#love me an obscure sci-fi show

[freckleslikestars]

Stargate SG1 10.06 as Farscape

Bonus:

[sparrowlucero]

Instead of discourse about showrunners and lesbians and whatever, I'm gonna bring a different type of discourse...whats ur fav and least Dr Whomst monsters. Hard mode: only the practical ones.

ok so I do like all the obvious ones, I like the angels, I like the vashta nerada, I like the not-things, I like the eternals. Here's a few deeper cuts (focusing on the tv show specifically):

they peaked with these maggots. they rock. pretty sure they're made with taxidermy? really great puppetry. I really like this thing:

what a cool design for this kind of forgotten midseason episode.

this is such a fun design for a langolier-type monster. I love how their crest and tail gives them the silhouette of a grim reaper

The 60s cybermen rock. I feel like they're hesitant to use them often in the modern show because they do look very 1960s but I think there's something really uncomfortable and evocative about the cloth faces that's lost when they're cool metallic robots. The mix between looking like an old diving suit and the implication of there being a chopped up person inside is gnarly and I love it. Simple, creepy, iconic design.

My favorite design in the show is probably this:

The 456 from the spinoff series torchwood. They didn't need the puppet to emote or move a ton since it spends the entire season in a little tank obscured in mist, so they just went crazy with the design and made it really bizarre looking. Extremely top tier alien. Anyways, negative. I really don't like this satan. the satan kind of sucks. the impossible planet is great atmospheric sci fi horror; every image of build up in it is haunting and leagues ahead of the climactic scene where he meets the satan. It singlehandedly kind of kills the vibe.

Personally I would have just kept the actual appearance off screen, just have it be eyes in the dark or something. Apparently they also tossed around the idea that it would end up being a normal little girl who was chained up in the cave and I think that would have visually fit the rest of the episode better.

I'm really not big on the modern design for the sea devils (the green one on the right). I think the classic ones clearly took a lot of direct influence from real animals and generally is a pretty thoughtfully realized design, the modern ones seem like they were first and foremost using the classic ones for reference and didn't quite capture the nuance of the design. Sad, as I would really like to see design for these guys with modern puppetry.

I think this is actually a pretty contentious opinion but the work of the specific studio who headed this redesign generally wasn't my favorite. Apparently there was some sort of major, semi public falling out between the fx studio that had been working on the show since 2005 and the people who started running the show in 2018, and they were briefly replaced with a much less experienced studio. No hate to them of course (I think this was actually their first job like, ever, and a lot of the work was done in crunch time?) but the difference did stand out to me:

[luveline]

Ahh I’m so obsessed with stripper!reader and Spencer!! Do you have any more thoughts about them you’d be willing to share, maybe just a snippet of their life together? So so in love with them and your writing in general

i got a different request for them that I lost about reader struggling to afford essentials and so I thought I’d combine them, I hope that’s ok!! <;3 fem, 1.1k

cw food insecurity/ poverty 

You attempt to save money, but the ten dollars you don't spend on shampoo and conditioner gets used on painkillers. You hide fifty dollars in a book and try to forget about it, but your shoes split open on the walk to work, and it takes all afternoon to find it again. You try so hard to stretch your paycheck and something new makes it impossible. 

So it's a cold night in late December and you spent all your money for food on the gas bill. Your stomach hurts, but at least your nose isn't that horrible stiff cold that distracts. 

It's not just that your stomach hurts, though. You feel miserable about everything, and you know you need to ask someone for help. You've thought about selling something, but you already pawned your watch, and everything else is inconsequential. 

I could sell my phone… but how would I talk to Spencer? 

It's the stupidest thought you could've had. More importantly, how would you communicate with work? How would you call your electric and gas company, or talk to your landlord? 

Spencer would be so sad if he knew you’d sold your phone to pay for food. He’d probably be upset knowing you considered it. And you won’t get paid for another three days, so unless you can somehow live off of olives and cherries from the club bar, you have to ask Spencer for money or get a loan. With your credit score, one situation is more likely than the other. 

You bring your phone across the pillow and sigh before clicking on his contact. He’s practically the only number you call. 

“Hello?” you ask. 

“Hi, Y/N.” 

“Hello, handsome,” you murmur, staging an affect of someone who couldn’t be more unbothered by the world. 

“Yeah, hi. You okay?” 

You don’t want to butter him up. It feels dishonest. You should be straight forward. “Spencer. You know I hate asking you for things.” 

“Yes, it’s the only bad thing about you.” He sounds like he’s smiling. You can imagine him on his couch reading something obscure, or watching one of his sci-fi shows, curls in his eyes, grey pyjamas too short for him riding up his calves as they tend to do.

“But I need– um. I don’t have any money?” You don’t mean to phrase it like a question. “Like. Okay, so, I promise you I am not an irresponsible person, just, my gas bill went up and I didn’t know, but it’s so cold I paid it anyways, and now I have three dollars. Um. Total. And I haven’t eaten all day and I’m sorry I’m asking, but I just need like twenty dollars until I get paid on Tuesday. Could you let me borrow twenty dollars, please?” 

“Do you want to get takeout?” 

You cringe. “No, like, twenty dollars for groceries, Spence.” 

“No, I understood. That’s fine, I’ll happily give you twenty dollars. But you said you haven’t eaten today? And I miss you, so it’s an excuse?” Now he’s the one making questions out of statements. “I can get us Thai food.” 

Your stomach pangs at the thought. No matter how much you hate this, you know he loves you enough to want to bring you dinner, and you really will pay him back, so he might as well. “Yeah, please. I’d love to see you, Dr. Reid.”

“I’ll be quick,” he promises. 

He isn’t. You wonder if he’s forgotten you and your rumbling stomach, curled into a c-shape under the sheets. It’s warm, at least, nearly too warm, the blade of your hunger threatening to drive you mad. It’s not a nice feeling, depending on the kindness of a friend to see you through, nor is it very pleasant to be this hungry. You’ve gone hungry a hundred times, and this is the only time you’ve ever had someone you trusted enough to turn to during that time to ask for help. What if Spencer’s decided he isn’t comfortable with your lending after all and he doesn’t come over tonight? 

You’d been looking forward to seeing him again. It’s almost worse than the hunger. 

Just as you’re thinking he’s decided he doesn’t want to be your friend anymore, he lets himself in. 

Your apartment is small, consisting of three rooms. The bedroom, the bathroom, and the living room kitchen combination. He lets himself into the living room with a cacophony of rustling and a called, “Hello!” followed soon by a muttered swear. 

You laugh under your breath.

“Are you coming out here, or do you want to eat dinner in bed?” he asks. 

“I haven’t decided yet.” 

It’s quiet enough besides his arrival that you’ve no need to shout.

“Well, stay there if you want. Have you been drinking anything? I brought iced tea and some stuff for you to have breakfast tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” You force yourself to sit up. One moment you’re looking at the closed door and the next you’re squinting against the light of the kitchen, Spencer in the doorway like a silhouette against it. “Hey, Spence. You’re taller than last time.” 

“I’m the same size as always.”

“You’re still wearing your shoes. That must be it.” 

Spencer takes off his shoes and crosses the short distance to you. “Hi,” he says, taking your hand as he sits down. His fingers are freezing. “Sorry I took a while.”

“Sorry for asking you for money.” 

“It’s okay. It’s not something to worry about. Everyone has to ask a favour sometime.” 

His hair is wind blown, his eyes watery. The cold weather has nipped his pert nose a rosy pink and he’s smiling at you with chapped lips, unaware of or uncaring about his own circumstances in the face of yours. “You okay?” he asks, his pretty brown eyes narrowing, eyebrows pinching together at the starts. “You can’t just not eat all day and not tell me.”

You nod tightly. It’s humiliating to be in this position. 

He softens. “Did they tell you the rate was rising? It’s illegal in Virginia–”

You take your hand from his. “They sent me a letter I didn’t open. I knew it would be bad news.” 

Spencer looks down at your knees. “I know that you’re used to doing things by yourself, but you don’t have to anymore.”

“‘Cos you look after me,” you say quietly. 

“I’m trying to.” 

You laugh and jog your joined hands to make him look up. “Okay. Look after me some more then and give me a hug. I’m too warm, and you’re freezing.” 

He hugs you tightly, quick to rub your shoulder blade with his thumb. “Stay here, okay? I’ll bring you a plate.” 

You cling to him for a few seconds, until hunger wins, and you send him off into the kitchen again. 

[deconstructthesoup]

Seeing all these new and wonderful comparison posts of Cinderella's Castle and Neverafter has made me realize that a lot of Starkid shows are very compatible with Dimension 20 seasons.

A Very Potter Musical and Misfits & Magic? The parallel is right there. Both of them are incredibly hilarious and incredibly moving stories that celebrate the parts of the Potterboy series that we loved and tear the parts that are eye-raisers at best into shreds. We got Red Vines, we got MicRibs, and we got Hufflepuff/Chimeron pride coming out the wazoo. (I need an animatic of Not Alone with the Pilot Program. Stat.)

Starship and A Starstruck Odyssey? While one is very loosely based on an obscure sci-fi novel combined with The Little Mermaid and the other is a direct spin-off and/or unofficial sequel to a cult classic graphic novel series, both of them are aligned in their madcap, colorful, and zany sci-fi universes. Also, both of them have prominent "alien trying to pass himself off as a convincing human" and "robot slowly becoming more human and breaking free of her creators" characters, so, props!

And the Hatchetfield saga and Fantasy High... well, the parallels of "something strange happens in a weird-ass small town" are too great to ignore, and you can't deny that the Nerdy Prudes have a lot in common with the Bad Kids. Plus, they're both very beloved by the respective fan bases, and if you ask someone what their favorite Starkid show or D20 season is, a Hatchetfield musical or a Fantasy High season is probably gonna be in their top three.

(And now we got two unique and incredibly cool dark fairytale stories!)

[the-monkey-ruler]

Just a random ask, what are some weird JTTW adaptations you’ve seen or heard about?

I can’t even begin to call them all but… if you bear with me, I shall try.

Here are a few games that I always found funny additions!

Starting off strong we have Journey to the West: Undersea Adventure (2021)! I have never seen it but LOOK AT IT.... THEY FISH

Six-eared Monkey (2021) where Six Ears goes back in time, accidentally adopts Wukong not knowing he is his future enemy and gives his life to save Child-Wukong despite knowing who he grows up to be.

Wukong's Christmas Adventure (2019) is like... saving Ruphdolh or something and Wukong is going through a mid-life crisis and also kinda depressed but CHRISTMAS. Also the Erlang and Nezha models in this movies are TERRIFYING... and also they have Wukong rap so take a look.

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) is weird but like in a GREAT way like... I love the monster designs they give Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing, it is such a different vibe then any other movie I have seen and Honestly LOVE It for that. Really sells just how HUMAN Sanzang is dealing with POWERFUL YAO that could kill him in a second.

Bling (2016) is strong that it didn't hAVE to be Xiyouji coded characters like the Monkey, Pig, and Frog are robot storage performers, wannabe heroes and they follow their creator who is trying to propose to his girlfriend but there really is not journey or ANY need to have the robot being Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing.

Spark: A Space Tail (2016) is also BARELY a Xiyouji film but like it does have a monkey with a staff and turns out he is the son of a king and a queen of monkey planet. Really more like Lion King with the evil uncle trying to take over but with space monkeys.... and also Bajie is there.

Mo mo King (2011) is something I'm not completely sure what's it about but just that it is like a whole monkey island that Wukong-like protag works at... and also Bajie is there.

Devil's Chip (2002) again NO idea what it is really about but there is space and time travel and for some ungodly reason no wukong from what I have seen but Sanzang and Bajie company the space/time travler

Flying Monkid (1996) I have no idea why this was ever MADE like there is barely a connection to Wukong and every other demon is new or some kind of version that is barely recognizable, not to mention the animation is barely any better than Pixal art.

Flying Superboard (1990) I always just found this one strange from the animation to the art style to the design choices. Like making Wukong some kind of skateboard, nunchuck, mouse-looking creature and giving Bajie a machine gun is.... something. I have no idea what they did to Wujing, made him like a bat, goblin thing.

Midnight Goku (1989) is like a sci-fi detective story where the protag has like computer eyes that can see through people and a bo-staff and honestly, I haven't seen but just the STRETCH they use to make this Wukong-related is so insane like would have never thought of it.

Little Wukong (1987) honestly not SURE what this story is even about but like... it is nearly lost media, this is so obscure and out of the way I have a feeling it was probs a children's education show or something but idk.

The Legend of Red Boy (1989) is something that looks like candy land spat out and while I have not seen it I am so sure that it is filled with nonsensical elements I cannot begin to describe.

King Kong's Adventures in the Heavenly Palace (1959) is... more of a crossover than anything else. Just imagine a movie where instead of Wukong destroys heaven... it is Kind Kong. Legit THE king Kong from the OTHER MOVIES YES.

Pink Journey to the West (2015) is honestly not that strong I would say besides that it is just Journey to the West but they are all girls... haven't seen it but who knows maybe it is good!

Tom and Jerry Chase with Tom as Erlang Sheng and Jerry as Wukong

Fortnite Wukong... that is it

Overwatch with Xiyouji skins just think it is adorable honestly. Love the Winston as Wukong

Plants versus Zombie: Journey to the West addition

Rabbits: Party of Legends

And while this isn't EVERY weird (there is a lot) one these are that I thought were at least interesting enough. Like a lot of Xiyouji movies have strange plotpoint but honestly, they are more boring and confusing than anything memorable. At least these were the ones I always thought were fun!

[akajustmerry]

What's an obscure piece of media you wish more people knew about?

hi! I'm honestly so bad at judging what's obscure and what's not. In high school, I genuinely thought my music taste was alternative because I was the only person in my group of friends who listened to the Jonas Brothers. so idk if this is obscure media but it's media I love that I wish I could talk to people more about:

Some Girls (2012-14) - this sitcom series about 4 high school besties who live around the same housing estate was EVERYTHING to me. think Derry Girls/Sex Education but in the early 2010s with working class poc. I still quote this show at least once a week and miss it dearly even tho it ended exactly as it should!!

While The Men Are Away (2023-?) - lesbian period drama comedy about a bunch of Australian lesbians on the WW2 homefront in regional Australia. Beautifully horny show that also has STUNNING representation of immigrant and Indigenous experiences of the time.

Clarice (2020) - silence of the lambs sequel series that follows Clarice Sterling on a case 2 years after her encounter with Hannibal Lector. so sad this was cancelled but it's still a great season of tv!

The Underground Railroad (2021) - limited series on Amazon Prime about the Underground Railroad. Tw for literally everything, BUT it's directed by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins and his hands down some of the most beautiful TV I've ever seen.

The Silent Sea (2020) - limited series on Netflix about some astronauts sent to a mining station on the moon where something has infected all the crew.

The OA (2016-18) - difficult to describe this show but it's everything to me. theeeeee show about multiverses. Ahead of its time, gone too soon 💔

But 2 genuinely obscure pieces of media I think people should watch, especially rn, are Salt of this Sea (a film about a Palestinian-American woman heisting an Israeli bank to get her grandfather's money back) and the 2019 sci-fi short film In Vitro about an elderly Palestinian woman in an underground bunker trying to pass on why she's here to another Palestinian woman but neither can remember.

[leupagus]

Three-Legged Puppy Fics

List five of your least-popular fics, as well as when/why you wrote them.

Home to the Weary: Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, 2010.

I wrote this at the request of a friend who wanted, I think, something Gwen-centric. Because I was not a fan of the show I decided to focus on an AU in which Gwen backflipped out of that whole situation and founded her own sort of kingdom, only meeting the terrible trio years later. It was really fun and was the first time I'd ever tried writing a fic that hinted at a larger world going on around the characters, if that makes sense. This one's a little pretentious but you can definitely see my "style" as it were.

Treads on the Ground: Babylon (not the sci-fi show, the short-lived british cop show), Liz Garvey/Finn Kirkwood, 2022.

This was written during my Bertie Carvel phase where I'd watched "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" and was desperate for something, anything, that didn't have him wearing terrible prosthetics or playing a psycho. He still sort of plays a psycho in this show, but he looks super hot and angry all the time which is really all I needed. (Also bonus hilarity: Liz's boyfriend in this show is played by none other than James Lance, playing "louche asshole" to the absolute hilt.) Anyway I wrote this because I really wanted a fake dating AU for these two AND a "Finn is secretly in line to the throne" fic and this was the perfect way to combine these two. I'm still legitimately really proud of thsi fic.

The Bright Relief: 1776 musical, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson (and a little bit of / in there, if I'm honest), 2010.

I wrote this because my friends waldorph and screamlet and I were having the Summer of 1776 Feelings and we all wrote various (wonderful) crimes and misdemeanors in that fandom, mostly revolving all the ways in people who love John Adams make fun of him. That was a truly terrible summer but made a whole lot better by those two, and by William Daniels being the most John Adams to ever John Adams. (I actually rewatched the miniseries a few months ago and Paul Giamatti does a great job but that thing is SO DREARY. Although I will say Stephen Dillane first caught my eye in the role of TJeff, aka once again playing a guy who's down real bad for someone smarter than him (in this case both Abigail AND John). The scene where he first meets Abigail is just nonstop flirting, with John making faces in the background. It's great.)

Happy Tails To You (Until We Meet Again): SGA, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, 2009.

Oh lordy — probably the worst fic I've ever written, but I can't quite bring myself to delete it. I've been on the periphery of fandom for most of my adult life (what up X-Files yahoo groups and Prodigy Star Trek RP rooms), but SGA was what made me start thinking of writing fic after a long period of only reading it. (Yes, there is college-era gus fic out there. No, I'm not posting it on AO3.) I never quite got a handle on Sheppard or McKay but I did enjoy writing this and the other SGA fic I wrote, but yeah this deserves its obscurity.

Honey Now I'm Not One To Complain: Dalgliesh, Adam Dalgliesh/Kate Miskin, 2022.

Another one of my "Bertie Carvel is extremely attractive when he's sad and/or a cop" flash-fandoms, although I wrote a pretty good primer on the first season that I think gives a good case for the show as a whole. I wanted to write that largely because the show is so resolutely grim and I prefer stories that are... not grim, so I gave myself the challenge of putting these guys into one of the classic tropes. I did toy with the fake dating/marriage trope but honestly I think this was funnier, and I would always rather commit to the bit.

Tagging uhhh let's see, @laiqualaurelote, @themardia, @sadcypress, @auntieclimactic, and @eyebrowofdoom, if they (or anyone else) wants to do this.

[marine-indie-gal]

I've been in such a Mood for Two Obscure Fandoms of Mine about Extraterrestrial Beings ("Space Goofs" and "Ava's Demon"), although One is from French and is Cartoony while the Other is a Webcomic about Sci-Fi Fantasy while also having a Group of Kids dealing with their own Demons (which are actually souls of Previous Aliens from Another World).

Considering that I have a Massive Love for Pure Obscurity as y'all know, I'd figure why not do a Mashup between One of My Two Fandoms that have something to do with Aliens by turning the Stupid Invaders themselves into Different Species of Alien as Demonic Spirit Beings while also still resembling their own Original Features.

Etno Polino, Candy Caramella, Gorgious Klatoo, Bud Budiovitch, & Stereo Monovici, all in the Artstyle of Ava's Demon.

BTW, in case if anyone doesn't know, I don't really seem to have the Kickstarter books for Ava's Demon (despite being completely a re-tell version of the Webcomic from what I've heard) and despite Xilam's currency of their own Shows, I'd wish they give Space Goofs a Second Chance for a Soft Reboot.

Space Goofs (c) Xilam Ava's Demon (c) Michelle Czajkowski Fus Designs of The Space Goofs as Different Species (c) Me

[anteroom-of-death]

Teacher's Pet part 12

Synopsis: Reader meets Missy. It's a mixed bag.

A/n: sorry for another delay. Hope you enjoy. More doctor fuckery and allusions to the doctors current devolution. Yay I hope you enjoy yayyy.

What were these truths the Doctor was talking about? At least he was being honest! A damn shame to your overloaded brain, but you appreciated it nonetheless. Maybe you would bring yourself to honestly about your profession after. Maybe. You’d have to test the waters and go off what tonight’s surprise was.

Your heart slammed itself into it's cage.

The next few hours were hell on Earth. What was this secret he was going to reveal?

You always dealt with waiting so poorly…

You got through your final tutoring via the university without nary a hiccup, but your brain combed through all the possibilities you could scrounge from sci-fi shows. What was that one nearly-sixty years old program that the BBC had?

Too late now…

You did sneak home to change into something that didn’t scream ‘lazy’.

Soon it was nearly nine. As you walked to his office, you felt like you were at a wall, breathing your last free breaths before the firing squad came upon you. You worked on your breathing exercises as you went to knock the door.

He was there, illuminated softy. Grey hair fluffed, in a burgundy shirt and hoodie. He looked utterly (and unfairly!) Breath-taking. You felt both underdressed and overdressed.

“Good evening!” He smiled, it was one of those easy, unnerving, comfortable smiles that framed his eyes so well.

“Hey.” Was the best you could muster. Your vocabulary stolen from your tongue as easily as the breath from your lungs over him…

How could someone who was quite literally older than the rededication of the Second Temple look so good?

Alien magic, must be.

“You remember that Missy character?”

“Yeah, her? Them?” You struggled.

“Her.”

“Ah.”

“She’s been on her best behavior. Stunning, really.”

“And?”

“I think you two need to meet. I’ve cleared the idea with her other…Guardian.”

“Oh?”

“Nardole…he’s an egg. I sent him to Norwich for a packet of crisps.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” It didn’t.

You rubbed your lip together in a partial move to rip the skin off, but also to provide some sort of outlet for the nervousness that was still coming up from the pit of your stomach.

What was Missy?

He offered the crook of his arm, “Shall we go?”

You took it.

The walk was nice, silent. The weather was warming up nicely. Mild night.

Soon you went to a place obscured in some hardly-looked after corner in the university’s basement. He pressed some hidden point and the wall snapped in two, revealing some contraption. He unhooked himself from you and started entering codes, some little monitor popped up and scanned his eye.

It asked for a verbal confirmation.

He spoke in some language that made your blood run cold and you feel small. Something about it was haunting. Like singing.

It unveiled another wall with a turn-lock, from which he produced a key and unlocked it.

Finally, it seemed safe to part through.

“What did she do?” You asked, voice husky with fear.

“Enough.” He let a little snort escape.

You nodded and went in.

It was a grand room, a couple of old, antique chairs and some meager side tables faced what was a mighty cage! It looked like glass, on the platform. Inside this guided cage was a woman, in simple Victorian clothes.

She played piano very gently.

“Missy.” The Doctor seemingly pleaded.

The woman inside slammed the lid shut and turned around.

She had the most insane, yet oddly lovely smile. Cat-like.

She was thin.

“Oh…you’ve brought me a plaything?” She grinned.

Her accent sounded Scottish. Like the Doctor.

“Do all aliens sound like Scotsmen?” You blurted out before you could monitor your thoughts.

“I’m sorry!” You amended.

She laughed, it sounded like bells.

“One would certainly hope so!” She responded.

“I’m Missy! Short for Mistress!”

“Oh, I’m (y/n).”

She shot the Doctor some look. He shot her another look. It seemed they were having an entire conversation without you. You felt alienated. You looked between them.

“I’ve heard nothing but good. Typical!” She approached you at the edge of her enclosure. You felt caged. Missy stalked you as if she were a lioness and you were some disabled, freshly birthed gazelle. You started sweating, it dewed down your back.

“Oh!”

“My best enemy.” He elaborated.

You nodded more, at a total loss for words. Your breathing became manual.

“So what did you do?”

“Oh, this girlie is rude! I love it!” She shot the Doctor another look.

“Don’t talk behind my back?” You assumed.

Missy nearly fell over! She started laughing, “Rude and clever! He’s certainly taught you well.”

Your eyes could have shot out of their sockets.

“You’re like Jedi, yeah? Can communicate with your brains?” You explained.

“Sure enough? Jedi are the Lego ones?” the Doctor asked.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy her.” Missy predated you more. Nose pressed against her enclosure.

You got the briefest of synopsis of their entire relationship. You felt yourself blinking from your brain overloading. It felt like someone dumped out your mind and shook the contents up before tossing it all back in, haphazardly.

You swallowed heavily.

“So Time Lords. Do you all have such…intense names? Mistress, Doctor? So is there a Bachelor?” You felt your arms move as if to elaborate this point.

“Different generations have different naming convention. My brother is Irving Braxiatel.”

“Of course. Makes sense. My name’s (y/n) but now all the kids are McKinsleigh or Harley or whatever.”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, my dear Doctor, you have a smart one on your hands. Now how do you like the stars, kiddo?”

You shook your head quickly. “Nope, no stars for me. I’m not going up there. Nope. I know what happens! I’m genre aware. I know what goes down in space. And if you’ve had a lot of dead companions previously…not me. I am not that suicidal!” You felt like a horizontal bobble head of sorts.

“See!” She slapped her thigh. “This one’s got common sense! She’s not going to swan off and get herself killed by a giant bird!”

It seemingly touched a tender point.

“Oh, here you go, bringing up Clara! What’s with you?” He seemed on the verge of spitting. “We’re having such a normal time!”

“Oh, she was my manic pixie dream bitch too!” Missy countered, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.

You made several notes to bring up later when you were going to bring up some new ground rules for this relationship, if this Missy didn’t tear you to shreds and eat your entrails like a tin of tuna.

The cat metaphors kept coming…

Were Time Lords cats?

No! Cats have barbed penises and that Time Lord you were fond of didn’t…

“May I get a tuba now?” Missy pleaded.

“We’ll see.”

You found yourself fiddling with your necklaces in a very rapid way with one hand. The other twisting the massive gold hoop in your one ear. Nervous habits coming in strong to help you self-soothe in this inopportune moment…

Somewhere the Doctor produced a flask of tea and poured some out, it was herbal. At the moment you couldn’t discern much more than that.

He gave it to all, including Missy, who’s barrier seemed penetrable to him, but not her. As she touched it and it repelled her.

Where did he pull out all these things?

What was the barrier made of? Did it work on genes?

Your mind roared for an explanation.

You reminded yourself to take it in strive. You weren’t working with logic and sanity anymore. You were in some contrived sci-fi story now.

It was the only way that you’d survive this!

Missy asked you something pleasantries involving your studies, and you divulged your grand plans.

“Oh, not overly ambitious. No martyr complex. Doctor this one may survive you.” Her focus splintered.

You felt out of your depth even more. You were taking it in stride, but that felt like it was lacking. Although…an opportunity did arise.

Did you have the guts to take it?

You pondered on. If it did turn nasty, you were outnumbered. Two of these so called ’Time Lords’. One you. One very mortal and squishy you.

Missy seemed to know far more than she probably should. You craved a bit more knowledge.

Shouldn’t you be privy to details about the man you’ve been not only fucking, but falling madly under his spell? And dare you utter it- loved?

“So what’s the deal with you Time Lords?” You asked Missy.

“An ancient race. We’re the pinnacle of evolution. Very few races will or ever will get close. Some have tried, they fail to become as optimized.”

“A bit eugenics-y.” You responded, your brows knitted together.

“Funny collars.” The Doctor chimed in. “That’s the opposite of optimized.”

“Oh, Mister President! How salacious!” She cooed in his general direction.

“President?” Your eyes boggled from their sockets.

“Technically. I’m also the De Facto President of Earth in an emergency. Neither here nor there…”

“And he’s ever so humble! My dear, Doctor. If this were two bodies ago you’d be preening!”

You looked down and blinked hard, as you started to chew on the inside of your cheek.

“Oh, him? Yeah, I was a but more vain. I mean, how could I not? All youth and fire and forged from Rose’s love.”

“And who the hell is Rose?” Your jealousy creeping back in.

“Oh, Doctor! You dog! She was very blonde! Broke many universes trying to find him again!” Missy gaped, as if she had personally sprung this trap.

“She helped me. I was raw from the War. She saw my hearts and that’s all.” The explanation was clearly him trying to not irk any jealousy in you.

“She got a wee clone! They’re in a parallel universe!” Missy simmered up, swinging around on her ankles.

“You are annoying.”

“You could have let Torvic kill me!” She put her hands on her hips and pulled a sour face.

“I’m sorry, who’s Torvic?” You were being bombarded with more information than you could handle.

“I was a soft lad. This kid kept bullying me. He was going to kill me, but here does come ikkle little Doctor with a rock! Bye bye Torvic!” She announced it like she was a wrestling presenter.

“How old were…you all?”

“Ten!” Missy clapped her hands together.

“Death’s champion!” She elaborated with a sick glee, pointing at the Doctor.

“I’m assuming you can…change sexes.” You kept piecing it together. “Were you ever a woman?”

“Maybe next go!” The Doctor said.

You leaned down and rested your fingers on your jaw as if to keep it from falling off onto the ground.

“So…how does that all work?”

“Two hearts, they prevent death and kick in our ancient rights!” Missy flourished.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” The Doctor stepped in. “We get a new face, new body. New chances. We keep our core. But everything from our personality to our kidneys.”

You inhaled.

“Anything else I need to know…assuming that you do that in front of me.” You curbed your attention to the Doctor. You wanted answers and you didn’t want him to give up this particular body. You didn’t want to play this particular game of Russian Roulette. His body right now was perfect…from his hair to his toes. Like it was personally designed to drive you mad. A sexy, silver fox with dynamic light eyes and a smile that robbed you of the ability to breathe, plus that voice like was a good motorcycle engine. And, a perfect package that hit right in the right spots…

You were objectifying an immortal alien.

What had your life become?

“That shit’s…crazy.” You gave an exceedingly reductive statement.

“No promises, but I’ll try.” He gave you a small, reassuring smile…

“Before precious Rose, there was his wife, that Scottish lad, that journalist Sarah Jane Smith, me, that ginger twink who’s name escapes me and probably a few I’m forgetting! And after there was-” Missy smiled a positively evil grin.

You put your hand up and stopped her from going into any more detail.

“Sarah Jane Smith? The mega-journo who always had the hottest stories? The one who was always leaking the top bylines?” You instinctively tore off your thumb nail.

You kept putting your hands up and down. Going to point a finger. You felt like a malfunctioning kettle.

“W-w-what? Do you…see in me?” You raised both of your hands up as you shrugged and struggled. “Universe traveling blondes? Award-winning journalists? A ginger twink? This jailbird?” You voice scaling up octaves to those only dogs could hear as you slapped your hands over your thighs and grasped them tightly…

You started those dratted breathing exercises and placed your right hand on your only heart.

The Doctor seemed to be sorting through some sort of dilemma in his mind.

“Yeah, tell her!” Missy cheered.

You shot her a murderous glare.

She scrunched her nose and stuck out her tongue.

“I see you as warmth. You are yourself. I see you as someone who’s good. Despite it all. A good student and a great partner. Someone to enjoy while I can. Nothing to complicate or drag into danger.”

Something about these words and his gaze into you had you fighting these words, but becoming placated by them. They were like a cozy quilt on your worries…

“I’ve put others I loved in danger. Learned those lessons. Never again.”

You felt your mind slowing down from the anger and self-doubt.

It felt like truthfulness. You’d take truthfulness.

The looks that Missy and the Doctor passed between each other has you shiver in fear.

You felt like you needed to vomit.

“Can I go home now?” You squeaked out once you felt a but more emotionally regulated.

“Of course.” He helped you up and turned to Missy, “No tuba.” He told her.

She raged on a bit as you felt yourself being tucked into his side and escorted out.

You leaned against a wall as he locked the Vault up.

He folded you under his arm.

“So what do you think of my best enemy?”

You felt yourself feeling suddenly very sleepy and like you had been dreaming. You were very conflicted and of many minds. You would have to work through all this later. There was just so much information and new thoughts that needed evaluated. Though you felt something holding you back from it. The emotional toll of the past few days, inevitably catching up to you.

What was that something was holding you back?

Probably your love of the Doctor.

You felt yourself crying.

“Why don’t I walk you to your flat? What’s the address?” He wiped your face with some old-fashioned looking hankie.

You gave him your address. It was a longer walk, but maybe it would do you good.

You started to walk. It was going somewhat smoothly.

After a silent walk, you stated as you got closer to the safety of your home. “I think she’s insane. Probably it’s for the best she’s in that…situation. Like sectioning, but worse? She could be fun, if she tried. I feel…yeah. I mean, if you’re a package deal. A bit weird she’s your ex. But yeah.” You answered his previous question.

“Is she a threat? To me?” You asked, jealously.

“No, we’re finished. Ancient news far older than your civilization…”

“Ah, okay.” You felt more satisfied.

“She is quite…pretty.” You remarked.

“Hadn’t noticed.”

You nodded, as you arrived to the front door.

“This is me.” You pointed. “You…want to come up? Get a night cap. I know I’m going to need it.” You joked, as you used your pinky nail to scratch the bridge of your nose.

“Not tonight. How about after you finish exams? I still have to some things done in that regards.”

“Valid.”

He leaned down and pressed hip lips to your forehead.

“Good-night, (y/n).” He smiled as he closed his hand over yours and gave it a squeeze.

“Good-night, Doctor.” It still felt strange to not call him ‘Professor’. You didn’t know how to feel. Calling him ‘Professor’ felt better coming off your tongue.

So much to over-analyze.

You opened the door and went up to your flat. After pouring yourself a large shot of vodka to take, you laid on your favorite chair and zoned out.

So much for a normal, nice time at university!

[swearyshera]

As this blog's sweary adventures are coming to a close, it is a time to reflect. What I want to know is what you think is the most interesting or funny thing to have come out of Spop fandom, at least so far? I've just sort of been thinking about the power of the Internet to lead to some unexpected outcomes, things that occasionally affect someone's real life, real career. In one of my other major fandoms fairly recently - a person on the X-Birdsite with a fan account in parody of the name of a major character launched an unrelated, somewhat obscure science fiction novel to several bestseller lists by excitedly tweeting about it. If you're a Trigun-fan, you know of this. If you're into indie sci fi, you might also know of this viral story. If you're not, look up "Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood" and prepare for a ride! It got me to thinking about how you've talked about getting into screen-writing / theater writing because of this blog? IIRC? "Spop launched a screenwriting / stage writing career" is a similar funny thing, the amazing Power of Fandom! "How did you get your start?" "I wrote a screencap comic of a popular cartoon to make the characters curse more and then things just snowballed." Best of luck!

I would absolutely be a hell of a story to have "Person who made Catra say fuck now writing TV show", and certainly something I would love to do. Obviously, I know it's a difficult industry to get into, so I'm under no illusions that I will definitely make anything of it, but that won't stop me trying!

That said, I've already had a little bit of success on the stage with a short play at Salford's Lowry Theatre last year. This year I've mostly been working on building up a portfolio of scripts - I've previously shared a draft of Hellspawn (the 'Sweary Frosta sitcom') which is reasonably decent. But I've more recently been working on something even better...

I've completed a pilot script for a comedy drama called 'Snowflakes', about four young trans people who want to bring their creativity to the stage whilst living in a world that often seems to be against them. I'm absolutely in love with these characters, and I've got a short series worked out. I think it's the perfect time for a story about trans joy overcoming hatred, right? If you're a production company who likes that idea, hmu.

Finally, I've also been toying with the idea recently of more Sweary or She-Ra related content. I've been looking to the likes of Big Finish with their Doctor Who audio dramas and pondering... what would a She-Ra audio drama look like? We may not ever get a movie, but could we get a feature-length story created by fans in an audio format? I'm up for writing it. So if you have thoughts/ideas, let me know.

But whatever happens, I'm going to do my best to make "creator of new TV show started off with a stupid tumblr blog" a reality! Dream big, right?

[cadyrocks]

So I know that CAD is often and widely considered a punchline in the circles I run in. And not without reason - the early stuff is all pretty terrible for a variety of reasons, Loss is a tone shift so stark and out there that it can't help but be funny*. The jokes didn't work, attempts at being serious didn't work, and it rarely rose past the level of "mediocre Penny Arcade knockoff" (and, let's be honest, I don't exactly think very highly of Penny Arcade).

But for some reason, I never stopped following that RSS feed. And... uh... I regret to inform you that at some point in the intervening years, CAD got pretty damn good.

Some context: the most recent run of CAD focuses on our longstanding protagonists, Ethan and Lucas, in new personas as superheroes. Lucas can make DDR arrows appear, and Ethan can respawn after death. They're not exactly A-Grade, but for someone who's as much of a complete moron as Ethan is, being able to die without consequences is a pretty useful power to have. A power which "The Troll" (a minor villain who he previously dropped off a building, with some ambiguity as to how hard he tried to save him), appears to have taken away at the conclusion of a genuinely pretty solid arc about overcoming his ego. Or maybe not! It's unclear. But, y'know, you can't exactly test whether or not your power of respawning after death works, and if you've spent your whole life living without any kind of mortal peril... It'll fuck with you.

This arc, which, on the whole, works really well. The tonal shifts between comedic violence and earnest superhero drama feel natural and earned; Ethan is relatable enough that we can understand his pathos and feel what he's like even as he tries to raise money for a new graphics card by draining all the blood from his body, getting annoyed when the blood "despawns" on his death. Lucas similarly makes a sympathetic and effective supporting character.

The art isn't exactly gonna take the comics world by storm, but it's professional and has a consistent style without simply copy-pasting everything, a huge step up from the early stuff we all make fun of. If you told me this was a DC comic... well, it'd be a pretty big stylistic shift from the usual DC fare, but it'd probably wouldn't be the worst-drawn comic on the shelves. To be fair, he's been doing this for 20+ years, so you can expect some growth, but some people wouldn't necessarily expect much growth from Tim Buckley, so that's a pleasant surprise.

In addition to this, there's a few other projects under the larger CAD banner, and most of them work pretty well. The Starcaster Chronicles is a bit bogged down with melodrama but is generally an enjoyable sci-fi romp with some neat ideas and character turns (I really love the reason why Cort, our main character, turned into an outlaw). Console Wars, while a very dated concept, is still pretty funny when it shows up.

All in all, CAD has matured and grown with its author, and can comfortably take up the mantle of "a pretty solid webcomic", and that's probably worth mentioning every once in a while if we're going to keep making more and more obscure Loss memes.

*Although, worth noting, it was apparently based on real life experiences of the author he was processing, so while it's still really bad, it does feel a little mean to treat it like a huge memey joke. That ship has very much sailed, but, uh, I get why he banned HBomberguy from his forum. That was, I think we can say in hindsight, kind of a dick move on Harry's part.

[dragonsongmakhali]

9 People I'd Like To Know Better

Tagged by: @reikatsukihana, @airis-ray, @mimble-sparklepudding, and @heart-of-corundum - thank y'all! This was fun :'D

Tagging: oh boy I don't know who hasn't done this yet, so I'm tagging folks with reckless abandon👍

@miqojak @seinthood @iron-sparrow @ahollowgrave @blackestnight @crowdsourcedloner @wilanserulia @sumifinalfourteen @thefreelanceangel

Last song: POP/STARS. Yeah, I'm back on it again. I basically cycle K/DA songs as favorites and sprinkle in some Linkin Park and video game bgm to mix things up. I've liked the same kinds of songs since I was a youngling playing DDR and badly singing along to BeForU.

Favorite color: If I can only choose one, black. If I can choose an accent color, red. The "1337 gamer" aesthetic unfortunately has me under a sniper scope at all times, as I unironically love that edgy tech look. My style is "goth programmer" and I do not take criticism.

Last movie/TV show: Star Trek Enterprise. We're on the fourth and final season, as the show wasn't renewed for a 5th season. At least the creators knew it was coming, so the ending shouldn't be super jarring, but I've heard it's not at all what they originally wanted for it. Sad, I really like their long form storytelling. We also watched half of a sci-fi from 1993 called Cyborg^2: Glass Shadow last night. If you're wondering whether we've watched the first one. The answer is no, and we specifically skipped any flashback sequences - it's not really the kind of movie that you need to have your brain wrinkling for.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Sweet all the way, I'm basically a colony of sugar ants in the shape of a human. I'm terrible with spicy foods - I don't taste anything, my lips just hurt!

Relationship status: Happily married, we'll be celebrating 5 years married/11 years together next month :)

Last thing I googled: an error message that I hoped would be explained by stack overflow, only for google to find six links that were for completely different set ups/use cases, three sponsored ads for yet another hot new framework that's supposed to make my life easier but actually just installs tracking cookies everywhere while "helpfully" obscuring verbose debugging information, and a single link that was only semi-helpful in tracking down the problem. I'm not mad.

Current obsession: Alt timeline classic WoW tabletop characters my beloved

[randomvarious]

1990s German Techno Playlist (YouTube)

Started putting together a small playlist of some of my personal 90s German techno favorites for you all to enjoy for this week 😎. It's not definitive by any means, but with this first iteration, I think this thing still presents a pretty nice range of different types of techno, from the deep and rumbling, hypnotic basement kind to the main-room-of-the-club floor-stomping kind 😤. And despite the fact that most of these selections come from a small handful of Germany's most well-established dance and techno labels—Harthouse, Tresor, and the qualitative-over-quantitative Chain Reaction—I'd say that, given the YouTube play counts for a lot of these tracks, that most of them are a tad bit obscure too 👍.

Ich und meine buddies vibing to ze German 90s tekno

But while almost all of these tunes are by German acts that were released by German labels, the track that we happen to kick off with here, an eleven-plus minute piece of acid-drenched sci-fi psychosis from 1993 called "Blanche," by a short-lived duo from Mainz who called themselves Purple Plejade, is not from a German label at all, but is instead from a Dutch label called Djax-Up-Beats. Purple Plejade was made up of a couple notable German techno names in Holger Wick and Thomas P. Heckmann, but the two of them together only put out a couple of 12-inches, and "Blanche" was their first. Now, there's a scratchy ten-minute version of this song that's already on YouTube, that I think was uploaded back when the maximum length of your video could only be ten minutes, and that thing has over 41,000 plays on it. But this *full,* extra-minute-plus affair, as Gott originally intended it to be heard, only has under 11,000 plays across a bunch of different YouTube uploads, by comparison.

Now let's talk about a couple other favorites on here: one floor-stomper and one that's headily sublime. The floor-stomper comes courtesy of Bad Nauheim's Patrick Lindsey, who in 1996 released a 12-inch called The Phat Jive on Harthouse. And the title track on that release is what you get when you pair some melody that's reminiscent of a theme song from one of those syndicated reality court shows that airs on TV in the afternoons with some snaky, beeping synths and smacking four-on-the-floor percussion to then overwhelm it. A unique fucking banger that's sitting at over 1,300 plays.

And for that headily sublime one, which closes us out, we have a tune from Berlin's DisX3, aka Alexander Kowalski, who in 1999 put out a 12-inch on Tresor called Sequenzed_Function E.P., which kicked off its b-side with "Bored Meat." This stunner's loaded up with a fuck-ton of Richter scale-registering drums to form its rhythmic foundation, but where it really kills is with its weakly plonking, contrastingly high-pitched synth melody that gets placed atop of it all, while including a bunch of jingling hi-hats too. Basically, if you really love yourself some techno music, this is a track that should simply pierce your mechanically-made soul 🤤. And it's only been listened to less than ten thousand times on YouTube!

This playlist is ordered as chronologically as possible:

Purple Plejade - "Blanche" Patrick Lindsey - "Prepare to Jam" Patrick Lindsey - "The Phat Jive" Porter Ricks - "Port of Transition" Alter Ego vs. David Holmes - "The Evil Needle" Pacou - "T.4" Continuous Mode - "Direct Drive Mode 1" DisX3 - "The Wide Theatre" DisX3 - "Bored Meat"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So with the introduction of this playlist, we start out with a total of ten songs that run for 68 minutes. Altogether, a good and eclectic clip of stuff here to get us started that's not very well known.

And next week we'll be staying put in Germany, but we'll be getting into some much chillier stuff! 🥶

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[sgtwhiskers26]

Older obscure Star Trek fanfiction

Magic does have a place in sci-fi

This crossover made me discover the Young Wizard Series, an entertaining and creative series that I highly recommend 

Still no word on when I will release my very first fic. It will be soon, I hope. I love T’lyn as a character, and I love her design. I love her humor. I even love her struggles, but my God, is she hard to write. It is not just because she’s a Vulcan; I’ve written other Vulcans before, but for whatever reason, she just instantly kills my creative streak.

Remember to show your love to the original writers and as always enjoy 

Deep Space Wizardry

lemonsofjune

[wonderofasunrise]

...or at least I think I do.

Anyway, something tells me that it'd be neat to have a well-organised pinned post, so here goes.

I go by M around this place, and I've been back here since 2020 after almost a decade of absence from this hellsite. I'm a 28-year-old queer woman from Indonesia, and I spend around 30% of my fandom life writing fic, 5% being a connoisseur of...less-than-stellar and often obscure movies starring hot actresses that I like (Jeri Ryan, Gates McFadden, Denise Crosby, Laura Innes, Sherry Stringfield, Maura Tierney to name a few...), and the remaining 65% lamenting the fact that I'm a fandom participant from a non-Western country where English is not an official language which is...well, let's say it can be quite a lonely existence.

My two primary fandoms here are ER and Star Trek (The Next Generation, Voyager, Picard), so you'll find that most of my posts and reblogs are related to those two - with a dash of other stuff. I got into ER during lockdown in 2020, and it remains one of the best decisions I've ever made. It is my favourite show ever, and as of now Kerry Weaver is still the only queer character on TV that I can relate to fully as a struggling queer woman in a less-than-supportive environment. ER was also my entry to online fandom spaces, particularly Twitter and Tumblr. Star Trek is the one fandom I never expected to really get into, given that I was never too big on sci-fi, though according to my mum it runs in the family since my late grandfather loved The Original Series and was an admirer of Spock. So far I have watched TNG, VOY, and PIC, with VOY being my favourite - especially my beloved former Borg drone and half-Klingon.

As I said, fanfiction is my thing here and I've been into it since I was around 14 - though I didn't start writing seriously until I was an adult. Among other things, fic helped me learn English tremendously as a teenager, and though naturally I still make mistakes here and there I feel far more confident writing fic in English than in Indonesian, lol. So far I have 29 published works on AO3, all ER and Trek. My favourite characters, and thus the ones I write the most about, are Kerry Weaver, Susan Lewis, Abby Lockhart, and Carol Hathaway (ER); Tasha Yar, Data, Beverly Crusher, and Deanna Troi (TNG); and Kathryn Janeway, B'Elanna Torres, and Seven of Nine (VOY). My preferred ships are Kerry/Susan, Kerry/Abby, and Abby/Susan (ER); Picard/Crusher and Data/Tasha (TNG); and B'Elanna/Seven (VOY).

These are some of my personal favourites that I've written:

ER The Ache for Home (Kerry/Susan) When All We Have is Here and Now (Kerry/Susan) In a Sacred Place (Kerry/Susan) Like Nothing Before (Abby/Susan)

Star Trek In Salvo (TNG x VOY crossover; Seven, the Doctor, & Beverly) The Colours Are Bright (VOY; Janeway & Seven) One Hundred Hours (VOY; B'Elanna & Seven)

For more of those, here's my AO3 profile - do feel free to leave a comment if you enjoy any of my works! I also take prompts for the aforementioned fandoms, and if you have any please hit me up here. In case you somehow happen to enjoy my vibes, I'm also on Twitter as @lobsterbreaker and my ask here is (almost) always open. In addition, I'm a mod on two queer-focused Discord servers: que[ER] Fic and Fandom for all things ER fanfiction and fandom with a twist of gayness and Space MILFs for our favourite hot ladies in space - please let me know if you're interested in joining either (or both 👀)!

That's about it, really, so if you've been so kind to bear with me here you fucking rock, I love you, I wish you the best yadda yadda yadda, and here's to more medical and space shenanigans!

[stanleyl]

I know you’ll probably don’t respond to this but… as a Tom fan, I’ll be very honest. I feel like the fandom isn’t being truthful and there has been a lot of dissatisfaction around him for a while but won’t say it because they don’t want to come off as antis. But I think it’s okay to have different opinions and have some critics.

as a Tom fan, it’s been so exhausting how everything about him has become his romantic relationship. it didn’t bothered me at first but now it’s unbearable. For 2 years now, he isn’t perceived as an actor, just “the boyfriend”. he only trends or makes headlines related to his relationship. Before making the relationship public, he had a whole set of opportunities. He was a movie star in the making, everyone was waiting for his next move outside of the MCU. By 2019, he was already the lead of two movies with huge box office numbers and with active participation in the Avengers. One of the most talked about movies ever. And what have we gotten ever since? TDATT was his last good movie and that’s a fact a lot of the fandom doesn’t want to admit. And that came out 4 years ago.

I feel like a lot of people on the fandom doesn’t want to admit Tom is around people that don’t push him to consider his career Post-Marvel as long as they get the benefits from his MCU checks. And most of his team aren’t really building his career with a strategy in mind. The whole “lead action hero” agenda that his team tries to push only limits him. And I also think Tom lets himself get carried away by a lot of people like the Russo Brothers. Doolittle and Onward were cute but didn’t do much for his career. And I’m sure he only did Doolittle because of RDJ. And the movie flopped.

Chaos Walking was the worst decision he could’ve made because everything about it screamed that it was going to tank. But his team wanted him to be the face of a new franchise so bad. And it’s not like it was a super obscure genre that people don’t tend to watch - it was a young adult sci-fi movie but it was so bad Lionsgate had it as a tax write off. He missed on the lead for 1917 for this movie.

Following that, he did Cherry with the Russo Brothers and that wasn’t good at all. Yes, Tom’s acting was great but the movie was hardly of quality. It shouldn’t have existed in his discography and it’s because of his dependence with the Russo brothers that he got stuck with that script. After a year of bad movies outside of the MCU, comes NWH that quickly becomes a box office success but it’s also overshadowed by his relationship and the rumored cameos. I guess it was smart that Uncharted and NWH came out close because it helped the box office but even when I thought the movie was fun, it further typecasts Tom into those type of roles and I feel it goes with his team wanting him to be the “lead action hero” instead of going for smaller things as some actors do to slowly break out from a character.

After a long time, he drops TCR and again, I think his acting was great but the series as a whole was hard to get through. It definitely got ignored by the strike since he couldn’t promote it. But then again, the only viral tweets I saw about this show were in relation to his personal life. Not once about Tom as an actor.

I’m happy he is going back into theater and maybe he finds himself inspired again with what made him love acting. But after that? Uncharted 2? The confirmation of another Spider-Man trilogy? I really hope the Paul A biopic is still in place because this could turn around his career in another direction.

And yes, I know that not everyone wants to have a critically acclaim career and at the end of the day i am not here to dictate that- i understand he doesn’t like the industry and he is allowed to take time away from that, but I’ve been saying it for years - i think his team should allow him to do silly movies or movies w great directors and assemble cast where he isn’t the lead role. he could do a secondary character in a great movie and maybe he won’t feel too pressured by that but gets to build more experiences. florence pugh was 5 minutes in oppenheimer. a lot of huge actors do small roles in movies. why can’t he do the same?

tom has become really all about his relationship while his peers that didn’t have half the accolades than him, have been able to rise into a more established career in matter of 2 years. all while their relationship not being the main focus.

No, I'm posting, lol.

I think this whole viral stuff you guys are talking about is only a problem on Twitter. I get what you're saying, but he goes viral on TikTok for many reasons, even golf lol. The most viral stuff about TCR was those scenes from ep8, so where this narrative is coming from?

I agree with what you said about his team, 🤷🏽‍♀️.

I think most fans are just tired of constantly hate and unnecessary career discussions every two weeks coming from people who don't watch his projects and are always comparing him to other dudes, when we're barely getting anything from him and he hasn't been cast in a movie in 3 years, hasn't been on a movie set for 2 years. They cannot praise these other guys without mentioning him and it's annoying.

Also, fans who say he doesn't care about critics, aren't lying to themselves, he clearly does. What actor doesn't want positive feedback? He's still campaigning for an award even tho he probably won't get nominated again (I'd love to be proven wrong, but still).