured and back at the TVA. 2/7

Michael tries and succeeds in convincing his former partner that everyone there is a variant. He still gets pruned, and here is where we learn who Michael used to be, and boy was he a bad person (this, and the "romance" are the parts lifted from the movie script). The person behind the timeline is none other than the very worst version of Michael himself. (I don't know if the character of Michael is meant to be some other comic book character, and I don't care enough to think about it) 3/7

This explains the following: why the depiction of the TVA goes from obviously glaringly evil in ep 1 to just kinda weird in ep 2. Why the transition from the supermarket to the TVA between 2 & 3 seems so bizarre (why would Sylvie leave the portal open just long enough for Loki to be indecisive and then follow her??) It was originally something else, and they didn't take to the time to make it make sense. 4/7

Why the reveal that the TVA employees are all variants is so casual, when it should have been one of the show's holy shit moments. It has much more meaning if one of the characters in the conversation didn't know he was a variant. Why Sylvie devolves to a stereotypical hyper-competent Strong Female Character in eps 4 and 5 (2 and 3 required more magic, and were therefore more rewritten). 5/7

Why ep 5 felt a lot like filler, but it's much less so if the purpose is the learn and explore the main character's true identity. Why the supposed main character feels like just an accessory to the plot, and the pacing issues surrounding that. And most of all, why Loki feels like a completely different character *except* in the second half of the first episode. He was competent! Stealing the remote, escaping, being capable of fighting B-15. 6/7

That's because it was the only episode in the goddamn series actually written for the character. Obviously, quite a bit of dialogue and some scenes were changed (and I bet the show creators thought they were so clever making Loki and Sylvie variants of one another), but Loki was just pasted on top of Waldron's worst person in the world, in the script and also possibly in Waldron's mind, given his alternate reality interviews. 7/7

Huh. Interesting theory! You could have something there.

[ryukyuan-sunflower]

Hi hi! I just wanted to ask how often you update your fic! I’m really excited to start reading it, as I love stories over 100k and I am just so happy to find something so eloquently written! I am not looking forward to not having any more chapters to read, but I am a patient person! I just wanted to know what your schedule is like and if it is anywhere near the end? :)

Hiya :D So this is a bit complicated for me to answer. Not because of you, but because of how I'm working on Finding the Four-Eyed Samurai.

The short answer is, it generally takes me 1 month to complete a chapter. Chapters are around 10,000 - 20,000 words and usually require a lot of research, whether historical, atmospheric or simply going back and rewatching scenes from the anime that are referenced or alluded to.

But...since April 2020, I have posted 9 new chapters, a one-shot, and rewrote Chapters 13-19. So that's...17 chapters in 10 months?

I've also just finish rewriting Chapters 8 and 9 but can't post them yet. So that's...19?

*sweating* That's a lot more than one a month.

Basically, now, I write...A LOT. Every day, when I can. Whether it's actually writing, or researching, or planning. The thing is, my updates before 2020 were not nearly that fast... And this is where the problem lies in answering about my updates.

The earliest chapters were written 9 years ago when I was a young teen. And they are not written good. I probably have lost so many readers who read those chapters and immediately backed out. I'm still surprised so many people decided to trudge through it, to see my writing grow through the years. (It still needs work even now but...)

As of now, I will not be posting Chapter 46 until all the early chapters are rewritten. This will take me a couple more months. And then, they will all be posted together. Now, when i say "rewrite", I don't mean I'm just revising for typos, and rewording sentences to sound better. I mean I'm literally OVERHAULING the plot of Chapters 1-12. The only things that have generally stayed the same is Mugen and Fuu's dialogue. (So don't worry about losing out on a favorite interaction! Those don't change.)

To give you some context of these "OVERHAULS", I'll talk about the rewrite of the "ghost arc" of Chapters 10 and 11.

Original on the Website now (posted when I was 14): Chapter 10-11. Just two chapters and around 10,000 words total.. Complete fluff, in which Mugen and Fuu get stuck in the rain and stay at an abandoned manor that may just be haunted. That's it... No plot, no other characters, just fun Mugen x Fuu interactions.

Revision to be Posted in May, 2021: Four Chapters now spanning 8-11, totaling around 50,000 words. (five times as long as the original). Yes, Mugen and Fuu get stuck in the rain again. Yes, Mugen and Fuu stay in a haunted manor again. However, this time, there's plot relevance that makes it feel more like a Samurai Champloo "episode". Not just fluff.

-During Obon Festival in Edo, they meet with a Shugendo Buddhist monk named Taikan in a temple graveyard, when Fuu is paying her Obon respects to Shinsuke (who died in Edo in the anime Ep 7.) This monk is heading to Bancho, Edo to perform an "exorcism" on a Hatamoto samurai's wife with strange behavior. The manor is infested with black worms which are believed to be associated with this "demon" or "ghost". Because Mugen and Fuu are starving, and have no place to sleep in the coming downpour, Taikan offers to bring them along to become servants to the manor's owner: Aoyama, and his "possessed" wife Chouka. It becomes a sort of mystery/horror arc in finding out what is causing the bizarre incidences in the house, still full of Mugenx Fuu interactions too, of course. (Even more than before actually!) But it also gives some references to real history, and a more meaningful reason for the chapter's existence and the characters' growth.

That is just one example! The Kokoro and the Yakuza arc, and Mugen and Fuu remeeting also need to be heavily rewritten too!

Now, for your very last question... Is the story anywhere near it's end?

Finding the Four Eyed Samurai is planned to span 60 total chapters. After revisions, I will be back to writing the new Chapter 46. One posted every month, likely starting in July 2021. So that leaves only 15 chapters left. It seems like a lot... (which it is, considering that's roughly over 150k words left to write) However, in context to the whole story...that's only 1/4th left to go. I already have the rest of their journey plotted out...And, it's strangely sad for me to think about. Hm...After revisions and all chapters, FTFES might just be around 800k words??? Um???

But yes! UM.

I highly recommend waiting until May to read the early chapters, when they are all rewritten. However, if you've already managed to get past the first 12 chapters, then thank you so much for trudging through that... And I hope you will still go back and read the new revisions when they're posted in May or June. I put a lot of work into them, just as much as writing all-new chapters.

Thank you so much for the questions, and for your interest in my Fanfic!!! It means so much to me, and just inspired me to go into writing mode today :D

May I ask if you have already started reading it yet? And if you have, what chapter are you on?

[kinopioa]

Cyberchase Develpment

- 1996 -  August - Funding for research and math studies across multiple schools begins. Funding by the National Science Foundation, starting at $50,000 (NSF): https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9612533

Concepts of Cyberchase being a game the kids get zapped into are noted, in addition to planning to have it interactive for the audience

- 1998 - January: Second stage starts, funding $450,000. NSF Site https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9725610&HistoricalAwards=false

Although the idea of Cyberchase being a game is scrapped, the plan for making the show have the kids interact with the audience is still noted

October: Actual Animation development starts. Character designs are presented to kids, and 2 storyboard ideas are presented. One for “The Poddleville Case” Pilot we got, the other for an episode where the kids help an elephant cross a bridge Design evolution of characters from Earliest till Pilot;

Jackie (Known as Julie until 1999): 

Matt (Known as Kyle dorky Moe cut pfft until 1999): 

Inez (Who BARELY changed):

Buzz and Delete (kinda Ren and Stimpy esque...):

Hacker. Note he stuck with these proto designs for a long time until actual animation dev started:

More research is done to determine what station the pilot would air on, though with WNET lending support, this was mostly canned. Though “commercial breaks” for Cable/Satellite still were a thing oddly despite airing on PBS, which international airings would take advantage of for the final series

- 1999 -  May: Pilot Unveiling to a select group of schools. More research and potential fine tuning is done. The idea of the kids interacting directly with the audience is scrapped...sort of

The inital Cyberchase Website on Wnet also launched!

August/September: Public pilot reveal! Aired on Twin Cities (TPT) PBS initially. Vid length 24:15 Due to executive changes, Curious Pictures doesn’t cite this as one of their works. WNET also immediately changes support to have development by Nelvana for Seasons 1-5 - 2000 -

Feb: Rushed redubbing and editing for the Pilot happens. This was done in stages due to shifting focus of 2 other episodes; “Lost My Marbles” and “Snow Day”, in addition to canon consistency Trace: Where they trace over the original animation. Sometimes they exclude frames, so Matt stops mid blink for this camera pan. Though outside sudden brightness, this is the least intrusive of reanimating. The background actually got slightly more detailed here, though with less natural lines

Overlay: where the background is spliced from original footage, but characters and objects are reanimated. Some of the splicing has disastrous artifacts, likely due to using a tape source. This was most likely the most rushed stage

Completely new:

These scenes noticeably had flatter perspective. In addition to being the brightest of all footage

Then the last stages, you have random scenes where they look WAY more like final series, like this shot (note 5 fingers). Not sure why it’s faded, but some unedited Pilot footage reused DID have hue color issues, so it could just be time crunch

Compared to Pilot* footage (To my guess that this is unedited visually as of the creation of this post unless debunked, note 4 fingers and wackier proportions)

Remember when I said “sort of” for forgetting to have the kids interact with the audience? Wnet added a live action scene after the animation, where the host (Kareem Blackwell) would talk to the audience about a related math concept. Here they show rhythmic clapping 

This inclusion cut off around 2 min of the animation, and the live action actor is different than final series

Meanwhile despite the edits to the pilot, we’ll focus on..

March: Funding for Nelvana, now $2,972,045, for development of 25 new episodes: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9909404&HistoricalAwards=false

The Storyboard phase for the first 3 episodes, Lost My Marbles and Snow Day have started. Similar to before, researchers present the voiced storyboards to students to see the response. Interestingly despite being the first developed, Lost My Marbles would continue to be rewritten until 2001, possibly to include the new character Digit, and the scrapping of a scene. I won’t go into details of what differs in the storyboard compared to final, but it explains the rushed nature of the first episode compared to others if they kept rewriting the script till that late

In addition, the heavily edited Pilot aired. It’s unknown if this was before or after Chris Lloyd voices Hacker, though most likely everyone else was redubbed at this point

September: The old Cyberchase site is finally discontinued. All that’s left was this Logo 

Fun thing, this font is the same one used for the Ice Age Movies

- 2001 - 

June: Around 14 episodes are done by this stage. Castleblanca is in the final storyboard stages, with it fully presented to a select group again.

December: A New PBS Kids Cyberchase website launches! Lore of Hacker and Digit are viewable as interactive Webisodes

- 2002 - 

January: Final 2002 series airs! Live Action segments feature Mathew Wilson and Bianca DeGroat and Bianca. Gilbert Gottfried and Chris Lloyd noted as recurring voices. All future broadcasts since of Ep 7 are of the edited pilot

Though despite researching, I never did find out whether the pilot was initially cel animated or not. Or well, the entire unedited pilot..

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

THURSDAY OCTOBER 8, one of the longest running television shows of our time begins airing the final episodes of it’s final season. Guys, Supernatural is 15. FIFTEEN. It can practically drive a car now. As one friend put it, “that show had a Quinceañera.” And if you don’t know how significant that is, think of the last show you know of that made it to season 10. Take your time, I’ll wait. 

Whoever I stole this birthday invite from, they are probably older than this show.

I started watching Supernatural in 2008. I was 19, I had just begun my journey towards Over-Worked, Under-Slept Millennial, and my best friend recommended it. I can’t really remember how the conversation went, but I’m sure at some point it was “It’s scary, and it’s got these two brothers, I’ll send you a link!” cuz we were trash and we were broke and Netflix...existed? Hulu existed, but not in the way that either of those sites work now, so we watched by...ahem...other means. It is probably why my first laptop stopped working after 3 semesters of college.

And damn, I was hooked. I don’t do scary movies and honestly, I was legit creeped out by a lot of these episodes, but it had two hot dudes who took down a monster every week and then (the real kicker) had a bigger, season-long mystery they were trying to solve. And occasionally, they got punched in their big dumb beautiful faces. If I had known what a kink was at the time, I would have said that someone was reading my dream diary. 

Over the next 12 years - Let me say that again for those of you in the back - TWELVE YEARS - I had an on-again-off-again relationship with the Winchesters. It was pretty hot and heavy in the beginning. I was jumping on the back of this 67 Chevy Impala 3 years in, so I had three seasons that I bought on DVD that I binged and was caught up with season 4 by the time the midseason started to air in late January of 2009. I was introducing all my friends to Supernatural, I made several people watch the entire first disc of season 1 with me, irregardless of whether they’d asked or not. Things started to cool down towards the end of season 4 as life started picking up and I know...I caught...the tail end of season 5? I think? I distinctly remember the final scene of the final episode, but honestly, I can’t remember how much of that season I actually watched.

At that point, I considered Supernatural to be a weird pseudoaddiction. I’d be clean for a while, years even, and then Netflix caught up with consumers and I could binge whole seasons in a weekend. It’d be, oh, I could just watch an episode. Just one episode. Maybe two. And then the weekend is gone in a blaze of classic rock and rock salt and I’m left with something like but not necessarily a hangover where my feelings live. I think I did this for seasons 6 through, like, 8? Eventually, Netflix stopped putting it at the top of my dashboard and it was easier to avoid. And I said to myself, well, when they finally get to the last season, THEN I’ll go on one last run, one last big score, and watch the whole series again in one go. 

But the seasons kept coming?? And they?? Didn’t stop?? Guys, I don’t know how many of you care about this but, Friends, one of the most popular sitcoms of all time that defined an entire generation had ten seasons. TEN. Supernatural is ending with fifteen! For an industry where most shows don’t make it past a pilot, let alone a season 1, this is INSANE. 

But now it’s ending. Even though a pandemic halted production just two episodes away from the finale, Supernatural is finally outta cassette tapes. The Wayward Sons may finally (??) be laying their wearied heads to rest (?? lol, I know).  

And frankly, 2020’s been a real sh*tshow so I thought “Why not?” 

And if I’m doing this and I’m not interacting with anyone on a human level, I might as well chronicle this epic dive into a time capsule of television because frankly, what the hell else am I doing? 

Cuz that’s what this is guys. 15 years in TV time is multiple lifespans. Shows are born, grow into something Emmy-worthy, and die in less time than Supernatural has been on the air. You know what else aired their pilot episode in 2005? The American version of The Office. You know when The Office ended? 2013. 

So let’s talk about pilots because that in and of itself may be a thing of the past not too far from now. 

Guys, I love pilots. I will probably say this a lot over the next, uhhhh...many months, but I love pilots and I love season ones, especially for a sci-fi and fantasy shows because that’s where your characters are at their most vulnerable, their most unsure. The writers and producers are really digging around, trying to figure out what the groundwork for this world is and there’s something so exciting about exploring it with them, as an audience. 

Pilot’s are great, pilots on spec are even better, and that’s a lot of what the Supernatural Pilot feels like. It’s got a real indie/guerilla-style horror movie vibe, like the crew scraped together just enough cash for that one special effect scene but had to skimp out on a lot of the other production stuff, and still managed to turn something around that is totally, 100% watchable and somehow more charming than if they’d had the budget to make something really polished? Go watch Night of the Living Dead (1968) and tell me that movie would have been better if they’d had a bigger budget. You could, but I won’t agree. 

Ok so a quick break down of technical terms. A television pilot is basically the first episode of a TV show. Well, that’s not exactly true. A pilot is kind of like making a sample or a blueprint of your show that you hand over to the television networks and say, here! This is what my TV show will look like. Will you pay me money to continue making it? And the networks (think ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and The CW - remember, this is Network, not cable) will spend January through April of every year reviewing pilots and deciding if they want to pay you money to make more episodes. Well, every year except 2020. See: sh*tshow. Sometimes the network comes to you with an idea, or maybe, you’ve pitched your script/show to some executives and they buy in for that first pilot episode to see where things will go. Neither of these scenarios are a sure thing, and pilot season is always rife with will-they-won’t-they tension. In fact, if you’re working on the show, there’s a real possibility that pilot will get re-shot after studio notes, you’ll lose your job to someone the studio liked better, and then the show still may not get picked up. A pilot shot on spec is in even more of a limbo scenario because nobody asked for this! And just to follow through on Pilot Season - after the networks decide to buy your pilot, they then air the pilot at Upfronts (usually in May) where their many ad companies decide if they will pay money to air their ads during those shows. This is where we get things like prime time and key demographics - if you thought TV was all about the art, you are very wrong. TV, like most other industries, is still a business that’s about making money. 

Back to the Supernatural pilot. Now, from my research, series creator Eric Kripke had been working on the concept for 10 years. He was big into classic rock, big into urban legends and big into cowboys and all those things get married ever so neatly in this show. A lot of his initial ideas remain unchanged, at least for the first season - he wants two brothers, traveling across the country, facing off with America’s Spookiest Myths and legends. A lot of it did change. I honestly feel like I remember reading an early draft of the pilot where Sam and Dean are cowboys? But I’m also pretty sure I’m imaging that. What I’m not imagining is this ridiculous early draft where John’s been locked in an insane asylum, dies before the first episode starts, and Sam’s been living with an aunt and uncle his whole life and knows nothing. They still use something close enough to the La Llorona legend as the catalyst for the episode, but a lot of other things are changed. This is not the Sam and Dean we come to know and love. This is also a good example of when you SHOULD listen to notes, because this draft was rewritten after executive producer McG and his Wonderland Sound and Vision production company signed on, but before they actually shot the script. 

Now from what I’ve read, the WB picked the show up for (4) episodes initially, and ultimately picked it up for a full season of (22) episodes. This was, at the time, a pretty standard season and a pretty standard way to get it. They had a better deal than The Office, anyway, which only got picked up for (6) episodes in their first season, then got picked up four episodes at a time for season 2. 

Now let’s go over that paragraph one more time and talk about what a hecking DINOSAUR this show is - 

FIRST off - Supernatural premiered on THE WB. It PREDATES The CW!!

Man guys, you remember they had a frog as a mascot? Oof, that would not work today.

Secondly, it got 22 EPISODES. We’ll get into this some more when we talk about that evil bugs filler ep, but think about how many episodes were in the last show that you binged on Netflix? 8? Maybe 10?

Welcome to the exciting world of GRAPHS brought to you buy https://www.theringer.com/tv/2017/8/4/16094348/inefficiency-week-mourning-the-lost-long-tv-season

OH! And SPEAKING of Netflix and streaming services like them, they’re kind of killing pilot season AND upfronts. They pick up shows when they want to. They “air” them when they feel like. There are no ads because you pay for that content on a monthly basis and also they don’t even have commercial breaks. I am slowly seeing the passage of time in one (1) episode of television and I think I’ve aged 100 years. 

Here is just one of MANY articles about the death of Pilot Season 

Finally, and most importantly, this show got a better deal than The Office. And that show was an NBC primetime show. 

This show was nominated for 193 awards and won 50. And it ended when my nephew was still in kindergarten. He’s gonna be in high school next year. 

So what about this Supernatural Pilot? Was it any good? Honestly, I’m gonna say yeah. This is some very solid Hero’s Journey here. I think the only weird thing about it is that Sam is our Hero, our point of contact character that gets us into this world. And I only say that because I’ll be real up front and say that I’m a Dean girl through and through. I don’t hate Sam, but because we live in a world where we have to choose, it’s Dean 4Eva. 

From that early script draft, we learn the plan was for Sam to be in the dark and essentially be our audience stand in so that Dean can explain all the backstory. I think the decision to make John Winchester raise his kids as a weird fringe paramilitary outfit and establish Sam as the brother that tried to get away is a good one. It’s a very “Arrive Late” (or if you’re fancy, in media res,) sort of attitude and it works and you’ve already started building in the Atonement with the Father. There’s still some pretty excellent exposition dialogue, but what are ya gonna do. Sam, did you really need to explain to Dean that your collective father “raised you like warriors”? Or that you “kill everything we CAN find?” It’s fine. You’re beautiful and I love you. But also, he knows all that.

You have the Call to Adventure - Dean showing up and saying “Dad hasn’t been home in a few days.” You have the refusal of the call (“He’ll sleep it off”). You have your supernatural aid (hah!) giving Sam a push out the door - that’s Dean. You have your famous line that I quoted along with the TV - Dad’s on a hunting trip. And he hasn’t been home in a few days. 

The dead mom backstory seems pretty on the nose, but the “burned on the ceiling” concept was new and unique enough that I was intrigued to find out more. Listen, I’ve already admitted I don’t watch a lot of horror so if this has been done before, don’t @ me. 

La Llorona or Woman in White or Weeping Woman was a new trope to me at the time, so it too seemed fresh. I see that myth show up in a lot more Supernatural-type shows now, but in 2008, at 19, I was like, oh this is different. Not to mention - this definitely leaned in to the horror aspect. I know I’m a baby, but it aired at 9pm, which is the more adult side of Prime Time, so the WB thought it was too spooky for kids who had early bedtimes. So there. 

I HATE when they do this cuz it freaks me out EVERY TIME and THAT’S NOT EVEN HOW THESE MIRRORS WORK??? SHE’S NOT EVEN IN THE BACK SEAT IN THIS SHOT!

And then at the END, when Sam STILL refuses the call to adventure, you have the real Crossing of the Threshold - Jess is ALSO stuck on the ceiling, dead, and on fire. Spoiler alert, but they had to fridge her early to make the rest of the season work and so it shouldn’t be a big surprise. Sam’s all in and we get 21 more episodes of him and Dean and that car. 

Is it technically fridging if she’s lit on fire?

And let’s talk about Jess for a second cuz actress Adrianne Palicki is giving a LOT more in this performance than a fridged girlfriend should be required to. She’s likeable, she’s down to earth, she’s crushing it and and all this with only, like, two scenes of dialogue. I say this even though we meet her in a slutty nurse costume - COME on WB. 

WB what the hell is this wardrobe. What the HELL is THIS. 

In fact, all of the extras in this show are crushing it? Louis is instantly likeable and he disappears after his first scene, never to grace our TV’s again. And these extras in the town in Jericho, California - I kind of love them. As CW (or I guess, WB) as Jessica is, these extras look like they found them at the local highschool and I LOVE THEM FOR IT. They probably came to set already in makeup and wardrobe! They POSSIBLY brought their own jewelry! They’re weirdos and they are GREAT. I’m pretty sure this will NEVER happen again on this show because once the $$ came in, so did the more polished-looking one-off characters.

 Lookit these magnificent goth weirdos! And great news, both these actresses have very full, non-goth careers after this. 

Also, heckin’ Joseph Welch is just crushing it. This man has NOTHING CW about him and that’s maybe why I like him so much? Everything about the scene with him and Sam is pretty heartbreaking, from his rundown car graveyard to his rundown physique with his rundown accent to the fact that we never actually see his face. Seriously, really LOOK at this scene - WHAT is going on with this cinematography? Is this a reference to something? It’s SO bleached out and SO stark and WHAT is going on???

WHAT is this lighting? And also this guy was played by Steve Railsback was on X-Files!

You can’t talk about Supernatural without talking about the chemistry between Sam and Dean and that’s probably the real hook here? I mean a) very beautiful. I will probably talk about this a lot. Let’s call it what it is here, they’re beefcakes and they’re made for me and people like me. It is weird that this show is so macho but their primary audience was mostly there for the babes. And by babes I mean Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. And b) they REALLY sell the whole brothers thing. They’re both from Austin, TX which feels like a weird coincidence. They were both already on WB shows before this one, also a weird coincidence. And they just click. They just do. It’s impressive, and occasionally creepy when we start to get into the Wincest of it all, but lets not talk about that.

Oh, and the MUSIC! The music just makes it. If you don’t believe me, watch the Netflix version of the first season and then find yourself a DVD version. See, TV shows need to acquire a license to play popular music during the show. Nowadays, the CW actually tags their songs in the episode so you can find and presumably buy it later, but they still have to pay royalties for using those pop songs. When Netflix acquired Supernatural, they did NOT acquire the licensing to use the classic rock songs from ACDC, Metallica, etc. and so you’re left with some pretty bland and generic production music that’s something like but not necessarily Back in Black. More like, Back in...Grey? This pun didn't work how I wanted it to. 

And the show just...doesn’t work? Like, who knew BACKINBLAAAAACK! Was so instrumental to whether I thought this was quality programming or not. Side note - it ruins my favorite piece of dialogue of maybe the entire series - 

Sam: I swear, man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection.

Dean: Why?

Sam: Well, for one, they're cassette tapes.

Do the young people even know what a cassette tape is? I AM the CRYPTKEEPER.

So yeah, you got a lot of ingredients to make something pretty great. Did we know then that it would launch a juggernaut of a television program that would still be on the air in the Year of Our Reckoning, 2020? I was a big fan of Firefly, so I was 99.99% sure this show was gonna get canceled at any second. In fact, I was thrilled, in 2008, to find there were two more seasons after the one I was currently watching. Of course, season 3 aired around the time of the great Writer’s Strike of ‘07, where nothing looked good and few programs survived, but we’ll get there. 

In a final, kind of spooky, almost premonition-type decision the WB actually decided to air this pilot episode a whole week early on Yahoo!. Yeah, you remember Yahoo!, right? The search engine that briefly tried to have its own original streaming content and then we all abandoned it in favor of the monster that is Google? Yeah. This episode premiered online. I haven’t done enough research, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this was probably one of the first ever TV shows to start on the internet? Weird to think that was a novel and innovative concept at one time. 

So this is it. This is the end of the era. Are we gonna get any more shows that last as long as this one did? Who knows. Are we as a culture gonna care at that point? I don’t know. Our TV habits have changed so much in the last few years that it’s hard to say how we’ll watch TV in the future. But credit where it’s due, boys. Nice huntin’. 

[cinaed]

Red vs Blue: S16:E1 - The Shisno

I’m a First member, but I’m going to be posting my reactions a week after to avoid spoiling anyone. So here are my thoughts on the first ep of season 16!

Simmons' baffled little "Is that supposed to be a metaphor?" when Grif mentions destroying the volleyballs in the volcano is great, and I hope it's a sign that there will be fallout from Season 15.

Of course Sarge keeps MREs in Lopez. I'm so sorry, Lopez. Although maybe this is Lopez's long game-- slowly poisoning everyone with radioactive food because they're idiots enough to eat it.

Aw, I like Tucker being responsible and wanting to ensure Temple and everything else is handled before they leave, until Dylan reminds him that technically they're still considered terrorists, at which point he very sensibly is like "Okay, food?"

I know it's just a joke about Chilis being on Chorus, but I'm taking that as a sign of Chorus trying to rebuild its infrastructure. Go Chorus!

Purple Judas! The Grif siblings are so good at insulting nicknames. 

Kai wanting poke, which apparently Grif isn't a fan of! But they were all trapped in an underwater place for a bit there, I can see why he's not in the mood for fish. Also, between Kai suggesting poke and Simmons suggesting sushi, I am imagining them dragging Grif to raw fish places and ignoring his complaints. He eats everything deep-fried on the menu though. 

Caboose asking Donut if he eats food cracked me up. 

Donut! D: D: I am both amused and horrified by this scene.

Sarge has just rewritten season 15 in his head, huh, with his comment about Doc switching sides at the last minute and not mention of what he did. That feels like a Sarge move, but I hope we get more fallout. 

"There's some very interesting things happening on Chorus these days." Tell me more, Jensen. I really hope this season is split between the pizza quest and Carolina's adventures on Chorus. 

Um, shouldn't Carolina need some medical attention? Like she was collapsing a second ago during the fight, and needs some fluids and rest too....

Grif winking pretty hard at Simmons as he mentions science. 

Oh Caboose. And Tucker wanting to stay and find Donut! 

The exchange between Grif, Kai, and Simmons about Grif being hangry is one of my favorite things. Grif's ALWAYS hangry! 

Okay, minor note, but a pepperoni pizza? Does meat-lovers pizza not exist in the future???

I love the little glowing rookie sentinel already.

Shout-out to the goddamn beautiful animation. The credits were GORGEOUS.