#making a fun little vulcan beast :>

[ssstardust3001]

Developing a species. :> As a treat, I'm calling them sarduict(s). (Literally just put a lot of letters together bros.)

Info under read more

They are desert-dwelling beings that are warm-blooded endurance hunters able to easily cool themselves off with a complex internal system so they could keep running effectively rather than waste water by sweating. They are omnivorous though and can rely on roots and other plants when the hunting is bad. They are also known to sit in the rare rain showers or fog to absorb water through their skin.

Adults of either sex have "antlers" that are for display. The antlers are just modified feathers that serve no defense purposes. They have cyan blood that glows in the dark and are able to change color like octopuses to blend into their environment.

They have a dog-like intelligence (which is disputed, their true level of intelligence isn't fully known) and are a pack species that lives family groups. They are also shown to care for their elder and disabled members, often adopting orphans of their species. They communicate through a kind of telepathy to coordinate their actions while hunting and they can detect the minds of other species which makes them difficult to catch unaware. They communicate through a sort of code over longer distances through their bioluminescent tails which can blink on and off. They can be domesticated and trained to do tasks such as hunting.

They are very good parents and hold their eggs within pouches which both males and females possess. Their young then hatch and are able to use their prehensile tails to hang onto their pack mates's tails for transport if their parents cannot carry all of them in their arms. However, they usually only lay 1 or 2 eggs at a time.

They are able to open their jaws to 90 degrees at the widest and possess venomous fangs containing a neurotoxin to paralyze their prey. These fangs are on their second set of jaws which also aid in holding onto prey and guide food into their throats. They can control if they want to envenomate their target or not.

They have five fingers on human-like hands and five toes. Their toes possess hooves at the tips much like tapirs. Their fingers are quite dexterous. They can use simple tools and weave nests. The male actually initiates courtship with a female by first weaving her a nest.

They smell through nostrils like dogs, however they can also smell much like snakes do with forked tongues and a Jacobson's organ. Their nostrils can close to prevent breathing in dust, and they have nictitating membranes that protect their eyes from sand and the suns of their world. They can hold their breath for an hour if they are motionless during sandstorms and always have a sense where up is as well as the general directions of north, south, east, and west.

They can make rather throaty, yet musical vocalizations to communicate over long distances and even sometimes sing just for the hell of it or to even help calm their young who communicate through chirps. Females can be seen initiating courtship through song, and the male would try to copy. However, they can also mimic humanoid speech much like ravens of Earth.

Their ears are rather long, but are pressed against their body, blending in. It is not fully known why they sometimes hide their ears even if they aren't threatened, however it is suspected that they are incredibly sensitive to sound.

Young are covered in feathers which insulate them against cold desert nights when they are too large to remain in their parents' pouches. They lose them when they reach full maturity.

They are immune to the poison of the le-matya among other venomous and poisonous species, and their blood can be used as a general antitoxin in a pinch.

They are known to come to the aid of humanoids stranded in the desert, and an attack from one is almost unheard of unless it is alone due to being sick. When sick with a general disease, an individual will tend to isolate themselves, but remain in the pack and under its care. However, if it is life threatening, it will use the last of its strength to abandon its pack and wander into the desert to die alone.

They mourn their dead as well using complex songs while burying them in sand. Each family unit has a specific mourning song as well as specific greeting songs. When meeting another family group there is usually little to no conflict and they use that opportunity for adult members to court members from the other group. Males usually join the female's family group.

They tend to be rather illusive and shy creatures in general, but they are drawn to music.

They can also stand completely upright in order to view things easier with their sharp eyes that can see in multiple wavelengths and in more colors than humans. Males are a little smaller. On average though, when fully upright, they are around 7 feet tall.

It is speculated that they could possibly eventually evolve into an intelligent space-fairing species in the future.

Honestly they're like dinosaurs mixed with dogs and ravens that have hooves and pouches. They aren't mammals though since they don't produce milk.

Their facial markings are also different between individuals.

[electronickingdomfox]

"The New Voyages" review

This one is actually a collection of short stories by fan authors, which makes the stories seem more like episodes of the series. It has also the distinct honor of being introduced by Roddenberry and most members of the cast. The stories are generally well-written and in character.

Some spoilers ahead:

Ni Var (by Claire Gabriel; intro by Nimoy) takes the plot of "The Enemy Within", but applied to Spock and the division between his Vulcan rational part, and his human emotional part. Besides the fact that I'm not sure such division works at that biological level, the two Spocks aren't all that different really. And it's not a very novel concept, specially right after a similar plot in previous book "Spock must die". But bonus points for Kirk giving the middle finger to his own reflection.

Intersection Point (by Juanita Coulson; intro by Doohan) is one of the best stories. The Enterprise is seriously crippled while navigating through an anomaly cloud, which is quickly contracting and threatens to crush the entire ship. Anyone who enters the cloud to retrieve a crucial component of the ship, is mentally destroyed by its eldritch qualities. Great tension and difficult choices.

The Enchanted Pool (by Marcia Ericson; intro by Nichols) is an attempt to write a fairy tale with Spock thrown in the middle for good measure. A bit of purple prose, and doesn't quite work. The resolution of the mistery is ingenous, even when convoluted.

Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited (by Ruth Berman; intro by Barrett) is actually the other half of a fanfic (Visit to a Weird Planet, not published here) where Kirk, Spock and Bones end up in the real world, right in the studio where they're filming Star Trek. Here instead, we follow the actors, who appear in the Enterprise and have to improvise to avert a danger. The other story was more fun, since Kirk and co. are more clumsy and hilarious in our world (being even "attacked" by fans), while the actors are just slightly less competent than their counterparts.

The Face on the Barroom Floor (by Eleanor Arnason and Ruth Berman; intro by Takei) is a really fun story. Kirk gets into a fight in a bar while in shore leave, is detained, teams up with a ratty thief, and crashes a party, while his crew search for him frantically. In the line of TOS best comedy-adventure episodes.

The Hunting (by Doris Beetem; intro by the editors) is a bit "meh". Spock goes into a Vulcan ritual which requires to mind-meld with a wild beast, and McCoy accompanies him. When Spock goes wild in the process, the good doctor has to hunt him and give him back his sanity. There could have been a more homoerotic fight between them, as in "Amok Time".

The Winged Dreamers (by Jennifer Guttridge; intro by Kelley) is another high point. The Enterprise crew falls under the influence of some creatures that make their fantasies seem real. So real that people can actually die if imagining the wrong thing. Spock is less affected, but slowly begins to hallucinate too, and the triumvirate fall into paranoia as neither they (nor the reader) can tell what's real and what's not anymore.

Mind-Sifter (by Shirley Maiewski; intro by Shatner) drags a bit at the beginning, when Kirk wakes up in a sanatory, his mind almost destroyed. It gets more interesting once Spock and McCoy start a quest to search for him. Great interactions between these two, reminiscent of "The Tholian Web".

After the eight stories there's still a little poem about Spock and Leila.

Spirk Meter: 10/10*. Not all stories are equally slashy, but the parts which do, are slashy in spades.

Ni Var has Kirk worrying about Spock all the time, and "human Spock" wondering if what he feels for the Captain is friendship... or love (something which happens too in one of Roddenberry's story concepts for a movie, around this time).

Intersection Point has a clear parallel between the anguish of a female crewmember, after a man (obviously her boyfriend) loses his mind in the anomaly, and Kirk agonizing once Spock has to enter the same anomaly.

The Enchanted Pool, where Spock refuses to kiss a beautiful female time and time again. Even when the woman assures him it's the only way to break a spell and escape. Even when Spock is doing far more dangerous things ALL THE TIME to solve problems. Of course, he considers the kiss a total waste of time once it doesn't work.

The Face on the Barroom Floor: Kirk is invited to a bar by McCoy and Sulu, who have found three women to pass the time, one for each. What does Kirk do? He gets out the bar two seconds later, puts on a samurai costume, and goes instead to a bar full of muscular, rowdy men, to get thrashed by them. Of course.

The Winged Dreamers has Spock wishing to stay on a planet with Kirk, just the two of them, for ever and ever. McCoy totally gets what's going on.

And I thought that Mind-Sifter would be about the love between a (quite unproffesional) nurse, and her mentally unstable patient, Kirk. But oh man, where do I even begin!? For starters, we have Kirk using his mind link with Spock to cry for help, across the galaxy and several centuries. And later he's concerned about how much can Spock read into his mind. Then we have McCoy informing the nurse that no, Kirk can't stay with her, because his love is his career and his... (trails off, having said too much). Gallant Spock carries an unconscious Kirk in his arms, and tells the nurse that, no matter how much she loves him, Kirk DOES NOT love her back (bitch!). If that wasn't enough, there's a lenghty conversation at the end, where Kirk almost melts in love and appreciation for Spock, and the Vulcan blushes at his own emotional display.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[offdensen]

missed that ask meme, curious about wonder! (also didn't know you wrote, just read your trek fics they are 😳🩵🩵🩵🩵)

aw, thank you! i really appreciate that :')

okay so wonder is an old project from when i first got into trek eight years ago. i barely wrote any of the actual fic, but the unfinished outline is over 7k words. it's a beast. i have no idea if i'll ever finish it lmao

there's this movie called this is war (2012) starring chris pine (all my feelings about aos and aos!kirk aside, i love cpine. what a guy) about two guys who are spies and end up competing each other for a lady. it's a romcom. it's not good. but!!! i thought the premise of jim and spock being undercover agents for starfleet intelligence and both falling for bones would be a fun sandbox to play in.

some key notes (this shit is long sorry):

jim and spock have worked together for two years; spock nearly always calls him sir, even when they're alone in private; they both have feelings for each other but. well. they're stupid

bones is still a medical doctor, of course. fresh on the heels of a divorce, he moves to a colony planet and works in one of the largest hospitals in the capital city, avicenna clinic and emergency center

this colony planet, nasir, is located near the border of the beta and alpha quadrants. there are three main cities on the northeastern continent with a string of rural settlements between them, with each main city named after medieval muslim astronomers (al-shatir in the north, al-haytham in the south, and the capital al-khwarizmi in the middle). this continent is largely humid with regular rainstorms and 65°F average temperatures year-round, making it suitable for growing fresh produce, the planet's main export

there is some weird political stuff happening in al-khwarizmi, which is why jim and spock are sent there on assignment; an agent-in-training chekov and long-time investigator scotty are working with them in tandom, but behind the scenes

uhura is a xenolinguist studying the influence of standard on non-human colonists' languages; she is in relationship with chapel, head nurse at avicenna; they are both some of bones' only friends in the colony

sulu is a botanist specializing in xenoagriculture, studying the efficacy of the planet's soil as well as a strange fungus that's been infecting some local crops

rand is a reporter for al-khwarizmi's local news station who's been trying to uncover the reason behind the abnormally high number of political representatives resigning from their positions

and some plot beats:

jim meets bones at a bar and is drawn to him immediately; they build a quick and easy rapport; "jim feels a little butterflies-in-the-stomach high as he watches leonard leave and he makes a mental note to come back to this bar tomorrow"

he later discovers that bones is the same doctor that spock sought after in his preparatory research, having made certain to find a skilled doctor with a xenobiology background in case their mission goes awry

spock requests an interview with bones before his scheduled physical upon discovering that jim in interested in him; they Do Not get along initially, but the physical appointment goes over much more smoothly and that's when spock is like "oh. i'm also fascinated by this man"

jim and spock establish three rules about pursuing bones: not discussing one another with bones, do not infringe on one another's wooing, and no sex. at this point there's no solid "this is polyamory" but rather a "winner-takes-all" deal

it's uhura and chapel that convince bones to deliberate polyamory with jim and spock; still abiding by their rules, they agree, still keeping their knowledge of the other a secret. i'm sure that won't cause any problems in the future :)

a lot of dates. oh my god they go on so many dates. mckirk at the arboretum and camping in tents and slow dancing in a park gazebo; spones at an art gallery and a vulcan restaurant and the aquarium. someone breaks one of their rules. whoops

while all of this is happening, there's an overarching plot regarding political intrigue, a possible homicide, and a plague. it's all very ambitious and probably the reason why i never got very far. maybe one day!

[beatrice-otter]

questions for fic writers: 7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

Oooh, good question! I love worldbuilding. This is not all the worldbuilding I'm proud of, it's just the ones that popped into my head as I was thinking about this question. (I've been writing fanfic for 20 years or thereabouts, so I don't always remember everything I've written even if I really like it.)

In Juno's Lands. (Stargate SG-1, gen, Daniel & Teal'c) This story comes from two places. One is the artwork it was made for (it's a reverse big bang piece) and the other is my ongoing frustration with how white all people in the Stargate galaxy are. These people are supposedly descended from North Africans kidnapped through the Stargate 10k years ago, why aren't more of them black? Yes, they're Egyptians, and most modern Egyptians are fairly light-skinned; but that's the result of successive waves of conquest from the Greeks to the Romans to the Arabs to the Europeans. So I decided I was going to have Daniel and Teal'c marooned on a planet where the locals were as dark-skinned as they ought to be by rights. I was frustrated by a lack of sources available to me in English in the time I had to write the story, so most of the worldbuilding isn't based on any particular North African tribes, but I was able to get at least the names and some of the language. And the economy and village life and temple functioning were based more on "okay, but how would the sort of stuff we usually see in Goa'uld-owned planets actually work?" and my long-ago history degree than anything else.

From Castle to Palace. Beauty and the Beast/French History RPF. Figuring out how to fit the Beast into real French history was fun, and then figuring out "so what would be going on in the French court at this time, and how would people react to Belle, what would her options be?" was even more fun. I wrote all 17k of it in like a week or so, because the ideas just kept coming. If I'd known more about Revolutionary France, or had more time to research (it was a Yuletide treat), it would have gone longer, I had all these vague ideas for how having the Beast as king instead of the guy who was (in real life) King Louis XVI would change things, especially with Belle there as an advisor.

The Genetics Factory. Criminal Minds/SG-1, Derek Morgan. So this one started with me watching that CM episode where Derek holds little Henry (I think it was Henry? idek, it was years ago) and deciding that he would be a great dad, and how could we accomplish that, and my main fandom was SG-1 at the time, so this melded with some Thoughts I was having re: the Trust/Evil NID. To wit: getting people with the Ancient Gene is really fricking important for the safety of the planet and the ability to exploit Ancient technology, and the Trust/Evil NID has already demonstrated their willingness to do Evil Mad Science on humans. How might these two facts combine? If the Trust/Evil NID were going to make a baby factory to produce people with the Ancient gene, how would that work? And then once I had that answer, I added Derek Morgan, and voila!

Keshta'shivau. Star Trek AOS, Spock/Nyota. This was inspired by me reading a lot of stories about Spock and what the Vulcans were doing and how that would affect his relationships, and getting annoyed because none of the worldbuilding fit with my ideas of Vulcans. So I did my own! This is heavily influenced by the Star Trek TOS novels of the 80s and 90s, especially the ones by Diane Duane. (Spock's World was formative, for me.) So I extrapolated from that to "what does that mean for Vulcans after their homeworld has been destroyed?"

[gayspock]

ok enterprise eppy 1 liveblog

awwhrhh awwww. awhehhghhgh. aweehhghghgh. aowow. sorry. yeah ehrm well im scared of archer fyi but this little intro with a crumb of archer is really rather darling ... i love a little gent who makes model ships. you cant get much better than that. shame he becomes scott bakula but what can you do

Omg...t he like quality of this is also really disconcerting . hewwo. its like theres different freaking camera angles for reals. madness.

th

NOOOOO NOT A SILLY PUTTY BEASTS... HANG ON DIDNT I MAKE A POST AND PEOPLE WARNED ME ABOUT THEM. OH GOODNESS ME

bro why did you shoot my friend. my friend the klin- FTHE UFKCING INTRO I ALREADY KNOW THIS...

IM GOING TO VOM MAYBE.

CAUSE IVE GOT FAITH. OF THE HEART. IM GOING WHERE MY HEART WILL TAKE ME. IVE GOT F

also i dont want to be unfair to enterprise but i am going in with reservations bc i know, like, some vague ongoings with it that make me raise an eyebrow and i am sorta going in this antiicpating taking the piss a BIT more than with others, and i will say love the intro i dont care i love the song the lyrics so funny BUT the visuals are also making me freaking piss myself im so sory.... this is so early 2000s american core...

i cant tell the men apart yet.. thats one of the white blokes.

mister archer isnt AS scary with this little supernatural getup. sorry to call it a supernatural getup. sorry. early 2000s white man core. aesthetic. whatever. sorryyyyyy. stupid brown coat and jeans that are melting on the body.

be quiet archer.

ARCHER..... DO NOT......

LEAVE MY FRIEND THE KLINGON ALONE.... MANS GOT SHOT. GET OUT OF THERE ITS QUITE RUDE...

hes britissh

why did no one put a tw: british cunt on this fucking sh-

WAIT NO SOMEONE TOLD ME MALCY MOO WAS BRITISH BUT STILL FUCKING. THAT ACCENT. SCARY. WHY CANT THEY EVER JUST BE NORMAL BRITISH.

i like travis he's cute isnt he

you are all being so freaking mean to the vulcans. i'll kill you- wait---- HI PORIYHTOOOSSOSO HI PUPPY HI BABYYYYY AWWW MWAH MWAH WHOS A GOOD LITTLE BABY BOO.....

i like phlox hi phlox isnt phlox quite lovely

archer do not look at his feet youfreak.

PHLOX'S SMSIELELELLELEE

HE SAID: :>

HE SAID THAT

HE SAID ^v^ he said THAT

can everyone just be fucking nice to t'pol ive notfelt the stress since tos i forgot you guys are so rude all of the time to my friends the vulcans, my best friends the vulcans....

the girls are fighting.... sad face... why msutwomen fight. women should love women. soapy. smile.

again with malcy moos voice. JEUSUS- FUCKING HANG ON NEVERMIND THE PUTTY PALS ARE FUCKING SQUIRMING ALL OVER,

THEYRE FUCKING WRIGGLING LIKE BEASTS

anywaybefore i was rudely interrupted by interprative dance type creatures i was going to reitera- JESUS ITS LIKE A SPIDER IT KEEPS GOING SORYR- i was about to reiterate that malcolms accent specifically like i thought the actor was british but also theres soemthing so exaggerated .... i cannot cope

can you show some fucking enthusiasm for phlox. hes so phreaking polite. and you are not showing the enthusiasm he is due.

i like trips accent though isnt it fun. i dont know the difference between american accents but it has that quality to it. like an elastic band .. bwang. ^_^

again with the effects. so scary. will it always be this scary . i need to be held gently. like how tos held me gently.

but also its so nice to be visiting actual places... god. it feels like so long like- OH MY GOD LTIERALLY BUTTERFLIES SO GOOD OMGGG even if . well this is rather ... cheeky - but yes well sigh. i always got a little frustrated with how limited tng was. but smile i hope we get so many little adventures toplaces like this ... like how tos was. smile..........

t'pol is literally saving grace here..... goodness fucking gracious.

hoshi is s o pretty btw smile

DOES ARCHER HAVE EARRINGS ? DID I MISSEE?

okay thTSTHe halfway point im going to break now nods (walks away)

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 21: 3x04 And the Children Shall Lead

Okay, I���m finally going to write up my thoughts on And the Children Shall Lead. I think I’m (mostly) over all of my excessively-strong emotions about this ep lol. Maybe going through my notes will bring them back. Or maybe not. I’ve felt very tired and uninterested in everything today so it’s hard to tell. So far the process is not going well: tumblr ate my first attempt at a post, like literally I wrote a few lines, clicked to a new tab, and when I clicked back the post was empty so thanks for that, and I keep on just generally not being interested in the task. So, we’ll see.

The tl;dr is that I don’t see why this ep is considered one of the worst. I actually really liked it!

Single-color jumpsuits: the fashion of the future.

Another old Kirk friend! (This isn’t even important lol; it never comes up again or matters that Kirk knew this guy, but we must always be reminded that he is the best networker in Starfleet.)

“He’s dead, Captain.” Not “he’s dead, Jim”?? Sounds wrong.

“The enemy within.” I thought that was a S1 ep?

Ah, another bunch of creepy kids. In pajamas this time, apparently.

Kirk is not having fun being the center of their creepy little rhyme.

RIP to McCoy but my diagnosis is “alien shenanigans.”

“I’m sorry, Captain Kirk.” Such a polite little alien.

McCoy corralling the kids

This sounds a lot like Miri, except purposeful—something targeted all the adults but left the kids, just like the virus in Miri affected all the adults, but not the kids.

…A disturbance in the cave!

Lol at Kirk’s anxiety face. I feel you, man.

Spock’s never experienced anxiety? My first thought is ‘sounds fake’ but actually… maybe he really hasn’t.

“There has to be an explanation.” This is the MOST Jim line.

I like these kids. They’re actually pretty cute. Also love Kirk trying to relate to the kids.

Where are they? Is this Sulu’s greenhouse lol? I love it. They should have used this set more.

“That place is for adults.” Gotta say, I wrote this down but now have no recollection what it actually refers to. The bridge? I think it’s the bridge.

Are they performing witchcraft? Intriguing.

“Friendly angel”—nothing creepy about that at all.

Got a little alien cult going on here. Every time I feel anxiety from now on I’m going to assume it’s an alien cultist nearby.

“We’ll pursue this in my quarters.” Wink wink.

Can’t fool Uhura.

Never mind. Yes you can.

For someone who wanted the kids guarded all the time, Kirk sure was ok with them just traipsing around the bridge. I mean the guards are at the door but like…they’re only at the door.

Never really thought about how there’s apparently an…engineering component... to flying the ship? I don’t know, I don’t really get it but it’s cool.

"Evil does seek to maintain power by suppressing the truth." Damn. Great line.

BAND OF MARAUDES. That’s a cool backstory for the dead alien society. Basically, they’re ghosts. Greedy ghosts. Alien ghost pirates.

Great triumvirate scene. McCoy want to protect the kids and Kirk’s like “…but the ship, though?” Which is fair!!

What does the ghost want? Um, a ship to maraud in, were you not listening to Spock’s exposition of the back story?

No don’t beam anyone down!!

Love any time Spock pushes someone else out of the way so he can man the transporter. He’s somehow the second-best expert on it on the entire ship.

Eeek, low-key gruesome death there. Look, I know that this is one of the scenes that haters love to point out as a reason to despise the episode but I personally don’t think deeply enough into the transporter situation to wonder how much information they have or assume before they beam people anywhere. Also…weird alien stuff is happening, guys. Just attribute it to that. Also also, if you’re gonna nitpick like that, be prepared to hate all of TOS.

THE KIDS STOLE THE CAR.

“Sulu, what did you to do my ship?”

Uhura’s watching this little witchcraft scene from the background like ‘aw, so cute.’

“Call upon their beasts.” Metal.

“Go to your stations.” This little kid is a future Captain in the making.

SPACE KNIVES

Kirk's like "Oh no, my crew is deserting me, I'm gonna have to fly the whole ship by myself AGAIN.”

“Captain, why are we bothering Starfleet?” Et tu, Spock?s

How did they get to Spock? He doesn’t seem scared of anything…more like he’s under the influence of a general hallucination, like the others seeing the planet on the screen even after they left orbit.

I remember this part, with Kirk freaking out. Spock doesn’t like it one bit.

He’s just being a littttle Dramatique.

Cannot believe that all Spock has to do is say “Jim” in a quiet, intimate voice and Kirk is immediately okay. Just let it out of his system, grabbed onto his friend, heard his own name, and the beast is defeated.

“My Vulcan friend”? Lol.

Kirk’s face when he realizes they’ve got Scotty too…

“Go away or we’ll kill you.” That was legitimately creepy. Scotty gone rogue.

Aw, Spock was worried about him again.

“Without followers, evil cannot spread.”

“Where did you hear this order, Chekov?” / “The voices in my head.”

It’s interesting that Kirk and Spock can’t be manipulated—perhaps because they have each other?

Enough of this—fight time!

That guard sounded like he really liked that nerve pinch; he was kinda moaning as he went down.

“Spock, corral them to their rooms.”

Outta the chair, brat.

Is Kirk going to defeat the alien evil using logic?

Summoning the “angel” by using the old recording is very clever.

When did they decide to start calling him the Gorgon?

“It lost its power in the light of reality” = “I looked into Spock’s eyes and knew myself again.”

HE IS GENTLE. It’s true and you should say it.

And he doesn’t even dispute it. “AND we are ALSO very strong.”

"You are full of goodness. Such as you cannot be changed."

So the girl is Jankowski.

This is very Candyman. The alien needs their belief to live. When they cease to follow him, he literally disappears.

Honestly, this whole alien scheme starts to look equal parts silly and sad, trying to call the crying children "generals.” They’re babies!

McCoy loves to see children in tears lol.

Kirk just hands them all off to McCoy, like ‘well, my work here is done.’

Okay, now we reverse course to pick up those stranded security guards still on the planet, right? Right? No? Okay, guess not.

Uhura, immediately ready with the paperwork lol. Now IS the time.

The end!

Now to try to interpret all of my other, more general notes.

The way I interpreted Spock being able to defy the mind control was that he was affected by Kirk. Because he clearly was affected, but then when he saw Kirk starting to freak out, he looked concerned, and then got them both off the bridge—he had a breakthrough of clarity long enough to understand he needed to get off the bridge. Then he’d be away from the kids, and they wouldn’t have as much control, and he could snap Jim out of it, too.

Like I’m sure his Vulcan resilience could easily have been part of it, too, but that resilience wasn’t enough to keep him from being affected at all—and of course they could have easily written it that way—and it seems obvious that his moment of clarity was caused specifically by watching Kirk starting to lose it. There are so many shots of him specifically watching Kirk and the guard.

The K/S vibes were so strong. Spock was so protective, then they get in the lift and Kirk basically clings to him. All he has to do is say Kirk’s name and Kirk is fine, which is basically the power of true love. And then even outside of that scene… for the whole rest of the ep, they’re a duo. It’s not just Kirk against the Evil of the Week, it’s Kirk and Spock, working together at every turn. Neither of them could have done it alone.

it's a pretty classic trope, in fact, especially in s1, to have Kirk all alone, abandoned by all...where he's the last man standing, the one who has to run the whole ship and save the whole day. Naked Time, This Side of Paradise, and Trouble with Tribbles (kinda) all come to mind. But this time he has Spock! You see the progression of their relationship in that.

I really enjoyed this episode in general. Lots of classic tropes: creepy children; surprise alien; old alien society not as dead as we thought; Kirk has to run the whole ship by himself (with Spock); heroic!Kirk saving the day… It has it all. It’s clearly revisiting some older themes and ideas, but in a sufficiently unique way that it doesn’t just seem like a rehash of an older plot. In some ways, it felt like a Classic S1 episode to me. It has some Miri elements, some Charlie X elements, some Naked Time elements…

I literally don’t understand why it’s so disliked.

Skimmed the wiki and the only specific criticism in there is that Kirk shows an “unmistakable hostility to the children.” Well first of all, he doesn’t. He might not have the best manner with them, but why should he? He’s certainly not mean or cruel to them. He recognizes they’re a danger to his ship, and to the whole planet of Marcos-12, which by the way is objectively true, but that’s not being hostile. McCoy is the one who represents ‘exclusive care for the children’s welfare’ in this ep, but he CAN do that, because he’s not the Captain. He represents that perspective, he gives his opinion, which is both his job on the ship and his role on the show, and then Kirk takes that into account while doing HIS job, which is running the ship. McCoy would have literally let the kids take over their ship and conquer the galaxy as part of their grieving process lol. Kirk was right and I should say it. (Also btw he understands that killing the kids might be an option—but he obviously doesn’t actually do it.)

I actually think this ep is a great example of the triumvirate functioning--McCoy reminds Kirk that the children are just traumatized children, and Spock reminds him that he's responsible for 400+ people on the ship, and Kirk makes the decisions that vanquish the evil, save the ship, and free the kids.

And look, even if you don’t like this episode, you’d have to argue very hard to convince me it’s the WORST, as in worse than Spock’s Brain, worse than The Alternative Factor, worse than Assignment Earth (not even a real TOS ep!), worse than The Omega Glory.

Some stuff I actively liked: the concept of the alien taking over the children specifically (both creepy and…kinda makes sense? That they’d be vulnerable); the message that the followers of demagogues can be both truly dangerous and objects of sympathy; the backstory of the evil empire of pirate aliens—and how greed doesn’t die; the witchcraft aesthetic, ESPECIALLY when paired with the kid antagonists, since kids are so into that like chanting, incantations, rituals thing; that the ep used every single main character (when was the last time a TOS ep did that?). Also I thought the kid actors did a good job!

The theme about the authoritarian and the cult followers was actually quite resonant, I thought; inevitably made me think of Tr/ump and his Tr/umpies. Just like in this episode, you must have some kind of… if not sympathy, at least willingness to do the hard work of deprograming and then bringing them back to the fold, or else the country is never going to heal and it’s never going to be able to go forward in a positive way. It might not go forward at all! But fuck it’s hard to have that sympathy; they’re so abhorrent. Here, you see the terrible things the kids do, and yet sympathy isn’t so hard, because they’re kids. You see how much they are victims/pawns also. And so in that sense, Kirk’s ability to deprogram them is comfortingly optimistic—a little bittersweet, as TOS often is, because the kids have done horrible things and seen horrible things and now they’ll have to live with it, but comforting nonetheless.

I can’t even think of that many things I didn’t like in the ep. Mostly just nitpicky things. Like, was McCoy a little inconsistent in what he thought should be done with the kids? Yeah, but we get the general idea. Did Kirk drop the ball when he let them hang out on the bridge? Yes, especially as he knew how dangerous they were at that point, but I actually don’t mind it so much because they’re kids—it’s understandable that their true dangerousness didn’t fully compute to him. I don’t see that as a mistake or sloppy writing tbh. And was it an amateur hour mistake to beam two people into space? Yes, but it made up for it in being creepy and upping the stakes of the ep.

I guess I could see how the fist gesture could be seen as a little silly. But the other option, having them speak rhymes each time, would have been distracting—and probably also looked silly! Also, as my mom pointed out, it looks like a kid’s game (sorta like the start of rock paper scissors) so it fits appropriately with the theme.

I really liked how they wove in the aesthetic of kids’ games, kids’ manners of playing, into the narrative. Kids can be really creepy! They like creepy things! So the ring around the rosy rhyme at the beginning—a quite disturbing chant, of course, about the Plague, that is also very commonly sung by actual kids—foreshadows the summoning chant that brings the alien to them. It’s all of a piece. And just like the rhyme is just a rhyme, and they don’t know the real meaning behind it, they probably also don’t fully understand the meaning of the summoning chant or the alien that comes with it. It’s all one big game to them.

It’s interesting that the alien seemed to play off their desire both to punish their parents for working too much ("they like the planet, they're always busy") and to have freedom from parental rules (how they react to any instructions from adults, the alien's promise that the whole universe will be their playground, etc.). He really picks their sore spots as kids specifically and turns them into his “generals” accordingly. Like all kids, they don’t think too much about the larger consequences of their game because in some ways, it really is all just a game to them.

I liked how the episode characterized Kirk’s ability to interact with kids. He’s not bad with them at all, but he’s not like McCoy or Chapel either. He “wants to communicate with the future adult in the kid,” as my mom put it, which is perfect. He doesn’t exactly treat them as mini-adults—he doesn’t say inappropriate things to them, and he does simplify his language and his ideas for them—but he does treat them very seriously. And he’s probably best at one-on-one interactions like with Tommy. I think this makes total sense for his character: he doesn’t have kids (David aside lol), he doesn’t have younger siblings, he doesn’t work in a place where he’d see other people’s kids, he doesn’t get to see his nephew much, etc.

…Okay those were all my notes. I know I had other thoughts that were a little less scattered later, but… I’m tired. And most of it is probably in here in some form or another. I also found a list of, like, actual critiques of the episode, and I was considering going through them and addressing them all, and I might still do that. But I think that’s for another day.

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek Villains Who Actually Had a Point

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This article contains spoilers for various parts of the Star Trek franchise.

Last fall, airing just a few weeks apart, both Star Trek and Star Wars debuted season premieres of new streaming TV episodes in which the heroes of each show had to fight a giant, legless worm-monster. In Star Trek: Discovery’s “That Hope Is You Part 1,” it was the deadly Tranceworm, while The Mandalorian’s “Chapter 9: The Marshall” had the murderous Krayt Dragon. The differences between the Final Frontier and the Faraway Galaxy could not have been made clearer by these dueling beasts: in Mando, the plot involved killing the monster by blowing up its guts from the inside, while in Disco, Book taught Michael Burnham how to make friends with it.

The Trek universe deals with the concept of evil a little differently than many of its famous genre competitors. There is no Lex Luthor of the Federation. Palpatine doesn’t haunt the planet Vulcan. The Klingons have no concept of “the devil.” (At least in The Original Series.) This isn’t to say Trek doesn’t have some very memorable Big Bads, it’s just that most of the time those villains tend to have some kind of sympathetic backstory. Even in the J.J. Abrams films! 

So, with that in mind, here’s a look at seven Star Trek villains who maybe weren’t all bad, and kind of, even in a twisted way, had a point…

Harry Mudd

In Star Trek: The Original Series, Harry Mudd was presented as a straight-up con-man, a dude who seemed to be okay with profiting from prostitution (in “Mudd’s Women”) and was also down with marooning the entire crew of the Enterprise on a random planet (in “I, Mudd”). He’s not a good person. Not even close. But, he does make a pretty could case against Starfleet’s lack of planning. In the Discovery episode “Choose Your Pain,” Mudd accuses Starfleet of starting the war with the Klingons, and, as a result, putting the larger population of the galaxy at risk. “I sure as hell understand why the Klingons pushed back,” Mudd tells Ash Tyler. “Starfleet arrogance. Have you ever bothered to look out of your spaceships down at the little guys below? If you had, you’d realize that there’s a lot more of us down there than there are you up here, and we’re sick and tired of getting caught in your crossfire.”

Seska

At a glance, Seska seems pretty irredeemable. She joins the idealistic Maquis but is secretly a Cardassian spy. Once in the Delta Quadrant, she tries to screw Voyager as much as possible, mostly by hooking up with the Kazon. That said, Seska is also someone caught up in hopelessly sexist, male-dominated power structures and does what she has to do to gain freedom and power. The Cardassian military isn’t exactly enlightened nor kind, so the fact that Seska was recruited into the Obsidian Order in the first place certainly explains her deceptive conditioning. You could argue that Seska could have become a better person once she had Captain Janeway as an ally, but, the truth is, she was still a spy caught behind enemy lines, but suddenly without a government to report back to. So, Seska did what she had to do to survive, even lying to Chakotay about having his child. The thing is, again, outside of Starfleet, Seska is at the mercy of the sexist machinations of the Kazon, so again, she’s kind of using all the tools at her disposal to gain freedom. Had Voyager not gone to the Delta Quadrant, and Seska’s villainy may have been more clear-cut. But, once the reason for her espionage becomes moot, her situation gets more desperate, and, on some level, more understandable. 

Charlie Evans

In The Original Series, Kirk loves telling humans with god-like powers where to shove it. In “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” he phasers Gary Mitchell and buries him under a rock. But, in “Charlie X,” when teenager Charlie Evans also gets psionic powers, Kirk does a less-than-a-great job of being a good role model. For most of the episode, Kirk tries to avoid become Charlies’ surrogate parent, and when he does try, it results in an embarrassing overly macho wrestling match featuring those famous pink tights.

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Charlie was a deeply troubled human being, and there was no justification for him harassing the crew and Janice Rand in specific. But, angry, kids like Charlie have to be helped before it gets to this point. Kirk mostly tried to dodge the adult responsibility of teaching Charlie the ropes, and only when some friendly aliens arrived, did everyone breathe a sigh of relief. But, don’t get it twisted, those aliens are basically just social workers, doing the hard work Starfleet is incapable of.

The Borg Queen

Because the origin of the Borg Queen has dubious canonical origins, all we were told in Voyager is that she was assimilated as a child, just like Seven of Nine. As Hugh and Jean-Luc discuss in the Picard episode “The Impossible Box,” basically, everyone assimilated by the Borg, is, on some level, a victim. The Queen was never presented this way in either First Contact or Voyager, but, at one point, writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens had pitched a story for Enterprise which would have featured Alice Krige as a Starfleet medical technician who made contact with the Borg.

Because both Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson played the Borg Queen, it’s possible the backstories of each Queen is different and that maybe they aren’t the same character. Either way, assuming the Borg Queen retains some level of autonomy relative to other drones (likely?) then she’s pretty much making the best of a bad situation. In fact, at the point at which you concede the Borg are unstoppable, the Queen’s desire to let Picard retain some degree of his independence as Locutus could scan as a kind of mercy. The Borg Queen actually thinks she and the Borg are making things simpler for everyone. And with both Data and Picard, she tried to make that transition easier and, in her own perverse way, fun too.

Ossyra

Yes, we saw Ossyra feed her nephew to a Trance worm, and we also saw her try to kill literally everyone on the USS Discovery, including Michael Burnham. However, in the middle of all of that, Ossyra did try to actively make peace between the Emerald Chain and the Federation. And, most tellingly, it was her idea. Ossyra also pointed out one of the most hypocritical things about the United Federation of Planets: the fact that Starfleet and its government rely on capitalism without actively acknowledging it. Essentially, Ossyra was saying that the ideals of the Federation are great, but the Federation has all kinds of dirty little secrets it doesn’t want to talk about. In her meeting with Admiral Vance, pretty much everything she said about the Federation was true—and her treaty proposal was fair. 

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The only snag: she wouldn’t turn herself over as a war criminal. Considering the fact that the Federation made Mirror Georgiou into a Section 31 agent, despite her war crimes in another universe, this also seems hypocritical.  Why not just do the same thing with Ossyra? Tell everyone she’s going to prison for war crimes, but make her a Section 31 agent instead? Missed opportunity! 

Khan

Khan was genetically engineered by wacko-a-doodle scientists at the end of the 21st Century. At some point on Earth, he became a “prince” with “power over millions.” But, as Kirk notes in “Space Seed,” there were “no massacres” under Khan’s rule, and described him as the “best of the tyrants.” Kirk’s take on Khan in “Space Seed” is basically that Khan was an ethical megalomaniac. Most of what we see in “Space Seed” backs this up. Khan doesn’t actually want to kill the crew, and stops short of doing it when he thinks he can coerce them instead. His only focus is to gain freedom for himself and his exiled fellow-Augments. In the Kelvin Universe timeline, Khan’s motivations are similar. Into Darkness shows us a version of Khan who, again, is only cooperating with Section 31 because he wants freedom for his people. Sure, he’ll crush some skulls and crash some starships to get to that point, but in his dueling origin stories, Khan is, in both cases interested in freedom for his people, who, are by any definition, totally persecuted by the Federation.

Khan is still a criminal in any century. But, we only really think of him as a villain because he goes insane in between the “Space Seed” and The Wrath of Khan. The Khan of The Wrath is not the same person we met in “Space Seed.” As he tells Chekov, “Admiral Kirk never bothered to check on our progress.” Had Kirk sent a Starfleet ship to drop in on Khan and his “family” every once in awhile this whole thing could have been avoided. In the prime timeline, Khan goes nuts because Ceti Alpha VI explodes and nobody cares. In the Kelvin timeline, Admiral Marcus blackmails him. Considering that Khan is Star Trek’s most famous villain, it’s fascinating that there are a million different ways you can imagine him never getting as bad as he became. In “Space Seed,” he and Kirk basically part as friends. 

Q

In “Encounter at Farpoint,” Q accuses humanity of being “a savage child race.” And walks Jean-Luc Picard through the various atrocities committed by humanity, through the 21st Century. Picard kind of shrugs his shoulders and says, “we are what we are and we’re doing the best that we can.” When we talk about the philosophy of Star Trek, we tend to give more weight to Picard’s argument: the idea that by the 24th century, humanity has become much better, in general than it is now. But, the other side of the argument; that there’s a history of unspeakable violence and cruelty baked into the existence of humanity, is given less weight. We don’t really listen to Q when he’s putting humanity on trial, because we can’t see his point of view.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

But, because Q wasn’t a one-off character, and because he said “the trial never ends” in the TNG finale, he’s actually not really a villain at all. Q exists post-morality, as we can imagine it. His notions of ethics are far more complex (or less complex) than we can perceive. Q is one of those great Star Trek characters who is actually beyond reproach simply because we have no frame of reference for his experiences or point of view. In Voyager, we also learned that even among other members of the Q Continuum, Q was kinder, with a more humanitarian approach to what he might call “lesser” lifeforms. If Q is villainous, it’s because of our definitions of villainy. Of every Star Trek antagonist, Q is the best one, for the simple fact that he’s not a a villain at all. 

Which Star Trek villains do you think had a point? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Star Trek Villains Who Actually Had a Point appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[kaiowut99]

The One With the Evil Final Exam - Part 1

Six of the keys to the seven Spirit Gates have been used.  Judai heads to the Abandoned Dorm, where he finds Daitokuji’s mummified corpse.  The last of the Seven Stars, Amnael, shows himself, and a duel between Judai and Amnael begins.  His foe has a deck based around alchemy, and each time Judai attacks with his multi-Attribute E-Heroes, he’s stopped by the Permanent Trap Elemental Absorber.  Monsters also continue to emerge from Alchemic Kettle - Chaos Distill, waging direct attacks on him...

GX Episode 46: An Earth/Water/Fire/Wind Fusion! Elixirer 

(The One With the Evil Final Exam - Part 2)

The duel between Judai and Amnael continues, and it turns out that Amnael is Daitokuji, as is the mummified corpse.  He confesses that his current form is the result of the power of alchemy allowing him to attach his soul to a doll body.  The field of battle changes as he uses his Macrocosmos Permanent Trap and Helios the Primordial Sun and his second Sun, taking them into outer space, where the planets surrounding them have Asuka, Manjoume, and Fubuki locked away.  Judai takes hits from Planet Alignment just as the third Sun shows itself...

Here’re episodes 45 and 46! If you haven’t already seen, I posted 44 yesterday.  Here, we see the Judai/Amnael duel play out, as Judai deals with the issue of Elemental Absorber blocking his attacks, the revelation that Amnael’s the professor they’ve been worried sick about, and their duel reaching new heights--literally--as things burn up in outer space.  It’s a pretty fun duel, Amnael’s Alchemy Beasts are neat, the whole duel is chock-full of alchemy references--for those newer to the fandom, I recommend some of The Mad Poet’s writings on alchemy references in GX from *checks notes* nine years ago whaaat for some fun trivia--right down to the name Judai gives Elixirer’s attack, “Fusionist Magistery” (”Magistery” referencing the Philosopher’s Stone in meaning, and when attached to “Fusionist” completes Daitokuji’s attribution of alchemy to fusion).

The animation work in 46 is also good, and the episode feels like it gets better once they’re in space; things seem pretty well-paced, the music is on-point, and with the lessons Judai’s made to take in from the duel, this duel stands out among those in Season 1.

However, the dub seriously did this series of episodes dirty--most notably in 46.  Where Amnael here is relating alchemy to Judai’s use of Fusion and alluding to his making friends as a form of alchemy, dub!Amnael plants the idea of Jaden’s duels being fixed to get him to this point where his key would be on the line.  It’s a bad writing change because, despite his life being on the line, Daitokuji is still there and is still a Professor to Judai, and he wants to see him do better; 4Kids instead ends up making him look much more antagonistic only to try and undo it towards the end (writing out Daitokuji’s explanation of alchemy’s true use in the process).  I’ll have to get around to a dub/sub comparison for this one...

Some other Translation Notes that aren’t necessary but do enhance the viewing experience:

Amnael’s attack name for Helios Duo Megistus, “Flames of Vulcanus,” refers to Vulcan, “the god of fire (including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking, and the forge) in ancient Roman religion and myth.”

“What lies below is as above, just as what lies above is as below.” was me making a more aesthetically pleasing subtitle out of “as above, so below,” which is a phrase from Hermeticism; “The actual text of that maxim, as translated by Dennis W. Hauck from The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, is: "That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing." Thus, whatever happens on any level of reality (physical, emotional, or mental) also happens on every other level. This principle, however, is more often used in the sense of the microcosm and the macrocosm. The microcosm is oneself, and the macrocosm is the universe. The macrocosm is as the microcosm and vice versa; within each lies the other, and through understanding one (usually the microcosm) a person may understand the other.[36]“

As I said in 44′s post, the animation fixes I was working on for 45 were part of the reason these were delayed (along with SOCIAL ACTIVITY), but it was good to get them done; 45 saw five fixes (three card-related), while 46 had three (one card-related).  List below the cut, as usual. (EDIT, 2021: Two new fixes applied in 46, listed in bold under the cut!)

Enjoy, everyone! Thanks for your patience if you were looking forward to these.  With these done, I’ll start prepping a few things for 47 now, but I’ll actually take a little break to work on the next 5D’s Dub-Uncut for episode 22 (I may squeeze in some scripting here/there tho).  Let’s see how I can improve that mess...

Fixes!

Episode 45

As Judai and co walk around in the Abandoned Dorm and Judai muses about it being the last boss’s hideout, Hayato and Shou turn themselves to laugh it off.  But the light coming from their flashlights actually moves a frame early before they move! Fixed it by just holding the frame with the light where it was pre-move for an extra frame, then resuming with them moving along with the light the next frame.

As Judai gets his Disk ready for the duel, there’s a quick few frames where his deck’s top card is miscolored.  I recolored it back to normal in Photoshop, then mixed it into the video in Vegas, masking over it some pixels of the deck holder that I may have painted over to restore its look.  It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it error, but hey.

As Amnael tells Judai that his new trio of Alchemy Beasts can attack him directly (a shot that, along with the preceding one of Shou and Hayato commenting, was cut from the dub, mind you), the blank Effect Monster card representing Bubbleman was reversed.  The equipped Bubble Shot was also missing.  I added both Bubbleman and a card back onto his Disk in AfterEffects, then panned the shot in Vegas.

As Judai draws to start his turn after the last fix, he draws a blank Effect Monster card visible for a few frames before he turns it in his hand that should be Mud Max, which is later equipped to Clayman.  I whipped up a proxy and placed it over the blank in AfterEffects.

As Judai attacks with Featherman, Amnael activates Elemental Absorber to stop him, but he’s missing a card back where it should be on his Disk, to his leftmost M/T Zone.  I added one in AfterEffects, then panned/rezoomed the shot accordingly in Vegas.

Episode 46

As Amnael talks up the power of alchemy and gives us his big eye reveal, his smiling mouth disappears for a few frames as the screen holds on his face before zooming out.  I duplicated the last frame it’s in, zoomed it in slightly (it vanished during the last frame of the previous zoom-in), and then held it still for the missing frames all in Vegas.

As Amnael declares his first attack with Helios Duo Megistus, there’s a quick frame or two where you see a blank spot on his Disk where Duo Megistus should be; I made a proxy and slapped it on in AfterEffects.

As Judai notes his luck with Amnael’s Hero Appears pick of Edgeman from his hand, Judai suffers from Error #1 here and finds his mouth missing as he swings his arm down; I picked out a few frames later in the shot with his mouth closed, then masked it in over the few frames where it was missing.

New in 2021, as Judai reminisces about the past year, he flashes back to his duel with Ryou in episode 8 and his Featherman being vaporized by Cyber Dragon; I added back the fix I did to Judai’s Disk in removing his destroyed Featherman for the few frames it’s onscreen.  Because the flashback fades to white right then too, I also added a quick mostly-transparent layer of white over the blanked zone to replicate the start of the fade to white so it blended in.

As Judai then looks over at Shou and Hayato and he remembers his first encounters with them (a bit reanimated, too), there’s a quick frame where Hayato’s gritted-teeth mouth disappears before it closes into a line for his mouth.  Fixed by just reusing a frame of his mouth in the same position and moved it into place in the panning shot.

[italicwatches]

Animal Sentai Zyuohger - Episode 29

It, has been a long day. Not a bad day, necessarily, but a long one. So let’s get this going. It’s Animal Sentai Zyuohger, episode 29! Here we GO!

-PREVIOUSLY ON Animal Sentai Zyuohger, we got Captain Marvelous and everything was better. Also I guess some stuff happened with the actual cast of this show.

-PRESENTLY ON Animal Sentai Zyuohger, Eagle and GokaiRed are in a ferocious dogfight that returns to the ground…While The World catches up to the rest of the crew to find them fighting a bunch of crazy looking Sentai members! And also, that he has nobody to fight…He falls into despair.

-But then, there is another man of silver and gold. …No purple, though. GokaiSilver has appeared!

-Meanwhile, GokaIRed has Eagle on the backstep…And right when Eagle manages to flip it around, Gokai Change! GOOOORANGER! With his whip of the first ranger against the Eagle Riser, it becomes a vicious lashing duel…Until Eagle manages to cut that whip apart, and come at GokaiRed with sheer speed and ferocity, barely managing to rip him out of his armor while holding his own…

-But Marvelous, when Eagle hesitates, puts three rounds from his space-flintlock right into the idiot’s chest, enough to make his armor fail.

-Back at the big fight, The World knows how this works, and is ready to fight GokaiSilver…But Silver isn’t here for a big fight, he’s here to really all you stupid idiots. They don’t need to have a big fight! …Marvelous said to keep these guys busy, though. Marvelous says lots of shit! Listen do you all even realize they’re in a crossover episode?!

-Marvelous has his gun to Yamato’s head. Too slow, too gentle…But Yamato sees the injury on Marvelous’s hand…

-Opening!

-Episode 29! The Champion of Champions

-So with everything able to calm down at last, the space pirates end up getting brought to the cabin, and our heroes get to learn the legend of the Super Sentai. There have been 39 teams, up to this point, making you all the 40th…Also Leo sees two cute girls and is immediately ready to flirt, until Sela hauls him back.

-All of that leads to the question of Marvelous, and why he’s seeking the Grand Champion Symbol. And speaking of Marvelous, back with him, Yamato’s bandaging up his wounds, and apologizing that it got so rough, that he had to go all out. …You were holding back, kid? Well of course he was. He saw Marvelous make a point of getting Bunglay and his summon’s attention instead of just slipping off…You had a reason for it. And there aren’t a lot of dishonest reasons to make that kind of show.

-You fight with honor, Marvelous. You’re willing for things to be harder, so long as they’re done right. Yamato can see an honest core to you. And so, he asks, honestly and earnestly, to return this relic of the zyuman people.

-Marvelous promptly pulls his gun, instead.

-While back at the cabin, the core four explain how that Symbol powers the Link Cube. Their only way home. It’s not just a weapon, or a tool, or a historical relic…It’s their only hope of getting to see their families again.

-And for these four pirates, who lost family to a great battle…They can understand and respect that…

-As Yamato calls Marvelous’s bluff, ice cold. You don’t have the eyes of a killer, captain. …And you’ve got stones bigger than your brain, kid. But then, what Red hasn’t, over these forty years?

-Aaand that’s when Bunglay finds the pair. Instincts Awakened! Gokai Change! The fight is on…

-While the others get vibes! Bungay’s got to be on the move…And neither crew i going to let him just have their leaders!

-While Bunglay manages to rip some memories out of GokaiRed’s skull…And though Eagle hauls him off, he’s on the ragged edge, running half empty…

-When Bunglay calls up a bunch of GokaiRed’s best foes! …Shit, those are some rough foes…They’re up against the edge of the cliff, with few options and fewer ideas…As the gun barrage begins!

-They’re sent to the dirt below, their armors failing…It’s a damn good thing the teams find them at that point, or they could’ve died.

-And while they have time…Marvelous presents the Zyuohgers with a simple dilemma. Bunglay’s after this Symbol of yours, and the Whale connected to it. He and his crew take it back into space, and Bunglay follows. You still want this thing, even knowing it brings that much danger?

-…Of course. By their honor and their pride, they’re going to set this right. Bungled needs to be stopped, not lured away like a dog after a bone.

-…Then good luck with it, kids. Have fun. He shoves the Symbol right into Yamato’s hands, and the thing activates, unfolding from a projector into a cannon…And that’s about when Bunglay and his pack of summons find them. Well then, one quick round along with the new kids…All together?

-They stand, twelve strong! Gokai Change! Instincts Awakened! GOOOKAIGER! And Yamato Instincts Awakened with the Grand Symbol, bringing upon the power of the WHALE! It showers upon him, forging a new helm and longboat….!

-Gokai Red! Gokai Blue. Gokai Yellow! Gokai Green! Gokai Pink. Goooookai SILVER! Pirate Sentai, GOKAIGER! Champion of the surging waves, ZYUOH SHARK! Champion of the savannah, ZYUOH LION! Champion of the forest, ZYUOH ELEPHANT! Champion of the snowy drifts, ZYUOH TIGER! Champion of the world, ZYUOH THE WORLD! Champion of champions…ZYUOH WHALE! Animal Sentai, ZYUOHGER!

-This planet, is under the Super Sentai’s protection! And all twelve of them charge forth full of fury and grand heroism, weapons at the ready, as they face a ferocious mix of historical villainy! Foes of all different eras that Captain Marvelous and his crew helped face down…But they stand united, bringing a ZYUOH SLASH down on one, and (All) Beast Unleashing on another to chew him to nothing!

-While Gokai Pink and Green polish up their weapons a little before being forced to get in, and stand with their crew!

-Gokai Change! ALL RED! FLASHGUN! BOUKENGER! CARRANGER! MAGIRUANGER! SHINKENGER! Gokai Change! ALL RED! SUN VULCAN! GOSSIPER! GINGAMAN! GEKIRANGER! ZYURANGER! FINAL WAVE! The strengths of ten years of history unite, taking down two more…!

-While GokaiRed and Whale face down Bunglay himself, and the few tricks he still has up his sleeve! But as fierce as these foes are, they’re not able to stop Whale’s sheer speed and power, or the Megaman-ass cannon strapped to his arm…!

-Which, when he gives it a charge, pulls so much more than he thought possible…Excess energy showers off the barrel, as he lines up a single shot…ZYUOH FINAL! One rip of the trigger, and it’s enough to send him nearly flat on his ass, as the beam arcs into the sky…. skirting around the moon’s gravitational field…And coming down onto them in a single mighty explosion! God. Damn. Even GokaiRed is boggled, and a little scared of that thing…

-And Eagle promptly puts it away, letting that new armor fall…While Bunglay, who survived the mess, calls up one last big monster to give himself an escape plan!

-Pulling in a movie villain…One who nearly handed the Gokaigers their ass!

-Well then, only one option. Animal Kingdom Combination! WILD TOUSAI KING! …Why are the Gokaigers here?! So how’s this one work, you spin the boxes right? Please, just, let the Zyuohgers do their job! You have to spin with PURPOSE!

-Yeah well there’s somewhere to shove keys in this thing, right? Because they’ve got a plan. DENJIMAN! Draw upon the strength of history…With the Electron Full Moon SLASH!

-And LINEMAN! Super Big Burst! The finishing blows, one after another, start to put this huge monster on the ground…

-But bring it all into one. Four decades of heroism. All to the center…! ZYUOH FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY! Two thousand battles worth of power come together, cutting the beast apart! It is done.

-And when all is said and done, the Gokaigers have to take their exit…They’ve got another haul to seek, another battle to fight. They’re pirates, after all. Ignore their grand heroism. Anchors UP! Thus are these six off, Gai joining them properly on the battle this time…And nobody entirely realizing they left their robot bird behind.

-When Mario gets back into the cabin and why is there a robot in his house? A TALKING ROBOT PARROT?! Tell him your secrets, mechanical marvel!

-Credits!

HELL YEAH

[verdigrisprowl]

April 7 Bevel’s Movie Night - Star Trek: TNG and Steven Universe

We watched the first episode, with Q. Prowl said almost nothing because I can’t fucking stand Q.

Bevel 7:51 pm *don't anyone mind the scattered machine parts and tools, she's in the process of moving them off important surfaces like couch seats and trying to make the place look a little more presentable, hope everyone likes the broken engine with a long flat piece of metal welded atop it, it's the new table* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:02 pm *Gave up on fixing the engine, did she? Soundwave stretches feelers down to see the, uh. New furniture. Before moving to his seat.* Bevel 8:02 pm *she might have broken it permanently by mistake while trying to fix it* *it's ok, she's building a new one upstairs* Bevel 8:05 pm Hi, Soundwave. *she tries to wave and nearly drops the armful of items she's carrying over to a crate* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:06 pm *Soundwave nods.* [[In a mood for romantic music, are you.]] Omicron 8:08 pm *Icy stumbles in, and pretends she didn't, nope, she's a strong predacon thank you* Bevel 8:08 pm *shrugs and dumps her armful* Sometimes it is really nice sounding. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:10 pm *Soundwave politely pretends her pretense worked.*

[[It is, at that.]] Bevel 8:10 pm *sticks her tongue out at him and then sings quietly along to the Song of Durin while she finishes cleaning up* Omicron 8:11 pm hello friends 😀 *yes is grinning, good mood almost rolling off Icy, chirps at Bevel!* Bevel 8:11 pm *chirps back* Omicron 8:13 pm ((icy's redesign is almost done...well the first stages is)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:13 pm [[Good evening, queen.]] Bevel 8:13 pm ((congrats, hope it goes smoothly Love songs. *amused look at Soundwave* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:15 pm [[What.]] Omicron 8:15 pm to you as well soundwave, *shakes a wing and shakes Racer down, but catching him to let him run along after as she finds a place to settle* Bevel 8:16 pm ((gonna start after this song is over if that's ok? Omicron 8:16 pm (yep) VProwl 18:16 pm *appears* Ratchet 8:16 pm *pops in* Omicron 8:16 pm Racer: *startled meep at the appearances* Bevel 8:17 pm *waves to Prowl and Ratchet* Ratchet 8:17 pm *waves* Bevel 8:18 pm *watch your steps, she might have missed a tool or twelve* Omicron 8:18 pm *Ice Queen lifts a wing to them and lays down in her beast mode, pauses and gets up to pick up a tool and lean over and hand it back. yay for long necks* Ratchet 8:19 pm [[ did that say micheal bell ]] [[ is ratchet gonna think someone sounds a lot like prowl ]] ItsyBitsySpyers 8:20 pm ((it is exactly who you think it is)) ((he's in ds9 too)) Omicron 8:21 pm ((I never realized that)) Bevel 8:21 pm ((I love Star Trek guest stars VProwl 18:22 pm ... Is this the beginning of their serving together? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:22 pm [[For this crew.]] Omicron 8:22 pm Racer: *sniffing pedes if its okay* VProwl 18:22 pm Mm. Ratchet 8:22 pm [[ isn't this like episode two or three ]] Bevel 8:23 pm ((It's the 1st and 2nd episode. Omicron 8:23 pm [oooh god XD] .....the frag ItsyBitsySpyers 8:27 pm [[As bad as the greyfaces.]] Omicron 8:27 pm Who is that? *icy frowns* Bevel 8:27 pm Queue? Omicron 8:28 pm Racer: *puzzled, but sniffing to look for prowl if aloud* VProwl 18:29 pm *back by Ratchet.* ((i'm sorry i just. i hate q so much.)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:29 pm ((feel free to yell ooc)) Omicron 8:29 pm ((you're not the only one)) Bevel 8:29 pm ((or ic if need be VProwl 18:29 pm ((i don't even want to yell i just hate it)) Ratchet 8:30 pm [[ i also hate q ]] Omicron 8:30 pm Racer: *pats at Prowl's pede once finding it* (he's such an aft) Bevel 8:31 pm ((*loves him* >_> Ratchet 8:32 pm [[ i wish they had kept the cute miniskirt uniform forever ]] VProwl 18:32 pm ((i prefer them to have gender-neutral uniforms)) ((therefore: i'll accept the miniskirt only if spock wears it too)) Omicron 8:32 pm (he's a well written character, I'll admit, for what he's supposed to be but...meh) Ratchet 8:33 pm [[ what no i meant the one that male crew member was wearing ]] VProwl 18:33 pm ((oh i thought you were talking about tos)) Bevel 8:33 pm ((there's only one more Q episode I'll be showing after this two-parter, much as I love most of the Q episodes, so y'all won't have to suffer too much TNG with him. Omicron 8:36 pm ...what the frag? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:37 pm ((god)) VProwl 18:37 pm ((no, yeah, i can see this in 20 years)) ((ten. ... five. five years.)) Bevel 8:38 pm ((next week? Omicron 8:38 pm ((ews)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm *Soundwave blips. How dramatic.* VProwl 18:38 pm ((i read that as soundwave bleps and it was adorable)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm ((LMAO)) Bevel 8:38 pm ((awww ((was just thinking this would remind Prowl so much of a Quintesson courtroom Omicron 8:39 pm ((that would be awesome for soundwave)) Racer: *sitting on a prowl pede if needed?* VProwl 18:40 pm *...... reaches down to awkwardly pet?* Omicron 8:42 pm RAcer: !! *loves touch, but has a present* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:42 pm *Tired thought-mumbling.* [[Mockery court.]] Omicron 8:43 pm *Icy rumbles an agreement to soundwave, reminded of predacons being judged for their more primal ways* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:45 pm *Perk.* [[Pleasant.]] *Not often a gift like his is shown.* Omicron 8:47 pm are all of that race that...aftish Bevel 8:48 pm I never met an alien like that. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:49 pm ((michael bell everyone)) Ratchet 8:52 pm [[ GEORDI ]] [[ i love ]] Bevel 8:56 pm It can not be that hard to reconnect the two sections. VProwl 19:01 pm ((he looks like such a dweeb)) Bevel 9:02 pm ((Who? VProwl 19:02 pm ((riker)) ((a shaven-faced dork)) Bevel 9:02 pm ((He looks so much better with the beard Omicron 9:02 pm (XD) VProwl 19:02 pm ((yep)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:02 pm [[Ah! The Doctor Bones.]] VProwl 19:03 pm *ugh.* Omicron 9:03 pm *Icy tilts her head* VProwl 19:04 pm *anyone who hates mechs AND Vulcans is someone who gets absolutely none of Prowl's support.* Omicron 9:07 pm Racer:: *been trying to get something unstuck from his teeth, and pops out one of his crystal shards, offers it to prowl* VProwl 19:08 pm ... *did he take it out of his mouth* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:09 pm ((i forgot how rough the pilot was))

*Soundwave looks at Racer's crystal shard from afar. He's offering mouth gunk?* Bevel 9:10 pm ((1st season in general is a little rough Omicron 9:11 pm That's one of the crystals he dug up in the mine, he keeps getting things stuck in his fangs. *Icy glances over, its not gunk, racer has no subspace access yet* Bevel 9:11 pm ((ah yes when the ferengi were still supposed to be threatening VProwl 19:11 pm ((*ferengi waving chainsaw* "Capitalism!")) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:11 pm ((LOL)) Bevel 9:12 pm ((lol Ratchet 9:12 pm [[ i keep falling asleep...... ]] ItsyBitsySpyers 9:12 pm ((fabu go sleep)) Bevel 9:12 pm ((*pats Fabu* Omicron 9:12 pm Racer: *drops the crystal shard, picks it up after licking it clean, then offers it to prowl* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:12 pm ((Friday the 13% Interest Rate)) Bevel 9:12 pm ((omg cro *whistles* Omicron 9:13 pm (*offer blanket for snugles*) VProwl 19:13 pm *kind of, stares it.* ... I see. Omicron 9:14 pm he's been learning how to give gifts, if you don't like it set it aside and offer it back after a time VProwl 19:15 pm *No, Data, you should never want to give up being what you are to be an organic. You're fine the way you are.* Oh, is that what—? All right. *Better help him learn about gift-giving. He takes it and sets it next to himself.* Thank you. Omicron 9:17 pm RAcer: *excitedly dances in place, not on prowls pede, and sits very proud of himself, meeping a welcome attempt* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:18 pm ((oh hey so fun fact: when i was little i used to take this hairclip my mom had and wear it and pretend to be geordi because i thought it looked like his visor. a couple years ago i found out his visor is literally that kind of hairclip painted.)) VProwl 19:18 pm ((oh wow)) Omicron 9:19 pm (that's awesome) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:19 pm ((it's not easy to see through, for the record.)) VProwl 19:19 pm ((it must not have been functioning correctly)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:20 pm ((LMAO)) Bevel 9:21 pm ((they also designed it like that so Levar could see some, earlier versions were so hilariously bad looking VProwl 19:21 pm (("god i can't see a thing" "good, you're already getting in character")) Omicron 9:21 pm they need a living ship, doesn't matter if the sparkling touches anything...most of the time Bevel 9:21 pm ((omg ItsyBitsySpyers 9:22 pm *He feels Picard's frustration.* Omicron 9:22 pm though messing with captain chairs isn't wise VProwl 19:24 pm (("as my son tries to tell you" yeah how dare the captain express immediate concern over a fucking child ignoring an instruction not to touch things and messing with the buttons on his chair, this literal military officer should be grateful at this civilian minor casually inserting himself into the chain of command.)) *... picks up the crystal to look at it.* Omicron 9:29 pm hmmm VProwl 19:33 pm ((I CAN' F UCKING STAND THAT PIECE OF SHIT)) Omicron 9:33 pm *its a relatively large sodalite slice, a sliver-white-blue* VProwl 19:33 pm ((T)) ((I WANT TO DRIVE A PICKAXE INTO HIS STUPID LITTLE CHIN CLEFT UNTIL IT CLEAVES HIS HEAD IN HALF)) Omicron 9:33 pm ((*offers and anger pop-stick*)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:34 pm ((my goodness)) Bevel 9:35 pm ((it's ok, this episode is almost over and then it's just one more episode with him after that ((but that episode also has Guinan and stuff VProwl 19:35 pm ((daft, smug, sanctimonious, arrogant little shit)) ((i spelled EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE WORDS WRONG MORE THAN OCNE)) Metrotitans. Alien metrotitans. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:37 pm [[Hmm?]] Omicron 9:37 pm ....living ships *Icy purrs fondly at that idea* VProwl 19:37 pm The ship and the city are independent sentient beings. Bevel 9:37 pm Oh! VProwl 19:38 pm *Was kind of obvious the first time Zorn started talking to his surroundings, but the ship made it obvious.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:38 pm *He thought perhaps there was someone camouflaged hiding in the room.* Omicron 9:39 pm can we get Primus, somehow to be aware of this...Q thing? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:39 pm [[And do what?]] Omicron 9:39 pm Flick him? VProwl 19:40 pm ... It's a prisoner. Bevel 9:41 pm Space jellyfish. Omicron 9:41 pm jellyfish ship VProwl 19:41 pm ((jellyship)) Omicron 9:42 pm ((Rapture would love to meet them...and try to snuggle them)) VProwl 19:43 pm ((Q YOUR COMMENTARY IS COMPLETELY FUCKING UNNECESSARY JUST GET OUT OF THE SCENE AND LET THEM TALK ABOUT THE JELLYSHIP)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:44 pm *...It's kind of pretty, for an organic. It has good taste in limbs, anyway.* VProwl 19:44 pm ((YOU'RE CONTRIBUTING NOTHING BUT SNEERS)) Bevel 9:44 pm ((color coded pink and blue jellyfish so you know one is a girl and the other is a boy space jellyfish ItsyBitsySpyers 9:44 pm ((soundwave's ultimate forms)) Omicron 9:44 pm [let primus flick the anoyance far, far away on the godly scale of things] VProwl 19:45 pm ((I CAN SEE YOU MOVING YOUR SHITTY MOUTH Q)) ((KEEP IT SHUT)) Bevel 9:45 pm ((omg puff Omicron 9:45 pm aw, look at the squishy happy jellyfish ships VProwl 19:46 pm ((FUCK OFFFFFF)) Bevel 9:46 pm ((Q plz VProwl 19:46 pm ((UGH)) Bevel 9:47 pm ((I'd try to explain him but yeah. ((Onto better, non-Q things Omicron 9:47 pm at least their Captain has a good head and spark Bevel 9:48 pm I like Picard a lot. Omicron 9:50 pm *Icy nods, lets Racer climb over her to find another stashed crystal, resigned a long time ago for letting hatchlings hide things on her* Bevel 9:51 pm ((i want that backpack so bad sometimes Omicron 9:53 pm Racer: *inching over to Bevel, pads at what he can reach with a small paw* Bevel 9:53 pm *reaches down to pat him* VProwl 19:54 pm ... How did he successfully throw the sweaters across. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:54 pm [[Good arm strength?]] VProwl 19:55 pm The vortex should have pulled them down too. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:55 pm [[Perhaps it only registers living things.]] VProwl 19:56 pm The red one threw a rock. Omicron 9:56 pm Racer: *happy muffled meep, drops two shines and offers one to Bevel* Bevel 9:56 pm Garnet. VProwl 19:56 pm Gourmet. Bevel 9:56 pm *accepts with a smile* Is this for me? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:56 pm ((whoops i forgot the rock)) ((i'm not multitasking or anything no)) [[They're gems. It could mistake a rock for one.]] Omicron 9:58 pm RAcer: ya! -bounces and flaps a wing, then nuzzles against her- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:59 pm [[No, you broke it.]] Bevel 9:59 pm Thanks, Racer. I will have to get you something too next time you are here. VProwl 19:59 pm TECHNICALLY he didn't break it. He just completely failed in completing the one simple task that could have prevented it from breaking. Bevel 10:00 pm At least he tried. Guess he got too excited. VProwl 110:00 pm He should be blamed, but not for the thing he didn't do. Omicron 10:00 pm I have a feeling that might be my life when this one, or his clutch mats get older Bevel 10:01 pm *she tucks the shiny away into her subspace* Omicron 10:02 pm Racer: *happy hatchling, and picks up the other shiny, tail waves* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:05 pm [[It's like dealing with Smokescreen.]] Omicron 10:05 pm reality breaking somehow? VProwl 110:05 pm And here I was, trying to like him. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:05 pm [[Oh. He apologizes.]] Bevel 10:06 pm *giggles* Omicron 10:06 pm Racer: *paw pats at Soundwave's pede now* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:07 pm *Glances down.* Omicron 10:07 pm Racer: *offer the last crystal shine to him* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:08 pm *Soundwave accepts the shard and offers Racer a tiny pat.* *All right. Maybe he can relate to Garnet a little after all.* Omicron 10:09 pm Racer: *purr attempt at the pat* Bevel 10:12 pm ((wow sorry if i deafened anyone there Omicron 10:12 pm [its okay] Bevel 10:14 pm This looks like fun. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:14 pm [[...It does.]] VProwl 110:14 pm ... The instructional infographics are insufficient to describe how to accurately replicate the desired moves. Omicron 10:14 pm RAcer: *bounces around to the music, icy might be bobbing her head to it too* Bevel 10:14 pm I could find a version for Dancitron? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:15 pm [[He thinks they are reminder only. It looks like the main figure does the full moves.]] [[...And he would appreciate that. Take it to Arcade if you do.]] [[Rumble and Frenzy would appreciate it, he's sure.]] *Cover cover.* VProwl 110:15 pm Then you don't know what you're supposed to be doing until the exact moment you're already supposed to be doing it. Bevel 10:15 pm I will. *she's going to Earth anyway, might as well grab some game stuff for Arcade to play around with* VProwl 110:16 pm Unless there's an entirely separate training program. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:16 pm [[There might be. It could also be a matter of repeat exposure. Hmm.]] Bevel 10:17 pm Even mistakes are fun though. Omicron 10:17 pm true VProwl 110:18 pm *"mistakes are fun" what in the hell is bevel talking about* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:18 pm *She gets a lot of weird ideas. Blame her creators.* Omicron 10:19 pm Soundwave? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:20 pm [[Hmm?]] Omicron 10:21 pm I have an insecticon that wants to meet you at some point. she asked me to tell you that. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:21 pm [[...Why.]] *If this is going to be a joke at his expense about Insecticon queens...* Bevel 10:21 pm *oh teaching song, sits up* VProwl 110:22 pm *Prowl's not going to be around for that meeting.* Omicron 10:22 pm She heard you got racer to eat silver, it's made her life easier. I think its to give a thank you Bevel 10:23 pm Does Racer not like silver? Omicron 10:23 pm He didn't not like it, he wasn't sure it was something to eat until soundwave said so giving him a bit Bevel 10:24 pm Oh ok. I thought maybe he did not like it like how I do not like latinum. VProwl 110:25 pm ((does she think latinum tastes... too rich)) Bevel 10:26 pm ((lol Omicron 10:26 pm since Racer is the oldest, if he's eating things the other sparklings on the ship are interested it it too. Doesn't matter if me or their sires are eating things too ItsyBitsySpyers 10:27 pm [[Then he is glad to have helped so much. A little silver is a good treat now and then, he's told.]] [[And helpful for forming new plating.]] VProwl 110:28 pm ((*hears the Robot Words*)) ((ariel is a transformer now)) Bevel 10:28 pm ((yes Omicron 10:28 pm yes, or coating other metals to get them to eat something that's not just gold sweet ItsyBitsySpyers 10:29 pm *He's feeling personally attacked by this one.* [[Indeed.]] Bevel 10:29 pm *sorry Soundwave* *not intentional* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:30 pm *He's so sure.* Bevel 10:30 pm *makes a face at mention of gold* Omicron 10:31 pm ...? Bevel 10:31 pm Too sweet. Omicron 10:32 pm ah, yes at times Bevel 10:32 pm *doesn't like sweet things* Omicron 10:33 pm do you like copper or nickle wire? *yes she knows she has a bad habit of chew on those* Bevel 10:35 pm *shrugs* I like rust sticks if I am gonna snack on something, but I usually just eat or drink energon instead. My frame-type uses a burns a lot of energy. VProwl 110:35 pm *sometimes prowl is reminded that, to most people that aren't him, most of the environment around them is at least partially edible* Bevel 10:36 pm I eat treats other people make sometimes though. It is nice eating something else. VProwl 110:36 pm *hearing them talk about eating wires is one such reminder.* *it's wild.* Bevel 10:36 pm *Cybertronians evolved from scraplets?* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:36 pm *DON'T YOU START ON THAT* Bevel 10:37 pm *"there's still scraplets how could we have evolved from them?"* Omicron 10:38 pm I don't know why, human refined copper just... tastes really good. so do some of their cars ItsyBitsySpyers 10:38 pm [[...You consume their cars?]] Omicron 10:38 pm .......not all the time? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:38 pm ((did frasier ever have a musical episode and if not WHY NOT listen to him)) Bevel 10:38 pm Earth cars are not sentient. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:38 pm *...What is this.* Bevel 10:39 pm ((it did not but Niles and Fraiser did sing a few times ItsyBitsySpyers 10:39 pm *...Is this language humor.* Bevel 10:39 pm *yes* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:39 pm *Scoot scoot.* Bevel 10:39 pm *she found it when she was struggling with learning English* Omicron 10:40 pm *knows its bad but sometimes can't help chewing on old cars when on earth....junk food like craving* VProwl 110:42 pm *... this video is stressful* Bevel 10:42 pm *oh Prowl* Omicron 10:42 pm ....huh VProwl 110:43 pm *there's a whole lot of moving things to read, it switches fast, and words are hard* Bevel 10:43 pm *yeah Bevel didn't learn much from it until she listened to it a buncha times* Bevel 10:51 pm ((didn't think y'all wanted to sit through a 20m version of the Misty Mountain song ItsyBitsySpyers 10:51 pm *Soundwave's very... VERY very tired from recent events, and his ability to mask in public is running thin. He'll probably leave shortly. But not until after this song.* VProwl 110:54 pm *he's not alone.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:55 pm *Soundwave stands and dusts himself off, as though he'd been sitting there long enough to collect any.*

[[He appreciates the look into the Picard human's life, but he requires recharge.]]

*Nodding to each one in turn.*

[[Prowl, Ice Queen, Bevel. Goodnight.]] VProwl 110:56 pm @S «... Can I come over?» Bevel 10:56 pm *waves goodbye* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:56 pm @P: [[Without question.]] Omicron 10:56 pm have a good evening VProwl 110:56 pm @S «I'll meet you there.» Bevel 10:57 pm I will not be able to show anything for a little while since I am leaving soon. I tried to get Rolodex to host but *she shrugs* VProwl 110:57 pm *he slides his crystal gift into a thigh compartment, and disappears.* *the crystal clatters down onto his seat.* *he has apparently forgotten things don't come with him when he disappears* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:58 pm @P: [[All right.]]

[[The ingrate. Good luck with your... mission.]]

*Soundwave moves over to where the seat was, picks up the crystal, opens a bridge and trudges through it. He's too tired to even take the opportunity to fly.* Bevel 10:58 pm Thanks. Omicron 10:59 pm good night *chirps at Bevel, standing up* Bevel 11:00 pm *chirps back* Omicron 11:01 pm *icy gets up, with racer on her back and gives a head bump, remembers the stress she had before* Omicron 11:02 pm (thanks for the stream) Bevel 11:02 pm ((np!

[quentinsquill]

Fic: “Live Long and Nerd On.” (The Magicians)

Live Long and Nerd On

Author: Lexalicious70 (TheChampagneKing70)

Fandom: The Magicians

Rating: Teen and up

Word Count: 1,876

Summary: One of the biggest Star Trek conventions in the country is taking place in New York City and Quentin simply can’t understand why no one else is excited about it.

Author’s Notes: This is for the @neitherlandslibrary Library Challenge, Month One, (boys) week two (Quentin Coldwater) and because September 8th is National Star Trek Day! I don’t own The Magicians, this is just for fun. Comments and kudos are love! Enjoy.

Read it on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12034755

Live Long and Nerd On

By Lexalicious 70 (TheChampagneKing70)

 “You’re going to a what?”

 Quentin looked up from the brochure he’d ordered from the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

 “A Star Trek convention! It’s run by Creation Events, and they have this—it’s just this huge gathering and every year they have more and more guests! Look . . .” Quentin got up and went over to the cottage bar, where Eliot was making them both drinks. “This year they have both Patrick Stewart and William Shatner! I mean, you just have no idea how huge that is!” Quentin shook the brochure at Eliot, who flinched back and eyed his friend.

 “Okay, calm down, before you spill my liqueur.” Eliot moved the bottle out of the way. “And you’re sharing this news with me why?” He asked, handing Quentin a glass of something translucent with a touch of something smoky maroon, and Quentin sipped it before setting it down.

 “Well . . . I was hoping maybe you’d come with me.” He said, and Eliot gave him a long stare before he chuffed laughter. From the couch, Margo joined in from behind her fashion magazine.

 “You’re not serious.”

 “I am! It’s no fun to go alone. I went with Julia a few times, but obviously, it’s not like I can ask her.” Quentin said, and Eliot lifted his glass briefly in a mock-salute to Julia’s new hedge witch lifestyle.

 “No, I understand that you can’t, but Quentin, there’s simply no way. I don’t—I’m not a part of that world and I wouldn’t fit in at all. I’m the complete antitheses of—of your people.” Eliot said, and Quentin frowned as he realized that Eliot had barely avoided saying “those people.” He glanced over at Margo, who was peering over the edge of her magazine with an expression that dripped barely-concealed amusement.

 “I got it.” Quentin nodded. He picked up his drink and headed up the stairs.

 “Oh come on Quentin. Don’t be like that!” Eliot called after him, and Quentin’s mood darkened further as he heard Eliot shush Margo when she burst into laughter.

 “You don’t be like that.”  Quentin muttered as he shoved his bedroom door open. “Ask a guy one small favor! You’d think I asked him to walk barefoot in pig shit.” He set the drink down on the dresser and took out the brochure again, gazing at its glossy front cover. He’d attended his first Star Trek convention at the age of seven, with his father. Jack Coldwater might have been bored by magic tricks and Fillory books, but Star Trek was something he and son agreed on completely. They’d gone every year, up until Quentin was eleven and his parents divorced. His mother, an aspiring painter whose career had been sidelined by Quentin’s arrival, had decided her time had come and planned a painting sabbatical in Italy without telling her husband. The resulting argument ended in a separation, and then a divorce eight months later, when Iris Coldwater decided she preferred Italy to America and being single to being married. After that, enthusiasm for most things seemed to bleed out of Quentin’s dad and the annual trips to the convention center stopped. He went a few times in his teens with a reluctant Julia, but this year the con was boasting over 125 Star Trek actors for the first time, and there was no way he could miss it.

 “Quentin?” Alice’s voice spoke outside his door as she knocked and then opened it a crack before he answered, a habit Quentin found both endearing and irritating. He glanced up.

 “Hey Alice.”

 “Hey. Do you have book on Renaissance spells that I loaned you last week? I need it for a paper for Professor Li . . . what’s that?” She asked, gesturing to the brochure, and Quentin handed it to her, a flame of hope flaring to life in his chest—Alice was a nerd like him after all, maybe . . . .

 “Quentin. You’re not seriously considering going to this?”

 The little flame guttered and died.

 “Well yeah. Uhm . . . why not?”

 “Because we have magic! Real magic! Why would you still be interested in a fantasy?” She asked in that blunt way of hers, and Quentin took the brochure back.

 “Because magic and Star Trek are two different things, Alice, and it’s fun and I’ve always liked it, and—quit shaming me!” He got to his feet and dug through his bookcase until he found the borrowed book and put it in her hands. “Here.” He slipped past her and out the door, and she turned, scowling.

 “Quentin!”

 Quentin ignored her as he jogged down the stairs and out the cottage’s front door. He went down the path that led back to Brakebill’s main building, then sat down on the outer edge of the big fountain there. He stewed there despite the chill in the air, and then a voice spoke at his left shoulder.

 “What the fuck’s Creation Con?”

 Quentin flinched in surprise and looked up to see Penny standing there, looming in his creepy Penny way. He scowled.

 “What?”

 “Creation Con. Heard you thinkin’ about it all the way across the quad, man. Thought you were gonna fix your wards?”

 “Don’t you have better things to do than sneak up on people?” Quentin stood and Penny snatched the brochure from his hands. Quentin scowled and reached for it.

 “The fuck . . . give that back!”

 “Just a sec—” Penny put a hand on Quentin’s narrow chest, keeping him at arm’s length. “Star Trek? Seriously? When are you gonna get over all this nerd fanboy shit?”

 “When you get over being such a huge douche!” Quentin made another grab for the brochure and Penny pushed him away casually before tossing the brochure at him and laughing. Quentin caught it, anger warring with embarrassment in the pit of his stomach.

 “Fix your wards. You’re annoying every mind reader within fifty miles.” Penny adjusted his long scarf and strode off. Quentin watched him, twisting the brochure in both hands until the front cover tore. He tossed it down a moment later without looking back, pushing both hands through his hair. Eliot stepped out of one of the hedge maze exits a few moments later, just in time to see Quentin vanish around a corner. Eliot opened his mouth to call to him when the toe of his shoe struck the crumpled brochure. He bent down and retrieved it, using a fixing spell to smooth out the wrinkles and then repaired the tear in the cover. The set of Quentin’s shoulders as he’d retreated told Eliot the story, and he sighed.

 “Merde.” He muttered, slipping the brochure into his vest pocket before heading back toward the cottage.

 It was getting late, and he had a meeting to call.

 _________________________________________

Three Days Later

 “Quentin?” The voice called from outside his bedroom door, along with a sharp knocking, and Quentin barely glanced up from his nest of blankets or from his copy of The Wandering Dune. It was Saturday morning and people would be lining up at Javits in Manhattan already, but not Quentin Coldwater. No sir. He’d had enough humiliation, thank you very much. He turned a page, trying not to think of the brand-new command gold tunic in his closet. He’d bought it at a costume shop months ago, along with a type-2 phaser.

 Before Brakebills. Before he’d lost Julia.

 The insistent knock came again and then the door opened a crack. Quentin frowned without looking up.

 “When I don’t answer, that means I’m either busy, asleep, or dead, and you don’t open the door.”

 “But Captain. To leave for Manhattan without you would be most illogical.”

 Quentin’s head snapped up as Eliot spoke, and the shock that filled his senses couldn’t have been more complete if the Beast had stepped into his room with a tray of little cakes and some fresh Earl Grey and invited him to sit down to tea. Eliot stood in his doorway in an Enterprise tunic—science blue—his dark hair brushed back and slicked down and bangs—bangs! Shaped across his forehead. Vulcan ear tips adorned both ears. Quentin’s mouth opened and closed like that of a a dying fish. Eliot stepped into the room, followed by Margo, Penny, Alice, and Kady. Margo was dressed like Uhura, right down to the dangling gold earrings, while Penny was in science blue. Alice had her hair braided into an impossible-looking Yeoman Rand beehive, while Kady blurred genders by wearing a command gold tunic and breeches, lieutenant braids on her sleeves. Quentin stood, shaking his head.

 “What—what’s—uhm—Eliot? What is this?” He asked, and Eliot tipped his head to one side.

 “This is your crew, captain.” Eliot went to the closet and rummaged through it until he found Quentin’s tunic, breeches, and boots. “And it is time for you to get dressed, we rendezvous with Javits in an hour.”

 “Javits—you mean . . . but . . . you all said the convention was stupid and boring and childish?”

 “So we did.” Margo drawled. “And then we changed our minds. There’s some great clubs near Javits, and I can get a lot of play out of a dress this short.” Margo glanced down at her legs and then looked over at Penny. “What do you think?”

 “Damn it woman, I’m a doctor, not a club rat!” Penny growled, and Margo rolled her eyes even as her lips curved upward.

 “It’s possible we were a bit hasty the other day.” Eliot nodded. “Besides . . . costumes are fun, and my pants hide the flask full of Glenlivet I’m carrying.”

 “Get dressed, Q.” Alice smiled. “We’ll wait for you downstairs.” They filed out, one by one, and Quentin glanced up from smoothing out his tunic.

 “Eliot?”

 “Hmm?” Eliot turned in that graceful way of his, and in that moment, Quentin reflected that his friend probably had no idea what a perfect Spock he made.

 “Was all this your idea?”

 Eliot tipped his amber eyes toward the ceiling before stepping closer to Quentin until their chests nearly touched.

 “Quentin . . . even a self-absorbed lush like myself knows when the needs of the one must outweigh the needs of the many.” He leaned forward and kissed Quentin’s forehead, an action that made him shiver. “Come on . . . get dressed, we’re portaling our asses out of here in fifteen minutes.” He headed out the door and Quentin stripped out of his sweats and pullover hoodie to tug on the tunic instead. Less than ten minutes later he was transformed into Captain Kirk, (even if his hair wasn’t quite right,) and he stuck his phaser onto the patch of Velcro sewed into the trousers.

 “Come on, Captain, or we’ll fucking mutiny and leave without you!” Margo called up the stairs, and Quentin grinned. His friends were waiting for him—even Penny, and Quentin would have to ask Eliot what kind of favor or promise he’d conjured up to get that to happen—and beyond Brakebills, the joys of his childhood waited, too.

 Quentin ran out of the room, chasing that joy all the way to Manhattan and beyond.

 FIN

[thestuckylibrary]

i'm not very ~educated~ on certain fanfic terms i guess, so there are tropes and stuff on the library that i don't know what they mean. could you explain some if it isn't too much to ask? the ones i don't understand are identity porn and sex pollen. also, where did the names shrunky clunks and shrinky clinks come from? i understand what they mean but the actually name for them confuses me. thank u for taking time to answer this!

Ok so crash course in fic things

Indentity porn-a trope where the identity of one or more characters is confused or concealed. In the stucky fandom, a common use of this trope involves Steve meeting Bucky as some variation of the winter soldier and not recoginsing Bucky as Bucky due to him constantly wearing a mask. Another common use is two characters knowing each other online and irl but not matching up the online persona with the person.

Sex pollen- where did this trope come from? the answer may not surprise you, it’s from Star Trek. In Star Trek Vulcans go through a thing called Ponn far in which without overcomplicating it, they need to find a partner and have sex or they will die. Sex pollen has kind of gone on to become it’s own beast from there, its less so fuck or die now and tends to be a little more along the lines of “mysterious substance makes those exposed to it SUPER HORNY”

Shrinkyclinks came about by having fun with words and sounds in a process similar to coming up with a ship name. Shrinky (because steve is smol) and clinky (metal arm) 

Shrunkyclunks was made up by an anon who came into our inbox on 3 May 2015 and it has since become a thing. Heres how the thing happened

for future ref, fanlore.org is a great way to figure out anything you may be confused on, although they don’t have everything. for example there is no entry on shrunkyclunks.

[gyromitra-esculenta]

Synchronicity 3

I think I’m changing the name of this thing to: ‘how do you write action sequences or why did I think it would be fun to write around the setpieces or I only noticed my design for the beast and reaper is hellsing only after the fact, I swear’.

(…)

But one can never really leave what's behind

You can't undo the fate you've designed

Cover up the tracks and bloodhounds will find

Cuz all debts owed get paid in due time

(…)

“And if anyone wastes that whore of my wife, I will personally put a bullet between their eyes, because they want the bitch alive.” Gerard continues on the radio as Jack and Lena sprint out of the elevator, behind cover, and start shooting.

“I love the smell of cordite in the morning,” Lena laughs over the sounds of gunfire when they make their way to the patio under the open sky. There is even a Jacuzzi, but the warranty may be void with the perforated body swimming in it now.

“Too much television,” Jack grunts, reloading. One of the wounded is screaming, it fades to a gurgle in few seconds.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing, luv, still managed to waste the one on the balcony you’ve missed.”

“I did not miss him, I left him for you.”

“Oh, you men, and your bloody fragile egos.” Lena moves with her rifle at the ready. “Fuck, this place is bloody big, perks of the six-zero salary. You go left, I sweep right, Jackie-boy?”

“We’ve got boogies, military.” The radio comes alive again.

“They could be Marie fucking Antoinette for all I care,” Gerard’s voice brings up seething hate in his mind and Jack curls up his lip involuntarily. “Light them up. And where is the fucking chopper?”

“I’m guessing you and him have a history,” Lena creeps up the stairs, sparing him a short glance when she stops with her hand on a wooden finish of the wall miraculously spared from the bullets.

“We don’t. He’s a butcher.” Jack ducks under the metal lattice again. “See you on the other side.”

“Men,” Lena mutters on the off but the tone carries a hint of smile. “Anything comes up, I’ll be sure to holler,” the radio cackles with short electrical whine. “Bloody over, luv.”

The corridor is empty and quiet – swept through already – save for the body in staff uniform he steps over, a testament to Blackwatch passing: a civilian, executed kneeling down with one bullet to the back of the head.

“No witnesses, only charred bones and black ash,” the Beast purrs satisfied, claws clicking on the marble floor accompanying each of his steps as Jack rounds the corner and creeps along the wall. The glass gallery on the other side of the passageway starts to buzz with vibrations. “Run, Sunshine.”

Jack throws himself forward and then to the right, just as high caliber rounds shatter glass and almost literally cleave a hole in the wall where he has been standing a moment earlier. He feels one bullet scrape and rip the outer back layer of his combat armor. The chopper turns and the canyon of exploded plaster follows Jack sprinting and then hurling himself down the stairs to the inside part of the apartment. He does not stop and barrels through the double doors in front of him using the gained momentum – a grave mistake any other time, but now the surprise gives him an upper hand.

Jack idly wonders who ate from the platters and who used all the porcelain; relics exhibited in the showroom break under the hail of bullets. Recoil bites into his shoulder until the cartridge empties. He ducks behind the pillar and unclasps a flashbang from his belt, tears the pin with his thumb and counts to two, then gently bumps it behind. The shout from one of the combatants as it lands signals him to release the spent magazine and force in a new one. The mechanism clicks and the room floods with light, his earpieces nullifying the bang – the soundwave still resonating in his chest.

Dealing with disoriented enemies takes scant seconds. Jack crosses the room towards the one that still lives. The man tries to crawl away, one hand holding his ripped side, fear of death and pain clearly painted on his face.

Jack kicks him and then holds him in place with foot pressed down on his chest – the barrel of the rifle slowly lowering to the sound of terrified whimpers and stopping only when pointed at the man’s head. He pulls the trigger and holds it a little longer than needed.

Killing humans is easy.

“Yes,” the Beast hisses into his ear. “They will all die. We will bathe in their screams.”

“Yes,” Jack answers back, glancing at the painting on the wall next to him. It does not fit the abstract pieces adorning the walls. The dark cloud swirling around the tree (the tree somehow painfully familiar) looks as if alive, droplets of splattered blood sinking into the thirsting paint and drying up almost instantly.

He briefly shakes his head and moves forward, keeping a wary eye on the windows. The next connecting corridor leads into an indoor swimming pool, the sliding roof shut tight. But the water… The pool is filled to the brim with blood, dark and still, the wet smell of iron in the air inimitable, and the headache making his vision waver is back.

Crazy or not, he is not stepping into it. Jack follows the path along the edge, ready to shove the stacked furniture blocking the way when something grips his ankle. The hand with pointed dark claws, weathered and wrinkled like a mummy on display, yanks hard. He has time only to close his eyes and take a breath as he plunges into the crimson liquid.

The darkness is calm and comforting, the presence in it pulsing with a soft hum. Foreign touch slowly travels down his scar as everywhere around Jack disembodied red eyes open and curiously stare at him.

“Dead, am I?” It, the Beast or something else altogether, whispers, chuckling. Then the aura changes suddenly and the presence becomes oppressing, claws dig deep into his throat. “Are you even in there?” It snarls.

“I hear you,” Jack chokes out and the pressure on his throat leaves reluctantly as red eyes close one by one.

The plastic bottle slips away from his fingers into the water when he recovers standing by the edge of the pool, the white pills floating on the surface, some of them already slowly sinking to the bottom. The piled chairs from before are thrown everywhere around.

“Shit,” Jack grips his rifle, moving forward. There are bloody footprints leading from the pool up the stairs. Crazy or not…

“You saying something, luv?” Lena pipes up on the radio. “I’m not running into many of those bloody twats.”

“Yeah, almost empty. You think they all went for sunshine?” Genji laughs. “Let me tell you, how do you even have that many fucking stairs?”

“Keep away from open spaces and windows. They have a chopper with vulcan on it.”

“Oi, luv, you okay? Bad whirlybird not hurt you much?”

“No,” the door opens with a soft click to a carpeted corridor, the footprints continuing forward. “Back armor’s shot though. Would be nice to have someone make sure I don’t get nailed from behind.”

“An innuendo!” Lena giggles. “Don’t worry, luv, almost on it. I think.”

There are voices coming from the front.

“Over, boogies,” Jack whispers into the receiver and hugs the wall. He will only have one flashbang left, but the conversation carries as they stand guard, and he cooks it for three seconds now. The grenade explodes in the air and Jack moves from behind the cover, shooting. Only two targets. The clip is half-full. The bloody footprints unnerve him – still, he follows them to the empty bedroom with a television set displaying the images from the security feed.

The pain is back and Jack can only stare at the dark figure passing him in the doorway, black wisps of smoke breaking away from it and then drifting into nothingness, yet the shine on the black coat brings to the mind an idea of wetness. It stops by the shelf and taps a clawed finger on an old music box, then dissipates, taking away the headache with its presence gone.

Crazy or not. Jack starts the mechanism – it’s a melody he thinks he should know but does not remember. The shelf moves to the side.

A panic room.

[speedygal]

Everything is not what it seems part 22

A/N You know, I would really love writing Chahura and our dear Spirk  in the same story HAD I A STORYLINE IN MIND TO CARRY THESE TWO PAIRINGS THROUGH AND HAD FUN.

Of all the people to lose in the field of action, briefly, it had to be the captain and the first officer.

Their fates left to be ambiguous.

The Enterprise was above the planet waiting for the ionstorm to end.

They still did not know if it was to be taken briefly as most of their away missions were.

Everyone was keeping their hopes tied down with realistic expectations.

Zup’halie laid in the cell with one hand cupping the side of her face.

Should Spock and Kirk not reply to the Enterprise when the ion storm ended, she was to be taken to the nearby starbase for murdering two Starfleet officers. There she would be taken to a penal colony. And what life she had before would only be a fantasy. A dream, in all respects, should her contacts not attempt to get her out of the penal colony. It would take one week and two days to get to the starbase, at all. By then, afterwards, most of the crew would have requested reassignments and the ship restaffed with a new command crew.

Zup’halie looked up to see a dark thorny beast pacing in front of her cell.

“This is Max,” McCoy said, as he stepped out of the darkness. “The resident chewer.” McCoy patted on the demon’s side.

Zup’halie slid to the back reach of the cell.

“You’re dead,” Zup’halie said.

“Uh huh,” McCoy said, stepping forward.

His hands were linked behind his back as his dark look changed. His skin fell back to shown half of his skull with stains. Marks were here and there on the skull. There was no eye in his right socket and his hair remained on the head. His black regulation uniform seemed to be torn. The marks on the skull looked like bite marks. As though wildlife had fed on his corpse on and off the day. McCoy’s eyebrow was not even there. Half of his face was eaten away.

“This is what my dead body looked like when it was found,” McCoy said, as his preferred aesthetic returned appearing healthy and almost glowing. He looked so alive if not for the stain in his uniform. “Now, I hate for Spock and Jim to be eaten beyond recognition. Or eaten alive for that matter.” McCoy walked into the cell.

“Oh my---” Zup’halie said.

Zup’halie had her back pressed against the wall with one hand covering her mouth.

“Did ya kill them?” McCoy asked.

“I got rid of them,” Zup’halie said,

“Not a answer,” McCoy stepped forward. “Stop acting like a tough girl and tell me.”

“What does that matter to you?” Zup’halie said. “You’re dead.”

McCoy’s face softened.

“I like to know,” McCoy said, as the demon hissed behind him. “and just need to know how lon’ I need to wait for my friends to appear on this ship for the last time.” He took another step forward. “They’re gonna launch a rescue party after the hailin’. . . “

“It’s not a rescue party,” Zup’halie said. “It’s a retrieval party.”

“Now look whose in denial,” McCoy said. “They’re not dead.”

“For all you know, they are,” Zup’halie said. “that planet is vicious.”

“They survive in caves more often than not,” McCoy said. “they survive everythin’.”

“Officers can’t survive a constantly changing environment,” Zup’halie said.

“Humans and Vulcans can,” McCoy said, waving his index finger at the  Pralimenian. “Unlike y’all.”

Zup’halie stepped forward.

“We are different from humans because we go with suits to foriegn planets,” Zup’halie said. “at least we have the sense to go out before using a shuttle craft.”

“And where is your suit by the way?” McCoy asked.

“I took it off in the shuttle,”  Zup’halie said.

“I think ya lyin’,” McCoy said. “Pralimenians don’t go in a outfit like that.”

“It’s aesthetically pleasing,” Zup’halie said.

“Ah please,” McCoy said, rolling his eyes. “and people say starfleet woman uniforms are bad,” he rubbed his forehead turning away. “your fashion style is criminal.”

“Really?” Zup’halie said. “yours is.”

McCoy turned in the direction of the woman linking his hands behind his back.

“Starfleet gives standard winter gear for the women on cold planets,” McCoy said. “and ya do?”

“. . . No,” Zup’halie said.

“Did ya kill them or did ya knock them out then leave them behind?” McCoy asked, as she was seated against the makeshift bed with one hand on the side. “Don’t make me show ya again what I looked like after death.” his baby blue eyes shined a shade of red as he loomed over her acting as a dark shadow connected to the darkness.

Chapel kissed along Uhura’s bare neck squeezing her hand.

Uhura stroked the side of  Chapel’s face while sitting on the edge of the bed.

Uhura’s attention and her mind was entirely on the nurse.

Uhura hummed to herself as a smile grew on her face. Sometimes their little sessions was used to help each other feel better after something bad happened. Uhura needed that more than ever right now. Uhura shifted herself in the direction of Chapel as their foreheads rested against each other wearing a smile. Uhura planted Chapel onto the wide bed placing kisses on the woman’s shoulder. There were times when being off duty was a blessing for the lieutenant more than ever.

Such as now.

The scene backtracked as the two women’s bubbly laughter echoed in the quarters.

[kinetic-elaboration]

May 20: 2x19 A Private Little War

Yet again, I feel like it is Friday. It’s not!!

Today’s ep is... unusual. I always think of it as weird because it’s not as optimistic as most TOS episodes; it’s not even a little bittersweet, more like downright bleak. I remember the first time I watched it, thinking, ‘....oh? that’s it then? no solution? we’re just gonna up and leave?’

Appropriate for a very obvious Vietnam allegory, especially one airing in 1967, but still... this is utopian science fiction! Show me people doing better!

It’s not even a complaint because I do think it was very gutsy to air an ep like this and I appreciate that they went there, so to speak.

But tbh it also felt different in other ways, too. It’s hard to put my finger on it... maybe because there wasn’t much sci fi (other than.. everyone being aliens). Maybe it was the extensive amount of time spent on new characters, and how little time was spent on the Enterprise or with most of the crew. Maybe it was the witch.

Anyway, some specific thoughts:

Oh, the brash young Lt. Kirk...exploring a planet for the first time.

Tyree? His “old friend”? Could that be an ex-boyfriend? I’m going to read it that way, just for fun.

Oh, no, Spock!

Twice in five minutes, Kirk was going to just straight up ignore the “don’t interfere, don’t use your weapons” policy--and it was his policy! But in his defense, someone was about to kill his ex-boyfriend, and then someone tried to kill his space husband, so he had his reasons.

M’Benga!!

How is he supposed to concentrate on the Klingons when Spock is hurt?

Thirteen years ago... okay, just gonna do some math--he was 21. That’s a little young for a lieutenant.

Uhura knows her history.

“Old style hand laser.” When do I get one of those?

Everyone’s really ganging up on Kirk here. Rude. Don’t they know his Spock is in the hospital?

So he’s like “screw this, gonna go see Spock now.”

No replacement Vulcan organs on hand? That’s too bad; gonna have to rely on Vulcan self-healing to just like... grow some new ones I guess.

Kirk needs his BFF down on the planet with him.

“Native costumes.”

Kirk is very troubled today, I think. “I’m just going to disobey direct orders so I can see my ex.”

He’s so idealistic, too... Maybe a little naive, but he is like that. He just sees this beautiful planet where the people are peaceful, and maybe it’s a little bit of a Pastoral Fantasy and there’s a bit of paternalism in it but... he’s not entirely wrong. No one should interfere and maybe they are just... better than humans. Like young Jim Kirk found these people and fell in with them as a whole and probably one in particular and I think that’s nice.

Omg fuzzy animal!

“Bones vaporized a native specimen.” That’s one way to put it, mom.

Those wigs are truly terrible.

Bones has nice arms.

They are not carrying Kirk particularly carefully here... just kinda letting his head loll around there

Oh no Tyree’s wife! Sorry, Jim.

“They are compassionate and gentle.”

Aw, gotta keep Jim all nice and warm and snuggly.

Honestly, I love her outfit.

She cast a spell to make him fall in love with her. Well, that’s an explanation.

“It brought up evil beasts from my soul.” Hot.

She immediately knows who “the friend from long ago” is lol. Must have told a lot of stories about Jim. His friend. His special friend. The “friend” of his younger days.

“He was made my brother.” The no-homo short cut for explaining an inexplicably strong male bond.

“Self-induced hypnosis, you say? You mean he’s conscious? He noticed me fondling his hand?”

...Is that a rat king? Oh, no, just a moving root.

McCoy’s like “I gotta learn how to do this.”

Tyree looks like Jeremy Renner in a bad wig.

JAMES??? JAMES YOU SAY? Has literally anyone ever called him James? Tyree’s own little special name for him? I was half-joking about the ex-bf thing but now I’m kinda serious.

Kirk is such a nerd. He just jumps at the opportunity to give a little presentation about the witch people.

Another Homoerotic Thing is the obligatory Female Character who’s now been sexually linked to both of them, providing a sort of bridge of association between the Very Straight Men.

“You will let him die when you have weapons to make him powerful and safe?” She has a good point.

“That’s what’s bothering me: the something we may have to do.”

Bones’s Southern accent really comes out on “killing is stupid and useless”

Scotty is so confused by all this hitting and madness! In his defense, it is straight up weird. Can you imagine Vulcans just, like, hitting each other? In the hospital?

In case you weren’t aware, these references to “20th century wars in Asia” should alert you to the Allegorical Nature of the Narrative.

This is all so sad. I don’t even really have commentary past that, it’s just... they’re both right, and there aren’t good answers. Other than I guess, expelling the Klingons. But even then the damage would probably be done. And Bones is just so good and so pure-hearted. Kirk is too but he’s also practical. And perhaps influenced by magic? I find that rather unnecessary to explaining his thought process here. He’s already gone rogue and in a sense, he’s in over his head. And he already has an inherent motivation to protect his friend.

Ah ha, Jim’s romantic music is playing. I don’t entirely get this scene outside of having an obligatory Jim Kiss scene lol. And to show how good Tyree is. And perhaps how mercenary Nona is?

I must say, I love this animal!

And I love Tyree. He doesn’t want to use weapons; he doesn’t want to fight; he doesn’t want to kill; and he won’t kill even when he sees Nona with another man.

The moment Jim took the rock from Tyree... so charged...

Flintlocks? Serpents? Really time to confuse Scotty now.

So it really does end with “Well that’s just how it is and how it has to be bye now.”

Another weird thing is that this is all tied to the Klingons, like they essentially started it, but we don’t really know what happens to them. Like, they broke the treaty, and Kirk and Bones have proof of that. Will this cause a much greater Diplomatic Incident? Will they continue arming the villagers, forcing the Federation to continue arming the hill people? To some degree, this doesn’t really matter--this ep isn’t about the Star Trek Extended Universe, it’s about breaking down the situation in Vietnam through the use of metaphor, but still. Questions are raised.

I think this is quite an ambitious episode, and even though I think in general it feels...unusual, I tentatively think the level of ambition is on par with S1.

I had mixed feelings about Nona. I loved her whole aesthetic and her witchy woman vibes and I do enjoy a Strong Female Villain. I think she was interesting in that she wasn’t really on either side--I got the impression that the witches were neither villagers nor hill people, and she really didn’t seem to have allegiance to anyone but herself. She wasn’t faithful to Tyree and she wanted to give the phaser to the villagers at the end, I suspect for the exact reason she said: she considered their leader to be the stronger one. She was also a necessary story element in a way, because the villagers were being egged on by the Klingons, but the hill people weren’t really egged on by anyone. Furthermore, I thought it was notable that, despite her power both literal and narrative, she was still subject to disrespect and sexual assault by the village men, which I didn’t see as punishment but more like... a commentary on gender, in a way.

All that being said... the Bad Woman made me do it is a little... not sure how I feel about THAT lol.

This was a very interesting Kirk and Bones episode. It really showed them both off well, and their friendship. And of course we see a lot of Kirk here: his history, his idealism, his optimism, but also how he is more pragmatic than Bones, and used to being the Captain that makes hard decisions, without even Starfleet backup.

Nice to see Bones showing off his bad ass side too.

So here’s the real question: is Tyree pre-Gary Mitchell, or from one of their “off” periods in the on-and-off relationship? Mom and I have decided he’s pre-Gary and I think that’s right. The 13-years-ago clue is a better one than the lieutenant clue, but if Kirk really was 21, he was way too young to have known Gary yet. Also I really do think he was at his most naive and impressionable pre-Gary.

Woah it is too late and I am TIRED.

Next is Return to Tomorrow, which is one of my FAVE eps. A really sleeper classic imo.

[jw029]

Every Animated Disney Villain (Feature-length movies only)

Queen Grimhilde (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves)

The Magic Mirror (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves)

Stromboli (Pinocchio)

The Coachman (Pinocchio)

Monstro the Whale (Pinocchio)

John Worthington "Honest John" Foulfellow (Pinocchio)

Gideon (Pinocchio)

Chernabog (Fantasia)

Zeus (Fantasia)

Vulcan (Fantasia)

Boreas (Fantasia)

The Pink Elephants (Dumbo)

Man (Bambi)

Ronno (Bambi)

Professor Tomaso Tetti-Tatti (Make Mine Music)

Lumpjaw (Fun and Fancy Free)

Willie the Giant (Fun and Fancy Free)

The Rustlers (Melody Time)

Mr. Winkie (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)

The Headless Horseman (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)

Lady Madonna Tremaine (Cinderella)

Anastasia Tremaine (Cinderella)

Drizella Tremaine (Cinderella)

Lucifer the Cat (Cinderella)

The Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)

The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland)

The Walrus and the Carpenter (Alice in Wonderland)

Captain James Hook (Peter Pan)

Mr. Smee (Peter Pan)

The Tick Tock Crocodile (Peter Pan)

The Rat (Lady and the Tramp)

Si and Am (Lady and the Tramp)

Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)

Diablo (Sleeping Beauty)

Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians)

Jasper and Horace (101 Dalmatians)

Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone)

Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)

Kaa (The Jungle Book)

King Louie (The Jungle Book)

Edgar Balthazar (The Aristocats)

Prince John (Robin Hood)

The Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood)

Sir Hiss (Robin Hood)

Captain Crocodile (Robin Hood)

Trigger and Nutsy (Robin Hood)

Madame Medusa (The Rescuers)

Mr. Snoops (The Rescuers)

Brutus and Nero (The Rescuers)

Amos Slade (The Fox and the Hound)

Chief (The Fox and the Hound)

The Horned King (The Black Cauldron)

Creeper (The Black Cauldron)

The Gwythaints (The Black Cauldron)

Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch (The Black Cauldron)

Professor Padraic Ratigan (Basil the Great Mouse Detective)

Fidget (Basil the Great Mouse Detective)

Felicia (Basil the Great Mouse Detective)

Bill Sykes (Oliver & Company)

Roscoe and DeSoto (Oliver & Company)

Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

Flotsam and Jetsam (The Little Mermaid)

Percival C. McLeach (The Rescuers Down Under)

Joanna the Goanna (The Rescuers Down Under)

Gaston Legume (Beauty and the Beast)

LeFou (Beauty and the Beast)

Jafar (Aladdin)

Iago (Aladdin)

Captain Razoul (Aladdin)

The Cave of Wonders (Aladdin)

Scar (The Lion King)

Shenzi, Banzai, & Ed (The Lion King)

Governor John Ratcliffe (Pocahontas)

Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Hades (Hercules)

Pain and Panic (Hercules)

The Fates (Hercules)

Cerberus (Hercules)

The Titans (Hercules)

Nessus (Hercules)

Shan Yu (Mulan)

Hayabusa the Falcon (Mulan)

William Cecil Clayton (Tarzan)

Sabor (Tarzan)

The Firebird (Fantasia 2000)

The Jack-in-the-Box (Fantasia 2000)

Kron (Dinosaurs)

Bruton (Dinosaurs)

The Carnotaurus (Dinosaurs)

Yzma (The Emperor's New Groove)

Kronk (The Emperor's New Groove)

Lyle Tiberius Rourke (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Helga Katrina Sinclair (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Captain Gantu (Lilo & Stitch)

John Silver (Treasure Planet)

Scroop (Treasure Planet)

Alameda Slim (Home on the Range)

Rico (Home on the Range)

Mr. Wesley (Home on the Range)

DOR-15 (Meet the Robinsons)

Mike Yagoobian (Meet the Robinsons)

The Agent (Bolt)

The Director (Bolt)

Dr. Calico (Bolt)

Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)

Lawrence (The Princess and the Frog)

Mother Gothel (Tangled)

Turbo/King Candy (Wreck-It Ralph)

Prince Hans (Frozen)

Duke of Weselton (Frozen)

Robert Callaghan/Yokai (Big Hero 6)

Alistair Krei (Big Hero 6)

Mr. Yama (Big Hero 6)

Dawn Bellwether (Zootopia)

Doug Ramses (Zootopia)

Woolter & Jesse (Zootopia)

Duke Weaselton (Zootopia)

Tē Ka (Moana)

Tamatoa (Moana)

Arthur (Ralph Breaks the Internet)