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phantom-le6 · 2 years

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Episode Reviews - Star Trek: Voyager Season 3 (3 of 7)

Episode 9: Future’s End (Part 2)

Plot (as given by me):

While Paris and Tuvok prepare to return to the observatory with Rain to contact Voyager, their crewmates assess their current situation. In addition to the Doctor’s program being missing following Starling’s computer assault, the ship’s weaponry and long-range transporters remain off-line. Short-range emergency transport is mechanically possible, but Neelix reports that while legitimate news broadcasters have come to believe the footage of Voyager is fake, the US military is taking the matter more seriously. Any future low-altitude flights could result in a conflict with the US Air Force. The briefing is interrupted by Tuvok making contact with the crew, which results in a plan to abduct Starling.

At Chronowerx, Starling interrogates the Doctor, believing that Voyager is lying and seeking the time ship for their own gain, since Starling is too mired in 20th century capitalist ideals to believe a future version of humanity could be more altruistic. The interrogation is interrupted by Rain making contact, which leads to a meeting at Metro Plaza. This is all part of Janeway’s plan; Rain is supposed to lure Starling to her van, and from there a shuttle piloted by Chakotay and B’Elanna will beam Starling away.

The plan is sent awry by Starling, who first equips the Doctor with a portable holo-emitter from the time-ship, then manages to get Rain over to his car instead. During the attempted beam-out, Starling uses a tricorder to try and block the transport. Voyager is able to rematerialize Starling by taking over the transport, but the ensuing damage to the shuttle causes it to crash somewhere over Arizona. Back in Los Angeles, the Doctor and Rain escape Starling’s underling Dunbar, who himself returns to Chronowerx.

Chakotay and B’Elanna awaken to find themselves taken hostage by a group of militiamen, who have assumed from their uniforms and the shuttle’s labelling that they’re government agents sent to target them. Janeway contacts Tuvok, who takes the Doctor with him to rescue their captured crew-members while Paris and Rain try to find the timeship’s launch site. Janeway then goes to confront Starling in sick bay. She comes to realise that Starling’s intended flight to the future is motivated by profit; Starling’s tech empire and creation of the micro-computer revolution has been based on reverse-engineering 29th century technology, and now he needs more such technology to keep his company going.

In Arizona, Tuvok and the Doctor defeat the militiamen, free Chakotay and B’Elanna and begin work on repairing the shuttle, the militiamen having been distracted by the arrival of a police presence. Meanwhile, Dunbar uses a Chronowerx satellite to beam Starling back to Earth. Paris and Rain end up chasing a truck that they believe contains the timeship. It turns out to be a decoy, however; Starling kept the timeship at Chronowerx HQ and flies it out the side of the building. After a quick romantic goodbye to Rain, Paris is beamed aboard the repaired shuttle, which in turn docks with Voyager.

While waiting for the shuttle, Janeway has bolted down to the photo torpedo launchers to conduct a manual launch in lieu of computer control. When Starling refuses to abort his flight to the future, the torpedo is launched and Starling destroyed, ending the temporal loop for everyone except the crew of Voyager, who somehow remain unaffected. A version of Captain Braxton who didn’t end up stranded on 20th century Earth then arrives in a timeship to return Voyager to the 24th century. Janeway asks if they can go back to their time but in the Alpha Quadrant, and Braxton refuses by citing the Temporal Prime Directive. Back in the Delta Quadrant in their own time, the Doctor marvels at what the mobile emitter may do to change his life going forward, while Paris and Tuvok banter regarding their recent mission.

Review:

The second part of this mid-season two-parter carries over all that was good about the first part, namely the acting quality and generally interesting plot premise, but it also picks up the flaws of part one. It’s still not proper exploration of a given character or issue, which as I’ve noted frequently is what Trek is supposed to be about. It also picks up on the terrible sci-fi trope of undermining past human achievement. This more typically takes the form of attributing ancient achievements like the building of the great pyramids to aliens or cosmic phenomena, but here, we face the suggestion that 20th century humans would never have developed personal computers and so on without help from the future. According to the Trek wiki site Memory Alpha, once the timeline is changed, Robert Picardo who plays the Doctor theorises that two timeships came down, and Bill Gates exploited the other one in Starling’s absence.

Sorry, Rob, as much as I respect you for playing a character with autism-like aspects such as the Doctor, this is total rubbish. Humans invented personal computer tech without any outside help from alien worlds or other time periods, just like we built the pyramids. It’s human ingenuity and hard work, pure and simple, and I for one get sick and tired of seeing sci-fi try to undermine that. I didn’t consider this much of a negative in part 1 because that’s hot on the heel of two medium episodes and a royal howler, but getting into part 2 it stands out a bit more for the colossal irritant it is.

On the plus side, this episode does provide the Doctor with the means to cease being confined to sick bay and the holodecks, which was a vital component in allowing the character to grow. It’s also vital in terms of his ability to be representative of the neurodiverse; if we can’t see the Doctor overcoming his limitations to better employ his strengths, his value as a positive inspiration to people like myself would be significantly diminished.

The final point to consider is the question of the other main guest character of the 90’s era Voyager visits; Rain Robinson, played by Sarah Silverman. Apparently, there was an idea to have her come on board the ship, effectively catapulting this 20th century human into the 24th century world of the show’s main setting. The idea was ruled out by Rick Berman, who apparently later came to regret doing so. However, I think this is one occasion where Berman made the right call. Not only is it reported that Silverman wouldn’t have wanted to play the role regularly because she has difficulties committing to anything, but I think it makes no real sense to do that.

While the events of the two-parter are of an intensity necessary to create a genuine romantic connection between Rain and Paris despite the relatively limited timeframe, continuing that would be a huge ask. After all, it would mean taking Robinson from the only life she’s ever known to live almost 400 years into the future relative to her original time era. She would be massively behind on the tech and struggling to catch up, and massively far away from Earth with the rest of Voyager’s crew. In addition, taking her from her own time period could have massive repercussions. What role would her descendants, if any, have down the following centuries? What of any family or friends in her native time period that might be left to worry about her sudden absence?

The only way this could have been pulled off is if this had been at least a three-part episode that finished Starling off part-way through the third episode. That would have allowed time to see the crew checking to make sure Rain joining them wouldn’t impact history, then also making sure her friends and family weren’t going to worry. You’d then need to somehow work out how to acclimate a 20th century human with society as it exists on the only Federation starship in the Delta Quadrant in the 24th century. Long story short, this was clearly never going to be a good idea. So, in the end, all that’s left is to give this episode a score. On balance, I give it 7 out of 10.

Episode 10: Warlord

Plot (as given by me):

Voyager rescues a trio of aliens, known as the Ilari, as their vessel nears destruction. In sick bay, two of the aliens are saved but one that is treated by Kes dies, his injuries too severe for even the Doctor to save him. Over the days that follow, Kes and the two survivors become inseparable. This causes some concern to Neelix, which worsens when Kes suggests that the two of them split up, her apparently wanting to experience different styles of relationships with others. Later, Kes surprisingly aids the two aliens in killing the representative of the Autarch of their world and the officer manning the transporter, while Janeway is knocked out. Kes and her Ilari companions then beam one of Voyager’s shuttlecraft into space before beaming over and going to warp.

It is later explained that Kes has been possessed by a man named Tieran; he was the Ilarian Autarch over two centuries ago, but ruled as a paranoid tyrant in peace time and was overthrown by the ancestors of the current Ilari royal family. During his reign, Tieran was obsessed with his own mortality and surviving death, leading to the development of a form of bio-technology that enables Tieran to transmit his consciousness to another person when he dies. While the elder prince of the royal family comes aboard Voyager, Tieran leads a successful raid that kills the Autarch and imprisons the younger prince.

Though still in love with his wife, Tieran uses his feminine host body to seduce the younger prince into being his husband. Meanwhile, the Ilari are dividing for civil war, and the elder prince wishes to end Tieran’s threat as quickly as possible. The Doctor discovers how Tieran’s consciousness-transfer device works and develops a counter-device, which Tuvok attempts to plant on Kes. However, Tieran is somehow more adept with Kes’ psychokinetic abilities and routes Tuvok out. He decides to keep Tuvok as a hostage and force Voyager to leave. Tieran then tries to seduce Tuvok with Kes’ body, but this allows Tuvok to form a brief mind-meld, revealing that Kes is still fighting back. Inside Kes’ mind, Tieran attempts to seduce Kes without success while Kes keeps fighting back, promising to be every bit as relentless and merciless as Tieran.

A follow-up strike soon occurs, with Lt. Paris freeing Tuvok while Tieran’s guards are caught unawares by the main strike. Neelix finally manages to use the Doctor’s device on Kes, but Tieran transferred to the younger prince first. Sensing this, Kes uses the device on the prince, ending Tieran’s threat. Later on Voyager, Kes struggles to process what has happened to her, experiencing misplaced guilt at being unable to stop Tieran any sooner and wondering how she can go back to her old life like nothing happened. Tuvok points out that she cannot; her recent experience will forever be part of her and shape the rest of her life, but it does so is for Kes to dictate.

Review:

Alien possession episodes; more often than not, these things are highly prone to going into “character acts weird for weirdness’ sake” territory, and while Jennifer Lien does for the most part do well in playing a possessed Kes as something to be taken seriously, there is still an element of seemingly forced weirdness to hand. Part of this comes from the scene where the possessed Kes breaks up with Neelix. Not only is it seemingly over-charged with social awkwardness, but the break-up is not well-handled after this episode. There’s no effort to show any discussion about it in subsequent episodes, no explanation as to whether the break-up was pure Kes, pure Tiernan or a combination of the two. It seems like the episode’s writers somehow thought this was an ok break-up as was and it didn’t need follow-up. Clearly those writers must be rubbish at relationships, because this was a text-book example of how not to handle a break-up, especially a sci-fi possession-influenced one which, by its very nature, needs clarification regarding who prompted the break-up and why.

Worse than this, however, is something I’ve picked up following the recent viewing of youtube videos by a fellow Trek fan. More specifically, I’ve recently been following the “Sex in Star Trek” videos created by Jessie Gender, a transgender woman who I’ve been given to understand is a fellow member of the neurodiverse community. Jessie’s videos to date in this series have explored how heavily sex features in the writing of its creator Gene Roddenberry, and thus how inextricably linked the subject has become with Trek overall, but they’ve also explored how Trek hasn’t always lived up to its own ideology in some areas.

The key area in which Trek was behind by the time of this episode, and this is something I suspect Jessie will touch on when her video series gets to the Voyager series, is representation of the LGBTQ+ community and the issues facing them. During the Roddenberry era, this was apparently because Roddenberry knew that to make Trek, there was only so much he could push against things like homophobia, racism, etc. This led to a kind of ‘pick your battles’ mentality. During the Berman era, however, the top producer of all things Trek was just acting as steward to a franchise he didn’t believe in the ideology of. As such, he was more concerned with preserving what Roddenberry had established as Trek instead of learning what Trek really was and expanding it.

This meant that any episodes dealing with LGBTQ+ issues invariably showcased the issues in metaphor, they were one-shots and they often reinforced existing societal prejudices by show-casing the characters representing that group as anything other than human. Case-in-point, ‘Warlord’ contains an anti-LGBTQ+ by taking an alien woman, possessing her with an alien man, having her break-up with her alien boyfriend, then having this alien man-turned-woman-via possession pursue a polyamorous relationship with his/her existing wife and the prince of a rival royal family. Throw in the suggested infidelity of Tieran trying to get it on with Tuvok in Kes’ body, and it’s clear this episode was really trying like mad to link everything not heterosexual or monogamous to its villain and the concept of aliens to try and dehumanise the whole lot.

So, we’ve got a badly handled possession-based break-up, all manner of LGBTQ+ phobias rearing their heads sub-textually and without much subtly; the only redemption is that Kes’ possession trauma, which can be taken as akin to abduction, rape or both, is given more positive treatment at the end of the episode than we’ve seen in previous Trek. Tuvok noting that Kes’ trauma will affect her, but reassuring her that how it does so is up to her, is probably the most positive Trek had been on the subject up to this point, with most prior instances not caring enough about how this kind of trauma impacts those it affects. However, that’s not much of a saving grace, and I only give this episode 3 out of 10.

Episode 11: The Q and the Grey

Plot (as given by me):

While studying a supernova, Voyager is once more visited by Q. He claims he wants to have a child with Captain Janeway, who inevitably rejects his crude and outlandish advances. However, she instructs the crew to do everything in their power to learn what Q really wants, as they’re all aware from the record of the USS Enterprise-D that Q almost always has ulterior motives. Eventually, matters are complicated by the appearance of a female Q (She-Q for our reference) and the occurrence of yet more supernovas. As Janeway suspects a link between the two, Q transports himself and her away. She-Q attempts to follow as Voyager is struck by shockwaves from multiple supernovas.

Janeway finds herself in the Continuum, which is now manifesting as America’s civil war. Q reveals that the Q are engaged in a similar civil war following the suicide of Quinn in the previous Q episode ‘Death Wish’. Q’s side, which take the appearance of the pro-abolition northern forces, continue to uphold Quinn’s ideals of personal freedom and independence, while the opposing Q’s (appearing as the pro-slavery south) believe in putting the state of the continuum above its people. Q’s idea to end the war is to mate with Janeway, in hoping that this will provide the Q with human concepts like acting with good conscience, being selfless and having a positive morality.

While Q and Janeway tries to survive the conflict, with the weaponry being used capable of injuring any Q, Voyager works to understand the matter from their own end. Apparently, the multiple supernovas are a side-effect of the war in the continuum, and Chakotay means to try and reach the captain. However, She-Q’s powers have been somehow interfered with, stranding her on the ship. She conceives a plan to get them all into the continuum that involves flying the ship into a supernova, using a shield modification to ensure they can survive the trip. In the continuum, Janeway points out that the values Q is seeking are taught rather than genetic, and she decides to try and seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.

However, Janeway’s intentions backfire; the Q state has no interest in negotiation, and when Q surrenders, both he and Janeway are sentenced to death. However, She-Q and the Voyager crew arrive just in time to prevent the execution along with some of Q’s troops. Q convinces She-Q to procreate with him, which leads to a cease fire, the return of Janeway and Voyager to their original point in space-time, and the birth of Q-Jr.

Review:

If ‘Warlord’ isn’t liable to get looked into by Jessie Gender when her “Sex in Star Trek” series reaches Voyager, this episode almost certainly will. This whole episode is little more than Q trying to con Janeway in pulling the Q equivalent of the immaculate conception. Hopefully that analogy isn’t too offensive to any Christians reading this, but let’s face it; omnipotent being coming down from a higher plain to pick a human woman to bear a saviour? It’s fairly obvious this episode has its echoes of Biblical lore, and good on Janeway for not blindly going along with the program like some kind of 24th century sheep.

Right from the start, Janeway is quick to fend off Q’s advances, and while he is annoyingly persistent, he only just stays on the right side of the line when it comes to how his advances fit into good practice regarding consent. Again, this is somewhat reflective of Trek’s unfortunate legacy to be not very progressive around the subject of sex, but the level of agency Janeway has does offset this a bit. She’s able to say no and have that respected (albeit at a very minimal level), and while she gets to admit to being “intrigued” by Q’s idea, that admission doesn’t seem to undermine the legitimacy of her refusals. If anything, it probably strengthens them by showing that she’s not just refusing out of hand. When she learns what Q is actually asking for; she thinks it over and ultimately decides “ok, this is still a bad idea”.

The inclusion of a female Q played by Suzie Plakson is a big positive; Plakson is most well-known for playing the Klingon-human hybrid K'Ehleyr on the TNG series, as well as the Vulcan physician Dr Selar in that same series. Much of the feistiness and humour that was in her portrayal of K'Ehleyr carries over into her female Q performance, and that also helps to offset some of this episode’s questionable atmosphere around consent, etc. Annoyingly, the episode also doesn’t give as much time as I’d like to its core issues, focusing too much on treating Q’s pestering advances like comedic moments rather than omnipotent stalking and the series’ mandate for action over substance. As a result, while this episode is better than its immediate predecessor, it’s still quite problematic. The final plus point is that the episode shows a rare attention to continuity by making this episode a sequel to ‘Death Wish’ and reusing the Doctor’s mobile emitter from ‘Future’s End’. Overall, I’m inclined to give this one 6 out of 10.

Episode 12: Macrocosm

Plot (as given by me):

Following a trade mission with a race known as the Tak-Tak, Captain Janeway and Neelix return to Voyager, only to find the ship adrift over a lightyear from the pre-arranged rendezvous co-ordinates. There is no sign of damage to the ship, or of evacuation by the crew, and a bio-electric field permeating the ship prevents effective scanning for life signs. As a result, Janeway and Neelix are in the dark as they board and begin to seek answers, a search which is frustrated by various ship systems failing. Along the way, a strange life-form sprays Neelix with a mucilaginous compound, after which he begins to show signs of severe illness. As Janeway leaves to grab supplies from a nearby medical kit, the stricken Neelix is abducted.

Detouring to Engineering to re-arm, as well as slightly strip down as Voyager’s warp core begins heating the whole ship, Janeway soldiers on alone. She reaches the bridge and sends out a distress call, just prior to being bitten by an insect-like entity. She then heads to the mess hall, where she finds a number of the crew all in fever-comas. She also sees more insect-like beings bursting out of the necks of the crew, and is then attacked by a larger alien that she blows up with her phaser rifle. Injured in the scuffle, she heads for sick bay, where she finds the Doctor is still functional.

As the Doctor repairs the captain’s injuries and treats her for viral infection, he explains what has happened in her absence. While Janeway and Neelix were on their trade mission, Voyager responded to a call for help from a mining colony suffering a viral outbreak. The Doctor, due to both his profession and nature as a hologram, was sent down to investigate, capitalising on his recently acquire mobile emitter. It soon became clear that the virus affecting the miners could spread by feeding on the host’s growth hormones, enabling it to grow beyond microscopic limitations and become visible in the macroscopic world. This led to the Doctor naming the contagion as the Macro-virus.

When the Doctor beamed back, the virus was able to escape the transporter’s bio-filters and infect one of the bio-neural gel-packs in the mess hall. When B’Elanna was exposed to the virus while trying to repair the gel-pack, the mess hall was quarantined. However, once the virus produced macro-sized versions of itself, the whole ship became overwhelmed. The viruses respond to infra-red heat, and as a result they attack the Doctor’s holographic form just as they would an organic being. Because of this, the Doctor can’t get out of sick bay to administer an anti-viral agent into the ship’s atmosphere or to the crew.

Taking a canister of cure each, Janeway and the Doctor begin taking separate routes to Environmental Control; the Doctor is corralled into a shuttle by the Macro-sized viruses, but Janeway is more successful, until the Tak-Tak fire on Voyager in an effort to stop the virus. While Janeway convinces them to stop attacking so she can administer the cure, the damage from the attack prevents her doing so as planned. Instead, she uses the resort program on the holodeck to trick all macro-versions of the virus into the holodeck. Despite the interference of a sentry virus, Janeway combined her canister of cure with an explosive, creating an anti-viral bomb that wipes out the virus. The Doctor cures the crew with his portion of the cure, the Tak-Tak are given a supply of cure to protect themselves, and Janeway grants the crew extended R&R.

Review:

Errors in technical terminology aside and disregarding the difficulty of believing viruses could exist at macroscopic size, this episode would still not be good Trek just because it’s not exploring/developing a character or exploring an issue. It’s just “ok, let’s let the aliens-of-the-week over-run Voyager and watch Janeway do a Ripley/Rambo-style retake of the ship.” That’s it. It’s an action-packed thrill-ride that would be fine…in any other sci-fi franchise. However, as I keep saying, Trek is issue-and-character-exploration done against a sci-fi backdrop. If you’re not doing at least one of these when you’ve got the words ‘Star Trek’ in the title of whatever you’re making, you’re quite simply not making Trek. You’re just using the Trek brand to pedal random rubbish. For me, this episode only gets 4 out of 10.

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norris82rivas · 2 years

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hotxcheeto · 2 years

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Can you do victoria chase x fem reader, where u are friends with her and victoria begins to form a crush on u

━ 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑

Pairing(s) - Victoria Chase x Fem!Reader Warnings - Cursing

Mornings were the worst possible thing in the world for you. You were face down on your desk, head in your arms, eyes closed as you began to drift off waiting for the first bell to ring. Class had yet to start, a great period of time to catch an extra five minutes to sleep. Or maybe tomorrow. Or maybe never if a certain blonde could help it.

"You've got to be kidding me." You groaned and sat up and looked at the familiar face that matched that bitchy tone. Victoria held a smirk, leaning against the table while staring down at you. "What did I do this time?" You leaned back waiting for the usual slander of your outfit you'd chosen that morning, or a critique on your hair which she'd fix nearly everyday for you. "That's the second time you've worn that sweater this week." "It is?"

You looked down at the crewneck confused, unaware that you had worn it already before looking at her. "I was so tired I didn't even realize.." You ran your hands down your face as Victoria shook her head and pushed herself off the desk walking to the chair beside you sitting down as you turned your body to face her. "Of course the fashion police would notice though." You smiled as a light blush dusted her cheeks a smile creeping onto her face.

"I have to, you would be doomed without my constant friendly advice. Though your outfits are horrendous and should be a crime against humanity. My faithful advice keeps them original each day of the week.. most of the time. You should really be thanking me." "You'd love that." You smirked leaning back as she kept her head down digging through her bag before pulling out a concealer shade that exactly matched yours. For a moment you wondered despite the many times you'd used it, how she got it or when?

"Here. For those extra dark circles you've had all week." "Wow, you are getting really bold with the makeover thing, aren't you? Am I starting to get too embarrassing for the Victoria Chase to be seen with?" It was a sarcastic question, your hand going to pick up the concealer when you noticed the way Victoria was staring at you.

"Hey, you okay?" She nodded before swallowing looking over at Max who had awkwardly walked up to the table looking at her filled spot. The bell then rang as you gave the concealer back to Victoria and smiled. "I'll put some on after." Victoria nodded and put it back in her bag, standing up to go to her seat. "Oh, hey y/n, I like your sweater. Is that a new one?" Max asked as she walked around the table and sat at her usual seat setting her camera on the table.

"Oh, no. According to Victoria this is the second time I've worn it this week." You grinned at Victoria whose face began turning red again as she turned around and walked back to her seat silently leaving you confused. "Huh, I didn't even notice." You laughed slightly before looking over at Victoria who had her head laid on her hand, her face turned to the ground so you couldn't see her.

"Is she okay?" "Yeah, I think so." You smiled at Max one last time before Mr. Jefferson began his usual daily lecture.

"I just don't understand how someone can critique another's photographs when they can't even get their angles coherent. I mean the camera was barely even focused on what the entire project was based on! It's honestly defaming and insulting that Jefferson chose his photo over mine." You silently stared at Victoria, head laid on your hand as you both laid on the grass underneath one of the many trees in front of Blackwell.

You stared at her face, examining each little micro expression that was made as she ranted to you. Despite the anger in her tone, her facial features had always been soft when you looked at them. She suddenly stopped talking, her eyes meeting yours as you smiled.

"He sounds like a dick." You said plainly, a small smile on your face when Victoria's eyes suddenly shifted back to the sky. "He is." She said quickly before watching as you sat up and stretched, scooting over to lean your back against the tree. "Personally, you should just silently one up him. I know your potential, take your photos and shove them up his ass. Gracefully." She giggled a bit, sitting up and moving to lay in your lap, your hands going down to play with her hair.

"Oh, you always know what to say, so graceful whilst you speak. So lady-like." You laughed looking up at Blackwell. "I know, I have incredible manners or so I've been told. Hey... can I ask you a question?" She nodded, her finger running over the seam line of your jeans. Her perfectly white polished nails creating a ticklish sensation making you subconsciously smile.

"Why do you hang out with me?" Her hand paused, eyes shooting up to look at you while you nonchalantly stared back. "What?" "I mean, you are Victoria Chase, Blackwell's well known rich bitch. I mean your a fan-fucking-tastic photographer who is also best friends with the Nathan Prescott. And I'm... not any of those? Well, I'm a bit of a bitch." You laughed a bit at the end before looking down at her again noticing the both anxious and nervous look she held.

"Your one of like... the coolest people here. You should know I don't hang out with losers, or bad photographers." She stammered out, sitting up and turning to look at you. "Mhm." You hummed wrapping your arms around your knees as you smirked at her. "Sometimes when we hang, I feel like its some... bet. I mean, your like the most popular people here and yet... you hang with me?" Your tone wasn't serious yet you could see the scared look she had riddled on her face.

"Hey, calm down, its just a question. I'm not accusing you of anything. All jokes blondie." You leaned forward to comfort her but she moved forward too, grabbing your face and pressing her lips to yours.

You didn't have time to kiss her back when she backed up, terror on her face when she realized what she'd done.

"Fuck. Oh my god. I'm so-sorry I've gotta go I-" "Hey, hey. Whoa give me a chance to respond princess." You grinned keeping her from standing up. You then grabbed her chin and moved her face to look at you, fear and guilt in her eyes causing you to frown a bit.

"Hey, you didn't even me a chance to kiss back. Take a breathe." You let go of her face as she took a minute to breathe. "Damn Vic, your a bold bitch I'll give you that. No wonder you noticed the sweater." She blushed and looked away giving her usual pouty glare. "Don't be a dick." "I like you too Vic." You confirmed now lightly grabbing her jaw, turning her head back to you as you pressed your lips to hers.

This time was softer, both of you leaning into the kiss unlike the one minutes before. You both then pulled away.

"Holy shit. I just kissed Victoria Chase." "Oh will you shut it with that."

A/n: I kind of hate this but it's late and I'm exhausted :)

#victoria chase x reader #victoria chase #life is strange x reader #life is strange #lis #dontnod #wlw #nevy writes #special tag

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stillness-in-green · 3 years

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Ahistorical, Absurd, and Unsustainable (Part Four and Conclusion)

An Examination of the Mass Arrest of the Paranormal Liberation Front Introduction and Part One Part Two Part Three

PART FOUR: Thematic Problems

For all that portions of the Western fandom look at the MLA and see Evil Quirk Eugenicists and Hypocritical Ultra-Rich, they had legitimate complaints, and their goals, while overly radical if taken to their logical extremes—see Geten[51]—still offer a way to address a huge number of the problems this society faces. Locking them up and throwing away the key is shutting off one of the most prominent angles on addressing those issues. Consider:

The Problem of Heroics

Quirk-based prejudice is real, and a huge amount of it is based in the hero/villain dichotomy. This isn’t surprising; when you set up a group of people as “heroes,” it follows logically, linguistically, naturally that the people they fight must be villains. Villains are bad, are evil, are black-and-white figures with no motivation worth considering. Toss them in jail; who cares? They earned being in there with their Bad Actions. But that kind of thinking is insidious—it spreads.

If someone looks like a villain, if someone has a bad quirk, they may well be a Bad Seed. And if they aren’t, well, the responsibility is on them to rise above that prejudice, to become better than the people around them think they can be—but no one asks the people around them to maybe stop being so damn prejudicial all the time.

A horrifyingly stark example shows up in Chapter 310, in which a woman is being attacked by a group of three men for no reason save that they think she looks like a villain, so they assume she must be a villain. Her obvious villain trait? She’s a heteromorph—unusually tall, with a vulpine face. That’s it. She’s not dressed in a threatening or antisocial style; she’s not aggressive or angry. She’s just a heteromorph who didn’t go to a shelter right away because she thought things would calm down if she waited it out.

Love Midoriya following this up with, “I bet they were just scared too.” Way to chase an aggression with a micro-aggression there, hero. (Chapter 310)

Of course, tensions are running high right now, higher than would ever be the case under normal circumstances, but even in “normal circumstances,” this uncomfortable bias persists. Consider Class 1-A’s Shoji: Shoji wears a mask because he's a gentle soul who doesn’t want to scare small children, but maybe instead, people should be teaching their kids not to judge by appearances? Then maybe their kids wouldn’t grow up to be the kinds of people who attack others for looking a little scary and not going to sufficient pains to hide it?

As far as bad quirks go, meanwhile, Shinsou is the classic example on the hero side. He was told by classmates, laughingly, that he had a good quirk for a villain; he carries himself at all times like he’s got something to prove. I suspect the only reason he’s at U.A. and not running with the League of Villains is a supportive home life,[52] but either way, people are all too ready to apply a villain label to him based on an ability that was nothing but genetic lottery, and that’s because the existence of heroes defines itself by the existence of villains.

Of course, the otherization of villains and people-who-kind-of-seem-like-they-might-be-villains is only part of the problem. The other and frankly larger issue is the effect that limiting quirk use to heroes-only has on the cultural mindset—heroes, villains, and civilians alike.

Japan in real life fosters a sense of community support so profound that children as young as four can be sent on small errands[53] around the neighborhood, safe in the knowledge that if they need help, they will be able to get that help. It’s far more common for young children to walk or take public transit to school than it is in the U.S. Another example is the country’s enthusiastic embrace of publicly available AED machines, complete with easy-to-understand printed and audio instructions about how to use them on people suffering heart attacks, a movement that has saved the lives of many who might not have otherwise survived long enough for an ambulance to arrive.

In My Hero Academia’s Japan, though?

You wind up with people who don't even particularly want to become heroes enrolling in hero schools anyway because it's the only way they can imagine contributing to society. Uraraka and Gran Torino are obvious examples—Uraraka becoming a hero less because she felt a calling to and more because it seemed like the best way to ameliorate her family’s hardscrabble lot in life; Torino getting a hero license not because he cared about being a hero at all, but because he was in on the One For All situation and needed to be able to use his quirk freely to help fight that secret war.

An even more telling case is that of the main character himself. Midoriya desperately wanted to “save” people, and from all the evidence we have in the early manga, as far as he was concerned, the only way for him to do that was to become a hero. He never even considered e.g. signing up for any volunteer programs around his neighborhood or joining the police. It’s like he never even considered the possibility of helping people via other channels.

And this is a consistent issue! People who don't think that they can become heroes train themselves (and are trained by society) into believing that they are powerless, that it isn’t their responsibility to help when they see trouble, leading to things like Shimura Tenko's “long walk,” where countless people look at a child of five, bloody and alone, and then make the conscious decision to look away, because “a hero will help.”

Hell, it even spills over onto actual heroes, who in the first chapter stand around like chumps waiting for “someone with a better quirk” to come and do something about the sludge villain, because they don’t have the perfect quirk to solve the problem themselves, so they don’t even try.

Of course, even if they did try, it might not be welcomed. Consider cases where people wanted to do good, like Gentle Criminal or Vigilantes' Koichi, but had their road to heroism blocked—this led them to villainy or vigilantism, which in turn can lead to arrest and possible prison time, with all the attendant stigma.

Restricting quirk use to heroes-only has impacts beyond just how it distorts people’s desire to help, too. Evidence in the manga suggests that some people feel a stronger biological drive to use their quirks than others. What options do those people have, then, if their quirks—or their personalities—don’t seem naturally cut out for heroism?

In Tamaki Amajiki’s flashback in Chapter 140, a teacher tells his class, “People make fine use of their quirks at any number of jobs. Being a hero’s not the only option. How will you be useful to society in the future? That’s what we’re here to explore in quirk training.” This is the scene in the manga that most explicitly tells us that other avenues for quirk use exist, but we’re never once shown what those avenues might be. At best, this suggests that those avenues are drastically limited (e.g. only available to those whose quirks are deemed “useful to society”) and/or poorly explained to people in-universe—else why would Uraraka have chosen heroism despite her lack of interest in it if she could have just gotten some kind of job license for her quirk? At worst, it’s an example of Horikoshi throwing in a line that contradicts the surrounding canon. Either way, we’re left with people who feel a strong drive to use their quirks being pressured into heroism or straying into villainy for lack of other acceptable outlets.

All of these issues could be mitigated by less draconian restrictions on quirks—which Destro's followers are the only characters in the manga we've actively seen pushing for, rather than just heard about second-hand—and by not using an ideologically charged word like “heroes” to describe a glorified independent police force. Allowing people to freely use their quirks[54] means fewer people being pushed into a heroics job they're unsuited for, means fewer people being pushed into villainy, means a more rounded view on how quirks can be used, leading to less quirk-based prejudice and less—well, let’s talk some about false dichotomies.

All For Nothing, Nothing For All

Shigaraki stands as a fundamental accusation of the way the hero/civilian dynamic exacerbates the Bystander Effect, making people think of themselves as powerless, while at the same time putting untenable pressure on heroes to be perfect victory machines who don't experience pain or doubt or weakness. He further attests that this dynamic pushes out people who don't fit either category—victim or hero—making them villains. This is one of the fundamental thematic conflicts of the series—is one hero enough? Are heroes themselves enough? What are heroes, what do they fight, and what should they be fighting? Who deserves to be “saved” and what does it mean, anyway, to “save” someone? What happens to the people who aren’t saved? How will the world grapple with the consequences, the resentment, that stem from that failure?

In his work Underground, written to grapple with and criticize the way Japanese media covered the sarin gas attacks, author Murakami Haruki talked about the response to the incident being to call the members of Aum Shinrikyo evil, insane, diseased, other. They were spoken of as a monstrous fringe that could not have been predicted, about which nothing could have been done, rather than examined as bright, well-educated young people who by all accounts ought to have had good futures ahead of them but instead spiraled down into a doomsday cult. Murakami asserted that, because the Japanese public was unwilling to ask how and why that happened, was unwilling to self-examine, the country was locking itself into a repeating cycle. Memorably, he wrote, “Most Japanese seem ready to pack up the whole incident in a trunk labeled THINGS OVER AND DONE WITH,” to describe this resolute incuriosity, the strong aversion to looking into the face of evil and trying to find the humanity within it.

In this post and its follow-up, tumblr user @robotlesbianjavert discusses the problems that stem from that exact tendency as portrayed in My Hero Academia. She says, “Only making decisions that benefit the greater good is not the real solution that the narrative is rooting for. Not so long as it fails to recognize and address the needs of the victims that still come of it.” Hero Society will never stop creating its own villains so long as, every time it fails people, it does nothing but shrug and write off the victims as unavoidable, inevitable sacrifices for the greater good.

I would also like to highlight her point—which I hope she one day posts her own full essay on—about the way All For One and One For All serve as two extreme poles of equally unsustainable visions for society. This dynamic is all over the manga.

There are the characters of AFO and his younger brother themselves, each forever locked in battle to prove the correctness of his own way of thinking, and forever talking past the other even when they’re face to face.

There’s the contrast of heroes, giving their all to help strangers even when it hurts the people they love, with villains, giving their all to help the people they love even when it hurts strangers.

The flaws in the One For All model can be seen in the multilayered ravages it inflicted on All Might physically, emotionally, and socially. Thus, one for all is not always ideal.

The strengths of the All For One model can be seen in a team of heroes and police combining their efforts and will to help one single person—Eri. Nighteye even highlights this with his speech about everyone’s efforts coalescing into Midoriya and helping him to “twist fate.” Thus, all for one is not always about selfishness.

Once you start looking for it, this duality shows up everywhere, and I think—I hope—it’s an angle Horikoshi is conscious of. The obvious solution is that the extremes of this society are all undesirable—that total selflessness and total selfishness are equally unsustainable, and both are, ultimately, damaging. A more holistic approach is needed, yet if a holistic approach is what the manga ultimately proves to be seeking, it makes the mass arrest of the PLF particularly problematic, if it’s allowed to stand unchallenged. You cannot just choose not to see 115,000 dissatisfied people—some way or another, you have to reckon with them, and if you don’t do it in a way that actually helps them address whatever their core problem is, you’re just setting yourself up for more of the same further down the line.

The MLA believed that they were fighting for a just cause, for freedom, for the future. They absolutely had issues—Geten’s words indicate that much—but they were issues that would have been much better addressed by actually challenging them openly, rather than suppressing them. If they couldn’t get society to agree right away that the use of one’s quirk should be as unregulated as the use of one’s hands, maybe they would have accepted a tiered license approach to quirk use as a good starting compromise. If they wanted totally unhindered quirk use, such that people could murder with impunity? Well, that would never have gotten past the House of Representatives, but maybe a bill declaring that crimes committed by quirks should be treated no differently than crimes committed via any other means would have. A weeklong debate on the Diet floor would have stood a much greater chance of e.g. addressing the needs of the quirkless than the MLA alone would have bothered with.

The MLA didn’t get to have that kind of debate. Instead, they ran headfirst into Shigaraki Tomura, who made them far more dangerous. And yet… For all that Shigaraki twisted them, he didn’t change them so much that Re-Destro couldn’t still see the light of his ideals within them. Furthermore, even though the PLF didn’t win the battle we call the War Arc, it may be that they’re well on their way to winning the actual war.

“The Seeds Are Already Sown”

So what did the PLF actually want? Well, we have a few sources on that—Shigaraki’s desire to destroy “everything,” the cloned Re-Destro’s vision of liberation through “order without order,” and so forth. But a very instructive place to look is Hawks’ doomsaying in Chapter 258. While the PLF is a bit too scattered or imprisoned to appreciate it, a shocking number of the things Hawks laid out for the audience have actually come about, even if they didn’t happen exactly as the PLF planned. Consider:

Bring down the status quo by annihilating all heroes. Heroes—a number of whom died the day of the raid—are retiring in mass numbers. As the manga describes it, they are “being put through a sieve.” They certainly haven’t all been annihilated, but the ones remaining are having to do the work with little in the way of thanks or glory—the false heroes Stain spoke of have left the table.

They plan to attack all major cities at once throughout the nation. Gigantomachia stampeded over more than twenty cities in the space of less than an hour. A bunch of them were surely not major cities, but all the same, it was a rampage that caught the heroes almost completely off-guard (because they were all tied up arresting the PLF and didn’t think Machia would be an issue), leading to massive collateral damage and unspeakable loss of life.

With society brought to a lawless standstill… Thanks to AFO’s prison breaks, a bunch of villains are now out there raising hell to their hearts’ content, and there aren’t enough heroes around to always respond in a timely fashion. They’re having to open up schools as shelter zones, evacuating entire cities, which the common people respond to predictably poorly, leading to groups of people who were not previously villainous deciding to take the law into their own hands.

…Re-Destro and the Hearts & Minds Party will storm the political world. In Chapter 297, the less openly fascist guard worries that the remaining factions of the HMP[55] will still be stirring up trouble on the political front, especially given the enormous wave of brand-new complaints about human rights violations that he doubtlessly figured were incoming.

They will distribute weapons and extol the virtues of self-defense, calling it true freedom. Whether Detnerat picked up the pace of its black-market support goods sales, bankrolled Giran doing the same, or some other groups—yakuza, perhaps—stepped up, we already know that there are weapons and support goods circulating throughout society, and that people are using them for self-defense.

These people will throw the world into chaos and enthrone Shigaraki atop the rubble. The second coming of All For One. Far more so than anyone in the PLF would have wanted, this one has come horribly true with the AFO vestige’s possession of Shigaraki.[56]

While it is perhaps karmic that the PLF is in no position to enjoy the fruits of their villainous efforts, it’s striking how much of what they wanted has come about anyway. And how much of this can really be undone or wound back? Complete societal breakdown isn’t the kind of genie you can easily rebottle, and this, I think, is particularly illustrated by the civilians Yo and Tatami encounter in Chapter 307.

I’d like to wind this essay down by zooming in on that encounter somewhat.

The group of people the Ketsubutsu pair encounter in 307 are not nice, but neither are they violent. Having, like so many others, lost faith in heroes to protect them, they want only to protect their hometown and for heroes to leave them be. They’ve fended off a few small-time villain attacks and are bluntly uninterested in cooperating with condescending heroes (an impression Yo is not helping to mitigate) who have done nothing but disappoint them.

The spokesman in particular feels to me like someone who’s suffered a significant personal loss. The shadow over his eyes here is telling. (Chapter 307)

When Muscular shows up, they are 100% ready to put their lives where their mouths are. They are all in the process of charging outside, first to stop their town from suffering more damage, then to back up a hero kid they just got done telling to buzz off. And you know? It’s possible—probable, even!—that Muscular would have murdered every last one of them, and them charging in to fight him would have led to a horrific tragedy, one more to stack atop the pile.

And yet, while the narrative doesn’t allow them to actually assist,[57] neither does it entirely rebuke them, in the end. When all is said and done, the civilians agree to hear Tatami and Yo out, and they help Tatami get Yo inside for medical attention. The leader is a little abashed, but he doesn’t bow his head and admit to being wrong; his group doesn’t meekly submit to being herded to shelter. And that’s because the narrative is—wisely—unwilling to say that they’re wrong.

After all, how could it?

Midoriya Izuku and the jaded civilian's instincts. (Chapters 1 and 307)

For a last comparison, remember that in the first chapter, Midoriya Izuku—quirkless, untrained Midoriya Izuku—dove into a fight he had no way of winning, no way of even affecting. All he was doing was endangering himself and making the sludge villain even harder to target. Still, All Might and the narrative alike praised him for his action, because it was driven by a “desire to save.” In Chapter 307, a group of undertrained civilians witnesses a high school boy being attacked by the highest tier of villain their society knows, a Tartarus escapee, a gleeful and unrepentant serial killer with a devastatingly powerful quirk. Their response is to gather up their weapons and numbers and dive in to try and help. Regardless of the weakness of their quirks, regardless of their lack of training, regardless of the danger to their lives, their instinct is the same as Midoriya’s was back then—“the desire to save.”

How could the narrative possibly tell us that they're wrong?

And if they aren’t wrong, this group of people who are so very close to the vision the PLF had for the world after their revolution, the narrative simply cannot expect to retain the slightest hint of credibility if it tries to tell us that the PLF are worth nothing more than an authorial handwave and the slamming of a cell door.

Conclusion

What we are seeing in the manga now is a society that is fumbling towards a new way. It isn’t perfect; it has a lot of wrinkles to iron out. Yet in some ways, if this is a society that has gone back in time, it is also a society that has a chance to chart a different path forward than it did before, a more inclusive path, a more balanced one. Heroes can still exist in the same way that surgeons and emergency responders exist, but that doesn't mean people throw their first aid kits in the garbage.

People protest that untrained civilians using their quirks leads to collateral damage, and that's true. The same would be true, however, if a nation that relied solely on public transit suddenly faced the total breakdown of that system and found that, if they wanted to get anywhere farther than walking distance, they had to get behind the wheel of a car and drive there themselves with no previous experience handling a motor vehicle. With some basic training, or perhaps a test and associated license that is as ubiquitous as a driver's license, how much of the collateral damage caused by civilians fighting might be reduced? How might people feel more empowered to act when necessary?

I very much want to see that future in the manga. It will feel terribly bitter, however, if the people who always believed in that future the most don’t get to see it themselves.

Bit characters are bit characters, I know. Terrorists in fiction don’t typically get to walk away scot-free. But numbers aren’t just numbers, even in fiction, even when they’re villains. If all Horikoshi wanted was a sufficiently large, scary threat to throw his heroes up against, he should have stuck with mindless Noumu or maniacal robots. He didn’t. He chose to make that threat human. He cannot now choose to dehumanize the threat, just because those humans are no longer convenient to his story.

Or at least, he can’t make me look at his doing so as anything other than appalling—ahistorical, absurd, and unsustainable.

Come back next time for sources and further reading.

-----------------------------------------------------

[51] And yes, as always, I do think that Geten-whose-name-means-Apocrypha is a radical, not a reliable barometer for the MLA norm.

[52] Contrasting Toga, the standard-bearer for bad quirks on the villain side.

[53] We don’t know if that practice—so widespread it became the subject of a long-running TV program—survived the Advent and raised crime rate, but if it didn’t, that only further suggests that kids wandering the streets unattended are probably in need of assistance.

[54] Within the same bounds other freedoms exist, e.g. they’re not unduly burdening others.

[55] Small political parties in Japan merge and fragment all the time, particularly in times of crisis, so it’s not surprising that the HMP has some sub-groups. I am somewhat surprised that these factions themselves weren’t dissolved as well, given the heavy-handedness on display everywhere else. This is about the only thing that suggests that the arrests might not be as totally over-the-top as is otherwise implied, though really, if that’s the case, it just brings us back to the problem of all the people who probably slipped the net if the HPSC did opt to undercompensate.

[56] Another enormous thematic issue I have with tossing away the PLF like this is that it renders Shigaraki and the League’s hard-fought victories in My Villain Academia all but meaningless—worse than meaningless, since settling into the villa instead of staying on the run or bunking up with Ujiko wound up losing them Twice—but that’s more a problem with the writing of Shigaraki’s arc than the themes of the series as a whole. Certainly, fumbling Shigaraki’s arc will have a nigh-incomparable impact on the themes of the series as a whole, but there’s time to salvage his situation yet, so I’m crossing my fingers and reserving judgement on that for now.

[57] It should have.

#bnha analysis #bnha meta #paranormal liberation front #meta liberation army #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #bnha spoilers #my writing #plf arrests #stillness has salt

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dragonnan · 3 years

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In light of the disgraceful and asinine decision to cancel Prodigal Son, what are some other shows that make your list of “WTF WHY WERE THESE CANCELLED????????”

Here’s some of mine (and I’m nearly half a century old so I may go back before some ya’ll were born...)

Early Edition (CBS 1996-2000): Starring Kyle Chandler, Shanésia Davis-Williams, Fisher Stevens, Kristy Swanson, and Billie Worley. Gary Hobson was just a regular dude when one day he got a paper (and a cat) at his door. Thing is, this paper has tomorrow’s news. The character of Gary has a little bit of a Peter Parker flavor to him - this guy who loves his city (Chicago) and wants to save everyone. As the series goes on, he starts to realize the awful truth that sometimes he’s going to be too late. As well, the stress of managing daily rescues means he’ll never be able to miss a day because someone could die. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried getting rid of the paper a few times. Two episodes stand out to me in particular. The first is where Gary fails to save someone and they fall to their death. Gary himself, later, will end up in a life and death situation and is faced with whether or not he even wants to live. Another episode has Gary repeating the same day, over and over, as he desperately tries to stop his friend from getting killed - only to fail every time.

Invisible Man (SciFi Network 2000-2002): Starring Vincent Ventresca, Paul Ben-Victor, Eddie Jones, Shannon Kenny and Michael McCafferty. Darien Fawkes was a fairly successful cat burglar (think Scott Lang) until he was finally caught by police. However, instead of being locked away he was handed over to his older brother; a scientist working on some top secret, and highly dubious, experiments. Darien became the guinea pig - implanted with a gland that can flush the body with a compound called Quicksilver - which turns anyone with the gland invisible. Sadly, before further research can be done, Darien’s brother is murdered and he’s left alone - stuck with this gland he barely understands. Worse still, the gland comes with a nasty side effect. It slowly turns the user insane. Long story short, Darien is captured/recruited by another top secret agency funded by the government. Their doctor/scientist did some preliminary research on the gland and was able to develop a sort of stop gap injection to help control the side effects of the gland. It is a painful but necessary treatment but accidents can still happen - such as over using the gland which means a quicker build-up of toxins in the system. So Darien was given a tattoo (LIKE THOSE COLOR CHANGE PICTURES ON COFFEE MUGS hahahaha!) that will gradually change color the more the toxins build up (guys this is fucking scifi - don’t ask how the hell that works like this is a series about an invisible dude, okay??). ANYWAY TL;DR Darien is partnered with a former CIA agent and the two of them chase bad guys and it’s awesome and whumpy as fuck and basically was cancelled cause the show blew its special effects budget.

Moonlight (SyFy 2007-2008): Starring Alex O'Loughlin, Sophia Myles, Jason Dohring, and Shannyn Sossamon. The series is about a private investigator named Mick St. John who, among other thing, is also a vampire. Mick ends up working with a reporter named Beth Turner as the two of them investigate various crimes. What I really love is the spin on the usual sorta vampire mythology. Mick is able to go out in sunlight (though within reason. Too long - too hot and he can get really sick or even die). Getting a stake to the heart isn’t fatal but it does cause paralysis and hurts like fuck. Silver CAN be fatal as it acts like a poison. Fire is absolutely fatal as it will turn exposed vampires to ash. On top of all that vampires can get triggers of the past via the blood they ingest (think iZombie) or even through scent. Also some vampires have “gifts” - like there are some who don’t burn when exposed to fire. Part of their culture, and what keeps them protected from exposure to humanity, are the “Cleaners”. Cleaners (like the Blacklist) will get rid of all evidence of vampire activity such as dead vampires or humans killed by rogues. And that’s another thing. Vampire hierarchy is very important. Vampires who create other vampires are referred to as Sires and their turned “offspring” are called fledglings. Whatever gift the sire has they will pass on to their fledglings. Sadly there was only 1 season of this series so there is a TON of mythology that was never explored but they managed to pack a whole lot into that 1 season.

Lie to Me (Fucking Fox 2009-2011): Starring Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines, Monica Raymund, and Hayley McFarland. Dr. Cal Lightman is the founder of a company with highly skilled “human lie detectors”. The series is based on the real world work of Paul Ekman, who is a specialist in detecting micro-expressions. The series itself deals with various criminals and members of the group, primarily Lighman, sussing out the lies from the truth. It also has one of my absolute favorite parent and child relationships between Cal and his daughter.

Whitechapel (BBC 2009-2013): Starring Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis, and Steve Pemberton. Sorta like a low budget X-Files (no offense!) It’s creepy and mysterious with elements of supernatural happenings mixed with investigations in the area of Whitechapel. It all has to do with murders that reflect Jack the Ripper.

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theobaldhobson · 3 years

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Once the pier and the fingers were in place, we knew we had something that would work.

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Timestamp #226: Let's Kill Hitler

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Timestamp #226: Let's Kill Hitler

Doctor Who: Let’s Kill Hitler (1 episode, s06e08, 2011)

Hello, sweetie.

Prequel

A phone rings as the TARDIS is in flight. The answering machine picks up and Amy leaves a message.

As the camera pans across the console and the dark control room, Amy asks if the Doctor will fulfill his promise to find Melody Pond. Even though she knows that everything turns out okay, she doesn’t want to miss Melody’s childhood.

The Doctor listens intently, but doesn’t pick up the phone. He’s clearly wracked with regret and sadness.

Let’s Kill Hitler

It was once a nice wheat field. Then the Ponds plowed through it, scrawling the word “Doctor” into the crop. They stop in the middle of the O – a giant crop circle – to find the TARDIS and the Doctor in his new pea green double-breasted coat. The Doctor shows them a newspaper article chronicling the event.

It turns out that this was the only way Amy and Rory could figure out to get the Doctor’s attention. He consoles Amy: He will find Melody because River lives. The moment is shattered by police sirens, a speeding red car, and a woman named Mels. The new arrival holds the Doctor at gunpoint and demands to be taken in the TARDIS. It seems that she wants to kill Adolf Hitler.

Flash back to a long time ago in Leadworth as young Amelia, your Rory, and young heretofore-unknown Mels grow up together. Apparently, Mels knows all about Amelia’s “imaginary” friend, the Doctor, and that knowledge gets her in trouble. A lot. Including stealing a bus. She’s also present when Amy finally figures out that Rory loves her.

In the present, Mels, Amy, and Rory take a trip in the TARDIS. Mels actually shoots the TARDIS console while in transit to Nazi Germany. In Berlin, 1938, those same Nazis are being observed by a team with future technology as a machine (posing as a custodian) shapeshifts into a Nazi officer. That team is inside the machine, a highly advanced ship called the Teselecta, which shrinks the Nazi officer and draws him inside. Since the officer is responsible for a series of hate crimes – after all, what Nazi wasn’t? – he is disposed of by a series of “antibodies”.

The Teselecta then goes to Adolf Hitler’s office and activates Justice Mode, but two things interfere in the plan. First, they are too early in Hitler’s time stream. Second, the TARDIS crashes through the wall into the office.

The Doctor evacuates everyone from the TARDIS as it smokes away, then stashes Mels’s handgun in a bowl of fruit. The travelers are beside themselves for actually saving Hitler. The Teselecta tries to attack Hitler again, but he shoots the ship before being stashed in a nearby cupboard by the Doctor and Rory. The Teselecta feigns a fainting spell while the crew analyzes the TARDIS and determines that the most wanted war criminal in history has arrived.

Also, Mels has been shot by Hitler.

Mels, short for Melody, regenerates into a very familiar form. Mission complete. Well… sort of. This new woman has no idea who any of her traveling companions are, she is incredibly self-centered, and has maintained her programming that demands murdering the Doctor. She tries multiple times with every weapon in the room, but the Doctor is several steps ahead of her, but he misses the poison lipstick.

Melody jumps out of window and takes on a squad of Nazis. The soldiers try to shoot her, but she survives due to her regenerative state and uses the discharged energy as a weapon. She picks up their guns and drives away on a motorcycle. Rory and Amy give chase with the sonic screwdriver, followed by the Teselecta disguised as a Nazi soldier.

The Doctor enters the TARDIS and extracts the smoke. He consults with the TARDIS voice interface – the sequence of trying to find a face that doesn’t remind him of his failures is hilarious – and determines that regeneration is impossible due to the poison extracted from the Judas tree. The interface mentions “fish fingers and custard,” inspiring the Doctor to set a course in the TARDIS.

Melody storms a restaurant and demands that the patrons give her their clothes. Outside, the Teselecta takes Amy’s form and miniaturizes Amy and Rory. Just before being killed by the antibodies, the Ponds are given clearance privileges and taken to the control room.

The Teselecta nearly passes judgment on Melody for killing the Doctor, but the Doctor arrives in a tuxedo and top hat. He uses a sonic cane to scan the ship. He also verifies that the Ponds are okay. The Teselecta places Melody in stasis before the crew explains that the mete out justice to war criminals at the ends of their respective timelines. Amy convinces the crew to offer any help they can to the Doctor.

The Silence, a religious cult who believe “silence will fall” when the oldest question in the universe is asked, are behind the plot to kill the Doctor. When the Teselecta crew reveals that they don’t know what the question is, the crew resumes their torture of Melody.

The Doctor asks Amy to save her daughter, so Amy disables the crew’s privileges so that they will all be attacked by the antibodies. The Teselecta releases Melody and the crew is teleported away to a mother ship. As the antibodies descend on Amy and Rory, the Doctor tells Melody to save her parents.

As the Doctor faces his imminent demise, he begs Melody to help him. She talks to the TARDIS and learns to fly the ship, rescuing Amy and Rory before returning everyone to the Doctor’s side. Melody Pond, a child of the TARDIS, wonders who she is. The Doctor asks her to find River Song and pass on a message.

As the Doctor falls unconscious, Melody asks who River Song is. Amy uses the Teselecta to show Melody her own face. Melody decides to pass on her regeneration energy – all her remaining lives – to the Doctor with a kiss, thus becoming River Song.

River wakes up in a hospital with the travelers looking on. The Doctor’s message was that no one could save him, which made her think that she could. This is how she learns Rule #1: The Doctor lies. The travelers leave her with the Sisters of the Infinite Schism to recover, complete with an empty TARDIS-shaped diary. She’ll find her way back to them in time.

As the Doctor ponders the data he downloaded from the Teselecta, River Song enrolls at the Luna University in 5123. Her motivations are simple: She’s looking for a good man.

There are a couple of items working against this fun ride: First, the introduction of the previously unknown Mels. Second, the crux of the assassination of the Doctor relies on him being the smartest man in the room again.

The first can be explained if we’re looking at the events of this season through Amy and Rory’s perspective, therefore seeing a low-impact change in the timeline after Melody’s birth and abduction. The second, while an annoying feature of the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who, adds a lot of humor and hangs a lampshade on the Doctor’s blind spot for River Song. Especially considering the fact that she is the person who kills the Doctor, an act for which she is imprisoned and is now revealed to be a fixed point. The second also hearkens back to the Ninth Doctor in Boom Town, but it worked there because it wasn’t as much of a storytelling crutch for Russell T. Davies.

That humor, coupled with the character development for River and the Doctor, really makes this story work. The origin story for River Song helps tie off her story and could have provided a convenient story terminus if not for the character’s immense popularity.

The humor also worked because it was self-deprecating. The scene with the TARDIS voice interface poked at the ongoing theme with companion departures and shame, invoking Rose, Martha, and Donna in the process. The scene also point us back to a moment of combined shame and innocence by invoking Amelia Pond, whom the Doctor had not yet screwed up but did leave hanging for her childhood years.

Going back to Rule #1, we find out in this story that temporal grace – the state in which the TARDIS interior exists – houses a “clever lie”. The Fourth Doctor claimed that weapons could not be used inside the TARDIS in order to stop Eldrad in The Hand of Fear. Of course, we already knew that it wasn’t absolute from Arc of Infinity – “Nobody’s perfect,” claimed the Fifth Doctor when challenged by Nyssa about a Cyberman shooting in the console room – as well as The Invasion of Time, Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen, The Visitation, and The Parting of the Ways.

With all of the discussions about Doctor Who canon/continuity in fandom, it’s a good reminder that Doctor Who canon/continuity has never been consistent.

This story also presents a fascinating parallel to The Caves of Androzani, during which the Doctor was poisoned by could survive by regenerating. The Doctor had several lives to spare at that point, but this encounter comes at the supposed end of the Doctor’s regeneration cycle due to the events of Journey’s End and The Night of the Doctor.

There are also several other franchise callbacks: We’ve seen “justice machines” in the past, though they were in the form of the Megara; We’ve previously seen the TARDIS materialize in a micro environment, courtesy of Carnival of Monsters, and materialize in a micro state, courtesy of Planet of Giants; We’ve seen the TARDIS materialize around people and objects before in Logopolis, Time-Flight, The Parting of the Ways, and The Waters of Mars; We’ve also heard about transferring regeneration energy in previous adventures like Mawdryn Undead, the TV movie, and The Ultimate Foe.

I’m also a sucker for the “Doctor who?” title drop gag, which has been around since the beginning. It makes me snicker every time.

All told, I really enjoy the action, the spirit, and the heart of this story. It takes a tired time-travel trope (“Let’s kill Hitler!”) and turns it on its ear to both develop characters and move a story along. Well done.

Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

UP NEXT – Torchwood: The Gathering

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

#Doctor Who #Eleventh Doctor #Timestamps Project

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