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coinofstone · 4 years

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3x12 The Coming of Arthur pt 1

The title is such low hanging fruit I feel bad cracking a joke about it.

It's a quest episode! I love a quest episode. Srsly feel free to send me any and all Merthur quest fics. I can't get enough 😂

This is the episode responsible for the lovely Leon fanon headcanon that he's immortal. Always handy in an Arthur Returns fic.

Uther: you must go on this mission alone

Arthur: *brings Merlin*

I do love Merlin being being a smart alec and nagging Arthur while packing. Excellent banter.

Arthur said

Arthur threatening a young boy like this is such an ugly and uncharacteristic action it makes me angry.

Merlin tending to Arthur while he's sick and injured 🥺

Also I'm sorry but Merlin shows fuckin Gilli his magic but he's hiding it from fuckin Gwaine while Arthur is suffering? Silly.

Cenred's massive army makes me wonder if it's a result of his tolerance of magic or lower standards than the knights of Camelot, or some combination of both.

Poor Leon, though. He's just got back from near death in that forest and Uther sends him right fuckin back in 😂

Looks like they snuck in to Camelot via the dragon's cave. I doubt that was the intention but I still approve 😂

Knowing he's on a suicide mission, Arthur gives Merlin an out, knowing he'll never take it, knowing he doesn't even want him to: he still presents him with the choice.

How come literally everyone else gets a crown that fits them but Arthur walks around looking like he's wearing hand-me-downs?

Morgana might be evil but she looks damn good on a throne.

3x13 The Coming of Arthur pt 2

There's a post going around Twitter about ppl who nitpick at TV shows... this comment falls into exactly that category 100% but I'm sorry, I cannot just ignore the fact that Morgana's got these massive banners and an entire army's worth of uniforms, I mean look:

Every guard with the sigil on his uniform and half a dozen banners in the council chambers alone. That's to say nothing of the ones outside. I mean look at the sheer fuckin size of these things:

Look how tiny the ppl are next to em! They've gotta be at least 15 feet long, at least. Where did they come from? Were they all magicked into existence? Who designed that sigil? What does it represent? Is it Gorlois' banner? I HAVE QUESTIONS.

Leon isn't someone I've ever been particularly attracted to, personally, but his defiant shout of "Long Live the King" in the face of Morgana's threats, is sexy as hell.

Depressed Arthur is such a mood.

So. Gwen. Originally in 3x12 when Morgana essentially invited Gwen into the fold (insofar as a Queen's servant can be), it seems to be a set up, because Morgana has been treating Gwen like shit for ages, why would she suddenly want her friend back? Especially since Morgana knows something is going on between Gwen and Arthur - there's no way she believes that they were actually under the spell of some random sorcerer, that just doesn't make any sense. So you kind of assume - or at least I did - that Morgana is keeping Gwen close knowing that she'll be useful as bait or a hostage, just essentially as a person of value to Arthur. She's known Gwen for too long to actually believe she'd cross Arthur, there's just no way someone as machiavellian as Morgana doesn't see Gwen's 'loyalty' as a simple survival tactic. All of this is to say, when Morgana and Morgause eavesdrop on Gwen's conversation with Sir Leon, Morgana is just like, 'welp, she's betrayed me. Guess I'll kill her in the morning.' as though she was actually expecting Gwen to do anything else?!?! Like, why? It would've made so much more sense to just cut that line entirely and go straight to something like

Morgana: it's as we suspected, she's betrayed me

Morgause: yes, now she can lead us straight to Arthur

And it would've made so much more sense than the weird sort of purgatory they've implied where Morgana changed her mind about Gwen very suddenly the night before she took the throne. It's not a super important detail in the overarching story but it's another example of how carelessly their story has been handled.

Me rn:

I do love that they made Freya the Lady of the Lake, and that she kept her promise by telling Merlin how to defeat the army of the dead.

How Merlin really sees Kilgharrah:

Gwen really is the smartest of all of them.

I do love that Merlin's first undead kill with excalibur is entirely an accident lol

The subtext between Morgana and Morgause is really gross. I haven't said anything before because I generally don't approve of ship shaming but the not so subtle subtext gives me the heebies.

This is such a great shot

Everything about it, his woman at his left and his man at his right, his romantic rival opposite him on his wife's side, as directly opposite her as possible at a round table with an uneven number of placements. It's a really beautiful shot, fitting for an equally beautiful scene. It's a very moving scene, the music really adds the exact emotion you'd expect for this moment we all recognize... and I feel like the knights' oaths are very well matched. The snarky part of me wanted to make a 'call me maybe' joke about Percival, but he's so sincere I just can't do it. The moment of levity added by Merlin's banter with Arthur is really, really well paced. Honestly I think it's probably the next perfect, iconic scene since Gwen and Arthur's first kiss. Hats off to this crew.

(Don't worry dear reader, I'm sure I'll get back to complaining shortly)

Santiago is so dreamy. I'd share his bedroll any day.

I like that despite all the talk of equality and doing the thing Uther wouldn't approve of, Gwen still worries about the company seeing her and Arthur kiss. Like, he's planning an insurrection with a bunch of commoners and two dudes who've been officially banished from Camelot, but she's internalized the classism and the rules of royalty so deeply that even amongst friends she instinctively keeps their relationship hidden. I'm not sure how intentional that was but it's brilliant.

The fight big fight scene with Merlin just barely missing the cup while the knights are cornered, and Gaius showing up like the brilliant deus ex machina that he is, honestly makes the previous budget-slashed episodes more bearable. Because this really is great, even knowing it's great at the expense of those others.

Morgana's screeching is eerily similar to Aithusa's.

I wonder if they knew they were getting renewed for a fourth season when they wrote this. Because you know, it really could've worked as a series finale as well. An open-ended series finale, but a series finale all the same.

As a Queens kid, I cannot explain to you the joy it gives me to watch Arthur and Merlin just chillin on the steps to the castle as tho it were a stoop, which I suppose, in a sense... it kind of is. Ahhh youthful days.

Commentary is Jeremy Webb and Julian Murphy.

And this kids, is why we're watching with commentary! They've just explained that Morgana's sigil is supposed to symbolize the Rowan tree that's supposed to be at the heart of the Isle of the Blessed. That suggests she designed it herself, so there's at least one of my earlier questions answered.

They talk a lot about how Emila Fox was very pregnant when they were filming her in this season, and they shot entirely around it - and I can't help but feel anger toward Joss Whedon and his 'handling' of Charisma Carpenter's pregnancy during S4 of Angel.

One of them called the round table scene 'curiously moving' and I think that is really fitting. They'd had this in mind for about two years, which is probably why it's so extraordinary. That's a great gestation period for a scene as iconic as this.

One final tidbit: the sword in the stone was filmed in France, and made it back to Wales intact. I guess nobody wanted to take it out. That's kind of an interesting thought, like a little set superstition or something. It's kind of cute.

The DVD extras/special features will get a separate post if I feel I have comments worth sharing.

#bbc merlin #bbc merlin spoilers #merlin #merlin spoilers #merthur #3x12 #bbc merlin 3x12 #merlin 3x12 #3x13 #bbc merlin 3x13 #merlin 3x13 #the coming of Arthur #the coming of Arthur part one #the coming of Arthur part two #the coming of Arthur pt 1 #the coming of Arthur pt 2 #i cannot believe that's the actual title of this episode #onceandfuturerewatch

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ayellowbirds · 6 years

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Keshet Rewatches All of Scooby-Doo, Pt. 14: "Go Away Ghost Ship"

("Scooby-Doo, Where Are You", Season 1 Episode 14)

AKA "An Improbably High Number of Chef Disguises For an Episode About Pirates"

The episode begins with a foggy night at sea; a sailor aboard a large vessel catches sight of something strange through the mists. A tattered-looking ship from the age of sail? Flying the Jolly Roger?

Sure, that’s a rational conclusion. The view does indeed switch to the deck of the “ghost” ship, revealing a cock-eyed ginger buccaneer laughing madly... and then the view fades to a malt shop as the music goes from menacing to mellow.

I’ll note that his is at least the third time we’ve seen that hot rod parked next to the Mystery Machine at a malt shop. Who does it belong to? What’s their story? We may never know.

Inside the shop is an almost 1:1 reproduction of the newspaper-reading scene from episode 3, down to the pink drink with extra straws. The news this time? One “C.L. Magnus”, a shipping magnate, claims that the recent rash of disappearances of oceangoing vessels are caused by the revenge-seeking ghost of Redbeard. Shaggy hopes his “super duper sandwich” isn’t a target, a reasonable fear since it’s about as big as an oil tanker.

With Scooby’s assistance, Shaggy ties a string around his sandwich, compressing it from a height that reached from his waist to his shoulder, to a fruitcake-dense sandwich of more normative volume.

He doesn’t notice that Scooby is still holding one end of the string, however, and when he closes his eyes in anticipation, Scooby gives it a yank and opens wide, downing the entire thing in one go. “Ree-lishus!” Scooby chortles to himself, while Shaggy is left confused and hungry. Man’s best friend.

The rest of the gang do not pay attention. They are used to the boy and his dog with their bottomless appetites. They do not look directly at it, and late at night, it will keep them from sleep.

Velma and Daphne seem oddly sympathetic to the plight of Mr. Magnus the Magnate, with Velma calling him “poor” and mentioning that he’s going out of business, while Daphne calls him a “nice man”. Fred suggests they help solve the mystery, and leads the gang to Magnus’s luxury penthouse apartment.

The gang act as if they somehow know of Magnus, and that it’s perfectly reasonable that they could show up unannounced and offer their assistance free of charge. Magnus’s butler is not having any of that.

“Not to be disturbed”, he intones in a voice rendered by John Stephenson as a riff on a Boris Karloff performance. If Magnus is not to be disturbed, mister, you’re setting a bad precedent.

The gang decide to sneak in, convinced Magnus will accept their help if they can just talk to him, and they dress up as “room service”.

There’s a few obvious problems with this, aside from an attempt at unlawful intrusion into someone’s home. For starters, the butler has just seen them, and yet Velma and Shaggy do not adopt more of a disguise than throwing on aprons and hats. Second, it’s an apartment building, not a hotel. Apartments tend not to have room service.

Third, as the butler notes when they push past him, it’s 11:00 PM. No wonder Magnus wanted to be left alone! When the gang wind up tumbling into a pile of teenagers and a Great Dane and are forced to explain themselves, the scene transitions to Magnus relating how his ancestors were responsible for ending the original threat of Redbeard, and that the pirate is now seeking revenge. As he relates this, Scooby notices his butler watching from behind a curtain....

The butler is so obviously telegraphed as the culprit, that it’s obviously not him, but there’s ultimately no resolution to this bit—a comic book adaptation made him out to be a spy from an insurance company, leading me to wonder if that had been part of this episode left out of the final production.

The gang take a motorboat out in the middle of the night, having drawn conclusions about the scheduling of Redbeard’s attacks that apparently completely elude the Coast Guard and other authorities. They spot a “mysterious’ fog bank, moving ahead of the real targeted freighter and playing a decoy foghorn to try to lure out the pirate ship. Shaggy observes the fog is thick enough to cut it with a knife, and Scooby...

I can excuse the fog-cutting as a cartoon gag but Scooby where the jinkies did you get that knife? Has Scooby just had a knife on him this whole time?

The gang has little in the way of foresight when it comes to villains actually planning violence, and the ghost ship appears on a collision course prepared to ram their tiny boat. When Shaggy tries to put the outboard motor into “double full-speed reverse”, it tears a chunk of the boat off as it zooms away on its own, and their little boat is struck, cutting it in half!

That one-word response from Fred is his single best line in the series so far.

Split up in the most literal and forceful manner possible, Shaggy and Scooby squeeze in through a porthole while Fred, Daphne, and Velma climb the side of the boat, all seemingly unnoticed by the pirates. Each team seeks both the others... as well as some clues. Scooby and Shaggy run into Redbeard himself, who gives chase and menaces them with a flying sword.

It’s the specifics that make Shaggy such an icon of cowardice. The audience can’t be left to assume that this is a friendly ghost sword, wielding by some cavalier Casper. Stuck between a ghost and a sharp place, the boys are forced to plead for their lives as Redbeard and his “ghost” crew bear down on them.

Meanwhile, the other three members of the gang wander around the unrealistically massive interior of the ghost ship, wondering about its emptiness. They catch sight of Redbeard walking around and laughing, but quickly lose sight of him while sneaking about, leaving the viewer unclear on the timing of this scene. Is it while Shaggy and Scooby are being chased? Before, or after?

It doesn’t matter to the writers, because it’s clue time!

Before it can be explained to the viewer that dry ice (AKA frozen CO2) is notable for rapidly sublimating into a misty-looking vapor even at temperatures well below the freezing point of water, and that it does so especially dramatically when exposed to liquid water, the trio are locked in the room by Redbeard.

A scene transition back to Shaggy and Scooby shows that Redbeard is also standing over them, who observes that he’d spare their lives if they were “good for anything”. Shaggy says they’re good cooks, which seems to confuse Scooby as much as it does the viewer, but the threat of losing their heads motivates him to go along with it.

Oh, and Shaggy finds another use for his chef getup from when they tried to break into C.L. Magnus’s apartment, which i guess he’s just been... carrying around? Deciding that they need to make a stew that a ghost will enjoy, Scooby and Shaggy mix in chains (for rattling), ash from the fireplace, cobwebs, and on Scooby’s suggestion, an enormous bar of soap.

Shaggy, you’re a track athlete. This is how you get a fungal infection.

Alternatively, he means he hardly ever uses it as an ingredient, which is almost worse, because it implies that sometimes Norville “Shaggy” Roberts does use bar soap as an ingredient.

Redbeard has some doubts about their creation, and insists that they eat it. After some hasty mouthfuls, Shaggy hiccups out some bubbles, and Redbeard simply sits and watches as Shaggy suggests to Scooby that they “bubble our way out of here!”, turning to face the ghost pirate and spewing a screen of soap bubbles at him.

As the chase scenes continue amidst things like Shaggy utilizing his vocal talents and shadow puppetry to convince Redbeard’s goons that their captain is pointing them in a different direction, and falling overboard in a basin—forcing Shaggy and Scooby to hand-paddle after the ghost ship’s wake—the pirate vessel pulls into a skull-shaped cave in the middle of a rocky cove.

You know, i feel like Hanna-Barbera cartoons ill-prepared me for the utter lack of skeletal rock formations in real life. If i ever want to live on a mountain shaped like the yawning maw of an angry skull, i’m probably going to have to make it myself.

Fred identifies this as “a secret cove on Skull Island”, but i feel like, you know, someone ought to have noticed the enormous sea cave formed by the skull-shaped part of a place known as Skull Island. Unless Skull Island has lots of skulls. Maybe it does!

There’s a brief and confusing gag where Scooby notices their paddling after the ghost ship has attracted a shark, which—oh, wait. It’s just a dorsal fin, which Scooby realizes when he lifts it out of the water to inspect it. Just a dorsal fin, skimming the ocean surface and following them around.

What.

The gang reunite in the caves, and Fred realize that the folded paper hat Shaggy has been wearing since casting Redbeard’s shadow was made from a ship’s manifest, indicating the contents and value of C.L. Magnus’s cargo freighter... that is, the one that sails tomorrow, rather than the one that they were attempting to raid that night. As the gang gather more clues that the ghost pirate is no ghost at all, they find a treasure chest with a talking pirate skull inside that pops out and demands “the password, you swabs!” via a miniaturized microphone and speaker hidden in its jaw.

The gang try several piratical passwords, but it’s Shaggy’s suggestion that works:

This is the weirdest callback to a previous episode. Beyond the secret passage that opens in the wall, the gang find countless crates and barrels of stolen cargo, and the ghost pirate crew, flying sword included. The resulting chase leads to the gang hiding among the cargo, where Scooby and Shaggy discover...

An entire shipment of Scooby Snacks, further solidifying that this is just a known product, something on the market that has Scooby’s own name on it. Emboldened by biscuits, the antics kick into high gear, with things like a battle of sword vs. liverwurst sausage, toilet plungers fired from longbows, and Shaggy tickling Redbeard with an electric eggbeater that has a pistol grip for no good reason, before fleeing on an “automatic pogo stick” that is clearly a jackhammer, as Shaggy and Scooby only realize after it already starts up, taking them on a ride that winds up going up onto the ceiling and directly over Redbeard. As the resulting chaos sends Scooby, Shaggy, and the villains crashing into a pile of tires, the chase ends, and the villain is revealed as...

Shaggy is shocked that it wasn’t the butler, and the Coast Guard rep who has joined the gang on the deck of the ghost pirate ship (which, one must assume, they commandeered and piloted back out to open waters on their own) clearly wants to see Magnus’s two companions unmasked, as well, asking about their identities.

Daphne doesn’t care who they are. Well, as long as their names aren’t Merle and Taako.

The plan is explained, including the dancing sword being “operated by wires”, and the bit about the dry ice, which Velma says “everybody knows”, though the Coast Guard guy has clearly never heard of it. Scooby demonstrates, stirring up an impenetrably thick fog, which he cuts through once again with his mysterious knife.

Only this time, he cuts a giant doughnut shape in the fog, grabs it with his paws, and takes a bite out of the fog-nut, proceeding to chew and swallow.

The visual of Scooby treating a cloud of carbon dioxide vapor like it was solid matter and joyfully eating it has haunted me for decades. Dear Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, you tormented my childhood with this bit. This joke stole my innocence.

Zoinks darn you, Scooby-Doo!

(like what i’m doing here? It’s not what pays the bills, so i’d really appreciate it if you could send me a bit at my paypal.me or via my ko-fi. Click here to see more entries in this series of posts, or here to go in chronological order)

#scooby doo #KRAOSD

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whimsicallyenchantedrose · 7 years

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Rebecca Mader OUAT Chicago—6/11/17 (pt. 2)

Notes: Bex’s panel got really long, so I’m breaking it into two parts. Here’s the second transcript:

You can find the 1st part here.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Fan: I have a question. What was like the hardest and funniest thing for you to shoot on Once Upon a Time, and except for flying a broomstick.

Bex: We shot a scene recently, where were we? What realm were we in? It’s hard to remember when everything around you is blue. Like, what ended up happening? What was that? But Colin had broken his foot singing his revenge, revenge song, so he’s got this, like, bloody boot on. Then you’ve got Aladdin who nearly died in a car crash, and got a broken leg on crutches, and none of them could walk. I might have made fun of both of them all day. Like come on then. Come on Captain Hook. And he’s like (impression of Colin) “Ah Rebecca! Shut up!” (end impression) And Aladdin’s on his thing. There’s just too much comedy gold. I can’t leave it alone. Me and the girls really enjoyed that. It’s like, “I’m sorry, Colin? How did you…how’d you break your foot? Was it singing a song? Denis? Denis, what was yours? Massive motorbike accident. Did you hear that Colin?” He’s like (impression of Colin) “Alright! Alright, Mader, you’ve made your point.” (end impression) I’m like “Have I? Am I finished? Singing a song?” Oh I love making fun of Colin.

Fan: My question is if Zelena and Charlotte from Lost spent a day together, what would they do?

Bex: Oh god, argue, arm wrestle, compare notes on who’s better? But they’d compliment each other on their red hair. I don’t know. They’re very different, but both very snotty. Which is weird, because I’m not. Acting. Acting. Let’s say spa day. I think they need one. Call me. Thanks.

Fan: Hi! Well first of all, my friends Ella and Meriam say hi, so as we all know Zelena is an amazing driver, and…

Bex: [mouths Wow] I’ve heard other things, but whatever.

Fan: Do you think she’s gonna open a driving school [Bex chokes on her water again], and what would it be called?

Bex: Just said don’t swallow until the question’s finished. Did it again. I’m Rebecca Mader, I don’t learn my lessons. It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Open a driving school? That would be a horrible, horrible career choice. Now a flying school, if I got my magic back, would be a great idea. If I opened a driving school, it would be “What not to do, by Zelena Mills”, with a helmet. Oh god, you’d love me everyone. “Buckle up for safety!”

Fan: Hello. We all know that you ran into the Black Fairy in season 6, if Zelena could run into any other character with her car, who do you think she would run into?

Bex: [laughs] How wicked was that? I loved doing that. What a great day at work. Don’t get me wrong; love Jaime Murray, but driving over that fairy was so much fun. Oh, who gets on my nerves?

Crowd: Hades!

Bex: If Hades came back, absolutely—and very fast, and with a truck that’s en fuego, and maybe some hard explosives. I’ll go with that.

Fan: I was wondering, if you could give any piece of advice to your high school self, what would you say?

Bex: You’re almost 18. You will literally wake up and go “I’m free!” That’s the thing, it’s like when you’re a teenager, you’re like “Oh god, I’m living at home while mom and dad are doing [didn’t catch]. I want to get out; they don’t believe in me. Dear diary”. And then all of the sudden you move out and you read your diary and your like “Oh my god, it’s over.” So, if you’re having a hard time, just remember that before you know it you’re going to be free to do whatever you want, make the choices that you want, get a job, make your own money. I’ve had a job since I was 14 years old. I’ve always made my own money just in case if I said “Mom can I have…?” “No.” Well [reaches into her pocket like she’s pulling out money] I’ll buy it myself. Financial freedom is key, and I think always having your own gives you the power to make the right choices. If you rely on other people, you end up making the decisions based out of fear. So go out there, make your own money, figure out what you wanna do and just go do it with faith and trust and love and belief in yourself and sod everybody else.

Fan: I would like to know, what was your favorite part about playing Zelena.

Bex: I could write a book. Maybe I will. There’s so many, there’s so many. I mean working with all the cast, they’re now my real mates. They’re my mates. We go hiking. We drink tea, wine. They’re my actual, legitimate friends. I’ve got so many more friends now from being on Once Upon a Time. I got to be a witch and fly on a broomstick. Not normal. And I think living in Vancouver was magical, and meeting all of you has completely changed my life. At work, I have this huge extended family now that I feel like, moving forward in my life, I have this built in support system that feels really genuine and really real and if I feel like I fall, I feel like you’re gonna pick me back up just like I would do for you, and no one can take that away from me, so that’s the most important thing.

Fan: Hi! I’m also named Rebecca.

Bex: Nice name! So lovely. Hi Bex.

Fan: I was just wondering, how did you get over the hurdles and struggles of starting out and working in this competitive industry.

Bex: I could write a book about that. Maybe I will. There’s a lot of books I need to write. It’s hard. I mean, being self-employed is really hard, being [someone in crowd sneezes]…bless you…being an actor is really hard, and I think it’s finding the strength in your darkest times is where the lessons are. I mean there were periods in my career where I wasn’t working and the phone wasn’t ringing and nobody was calling and people were telling me that I couldn’t do it or I needed to lose weight or I should go back to England or “You’re not that good” or “you’re green” or “your American accent’s rubbish or whatever it was. People tried to tear me down. So I had to work really hard on every morning, getting up in the morning, doing some exercise. Whatever I could afford to eat I would eat, and just try and hang out with people that were kind, which can be hard to find too, because I was away from home. So I would write lists of things that made me feel good, and I’d put them on post it notes and stick them up on my mirror, trying to do one thing every day that made me feel good because my dreams haven’t come true yet, even if it was like take my dog for a walk, listen to a song, meet up with so-and-so for a cup of tea. Little things like that to stop the darkness coming in and making me not believe that I could do it. So really, honestly, learning how to be my own best friend is what kept me going.

Fan: So we all know that Zelena wasn’t, like, the best person at the beginning of the show, so what do you think was the most important part of her evolving into the character that she is now?

Bex: I think becoming a mom had a massive effect on her, and also I think when she realized that her and Regina had known each other for a long time that softened her heart. I also think meeting my mum for the first time and having that kind of closure was huge, because all of her parents had been rubbish. She’d been given up, her adopted parents were alcoholics. She had nobody, so to have people, I think was her greatest catalyst for her development, sort of like chipping away at the walls around her heart and wanting to try and be a better person now that she was a parent.

Fan: So my question is do you think you like working with baby Robyn or she likes working with you?

Bex: I’m sure the baby does not want to be on set, because we have to swaddle them with these blankets, so that when we need to replace them with a doll, it has to match. So having arms and legs that are out doesn’t really work, because then you’d see, like, plastic arms and legs. So you swaddle them, and they’re like “I hate you!”. “I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry!” They’re like [baby crying sounds] So they’re not thrilled to be there most of the time, and I find them frustrating to work with. And then you watch the episode, it’s me looking all lovely, and they look up, my little baby with blue eyes and red hair. [baby talk sounds] In the scene, with the music playing, you’re like “Awww!”, but it’s not like that in real life. Even the baby’s a good actor. It’s challenging, but it ends up looking really cute in the end.

[turns toward the next fan in line who’s dressed in a Captain Hook costume] Oh wow! Hi, Colin. Sorry about the joke about your foot. Awkward.

Fan: I think you do a great job putting a new modern spin on the wicked witch after a very old, classic movie, but how did it feel for you when you found out you’d be portraying a psychotic movie villain, yourself, the wicked witch?

Bex: What do you mean?

Fan: How…when you found out you were going to be portraying the wicked witch, how’d you feel about that?

Bex: I screamed. I did. When they told me “Are you ready? Do you wanna know who you’re gonna be?”, I had to pull my car over, and I’m like “Go on, then. Tell me”. And Adam and Eddy were like “The wicked witch of the west!”, and I was like “shut up!!! Oh my god, I knew it! I knew that you were going to make me someone horrible! I knew it…which is weird because I’m lovely. I don’t know how to take it, but I knew it!” That was pretty much my reaction. I was excited. I was really glad I was a villain. Really, really glad. I love that. It’s way more fun, being naughty. Thank you. You’re very handsome.

Fan: I was just wondering, since Zelena has so many iconic outfits, what has been your favorite outfit?

Bex: Um, I’ve said this before. My favorite one is the one where I’m on my broomstick in my song in the musical, that full on black lawn, the boobs are up here, the skin’s green, the hat’s on just like that, I’ve got the broomstick. That’s like the iconic one. That’s the one they call the Zelena hero outfit, which is weird when I’m a villain, so I don’t know why they call it that, but that definitely’s my favorite, because it’s the one I arrived on the show in back halfway through season 3 with wicked is coming. So it’s like, it’s been in museums and stuff already, so it’s a special outfit.

Fan: If you were stuck in a room for a weekend, who would it be with?

Several in crowd: Me!

Bex: Dead or alive? Like does it have to be someone who’s alive or someone that’s gone?

Fan: Um, that’s alive.

Bex: I’m gonna have to say my husband, because we have the mostest fun when it’s just me and him. I mean a lot of fun, like “Do you wanna do this?” “Yeah!” “Should we watch this?” “Yeah!” Like every idea is the best idea we’ve ever had. We’re such twins. We’re joined at the hip, so I would say my boo, my bae, my all. Thank you.

Fan: Hi Bex, my name is Alicia, and we all saw such huge sacrifice that Regina made…er Zelena made.

Bex: I was gonna say. She didn’t give up her magic! Whatever.

Fan: Zelena made by giving up her magic, and she’s grown as such a character, so my question is, is there a chance that she’s able to get her magic back or is it gone for good?

Bex: I hope not, because I do not wanna have to do things by hand, it’s very tiring, really pedestrian. I miss all this [waves hand], all this, and things just happen. Although there are things that I should have done, like make my house nicer. Why am I in a rubbish farmhouse? Why didn’t I go condo? Mansion. Oh, oh oh! Pool! Why didn’t I do that? I would like to get my magic back. I would say that anything is possible on Once Upon a Time, and I want a better house, and maybe age up my child, so I can send her to work. If it can happen to Gideon, it can happen to Robyn. Being a mum is exhausting.

Fan: Hi. What was your reaction when you first saw, like, all of your wicked witch makeup?

Bex: [They put it on me in order to g]et me to the camera where they were shooting to film it to then email it to LA to then approve the look for shooting the next day. And luckily the first thing they went with was completely approved, but then as I started doing it and working with it, you forget, you know, when you’ve been doing something in your room, and then you’re like “Oh my god! Oh my god, I’m a witch! Oh my god, oh my god” You're so scanned up, you don’t feel it on your skin and you get completely used to it. I’ve given myself multiple mild mini heart attacks by my reflection. It’s like oh, I quite like it actually. It makes my blue eyes pop. How you doin?

Fan: My question is if Eddy and Adam were to, like, change their minds about season 7, would you consider to come back.

Bex: Yeah. I can’t leave you. If I’m wanted I wouldn’t stay home and go “No, I’m good.” If it was right and the storyline was right and I was really wanted to and everything was right, abso-bloody-lutely, yes.

Fan: I asked Lana yesterday to do an impression of the cast, so I was wondering if you had an impression of Lana?

Bex: Of Lana?

Fan: Yeah. She did one of you yesterday.

Bex: Did she now? Was it any good?

Crowd: Yeah!

Bex: Oh, I’ll have to make her do it for me when I see her next week. Okay, Lana: [doing impression] Bexals! I love you! Let’s do tea. I’m so pretty. Oh my god, baby. [kiss sound] I love you. Oh my god. Absolutely. I’m the queen. [end impression] Thank you. I could do that all day. Next actor!

Fan: Hi. What is your favorite flower, and if it’s a rose, what color?

Bex: Are you heading out to the shops? Um…I like lilies. I like lilies. I like white lilies. Off you go. Get some money from my husband. He’ll get ‘em. Thank you! Love you!

Fan: My friend just left me so…

Bex: Rude.

Fan: First I wanted to ask my Chicagoans to stand. Any of them?

Bex: I’m stealing that line.

Fan: I wanted to thank you for bringing us together and helping us to find our best friends, and who is your best friend on the set?

Bex: Lana. And Emilie. And Sean. And Colin. That’s hard. It also depends on who’s working, but super fave…I like to go to Lana’s trailer. She makes really good tea for an American. She’s my only American friend that makes a cup of tea like a Brit, and that fact speaks to me. And she always has snacks and chocolate and cuddles. She gives really good hugs. And Emilie’s just delicious in her own way. And Colin—I like to make fun of him. When Sean’s there, he’s like…we’re like the same. Our English thing. They’re just all lovely. Thank you, Chicagoooooo!

Fan: This is about the driving and Zelena. Tell her not to feel bad, because that’s how I was when I first started driving too. And did she ever learn how to drive, do you think?

Bex: I mean, I think you saw it. I think that was it. I don’t know if she’ll ever get behind the wheel again. I mean, it’s a bit dangerous, isn’t it? Take all the residents out, the dogs, the cats, the dustbins. Everything’s gonna go. I really do not believe she belongs behind the wheel. Maybe get a bicycle like in the film, and then I could look better in the front. Yay! Bicycle it is. Thank you.

Fan: If you could be a scented candle, what smell would you be?

Fan (in crowd): Ginger!

Bex: Prosecco and ginger.

Fan: Before I ask my question, I have one thing to say. You guys, the floor is lava.

Bex: ???

Fan: Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

Crowd: Cheers

Bex: I don’t.

Fan: I’ll tell you what it is. So there’s this thing going around the Internet where you say “The floor is lava”, and everyone freaks out and has to get off the floor. It’s like that game everyone played when they were little where they had to jump like from furniture piece to furniture piece.

Bex: Like parkour in the living room.

Fan: So my question is, like, about acting, because when I go to college next year, I’m going to be majoring in acting because that’s what I want to do. I want to be able to do what you guys do, so I can meet all my fans and stuff.

Bex: I want the glory! I have to work. [sound of disappointment.]

Fan: The thing is I’m terrified of auditioning and my question is what was your, what would be your best piece of advice for someone who is terrified of actually, like, auditioning or something?

Bex: It’s definitely a mental thing. You can learn all your lines, prepare the character, get a cute outfit, look exactly right, and then get to the audition and your like…[sings] I think I’m having a heart attack. I can’t feel my left arm. [end singing] Oh my god! I mean trust me; I have so been there. So what I would do is I would get there early and then if there’s a Starbucks nearby…not get coffee, get like a calm chamomile tea, and then if I have my car with me, sit in my car and put on like really relaxing music that soothes me. But besides all of those little tricks that I would try to do, I would, in my mind, visualize it going really well, and visualize the moment where I come out like “I think it went really well”, because ultimately you have to remind yourself, it’s not about getting the part. It’s about making a fan. And you want to leave them, that person’s going “Oh my god, Rebecca Mader could not have been more wrong for that part, but I really believed what she was saying, and she was really sweet”, and then they’ll think of me for the next time. So you’ve got to take the pressure off yourself and just surrender it and give it to the universe, and just trust that the right part will be yours.

Fan: Yeah, the coffee part’s gonna be hard, because I really, really…

Bex: Never before and audition! Don’t ever do that. If you go to do it, remember this conversation.

Fan: I will.

Bex: Alright?

Fan: I will.

Bex: Good girl.

Fan: My question is, in what ways do you think you and Zelena are similar?

Bex: Red hair, blue eyes, really funny, really humble. No, I lied. She’s really not. Somebody asked me this the other day, and I think one thing I’ve learned from Zelena, is that she doesn’t care what anybody thinks about her, and I spent my entire life worrying about what other people thought about me. And I think playing her for four years has really freed me up to not give an s-h-i-t about what people think about me anymore. I don’t know how long I’ve got left. I don’t know how long I’m gonna be here, so why not just be me? And if people don’t like it, whatever. I’ve got Netflix. I’ve got [didn’t catch this]. I’ve got mates, and I think that we all put these masks on and try and please, and pretend to be other people, and I think, you know, Zelena’s green was her mask. It was her jealously, it was her fear. And now she’s her again, she’s given up her magic, she’s stripped down, she’s white, she’s herself. And yeah, she still says snotty things, but people are “Uh, that’s just Zelena”. So I think learning to be unapologetically myself, I think I’ve taken it from her.

Fan: Hi Bex. It’s my sister’s birthday, and, um…

Bex: Happy birthday!

Fan: Thank you.

Bex: You’re welcome.

Fan: And can you rap Hamilton?

Bex: I haven’t even listened to it yet.

Fan (in crowd): What?!

Bex: There’s a reason! Hashtag no judgements. I can smell it from here. I’m going to go and see it, hopefully in October, and I couldn’t decide whether I should learn the words first, or whether just go and see it and then learn the words. I’m really torn about it, but if I can meet you again after I’ve seen it, I will rap it to you-know-what with you.

Fan (in crowd): Make sure you bring tissues!

Bex: Okay!

Fan: Awesome. The floor’s Rebecca Mader.

Bex: Everybody get down. Rebecca Mader just got covered in cuteness.

Fan (in audience): That’s why we love you!

Bex: Love you too.

Very young fan: So, if you melted again, what power or potion would you use? I do not suggest dragon root, because it might burn your face off.

Bex: ???

Very young fan: If you could make yourself solid again and like, unmelt yourself again, like you did, what potion would you use?

Bex: I don’t know, have you got one?

Very young fan: I really don’t know what you would use, but I wouldn’t suggest dragon root, because it would burn your face off.

Bex: I mean, I don’t know. Hopefully Regina’s got a potion, because if I melted, I couldn’t even pick up a potion to bring myself back together again. No hands; I’m just melted and lava. Green lava. I don’t know, I’m gonna have to work on that potion just in case I do melt again, which now I’m worried about it now that you brought it up. Did that answer your question?

Very young fan: By the way, my names Evangelina, like Angelina Jolie but with an “e-v” in front.

Bex: That’s pretty cool. I have a feeling she’s gonna grow up to become an actress. Starting it out now. You’re gorgeous.

Fan: Hello!

Bex: Ooo! Hello. You look gorgeous.

Fan: Thanks. So, Zelena did such a good job in the musical episode. I was wondering if you had any musical background or how you prepared for it.

Bex: You look really good! Look at you.

Fan: Thanks!

Bex: Aww! I want to wrap you up and take you home. I’d probably get arrested. Um, no. I don’t have any musical background. That musical was the first time I’d ever done it in my life. Yeah, that was a first. It was very terrifying, but I did it. Thank you.

Fan: Thank you!

Bex: Love your costume.

Fan: Hi Bex, my name is Catriona.

[Lee Arenberg comes on stage, signaling the coming end of the panel, and the crowd boos.]

Lee: That was so messed up.

Fan (Catriona): What?! Why?

Lee: Relax! I didn’t say you couldn’t. I always come out, I’ll say “last question”, so you can do what you want after you. Everybody take a chill pill. If you didn’t get in line quick enough, you snooze you lose. Geez, everyone’s always so disappointed when I walk out. It sucks.

Bex: To be fair, though, when you walked in, I did cheer. That does make up for the boos when you came out, doesn’t it?

Lee: Whenever I see you, my heart goes ba-boop, ba-boop, ba-boop.

Bex (to fan): Alright, what’s your question, babe?

Fan: My question is what is the craziest thing you did with a fan, and what did you say?

Bex: What I did with them?

Fan: Yeah.

Bex: Well, I’d be arrested if I told you. Does Mark count as a fan? I married him.

Fan: I love you! Thank you!

Bex: I love you too, take care.

Lee: Alright, last one for Bex.

Very young fan: Hi! My name’s Arianna and I’m a big fan and yesterday was my birthday and I turned seven.

Bex: (singing) Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday little mini me; happy birthday to you! (end singing)