#pantheon season 1 episode 6

[highmidvoiddemon]

Initial Reaction to Finale of Junior Year

1) the second half of the battle was weird. The Bad Kids are talented, and the players know the name and had strategic moments though nothing felt serious. There was too much going on.

2) Loved all of the Bad Kids talking to Arkana. Those were great moments that looked at the characters and showed just how far they had grown.

3) I’m interested to see what the story of the Rat Grinders hold later down the line.

4) I could not take Porter seriously as a villain, just everything he was saying was leading his power.

5) I can’t believe that Gorgug had like five love interests in the last episode. I need to know what relationship comes from that. Did he date Squeem over the summer? Will he date Unit? Suddenly Mark Anne is a contender? Okay, go off king.

6) I can’t believe that Arkana is traveling with Squeem.

7) The possible senior year could be interesting with Kalina as a main villain. I know it won’t happen any time soon, but I would love to see it.

8) I want to see the Pantheon that Kristin creates with Cassandra and Arkana, I want to know who the followers would be, what people would the Pantheon be for?

9) The episode was weird and didn’t make much sense though I did love every moment of it. It was a great end for a wonderful season!

[quietsamurai98]

So, thoughts on Doctor Who Season 1/14/40 now that it's over... MAJOR SPOILERS WITHIN!

It was... fine? I guess?

I've been doing a Doctor Who rewatch between the releases of the new episodes. Holding up the other seasons next to the new one throws some issues into sharp relief.

First and foremost, probably the root of most of the other issues... The episode count. The season was just way, way too short. Eight episodes (nine, including Church on Ruby Road) is just not enough time to fully flesh out the main characters and their relationship and dynamic, not enough time to build a cohesive storyline, and not enough time to pace the story correctly.

Second... I feel like the characters of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday just weren't explored as thoroughly as they should've been, and definitely not the relationship/dynamic between the two, especially when one episode (Dot and Bubble) has the Doctor and Ruby practically off screen almost all episode, and another (73 Yards) has the Doctor off screen all episode and Ruby basically stripped of all agency. A few more episodes could've done wonders for letting the audience get to know the characters better.

Third... The lack of a cohesive storyline. Yes, there are some recurring things (Susan Twist cameos, the TARDIS growling, the snowing, the pantheon), but it really felt like you could basically take episodes 1 though 6 and shuffle them, with minimal changes made, and it wouldn't make much of a difference. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that something like that happened in production, and that Devil's Chord was originally meant to air significantly later in the season before being moved up for Reasons™.

IMO, the best single season of NuWho was season 10, with Twelve and Bill Potts. God, I loved that season. Bill is probably one of my favorite companions, Twelve was firing on all cylinders,The ongoing mystery of What's in The Vault?, the exploration of Missy's character, and the finale... Actually, let me talk about the finale a bit.

I feel like Empire of Death fell a bit flat for me because it had stakes so comically high that they wrapped right back around to being completely meaningless. If all life in practically the entire universe is ended, there are no stakes left, because you know it'll be undone by the end of the episode. The ending is a forgone conclusion right from the beginning. And I'm sorry, but the twist being "there was no twist! this mythical, extremely important, deeply mysterious character is just some woman!" is just a shitty twist. It's deeply unsatisfying. It's only a twist because people didn't expect the story to be bad. And yes, yes, I get it, "everyone is important, in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before, etc", but we've already done that! Twice! Donna Noble and Clara Oswald!

Compare that with the finale of season 10. It had reasonable stakes, stakes that the show could afford to lose without having to retcon everything. It had a satisfying twist with Missy deciding to kill The Master, and then a double twist with The Master killing Missy right back. And then, most importantly, the Doctor loses. He's up against impossible odds, and for once, he actually fails. That's how you do a damn twist in a show that constantly has the Doctor pulling impossible wins out of his back pocket! Of course, that's not the kind of twist you can pull all the time, but still. It's engaging. You're not just sitting there wondering "Oh, how are they going to retcon the apocalypse this time?" So yeah... I'd prefer to see losable stakes in the future. Or at least, stakes that aren't so catastrophically high that the only resolution is "they're gonna have to retcon it within the episode somehow".

For as much complaining as I've done, overall, I have to say that 1/14/40 was fine. It was solid television. A good 7/10. Not an internet 7/10, where anything below an 8 is dogshit, but an actual 7/10. It was better than average, but still pretty middling.

[tickldpnk8]

Sandman Reread Recap

Time to update this pinned post with all of the latest links. I’m currently rereading the entire series (slowly!) as I look for clues and foreshadowing I missed during my first marathon read through. You can follow along by following any of my tags below or by following #sandman book club. So without further ado:

Season of Mists

Prologue/Chapter 1: Dream's nature, The Fates have it in for Morpheus, importance of Hob and Daniel to Morpheus

Chapter 2: Lucifer/Morpheus parallels

Chapter 3: plot setup and hierarchy of pantheons

Chapter 4: what the heck is Death up to? nature of Hell

Chapter 5: World-building, how Dream's aspects are perceived

Chapter 6: Morpheus' powers, foreshadowing

Epilogue Part 1: the terrible burden of Morpheus taking on so many names and denying himself attributes of those names

Epilogue Part 2: what exactly is the nature of Morpheus' deal with the trickster?

Bonus: At Death's Door: sisterly fluff and a softer take on Despair

Bonus Meta: Endless' relationships as concepts: or what did Nada do to defy Kai'kul?

Art comparisons:

That Ceiling: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Dream's Castle vs Assyrian Lamassu

Destiny's Gallery vs Sir Joshua Reynolds

Destiny's Gallery vs Pinkie

Lords of Order vs Piet Mondrian

Dream's Study vs Koryusai

Dream's outfit vs Mucha (by @notallsandmen)

Distant Mirrors

Thermidor: Morpheus' deals, how human is Orpheus?

Thermidor: Literary reference

August: Dream's ravens, Greek gods, dreams and the Dreaming, A Day to Live

Three Septembers and a January: family dynamics, foreshadowing and another literary tie-in

Song of Orpheus

Song of Orpheus: Orpheus' nature, notes on grief, Endless family, intro of Destruction, Morpheus' relationships, foreshadowing

Winter's Edge

Flower's of Romance: Desire can rock any outfit (or art style), Del's wedding, gods come from the Dreaming

Death: A Winter's Tale: Nature of death/Death, death as a concept, the sibling relationship between Death and Morpheus

Misc Metas

Hob and William Caxton: some background information on the earliest printshop on English soil

My art

Sketch of Gault/Ann Ogbomo

Medieval Manuscript Morpheus

Sandman Netflix Speculation

Sandman Season 2 Casting Masterlist

My Final Prediction for the Episode Breakdown

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - Discovery S1

Originally posted on Twitter 8 July 2020 - 21 July 2020

Star Trek: Discovery is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As with Star Trek: Enterprise, mini-reviews will document my progress.

The Vulcan Hello: Strong introductions to Burnham, Saru, Georgiou. Breathtaking spacewalk. The new aesthetic takes some getting used to, but it’s window dressing. T’Kuvma helps explain why TOS Klingons are different from TNG Klingons. Burnham’s mutiny is unprecedented. 6/10

Battle at the Binary Stars: Georgiou’s demise was a surprise, but T’Kuvma’s death was the big shock given the marketing campaign. A life sentence for mutiny is excessive, though not surprising given the scale of consequences from Burnham’s mutiny. 7/10

Context is for Kings: The true pilot of DSC, this episode gets Burnham onto Discovery and introduces the rest of the crew. The mycelial network is inventive. The horrors aboard the Glenn are Trek body horror at its most grisly. Lorca is immediately intriguing. 8/10

The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry: RIP(per) Landry. Shades of “The Devil in the Dark” as Burnham comes to understand the tardigrade. Klingon machinations begin as Voq and L’Rell are betrayed by Kol. Culber immediately joins the pantheon of great Trek doctors. 7/10

Choose Your Pain: Lorca is captured by L’Rell and meets Harry Mudd and Ash Tyler. This Mudd is as devious as his TOS incarnation, but still garners sympathy when Lorca leaves him with the Klingons. Stamets becomes one with his shrooms as Ripper leaps away. 7/10

Lethe: A question that has lingered for fifty years is finally answered: what drove Sarek and Spock apart? Incredible connections to TOS without feeling like a blatant retcon. Lorca is a “broken man” indeed. Burnham and Tyler’s mess hall scene is classic Star Trek. 10/10

Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad: A classic Star Trek trope gets a uniquely Discovery twist. Mudd may get off easy for all his villainy, but it's a very TOS ending. Loved seeing the crew let their hair down and party. 10/10

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum: Saru finally gets a moment of peace on Pahvo. Doug Jones’ finest work is in his confrontation with Burnham. A classic Star Trek tale with Discovery’s trappings. Shoutout to Jayne Brook and Mary Chieffo’s scenes - what a fantastic pairing! 9/10

Into the Forest I Go: RIP Kol and the gorgeous Sarcophagus ship. The jump sequence is a nail-biter, as is Burnham’s fight with Kol. Tyler has some severe PTSD from L’Rell’s torture, but is able to pull it together thanks to Cornwell. But where in Hell is Discovery? 8/10

Despite Yourself: Mary Wiseman steals the show, impersonating “Capt. Killy.” Tyler’s PTSD/brainwashing comes to a head as he shockingly murders Culber. What is L’Rell’s hold on him? Hard to see Stamets so debilitated as well. 7/10

The Wolf Inside: Tyler is becoming unraveled as Burnham tries to get a handle on the Terran universe. Having Georgiou be the Emperor is brilliant. 7/10

Vaulting Ambition: Kelpien sushi is disgusting. So is the sickness engulfing the mycelial network. And the torture L’Rell inflicted on Tyler. Lots of pieces move into place here as Lorca’s true nature is revealed. This reveal still doesn’t quite stick the landing for me. 7/10

What’s Past is Prologue: the extended MU jaunt ends with a stunning set piece: Discovery riding a mycelial shockwave as Stamets guides them home, with vital assistance from Culber. Sad to see Lorca go, but we get Georgiou again. 9/10

The War Without, The War Within: Discovery’s been gone 9 months and the war is in the Klingons’ favor. But is genocide the right answer? Great visual effects with the prototaxites regrowth, but this is a filler episode through and through. 6/10

Will You Take My Hand?: Most of Season 1's threads get wrapped up here: L'Rell becomes chancellor, Georgiou acclimates to "our" universe, and Burnham and Tyler part ways. Burnham's speech and Saru's stand (We Are Starfleet) are the highlights of this episode. As is the tag. 9/10

And with that, Season 1 of DSC comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 7.80/10. Highest score(s): "Lethe," "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad." Lowest score(s): "The Vulcan Hello," "The War Without, The War Within".

[soulless-angel25]

I think I make it pretty obvious, but I am a massive Rose Tyler fan. And before any of you say it's because she was my first companion, she wasn't. My first companion was Clara and my first doctor was 12 (whom I love dearly).

I just really like Rose's character. I like her story because of her.

And people are allowed to not like her. But if you don't, for fucks sake don't scream at people who do. In comments or reblogs. Your just being a massive fucking dick. Also, quick heads up: This post will contain a lot of quotes from Doctor Who. Alongside some crude language. Some might find offense to the topics I discuss in this or how I wrote it. I will not apologize for that, nor will I attempt to make this friendlier.

Continuing on. But if you don't like her on the basis of her and the Doctor being shipped or in a romantic relationship. Then by that logic you shouldn't like River, or Clara, or Yaz. Or anyone that the Doctor has had romantic interactions with and was/is a love interest. Because no matter how you feel, Rose and the Doctor were romantic.

No ifs ands or buts about it. Especially considering some moments that happen in canon. A few that spring to mind are: "I could save the world but lose you." -9th Doctor, Season 1 Episode 5 'World War 3' to Rose ^- This quote is 9 all but admitting he's in love with her. The thought that saving the world would mean losing her is something he couldn't bear to happen. "What use are emotions, if you will not save the woman you love?" -Dalek / "I killed her once I can't do it again." -9th Doctor, Season 1 Episode 6 'Dalek' ^- Even a fucking Dalek could tell he was in love with her. A Dalek who had only recently begun to understand feelings outside of hatred, because of Rose. "He[Metacrisis 10] needs you. That's very me." -10th Doctor, Season 4 Episode 13 'Journey's End' to Rose "But if I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her!" -10th Doctor, Season 2 Episode 9 'The Satan Pit' to The Beast/Satan ^- This is part of a larger quote but this is the most memorable part. The whole thing is: "But that implies, in this big grand scheme of gods and devils, that she's just a victim. Well, I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods. I've had the whole pantheon. But if I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her!"

There are a few other examples that I can think of but I can't remember the exact phrasing. Like when Donna asked 10 what Rose and him were and he said, "We were... together." Those few obviously point out the Doctor's feelings for Rose. And even if you want to ignore those you can't ignore the fact that in Journey's End, Rose and Tentoo end up together. Comics even stating that they have a daughter together (Mia: Empire of the Wolf).

Hell even later on in the show when RTD wasn't the showrunner anymore there were still references to Rose. Like in Season 6's Episode 8 'Let's Kill Hitler' when the Doctor stumbles into the TARDIS and the emergency program activates and at first it's him, in his 11th incarnation, his current one. He says[pleads] "Oh, give me someone I like!" and the TARDIS chose Rose as the first choice, and don't give me any bullshit. The TARDIS is fully sentient and can understand the Doctor (stated in Season 6's Episode 4 'The Doctor's Wife'). The TARDIS heard the Doctor and chose someone she thought he'd like.

Oh! You want another example? How about Season 7's Episode 9 'Hide', featuring 11 and Clara when he's talking to her after the episode adventure is pretty much concluded about love, "It’s the oldest story in the universe. This one or any other. Boy and girl fall in love, get separated by events–war, politics, accidents in time. She’s thrown out of the hex or he’s thrown into it. Since then they’ve been yearning for each other across time and space. Across dimensions. This isn’t a ghost story, it’s a love story." Some specific points are literally parallels to Rose and the Doctor.

There's probably a few others that could be pointed out that are slipping my mind right now. Oooh how about this one: "Blimey" -9 / "Don't laugh." -Rose / "You look beautiful. Considering." -9 / "Considering what?" -Rose / "That you're a human." -9th Doctor, Season 1 Episode 3 'The Unquiet Dead'

If those don't read to you as the Doctor in love I don't know what would.

And if your wondering 'where is the evidence for Rose having feelings HUH smart guy???' ... do I need point out the episode where Rose canonly confesses her love for him? I do? Oh, ok. Here ya go: [Rose, choking on tears] "I... I love you." / [10 looking at her] Quite right too. (pause) And I suppose... if it's my last chance to say it... Rose Tyler - {connection ends} - Season 2 Episode 13 'Doomsday' ^- She FUCKING CONFESSED HER LOVE TO HIM!!!! And even though we don't actually know what 10 was going to say it is heavily implied that he was going to say 'I love you' back to her. Believing it would be his only chance ever. "You're never gonna see her again, your own mother!" -10 / "I made my choice a long time ago." -Rose, Season 2 Episode 13 'Doomsday' ^- Rose is willing to sacrifice being with her mother to stay with him. "How long are you gonna stay with me?"-10 / "Forever." -Rose, Season 2 Episode something ^- I can't remember the episode that this happens but I think it /might/ be School Reunion.

Even taking out the romantic stuff for their relationship they're friends.

Continuing to add more evidence from quote in the actual show: "So the year five billion, the sun expands, the earth gets roasted..." -10 / "That was our first date." -Rose / "We had chips!" -10, Season 2 Episode 1 'New Earth' ^- Oh? Would you look at that! Both of them think of that as their first date. And-AND in the episode that's mentioned, Season 1 Episode 2 'The End of the World' after the adventure they go to have chips and 9 says he doesn't have any money making Rose say that he's a 'cheap date'. Which he doesn't deny. "I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you..." -10 / "What, Doctor?" -Rose / "You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on, alone. That's the curse of the Timelords." -10, Season 2 Episode 3 'School Reunion' ^- My oh my, its almost like he's in love with her but holding back cause he doesn't want to see her die before his very eyes. "You can tell you're getting older, your assistants are getting younger." -Sarah Jane Smith / "I'm not his assistant." -Rose / "No?" [to 10] "Get you, tiger." -Sarah Jane Smith, Season 2 Episode 3 'School Reunion'

"Can you build another Tardis?" -Rose / "They were grown, not built. And with my home planet gone... we're kind of stuck" -10 / "Well, it could be worse; this lot said they'd give us a lift." -Rose / "And then what?" -10 / "I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe." -Rose / "I'll have to settle down. With a house or something - a proper house with... with, with doors and things - carpets! Me! Living in a house!... Now that, that - that is terrifying." -10 / "You'd have to get a mortgage!" -Rose / "No!" -10 / "Oh yes!" -Rose / "No, I'm dying, that's it, it is all over." -10 / "What about me? I'd have to get one too!" [pause] "I don't know, we could have the same one, we could both... I don't know, share... or not. Whatever. I don't know, all sorts of..." -Rose / "Anyway" -10 / "We'll see." -Rose / [pause] "I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home" -10 / "Everyone leaves home in the end." -Rose / "Not to end up stuck here." -10 / " Yeah, but stuck with you - that's not so bad." -Rose / "Yeah?" -10 / "Yes." -Rose, Season 2 Episode 8 'The Impossible Planet' ^- Good gods look at that! Rose being fully accepting and telling 10 that being stuck with him wouldn't be so bad and him not being able to believe that someone would want to stay with him and he's like 'yeah?' because someone willingly staying with him and never leaving is such a foreign concept.

"They did what?" -10 / "I'm sorry?" -Detective Inspector Bishop / "They left her[Rose] where?" -10 / "Just... in the street." -Detective Inspector Bishop / "The street. They left her in the street. The took her face, and just chucked her out and left her in the street. And as a result, that makes things... simple. Very, very simple. Do you know why?" -10 / "No." -Detective Inspector Bishop / "Because now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this earth that can stop me!" -10, Season 2 Episode 7 'The Idiot's Lantern' ^- As dark as this may seem, it certainly isn't 10's worst after losing Rose. That honour would go to when he was fully willing to DIE after losing her as we saw in 'Turn Left'. Rose is so fucking special to him that any time she is harmed and gone he loses it. She is the one holding him together.

Also for fucks sake she was constantly a presence in Season's 3 and 4 of the revival. Also also, during several episodes starting as early as Season 1 Episode 2 'The End of the World' people assume that they are together romantically.

And if you try to pull; "Oh but River is canonically married to the Doctor!" so is Rose. She is married to Tentoo, who is the Doctor. Also River is not solely married to the Doctor, it is established in canon that River was/has been married to multiple people outside of the Doctor. While married to him.

Reality is I could expand upon this post a lot more, but I'm choosing to cut myself off here.

[shadowxamyweek]

Could you give us examples of what you're looking for in prompt submissions? Or share previous year's prompts? I'm not sure if you just want single words, a few words, or like a whole sentence and I don't wanna be annoying and get it wrong! Also how long are submissions open for? Ty!!! <3

Hello! Single phrases work best. So maybe that's 'Coffee Shop Au,' 'Stardust,' 'Love,' or 'First Kiss.' It doesn't have to be one word, but we'd prefer not to receive a sentence, either.

Also, I promise, you couldn't be annoying even if you tried <3 I do thank you for asking. It did not dawn on me to outline such submission guidelines. I'll update the pinned post with this information, too. If you are able to access the search function or check out tags (which is easiest in the about section- there's a glossary of terms you can use that all have links (makes it easier for mobile users)), the old prompts should be listed under shadamyweek2022 and 2021 respectively, along with all of the art posted to those prompts! However, for the sake of putting all the information in one place, the following are the prompts from years previous

ShadAmy Week 2021:

1-Chao Care/ Dream 2- Domestic Fluff/ Magic 3- First Meeting/ Cosmic 4-Teasing/Cooking 5-Seasons/Proposal 6-Soulmate Au/ Shenanigans 7-Gods and Pantheons/ Song or Art Inspo ShadAmy Week2022:

1- Future or Past/ Fankids 2-Folklore/Fairytales 3-Trapped Together/Promise 4-First Date/ Comically Drawn Out Confession 5-Baking/ Magical Girl Au 6-Wedding/Body Swap 7-Dancing/Flowers Last day to submit prompts (so far as I am aware) will be May 1st. We usually pick two themes per day so as to give people options, but as we are doing a different method of aggregating data this year, it is going to take us some time to get things organized XD Plus, we want people to be able to brainstorm and prep before the actual week starts!

If it helps at all, the following are themes we had but ended up not going with. Perhaps one of these will catch your fancy! And hey, even if something you like doesn't get into this year, there's always next year (or you can just use it as a personal prompt!) Unused from 2021

joyride

berries

first

azure

growth

Earth

zombot

fusion

fame and glory

regret

apology

tempting

temper

games

moving

driving

health

stars

Unused from 2022

Crossover

coffee

coffeeshop AU

Fruit theme

Different time period

Movie crossover (ex: Disney, studio ghibli)

Outer Space/Galaxy/Stars

Secrets

Forbidden Love

What if…

Love triangle

Comrades (adventure)

Lost

Festive

miracle of love

Gijinka (human versions)

Snowday

Beach Episode

Anime Parody

Mundane Jobs

Domestic Life

Fashion

Sunlight

Lazy day

Battle

detective x assistant

human au??

immortality

Florist x Tattoo artist (au)

Jungle

Zone (Green Hill etc.)

Candlelight

Double Dates

Unused from 2021

joyride

berries

first

azure

growth

Earth

zombot

fusion

fame and glory

regret

apology

tempting

temper

teasing

games

moving

driving

health -stars

[btvspolls]

The first band to play the Bronze vs the guys from that one time the Bronze was a jazz bar

Music Videos and Episode Appearance Info under the cut!

Sprung Monkey is a funk metal band active from 1991-2016 (with a four year hiatus from 2002-2005) and could arguably be considered The Band™ of Season One. They are the first band to be shown performing at the Bronze, with four songs total across the episode. Their music also appears on the soundtrack for "The Harvest" and "The Pack"

The Band's on stage appearance, performing the song "Believe" is in Season 1 Episode 1 "Welcome to the Hellmouth"

Royal Crown Revue are a slightly unique case in the pantheon of bands to perform at the Bronze, most of whom fall into the category of alternative rock. RCR were a swing band formed in 1989, and often credited as having started the swing revival movement

Of course the version of the Bronze the band appears in happens to be a jazz club at the time (thanks to a future founding member of the Evil Trio): Season 4 Episode 17 "Superstar"

[claire-therose]

But What Is A Season Anyway

[ listen to the article with the YouTube video above ]

A week ago, a friend and I were discussing the upcoming seasons of Hazbin Hotel. o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o They mentioned that Hazbin was planned to be 4 seasons in total; while I understood this, I felt confused. For the longest time, I had trouble reconciling the old broadcast method of distribution with the current area of streaming releases, particularly when it comes to runtime. (￣ヘ￣) Hazbin’s first season, with each episode 23 minutes long, only contains 8 episodes. Compared to a normal broadcast television order of 20-26 episodes at 23 mins each, this season is effectively ~⅓ of a broadcast season - that begs further questions: for season 2-4 of Hazbin’s release, what does runtime look like? How many episodes will there be? Will the length of each episode change? (¯ . ¯٥)

Vivienne, additionally, mentions her show in comparison to Bojack Horseman, and mentions that having 6 seasons, like Bojack, would be desirable (https://collider.com/hazbin-hotel-how-many-seasons-vivienne-medrano/)

But while Bojack’s episode lengths are comparable to Hazbin’s (25 mins for Bojack vs. 23 mins for Hazbin), Bojack’s seasons are 12 episodes long, with the final season being 16 episodes, which is ⅓ to ½ longer than the 8 episodes of season 1 of Hazbin. Suffice to say, a metric of an “episode” and a “season” might not be sufficient anymore to compare series.

Let me be clear, I still love the distinction of episodes and seasons! (´꒳`)♡ I love the breakup of each story piece into separate episodes and having larger arcs being broken up into seasons - in my opinion it makes things feel very cohesive and much more palatable - however, with streaming variation in episode distribution, it is becoming harder and harder for me to easily recognize how long a series is! (＞﹏＜)

I personally don’t believe the solution is to return to standard broadcast standards though. One of my favorite sci-fi series, Pantheon, has 2 seasons at 8 episodes each, but around 45 mins per episode - the episode length heavily contributes to the thriller aesthetic of the show and I love it! I simply want a better way to understand how long a series actually is.

But Claire, why don’t we simply use total runtime in [X]hrs [Y]mins?

In my opinion, a measurement system should give easy access to necessary information; it should be easily readable at a glance. In my opinion, runtime represented in [X]hrs [Y]mins is a wonderful method for describing shorter form media - like movies. Since the runtime of movies never fluctuates that greatly (at least in mainstream movie releases), most movies you see are never shorter than 1hr 20mins or longer than 3hrs 30mins (these are approximations of course but help get the point across). But for series, some are much smaller - City of Ghosts at 1hr 51mins total - and some are much longer - 58hr 12mins for all of Adventure Time - how should the runtime of series be measured then?

One could make something complex, like a logarithmic runtime measurement system or something more fancy, but in my opinion all we need is a scaling of runtime data.

Introducing: Series Measurement Units (SMU)

creative i know haha

Here's what they mean:

1 Series Measurement Unit = 6 hrs of show runtime

So, City of Ghosts, instead of 1hr 51mins, would be 0.3 SMU, while Adventure Time would be 9.7 SMU.

Now from those examples, that doesn’t seem to help much, but to be honest I did pick one of the shortest series I could find and one of the longest I could find to accentuate my argument. Here’s a distribution of 32 mostly modern series and their SMU lengths to better illustrate this:

This makes it clear that City of Ghosts and Adventure Time are more outliers actually, but there is still a wide variance of show runtimes from shorter to longer running shows.

This also makes it much easier to compare broadcast and streaming shows on the same playing field.

For example, here’s a comparison of several longer-length series:

Several of these series are broadcast (ATLA, Amphibia) and several are streaming (Hilda, Castlevania, Pantheon), and their season counts vary from 2-4, but once their SMU are put side by side the comparison becomes much easier.

And what about much longer series? I still feel it holds fairly well:

For example, it is fairly difficult from a season/episode basis to compare Steven Universe, Bojack and FMAB - Steven Universe has 5 seasons but season 1 is double the length of the rest and each episode is 11 mins long - Bojack has 6 seasons at more regular broadcast length, but only 12-16 episodes per season, and FMAB isn’t usually split into discrete seasons, simply having 64 episodes each at 23 mins.

Also, in addition to comparison, I wanted to make something that feels better when talking about series lengths, if that makes sense. If I mentioned City of Ghosts was 1hr 51mins long, that length wouldn’t feel very short, because our minds would associate 1hr 51mins with a movie’s runtime, but City of Ghosts isn’t structured like a movie, and so when watching, it feels like a much shorter series. So, if you talk about City of Ghosts being 0.3 SMU, where Neon Genesis Evangelion is 1.7 SMU and Amphibia is 3.7 SMU - City of Ghosts now feels appropriately small.

Additionally, this helps when total runtimes become larger:

Amphibia having a runtime of 21hrs 54mins feels very large (that’s almost a whole day!), but in the context of other series Amphibia is actually more reasonable in size, so saying Amphibia is 3.7 SMU feels better, in my opinion.

Now, I do have to address something before I continue: I don’t want to indicate that a series with a higher SMU (a higher runtime) is better - just because One Piece has an SMU 50x most of the series on this list doesn’t inherently make it better or more worthy of praise (it’s 74.5 as of August 20th, 2024 - it’s not included on the graphs because it would blow everything else out of proportion (٥⁀ ▽ ⁀ ) ) - in my opinion different series concentrations provide different experiences. Though Arcane is 1.0 SMU, I would never want to change Arcane’s runtime, because a tightened, more concentrated experience is what Arcane is going for - and I believe it does this very well.

I simply want to create a tool to more accurately compare the lengths of series.

Additionally, this has the added benefit of making it harder to obfuscate runtime with different series/episode splits. E.g. Inside Job (one of my favorite series) technically has 2 seasons on Netflix, but it’s SMU is actually less than most broadcast shows with only 1 season (Cowboy Bebop at 1.8 SMU and Delicious in Dungeon at 1.7 SMU for example) - which, after watching the series, feels more accurate.

Also, The Owl House, and Amphibia, both of which have 3 seasons and were both on broadcast television, show their actual difference in runtime - The Owl House is at 2.9 SMU and Amphibia at 3.7 SMU, the difference of .8 SMU because of Owl House’s shortened 3rd season, which is reflected in the runtime.

In summary, I’ll probably start talking about series runtime in this context because I love useful measurement systems - feel free to update or change this though! I want this to be as useful as possible - and if a different scaling factor or something different or a new system would work better I’m totally on board.

Here’s a link to my research Google Sheet, where I include where I got the data and my math and everything:

Thanks for reading!

Best regards,

Claire

[wack-ashimself]

HOLY FUCK! The ending of the series 'Pantheon' is one of the BIGGEST MIND FUCKS EVER!

YOU KNOW THERE'S SPOILERS!

ok....nm. It is too good to waste. So HINTS....alluding to stuff...

Let me just say: till episode 6, great well written balanced season. Not bad, but nothing as good as the first season honestly.

THEN THE LAST TWO EPISODES GO INTO THE FUTURE.

Maybe even so far into the future, besides like 'the end of time/suns ending' (dr who) that no show has ever gone that far.

And I am not gonna tell you what happens BUT...

If I had to say the ending and you would ONLY understand if you got these references:

>the matrix (duh)

>a VERY specific episode of the cartoon 'the gargoyles' where they have to stop a super nano bot computer from taking over the world (it's one of the BEST).

>AND a VERY specific trilogy written by John C Wright called 'the golden transcendence (a difficult read for non sci fi peeps. THICK fucking books).

ALL 3 of those combine to make this ending. And each of those was a MIND FUCK of their own, so combined in a totally original way of its' own?

FUCK YEAH. GO WATCH IT!

<side note-if you in ANY WAY thought this was gonna be how it all ended in season 1, YOU'RE A FUCKING GENIUS. NEVER saw the last 2 episodes coming. OUTTA LEFT FIELD, but in a GREAT fucking way.

Also if they make a season 3, FUCK YOU. PERFECT UNEXPECTED ENDING.

[tvrundownusa]

tvrundown USA 2022.10.13

Thursday, October 13th:

(exclusive): "Dead End: Paranormal Park" (netflix, cartoon season 2, all 10 eps), exception (netflix, space horror anime series, all 8 eps), The Watcher (netflix, mystery limited series premiere, all 7 eps), "The Playlist" (netflix, Swedish mini-series about Spotify, all 6 eps), "Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal" (netflix, Latin America travelog series, first 3 eps)

(movies): "Dark Glasses" (Shudder, horror feature), "She Will" (Shudder, horror feature), "A Radical Life" (DSC+, documentary)

(streaming weekly): Impact x Nightline (hulu), Pennyworth (HMax), She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (dsn+, season 1 finale), Zatima (BET+, next 2 eps), Carl Weber's "The Family Business" (BET+), Partners in Rhyme (AllBlk, sitcom season 2 opener), Vampire Academy (Peacock), A Friend of the Family (Peacock), The Good Fight (Para+), Star Trek: Lower Decks (Para+), Beavis & Butt-Head (Para+), Pantheon (AMC+, season 1 finale), It Couldn't Happen Here (AMC+, season 2 finale), The Walking Dead (AMC+, "Episode Diaries")

(also new): Thursday Night Football (AmazonPrime, streaming live), "Fatal Fandom" (LMN, original movie, 2hrs)

(earlier - hour 0): Young Dylan (NICK) /   / That Girl Lay Lay (NICK)

(hour 1): Walker (theCW), Station 19 (ABC), Law & Order (NBC), Young Sheldon (CBS) /   / Ghosts (CBS), Hell's Kitchen (FOX)

(hour 2): Walker: Independence (theCW), Grey's Anatomy (ABC), Law & Order: SVU (NBC), So Help Me Todd (CBS), Welcome to Flatch (FOX) /   / Call Me Kat (FOX)

(hour 3): Alaska Daily (ABC), Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC), CSI:Vegas (CBS), Atlanta (FX, 40mins), Little Demon (FXX, penultimate), It Couldn't Happen Here (SundanceTV, penultimate), "Race for the Championship" (USA)

(hour 4 - latenight): Hell of a Week (COM), TallBoyz (Fuse)

[j4gm]

TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS

A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.

Keep reading ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".

2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.

3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.

4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.

5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.

6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.

7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.

8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.

9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.

10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.

11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.

12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.

13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".

14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.

15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.

16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".

17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".

18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from “The Silent King”.

19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.

20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.

21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.

22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from “Death in Bloom”.

23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.

24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.

25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.

26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.

27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.

28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episode “Storytelling”, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".

29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)

30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.

31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.

32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".

33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.

34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".

35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.

36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".

37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".

38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.

39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.

40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".

41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.

42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.

43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".

44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.

45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.

46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.

47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.

48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. It’s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials “PB” and both could be going by the title of “Princess”. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.

49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".

50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.

51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.

52. A translation of Life’s angry French dialogue by Shado: “After all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.”

53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.

54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that he’s dead.

55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.

56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.

58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Reboot”.

59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.

60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.

61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".

62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.

63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.

64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".

65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.

66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.

67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".

68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from “Dad's Dungeon” for banishing demons.

69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunks’ other lovers.

70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.

71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".

72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.

These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. That’s all for now!

[jenniferstolzer]

Babylon 5 rewatch Episode 2.22: The Fall of Night

Babylon 5 is at the center of not one but three conflicts as John Sheridan agrees to shelter a wounded Narn cruiser. The Centauri don’t like this. Earth doesn’t like this. The Shadows don’t like this. But Sheridan has a strong moral compass and what he doesn’t like is how much the institutions around him are willing to sacrifice in the name of forging some kind of cursory peace.

Things I liked about The Fall of Nighit

1, Lennier and Vir’s friendship. If you ask me Vir, could be friends with literally anyone. He’s such an understanding soul. Lennier is by nature a little judgey. More closed off. So when they sit down next to each other and discover how much they have in common both of them look at each other like “hello what” and automatically agree to meet again. But even this exchange is done almost like spies meeting and I don’t think we stop to think about that very often. These are the attaches of two ambassadors for two of the most powerful races in the galaxy… they could very well be exchanging state secrets instead of expressing solidarity for their equally frustrating jobs.

2,  The Centauri are apparently willing to put their ships on autopilot and black out from g forces if it means when they come to they’ll be in a better firing position. This seems extremely reckless and VERY Centauri. It is the spacebattle equivalent of the hair. Big. Flashy. Not well thought through.

3, In the wake of the mass driver bombing, Sheridan gives Londo an opportunity to speak and Londo is like “NOPE” and jets before he says something that’s going to get him and his whole race in more trouble than they already are. Garibaldi then reads Londo like a literal book, delivering one of my favorite analyses of the character. Everyone thought Londo was a clown, indulging in opulence, going into debt at the casino, drinking himself to a stupor in public, but Garibaldi was his friend and knows that Londo’s not dumb, he’s actually very smart and his mind moves really fast. His error is in his judgment and priorities and he’s currently in waters he did not expect to tread. He’s scared, and he’s going to keep darting in and out of cover until he feels like he has a handle on things or he gets picked off by a hunter, whichever comes first. Also a very classic JMS line “He’s a pain in the butt, but he’s our pain in the butt.” Hunt for that or similar lines in other JMS stuff, he loves that line.

4, The ache of watching McCarthysim at work is very effective. Zach knows the guys he’s ratting on don’t deserve to be ratted on and even says so. “They’re just fooling around” but we can tell by the level of interest and tone of the Nightwatch captian’s voice that they’re gonna get blackballed. Zach can’t deny that they said what they said, but can tell that ratting them out is the wrong thing to do. In the end he relents with a bunch of qualifications but the Nightwatch doesn’t want qualifications. They want names. Thank you for your service.

5, I love that the guy there to ally with the Centauri is from the Ministry of Peace. So poignant. They’ll get peace all right, by paying off the aggressors.  

6, When the Narn ship was coming under threat by the Centauri warship, Sheridan opened a line to Londo just to spit in his face and hang up. It was amazing. Also during this crisis, Sheridan whips out a law book to smack the Nightwatch guy back in his hole. Sinclair would be proud.

7, Watching B5 come under attack is so emotionally stirring. Even on a rewatch, I don’t want to see it hurt.

8, We have arrived! The scene where Kosh reveals himself. I love that G’Kar is hiding in the plants – like he’s not a huge gecko man who people are going to notice. I also love how plaintiff his voice is, thinking if he speaks on Sheridan’s behalf it’ll help him in the political shitshow he’s currently in. I mean he’s issuing this apology for helping a Narn ship and G’Kar is very very very grateful for that. Also B5 blew up a Centauri warship so he’s pretty grateful for that too, I mean come on… I like that B5 has like a standard subway system in the middle of it and that they let the Puppet Friends ride. I miss the puppet friends. I love that the rotational gravity system means there’s a weightless portion in the center of hydroponics and that we used that to our advantage in this story. Also the vorlons in their native form play on the perception of the lesser races. They are light beings, and humans see them as angels. The rest of the races see them as prophets or gods, but none of these perceptions are perfect. We see wings and white robes and think Angel, but Kosh didn’t appear like a rennaissance painting. He’s got a butterfly look to him, too. The face he wears is a facsimile of a human not an exact human. He’s not perfect, we’re just in awe. Love that.

9 And finally a lot has been said about why Londo doesn’t see anything when Kosh appears. He’s been touched by the Shadows, so he can’t be converted by the Vorlons b/c we’re playing a game of Othello today I guess. Maybe because he doesn’t actually believe in his pantheon of gods so he doesn’t have any deities to witness. Maybe he’s lying because what he saw was his own greed and vanity. The general consensus is the first – that he’s incapable of seeing the light because he’s in the dark. For a fresh take on it, let’s look at the Vorlons through this lens. Kosh said before that if he revealed himself everyone would know him… I take this as being a side effect of being Vorlon. Vorlons are a feeling not an image. Like Magenta. Magenta’s not a real color, it exists on the color wheel because something has to connect red and purple on the color spectrum… but the spectrum of visible light is actually a straight line. The wavelengths for red and purple are far from touching, but our brains can perceive when they’re both present, so Magenta occurs. It’s imaginary, but we see it for real with our eyes. That’s Vorlons. Perhaps Londo saw a shapeless light thing in the sky, perhaps that’s what Vorlons really are… or perhaps they have no visible representation at all until they hit our brains. Our eyeballs behold something, but our brains have to construct it out of pieces. When the rest of the galaxy looked at Kosh they used the color wheel to construct him, but Londo was only given the wavelengths. He saw nothing, because nothing was there to see. I really wish there was another Centauri there to be like “I saw the goddess Li welcoming me to her arms!” and Londo’s over there like “I’m the problem” instead of not really answering that question. Maybe it’s answered in season 3, I don’t know. Did Vir see anyone up there? He must have been on break.

What I like Less about 22

1, So here’s where I’m going to talk about Keffer. I know the origin story…. that he was an unwelcome addition to the cast added per network request, but who the hell is he other than that? I think its remarkable how he slips right out of my head the minute he is off camera. We know he’s a pilot, that he was close to Carlos (whose story/death you may recall I was laughing at in a previous episode because its significance ALSO came out of nowhere), and that he made friends with the GROPOS grunts (who we incidentally learned to care about enough in that one episode that we were sad when they died…. Awkward considering Keffer’s contribution to this episode…) Honestly the most interesting thing about him is that he’s got an old-timey fighter pilot scarf he wears and he believes in ghosts and I bet you all forgot about the ghosts. Honestly, the most interesting thing about Keffer is how he’s a lesson in how not to write an interesting character – and no shade on JMS for that, I know he did it on purpose. Significant things happening to a character does not automatically make them a strong character. Keffer experienced loss, came face to face with the shadows, got in fights… a lot of stuff happened to him, but he was almost always the only named character in those scenes. We cared about the GROPOS because they cared about each other and we responded to that. Keffer was there to play cabbage head and ask questions. He’s not tight with any of our main cast who we’ve had tons more time to grow attached to, and dies for plot reasons without leaving an impact with his loss. Heck, you can see the value of interpersonal relationships on character development in action when the show used a shoehorn to try and force some in in context to Carlos a second and a half before he died. We had him drinking at the bar with command staff suddenly, we had him die as a result of a flight mission Sheridan was part of to make Sheridan feel guilty about it. Everyone was standing around going like “No, Not Ramirez” and if you recall on my previous episode writeup I was LAUGHING at how tortured this sudden human connection was. Keffer could have been made interesting. Follow me on this.

My treatment on how to make Keffer interesting:

Let’s say Keffer was introduced as an old friend of one of our characters – Fraknlin let’s say. He was a friend from the Minbari War days that helped him sneak behind enemy lines. Perhaps he was complicit in the covering up and destruction of Franklin’s notes on Minbari anatomy. As a result, the two hang out in medbay sometimes, talking about old times and comparing the current war to the one they fought together. We learn that Keffer has a fire for justice. Hates bullies. Sees the strong as absolute defenders of the weak and that any stronger race picking on a weaker one is a bigger coward than the unvierse can hold. Then when Carlos gets killed by the ghost he starts researching what it could be. Kosh and Delenn tell him to stay out of it. The audience assumes he’s going to uncover something and bring Franklin and other characters into Delenn and Sheridan’s confidence about the shadows through curiosity and honor, but we’re learning through the episodes that the Shadows are IMMENSELY powerful and have no patience for flies. When he breaks off from his squad to go have a looksee at what he suspects led to his personal friend Carlos’s death, we know this is going to kill him. He ignores the warnings of those who have more awareness and dies to bring back evidence of the Shadows to the station. Sheridan recognizes how Keffer’s curiosity and sense of judgment led to recklessness, something Sheridan himself is prone to. He vows not to let Keffer die in vain, but also states that the proof he got has changed everything… and that Sheridan would have done the same. Killing your men in the name of a mission is never the goal but there’s a line everyone crosses when the safety of the universe is at stake and sometimes things are worth dying for. Franklin walks into medbay, casts a look to the counter where Keffer used to sit all those nights, and turns away.

But that’s not what happen. Keffer’s dead now and I don’t miss him. Glad he emailed the Shadows to ISN five nanoseconds before he died.

Babylon 5 is now the last best hope for victory because sometimes peace is another word for surrender and because secrets have a way of getting out. On to season 3!

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - Enterprise S3

Originally posted on Twitter 16 September 2019 - 10 January 2020

Enterprise Season 3 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As in Seasons 1 and 2, mini-reviews will document my progress.

The Xindi: Good action, a suspenseful mystery. The 5-species Xindi are a great addition to the Trek pantheon. The first neuropressure scene is extremely awkward and objectifying, and I'm taking 2 points for that. Still, a somewhat strong start to Season 3. 8/10

Anomaly: Our heroes are forced to compromise their ethics, as the mysteries of the Delphic Expanse deepen. It’s still jarring to see Archer nearly suffocate a prisoner to get information. Good action at the end. 7/10

Extinction: I didn’t like this one when it was “Identity Crisis” on TNG, so I really don’t like “Extinction”. If I was a first-time viewer who stumbled onto this episode back in 2003, I’d probably never give Trek another chance. Just awful. 1/10

Rajiin: The women of ENT are once again the unfortunate victim of a tone-deaf, misogynistic, exploitative script. Star Trek hasn’t ever handled sexuality with the greatest aplomb, and this episode proves it. 3/10

Impulse: Day of the Dead Vulcans! A shockingly effective teaser and a truly scary coda elevates a basic zombie story. Jolene Blalock gives one of her best T’Pol performances in this episode. The trellium poisoning will have later ramifications. 8/10

Exile: Hoshi and the Beast, and an Archer & Reed subplot. Both plots move the season arc forward, but it’s an otherwise forgettable entry. 5/10

The Shipment: We learn more about the Xindi here, as a crucial piece of the plot is advanced with the titular kemocite shipment. 8/10

Twilight: One of ENT’s finest episodes. A spatial anomaly renders Archer much like Leonard Shelby. A reset button episode, sure, but a sweet and touching episode that evolves Archer and T’Pol’s friendship. 10/10

North Star: I don't care that this is a Space Western, I love this episode. The stakes are relatively low but it's a rollicking ride. It's fun to see our heroes doing exactly what Pike, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, or Janeway would do, but before the Federation exists. 9/10

Similitude: Y’all. One of the all-time great ethical debates Star Trek has ever posed. Another excellent season 3 installment. 10/10

Carpenter Street: An engaging time-travel yarn with some subtle commentary on early 21st century American life. Archer and T’Pol are an underrated pairing. The great Leland Orser is the icing on the cake. 8/10

Chosen Realm: It’s heavy-handed, and D’Jamat is a hateable villain with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I feel no sympathy for these people. I demand justice for the poor unnamed sciences crew person blown out into space by the suicide bomber. 6/10

Proving Ground: The Andorians offer assistance, but it’s just a ruse to get their hands on a WMD that would defeat the Vulcans. Archer’s solution is ingenious. Nice VFX here too. 7/10

Stratagem: The titular stratagem is exceedingly clever. The one that closes out the episode is even better. Degra is a sympathetic villain. 8/10

Harbinger: The plots with the mysterious alien and the MACO-Starfleet tensions are great. Had this ep focused on that, it would’ve been better. What’s not great is the T’Pol-Cole-Tucker Triangle, culminating in the infamous nude scene. It drags the score down by 5 points. 3/10

Doctor’s Orders: I liked this one better when it was “One” on Voyager. 4/10

Hatchery: The reverse-imprinting twist is intriguing, but it also feels very similar to “Extinction” (not a good thing). It’s an utterly forgettable entry. 5/10

Azati Prime: Wow. Tense from the jump, excellent plot advancement, and a truly harrowing, nail-biting conclusion. 10/10

Damage: A quieter "second act" to Azati Prime, Archer has to make some tough calls that are explicitly compared to the marauders from earlier in the season. He also manages to sow some doubt among the Xindi Council. 8/10

The Forgotten: Trip's struggle with writing a condolence letter to a fallen colleague masks his trauma over his sister's death. His scene with T'Pol in the wrecked corridor is incredibly moving, as is his condolence letter. The Degra plot is duly advanced, as well. 10/10

E²: I’ve watched this one four or five times while trying to review it for this rewatch, and it still does nothing for me. DS9’s “Children of Time” has the same basic plot, but is more memorable and poignant. This episode is basically marking time to the final episodes. 4/10

The Council: Pour one out for Degra and Cpl Hawkins. What starts as a slow, methodical dialog-heavy episode goes from 0-60 in the final minutes with the launch of the Xindi weapon and Hoshi’s abduction. 8/10

Countdown: The body count rises: the Xindi-Insectoid Councillor and Maj Hayes (in a tragic subversion of the last-second beam-out trope). The Sphere Builders play their hand as the weapon deploys. Meanwhile, our heroes discover the thermal exhaust port of the spheres. 9/10

Zero Hour: Y’all. ENT’s biggest spectacle to date. The Xindi weapon is destroyed (featuring a stone-cold Archer killing Dolim with a bomb), the Sphere Builders are defeated, and…NAZIS?! This episode ties up ENT’s strongest season to date while keeping us hooked for S4. 10/10

And with that, Season 3 of ENT comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 7.04/10. Highest score(s): “Twilight,” “Similitude,” “Azati Prime,” “The Forgotten,” “Zero Hour”. Lowest score(s): “Extinction”

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom, season 3, episodes 1-2 thoughts! I had to split up my season 3 watch awkwardly because the second part of it was too picture heavy and tumblr only wants you to have 10 pictures per post, per the No Fun Allowed Rule. :/ I was planning on just doing 1-6 then 7-13, but, it'll probably be split into 3 posts now... (along with a follow up thoughts post after I finish and think on it for a lil while...)

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-vlad got a new mansion. and the guys in white IMMEDIATELY BREAKS IN AND STARTS SMASHING THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING, DESTROYING HIS NEW MANSION KAJDFHSSKADJKJN. NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN MY LIFE. 'the greatest practical joke ever' TUCKER YOU ARE SOOO RIGHT.

-'DAnnY FenTon MadE mE ThE LaugHINg StOCk oF WisCONsIn' if you dont shut up. you made yourself a laughing stock. love the cute pink hotel room. also, Vlad's Naked on The News. VLAD BUYING THE NASTY BURGER TO TEAR IT DOWN. the way they keep escalating these..pranks? IS TEARING DOWN A BUISSNESS A PRANK?? (the metric by which I decide if its a prank is if its funny to me or not. vlads house being torn down? funny prank. local burger place being torn down? maybe not. MAYBE the naked on the news prank was pushing it because he WAS in a hotel just, minding his own business, but like, he stays bothering danny for no reason when danny is just minding his own business, too! its not right but there IS a sense of vindication here. yknow?

-...'at least now he's channeling his sociopathic lonely bachelor energy into something positive!' this is unironically an insult to actual sociopathic people. 'but he doesnt care about other people!' 'and thats why he'll make a great politician!' BRUTAL. but not untrue? I mean, this is not at ALL surprising. hes a billionaire via cheating and lying, and already a huge Slimeball. So yeah, politician is 100% right.

-but did vlad move to amity park? I might be wrong about this, or illinois laws might be different, but I kinda assumed if you're running for election for mayor in a town, that you had to live within the voting jurisdiction and be registered to vote there. I mean, he's temporarily in a hotel and technically displaced rn (...I thought for sure he'd have more vacation homes...) so I guess there's probably a grace period to find a permanent home in amity park?

-ME, CHEERING DANNY ON EVERY SINGLE TIME HE BEATS VLAD UP, BEING SO PROUD OF MY SON:

-'hes overshadowing the voters!' why...are you surprised, danny???? election fraud is Nothing. did you forget he stole BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

-ok the school uniforms are kinda cute tho lol.

-NO TEENAGERS ALLOWED IN THE NEW RESTURAUNT?? WHAT KIND OF BUISSNESS IS THAT,, SO PETTY. tucker straight up tearing off the security camera. king of property destruction

-vlad trying to make life hell. For a 14 year old. who is trying to genuinely apologize and offer a truce (despite all the creepy and fucked up things vlad has done to him and his family). what the fuck can I even say about this. I think i've said several times while watching 'what the fuck is wrong with you', i need a stronger statement.

-Teens Against McMasters! Fries Not Lies! I want to see vlad get mauled by teens. I want them to start Throwing Rocks.

-vlad saying 'dudes' is the worst thing I've ever heard.

-danny overshadowing the clone was GENIUS AND MAKING HIMSELF LOOK INJURED. SO PROUD OF YOUUUU. USE HIS OWN TACTICS AGAINST HIM. GET HIS ASS.

-frostbite's design is really interesting. ghost...bones... incased in ice?? anyway im so glad danny is getting more hugs :)

-oh, they basically worship(?) or put danny on a pedestal because he defeated pariah?? well IM happy for him having more ghosts that are friendly to him :) also, sam and tucker's lil snow jackets...super cute.

-more ghost lore!!! THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE IS A GHOST PORTAL. OF COURSE.

-VLAD ACTUALLY DID GET A CAT AWWW KITTY I WUV U KITTY. who he plays chess with...okay, you know what, thats so valid. and actually, pets are usually actually good for mental health, you have a lil guy to care for and they can give u a reason to try ur best so u can provide for them, and they are always good for comfort...good job, vlad!! next go to therapy. 'if anyone asks, you're my sister's cat!' so does he actually HAVE a sister? can she come beat him up

-sam is Right. they shouldve immediately taken the map back to frostbite! but I get it, exploring Can Be Fun

-'carnivorous canyon' in the ghost zone is just mystery flesh pit

-vlad is going to burn a 14 year old girl at the stake. you know, I half expected clockwork to come up and stop this, because they're fucking with time, BUT. nope. this is nbd, I guess.

-well, blood blossoms are terrifying. I know 'ive never eaten a vegetable in my life!' was tucker being hyperbolic, but this kid is going to get so many digestive problems if he doesnt Start Eating Healthier.

-...vlad wanted to go to rome and be a god?? I want to know where he self-inserted himself in their already established pantheon. what did he say he was the god of??

-VLAD SET THE ENTIRETY OF ROME ON FIRE. SO THEY PROBABLY ASSUME GOD OF DESTRUCTION. GOD OF ASSHOLERY.

-how embarrassing, to swordfight a 14 year old and struggle to win. lmfao they keep running vlad off every place he tries to take over

-'if i can destroy the first airplane, man will never fly and I will rule the air!' VLAD. DO YOU THINK. DO YOU THINK THE WRIGHT BROTHERS WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE TO THINK OF AND CONCEPTULIZE FLIGHT???! oh my god he is so dumb. people have always been trying to fly even before that, and even if you destroyed (1) plane its not like no one else could make one??? as if people hadn't already been making hot air balloons since the 1700s??? or coming up with concepts, and studying on how to make them work? starting to think vlad shouldve paid attention in college and not been so fixated on maddie. or, I dunno, read a book in his huge library...(I mean, I dunno what he majored in or studied in college, but it obviously wasnt history...)

-vlad getting his ass kicked by snow dogs and getting shidded on by a pigeon :)

-'hes got more in common with us than he realizes!' DANNY IS A YETI??? CONFIRMED (no,, but I hope that means we'll see more of the far frozen! I like them :)

-what in the world was this episode tho. like..okay?? vlads plans did not make ANY sense to me, like, was I missing something , or. WHY is he so fixated on Ruling all of the sudden...sure he might be power-hungry, feeling powerless can do that and I'm sure the accident/being abandoned made him feel that way, but its always felt like his real end goal was just to steal jack's family out of jealousy and spite, not to like. um,, rule rome I guess. ?? theres No Maddie In Rome, Vlad.

[clemkesh]

Hello dear friends the time has come for me to once again recommend everyone go listen to Friends at the Table. What is Friends at the Table (f@tt)? “Friends at the Table is an actual play podcast focused on critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends.” If you’re a fan of TAZ you may have heard Griffin mention it as his personal favorite actual play podcast, so if you don’t take my rec, take Griffin’s. It slaps. It’s super diverse, fun, and compelling, and the care taken with the craft of storytelling throughout just warms my heart. The fact that every f@tt fan I know has a different favorite season is a testament to how great it is- what you like is just a matter of personal taste because it's all good as hell. 

Speaking of seasons, you might be wondering where you should start, because there’s a whole bunch of options! So here’s a brief intro into every season and the reasons you might wanna or not wanna start there.

Season 1: Autumn in Hieron- You could start at the very beginning, if you’re committed to consuming all the f@tt content or really like ghost pirates (who doesn’t?). Autumn is the first part of their Seasons of Hieron series, an ongoing high fantasy saga that features many of the same recurring playing characters. Autumn is definitely a good time, and a great place to start, since it is, ya know, the start, but the audio quality is pretty rough at certain points and it is definitely slower than later seasons. If you want to skip Autumn and still listen to later Hieron seasons, that’s a super valid option, and they have summary episodes that condense the action of the first season for what you will need to know for Seasons of Hieron moving forwards.

Season 2: Counter/Weight- This is where I started! Counter/Weight is the first of their sci-fi seasons, a cyberpunk mech adventure. Unlike Seasons of Hieron, while their sci-fi seasons all take place in the same universe, they take place thousands of years apart and have no repeating characters between them, so you don’t necessarily need to start here at the beginning. Counter/Weight also starts a little bit slow in my opinion, but once it takes off (they swap what game system they are playing with about ⅓ of the way through the season, and they’re much more comfortable with the second system), it TAKES OFF, MAN. Come cry with me about Orth Godlove, come laugh with me about Lazer Ted, and fuck capitalism. Guys, I cannot stress enough how good Counter/Weight is.

Edit- Important caveat, (thank you, @waveridden, for reminding me) C/W has a few they/them characters and the cast does not do a good job remembering their correct pronouns. In later seasons they absolutely improve and multiple cast members come out as trans, but fair warning that this is a definite problem during Counter/Weight. 

Season 2.5: Marielda- This is maybe the most common answer I’ve heard of where to start. Austin, the GM, designed Marielda as a sort of introductory mini-season to what makes Friends at the Table unique. It’s the story of a bunch of knowledge-brokers doing high-stakes heists in an industrial fantasy city. If you want to dip your toes into f@tt before diving in, this is the place to be. It’s a manageable 14 episodes, with two of those episodes being worldbuilding. It’s technically a prequel season to Seasons in Hieron but because it’s a prequel you don’t really need to be familiar with Hieron (Though you may occasionally be confused by a proper noun or two. When in doubt, those proper nouns are the names of gods in the Hieron pantheon. Especially if their name starts with “Sam”). Marielda slaps very hard. Join us, enthuse about TRAIN DAY, and bop to some clarinets. 

Season 3: Winter in Hieron- This is a good place to start if you want to hop on board right into the thick of Seasons of Hieron and prefer fantasy to sci-fi. I highly recommend listening to the summary eps of Autumn, but once you’ve done that you can dive right in. It’s very good. That’s a common theme, every season is very good. There’s some wonderful new characters in Winter and a lot of great worldbuilding. I hope you like moths.

Season 4: Twilight Mirage- The second of their sci-fi seasons, taking place in the same universe as Counter/Weight but way later so you don’t need to have listened to Counter/Weight though you may miss a reference. Where Counter/Weight is anti-capitalist cyberpunk, Twilight Mirage is utopian. It’s an interesting season philosophically (the GM was a philosophy major and it’s time for that to shine) and has a lot of very positive vibes, so start with Twilight Mirage if that sounds like your idea of a good time. 

Season 5: Spring in Hieron- Gonna be real this is the only one you almost definitely shouldn’t start with, since it’s the finale of Seasons of Hieron. But if for some reason you want to, you can listen to summary eps of Winter and Autumn and maybe be okay but like. I wouldn’t recommend it. It is a great season, you just probably shouldn’t start with it.

Season 6: Partizan- The third of their sci-fi seasons, and the one that is currently ongoing. Partizan explores sci-fi politics and revolutions and it features some of my favorite characters in the podcast. Start here if you want to listen along as new episodes are released and participate in the fan culture around that. Once again, you don’t need to have listened to Counter/Weight or Twilight Mirage, but you may miss a few nods. 

Bonus Season!: Bluff City- Bluff City was originally only available for Patreon supporters, but is currently available for free to all! Bluff City is a series of oneshots in wild and funky systems that all coexist in an alternate version of Atlantic City. It explores a lot of topics like crabs, wrestling, censorship, ghost hunting, and teen superheroes. The tone varies wildly from ep to ep based on what system they are playing but it’s always a party. If you just wanna commit to a one shot or two before deciding if you wanna get into f@tt, start here.

TLDR: You’re probably gonna want to start with Counter/Weight (cyberpunk mech season) or Marielda (shorter fantasy heist season), based on your genre preferences, but you could pick pretty much every season except Spring as a good starting point based on your personal taste.