#I would have noticed earlier if I was paying attention to the dialog | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

familyagrestefanblog · 3 years

Text

Ml Meta analysis: Adriens current absents, season 4 structure and theory on whats to come

Here I am back again with my endless rambling.

I'm just as worried for our cat son as everyone else (maybe even more) which is why I tried figuring out for my own sanity why he is so absent currently.

Upfront I wanna warn yall that I wrote this post in one rush this night and therefore had no time to do alot of editing. So things can probably get a bit more messy than usual but I tried to write it clearly, while writing 2 other ml essays as well. This is the one drawback of having so many episodes in such a short time, I have no time to write my posts x3 I had another theory planned for before Optigami airs but I don't think I can manage before tomorrow.

But let's not waste any more time. Grab a snack and here we go:

It's 2am right now but I think I just realized why Adrien/Chat Noir is being sidelined so much recently.

Sure, yes, it'll come into play in the very obviously set up Ladynoir drama later on but what I wanna talk about now is more the structure of how s4 is most likely written in terms of both Marinettes and Adriens side of the story. And then deep dive a little on why I think so.

You see season 4 is now reaping what has been built up from s1-s3, but this also includes that you have to take the time now to properly recreate the new possibilities out of the loose pieces of the broken status quo.

Seriously, season 4 has to handle and reinvent ALOT. The show got now officially announced to have 7 seasons, which is exactly the amount of seasons Astruc said they have story for. I couldnt find the official tweet from Thomas himself but I one from another source:

And now look take a look at the possible shows structure:

- s1-s3 was the first status quo and built up everything so now they can pay off after pay off while...

-... S4 is now the transitional season where the old status quo gets left behind as we work towards the new one.

-I have nothing to proof this of course, but in the same sense it would now make sense that s5-s7 where/are planned to play out under the final status quo. If I'm not wrong at first the show was under contract for 5 seasons, which would mean that after the transitional season 4 there was only 1 season of the final status quo for sure. Still, done right it could have been worth the wait. But this isn't where Miraculous will end. The show actually got the 7 seasons the creator wanted and THIS is how I think the long term plan makes the most sense. Nothing all too complicated but still hella effective in its execution.

But now back to our two main characters, because Marinettes and Adriens development are the two aspects that will raise the show to the intense heights of the s5-s7 status quo.

From s1-s3 Marinette was the active player but she was hardly involved with the actual PLOT of the show, since most of the plot and backstory of the show lies directly with the Agreste family. She only started to get her own plot when she literally created a new one by getting involved with the miraculous lore, because the closest Marinette got to the Agreste plot was "The collector".

Adrien in the other hand was always literally right in the middle of the plot but he wasn't enough of an active player to bring us further either.

Season 4 is now going to add the missing parts for both of them and as the very beginning of the season showed us: there are going to do it SEPERATLY.

This is why "Truth" and "Lies" have been structured the way they are (One Marinette-centric the other Adrien-centric). Yes, Marinette and Adrien are meant to end their story victoriously together, but they are simply not the people they have to be to become such a powerful team. Certain aspects of their journey they have to do... basically disconnected from the other one. The "Miracle Queen" endcard shows it quite nicely as well where they are heading now: away from each other.

Obviously the season started with Marinette growing into her new guardian status including everything miraculous related, since she is the main lead and because the new ways the episodes can now utilize everything Miraculous need to be established first before we deep dive into the messed up Agreste mystery.

So while I totally agree that it is annoying to get so little Adrien/Chat Noir content currently I also understand the practicality behind it. As I said, before s4 Marinette was the active main character who mostly didn't really have her own plot. So now adding her plot aspect and have her ACTIVELY figure everything needed out means that right now Marinette/Ladybug is the active focus main character who is solving a huge part of her s4 character arc. That simply drowns out Adrien as the currently still mostly-inactive secondary main character who, yes, may be right in the middle of the shows emotional + villain plot/lore/backstory, but that side of the story simply isn't in focus at the moment.

And I gotta say, I'm kinda glad they're doing it this way. Because I'm gonna be honest, when the season starts giving us Adrien/family Agreste episodes like "Lies" and "The collector" (in this case "Gabriel Agreste" for example) again, I don't want the narrative to be forced to spend time with something guardian lore based just because they didn't took their time to do it earlier.

So, as we see on the s4 episode raster "Gabriel Agreste" is episode 9. Honestly, I expect most of it (especially the ones near the beginning, so ep. 5 included) til that episode to be Marinette based the way everything else til now did (besides Lies obviously and Guilt trip didn't hardcore focus on Marinette/Ladybug either and that's because it's after "Gabriel Agreste") in the spirit of "Truth". It's just the needed set up from Marinettes side of the story and I can live with that.

Because we actually saw the change after "Gabriel Agreste" already in "Guilt trip".

I don't know why some people pretend like Chat almost cataclysming himself after hearing how guilt-eaten Nino is for Adriens sake isn't a huge indicator that the episodes afterwards will not only acknowledge but also DEAL with Adriens/Chats situation and problems. Remember, we are talking about CHAT NOIR here not Adrien Agreste. The show has always portrayed and acknowledged ADRIENS issues very straight forward and with the proper seriousness (especially when it comes to his family), whereas Chat Noir was often mostly used for comedic purposes with some exceptions of his problems being properly delt with (since Marinette/Ladybug was mostly oblivious to them, since Adrien keeps them hidden so well). But now in "Guilt trip" LADYBUG was confronted head-on with just how much negativity Chat has inside and how quickly and extremely he drowns in it.

Sure, correct, the episode also has his negativity "washed away" rather quickly by Ladybug opening up to him on how important he is to her

But this is in character for both of them as "Lies" very clearly showed us that the way BOTH OF THEM behave here is where the problem lies. There Ladybug was freaked out after Chat threw his life away once again but quickly accepted Chats very direct avoidance of the confrontation, since he seemed to be alright to her.

Something I also find noteworthy here is that Ladybugs dialog is "Seriously, you need to stop doing this to me!", which is.... a VERY Marinette-centric way of acknowledging the problem.

It completely shifts the issue away from Adriens extremely alarming self-harmful/suicidal tendencies and instead only calls out how it affects Marinette (whose feelings here are definitely valid, don't get me wrong!). It showcases perfectly how unaware Marinette still is of her partners inner tumult at that point and also parallels how Marinette called Adriens life "perfect" at the beginning of the episode (This is no shade towards Marinette, in general the entirety of "Lies" is about showing us just how harmful Adriens Chat Noir persona actually IS to him so these two moments of her being oblivious to Adriens and Chats immense problems very much fits into that episodes narrative and sets up what's about to come. I still have an entire essay in the making for "Lies" but, guys, it's just getting longer and longer. I suck xD).

So the fact that an episode after "Gabriel Agreste" brings this scenario back, just a little different but ALOT more revealing of Adriens immense problems to his partner, is VERY telling. Besides other things it tells us that this happens at the beginning of the arc that deals with (at least) Chats issues since Ladybug is still way too quickly too ready to accept her partner as "completely fine" again just because Chat makes it seem that way (while some negativity increasing guilt bubbles still to stick to him.).

And yet, others have already pointed it out that Ladybug IS noticing what Chat wanted to do and reacted accordingly...

she just didn't speak of it the way it is because it overwhelmed her, which calls back to Ladybugs "You have to stop doing this to me!" dialog.( For a great breakdown of her dialog HERE is a link to @flightfoot post)

In "Lies" Marinette was way too stressed by her new guardian role to even consider Chats side of it and therefore only spoke of her own, but in "Guilt trip" she's already past that stressful arc. So here she is immediately able to recognize Chats suicidal action for what it is, come to his (much needed) aid and lift her partners spirit the best she can by emotionally opening up to him (which is something we KNOW is incredibly hart for Marinette).

The difference between her reaction in "Lies" and in "Guilt trip" shows that Marinette has her guardian role already mostly handled and is now mentally able to be there for others again, so the extremely Marinette-centric "Truth"-like episodes are mostly passed. Now the episodes can bring Adrien/Chat Noir more into the game again and even shift to "Lies" - like episodes because MARINETTE can pay more attention to him again and isn't faced with something new, important and overwhelming Miraculous related every step she takes.

And THAT is extremely fair from a narrative standpoint.

---

I really need to stop elaborating so much on these posts because I'm only NOW actually getting to the point of where Adriens journey will disconnect for a while from Ladybugs. Sorry guys.

Okay, to understand where I'm going with this I will have to quickly explain how I always saw Chat Noirs place in the Ladybug+Chat Noir vs Hawkmoth war ever since s1.

Because here is the thing: Adrien wasn't able to truly leave the battle field ONCE since the origins. Marinette was completely out of Hawkmoths and Gabriels reach once she detransformed, which balances out her basically being the personification of the good sides force. And Gabriel literally decided whenever or not the battle is even ACTIVE right now! Besides that he is in complete control of his own actions and environment, which gives him all the necessary time, safety and downtime he needs to act as the personification of the evil sides force.

Marinette and Gabriel always knew when they were safe and off the battle field, but ADRIEN never had that and it left him LITERALLY right in the middle of both Ladybugs and Hawkmoths sides.

You see, because before Adrien became Chat Noir he basically was part of Hawkmoths side just by default. He was born into this family, that's his father and lost mother and everything he knows. Adrien didn't/doesn't even have to KNOW that he is part of Hawkmoths side, he's his son at some level he just IS! And I'm not saying this as anything negative, Adrien coming from Hawkmoths side is literally the reason why he became Chat Noir!

Because whereas Gabriel is having the time of his damn life as evil terrorist, created out of tragic and sinister circumstances, ADRIEN on the other hand couldn't handle his families environment and very same circumstances anymore and accepted the role as Paris' hero to escape his heritage for a while.

Keywords being: a WHILE.

Something unique about Adrien I always loved is the fact that he is the villains abused, isolated and overworked SON, who becomes a hero to escape his depressing life and YET it was never Adriens intention to LEAVE IT. Adrien merely wanted to use his time as Chat Noir to let of some steam and breath freely while doing some hero work so he can go back into his civilian life and try to one day successfully ment his broken family. He couldn't handle the current situation anymore but he still always saw worth in his family/father. I have SO MUCH respect for that!

But him not intending to leave his family and instead regaining strength as Chat Noir to continue to hold onto it came with the downside of him not being able to fully become part of the good sides people/force either. Hence why Adriens/Chats place always felt so lost in comparison to Ladybugs and Hawkmoths clear positions. He's caught in between their extremes trying to balance out BOTH at the same time. What an impossible task!

So he couldn't put in the same focus as Ladybug into being the good sides force because he is literally burned out from his civilian life on Hawkmoths evil side. But he also couldn't be involved as an ACTIVE member of his fathers evil force, because he chose to find refuge in his friends and as a hero on Ladybugs side.

Adrien unknowingly is part of BOTH the shows two extreme moral sides of good and evil and this season we will see Adrien/Chat Noir grow into his own within BOTH sides as well.

Because he simply couldn't have done so right away in s1. Now after 3 seasons Chat Noir is more than solidly established as one of Paris Heros and his time with Ladybug, the other heros and his normal friends helped him greatly to find his place on the good side. "Lies" set this up as Chat Noirs arcs starting point that now he has to stop connecting "being heroic" strictly with following Ladybug (as Marinette is the STAND IN personification for the good side, she's still a flawed human being like everyone else and not the ultimate force of perfect and good. Big difference.) just as he has to start looking past his fathers sympathetic moments/qualities to see that Hawkmoth isn't a 100%, inhumane monster just because he is the stand-in personification of evil in their fight, but the man he calls Father and still needs to be taken down. (I talked about this in more detail on THIS post)

Adrien has to seperat himself from Ladybugs path and focus on his family and I believe it'll start with the much dreaded (but expected) Ladynoir fight.

Funnily enough, what I'm talking about was actually already set up in "Frozer" I just didn't remember that for a bit. In "Frozer" we saw Ladynoir having a fight which caused Chat Noir to go his own way in the episodes battle.

I always found it interesting that the episode didn't had Chats decision, to not follow Ladybugs lead here, turn out to be a huge mistake. Almost every other show would have done so but now I think I understand. This episode and s2 in general SET UP the s4 conflict, s3 LEAD UP to it and now s4 DELIVERS it.

So what happened in "Frozer" is a direct parallel to what about to go down:

Ladynoirs fight will cause Chat Noir to not simply follow Ladybugs side anymore the way he used to, but note, he DOESN'T leave the good side AND they make up again in the end after Chat saves Ladybug from the akuma. He just does things on his own because he isn't on great terms with her for a while. "Frozer" showed Chats decision to not only NOT be a mistake but also a necessary part of defeating the akuma, just the way it'll be in s4. Damn, Adrien breaking away from Ladybugs side, the way she (unintentionally tho) did at the beginning of the season, to focus more on himself and his family will be the game changing factor, when Adrien will have his completing arc where he goes from "not active character within the villain/backstory plot" to "ACTIVE character within the villain/backstory plot".

And we already saw with Marinette how many fast breakthroughs we get through these completing arcs. Which is also a reason for why Adriens/ Chats arc comes later in the season, because BUDDY. Once Adrien starts to actively uncover his families mystery and fathers secrets Gabriel is SCREWED! Adrien will gain the needed inside knowledge that complements Marinettes Miraculous power; and reunited they can take on whatever the hell kind of scale the Agrestes plan actually is.

So how to end this post? My biggest intention was to raise hope for everybody (myself included lol) who is right now very concerned and upset about how side-lined our boy is at the moment. But I prefer doing so in a way that actually works with canons context instead of sugarcoating what I don't like. And Adriens/Chats current position I definitely do NOT like but accepting it as realistic outcome from s1-s3 and set up for the escalation for both Ladynoir and his home situation gives it the proper purpose and pay off (narrative and character wise) that it SHOULD have.

Basically, the endcards of "Truth" and "Lies" show it perfectly.

It looks like ShadowMoth is turning a blind eye towards Adrien/Chat Noir because of Ladybugs new guardian status and "greater importance". But Gabriels tunnel vision on Ladybug will leave him vulnerable to his own sons secret actions against him and Gabriel won't see it coming until its already too late.

#Miraculous #Miraculous ladybug #ml theory #ml analysis #ml season 4 #ml show structure #Adrien Agreste #marinette dupain chang #Gabriel Agreste #Chat Noir #Ladybug #Hawkmoth #ml forshadowing

181 notes · View notes

redshirtgal · 3 years

Photo

Sometimes you can watch an Original Series episode multiple times and still never notice a particular character. Even if that person appears in a number of lengthy scenes and whose actions are an important part of the story. This man in red is one of those characters. Have you ever noticed him before? Do you know what his particular duty was in the story?

According to Memory Alpha, this lieutenant who clearly was assigned to Starbase 11 was never given a specific name. On the shooting schedule, he was referred to as an aide. But in the dialog, the lieutenant was spoken of as a clerk, which more accurately describes his role. In “Court Martial” we usually see him seated to the left of the court panel. But each time a session begins, the lieutenant must walk over to the machine and turn it on, signaling that from then on, everything is being recorded.

In many ways, his duty is more like that of a 21st century court reporter. A court reporter also uses a specialized machine to record the proceedings and produce an accurate transcript.

There is one other thing this machine can do, though. When each witness is called to testify, that person then hands the lieutenant an identity tape which he inserts into a slot. It then reads back the official description of that person, his duties, rank and assignment, and any awards he/she may have. Once his testimony is finished, then the clerk hands the tape back to that person.

It would appear we have seen a machine similar to this before. Two in fact. There is another recording device in Commodore Mendez’s office that is used when the Commodore formally charges Captain Kirk with the murder of Ben Finney. The only differences between the two seem to be in the color of the bottom panel where the sound controls and on/off button seem to be. And we have actually seen one earlier than this. During Mr. Spock’s court martial hearing during “The Menagerie, Part One” Miss Piper inserts a tape into the court recorder for the exact same reason - to play back an identity tape. There are a few differences here also. This recorder seems to stand on a pedastal and again, the colors are different. Also in this episode, the machine has labels identifying the purpose of each button on the machine. But neither machine in “Court Martial” has any such labels. Why didn’t the labels carry over? Remember the order in which episodes were aired were not the order in which they were produced. We may have seen “The Menagerie, Part One” first, but “Court Martial” was the 15th in production order and “The Menagerie, Part One” was 16th. So it’s likely that the machine in “The Menagerie, Part One” had the labels added after “Court Martial” had finished filming.

But back to our lieutenant. When the court martial panel and those involved in the proceedings move to the Enterprise, this clerk accompanies them.

He even moves with them to the bridge later. Notice he carries a tricorder with him since he no longer has access to the computer in the hearing room. Which emphasizes the importance of this lieutenant. Without an accurate record, no one else would ever be able to access the official hearing in case of questions later. But this isn’t the only thing interesting about the lieutenant. Did you pay attention to his uniform?

I do believe this is the first time we have ever seen the dress uniform for Starfleet lieutenants. Notice the thin gold piping used instead of the thicker braid worn by commanders, executive officers, and higher-ups. Our clerk did not seem to wear the rank stripes of a lieutenant even though Lt. Areel Shaw had them on her female version of the dress uniform. He wears the assignment badge particular to Starfleet members assigned to a starbase. That sunburst badge had been previously seen in “The Menagerie” on Commodore Mendez and Miss Piper.

(photo from Profiles in History Auction Catalog)

The only other time we see a lieutenant wearing a dress uniform is in “The Savage Curtain.” At least it’s the only other episode I could find with such a tunic. It belonged to Lt. Dickerson, chief security guard and leader of the honor guard. However, someone in costuming gave him the wrong outfit - the one above is actually what Lieutenant Commanders wore for formal occasions. And Dickerson is clearly identified in the episode as being a lieutenant. Notice Scotty standing next to him wears the exact same tunic. Although there does not appear to be that much difference between the two. The only major difference is that lieutenants wore their usual assignment badges but lieutenant commanders wore decorations instead.

Here is one other interesting bit of trivia. Remember the scene in the bar on Starbase 11? That is our clerk seen from the back holding the arm of a female crewman. And at the table on the right in the background? The young lieutenant commander in the redshirt lifting a drink to his lips has been seen in several previous episodes as Lt. Lewis. There is nothing to indicate that any crew members from the Enterprise were given shore leave, which always gave me the impression the crew members in this scene were from another ship or maybe even ships. For years I wondered why this scene (which leads to Captain Kirk’s confrontation with members of his own Starfleet Academy class) would show the members of the court martial panel fraternizing with other crewman in the bar before Commodore Stone has even decided to convene the panel. Then I read the production information for this episode in These Are The Voyages, Season One.” It seems that the scene with Kirk and Stone were supposed to come first and the bar scene later. Supposedly, it was determined that the first scene had very little action and would not snag the interest of the audience. So it was swapped with the bar scene to improve the pace of the first act.

One final bit of trivia - unrelated to the rest of this article but interesting . Take a look at Lindstrom - the officer sitting between Portmaster Stone and Captain Chandra. Notice he is not wearing the same Starfleet regulation trousers with the flared bottoms. Even the material is not the same. And he is wearing what appears to be Klingon boots. Was his shoe size one that the wardrobe department didn’t have? And this is a good photo to end on. You get to see the entire group of Starfleet court members and their various uniforms. And even though we don’t know the name of the actor who played the court clerk, we can still admire the attention to detail he shows. Look at that stance - typical military pose with legs slightly apart and arms behind his back. This may be a small role, but he realizes it is still an important one in the courtroom. And most importantly - he is a redshirt with a desk job. His chance of survival is high.

#Star Trek TOS #Redshirt #Starfleet dress uniform #Court Martial #Clerk #Court reporter

146 notes · View notes

liskantope · 4 years

Text

Some briefer(?) reactions to major Disney films 1989-1998

I consider the Disney Renaissance (around the period I refer to in the above title) to have been the last official leg of my chronological journey through major Disney features through Disney+ (for this one I need to mention that I’m excluding CGI animated ones on this journey, except when I feel like watching them on the side). I logged some thoughts on the films I watched in the two earlier legs of the journey here and here, where honestly I intended my notes to be short and not turn into full-blown mini-essays for each movie. Those posts turned out to be major timesucks and I can’t afford that now, but I thought I’d jot down a hodgepodge of reactions and just be briefer and sloppier about it. I feel like I have overall less to say about this set of films anyway, since they’re pretty much all very high-quality and are talked about extensively in the cultural discourse much more than films from Disney’s earlier eras.

As I was still trying to stick to taking one day for each year in the Disney Studios timeline and major film production by Disney picked up pace a lot at the start of this era, I wound up doing a rather intense marathon of one full Disney movie each evening: over ten evenings (corresponding to the years 1989 through 1998), I watched the ten movies The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Mulan. I would have watched Tarzan the following evening, but I had very recently sort of re-seen it when it came on Netflix -- I didn’t see it for the first time until an outdoor event near the end of grad school not that many years ago; I didn’t bother paying full attention on seeing it the second time a couple of months ago and couldn’t much get into it on the second viewing.

The thing about the ten major animated Disney movies on this list is that, while I can’t say I love all of them, the uptick in quality is dramatic right from the start and never wavers. Every single one of these films just seems objectively better than Pete’s Dragon, The Fox and the Hound, or Oliver and Company. This will help me be a little shorter-written when talking about them, as it’s easier to expand on specific criticisms than to wax on about how great something is.

[EDIT: Okay, these still turned out pretty long and more on the polished side. Guess I’m just not that capable of being brief and sloppy.]

The Little Mermaid, 1989

Although we didn’t have the video at my house growing up, I somehow knew The Little Mermaid quite well; I guess I watched it quite a few times. I went a gap of many years before seeing it again in college (I’m fairly certain that my college girlfriend and I watched it together, in fact). My reaction at the time was that although it was well enough done with good music, the story was terrible. This was right around the time I watched a performance of Once on This Island, a musical based on Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid” on which, of course, the Disney movie was based. I thought the tragic tale told in Once on This Island was beautiful and scorned The Little Mermaid for cheapening it. In fact, my opinion was quite scathing in the way that my opinions more often were when I was younger. So I was a little wary on watching it again.

I’ve mellowed out since my college days and don’t hate the story quite as much now -- in particular, I can’t really blame Disney for Disnifying a mature tragedy into a more lighthearted tale with a happy ending -- but I still think it’s kind of bad. We’re back to Disney princesses (I think for the first time since my first round of Disney films?), this time with a Disney princess who had goals that didn’t involve meeting her prince, until she actually meets him and every other interest, including staying in the world she grew up with where to which all the people who ever loved her or knew her are confined, giving up her voice, and drastically changing her physical form. And this is all for a prince character of flatly generic personality who is superficial and dim-witted enough that he only knows his true love by her voice. (I don’t understand why this isn’t the Disney Renaissance-era film that routinely gets criticized for being anti-feminist rather than... a certain other one also on this list.) Also, while King Triton isn’t by any means a flat character, his sudden turnaround at the end and almost lightheartedness at saying goodbye to his daughter presumably forever doesn’t quite feel right.

I was very surprised at how much I’d completely forgotten among plot events and certain scenes in the movie. For instance, as the action neared the climax, I really had no memory of how Ursula would be defeated and watching it didn’t jog my memory.

This is the first of several films on this list where I noticed a sample of what I’m starting to think of a set of 90′s sitcom/romcom tropes, in this case the situation of the romantic leads courting very publicly with all the other characters watching and cheering it on and working behind the scenes to help it happen. This shows up again in Beauty and the Beast and (to a slight degree) Aladdin below.

Great music of course, even slightly better than what I remembered. Fun fact: you know that “Part of Your World” song, almost certainly the most widely popular in the film, the one that musical theater kids at my (and maybe your) middle school always used for auditions? Apparently it was almost cut from the film, mainly because it was shown to a test audience of little kids who all fidgeted and got visibly distracted.

The Rescuers Down Under, 1990

I don’t have too much to say about this one, the first Disney sequel ever. I had only ever seen the first Rescuers before and, as my previous set of reviews indicates, didn’t particularly like it, but came in to this one a little more optimistic since some consider it better than its predecessor. They aren’t wrong -- this movie was similar to The Rescuers but better, I think. Although the villain was just as forgettable, the setting was far more enticing (at least to someone like me who has never been to Australia and thinks of it as exotic), and the dynamic between the main mouse characters was more engaging. Here we have another subplot that somehow reminds me of a 90′s-ish sitcom/romcom, with the aborted marriage proposals and a love triangle -- not that love triangles hadn’t featured in movies for decades, but something about how this one was done felt distinctly more modern.

Beauty and the Beast, 1991

Ah, this is not only one of the Disney movies I saw the most as a kid but one which has only grown on me as I’ve gotten older -- I consider it one of the most groundbreakingly beautiful of the animated classics ever made, one of my very favorite Disney productions of all time. We got the video when I was only five or so; I remember distinctly that it came out on home video (right after coming out in theaters) right around the same time that 101 Dalmatians came out on home video and that my mom explained to me that she was choosing to buy Beauty and the Beast instead because of its superior music. She was right about this -- not that 101 Dalmatians has bad music, but it’s hard to measure up to Alan Mencken’s masterful compositions for Beauty and the Beast. For me it solidly ranks in the top three Disney movie soundtracks ever, one of the others being that of Mary Poppins and the third being from an easily-predictable film later on this list.

I’m pretty sure I remember watching portions of this movie every morning for weeks before leaving for kindergarten (this is what makes me think we got it when I was five), and I continued to enjoy it throughout childhood. I next watched it when I was much older, but I can’t remember exactly when. During college I got hold of the soundtrack of the musical, which since has been one of my favorite musical soundtracks to listen to. I never actually got to see the musical until last December when it was showing in my hometown, and I thought it was excellent. Interestingly, there were a number of scenes that I assumed had been added for the musical but I had actually forgotten were in the movie -- unlike with certain Disney musical films *ahemMaryPoppinsahem*, they didn’t take many liberties with the musical except to add a number of new (very good) songs.

Leaving aside the top-notch music and exquisite animation, the story in my opinion is one of the most beautiful and distinctively memorable stories Disney has ever told, not to mention entertaining without every being silly or over-the-top. It speaks of compassion, drawing out core goodness from an ugly exterior, and the fact that, to quote the enchantress from the start of the tale, “beauty comes from within”. Belle is also, to my mind, the most feminist Disney protagonist ever to be seen up to that time, which is why I get super super annoyed that so many people point to this movie loftily shouting “Stockholm Syndrome!” I feel it’s kind of inevitable that I quickly address that here, even though I’ve brought it up on this blog several times before. (Also, for an excellent takedown of the “Beauty and the Beast is a sexist story because Belle has Stockholm’s Syndrome” take, see this video essay of Lindsay Ellis.)

When watching the musical last winter I kept an eye out for justification for the Stockholm’s Syndrome take that I might not have remembered and couldn’t find any, but it pains me to admit that I did find a smidgen of justification, for someone determined to be a bit uncharitable, in a particular bit of dialog from the movie. I don’t recall it appearing with quite that wording in the musical, although it’s entirely possible that the musical has those exact same lines and I just wasn’t being observant. Here it is:

BELLE: What did you say?

BEAST: I release you. You’re no longer my prisoner.

BELLE: You mean... I’m free?

BEAST: Yes.

BELLE: Oh, thank you. Hold on, Papa. I’m on my way. [tries to hand mirror to BEAST]

BEAST: Take it with you. So you’ll always have a way to look back... and remember me.

BELLE: [in sweet, deeply moved tone] Thank you for understanding how much he needs me.

So okay, maybe Belle comes off as showing just a bit too much unqualified gratitude here, an oversight that the writers circa 1990 clearly should have avoided in case diagnosing female characters with Stockholm’s should ever become trendy twenty-something years later. But this could be remedied by a quick rewrite of the dialog in that one scene; it’s not as though the whole plot has to be changed away from its inherently misogynistic nature.

And that’s all I want to say on that one aspect of this absolute gem of a Disney production. Despite a few minor issues I noticed, such as Maurice being a little too innocent and helpless, and it lacking my very favorite line from the musical (“Belle don’t you recognize the beast within the man who’s now before you?” at the end), Beauty and the Beast comes about as close to perfection as it gets.

Aladdin, 1992

Although I didn’t see this major blockbuster hit when it first came out -- it was probably considered a bit too intense for me at kindergarten age -- this is the first time that I was aware on some level that a particular Disney movie was a new release. (One of my few sharp memories of kindergarten recess was a boy standing on a stump or low piece of playground equipment making proclamations to passersby for minutes at a time that alternated between, “You are a street rat!”, “You were born a street rat!”, and “You will die a street rat!”, and how this made me consciously contemplate the concept of present/past/future tenses for the first time.) When I saw it, I loved it -- it was clearly the most exciting animated movie out there. At some point in childhood I thought it was bested by its sequel, but a few years later as a teenager I decided that the tightly resonant plot of the original Aladdin made it the best Disney movie ever. I’ve definitely mellowed out my opinion on this, as Aladdin certainly has flaws and some other features are more deeply meaningful to me as an adult, but I still hold up Aladdin as one of the greats. I saw at least parts of it as an adult on TV and saw it very recently prior to getting Disney+ when it appeared briefly on Netflix, but I was perfectly happy to rewatch it yet again on Disney+ the evening after watching its predecessor as Aladdin is fun and entertaining every time.

In this animated production we have finally topped The Great Mouse Detective in terms of animated action. We have topped most movies that ever came out prior in terms of a manically funny yet also soulful character in Robin Williams’ role as the genie. The story is excellent, apart from having only one female character, and my being bothered just a little by the slough of magic tricks dominating the action towards the end -- I tend to prefer universes where magic requires scholarly study and careful training (e.g. The Black Cauldron) rather than “genie points his finger at you and now you have the ability to point your own finger and make anything happen that pops into your head”. The sultan continues the trend of old man characters who are portrayed as helpless and infantile -- in this case, even more intensely, since the sultan has none of Maurice’s brilliant smarts. But I’m mostly nitpicking here -- Aladdin is well deserving of its high status in the history of Disney.

The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993

I was very glad to finally get a chance to see this movie, because I clearly remember knowing about it from the time it was being advertised back in 1993, and I heard about it during my entire childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Although it seemed that most of my friends had seen it growing up, it didn’t look much like my conception at the time of a “normal movie” or even normal content, and so I don’t recall ever asking to watch it. But my recent-day self recognized that it’s quite a classic and was curious to see it.

I don’t regard The Nightmare Before Christmas as one of the really great Disney productions, but I strongly admire how original it was (particularly for its time) in every single aspect, including use of claymation, overall aesthetic, intriguing characters, and story. It was also fun to see what seems to be the only Disney musical that is done in the style of opera, that is, where the entire story is told in songs without any extended non-musical dialogs. And the songs are quite good in their own way, too. I don’t particularly want to see the film again, but I might not mind getting a soundtrack of it.

The Lion King, 1994

This is the first Disney movie -- and I believe the first movie of any kind, in fact -- that I went to see in the theater. I remember it as a powerful and sometimes overwhelming experience, but as a movie I overall liked even as young as I was. This is remarkable especially considering that much of the story feels more adult in nature than almost any other Disney animated feature.

What can I even say about this one? I think the general reaction to watching it is almost unanimously shared. My impression is that what its creators were going for, more than anything else, was epicness, and they succeeded in a way that had never been done through animation before. Apparently the entire (incredibly epic) opening number was shown as the trailer -- a questionable move, but understandably it got people very excited about The Lion King’s release.

One of many particular things that makes The Lion King stand out is the profound darkness of its main villain, perhaps the most chilling that has ever appeared in Disney. An argument can be made that not only murdering a major protagonist halfway through the movie but convincing the child that he’s to blame is the most evil act we’ve ever seen from a Disney villain. I’ve seen it pointed out that it’s vaguely ableist to give the villain an ugly scar and even make it his name. Some have suggested that they should have made the villain the handsome and strong one and given the scar to one of the heroes -- Simba or Mufasa -- instead. I’m definitely sympathetic to this point of view, and I totally agree that Scar shouldn’t actually have been someone’s name. However, without getting bogged down into something that could be a lengthy post all on its own, I strongly feel that in a way it adds to the depth of our villain’s depravity through the backstory that it implies. And by the way, his ending is probably my favorite out of the fates of all Disney villains.

The music also follows the film’s ethos of being as epic as possible (well, with the exception of a couple of the songs, but they were still fine songs). “The Circle of Life” and the instrumental music propel The Lion King’s soundtrack to possibly the very best in all of Disney.

To be sure, this movie does have more flaws than I remembered. As I said, Scar is a terrible name to give any of the characters, especially in a story where everyone else’s name comes from Swahili. Pumbaa is basically just one big fart joke. (Although, I give the writers major credit for managing to switch the tone to accommodate fart jokes within like five minutes of Scar confronting Simba over Mufasa’s death.) The video essayist Big Joel has pointed out interesting things about the story and made some rather troubling points about it, although to me that almost just makes the film deeper and more thought-provoking rather than actually worse (I see the Chronicles of Narnia this way). But overall, The Lion King has well earned its high rank on the list of highest grossing films of all time.

----------

At this point in Disney’s history and my childhood, apparently I decided that I didn’t care to see new Disney films coming out because I was content with watching my old favorites over and over, and anyway I was getting older and discovering that non-Disney movies could be quite entertaining as well. Therefore, I didn’t see any of these last four until adulthood, even though they all came out when I was still a kid.

Pocahontas, 1995

I was glad for the chance to finally see Pocahontas for the first time, unfortunately not before hearing countless references to it as being Problematic while I would have preferred to go into it completely uninfluenced by popular opinion. I had actually seen songs from it and Disney books of it as a child and it didn’t interest me at all. On finally watching the film, I found that I got what I expected on both counts: it wasn’t terribly interesting or gripping, and it doesn’t really pass the muster of today’s higher standards of responsible storytelling about colonialism.

All that really sticks out at me looking back (after some delay in writing this post, so that it was over a month ago that I watched this) is that the plot felt a bit atypical in two ways. One, a character, who is neither a protagonist really nor a villain, is killed off around halfway through -- a daring move that The Fox and the Hound chickened out of doing, but I shouldn’t have been all that surprised given that Pocahontas’ very predecessor did this with a protagonist in a much bigger way. And two, the story ends sort of anticlimactically: I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed when a big Disney animated feature doesn’t end with a lot of action, despite realizing that this more peaceful kind of ending being a reasonable alternative is basically the entire point the story wants to make.

The songs are sort of meh, at least by the high standards of Disney movies of this period. Nothing more really to say on this one.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996

Here is another movie that I had never gotten around to seeing before, despite having been somewhat more interested in it than I ever was in Pocahontas. And this turned out to be the main breakout attraction on this list, as I found it nothing short of spectacular (save, perhaps, the music, which was “only” quite solid, maybe not spectacular).

I would nominate this for the award of most mature movie among all the animated features included in this journey. I would almost say its ideal audience is adults, not children. It showcases an abusive relationship with enough intricate care to be worthy of analysis through abuse discourse on Tumblr. It displays lust and sexuality in a way that I don’t think I’ve never seen anywhere else in Disney animation. Its violence and political undertones are quite dark. It examines religion deeply (which is as far as I know unique in Disney), and the capacity of religion to bring out both the best and the worst impulses in humanity is exposed. Its main villain is one of the more multi-layered ones. It treats physical handicaps and deformities in quite an honest way and subverts expectations with its love plot.

Perhaps the only thing one might reasonably criticize this movie for is the characters of the gargoyles, which are clearly present to lighten the tone a bit so that the film isn’t entirely heavy and austere. But I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised -- I think the gargoyle stuff could have been executed in such a way that may have made the whole film sag, but instead they were done just right: the gargoyles are depicted as being animated only in the mind of Quasimodo. This means in fact that in a way, they actually implicitly add some gravity to his situation. (Consider that in a more typical Disney film there would have been some sort of cheesy sentient animal friend instead whose existence would not have been confined to the protagonist’s imagination.) Here I’m going to choose to ignore the fact that the gargoyles do seem to interfere in the final battle with some explosives, a possible inconsistency which is minor enough to be glossed over.

Anyway, I think before I unsubscribe from Disney+, I might just give this one a second watching.

Hercules, 1997

Although I never saw this one growing up, I did get talked into watching it by my college girlfriend who had been fond of it growing up. I distinctly remember not caring much for it when I saw it with her. My reaction at this later stage of my life is basically the same. There’s something about the animation style that I find subtly grating and distracting. And there’s something about the story itself that feels like way too light and cartoony a take on ancient Greek mythology (although it’s not like the ancient Greeks had a particularly heavy or dark mythology, and what else could I expect from Disney, really?). I guess that stories that are so explicitly centered around a young man’s quest for hero-hood and being godlike just don’t speak to me that well, and I didn’t find any of the characters that appeared to be especially memorable or engaging.

I did like the muses and enjoyed their singing but can’t say I love any of the musical numbers. So, I respect the effort and earnestness and general respect for ancient Greek culture that went into Hercules, but my overall reaction is still meh.

Mulan, 1998

I had only seen this movie once before, during a trip with some grad school friends back some years ago. One of my best friends at the time, who was with us on the trip, highly recommended it as pretty much her favorite Disney movie as she especially liked father-daughter stories. At the time, the film didn’t make a particularly strong impression on me, although I could recognize its quality. Watching it again on Disney+ has given me a deeper respect for it as having quite a good story and characterization, fine animation, and pretty decent music. I like both Mulan and Mushu as characters, and I enjoyed their dynamic.

I guess it’s telling, though, that I don’t really have all that much more to say about it. Maybe I don’t relate closely enough, maybe the movie didn’t imprint itself on me at an early enough time in my life, maybe I don’t engage that well with any plot that involves organized warfare, I don’t know. But I think I can only really like this film on a more dispassionate, intellectual level, rather than feeling touched in any kind of resonant way by it.

I think it’s interesting to note that Mulan is actually pretty rare among Disney protagonists in having two parents who survive through the entire story. And that moreover, despite it being billed as a father-daughter story to me (and I’m not denying that it is somewhere at its core), Mulan never directly interacts with her father except at the beginning and the very end.

Anyway... since watching all of these, I’ve been watching the more recent major films sort of sporadically: The Return of Jafar (a favorite of mine at some point in childhood, but with maturity I can now see why it was direct-to-video), The Emperor’s New Groove (quite good, better than expected), the first half of Home on the Range (about as bad as I expected, hence my quitting halfway through), WALL-E (as good as I remembered from when it came out when I was in college), Enchanted (one of my favorites, not on Disney+ so I got it through... other means), The Princess and the Frog (a real treat, slathered with Louisiana flavor), Tangled (sweet but nothing outstanding), Frozen (one of my favorites from seeing it in the theater; however I had never seen the first ten minutes which makes a major difference!), and Frozen II (which I had been sorry to miss in theaters last winter, a bit of a weird story but not bad and absolutely the most stunning animation I’ve ever seen). And, of course, Belle’s Magical World, the infamous mid-quel to Beauty and the Beast; this was not a major film but I just had to see if it was as legendarily bad as people say and, yes, it was.

I’m very glad to have been able to get a break from Netflix by taking a tour through the main history of Disney -- including many childhood memories, would-be childhood experiences, and more modern things from my adulthood -- thanks to Disney+.

18 notes · View notes

allthingskiszka · 5 years

Text

Stitches

Sam Kiszka x Reader

Dialog request from @mountainofthesunn: From the fluff prompt list can i request “Hey–I accidentally cut my hand, I think I need to go to the hospital. Can you drive me? … Why are you looking at me like that? There’s not even that much blood!” With “dumbass” and “you are such a weakling” with Sam, please 😍

You were washing dishes while Sam was in the other room you reached in the sink and felt a sharp pain on your hand. Pulling your hand out you noticed a pretty deep cut “Sammy”

“Yeah Darlin’?”

“I accidentally cut my hand, I think I need to go to the hospital. Can you drive me?” You immediately heard running footsteps towards the kitchen, Sam always overreacts any time someone gets hurt. He makes you think the injury is way worse than it actually is.

“Oh my god baby, hold your hand above your head. Let me go get a shirt and shoes, I’ll grab your shoes and some sweats, you sit at the table” He said looking at you with so much worry

“Sam, why are you looking at me like that? There’s not even that much blood! It’s just a little deep.” you said giggling forgetting about the sting pain in your hands.

“Babe please just keep your hand above your heart” he said while running out of the room you shook your head moving your hand above your head applying pressure to the cut. Sammy comes back in out of breath with sweats in his hand “Stand up baby, and step into these” he pulls the sweats up your leg “Let's go, baby,” he said giving you a quick kiss. You guys sit and the car as Sammy takes off like a bat out of hell. “Sam I’m fine, will you drive normally, please”

“Babe you are legit bleeding out of your hand and need stitches, Your not fine, How did you cut it anyway”

“There was a knife in the sink I didn’t see it and don’t remember putting in there either” you looked at Sam and the color drained out of his face “Oh no baby, don’t hate me, I may have put it in there” he said meekly

“You’re a dumbass Sammy, don't put extremely sharp knives in a sink without telling me, dork.” you said with a giggle to lighten the mood because you knew Sammy was already beating himself up you guys were stopped at a red light. He turned and looked at you with a half-smile and sad eyes “Sam Baby, I’m fine I will only need like 5 stitches, that will probably be the worst part” he grabbed your free hand brought it to his mouth and kissed it as the light turned green. He pulled in the parking lot walking fast into the emergency room. He made eye contact with the nurse at the front desk “Hey, she cut her hand, and is bleeding a lot...” Sam started to trail off until you stopped him “Sam babe will you calm down” you giggled making eye contact with the nurse “I just cut my hand and probably need stitches, if you would excuse this dork he is the worst when people get injured” she smiled brightly at us and nodded she handed Sam a clipboard to feel out you info “is he coming back with you” you answered so quickly that they both stopped in looked at you “I am pretty bad when it comes to stitches” you laughed nervously. The nurse assured you, you would be fine and took you back to the room to wait for the doctor. Sam filled out the paperwork when there was a knock on the door the doctor entered the room, inspecting your injury.

“Okay Mrs.y/l/n it looks like you’ll need about 10 or so stitches, I’ll be right back with the supplies.” Your face turned pale you weren't expecting so many “Hey baby you will be fine, I’m right here” Sam said placing a kiss to you cheek there was another knock on the door the doctor came in and was preparing to begin the stitches “The important thing is to keep really still” you nodded “Alright relax your hand and will get started” you grabbed sam’s hand and squeezed waiting for him to start sam giggled at your reaction as you winced when the doctor inserted the needle. “Stop laughing at me Sam, what happened to the overly concerned dork from earlier” you looked at the doctor and he was smiling as he worked “You’re just such a little weakling, it’s too cute”

“It hurts, dork” the doctor giggled a little

“You know Sam the hand is one of the most painful places to get stiches” the doctor said matter of factly “Yeah Sam” you said sticking your tongue out at Sam the doctor was still smiling at the young love that sat in front when he stopped “Why are you stopping is there something wrong” Sam said letting the worry take over again

“Nope, we're all done. You sat like a champ” he looked at me then towards sam “and you were a good distracting” he said with a laugh “I’ll get the nurse to show you how to dress the wound, Oh and Sam you should pay attention it will probably be best if someone else changes the dressing”

Sam nodded and you smiled at the love of your life while he listened intently to the doctor then the nurse once they were done and you were ready sam finished filling out your paperwork as you walked out to the car you stopped “Hey Sam” he stopped and looked at you “Yeah darling” he said looking at you “I love you so much”

“I love you too, darling” he said wrapping his arms around you pulling you in for a kiss, you broke the kiss “Sammy did you learn anything tonight?” you asked with a giggle “That I'm a dumbass, and to not put knives in the sink” he smiled and you laughed “you may be a dumbass, but it makes life exciting, wouldn’t have it any other way” he smiled at you

“Did I already tell you how much I love you?” you questioned

“Yeah Baby, you told me, how about we go home so I can show you how much I love my little weakling” he teased, you both laughed getting in the car.

#sam imagine #sam kiszka #sam gvf #sam kiszka x reader #GVF #Greta Van Fleet #greta van fleet fic

68 notes · View notes

mysteryspot-duhh · 4 years

Text

This is still in movie plot-point format, with a lilttle bit dialog thrown in. This one is longer than before.

-Next, we see Rey running. Rushing to find Leia. She finds Leia sitting, in the place where they had their meeting earlier. Her hand clutching her chest. Teary eyed, Rey sobs. 'Ben needs help.' She approaches Leia and kneels. 'Should I find and go to him?' (UGH YEARNING). Leia wipes her single tear off her cheek. 'No.' She gets up. 'You have a much more important mission'. Rey is confused and gets angry and frustrated. 'He is your son! He is betrayed..and..and injured. I saw him. Just now! We should help him! He needs to know you are not abandoning him!' Leia doesn't stop and goes outside.

Outside, finn, poe, rose, chewie are loading the falcon with supplies (I'm gonna call them + Rey, The Gang)

Leia to Rose, 'I need you to report everything,' her gaze shifts to Finn and Poe, '..i mean EVERYTHING', and gives out the sweetest smile she can. 'I will, General.' Rose promises. 'May The Force be with you' They get into the falcon. Rey, still angry at Leia, stops to say something, but Leia pulls her into a hug. 'Rey, thank you, for saving my son.' The hug tightens. 'I am heartbroken with what happened, but..' now they face each other, '..he needs to fall before he RISES.' There is a gleam of hope in Leia's eyes. 'I know now that my son isn't gone, he is still here... And you will bring him home. To me.' Leia's smile grows wider. 'I am always with him,' now they are both teary eyed, '..and you.' Rey leaves Leia, 'Rey, MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, ALWAYS' (UGH, I NEED THIS MOTHER -DAUGHTER THING WITH LEIA AND REY)

- Next, we have Kylo Ren, walking away from a very bad landing. His TIE-fighter crashed on the beach. He is now walking through a grassfield filled with yellow wildflowers. He sees a house and a tall, elderly man tending to his horses (I KNOW THE ANIMALS ARE WEIRD IN STAR WARS, BUT JUST GO WITH IT). The winds hitting his face make the bruises go numb. He cups his still bleeding torso. The man notices him, and rushes towards him. (THE MAN IS RICHARD E GRANT GUYS. DEFINITELY NOT MOFF TARKIN'S RIP OFF)

-In Pryde's house, Kylo wakes up and notices everything inside the room is grey, except the yellow wildflowers in a vase. And there is Luke, in the corner, just watching him. (GUYS, I AM HAVING TOO MUCH FUN WITH LUKE MESSING AROUND WITH HIS NEPHEW AND WATCHING HIM SLEEP)

Kylo tries to sit up. He winces still looking at Luke. Pryde comes in- 'ah, you're awake. I have some fresh clothes.' He stops and look at where Kylo looks, but doesn't see anything. He looks back at Kylo who now staring at him. '-and you need some medicine for the injuries.' Pryde gets out of the room.

'Bet you had a good sleep.' Luke grins. He is ignored, as usual. Luke notices the bleeding hasn't stopped. 'Do you remember, back in the academy we learn how to use the Force to heal wound and in this case, very heavy injuries?' Kylo seems to recall his thoughts. Hesitantly, ' No.' Luke moves towards him, hand on Ben's torso and starts to force heal him. The bleeding stops and the scar heals. The one on his face too.

Ben looks at Luke, 'Uncl-', Pryde comes in with a bowl of medicine. He is shocked to see all the bruises on Ben's face and body heals. Leaving no trace. And we find, again, Luke disappears.

- Now, the gang lands on a grassfield. Walking towards the cave and what is supposed to be the abandon rebel station. All around them is silence. 'If this is a trap, we're screwed.' Poe holds his blaster up. 'Better light your saber Rey,' Rose tells Rey who looks at her and then walks to the cave.

'Are you the resistance?' A lady emerges from the shadow of the cave. 'Are you here to fight the First Order?' More people are coming out of the shadow. Only now Rey lights her lightsaber. 'Yeah, we are,' Poe confirms, '..who are you?' 'I'm Zorri Bliss, former princess of Kajimi. These are my people.' (AWW SNAP. I MADE KERI RUSSEL A PRINCESS YALL. ITS WHAT SHE DESERVES)

Still in doubt, 'how do you know to contact us?''with a help of a friend of course.' And out come Lando out of the cave. (YEAH, YOU WANT NOSTALGIA, HERE'S NOSTALGIA)

- They sit inside the cave discussing.

'This place used to be peaceful, free. We had a lot, we were prosperous. But once First Order came, they took everything. Our resources, our children. They are used to wage war against the galaxy. They had help. The First Order came here, helped by some of the people who wants more than what they have!' Zorri puts on a brave face, but inside we know she's heartbroken. 'Those who opposed them are taken as prisoner, some of them slaughtered. My father is one of them.' Again, silence surrounds them.

'Once she escaped, her knights found me.' Lando breaks the silence. 'You see, I didn't know what happen during Crait. I found out about it, after the story of Luke spreads around the galaxy. I went to our allies, checked on them, asking why didn't they come to your aid-'

'Yeah, they blocked our communication channels.' Finn chimes in. Unsatisfied.

'So, what do you want us to do?' Rose, eager to know.

Lando gets up, twirls his cape a little bit. 'You see my friends, I need you guys to blow something up.' A sly smile on his face. 'The channels are jammed by a satellite...and it is just across the the hills.' Lando points. 'in the courtyard of Princess Zorri's castle.'

Poe looks around. 'We don't have enough hands.' 'I know where we can get more.' Zorri answers Poe and smiles. (IM HINTING THAT I SHIP ZORRI AND POE)

- Ben now replaced his good boy sweater with the clothes Pryde gave. (ITS GREY OKAY, GREY, KIND OF LIKE WHAT ANAKIN WORE IN ROTS BUT GREY UGHHHH, WE WERE ROBBED)

Ben walks towards Pryde with caution. 'Come, help me.' Pryde who is scrubbing his horse says to Ben. 'The other one needs a scrub too.' 'O..okay.' 'I'm sorry about your ship.' Ben stops. 'Yeah, I know who you are. You are from the First Order. Thought you are a stormtrooper deserter, but you are too tall. So, you can't be,' (CAUSE LEIA SAID LUKE IS TOO SHORT TO BE A STROMTROOPER, BUT ADAM DRIVER IS TALL YALL) Pryde stops his scrubbing and looks at Ben, '..and i found this'. His lightsaber. Ben takes it, plays it in his hand. 'You are not afraid of me?' Pryde just smiles and walks towards the field. Ben follows. 'Give me a reason I should be afraid of you.' Ben doesn't say anything. Something about this place makes him calm, his rage dims. Or is it?

'I've faced Vader.' Those words makes Ben jumps.

'I was a young officer in the Empire. Just a small post. No one would notice if I'm gone. I had big ambition, but then, I saw Vader, I saw the destruction the Empire did. Even before the Death Star. Somehow, i managed to get away from it.'

'I found this place, swore to never have any part in any destruction. I would not even hurt a fly these days.'

'Why, didn't you join the Rebellion?' Ben asks. 'Same thing. The Empire, The Rebellion. Vader, Luke Skywalker. They all leads to destruction one way or another. Light, dark. Both sides are using the force irresponsibly. Destroying everything to the ground!' Pryde now faces Ben. '.. And you of all people should know that.' He walks away.

'Why did you help me?' 'I have compassion'

- The gang is in the Millennium Falcon, approaching a very quiet village. 'Okay, Finn. Now it's your turn.' Poe says. (CAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT, THIS IS THE VILLAGE WHERE JANNAH AND THE OTHER STORMTROOPERS LIVE AND FINN NEEDS TO CONVINCE THEM TO HELP. WOOT! WOOT! PAY OFF FROM THE FIRST MOVIE SAY WHATTT!)

They enter kind of like an eatery. (Picture The Mandalorian). 'No weapons.' The server says. 'I'll go outside' Rey offers to keep all their weapons.

They meet Jannah. 'Zorri said someone would be looking for me. Are you looking for me?' 'You Jannah?' Finn asks. Jannah offers them to sit. ' Look, we need your help. All of you.' 'You are Finn right? The former stormtrooper who deserted. Never thought you would pick up a weapon again,' she laughs and continues loudly, '.. Oh, wait, this time for the resistance. The good guys.' Her laughs echoes around the room and others join. 'We just want to live in peace! We don't want to risk our life anymore not FOR ANY CAUSE.' Finn gets up and faces the people. 'Well, then too bad! Too bad that you are no longer risking your life even for the right cause. If you keep on being like this, you will never be at peace! Cause you know what?! Sooner or later, the First Order will be here. They will be everywhere,.. all over the galaxy. More children like us will be taken, away from their families, fighting a war that would never ends. Wherever you go, they will find you-'

'And you think, us following you will stop it from happening?!!'

'We just have to believe and have hope.'

-Rey is outside. Clearly her mind is not here.

'Where are you?' Rey sees Ben is right in front of her. 'Ben..are you okay?' 'You are not with Leia. You're at someplace else.' ' Ben, are you hurt?' Rey looks at Ben, but she feels that something is different with him. 'Where are you?' He asks again. Not revealing the answer, Rey pleads. 'Ben, come home.' With that, Ben severs the connection. Rey feels disappointed but then she feels restless. She enters the eatery.

They are shouting at each other, which she just now notices as she did not pay any attention before. 'Guys, we need to go. I have A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS'. Rey shouts. Then we have the FO attacking that place. They've been following them. Not sure from where. Hopefully not from the cave. 'DO YOU SEE NOW JANNAH?!' Finn shouts. 'YOU LURED THEM TO US.' 'NO. WE NEED YOU. WHY WOULD WE DO THAT.' Now Poe is shouting. 'YOU GUYS, STOP! WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!' Rose chimes in. 'Please, Jannah, join us, and help us save what we love. (UGH OF COURSE JANNAH AND HER GROUP FOLLOW THEM AFTER THAT). We then have the standard spaceship fight and all that exciting stuff.

-The First Order received information on what happen on Kajimi.

'Those scum!' Hux exclaims. 'Sir, the satellite that blocks the communication is on Kajimi.' 'I am aware of that! Prepare the ship to raid the resistance base. I'll make sure nobody will survive.'

-At the same time, report from Rose comes in. 'General,-' 'You need to evacuate, now! Bring all our fighters to Kajimi. Prepare for a battle.' Connix nods at the orders.

- The FO comes just as the last supply transport ship flies away. 'General, we need to leave-' C3PO says befere Leia dimisses it 'You need to run, hide, leave me here.' 'What, no. General-' Connix says who is then shoved into a nearby bushes. From the distance, some of the resistance fighter put up a fight. Leia sees Hux coming towards her. 'Hide!' Now, Leia and Hux are facing each other.

'Leia Organa. The Leia Organa.' Leia knows Hux is mocking her. 'Well, your son iS DEAD! In the end, he was beaten by somebody who doesn't even have the Force. Pathetic!'

'Every word you just said, is wrong, General Hux. (SEE WHAT I DID THERE!) My son is alive, there is light in him ...and at least, he fights his own battles. That is more than what you are capable of. ' Leia said calmly before she stops talking. Hux has fired the blaster directly through her chest.

'We head to Kajimi.' Hux says. Gritting through his teeth.

-end of second act-

7 notes · View notes

sherlollyandspoilers · 5 years

Text

I think

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2019

Day 5, “But you can’t do this again, can you?”

This was originally a prompt from steffy2106 : i am allowing myself to prompt you for some Sherlolly goodness. I watched a recent Grey's Anatomy and Jackson just intervened during the wedding of the woman he loved. Could you write a Sherlolly where Sherlock actually interrupt Molly's wedding?

I originally filled the prompt in 2015 but when I was deciding what I wanted to do for today, I couldn’t get this fic out of my head. I was able to easily wrote today’s prompt into the dialog and edited some poorly written lines. Enjoy!

"Molly asked me to bring these back," John said as he walked into the flat at Baker Street holding a bag of clothes. Sherlock didn't reply; he sat in his chair frantically searching for a new case. "I'll just leave them here." He tossed them on the couch and closed the door. "Sooo, today's the day."

Sherlock NEEDED a new case and he knew Lestrade wouldn't be bringing him one today; he would be busy getting drunk at the open bar.

"Are you going?" John asked, sinking down into his old chair.

"No,” Sherlock replied without taking his eyes off his phone.

"But I heard her personally ask you."

"I said if I wasn't busy…and I'm busy."

"You aren't doing anything!" John threw his hands in the air.

"I just found myself a new case." He smiled triumphantly. "I really should get started on it tonight." Sherlock pushed himself out of his chair and grabbed the tea Mrs. Hudson had brought to him. He took a sip and frowned.

"Cold?"

"Mhm." Sherlock dumped the cup in the sink.

"It's almost one." John looked over his shoulder. Sherlock was still furrowing at the cup. "Want to grab a bite?"

"No." Sherlock started messing with an experiment he had abandoned last night. John sighed again and got up, knowing when he was being dismissed. Before he left he went to Sherlock's room and started digging through the closet. Sherlock knew he was setting him out clothes to wear.

"Then I better be home to Mary," John said as he headed towards the door. "Sherlock, please be there today."

Three weeks earlier:

Sherlock sat plucking at the strings on his violin, pleased that he had just wrapped up his last case so perfectly. He stopped when he heard heavy and rushed footfalls in the stairway. The door flung open and there stood a soaking wet Molly Hooper.

"Molly?" He sat down his violin and looked at her.

"Could I have some dry clothes or a towel?" she asked as she closed the door. He nodded once and disappeared to get the items she had asked for.

Her presence at 221B had become a normal occurrence since his return. He had asked her over to help with experiments and she would bring him what body parts she could. They both seemed to enjoy their time together and John found Sherlock was in a much more agreeable mood after his afternoons with Miss Hooper.

But this afternoon, Molly was supposed to be elsewhere. In fact she had a dress fitting at 4 and then dinner with Tom afterwards. Sherlock had invited her over to try out a new experiment he was no longer planning on doing, but she had politely declined.

"Thank you." She took the towel and dry clothes out of Sherlock's hands and excused herself to the bathroom.

Sherlock sat back down and picked up his violin again, slowly plucking at the strings in an attempt to not think about how she had looked in her wet clothes. When she finally emerged, Sherlock swallowed hard. His shirt and pants were both too big for her but she had the strings of the pants tied tight and the shirt hung slightly off of her one shoulder. Something about this caused Sherlock to keep steeling glances at her bare collar bone as she towel dried her hair.

"I'm going to make some tea." Sherlock simply nodded, his hand having stilled against the strings. Molly walked over to the bow and handed it to him, her silent way of instructing him to play.

When the tea was done, she handed him a cup and sat down in John's chair, sipping on her own. She stared at a spot on the floor, not talking. The flat was entirely too quiet for Sherlock’s liking.

"What am I to you?" she finally asked.

"My pathologist,” he responded quickly…too quickly.

"Yours?" She furrowed her brow.

"A friend,” he added, realizing that besides John, he had never called anyone else that out loud.

She paused and looked up at him.

"Should I marry Tom?"

"Molly?" She looked back at the floor when he said her name.

"I mean, I love him and genuinely care for him. But I'm not in love with him…Is that really fair to him?"

Sherlock blinked at her, completely at a loss for words.

"I think you’re in love with me." She looked back up at him. "Should I marry Tom?" she asked again.

"I can't be what you want,” he finally responded and a moment later added, “Marry him."

She didn't say anything, but just sipped her tea. When she was finished, she took her cup to the kitchen and placed it in the already full sink. She walked back over to Sherlock and leaned down, placing a small kiss on his cheek.

“You can’t do this again, can you?”

She gathered her wet clothes and purse before turning to him.

“No.” She gave him a sad smile and before he could say anything else she had opened the door to his flat, startled to see John walking in.

"Molly?" John looked her up and down.

"John." She smiled once at him and turned back to Sherlock, an afterthought. "Please be there, at the wedding." Then she left.

"Don't ask," Sherlock told John after Molly was out of earshot.

Present:

After John left, Sherlock abandoned the experiment again and fell down on the couch face first. He hadn't actually found a case, all of them had been under a four and he had solved half of them by just reading the emails.

Please be there. Molly and John's words echoed in his head. He tried to ignore them and decided a walkthrough of his mind palace might be a good distraction – deleting the unnecessary and rearranging the import.

But everywhere he turned, there was Molly. At the morgue in her lab coat. At home wrapped in a blanket on her couch. Standing in his kitchen in his clothes. Everywhere.

"Fine!" he shouted. He stood up and went to his room throwing on the clothes John had put out for him. He checked his watch, he was just barely going to make it.

The cabbie he got was a complete idiot and had gotten them lost, twice. By the time Sherlock arrived at the church he was already a good ten minutes late and he had half a mind to just turn around and go home. Or go to the nearest bar and get really drunk. He opted for staying and decided he would use the open bar to drink, hoping to quiet Molly's voice, I think you’re in love with me.

He busted through the church doors and there stood Molly at the end of the aisle already. Her dress was simple, but on her, she made it glow. He groaned slightly when he realized that he preferred her in his clothes. Molly stared at him in shock, but gave him a small smile and pointed to the back row. He quickly sat, ignoring John and Mary's stares.

The pastor continued speaking. Sherlock wasn't paying attention to what was going on. He kept clenching and unclenching his hands.