#and then 1989 dad decided we wouldn't go because he thought she was a bad influence on me

[drivemysoul]

i literally regret not going to rep tour every single time i think about it and the fact i probably can't go to mdinights tour is making me so sad

[angiefsutton]

Quantum Leap (1989) Re-watch

Season 1, Episode 5 - "How the Tess Was Won"

Ah, yes. The one where Sam somehow is able to go through almost the ENTIRE leap before seeing what he looks like in the mirror.

"She'd have made you a woman, not a cowboy." / "Why can't I be both?" ah, a woman's lib-ish storyline. Bet you anything it was written by Pratt. {credits roll} Huh. I was wrong.

"NO IT'S NOT HOG COLERA!" - I love how concerned he is for this pig.

I love the little musical bit we get whenever 'holograms' are used.

Tattoos: "Tina's got her name in a tattoo. Of course, that wouldn't do you any good because {laugh} it's in a super private part of her anatomy." Fic where Al has his dick tattooed ASAP please. ;-)

"Of course, she always thought you were kinda cute. Sam - you've never seen Tina's tattoo, have you?" May have to put this into the threesome WIP I want to get back to. ;-)

"'56: I'm still a baby. My sister Kate's not even born yet." - still no Tom.

Tina 'cheating' with Gooshie was THIS early?

"Tina's cheating on you?" The look on Al's face before he says, "Can you believe it?" is hilarious!

ooh - old (plain) handlink. And Al smacks it. Huzzah!

"Al: do pigs like milk?" / "Oh, they adore it." How in the HELL would HE know?

"Almost all animals can see me." great way to get around that you can't train animals to 'not see' someone in the scene.

"I think there must be something weird-looking about me, because I seem to intimidate them." / "Maybe it's your clothes." (which is ADR'd) - first dig at Al's outfits.

Sam feels bad about reading his host's diary. Daw.

"That's a cross we all have to bear. Performance under pressure." Al Calavicci, you are amazing.

"First thing my dad taught me about mounting an unknown horse was to look him straight in the eye and show him who's boss. Then, with a good grip on the reins, mount quickly and take a firm seat." Sam Beckett - you watch your mouth! ;-)

"Tina and I met over a poker table in Las Vegas. I had a flush: she had a pair. Oh, what a pair." Al Calavicci, I still love you.

"She took my second favorite organ and stomped it to death with her four-inch spike heels." Love it.

Yay - the first time Al goes on a thesaurus run-on sentence bit!

shirtless and sweaty Scott Bakula - dear sweet crispy walnuts: I have died. Scott Bakula has killed me.

"There's some things that a man can do better than a woman." {beat} "And some things that a woman can do better than a man: like having babies." … welcome to '80s 'feminism'.

It took Tess quite a bit to notice she was sans shirt.

"Do you know where SHE and that jock-strap breath went over the weekend? To Vegas. Can you believe it? OUR Vegas." - could be read that it's Sam and Al as that 'us', slashers! ;-)

… Al abandons Sam to take a call from Tina. That's just wrong in multiple ways.

"This isn't fair, you know. You can't expect me to do this and not get involved. So, if Tess falls in love with Doc, I'd appreciate it if you just leaped me out of here as soon as possible." The first 'capitulating to the heart/libido' for Sam. He falls pretty easily here.

Sam knew he had a crush on his kindergarden teacher and 1st grade teacher - AND knows their names. That Swiss-cheese memory thing sure is particular. ;-)

Sam 'being mad' at Al is so. freakin. adorable!

… his mirror image is supposedly ugly? Which … first - talk about a moral. Second, he's better looking than Dr. Bryant in "Star Crossed".

and this stupid 'kiss with history' - which is not even historically accurate. (per Wikipedia: "Holly made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the following year he formed the group Buddy and Bob with his friend Bob Montgomery. In 1955, after opening for Elvis Presley as part of the Louisiana Hayride's habit of seeking out local bands to add to the show, Holly decided to pursue a career in music." This takes place in 1956.)

Overall Thoughts: man, this one has NOT aged well. The 'feminism' is bad, even for 1989. And there are plot holes you can drive a TRUCK through.

Even still, it's a sweet story for Sam. And I mean, we DO get shirtless Scott Bakula in exchange for the bad feminism. Does that make it equal? ;-)

The whole 'Al focusing on Tina cheating' is a bit over the top (they really wanted a cliffhanger for that third act, didn't they). I want to say I read a fic where it actually was something else that was project related.

But hey - that scene of Sam getting punched by Tess is used in the title credits, so there's that.

[supernaturalnovelsandmore]

Supernatural Novel: Heart of the Dragon

Welcome to my not-quite review of the fourth Supernatural novel, Heart of the Dragon.

Author: Keith R.A. DeCandido

Timeline: Set after Episode 5.08 Changing Channels

Location: San Francisco, California (Chinatown)

Synopsis: An old foe has come back to terrorize San Francisco, but what is the connection between the Campbells, John Winchester and Sam and Dean? Read to find out!

Warning: Spoilers abound!

Oh, where do I start? Heart of the Dragon has a very different feel to it, one that I'm not entirely on board with. Basically, it's a flashback book that spends the first third on Samuel, Deanna, and Mary Campbell, the second third on John Winchester and the last quarter on Sam and Dean. In fact, out of 28 chapters, Sam and Dean were only featured in about 7 of them. It leaves the book feeling hollow and me, a little meh. But, there are some additional insights into the Winchester family history which I'll try and parse out.

One more thought, I'm glad this is the last book from this particular author. Once again he has utilized a culture/race to tell the story, and not well. When the story is in 1969, he utilizes the world Orientals to explain Japanese and Chinese characters. He might have been trying to use the wording of the day, and that's fine if it's in dialogue, but to use it as a descriptor is problematic, at best. He also plays up multiple stereotypes from the Chinese mob to the Japanese Samurai. I'm hoping this book is the Route 666 of the novels and that they can only get better.

I decided to sort my thoughts within the different timelines, so here we go:

1969: Samuel, Deanna, and Mary Campbell

We open with the family hunting a vampire and Samuel using 15-year-old Mary as willing bait. It turns out to be a nest, but they quickly dispatch them without casualties. Deanna appears to be quite the hunter in her own right (her skill with a Claymore outstanding.) Within this hunt we learn a few things about Mary and the Campbell family.

The Campbells have a strong link to their Scottish heritage.

Samuel hates Christmas

Mary is willful, annoying, and disrespectful, but an amazing hunter who was raised practically from birth to how to hunt and defend herself. (Sam parallels, perhaps?)

Mary learned about monsters at 11 when she saw her parents dispatch an avenging spirit.

Samuel hates the idea of Mary hanging out with any boys, though she has a particular fondness for a John Winchester who works as a local auto-mechanic.

Samuel owns a dry-cleaning business and Deanna substitute teaches to help maintain some kind of income.

Mary often wondered about having a normal life, but would dismiss it knowing she couldn't have that and still know monsters are out there. (Seems like a combination of Sam and Dean here).

Other than that, the hunt they go to San Francisco for seems fairly perfunctory. They do a bunch of research, talk to a few locals. Samuel dons his FBI agent schtick, they locate the source of the problem, and quickly dispatch it. There's nothing too dramatic there, just a lot of backstory.

1989: John Winchester

There's a bit more insight here because now we're getting some insight into Dad John, as well as 6-year-old Sam and 10-year-old Dean. I'll touch on a few points.

Leaving his boys with others: We open with John returning to his kids whom he left at Bobby's while he took care of a hunt. He left them long enough that they were enrolled in school and he planned on keeping them there for the fall semester. He felt bad about using Bobby's hospitality for so long.

Training his boys: "John knew his boys would need to be able to defend themselves against whatever was out there - he'd already started that process with Dean... Dean was a crack shot with John's M1911 and could load the shotgun with iron rounds and fire them off in one smooth motion. Eventually he'd need to train Sammy too. But not yet."

Loving his boys: When he arrives at Bobby's, Sam runs out to meet him and wraps his arms around John's legs as he walks in. Sam also tattles on Dean for eating the last donut.

There are also some fun moments between young Sam and Dean, mostly sibling bickering.

Dean and Sam enjoy playing hide-and-seek among Bobby's car on the weekends and Sam enjoys going to school during the week. Dean, not so much.

Sam proudly shares that he's doing 3rd grade work in 1st grade and then teases Dean about also doing 3rd grade work even though he's in 5th grade (Dean then sticks his tongue out at Sam and says "Screw you, Sammy.") At this John calls them out and both boys are chagrined.

Later on, when John calls Bobby for more information, we find Dean holding a pen out of Sam's reach and teasing him with it.

Of course, that call means we also get this heartbreaking line moment from Dean, who wants to talk to his Dad, but can't before John hangs up. Bobby tries to explain: "'Sorry, Dean, he, uh, was on his way out the door. But he told me to tell you both to behave yourselves and do what I tell you. And that he loves you.' Dean: 'Did he really say that?'"

When Bobby presents the next case, John is torn between wanting to spend time with his kids, but going after something that could cause people to burn spontaneously, in the hopes that it might lead him to the demon who killed Mary. I think the book did a good job of capturing John's struggle between revenge and caring for his boys. He's not the abusive, neglectful father people tend to think he is. He's someone struggling to make things right.

"John didn't answer at first. Instead, he looked over at Sam and Dean in the dining room, playing that oh-so-common game of 'I touched you last.'

Christmas was coming up and he did want to spend it with the boys..."

Finally, when John returns and Bobby and the boys meet him at the airport, we get some additional insight into 10-year-old Dean's thoughts regarding his father and his place in the family.

"Waiting there in the airport, he understood how important it was for Dad to be away so much - more than Sammy ever could. Sammy hadn't really known Mom, since he was just a baby when she died. Dean couldn't imagine that his baby brother would ever truly understand what had happened to her.

If he was honest with himself, he didn't really understand it, either. There were some days - though he'd never admit this to anyone - when he couldn't even remember what she looked like.

Some kind of monster had killed Mom, and Dad wouldn't rest until he found that monster and killed it. Along the way, he'd kill any other monsters who tried to kill other people's moms...

Dad still fought the bad guys and saved people, but he also cared about his sons.

Because Dad was a hero, and that was what heroes did."

2009 - Sam and Dean

There isn't much to write about here, because they weren't featured in the book. I will just add a couple of notes.

Dean recognizes Samuel Campbell in a newspaper article about the killings. (He'd already been sent back in time and met his grandfather).

It's seems reasonable to Sam that Mary and her parents were hunters. What freaks him out is that he and Dean were named after their grandparents and John never told them.

Sam's been a nerd about the American Interstate system since he was 10 and loved poring over maps.

Sam feels more guilt from trusting Ruby over Dean than starting the apocalypse.

Final notes:

This book introduces Castiel who brings the case to the boys attention. We get the same stuff in here that you see on screen, he has issues with personal space, comes and goes at will, and Bobby's still mad at him for not being able to heal his paralysis. He's only there for a few pages, and then disappears again.

Bobby gets a bit more screen time, as a pseudo-dad to young Sam and Dean, and later as their resource when researching the case and it's history. Favorite quote: "As he went into the fridge for butter to spread onto the pan, Bobby decided it was the entire Winchester family that was making him bald."

We briefly get Hurt Sam who is punched repeatedly by a hulk of a man, but with no lasting consequences and very little caring Dean.

We find out at the end that Zachariah orchestrated the whole thing by planting the idea in Castiel's head.

So, like I said at the beginning, not my favorite, but hopefully I was able to share some of the more interesting parts. Read at your own risk!