#same vibes as when six year olds say ‘those toys are for babies’ if they’ve been shamed for their age by older kids

[doccywhomst]

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Was doing Staged a big decision, because it’s so personal and set in your homes? Georgia Tennant: We’d always been a very private couple. Staged was everything we’d never normally say yes to. Suddenly, our entire house is on TV and so is a version of the relationship we’d always kept private. But that’s the way to do it, I guess. Go to the other extreme. Just rip off the Band-Aid.

Anna Lundberg: Michael decided pretty quickly that we weren’t going to move around the house at all. All you see is the fireplace in our kitchen.

GT: We have five children, so it was just about which room was available.

AL: But it’s not the real us. It’s not a documentary.

GT: Although some people think it is.

Which fictional parts of the show do people mistake for reality? GT: People think I’m really a novelist because “Georgia” writes a novel in Staged. They’ve asked where they can buy my book. I should probably just write one now because I’ve done the marketing already.

AL: People worry about our elderly neighbour, who gets hospitalised in the show. She doesn’t actually exist in real life but people have approached Michael in Tesco’s, asking if she’s OK.

Michael and David squabble about who’s billed first in Staged. Does that reflect real life? AL: With Good Omens, Michael’s name was first for the US market and David’s was first for the British market. So those scenes riffed on that.

Should we call you Georgia and Anna, or Anna and Georgia? GT: Either. We’re super-laidback about these things.

AL: Unlike certain people.

How well did you know each other before Staged? GT: We barely knew each other. We’ve now forged a friendship by working on the show together.

AL: We’d met once, for about 20 minutes. We were both pregnant at the time – we had babies a month apart – so that was pretty much all we talked about.

Did you tidy up before filming? AL: We just had to keep one corner relatively tidy.

GT: I’m quite a tidy person, but I didn’t want to be one of those annoying Instagram people with perfect lives. So strangely, I had to add a bit of mess… dot a few toys around in the background. I didn’t want to be one of those insufferable people – even though, inherently, I am one of those people.

Was there much photobombing by children or pets? AL: In the first series, Lyra was still at an age where we could put her in a baby bouncer. Now that’s not working at all. She’s just everywhere. Me and Michael don’t have many scenes together in series two, because one of us is usually Lyra-wrangling.

GT: Our children aren’t remotely interested. They’re so unimpressed by us. There’s one scene where Doris, our five-year-old, comes in to fetch her iPad. She doesn’t even bother to glance at what we’re doing.

How was lockdown for you both? AL: I feel bad saying it, but it was actually good for us. We were lucky enough to be in a big house with a garden. For the first time since we met, we were in one place. We could just focus on Lyra . To see her grow over six months was incredible. She helped us keep a steady routine, too.

GT: Ours was similar. We never spend huge chunks of time together, so it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At least until David’s career goes to shit and he’s just sat at home. The flipside was the bleakness. Being in London, there were harrowing days when everything was silent but you’d just hear sirens going past, as a reminder that something awful was going on. So I veered between “This is wonderful” and “This is the worst thing that ever happened.”

And then there was home schooling… GT: Which was genuinely the worst thing that ever happened.

You’ve spent a lot of time on video calls, clearly. What are your top Zooming tips? GT: Raise your camera to eye level by balancing your laptop on a stack of books. And invest in a ring light.

AL: That’s why you look so much better. We just have our sad kitchen light overhead, which makes us look like one massive shiny forehead.

GT: Also, always have a good mug on the go [raises her cuppa to the camera and it’s a Michael Sheen mug]. Someone pranked David on the job he’s shooting at the moment by putting a Michael Sheen mug in his trailer. He brought it home and now I use it every morning. I’m magically drawn to drinking out of Michael.

There’s a running gag in series one about the copious empties in Michael’s recycling. Did you lean into lockdown boozing in real life? AL: Not really. We eased off when I was pregnant and after Lyra was born. We’d just have a glass of wine with dinner.

GT: Yes, definitely. I often reach for a glass of red in the show, which was basically just an excuse to continue drinking while we were filming: “I think my character would have wine and cake in this scene.” The time we started drinking would creep slightly earlier. “We’ve finished home schooling, it’s only 4pm, but hey…” We’ve scaled it back to just weekends now.

How did you go about creating your characters with the writer Simon Evans? AL: He based the dynamic between David and Michael on a podcast they did together. Our characters evolved as we went along.

GT: I was really kind and understanding in the first draft. I was like “I don’t want to play this, it’s no fun.” From the first few tweaks I made, Simon caught onto the vibe, took that and ran with it.

Did you struggle to keep a straight face at times? AL: Yes, especially the scenes with all four of us, when David and Michael start improvising.

GT: I was just drunk, so I have no recollection.

AL: Scenes with all four of us were normally filmed in the evening, because that’s when we could be child-free. Usually there was alcohol involved, which is a lot more fun.

GT: There’s a long scene in series two where we’re having a drink. During each take, we had to finish the glass. By the end, we were all properly gone. I was rewatching it yesterday and I was so pissed.

What else can you tell us about series two? GT: Everyone’s in limbo. Just as we think things are getting back to normal, we have to take three steps back again. Everyone’s dealing with that differently, shall we say.

AL: In series one, we were all in the same situation. By series two, we’re at different stages and in different emotional places.

GT: Hollywood comes calling, but things are never as simple as they seem.

There were some surprise big-name cameos in series one, with Samuel L Jackson and Dame Judi Dench suddenly Zooming in. Who can we expect this time around? AL: We can’t name names, but they’re very exciting.

GT: Because series one did so well, and there’s such goodwill towards the show, we’ve managed to get some extraordinary people involved. This show came from playing around just to pass the time in lockdown. It felt like a GCSE end-of-term project. So suddenly, when someone says: “Samuel L Jackson’s in”, it’s like: “What the fuck’s just happened?”

AL: It took things to the next level, which was a bit scary.

GT: It suddenly felt like: “Some people might actually watch this.”

How are David and Michael’s hair and beard situations this time? AL: We were in a toyshop the other day and Lyra walked up to these Harry Potter figurines, pointed at Hagrid and said: “Daddy!” So that explains where we’re at. After eight months of lockdown, it was quite full-on.

GT: David had a bob at one point. Turns out he’s got annoyingly excellent hair. Quite jealous. He’s also grown a slightly unpleasant moustache.

Is David still wearing his stinky hoodie? GT: I bought him that as a gift. It’s actually Paul Smith loungewear. In lockdown, he was living in it. It’s pretty classy, but he does manage to make it look quite shit.

---

Omg the mug’s origins :D

‘GT: Also, always have a good mug on the go [raises her cuppa to the camera and it’s a Michael Sheen mug]. Someone pranked David on the job he’s shooting at the moment by putting a Michael Sheen mug in his trailer. He brought it home and now I use it every morning. I’m magically drawn to drinking out of Michael. ‘

[invisibleicewands]

Staged's Anna Lundberg and Georgia Tennant: 'Scenes with all four of us usually involved alcohol'

Not many primetime TV hits are filmed by the show’s stars inside their own homes. However, 2020 wasn’t your average year. During the pandemic, productions were shut down and workarounds had to be found – otherwise the terrestrial schedules would have begun to look worryingly empty. Staged was the surprise comedy hit of the summer.

This playfully meta short-form sitcom, airing in snack-sized 15-minute episodes, found A-list actors Michael Sheen and David Tennant playing an exaggerated version of themselves, bickering and bantering as they tried to perfect a performance of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author over Zoom.

Having bonded while co-starring in Good Omens, Amazon’s TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel, Sheen, 51, and Tennant, 49, became best buddies in real life. In Staged, though, they’re comedically reframed as frenemies – warm, matey and collaborative, but with a cut-throat competitiveness lurking just below the surface. As they grew ever more hirsute and slobbish in lockdown, their virtual relationship became increasingly fraught.

It was soapily addictive and hilariously thespy, while giving a voyeuristic glimpse of their interior decor and domestic lives – with all the action viewed through their webcams.

Yet it was the supporting cast who lifted Staged to greatness,Their director Simon Evans, forced to dance around the pair’s fragile egos and piggy-in-the-middle of their feuds. Steely producer Jo, played by Nina Sosanya, forever breaking off from calls to bellow at her poor, put-upon PA. And especially the leading men’s long-suffering partners, both actors in real life, Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg.

Georgia Tennant comes from showbiz stock, as the child of Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson. At 36 she is an experienced actor and producer, who made her TV debut in Peak Practice aged 15. She met David on Doctor Who 2008, when she played the Timelord’s cloned daughter Jenny. Meanwhile, the Swedish Lundberg, 26, is at the start of her career. She left drama school in New York two years ago and Staged is her first big on-screen role.

Married for nine years, the Tennants have five children and live in west London. The Lundberg-Sheens have been together two years, have a baby daughter, Lyra, and live outside Port Talbot in south Wales. On screen and in real life, the women have become firm friends and frequent scene-stealers.

Staged proved so successful that it’s now back for a second series. We set up a video call with Tennant and Lundberg to discuss lockdown life, wine consumption, home schooling (those two may be related) and the blurry line between fact and fiction…

Was doing Staged a big decision, because it’s so personal and set in your homes? Georgia Tennant: We’d always been a very private couple. Staged was everything we’d never normally say yes to. Suddenly, our entire house is on TV and so is a version of the relationship we’d always kept private. But that’s the way to do it, I guess. Go to the other extreme. Just rip off the Band-Aid.

Anna Lundberg: Michael decided pretty quickly that we weren’t going to move around the house at all. All you see is the fireplace in our kitchen.

GT: We have five children, so it was just about which room was available.

AL: But it’s not the real us. It’s not a documentary.

GT: Although some people think it is.

Which fictional parts of the show do people mistake for reality? GT: People think I’m really a novelist because “Georgia” writes a novel in Staged. They’ve asked where they can buy my book. I should probably just write one now because I’ve done the marketing already.

AL: People worry about our elderly neighbour, who gets hospitalised in the show. She doesn’t actually exist in real life but people have approached Michael in Tesco’s, asking if she’s OK.

Michael and David squabble about who’s billed first in Staged. Does that reflect real life? AL: With Good Omens, Michael’s name was first for the US market and David’s was first for the British market. So those scenes riffed on that.

Should we call you Georgia and Anna, or Anna and Georgia? GT: Either. We’re super-laidback about these things.

AL: Unlike certain people.

How well did you know each other before Staged? GT: We barely knew each other. We’ve now forged a friendship by working on the show together.

AL: We’d met once, for about 20 minutes. We were both pregnant at the time – we had babies a month apart – so that was pretty much all we talked about.

Did you tidy up before filming? AL: We just had to keep one corner relatively tidy.

GT: I’m quite a tidy person, but I didn’t want to be one of those annoying Instagram people with perfect lives. So strangely, I had to add a bit of mess… dot a few toys around in the background. I didn’t want to be one of those insufferable people – even though, inherently, I am one of those people.

Was there much photobombing by children or pets? AL: In the first series, Lyra was still at an age where we could put her in a baby bouncer. Now that’s not working at all. She’s just everywhere. Me and Michael don’t have many scenes together in series two, because one of us is usually Lyra-wrangling.

GT: Our children aren’t remotely interested. They’re so unimpressed by us. There’s one scene where Doris, our five-year-old, comes in to fetch her iPad. She doesn’t even bother to glance at what we’re doing.

How was lockdown for you both? AL: I feel bad saying it, but it was actually good for us. We were lucky enough to be in a big house with a garden. For the first time since we met, we were in one place. We could just focus on Lyra . To see her grow over six months was incredible. She helped us keep a steady routine, too.

GT: Ours was similar. We never spend huge chunks of time together, so it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At least until David’s career goes to shit and he’s just sat at home. The flipside was the bleakness. Being in London, there were harrowing days when everything was silent but you’d just hear sirens going past, as a reminder that something awful was going on. So I veered between “This is wonderful” and “This is the worst thing that ever happened.”

And then there was home schooling… GT: Which was genuinely the worst thing that ever happened.

You’ve spent a lot of time on video calls, clearly. What are your top Zooming tips? GT: Raise your camera to eye level by balancing your laptop on a stack of books. And invest in a ring light.

AL: That’s why you look so much better. We just have our sad kitchen light overhead, which makes us look like one massive shiny forehead.

GT: Also, always have a good mug on the go [raises her cuppa to the camera and it’s a Michael Sheen mug]. Someone pranked David on the job he’s shooting at the moment by putting a Michael Sheen mug in his trailer. He brought it home and now I use it every morning. I’m magically drawn to drinking out of Michael.

There’s a running gag in series one about the copious empties in Michael’s recycling. Did you lean into lockdown boozing in real life? AL: Not really. We eased off when I was pregnant and after Lyra was born. We’d just have a glass of wine with dinner.

GT: Yes, definitely. I often reach for a glass of red in the show, which was basically just an excuse to continue drinking while we were filming: “I think my character would have wine and cake in this scene.” The time we started drinking would creep slightly earlier. “We’ve finished home schooling, it’s only 4pm, but hey…” We’ve scaled it back to just weekends now.

How did you go about creating your characters with the writer Simon Evans? AL: He based the dynamic between David and Michael on a podcast they did together. Our characters evolved as we went along.

GT: I was really kind and understanding in the first draft. I was like “I don’t want to play this, it’s no fun.” From the first few tweaks I made, Simon caught onto the vibe, took that and ran with it.

Did you struggle to keep a straight face at times? AL: Yes, especially the scenes with all four of us, when David and Michael start improvising.

GT: I was just drunk, so I have no recollection.

AL: Scenes with all four of us were normally filmed in the evening, because that’s when we could be child-free. Usually there was alcohol involved, which is a lot more fun.

GT: There’s a long scene in series two where we’re having a drink. During each take, we had to finish the glass. By the end, we were all properly gone. I was rewatching it yesterday and I was so pissed.

What else can you tell us about series two? GT: Everyone’s in limbo. Just as we think things are getting back to normal, we have to take three steps back again. Everyone’s dealing with that differently, shall we say.

AL: In series one, we were all in the same situation. By series two, we’re at different stages and in different emotional places.

GT: Hollywood comes calling, but things are never as simple as they seem.

There were some surprise big-name cameos in series one, with Samuel L Jackson and Dame Judi Dench suddenly Zooming in. Who can we expect this time around? AL: We can’t name names, but they’re very exciting.

GT: Because series one did so well, and there’s such goodwill towards the show, we’ve managed to get some extraordinary people involved. This show came from playing around just to pass the time in lockdown. It felt like a GCSE end-of-term project. So suddenly, when someone says: “Samuel L Jackson’s in”, it’s like: “What the fuck’s just happened?”

AL: It took things to the next level, which was a bit scary.

GT: It suddenly felt like: “Some people might actually watch this.”

How are David and Michael’s hair and beard situations this time? AL: We were in a toyshop the other day and Lyra walked up to these Harry Potter figurines, pointed at Hagrid and said: “Daddy!” So that explains where we’re at. After eight months of lockdown, it was quite full-on.

GT: David had a bob at one point. Turns out he’s got annoyingly excellent hair. Quite jealous. He’s also grown a slightly unpleasant moustache.

Is David still wearing his stinky hoodie? GT: I bought him that as a gift. It’s actually Paul Smith loungewear. In lockdown, he was living in it. It’s pretty classy, but he does manage to make it look quite shit.

[squirenonny]

Voltron Season 3

Spoilers and Speculation Below

Okay, first? Ahhhhhh! So many feels this season. Like. Everything with Keith. Everything. And Lance. And Allura. And Shiro. Fuck. And Coran? Watching Voltron disappear into the rift? I cry.

HUNK WAS SO GOOD???????? Hunk and Pidge nerding out together over tech??? Hunk being a diplomat through cooking??? Hunk not even trying to bond with Black because he wants to stay with Yellow??? My son! God, I love him so much. *screams*

Meanwhile Keith is so very much NOT a diplomat, which, fair. Is about 70% that he’s in so much pain over losing Shiro and feeling pressured to replace him. Him being genuinely distraught over Black choosing him just broke my heart. Urgh.

LANCE. Lance was so vital to like?? Everything??? That happened? It was subtle, but it was so well done. He was always, always the one to step up and be what his team needed him to be. Comforting Keith. Supporting him as leader right from the start. Addressing the elephant in the room re: six paladins/five lions (and no no no baby, you are not the one who should be stepping down, but I love that he’d do that because he knows that letting it become an issue could tear this team apart.) It’s even implied that he took time off screen to try to help Allura bond with Blue, even though I’m sure it must have stung.

Speaking of--

Owwwww It hurts so bad that Blue shut Lance out and he took it as him doing something wrong, and I really really hope that gets addressed in season 4 (which really does feel like season 3 part 2--I’m not upset over the split at all, but this drop feels SO much like it’s setting up a massive pile of shit to hit the fan in October. I’m scared in the best possible way.) Also I’m 100% convinced that Lance and Blue are soulmates, and they think and feel the same way. Blue didn’t reject Lance, she just knew that the team needed him in Red--Keith needed him in Red. It was reiterated several times this season that the red paladin is literally the black paladin’s right hand, and Keith needed someone like Lance to both support him and reign him in. Keith grew so much this season, both as a person and as a leader, and a lot of that comes down to Lance. So I feel like in shutting Lance out, Blue was doing what Lance tried to do when Shiro returned: stepping aside, even though it hurt, for the good of the team. I just really hope Lance and Blue can talk it out (as much as you can talk with a lion).

Pidge didn’t really have any episodes where she was the focus this season, but I still loved all of her bits. How desperately she’s searching for Matt, how eager she was to try bonding with Black, how she totally geeked out with Hunk (Hunk-Pidge science bros! Fuck yeah!) I’m hoping her search for Matt is a big focus in season 4, but you can’t deny there were bigger problems to tackle first.

(Side note: I’m also hoping for more of the Blade in season 4. My heart hurts for them in ep 1, with how no one trust them and all. I just. Let them win people over. Let people start to tell stories of the Blade of Marmora, who risk their lives to save people in need. I want them to be heroes!!!)

Moving on to Allura. (GOD, Allura.) I already loved her, but she had SUCH a good arc this season. Her desperation to be a paladin--to live up to Alfor’s legacy, to help her friends, to make sure no one else had to risk their lives--AHHH! I love her so much. And her reaction to Keith in season 2 is so much more painful now. It wasn’t explicitly addressed here, but everything about this season just very subtly redefined what we saw last season. In particular, that line from episode 7--how Alfor was so blinded by compassion for Zarkon that he didn’t realize Zarkon’s true intent. You can just feel those memories coloring Allura’s reaction to Keith. She’s so damn afraid to trust her emotions, because that’s exactly what tore the previous paladins apart.

Also, the whole history of the paladins thing just breaks my heart. Even if I have to laugh at the fandom being right--Zarkon/Haggar WAS the first canon ship! XD

(But, god, seeing them both so young. I can’t.)

I am a little curious to see if they go deeper into what exactly happened to Zarkon and Haggar in the rift. It seems like Haggar, at least, forgot basically everything until she delved into Zarkon’s memories at the very end of this season. She didn’t even seem to realize Zarkon was her husband?? Which is...a major chunk of her life. The cat was 28 decaphebes old when Alfor returned, and Zarkon’s marriage to Haggar was implied to happen fairly quickly--so even assuming a decaphebe is a year (which still seems too short for me, because Alfor seemed to have aged a lot in those 28 "years” for a species who canonically lives somewhere in the 600 year range.) Anyway, that’s a tangent. If Haggar forgot so much of her own life, how much did Zarkon forget? How much of anything they’ve done has been because of what happened in the rift? I’m just. It seems almost like Haggar and Emperor Zarkon are shells being controlled by those creatures that invaded the Galra homeworld through the rift. (And I can’t be the only one getting a Wolf 359 vibe, right?) So now I’m conflicted--did Zarkon ever REALLY betray the paladins? I don’t want a Zarkon/Haggar redemption arc, but if they’re being controlled, I can’t really make myself hate them...

*unexpected and unwanted feels for the villains* Damnit, Dreamworks, you’re preying on my weakness.

(Oh, also? It was the rift/the creature that turned Haggar’s and Zarkon’s eyes all glowy. Regular Galra have pupils and often irises. Which for me reinforces the fan theory that “Galra” is almost more of an infection than a species. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that what we recognize as Galra--specifically the glowing eyes--are not a species trait, but an effect of whatever Zarkon and Haggar found in the rift. What if it’s spreading? It hasn’t just corrupted the head of the army, but virtually every soldier, at least partially. This season has raised a lot of questions about agency--both with these rift-spores and with the alternate reality Altean non-cogs. Which. Creepy. I’m halfway expecting this series to be building to a fight against the rift creatures for the fate of all sentient life in the universe--Galra included.)

Speaking of villains! Lotor and his generals! Holy shit. I love them. I don’t trust them half as far as I can throw them, but I love them! I was swearing up a storm the instant I realized they were going after Altean tech, specifically things related to the teludav. And while I agree that they seem to be trying to reopen the rift, I can’t help thinking there’s a lot more to it than that. Lotor has given no indication so far of what, exactly, his ultimate goals are--I kinda get the impression that he says what he needs to say to sway his audience. “I’ll make my father’s empire even stronger!” “You and your people can join us, and you never have to be afraid again!” He’s been toying with the paladins all season, even though he had chances to obliterate them. I just don’t buy the theory that he wants to open the rift to get Quintessence purely for the sake of having ultimate power. And, I mean. If he WAS doing that, he could have just requisitioned the teludav piece from the Galra base. He’s NOT working with the rest of the Empire. In fact, he’s doing everything in his power to keep his activities secret from Haggar and the rest of his father’s commanders. Why?? Lotor, give me answers! I need to know what you’re after. Rewriting this universe so mixed-race Galra aren’t regarded as sub-human (sub-Galran?) maybe? Hell, everything so far points to him being Haggar and Zarkon’s child (they were married, he’s gathering Altean tech, presumably because he has enough Altean blood to use it, he looks vaguely Altean and he was half Altean in GoLion.) So what if Lotor has realized his parents are being controlled by the rift-spore things? What if he’s trying to open the rift to find and destroy the... for lack of a better term... hive-mind? He seems to be trying to create his own version of Voltron, because he knows Voltron is the only thing that can stand up to the spores. That’s why he doesn’t care about destroying the paladins--in fact, he tells his generals not to inflict permanent damage. He’s keeping Voltron as a backup plan. He might have to resort to a truce. Can you imagine Lotor’s team and the paladins joining forces to attack the rift, knowing all the while that if they both make it out, they’ll probably turn on each other?? Fuck! There are so many possibilities here I can’t stop thinking about them.

And finally

Shiro

asdfj;lav’

You know what? Nope

Nope, I have too much to say about Shiro. My heart hurts for him and I’m terrified about what season 4 is going to bring, but that speculation is going in its own post.

I’ll add the link here when I get it up.

Edit: Here it is! My theory on Operation Kuron.