#particularly when we note it's not the first time xena does stuff like this

[keyofjetwolf]

So the crux of “The Debt”, our most significant take away from this pivotal two-parter, is that Xena and Gabrielle are PERILOUSLY close to imploding. See also: everything that is about to happen over the next few episodes. OH HO HO IT IS DELIGHTFUL.

What I think I may love best about The Debt (and I say this through the haze of years, and so reserve the right to find all new things to love as I revisit) is the way the mud slings EVERYWHERE. The final shot of the second part is and will remain *chef’s kiss*, but this is also Gabrielle slipping further and further into her own pit of despair and fury. I have no doubt we’ll be talking about this EXTENSIVELY as the liveblog progresses.

We don’t have to wait though, as we slam out the gate with this first exchange of the episode. GOD IT’S DELICIOUS. There’s the surface of course, where it’s Xena and Gabby squishy feels time, and I’m THERE. But when you look at it through the lens of what’s happened, of the things we know that Xena doesn’t, AND IT’S UNFETTERED BULLSHIT. (While also being completely true, which is one of the beautiful things about it all.)

What is the “everything” of which Gabrielle speaks? Well just over the last few weeks, its laundry list includes:

being completely manipulated by the ultimate evil

stabbing a bitch

impregnated by the aforementioned ultimate evil

giving birth to a supernaturally aging baby who may be the penultimate evil

who strangled a bitch

but in whom all (ahem) hope has been stashed so let’s not think about all that too hard

except when her wife didn’t agree and wanted to kill it

leading to the manipulated becoming the manipulator

dead ass lying to and betraying her wife

sending the possible penultimate evil down the river alone to fend for its supernaturally aging baby self

leaving Gabrielle with nothing to cling to but the faintest wisp of hope ABOUT her hope

which she may well never see or hear about ever again giving her neither comfort nor closure

AND SHE HAS TO JUST BE FINE ABOUT IT ON THE OUTSIDE BECAUSE IT’S ALL A LIE IT’S AN ONGOING TRAGEDY PERFORMED BEFORE XENA’S EYE AND SHE CAN NEVER KNOW GABRIELLE CAN NEVER SLIP IT’S JUST THIS FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE FOREVER

This is the “everything” Gabrielle is thanking Xena for. This is the everything she has to put every drop of energy into pretending either doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter.

Gabby’s keeping it together, but by the thinnest of threads. She can’t take much more.

So, of course, she’s about to have to.

[unexpectedreylo]

Mary Sue Or Not?

Having climbed aboard the Reylo ship 10-11 months ago, I’ve written quite a bit about them as a couple and about Kylo/Ben, since he is endlessly fascinating on many levels and he is the last Skywalker heir.

But it’s time to shine some light on our girl Rey, the heroine of this fairy tale/gothic romance novel collision in space.  And the first thing I want to address is whether or not it’s fair to call her a Mary Sue.

One problem we have is no one really can define what a Mary Sue is anymore; it’s become what former U.S. Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart once said about obscenity...you can’t define it but you know it when you see it.  A lot of the time in modern parlance, it’s a lazy shorthand for “a female character I don’t like.”

But “Mary Sue” did mean something once and it was very specific.  It was meant to describe an original character in fan fiction who was basically an idealized version of the author, there to suck all of the gravity of a particular universe in her direction.  Someone I knew in Star Wars prequel fandom once described a Mary Sue as a fundamental writing error.  I would add it’s the kind of error (usually) young, inexperienced writers who aren’t familiar enough with the source material tend to make.  

The OG Mary Sue from the zine Menagerie #3.

The term “Mary Sue” came from a satirical Star Trek fan fiction (“A Trekkie’s Tale”) written in the ‘70s meant to spoof these kinds of stories.  The heroine, Mary Sue, is the youngest Starfleet officer at 15.5 years old and is half-Vulcan.  Everyone falls in love with Lt. Mary Sue; of course Capt. Kirk hits on her but being a woman of virtue, she rebuffs him.  She dies a tragic death trying to save the Enterprise and is mourned by all (in the early days, Mary Sues often died tragically and heroically).   Since then Mary Sues have become more sophisticated and varied, but are often marked by their extraordinary skills, unusual but beautiful appearance, and ridiculously convoluted names (”Mary Sue” is pretty vanilla these days for a Mary Sue).  They also stubbornly refuse to die.  But the principles remain the same:  the Sue is the always the center of attention, the Sue is always a usurper, and the rules of the canonical universe/characterizations always bend or break to justify a character who really doesn’t fit into that universe at all.  For example in “A Trekkie’s Tale,” the normally stoical Mr. Spock blubbers like a baby at Mary Sue’s funeral.  In the infamous “My Immortal,” the denizens of Hogswarts are transformed into suicidal bisexual “goffs” to accommodate its Draco-humping vampire anti-heroine “Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.”   (”My Immortal” just might be the 21st century internet troll’s version of “A Trekkie’s Tale.”)

I started reading Star Wars fan fiction 26 years ago and every now and then, I’d run into a Mary Sue.  More often than not, she was Force-sensitive and was usually paired with Luke.  In older zines, particularly ones pre-TESB, I’d see the kind often paired with Han Solo that I’d called “Spacer Sues.”  About 20 years ago I wrote a fic spoofing Star Wars-style Mary Sues called “Hello Jedi Sue.”  In the story the main character Sue was sucked up into a tornado and sent into the GFFA.  She had a higher midichlorian count than even Anakin and immediately upon meeting Luke, he realizes she is destined for him.  Over the course of the story, she leads Rogue Squadron to victory against a stray Sith Lord who turns up out of nowhere (she’d never flown an X-wing before), she pilots the Falcon through an asteroid field after Han suffers a heart attack, and of course she trains to be a Jedi.  Leia is kind of chilly to her at first but comes around and gives her a ring that once belonged to Queen Amidala, the only memento she has left of her birth mother.  Some apprentice gets jealous of her and pushes her off the top of the temple to her death.  Leia declares it a worse tragedy than Alderaan.  Everyone’s crying and stuff but Sue uses her Force superpowers to resurrect herself.  She and Luke marry and she immediately gets pregnant.  Obi-Wan’s ghost appears to tell the happy couple she is his granddaughter and Qui-Gon’s great-granddaughter (don’t ask).  

So you might say TFA raised my eyebrows because some of it reminded me of “Hello Jedi Sue.”  Before everyone hits the unfollow button, I DO NOT think that Rey is a Mary Sue.

I’ll break it down like this.  In order for a character to be a Mary Sue, the character must do most if not all of the following:

Be an idealized version of the author.

Be the center of attention, even in situations where it wouldn’t be practical or appropriate.

Bend or break the rules of the canon universe just to fit in.

Possesses highly unusual but beautiful looks and exhibit a large amount of extraordinary skills.

Be irresistible, especially sexually irresistible, to everyone.

Usurp the roles played by canon characters and their importance.

So, let’s go over that list with Rey in mind.

1.  Is she an idealized version of J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, Lawrence Kasdan, or George Lucas (who created Rey’s progenitor “Kira”)?

Uhh, I doubt it.  It’s not just that Rey is obviously not of the same sex, but she doesn’t seem to exhibit anything that reminds me of these men in real life.  Sure she’s packed with girl power but so what?  So are Lara Croft, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, Padme Amidala, Xena, Leia Organa, Black Widow, Wonder Woman, that dragon chick from Game Of Thrones, Ahsoka, etc..  

2.  Is she the center of attention, even where it wouldn’t be practical or appropriate?

She’s the main hero(ine) of this trilogy and the avatar for the audience but she serves the same function that Luke Skywalker did in the OT or Anakin Skywalker did in the PT.  So of course the story is going to focus on her.  But if she was genuinely a Mary Sue, she would be doing everything of importance in the film to the point of making everyone else useless.  They could be sitting by the sidelines having a beer while she’s basically running the movie.  

3.  Does she bend or break the rules of the canon universe just to fit in?

This is one point where I think a lot of the contention lies.  She gets accused a lot of being “overpowered.”  Well, what does that mean?  The way I see the narrative shaping up after two films, she is obviously very powerful in the Force but TLJ makes it clear her power level is the same as Kylo’s.  I think the movies are hinting she and Kylo/Ben are something new and unique, a creation of the Cosmic Force in its post Anakin-balanced state.  I hope we get more of an explanation of this because I think it would go a long way to reassure people.  

On that note, another common complaint is that Rey takes on skills rapidly with minimal training.  I admit, I felt this was a problem the first time I saw TFA.  I couldn’t understand why for instance she was able to use the Jedi mind trick so quickly without any training.  By contrast, Luke wasn’t able to use the mind trick until ROTJ.  I couldn’t understand why she was able to defeat someone trained in the Force in a lightsaber duel, regardless of his mental state or injury.  It took until I saw TLJ and saw some comments from one of the story groupers that I understood she’d basically downloaded Kylo’s skills when he entered her mind and she’d entered his.  Now I get it.  But this is one criticism I still have of TFA; it didn’t make that clear enough to the audience.  There’s a reason why George Lucas spent time letting you know Luke was a good bush pilot on Tatooine who could shoot womp rats in his T-16 or Anakin could win a pod race...it’s so that when they fly out to blow up something at the end of the movie, you’re able to understand why they can do that.  Sometimes you do have to make movies so that the common idiot can figure it out!

Now a critic might argue that Rey Matrixing her way to Jedi skills is lazy.  Maybe the filmmakers wanted to make sure they had a protagonist able to get into the mix early on because there weren’t enough Force-sensitive characters around who could’ve taken on Kylo.  But then again, did we really see the OT or PT spend a lot of time on training?  Luke fought Darth Vader after about 25 minutes of training in TESB and we never saw Anakin train at all; 10 years had passed between TPM and AOTC and by the latter film, he was able to do all kinds of cool stuff.  And TLJ makes it clear that while Rey had the skills, she still needed direction and instruction.  She thought the Force just controlled people and made things float!

And sometimes the audience misses things, especially if they only see a movie once.  For instance, the first time I saw TFA I was baffled why Rey was able to pilot the Falcon.  It seemed like Little Miss Desert Scavenger just hopped into the cockpit and away she went, whereas if I just got on a spaceship for the first time ever, I’d crash that mo-fo pretty quickly.  Then when I saw the film again some time later, the dialogue makes it clear she IS able to pilot.  She never left Jakku not because she couldn’t leave but because she was still waiting for her loser parents to come back.

4.  Is she irresistible to everyone?

Mary Sues always get a reaction out of every canon character and that reaction is a strong one.  It’s always fierce devotion, instant BFFs forever, undying passionate and true love, boiling-over lust, or pure loathing and hatred (that of course turns into the opposite or the hater is toast).  There’s never indifference, or relationships that take time to build, or first impressions that turn out to be wrong, etc..  And it’s always instantaneous.  

Most of the good guys like Rey but is any of it different from how characters took to Luke in the OT or Anakin in the PT?  Not really.  The only thing that stands out is Leia running over to hug the girl she’s known for part of a movie over Chewbacca but even Abrams admitted he’d goofed.  And one instance does not a Mary Sue make.

The only characters who have more intense feelings for Rey are Kylo and Finn and in both cases, those feelings are complicated.  

5.  Does she have a highly unusual but beautiful appearance and exhibit a large amount of extraordinary skills?

Note the lack of rainbow hair and silver eyes.

Daisy Ridley is a beautiful young woman but as Rey, it seems like if anything they’re shooting for more of a natural, earthy beauty that befits her character.  There’s nothing unusual about how she looks or how she dresses.  She looks like she would almost fade into the crowd if you didn’t know who or what she was.  Mary Sues on the other hand ALWAYS have to be noticed for their looks.

As for Rey’s skills, this is another thing people criticize.  But in the Star Wars universe, being a Force-user isn’t alone an indication of Mary Sue-dom.  Now if Rey was more powerful than anyone else ever, even Anakin Skywalker, that would be a Mary Sue issue.  But the films make it clear that she isn’t more powerful than everyone; her power level is the same as Kylo’s.  Her only advantage comes from being the more morally correct character in the story.

Her other skills are explained in the films and are nothing unusual in the Star Wars universe.  She’s a good pilot but not such an ace everyone’s saying she’s better than Wedge Antilles, Poe Dameron, and Luke Skywalker combined.  She’s a grease monkey but that comes from years of scavenging.  Her talents aren’t just dropping out of the ether.  

A Mary Sue would be the most powerful Force user ever, the greatest pilot of all time, someone who could teach space aeronautics at MIT at the age of 20, have an IQ higher than Einstein’s, be the greatest and most ingenious hacker, a better leader than Leia, a better shot than Annie Oakley even while drunk, cook like Julia Child, have sex like a porn star, have a singing voice like an angel, and is all-around the best at everything that needs to be done at any given time, ALL OF THE TIME. That’s not quite what we’re getting with Rey.

6..  Does she usurp roles played by canon characters and their importance?

This is another area of heated contention and it depends on what you believe are the filmmakers’ intentions.  Are they setting Rey up to be the “real” Chosen One, essentially changing Lucas’s story?  Are they setting up the Skywalkers as unworthy so Rey has to basically take their place as the “gods” end their cursed line?

Believe it or not, I was really worried this was exactly what Disney was going to do.  Now, I don’t think this is the case.  If anything, Rey is there in part to save the Skywalker line and legacy, not to end it or steal it for herself.  But I suspect there are a lot of fans who still think this is where they are going in IX, so of course they’re going to resent Rey.

I came to the conclusion after seeing TLJ that while Rey is important and the lead character, she’s not the center of gravity in the story.  Kylo Ren is.  Pay attention; nearly everything that’s happening in the films is in some way because of him or related to him.  It’s harder to believe she’s some random OC who broke into the Star Wars saga to suck the attention away from the Skywalkers once you realize this.

All of these said, there’s one more reason why Rey is not a Mary Sue.

Canon characters by definition cannot be Mary Sues!

It drives me nuts that people call canon characters Mary Sues.  The whole point of a Mary Sue is someone who doesn’t really fit in with a universe so the universe is fit around her.  Bella Swan may be a lot of things but she’s not a Mary Sue.  (Now if you wrote a Twilight OC who pushes out Bella, gets Edward to fall in love with her, and gets Edward to give up his vampire ways and become a Christian, THAT’s a Mary Sue.)  Now, some fans won’t accept anything Disney produced as canon but this is what we’ve got and it’s all we’re getting.    

I don’t know who did this--I found it on Know Your Meme--but it’s a decent guide.

[kowaiyoukai]

Star Trek: Discovery and CBS All Access: spoiler-free reviews

I saw the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery. Here are my spoiler-free thoughts, mostly regarding comments I've read, CBS All Access, and supporting diversity. The Good: - acting, effects, plot, dialogue, cinematography, political commentary, shout-outs/easter eggs The Bad: - character deaths, misleading promos The Ugly: - CBS All Access a.k.a. the paywall I'll definitely be watching more. I am choosing to pay the $5.99/month, though it pains me greatly to do so. I have seen a lot of negative opinions on the premiere, and most of those I disagree with. For instance, some of the most common complaints I've seen are that DSC is too political, too slow-paced, goes against Roddenberry's vision, and is too much like Star Wars/Stargate/Mass Effect. To these, I say Star Trek has always been political, the vast majority of Star Trek episodes are slow-paced and thoughtful (in fact, I'd argue DSC eps 1 & 2 were too fast-paced), Roddenberry originally wanted women as both Captain and First Officer, and many sci-fi shows/franchises share similar elements (as with all genre shows, what defines them is what makes them genre). Besides these issues, many people are judging based on only the first episode. I understand this is due to the fact that CBS only publically aired episode 1. Still, other pay services don't publically air any episodes (Netflix, Hulu, etc). At least they gave us the first episode. Don't get me wrong--I believe DSC should be airing on CBS without having to pay for All Access. What I mean is that judging a show only by it's first episode very rarely works. In that case, I wouldn't have continued watching some of my favorite shows, including Xena and The 100. For both of those shows, it took me until episode 3-4 to really get into them. Based on the DSC episode 3 preview, I would say the same goes in this case. Ep 3 looks like where we'll get into the good stuff. I'm also frustrated by the fact so many people seem to be taking out their irritation about the paywall on the show. I've seen many comments along the lines of "if it was on regular CBS, I'd watch it every Sunday", "the first episode didn't convince me to pay", and "why bother watching when I'll need another subscription service to continue". I wish these comments were directed towards CBS All Access instead of DSC. I also feel that rage of being pushed into paying for only one show. However, this isn't the first time I've done that. I paid for Crunchyroll ($6.95/month) only to watch Hunter x Hunter. Yet I kept that service because it's actually good. Actually, you can watch anime on Crunchyroll for free with ads--paying eliminates the commercials. Which brings me to my next point: why on Earth is paying for CBS All Access not enough to get rid of the ads? They want my money along with money from the commercials--capitalism at its greediest. My sister and I did some math and comparisons, using the idea of subscribing to All Access solely for DSC. 1 month of CBS All Access = $5.99-9.99 4 episodes/month; 1 episode = $1.50-2.50 4 hours = $5.99-9.99; 1 hour = $1.50-2.50 Do not own: can rewatch with subscription. 1 movie ticket = around $10-16 2 hours = $10-16; 1 hour = $5-8 Do not own: cannot rewatch without paying again. 1 box set = between $25-50 13-26 episodes/hours Min: 1 episode for 26 eps & $25 = about $0.96 Max: 1 episode for 13 eps & $50 = about $3.85 Average = $2.41 Do own: can rewatch whenever for free. So, it's cheaper than a movie, which you also don't own. My sister pointed out going to a movie is an experience, but the cost is still much greater comparatively. TV box sets are all over the place in terms of cost and content, yet owning them means the extra cost is worth it for many people. Still, all the math proves is that it's not too expensive for each episode. But even that depends on an individual's disposable income. And the fact is, the cost isn't going to matter to a lot of people, myself included, who believe having to pay extra for it at all is the problem. This is compounded by knowing that Netflix has it in every country except the U.S. and Canada. Many people in these countries who already have Netflix are just not going to like this setup. Again, myself included. Putting money aside, the other content you're paying for matters. What else does CBS All Access have to offer? - Live TV: if you already have CBS, this is irrelevant. It's just what CBS is currently airing. - Movies: I browsed through them. Most of them are old, and the majority I have seen at my library where I can rent them for free. - Sporting Events: These are heavily advertised. I have no interest in any of them, but they could be good for some people. Still, to my understanding, it's fairly easy to watch sports without paying extra. - TV: Most of these are old shows, so if you were interested in them you may have already seen them. What's currently airing is also available just on CBS. Again, most of this can be rented for free in box set form from my library. - Originals: There are currently four. Star Trek: Discovery, After Trek (a talk show after each episode), The Good Fight (spinoff of The Good Wife), and Big Brother: Over the Top. Out of that whole list, the only one I care about is DSC. I'm not even watching After Trek. So, to me, the content CBS All Access offers is extremely limited and subpar. As opposed to the other two services I use, Crunchyroll and Netflix, which both have a ton of good content to choose from. People may argue that All Access is just getting started and more originals will be coming soon, but I'm paying now, so I'm judging by what's currently available. Last of all, there's the quality of the service to consider. I found the stream quality to be really low. The image got blurry several times in both episodes. After each of the four 1 minute and 30 second commercial breaks, the stream paused to load for what I felt was too long. (Side note about the commercials: they were loud, annoying, and repetitive. Also, the shows they advertised for seemed to skew politically conservative-- supporting spying on people, showing white people as heroes and non-white people as villains, praising war, etc. Since Star Trek is a liberal show, these ads felt very out of place to me.) Another quality issue is the controls are a bit difficult to work. I use my PS4, and both Crunchyroll and Netflix have single button presses to pause, rewind, and fast forward. All Access required me to arrow down to a control bar, which then had me going over to my desired command and pressing it. That's an additional two steps I'm not used to. This caused major confusion several times in the ep. Functionality does matter to me. Also, when we went back to episode 1, we loaded a green screen with a few white boxes two times. No idea why the episode would be put up and then unable to load. Those quality issues stand out to me. This is a service I'm paying for. The stream should be a clear, sharp image; the load time should be minimal; and it shouldn't take me 10 seconds to pause the episode. If this was free, I would understand, but as a paid service, I'm utterly disappointed. Now for my last, perhaps most important, point: even with all of those negatives to CBS All Access, I'll still subscribe for Star Trek: Discovery. Why? Simply put, I've wanted WoC and diverse leads in serious dramatic shows (particularly sci-fi) for years. As a white woman, I know there are many PoC who've had a need for representation since before I even thought about it. So this only enhances my desire to support diverse characters in media. I've posted on social media about this many times: I want LGBT main couples who aren't killed off, I want more women in varying roles, I want PoC as leads. This is my chance to prove it. When people say "vote with your dollars", they're usually talking about boycotting something. However, the opposite is in effect here. By giving CBS $6/month, I'm telling TV network executives that Star Trek: Discovery is the type of content I am willing to pay for. Do I want a sci-fi show led by a WoC with a gay couple? Yes. Am I willing to pay for it? Yes. Everyone who has decided to pirate or simply not watch is sending a message, too. That message is "I'm not willing to pay for this type of content." That is the only message TV executives will hear. If DSC doesn't make the network money, all the CEOs will say, "People aren't willing to pay for this. Let's shut it down and see what they WILL pay for." At the end of the day, boycotting CBS All Access won't be seen as boycotting a streaming service--people pay for Netflix and Hulu, so the public has already stated it's willing to pay for specialized streaming content. Boycotting will only say that you don't want serious genre shows with WoC leads. So, to everyone saying they're interested and they'd watch if it was free, and to everyone who supports diverse representation in media, this is the time. Please, pay the $6/month to vote with your dollars. An important aside: I'm poor. This week, I have less than $5 to last me until I get paid on Friday. Then I have more bills going out than money coming in. Still, I put aside $6 from my check for DSC. This is the content I want, I'm ready to pay to show how much I want it, and, for now, this is the only genre show from a major franchise with a WoC lead. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. If you feel the same, you should, too. Overall: - I liked Star Trek: Discovery. I'm excited to watch more. Burnham is a great character who I can tell will lead us on a fascinating ride. - I don't like CBS All Access. Even putting aside that I don't believe DSC should be behind a paywall, I think the service itself is subpar compared to what's currently available. - I'm willing to pay $6/month to send a message to network executives that DSC has the type of content I want: WoC leads, LGBT couples, serious sci-fi. My hope is that people can separate their dislike of CBS All Access from their judgment of Star Trek: Discovery. It would be a shame to miss out on a show with massive potential, and to ignore a chance at making a statement supporting diverse representation in media, due to a poorly designed subscription service.