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Today in TTOI History: (and in Real Life too)

Where Nicola can’t fucking walk:

Where Sunday Morning Malc seems Sleepy and Stoned

(or should that be Stoned and Sleepy?)

and where Sensible Biscuit Munching Ben

seems to prove that Julius is still there in Darling spirit (if not in actual Darling flesh)

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bluemagicrose reblogged your photoset:When I’m doing my various Today in TTOI History...

#i'm really upset i can't find the spinners and losers deleted scenes#anybody wanna help ya girl out?#malcolm x jamie#malcolm tucker#jamie macdonald#ttoi

Don’t tell anyone, but you just might find the Spinners deleted scenes here. They definitely were up on Hulu when they used to have all of TTOI freely available, but now everything is behind a paywall so that’s no good anymore. I’m guessing they’re blocked on Youtube, even though the Rise of the Nutters ones aren’t (and the little 2 minute Spinners behind-the-scenes dvd extra thing isn’t either). The Opposition Extra is there as well and there shouldn’t be any worries about it disappearing since it is an official BBC upload.

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reallyginnyf replied to your photoset:

The Whirligig of Time Brings in His Revenges (...

Maybe I am missing something obvious, but I can’t seem to find a link to the chapter?

Whelp, how embarrassing. I don’t know what happened (edited to add: obviously I blame Ollie), but the redirect on the link definitely got screwed up. I just redid it and it should be okay now on the original post. Here it is also in direct form: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21169730

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The Whirligig of Time Brings in His Revenges ( words) by duckodeath Chapters: 1/? Fandom: The Thick of It (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Julius Nicholson/Malcolm Tucker Characters: Julius Nicholson, Malcolm Tucker Additional Tags: Specials 1 & 2: Rise of the Nutters - Spinners and Losers, TTOI levels of swearing, TTOI levels of offensive language, TTOI levels of general offensiveness Summary:

Julius and Malcolm in the immediate aftermath of Rise of the Nutters/Spinners & Losers with extra added (offscreen) Jamie and all the pre-canon Steve Fleming Sex Offender flashbacks that absolutely no one has ever asked for! Julius just wants to go home. Malcolm just wants to know what Julius is up to. There will be toast.

(And in the true spirit of The Thick of It, any praise will be gratefully accepted, any mistakes will be blamed squarely on Ollie.)

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A BIG YES to your Malcolm and Julius fic! I would love to read it. You've made my day.

Hi Anon (and everyone else)

Please excuse my radio silence re: the Malcolm and Julius fic. It finally occurred to me that you all probably can’t actually read my mind so you can’t know I have in fact been diligently working away on the thing with the fervent hope that I can post at least the first chapter very very soon.

I apologize because I neglected to mention/warn when I responded to the fic request that I am The World’s Slowest Writer so even though I already have 70 pages written (double-spaced, but still that’s impressive, right?) it still takes me forever to do the editing and researching – if that’s the right word – for the things that I’d not previously worked out like, for example, the layout of the original DoSa building and where it was actually supposed to be located in Thickoverse Westminster* which forced me (oh the horror!) to rewatch the first five episodes…a few times over and over again.

And then since the story takes place immediately after The Specials, I’ve obviously had to rewatch them and the Opposition Extra a bunch of times too to re-immerse myself in the world of January 2007 and the week with three Wednesdays, to say nothing of Ollie’s amazing time travel cheese adventures that end up causing Darling Julius so such distress in the Richmond Terrace conference room.

*And the original DoSa building? Well, one minor clue is here:

The time it takes Malcolm in 103 to get from his office to Hugh in the fishbowl is comedy time (less than a minute) that doesn’t make real sense, but then also in 103 you see people driving to Number 10 (and Glenn thinks it will take Robyn about ten minutes to get there on foot in 105 and no I haven’t thought about this waaaaaaay too much), but the direction he’s running at least tells you that wherever the original DoSa building was supposed to be, it was – if I’ve got my orientation right – south of Downing Street and that by itself is useful for my purposes.

So anyway, the tl;dr version is I AM working on the fic and I AM determined to start posting it before the end of the month if you will please continue to bear with me and my ridiculous slowness. Thank you for your patience!

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Would it be possible for you to write a Malcolm Tucker and Julius fic? I'm missing them.

Hi Anon,

I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep (mostly because I have enormous amounts of anxiety about everything about publishing what bits of fanfic I’ve ever managed to get written down, even the bits that have reached fairly epic length) buuuuuuuuut it just so happens I do have a fairly epic Malcom/Julius fic that I’ve been writing in fits and starts since…oh my god 2010.

The thing is, the story is very much still a WIP; however, as soon as saw your question, I was inspired to read it through for the first time in ages and much to my surprise I can see the shape of a finished story with a discernible beginning and middle and even an end. The beginning is pretty much done and probably as publishable as it will ever get (barring some geographical details I may need to adjust), but the other parts will need some work before I could put them up. (This would be on Ao3.)

With all that in mind, would you like to see it? Malcolm and Darling Julius in the immediate aftermath of Rise of the Nutters/Spinners & Losers with extra added (offscreen) Jamie and the pre-canon Steve Fleming Sex Offender flashbacks absolutely no one has ever asked for! How does that sound?

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I consider myself quite an authority on TTOI's characters (I know offhand, for instance, which episodes Holhurst or Claire or Lawton pop up in and why), but I was amazed to hear in the s4 commentary that Helen has been referenced at some point before season four. I'm pretty sure this was a mistake, but do you have any idea if it isn't?

Hi Anon,

What an intriguing question.

My immediate feeling it is must have been a mistake. As far as I’ve always known, Helen came completely out of nowhere in s4 and off the top of my head I don’t remember anything that could have been a reference to her in earlier seasons unless it was something incredibly non-specific.

Can you remember which commentary the claim was in? I haven’t listened to the S4 commentaries in ages, but I’d like to hear what exactly what was said to see if I can parse out what they might have actually meant -- unless it was just a flat out error which is also entirely possible!

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Glenn in S2: I never knew my mother. Glenn in the Specials: My mother died on Christmas Eve. Could this mean that some aunt or stepmom turned out to have been Glenn's mom? And what of his "foul-mouthed" mother who hasn't talked since the stroke? (I believe that last one was only mentioned in a deleted scene, so may not be considered canon). Personally, I like to think there's a lot of drama going on between Glenn and his mother.

Hi Anon–

Yes, I’m sorry this has taken forever for me to reply. Agreed about So Much Drama with Glenn and his mother(s), but who knows how much was real.

Well, when he’s talking to Hugh about his step-mother (I think the quote is ”We didn’t have that kind of relationship”), I’m more apt to believe him because Glenn and Hugh do way back, but who knows what’s real when it’s Glenn and Darling Julius. (Or Glenn and Malcolm which under the circumstances could have been Glenn attributing a quote for dramatic effect.)

I mean, I could believe Glenn’s story about his Christmas Eve from Hell was just a very dry joke because what else are you going to do when it’s the middle of the night and basically the only thing in the world you have in common with Mr Nicholson is the cricket? And Glenn did certainly already have form in the Making Fun of an Oblivious Julius department:

And then there is a whole other thing about Glenn and his mother/step-mother (and presumably also whoever was the mother of his kid we heard about that one time) that I think can be inferred from the way he keeps trying to please – I’m trying hard not to use the word flaky here – women who are pretty much utterly repelled by him from the word go i.e. Robyn and then Nicola.

Women, who he, after a whole bunch of just cringingly awkward flirtation, then pretty much ends up despising in return bringing it all full circle.

Which for me is Glenn and women in a nutshell.

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I just noticed your post and have the complete film on video. I watched it recently and the quality is pretty good , much better than your clip. If you want the tape I'd be happy to send it to you but I can't leave my email address

Hi Anon --

I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m not sure what post you’re referring to or what film.  Can you send me another ask with more info? Because I’m definitely interested! If you’d like to send me an email (let’s see if I can put my address here), the one I use for this account is duckodeathljreturns@gmail.com.

Thanks!

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Ben’s Tick-Tock eyes can only mean...

Today in TTOI History: It’s-- It’s-- What Day is it, Ollie?

Which I like to commemorate by remembering:

1. How days after it first came up

Malcolm will still NEVER let Ben be wrong about a pony vs. a baby horse

2. How Malcolm in his Specs of STONED Sleepy Sunday Morning Sexiness will never get less delicious

3. How Ben being the sensible one

can only mean Malcolm’s biscuits are the GOOD biscuits and they MUST have cost at least £4.

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thank you so much for the links! just out of curiosity do you know which version of Leonardo the one you linked me to is? I still find it so strange that there're three versions of basically the same thing

Great, I’m very glad I could help. The Vimeo version is the one I believe I used to call the Sky Arts version, but what I would now call the the theatrical cut because it’s the version that had a limited release to mostly indie art house movie theaters in the US*.

*(And possibly elsewhere too? But I’m only sure about the US because that’s where I was able to catch it at a pop-up hipster movie theater near where I live.)

The main difference between it and the Canadian version and the Australian version is that the theatrical cut is just the animations, the B-roll type footage of Italian streets or whatever, and of course all the lovely Peter bits and voiceover. It doesn’t have any of the talking head experts that make the Canadian and Australian versions much more like your typical TV documentary. 

What I find most fascinating is the how the different versions are edited so that the order of the Peter scenes is very different, which ones are included is different, and even when they are the same scenes they are sometimes different takes which gives you a really good idea of how a slightly different reading can  make a big difference to how a scene feels.

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hi, I wanted to watch Inside the Mind of Leonardo on Vimeo but it says I need a password to watch it. do you happen to know the password? or another way to watch it?

Hi Anon

It looks like there is a free working link for Inside the Mind of Leonardo on Vimeo (uploaded by the director’s account if I’m not mistaken):

https://vimeo.com/208009736

There is also a download link built into the page so you can save it in HD quality if you have the room.

I’m guessing you also sent the question about Who’s Afraid of Machiavelli and there is also at least one other full upload of that on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fphTuyJXTcQ

It’s also on Daily Motion if you search for it there.

I hope this helps!

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Hello, I've been trying to watch the version of Soft Top Hard Shoulder on vimeo but the link you posted is broken. Do you know if it's available in good quality elsewhere? thanks

Sorry, no idea. It was uploaded to Vimeo by the producer and as far as I know the remastered version wasn’t posted anywhere else. His page is still there on Vimeo so maybe the film will return in due course either there or in a more permanent format..

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Hello, do you have the video for Psychos(1999) in better quality? It's difficult to watch. Thank you

Hi Anon

I’m sorry, but if you are talking about the upload on Daily Motion, I’m not sure why it is difficulty for you to watch. I think the video default is 240p which isn’t great, but it can be changed to 480p using the settings menu in the top right corner of the video window. I did that and it looks perfectly fine to me on a HD 1080p monitor. Thanks.

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Dear Duckodeath! I've deciphered most of what Capaldi says in the Crown Court video with the help of your amazing gifs. But I've absolutely no idea what he's saying after the judge tells him to get rid of the chewing gum. (From 0:55 to 0:58 in this video: youtube. com/ watch?v=9tchuZx0mNY). Would you please tell me?

Hi Anon

Yay, Flamin’ Eamon! I believe the correct translation from Glaswegian -- or should I say Paisleyian since after all that’s where Eamon is frae -- should be “(I) want it back after the show, pal” because of course he does.

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Poor Julius, when will he ever learn? Because for the fifth SIXTH(!!!) year in a row I must correct him:  

Darling Julius, I’m very sorry to have to tell you this, but Malcolm WAS right the first time. It really IS the Twelfth of June.

Happy Happy Twelfth of June, everyone!

Let us all celebrate in the traditional manner by saying the date asfastaspossible while simultaneously *clearing our throats* in fully approved Malcolm style!

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Happy Star Wars day everyone! May the 4th be with you!

And this year I have an entirely relevant question from my inbox that I’ve been saving up just for today!

Dear Duckodeath! I have a burning question. In s4e2 Malcolm issues his infamous description of Star Wars to a befuddled Ollie. How is it possible that he's THAT unfamiliar with Star Wars?? He's so up on pop culture that it's a plot point in S1 with Hugh. What gives? Do you have a theory?

(as asked by rad-braybury and apologies for the delay but I hope you’ll agree it was for a good reason)

Nah, Malcolm totally MUST know all about Star Wars. How else could he be so incredibly accurate in his description? I mean, that's one of the reasons it's so funny -- because we recognize the underlying accuracy amidst the silliness of Space Hairdressers and Pedal Bins and, of course, for the younger generation, Fucking Lego.

Sure, just from the way Malcolm poses the question, it could easily be perceived as a strangely HUGELY inexplicable gap in Mr Pop Culture's pop culture knowledge, but I think in the larger context of what's going in the scene it all makes perfect sense for him to pretend ignorance of something he couldn’t possibly NOT know.

Remember, the reason the subject even comes up in the first place is because Malcolm wants/needs to get Ollie onboard Malcolm's nascent plot to throw Nicola overboard. Which will require Malcolm to convince Ollie to do something Ollie really, really doesn't want to do.

(Well, okay, Ollie, definitely DOES want Nicola gone, but FOR SOME REASON he's not exactly jumping up and down to be Malcolm's partner-in-crime.)

(Again.)

Which Malcolm also knows. It's a kind of wooing in a way, especially since (unlike the enforced partner-in-criming in The Specials) this time Malcolm can't MAKE Ollie do something Ollie really, really doesn't want to do by threatening him. Malcolm has to persuade him to (look out! topical relevance!) join him on the Dark Side, and I think under the circumstances --  and because Malcolm is pretty much making it up as he goes along -- the best way he can do that is by asking a question (that Malcolm already knows the answer to) in pretty much the most ridiculous way possible.

Ollie has to work out for himself WTF Malcolm's even talking about, but while that's happening, it's also giving Ollie's brain a little more time to get used to the idea of throwing Nicola overboard in a way it wouldn’t have had if Malcolm had just said You know that film Star Wars that you like so much? and gone on from there.

Plus -- and I can't emphasize this enough -- I also think Malcolm just wanted to make Ollie say Ewok. Because if Malcolm is an Angry Spider then Ollie MUST be an Ewok. And it is their destiny to FIGHT!

(And you have to admit that IS kind of accurate for how series 4 ended)

Okay, maybe I don't really think Malcolm just wanted to make Ollie say Ewok (EXCEPT OBVIOUSLY YES I DO), but I do seriously think Malcolm  -- who by this point in 402 is pretty much thoroughly and completely fed up with everybody who isn’t Sam and everything that’s not a fucking Fanta -- IS trying to make his own fun (because no one else will) and one way he's going about that is by making fun of Ollie, which is, as I've always said, ALWAYS the right thing to do.

(I base this on Malcolm looking like he's just barely managing not to laugh when he makes the LEGO! They're all made of fucking Lego! breakthrough and then the help-me-out-here face and hand gesture he makes when he turns planet of the teddy bears into a question -- which I think he does just because he knows Ollie will supply the correct Ewoky answer.)

So that's my theory (if you can call it a theory) and my reasoning (if you can call it reasoning.)