#The Brilliant Terror

[antiqua-lugar]

I love that hickey is trying to insert himself into some kind of relationship with crozier but like every niche he tries is already filled by someone else. us irish should stick together - no, crozier's colonial parallel is silna. let me be the little guy on the captain's shoulder - no, that's jopson. surely the flogging will change something - yeah, for thomas hartnell. well he hates me now but he'll surely see my inner depths - no, that's fitzjames.

and then hickey finally technically succeeds at becoming like the only man crozier wouldn't forgive - he kills a whole family! he massacred the men! he makes him eat goodsir! he loots fitzjames' boots from his grave! he leads them to doom and worse doom! - and when he is giving his villain monologue crozier only reaction is just. you could have joined up.

[allthegothihopgirls]

Hc that Jason really resonated with Frankenstein’s monster after he came back from the dead and his terrorization of Bruce is, in part, inspired by the monsters terrorization of Victor

ok i'm gonna preface this by saying what the fuck anon (/pos). i've been talking about this concept since it popped into my inbox i'm actually OBSESSED.

clawing at the insides of my enclosure foaming at the mouth etc etc

anyways, 1000% YES. the whole thing of jason being put back together not only at the hands of another, but also in a way which is so so unfamiliar to the him he knew before death, soooo extremely frankenstein's monster-coded.

both brought to life by impossible circumstances, and neither feel as though they own their autonomy. searching for some kind of redemption, needing to feel complete or avenged.

both having a sense of justice, shunned by society, one which doesn't earn them praise but instead punishment and disgust. both resenting the decisions of their creators/mentors. torn between worlds, neither of which they feel accepted in. oh my GOD.

i'm a huge fan of the whole idea of jason coming back and feeling displaced and in an entirely foreign body, and that's just oh so frankenstein's monster..

like IMAGINE that being his frame of reference for his feelings. put together what feels like piece by piece, messily, with only second-hand scraps. all with no regard for the person he was before, only with the intentions of being 'repurposed'.. AHHHHH

(as well as the fact that it's ALL mental for jason, he comes back 'perfect', unscathed and replenished. he has no physical justification for feeling the way he does, second-hand and hand-sewn. his feeling of 'monstrosity' stems from elsewhere; the feeling he gets walking around in this body which is simply not his, or the look in bruce's eyes when he sees him again for the first time, seeing a monster not a son.)

also the conscious knowing that his make-up is no longer his own, he's composed of parts which are unrecognisable to his old body, the one he owned and hand-carved through age. having to walk through days, feeling his actions as his own, but having a body which warps the intent behind them to all onlookers.

god imagine, blaming your creator for your fate, and needing the answers of your inadequacy to come from him himself.. and no other source can explain your imperfection in a way you can accept, it has to be him. jason NEEDS bruce's validation, to confirm or deny that he is irredeemable and a lost cause.

as much as i don't think jason would take pride in relating so much to frankenstein's monster, it's definitely a lingering thought in the back of his mind, something that determines his own story and outcomes.

he thinks of him when he loses control, and knows that he can't use it to justify the way he acted. he cannot tell the monster that his actions were okay, and that the people just did not understand, although as much as he wants to.. because he knows that isn't the case. he knows the monster was always a monster, and grows to feel the same way about himself.

he resents the way he acts, because all he sees is the monster. the one who acts according to his moral compass, but is always wrong. always clouded by his monstrosity. he decides he really should never trust himself or his intuition, because it's always disgusting and ugly, and even he'll be able to look back in retrospect and be repulsed by the way he carried himself, and not hate the way everyone punished him for it.

he wants so desperately to get himself back, morph back into the boy who knew his rights and wrongs and was never looked at funnily for acting how any normal person would. but the only part of his past self that still exists is in his mind, he wants to rip it out and show people that it's still him inside of there, but he simply can't do that.

his body changed without his permission, he never asked to be an abomination, a scientifical anomaly. he wants to scream about how it's not his fault, how he's not what the world paints him to be. how he can just be normal. but he's never really going to feel that way, as long as his mind and body remain two separate entities at war.

i feel like he clings onto the humanity of frankenstein's monster, and uses him as an anchor, something that shows him it's possible to remain acceptable and human.

i also think he analyses the character oh so deeply, to try and latch onto all the relatability he can find, the things he doesn't get from real people.

maybe he has a copy of the book, annotated in such a personal way. perhaps someone else stumbles upon it, and is just so distraught by the conclusions drawn from the scribbles and highlights, the way jason seems to view himself.

the way that although jason's always seen himself like the monster, unloveable and unacceptable, everyone else was always ready to accept him.

that maybe the real downfall of jason and frankenstein's monster is that the way they viewed themselves was too focused on the displacement they felt, assuming automatically that everyone else must feel the same way about them, if not worse. not taking the moment to let people learn to love them all over again.

anyways, unreliable narrators post resurrection!jason todd and frankenstein's monster, who were always seen with at least an ounce of humanity, but were both overridden by self-hatred and the disgust of their form, which led them to total exile and isolation.

[rcaffa]

I really appreciated the natural progression in this episode with spooky sailor tattoos. We all knew ink5soul was gonna be recurring, but I like how it's playing out.

Also the format? Cornwall council email complaints? He's just like me fr fr

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Vincent Price and Peter Lorre behind the scenes of The Comedy of Terrors (1963)

[gromky]

wild shot tbh

[stevethehairington]

one of my FAVORITE things about reading aus is seeing how the source material and the og plot points get worked into whatever the new story is, it's always so fun and so creative!!!

[screamingfromuz]

you know, there is a case to be said that the "this is what decolonization looks like" mentality can be used to justify everything the Jewish community did since the 19th century to stabilize itself in the region and what the Israel has done since it's founding. and I mean everything, the good, the bad and the horrors.

It will even justify the Right wing nut jobs that want to expel all Palestinians from the region.

thinking of it, this is the exact same mentality.

[camembertlythere]

Bruh the cut from hickey sticking his fingers into exposed brains to the monkey digging in a can of veal cutlets is just 😙👌 disgusting

[wolves-in-the-world]

Goran Višnjić as Nikola Tesla in Doctor Who 12.4, Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror.

image descriptions below the cut

—

[1] A still from an episode of Doctor Who, showing Goran as Nikola Tesla in front of Niagara Falls with an audience of men in suits and top hats, only their backs shown to us. Nikola is gesturing towards the waterfall as he speaks. He's a tall, slim man of about fifty in an old-fashioned suit with a tailcoat, pinstriped trousers, a waistcoat and watch-chain. He has a moustache, and brown hair parted in the middle, a few inches long and styled neatly with a bit of a wave.

[2] Goran as Nikola Tesla gesturing towards a device I don't understand well enough to even describe except that it's two corrugated metal cylinders and electricity is arcing between them, blue and dramatic, while he gestures like a magician. His other hand is on a lever, his face obscured by a starburst of blue light.

[3] A close-up of Goran as Nikola Tesla with a lightbulb in the foreground gleaming with warm light. He's looking off-screen and smiling slightly, eyes large and grey-blue, eyebrows raised, creases in his forehead and around his mouth. He's wearing a butterscotch-yellow tie with a wing or tuxedo shirt collar.

[4] A side-on view of Goran as Nikola Tesla bent over a workbench doing something with a tool we only see as a faint gleam of metal. He's bent almost double, intent on his work, a curl of hair falling down above his forehead, his coat gone and his shirt sleeves rucked up to the elbow so that his arms are bare and evidently hairy. The scene's dark, lit only by a candle lamp.

[5] A view of Goran as Nikola Tesla looking at a figure mostly out of view, visible to us only as blonde hair at the side of the screen. Nikola's eyes are a little wide, his mouth slightly open, making him look bewildered, and perhaps wary - I thought of it as his "okay, either you or this situation is bonkers" face. His thumb is just visible at the bottom of the screen, suggesting he's gesturing or fidgeting with his hands.

[6] A view of Goran in a crowded street, no coat, standing almost a head taller than everyone else and gesturing with one hand in a way that signals frustration or defensiveness, his eyes closed, mouth open as he speaks. A few bowler hats are visible around him, and a few of Nikola's companions - Dorothy, a serious-faced woman of thirty or so with tightly curly hair and smart clothing; the Doctor, currently a woman with straight blonde hair looking curiously past Dorothy; and just a glimpse of Yasmin in the background in a flat blue hat.

[7] A side-on view of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor and Goran as Nikola both paying rapt attention to a glowing green mechanical-looking ball in a dish, with the Doctor pointing her sonic screwdriver at it and Nikola bending down to watch at the opposite side of the desk, hands folded together as if he's fidgeting, intent on her work. The Doctor's in a long light grey coat with a hood, incongruous for the era, and it's clear she'd be a lot shorter than him if he weren't currently courting back pain.

[8] The same scene as before, minutes later - the Doctor only visible as blonde hair in the foreground, Nikola's face transformed like he's realised something wonderful, eyes on the Doctor and leaning forward slightly, or still leaning on the desk. His mouth is open as he talks, his eyes bright, skin creasing faintly at the corners with a real smile.

[9] The same scene as before, seconds later. Goran as Nikola is looking to the side, no longer smiling but serious and thoughtful.

[10] The same scene as before, seconds later. Nikola is looking back at the Doctor and raising his eyebrows in a question at something she said, his forehead creasing, his expression perhaps a little doubtful.

[11] A close-up of Goran as Nikola in a room with warmer and dimmer lighting, his hair coming loose a bit as short curls on his forehead, frowning as he talks to someone off-screen. The angle exaggerates his nose, emphasises the lines around his mouth.

[12] A different view of the scene, zoomed out. Nikola is bent over a worktable beside Yasmin, a young woman with curled hair and a smart navy-blue jacket, and they're looking at each other as though discussing a problem, Nikola folding or rubbing his hands together. The desk of a mess of wires and oddments, lit bulbs in metal cages and what might be the odd green ball from earlier.

[13] Nikola and Yasmin in a very different location, dimly lit, with strange red lights in the background and a green light over their faces. (They're on an alien spaceship.) Yasmin is looking down at the floor like she's stunned, mouth open, and Nikola is holding her arm like he's just pulled her back, but his eyes are on something or someone else we can't see. His eyes are wide, his expression startled and openly afraid.

[14] Nikola and Yasmin still on the spaceship, blurry machinery behind them, but Nikola is almost level with Yasmin now and they're standing close, both looking at a third party off-screen. Yasmin's expression is one of distaste and a little anger, and Nikola's eyebrows are drawn down, expression somewhere between bewildered and worried.

[15] A different scene, different lighting - deep blue in the background, warm light on Nikola's face. It's an odd angle, his head ducked as though looking at something, his expression serious.

[16] A different scene, perhaps daytime with electric lighting, Nikola in conversation with someone off-screen who's clearly shorter than him. His hair's a little disarrayed, eyebrows raised and forehead creased, but there's something of a smile to his eyes and his mouth that gentles it.

[17] The same scene, seconds later, slightly zoomed in. Nikola's eyebrows are lower, forehead still creased and eyes a little scrunched, like he doesn't understand yet what the other person means. There's something tender about it still.

[18] A different room, darker, Nikola grinning while the Doctor is mostly off-screen, just a little of her hair visible, except she's raising a hand for a high-five that he isn't reciprocating. Creases are splayed out from his eyes, deep ones around his mouth, his nose sharp from this angle.

[19] A different view of the high-five moment, focusing on the Doctor as she realises he doesn't know to reciprocate - the high-five wasn't invented yet - and starts to lower her hand. Her mouth is wide open, teeth showing, somewhere between a grin and talking, and her body language is open exuberance. The creases around Nikola's eyes are still very visible from this angle, though most of his face isn't.

[20] A view of Goran as Nikola with his eyes closed as if he's blocking something out, and a look of forbearance and faint frustration on his face.

[21] A side-on view of Goran as Nikola, a shorter man in the background and the TARDIS behind them both, its windows glowing white. Nikola's expression is determined and a little grim, more hair curling messily against his forehead.

[22] A view of Goran as Nikola outside, trees in the background, a blurry blue-white sky and what might be yellowish grass. He's wearing old-fashioned aviator goggles on his forehead, where they're pushing his hair up so it's even messier, and he's looking down at something with a troubled expression.

[23] A view of the Doctor and Goran as Nikola in the TARDIS, the scene awash in electric blue and peach-pink, and no other lighting. The Doctor's leant over the TARDIS controls doing something there and looking back at Nikola, who has picked up some sort of contraption and is looking down at it, expression either troubled or focused. The light on his face is blue, throwing his features into sharp and unflattering relief.

[24] A view of Goran as Nikola in the TARDIS still, the lighting blue, the angle of his shoulders suggesting his hands are on his hips, and his expression now one of open joy. His eyes are large, his mouth open and smiling slightly, soft creases on either side.

[25] A view of Goran as Nikola on the street, looking with his head tilted at someone in the foreground - barely visible, except for the bowler hat. Nikola's expression is tolerant, a restrained smile with narrow eyes, and his hands are probably clasped behind his back.

[26] A view of Goran as Nikola on the street, now talking to the Doctor, only the back of her head visible. Nikola's in the same pose as before, hands behind his back, only leaning slightly towards her now, his expression warm as he talks to her. The creases around his eyes are back, and it's another angle that emphasises his nose.

[27] The same view as before, only now Nikola's ducked his head, almost like he's shy, or needs a moment to collect himself. The creases have gone from his eyes, but the smile's still there at his mouth.

—

[wereoz]

—————————————————————————

☽ lila cerullo ☾

ib this collage

[tardxsblues]

Aziraphale + Crowley vs. Children

[agentfascinateur]

The younger generation doesn't disappoint:

"As students who are being taught in class about colonialism, about Indigenous rights, about the effect of non-violent protest across history, it would be extremely hypocritical – or it would totally undermine the point of our education – if we didn’t act”

- a 25-year-old PhD student at New York University

#rightsideofhistory 💜

[afterthefeast]

i think it’s interesting that fitzjames’ justification to crozier for eating his body after he dies is to say “i am not christ”, ie his body is not sacred and after death is merely meat that is sorely needed by the crew, in contrast to hodgson explicitly invoking the eucharist in relation to eating gibson’s body. obviously what makes any potential cannibalism of fitzjames potentially justified would be his prior giving of consent, in contrast to gibson dying with no idea what hickey intended to do with his body, but what’s more interesting is the fact that what renders fitzjames’ body as possibly sacred, in the sense of having a meaning and importance beyond its material reality as meat, is crozier’s insistence that his friend’s body be left alone.

in contrast, if you interpret the eucharist monologue as being to do with hodgson’s recent consumption of human flesh (which i do think is the most useful interpretation at any rate), gibson’s body is only sacred once it has been consumed, in direct opposition to how fitzjames’ is given greater meaning by not being eaten. in both of these contexts what gives the body a potential sacredness is the external meaning imposed upon it, but while hickey does try to present cannibalism as having a sacramental quality, it’s obvious that at the end of the day gibson is merely meat.

crucially, this is ultimately also true of fitzjames, despite crozier’s best efforts, because his body ends up possibly eaten and definitely looted anyway. hodgson’s speech has no real meaning beyond futilely trying to justify what he’s done. he finishes the monologue with the only thing that really matters - “i’m so hungry”. moral concerns have no weight in the face of such an immediate material reality, and the body itself does not really have any importance beyond its own materiality - instead what is sacred are the bonds it once had. i think crozier’s refusal of fitzjames’ offer is still important, less so for its effect, but more because it marks the persistence of his love for his friend regardless of other concerns. if anything is sacred in the terror, it’s that.

this emphasises the show’s overall emphasis on the importance of human dignity and fellowship in the face of utter ruin. despite the above, i think the terror is overall ambivalent on the direct moral question of eating human flesh, and it does not really encourage the viewer to judge any of the men who actually engage in cannibalism beyond pitying them. the whole mantra of “god wants you to live”/characters encouraging each other to survive suggests that cannibalism might be justified in that context, but that the disrespect shown to those who end up cannibalised in the show is what renders the act explicitly immoral.

aside from crozier, no one survives the terror, regardless of whether they abstain from cannibalism or not. refusing to butcher gibson would not have saved goodsir, and doing so did not save hodgson; little’s group would not have survived even if they stayed with jopson. crozier’s best efforts did not prevent hickey from finding fitzjames’ grave. but precisely because there is no greater meaning in death and its aftermath, the way the crew treated each other in life is more important, because really that’s all there is.

for little and dundy, the moral event horizon is not when they eventually succumb to cannibalism long after they’ve kept walking, but when they abandon jopson and the other sick men - this is a line they toe in the previous episode when they suggest abandoning fitzjames, but crozier doesn’t let that happen. crozier has also eaten human flesh (the fact that it’s goodsir, who in crozier’s view is “clean” is another fascinating element i’m not bothered to untangle here), and in that respect he’s equal to little, but his refusal to abandon his friends affords him, at the end of the show, his own dignity, best expressed through survival. i don’t mean to imply he has the moral high ground in a reductive sense, nor do i think his survival has really any greater meaning than the fact that he’s the protagonist (by my own logic any of goodsir, jopson, blanky, or fitzjames could still be standing at the end). but i do think the show presents certain actions as ones you cannot go back from with your own dignity or self-respect intact, and these are primarily based on the ability to recognise humanity in your fellow man regardless of circumstance (be that deprivation, illness, or cultural difference).

fitzjames was correct - he is not christ, and hodgson’s attempts to justify his cannibalism through the eucharist are revealed as just that, empty attempts. nonetheless, while there is nothing sacred about the body in death, there is something almost transcendental about the bonds it had in life.

[dance-magic-dance]

which terror girlie (gn) is moonlighting as a sunday times best selling author and writing books where time travel is real and someone brought graham gore off the terror to live in the 21st century

[medicinemane]

Really really don't get why so many people seem to have this burning hatred for Ukraine where they'll just... bring them up randomly purely to drag them through the mud and it's like... ok... but... do you actually know a single thing about Ukraine or what's been happening there?

Do you for instance remember when a major dam was destroyed by russia causing massive ecological damage?

Like I'm dead serious here, can you tell me a single thing that's happened in Ukraine in the last 2 years? Can you in any way demonstrate any basic understanding of the situation?

Cause if not... why do you think you should have an opinion on it, especially if your opinion is gonna be how awful people getting bombed are?

Just legit bothers me and... even more so bothers me the number of smart and caring people I see doing this. Basically I'm not even trying to be rude here, I'm trying to remind you to pay attention and remember that not everything you read on the internet is true, a tumblr post isn't a source unless they're giving you a reputable source

Cause like me? I can go track you down articles about the Nova Kakhovka dam being destroyed, and I can talk about all the reason why it's pretty clear that russia destroyed it

Can you do the same for me? Can you back up your claim about Ukraine with something concrete?

In many ways I'm not even asking you to support Ukraine, I get we have a limit to how much we can focus on, it's ok if you focus on your cause and I focus on mine and... both of us giving our undivided attention, maybe we both make some small impact on the world

What I'm asking is you don't be an asshole for no reason. You don't need to throw Ukraine under the bus. Don't you think your cause stands up on it's own two feet?

And again I'm not Ukrainian, I don't know as well as someone there, though... I spare you a lot of the stuff that crosses my dash because I don't want to burn people out with horrible stuff, but please understand it's worse than you probably think

So no, not Ukrainian, but I'll tell you why I'm still worth listening to: I've followed this every day since the invasion began. I keep my ear to the ground. I do know a fair bit and again can back what I have to say up

Anyway, my plea is to just not be a dick to people for no reason. The correct number of bombed civilians is zero, that's my stance

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Vincent Price and Peter Lorre - The Comedy of Terrors