#that episode was ridic

[yeowvng]

i just wanna save every single frame sukuna shows up and admire them for hours

[ferdieinceladoncity]

I find it incredibly fucking hilarious that in 'the rain king' in the ending scene where all the couples at the high school reunion are slow dancing and kissing, the camera zooms in on a woman with the exact same haircut as scully, leading you to believe for exactly one second that it IS scully, making out on the dance floor, before pulling back and revealing mulder and scully standing amongst all the couples side-to-side. These overtly shippy episodes make me feel like im being toyed with, but I'm not complaining.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Fall 2023 Anime Overview: 100 Girlfriends and Spy x Family S3

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You

Premise: Rentaro is approached by the god of love, who confesses that he accidentally gave him 100 soulmates. And unfortunately, if someone meets their soulmate and fails to be with them, they DIE. Thus Rentaro decides he will date all the girls who end up being his soulmate, and be the best possible boyfriend ever to all of them.

So yeah. I watched this. I'm not someone who really watches male-centric harem anime, but I'd heard this one was really funny and yeah, the first episode was indeed really funny. The way it exaggerated the tropes of the genre to parody them genuinely made me laugh. The first two girlfriend's gimmicks were that one (Akane) was secretly super thirsty and the other (Karane) was tsundere and it played those to the hilt for maximum laughs. Tsundere says she decided to take a piss in the school flower garden to avoid saying she was looking for the perfect flower for Rentaro and Rentaro's astonished "you realize that makes you sound WAY worse than telling the truth does" was great. Thirsty girl trying to pull the ~ooh you need to drink some of my drink~ to score an indirect kiss only to find Rentaro ridiculously prepared was also a fantastic gag.

All the girls are REALLY down bad for Rentaro and the premise of this would not work at all if the series didn't sell Rentaro as legitimately a great boyfriend who could reasonably attract 100 girl and be just as down bad for all of them. But Rentaro is no classic harem potato boy, he's superhumanly thoughtful and the ultimate wife guy. It makes him very static as a character compared to the flexibility the others have, but it's generally amusing. On top of that, the series handled neurodivergence in a surprisingly thoughtful way in episode 3 with Rentaro going all out to help his ladylove's way of expressing herself without talking be more accessible, rather than trying to "fix" her.  I also really like how the girls in the polycule are genuinely friends and don't compete with each other over Rentaro--and some even seem like they're pretty into each other too (though this is entirely played for laughs rather than actually explored, of course).

Yet at the same time...yeah, the premise began wearing thin for me as tropes I'm less willing to roll with popped up.

Karane's complex over being flat-chested wore thin quickly (even if Rentaro thinks she's perfect) since it's mainly used in gags to embarrass her. One girlfriend's thing is that she drugs a lot of people without their consent (fantasy type drugs that can do ridic things, but. they are drugs. some that melt clothes or make you lustful included), and the anime genuinely tries to make you think it's so sad that people didn't want to be friends with her because of this, and Rentaro magnanimously tells her she's okay the way she is...forgiving her for his girlfriends that she drugged. Yeah, she's annoying. (also her body turns into a child's sometimes because of course it does).

And then there's the Mom girlfriend. I mean of course there's gonna be a Mom girlfriend eventually, Milf-lovers can't be denied, but it happened quicker than expected! it being paired with her being initially abusive (to the point she drove her daughter to attempt suicide) and then fixed by Rentaro's love and motivational speech...along with the justifications for her being ridiculously young (likely to parody that trope, but still)...yeah, it was all a lot.

I don't know if I'll return for the (already announced) season 2 tbh. I appreciate that the show's intentionally trashy and silly, and it is still funny a lot of the time, but it's not really my kind of trash. But I don't regret the wild, often fun ride it was--maybe if I'm really bored that season or hear enough wild things I'll retry, but right now it seems likely me and the 100 girlfriends are never, ever, ever getting back together.

Spy x Family Season 3

See previous reviews for the premise and so on.

Spy x Family is pretty much staying the course from when we last checked in, though this season gives a lot more attention to Yor, and I love the cruise ship arc and all the ridiculous fights she gets into a lot! That arc contains some of my favorite gags of the series too (like Loid's attempts to be a cool dad). Otherwise, Spyfam has settled into being a largely episodic series that seems like it wants to be around for the long haul, so don't expect too much forward plot momentum. And Yuri (the man, not the genre) unfortunately still exists, and unfortunately we have to put up with an episode of him being a fascist supercop. Overall it was good season, though and remains a fun adaptation. Yor, please step on me.

[invisiblegarters]

23.5 Episode 8

Last ep, Sun got jealous and decided to stake her claim on Ongsa, who was into it. They faked us out on a kiss and I was displeased, and there was not nearly enough Aylin X Luna for me.

This ep I'm hoping for a kiss, some solid Aylin x Luna, and for some good sapphic teacher moments.

Here we go!

These two are very cute.

Sun's friends coming in with the intelligent commentary. Ongsa, babe. All that matter is how Sun feels. And I don't think that she would want to hide Ongsa away like some shameful secret, you know? She doesn't strike me as the type.

Hahahah oh my gosh I was rolling my eyes at this in the preview but Charoen calling this dude out on his philandering ways is cracking me up.

Oh my gosh did Aylin come along because she wants to know how to be with Luna? She did didn't she? That is adorable.

I kind of love Alpha just...checking out of the whole date situation. Just like "nope, I'm out of here." And lol at Aylin following her demanding to know why humans want to kiss.

She wants to help you because she likes you!

It's gonna be a horror movie.

Called it. Sun is so great.

I take it back. If she isn't messing with Ongsa on purpose either because she's nervous or because it's fun...

LOL okay it's both. Back to loving Sun she's ridic. Also Ongsa's little freakout after Sun left was hilarious and relatable.

I'm loving Ongsa's new confidence.

Aw Ton. Way to want to help your friend. They are all gonna end up watching that meteor shower. This is gonna be just like the time when they all wound up at the school to find out what that mysterious green light was. Even Alpha's gonna get roped in, I can feel it.

I love how complicated Aylin is making this. She's so cute. And Luna super agrees with me.

I love how delighted Luna is. Meanwhile Aylin is about to have a heart attack hahaha.

I wonder if she got Alpha to explain about kissing.

Oh Mawin. I get why he bottled it but he was so close! Okay but Ton and Mawin celebrating Tin not outright saying no are cute.

Ah here comes the TonCharoen bit. I was wondering when this would start. He's so ridiculous I just can't take a thing he does seriously. Not sorry. Also wouldn't it be funny if she wound up not being that into him?

Bambam babe please pick up on what Nida is putting down. Please. I beg you.

OH wow Aylin. Rock on.

You know why I love them so much? Because Luna absolutely meets Aylin where she is and loves her for herself. And Aylin responds to that.

Charoen's horrified face at Ton's confession. I'm dying. Thank you show. I don't know if it will last but that was everything I could have asked for from that interaction.

Aw poor Mawin.

Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!

[kmp78]

Episode 5 done. 📺

And this show just keeps getting more and more ridic. 🥴

Mmmmkay. 😶

[synobun]

One of them tag games

So I wasn't actually tagged by @cour5t in this, but I was tagged by @rosewinterborn in a very similar game, so I'm stealing the first and pretending it's the second, since the second had a few questions that didn't apply to me x)

Last song: I'm gonna do the last song I've had on repeat for this!

Favorite color: I never know what to say for this. Black? Dark red? Dark purple? Dark green? That whole colour palette is the bomb dot com.

Last movie/show: The last movie I watched that was new was Nimona! It was fantastic, 10/10 lives up to the hype. The last show I finished was Reacher. It was okay.

Next on my watchlist: I've finally started watching Criminal Minds, but I'm already kind of burning out on it midway through season two. And there's still like 300 episodes left. Ridic. I should probably catch up on Foundation and For All Mankind. Next movie is the cartoon version of Mulan!

Last game: Prey! I did a replay of Doom 3 a while ago and mused that the horror story-game genre should be revived, and then on a whim I decided to play Prey without knowing anything about it. And it's the exact kind of game I was talking about. It's pretty good.

Last book: Rebirth of the Sigil by Peri Akman. It was disappointing. :/ Especially since I know what the author is otherwise capable of. I had the same thing happen with John Gwynne recently as well.

Sweet/savory/spicy: Savory, I think? I don't have an instinctive sense of what savory is. Google says it's a meaty taste, and I rely heavily on protein, so I guess that. I have a pretty low tolerance for sweetness despite liking sodas and such. I don't like most desserts or can only eat a tiny amount. Spicy is alright but my digestive system disagrees.

Relationship status: *vague gesturing*

Last thing I searched online: The hours for my pharmacy to see if it was too late to pick up my medication.

Current obsession: I am generally not an obsessive person when it comes to, like, interests and activities. But I am an obsessive person when it comes to thoughts and emotions. Lately I've been struggling a lot with thinking about eternity. It has not been fun. On a lighter note, I have also been thinking more regularly about writing. Perhaps someday that will translate into action!

Greatest flaw: How much time do you have? This is actually something I have difficulty answering, because the line between something forced upon me and something that is actually inherent to me is blurred a lot of the time.

I think I'd say how I behave when I'm spiraling mentally. I close off and disappear from almost everyone in my life. Occasionally I can keep up appearances with one group but not the rest, but by and large I become a ghost. When I am in a conversation during those cycles, it's crazy how badly I'm affected. I don't become cruel or mean toward others, but my speech becomes jilted, I can't make eye contact, and I am just devastatingly hateful against myself.

It's partly why I isolate, so that I don't have to expose others to that behaviour. It happens on a yearly basis though, and it can last for weeks at a time, so it has a pretty negative impact on my relationships. I also have no idea how to navigate being in one of those moods while part of a relationship where daily contact is an expectation. When I was part of a romantic relationship, instead of having one big prolonged dip, I would fade in and out of it. A couple weeks good, a couple days bad. Rinse and repeat. Awful. Terrible. Annoying. There's almost no predicting when it'll happen either.

Fic I’m currently reading: I rarely read fics because I have no patience for wading through wish fulfillment, horny writing, and "He would not fucking say that" fics, so there's only one that I vaguely keep up with. My friend has a Mass Effect fic, which can be found here. It focuses on femShep(/Kaidan) and Tali(/Garrus) and is post-ME3.

-----

I tag anyone who sees this and actually made it to the end, tbh. But for sake of poking, I tag @rosewinterborn with this variant, and also @deadlyessencewhispers, @tananaphone, @stupid-elf, @carrotblr, @atinydroid, @imtryingx, and, uh, uh... I don't know... let's see... @kkshowtunes, @d3viantvanguard, and @awritingcaitlin. I probably just tagged everyone who follows me. Anyway thanks bye

[missbrunettebarbie]

I've only seen some Modern Family episodes here and there, so take this with a grain of salt, but my main takeaway is that Phil Dunphy is a terrible husband and father.

Not only does Claire need to parent him, his own freaking kids parent him more than he parents them. (Like things ALWAYS have to be his way. At his dad's wedding? The family realizes dressing in ridic clothes for Phil's amusment is The Right Thing To Do. During that one Halloween episode Claire wanted a scary house? Nope it has to be fun and PG13 bc Phil wants so. That time Hayley goes with him at some ceremony where he's the main entertainment as a magician/comedian/whatever and fails miserablely? Hayley has to go on the stage and say how great her dad is.) And the times when he is portrayed as a ~loving dad? Yeah, he's not a parent there either. For example, do you know that scene where he decides to stop Hayley from going with that creepy sketchy guy because she's his 'little girl and [he] can't watch her destroy her life'? Yeah, jist picture a sibling or a friend in Phil's role and it would change NOTHING! That's not Phil parenting, that's him being a decent human being.

[isagrimorie]

I just read a post about wanting shows to swing for the fences and to always subvert expectations.

And, you know fair! I also want shows to swing for the fences!

But reading 'subvert audience expectations' gave me such a knee-jerk flinch and horror flashbacks of all the shows since Game of Thrones that have done 'subvert your expectations' and liking maybe a handful, or less of all the times a show tried to 'subvert' my expectations.

(Game of Thrones is the prime example of Doing. Subvert Your Expectations. Wrong. Westworld is IMO, the second example. Nolan learned all the wrong lessons from Person of Interest and this is why, IMO-- Person of Interest is still way better than Westworld.

And then, for a time there were shows and movies playing the 'subvert your audience expectations game' and I remember hating it because they were doing it wrong).

I'm great with a show just being able to do a lot but also I'm hoping for a show to do both.

There's been some talk about not wanting world and universe-ending threats. All. The. Damned. Time. And, I partially agree with that.

On the other hand, that was almost always the season finale end for Buffy and I didn't mind it.

But, I think, that's because there was room for stand-alone stories along with the universe/world-ending plots.

And, in that space, epic, swing for the fences stories were made.

Also, I 've now binged 911 (first of all why did no one talk about how this show has a variety of stories that's not just the procedural elements. THERE ARE HEIST STORIES IN THIS? C'mon guys, more than hot people and ships, that's my jam. There's halloween episodes? THERE'S ORIGIN STORIES???? Angela Basset and Casey McCall of Sports Night??? Jennifer Love Hewit and Chimney Han???). Also as far as I've watched there's only 18 episodes, long enough for the kind of stand alone character centric, relationship building stories and time to breathe, and some pretty ridic arc stories-- which yeah its a standard procedural but there's also a lot of swing for the fences episodes.

Person of Interest LOOKS like a standard procedural but it's a trojan horse for a fantastic cyberpunk ASI vs ASI story with brilliant character developments and relationships.

[wolviecat]

curious about all of the wips, but i'd love to hear more about 'Heaven is a place in space' in particular!

This is a really old thing. So old I managed to not only forget how I wanted to continue, if I wanted to continue, but also in what language it was written.

The closest I could describe it would be "an episode of Outer Limits, or maybe Doctor Who, with John Laurens as a main character". It is also the only Hamilton fic I've ever written which is not explicitly based on the musical, by which I mean that Laurens is not described as looking like Anthony Ramos.

Regarding the plot - Laurens wakes up after the battle of Combahee River, to his own surprise alive, in some strange place...

It's a space ship. Aliens resurrected him for a reason I've already forgotten, and he got out of the resurction pod too soon and now he's running around, convinced their are trying to kill him, while in reality they are trying to put him back so he can "finish baking", so to say.

For more WIP questions, look under the link

[subjectively-objective]

If you're a Scooby-Doo clone, and I'm a Scooby-Doo clone, what's left of us? (A blind opinion on the reasonably forgotten Goober and the Ghost Chasers)

One of many clones made to cash in on the success of Scooby-Doo throughout the 1970s. Goober was less successful than most, only managing 16 episodes before it was canned. The series follows a trio of ghost-chasing teens and their wacky dog as they chase ghosts for their magazine, Ghost Chasers Magazine.

Ted (left): The Fred of the group. Drives the car, and uses his alliterative equipment in his Apparition Apparatus Kit to do most of the investigative work.

Tina (center): She interviews the ghosts, and presumably writes the stories for their magazine. She seemed a little braver than Ted, willing to stand her ground and continue her interview until the ghosts get within arms reach.

Gilly (right): Their Shaggy ghost photographer. He is completely oblivious to danger; willing to let ghosts actively grab him in order to get his shot. And even berating Goober when he tries to save him.

Goober (dog): Ok, we got to him; the title character. The creature that would become Scooby-Two. He's ugly, he's annoying, and he completely lacks all of the charm of Scoob. Except when he does. Then you see through the grime placed upon him and see him for what he is. Goober.

What sets him apart from Scooby? His cowardice. While that is a Scooby trait, Goober et al. uses it to contrast his human companion's oblivious bravery. Usually having to drag characters away from danger. He also randomly turns invisible. There is 0 explanation for this, but it is often used for a "you thought he was there, but it was just his hat" gag. Otherwise, it was just done to save on animation.

You may notice some, er, recognizable music in this clip. The show has an original soundtrack, but the earlier episodes would sometimes recycle tracks from Scooby-Doo.

Unlike Scooby-Doo, Goober can’t talk except to the audience. Which he does in the most nonsensical fourth-wall breaks ever conceived. Like, sometimes they are just humorous asides, but most of the time they make absolutely no sense.

Like every "teens hunt ghosts with talking animal" series, the teens need a vehicle and boy do these teens have a vehicle.

I honestly don't know what this is. It has six wheels, an open driver's seat, the front kinda looks amphibious. Is this a military surplus vehicle the kids got? A custom creation? Are the middle wheels just decorative (a fashion statement I completely understand)? Does it have a marketable name? The world will never know.

Now onto the show itself. The first thing we see is the opening and it is desperately trying to evoke feelings of “Scooby-Doo”. Kids walking in vague corridors, ghosts and skeletons appear, dog runs away, dog says his one liner, kids show their ‘unique’ personalities.

There are two problems though. First, the only kid whose personality is shown is Gilly, and he is only shown to take pictures of ghosts. Second, the dog’s one liner is stupid. Scooby has his “Ruh-roh”, a funny modification on “Uh-oh” which can be used in any instance. Goober? He’s got “Who’s afraid of ghosts?” (Hint: It’s him. He was just running from them) and “This is ridic-alic-alic-alic-alous”. The first one makes no sense in the context of the intro, and the second makes me want to violence.

The typical episode was, well, it was Scooby-Doo. There's a mystery, they solve it. Except, Goober mysteries often involve actual ghosts. Which brings some added uniqueness to the series. Every episode also had a “If you didn’t x, and I didn’t x, then who did??” moment. It was never funny, but their insistence on using it (sometimes more than once an episode) made it wrap back around to hilarity, and a moment I was genuinely looking forward too every episode.

They also made the gang absolute morons who struggle to complete a puzzle with four pieces left.

Ok, that's a typical episode, but what about the quality Mark? Quality seems more important than formula. Of course it is Steven, you absolute fucking moron. That's what I'll discuss right after this segue.

Most of the show (almost 75%) is just blegh. Not bad per se, but so bland and so nothing I struggled to get through them and believed writing about the series to be impossible. There was just. . . nothing there. The first eleven episodes were absolutely nothing. The kids showed up, there was a ghost (either real or fake, it didn't matter), they would split up, group A finds and flees from ghost, group B finds and flees from ghost, repeat until 17 minutes of footage, then yada yada over the solution, and roll credits.

When I say 'yada yada' I mean yada yada.

All but one of these first eleven episodes had a guest star. With eight of them 'guest starring' the Partridge Family from the show of the same name airing at the time. Calling the Partridge Family 'guest stars' is like calling Vegeta a guest star. They are in half the episodes and play integral roles in each of them (as integral as they can given the episodes were nothing).

The most egregious example is episode five. The episode has the Chasers and Patridges (except the two youngest Partridge kids who exist to be told to wait outside the plot) stuck on a pirate ship haunted by two ghosts. The ghosts, Dink and Dunk, offer entertaining banter. And the “d” alliteration throughout the episode is fun, but the entire episode is “don’t ring the bell or Dunk will wake up and be mad!” *someone rings the bell* “Hide gang!” *Dunk goes to bed* Repeated 3 times. Ending when the gang finds the island where Dunk hid his treasure, something Dink mentions they should do several times throughout the episode. However, the gang completely ignores him and only happens upon the island Dink couldn’t find for 100 years. If the episode had just been the gang helping Dink find the island while Dunk is mean it would have been great (well, it would have been ok).

As with all cartoons at the time, there are a number of small errors throughout. From Gilly wearing his camera after it had been stolen, to minor discolorations. However, there's one really glaring error in episode 11, see if you can spot it.

Ok, I've talked about the bad first episodes, but what about the one's after 11? Well, about those. . . the five episodes after the Partridge family left are great. Like, way better than the first 11 episodes. There were real mysteries with clues and twists. The Ghost Chasers all do things in the episode. There are actually memorable gags and scenes. It was a magical shift in tone and quality.

Hell, one of the episodes inspired me. The effect for the villain in episode 15 talking looked super cool and I am definitely stealing it for something.

The first eleven episodes feel like someone wanted to make the next Scooby-Doo. From the restrained quirkiness of the dog, the usage of guest stars to drum up early interest, even using its music. They wanted the next Scooby-Doo so they took everything they could from it and added celebrities, and they failed. Not spectacularly. There was no spectacle, there was no reason to take note of it. It just failed. Nothing worth remembering, nothing worth revisiting.

But those last five? Those feel like someone wanted to make Goober. Sure, it's bones were still Scooby-Doo, but it was no longer only wearing a different skin. It had different flavor. The ghosts being real was no longer a gimmick used to disguise yet another villain scaring kids off their lawn. They were used as actual characters in the episode. From minor gag appearances to being a major antagonist or red herring.

Of course, the quality of these episodes is severely limited by the time and audience they were written for. They are good compared to the preceding eleven episodes, but compared to a modern television series they are middling. The reason I call them great is because of the promise they show. The promise that the series could have come into its own identity if given the time and freedom.

Goober wasn't good. It was a lazy excuse to cash in on the latest cash cow. It being forgotten was a reasonable outcome for what it was, but not a deserved one. Regardless of the soulless reason for creating the show and the awkward execution in the first three quarters of it, people put effort into it. They put their minds into it. And the fruits of their minds deserve to be remembered. Because, regardless of its poor execution, Goober has good ideas hidden within it. The mystery solving teens not being brave or cowardly but oblivious to danger. Hunting ghosts not being a hobby but a livelihood (which could be used to explain their willingness to be near dangerous ghosts. Can't pay rent if you're dead or if you don't get the picture. Might as well try for both). The dog being the straight man and voice of cowardly reason to the humans. The ghosts being malevolent, benevolent, or just plain evolent.

These concepts are worth revisiting and reimagining. Not as Goober 2, but as something else. Something new, building upon those brilliant ideas squandered by the original trying to fill-in Scooby-Doo's shadow. Something combining those ideas with their own to make a new, greater story. That's why nothing deserves to be forgotten. Forgetting someone's work is to slow the evolution of the human imagination. People grow from the stories they hear, even ones rarely spoken.

[inmyarmswrappedin]

Okay, I just finished watching OPLA ep 1, and that was really fun.

I thought the tone was that of anime. I didn't realize this before I started watching, but I think I was a bit afraid that it wasn't going to feel like anime, rather like a US show, possibly even a fantasy US show in the vein of LOTR or any number of live action properties based on American comics. It's just... cute in the way shonen manga is cute, not grimdark or overly serious.

It's been a hot minute since I paid attention to any shonen manga but hfjdklvkdf I forgot how homoerotic the genre can be. All these boys are so into each other it's wild lmao. Luffy admiring Zoro? Gay. Helmeppo's whole thing? Walking that fine line between homophobic and homoerotic. Zoro's ice cold heart melting for Luffy? Love is real. That goodbye scene between Luffy and Koby? Would NOT be out of place in edits including Heartstopper and RWRB. I'm honestly really curious whether Oda realizes the appeal and feeds into it, because I know other shonen mangaka do (hi Konomi). I am sure the US showrunners are fully aware of it, they'd have to be blind not to know how it comes across to English-speaking audiences.

(On that note, my god what do I need to do to get Trixie Mattel and Katya to react to One Piece???)

I'm also pretty impressed with how much ground the one episode covered already. Again, I've not seen OP, but the first episode alone dealt with two enemies, Alvida and Axe Hand, and I can imagine that took a few chapters in the manga. I also really liked that already in the first episode we got to see a lot of fight scenes, including Luffy, Zoro AND Nami.

On the topic of Nami, I admit her face doesn't fully match the face I picture in my mind when I see the manga character, but I also have issues with the wig. Before I watched the show, I thought the way people talked shit about the wig was ridic, but now I think I get it. The hair just doesn't fall down the back of her head the way the manga character's does, and I think they could've fixed that in hair & make up. Other than that Nami does very much feel like an anime character, she's just FUN and one episode in you can see just how much potential there is to her character.

[deancasforcutie]

remember how I wished this season would have at least one ridic camp episode like the original because the new cast could totally sell it? CALLED IT

[halfwayinlight]

it's been like a month or so that I've seen this show, so here we go...

best parts of friday's episode:

Kevlaur. omg Kevlaur. Jon should be on contract. Team Kevlaur doing sleuth-y things together.

Kevlaur in the matching colors. Whoever keeps putting Laura in deep blue gets points because it makes her eyes pop

that whole convo w Ava and Austin when she's giving him a hard time about using old terms

Valentin going from passionate to "who shot you" in 0.5 seconds

Ava directly telling Austin he's SO bad at this

things that annoy me: writers never know what to do with Laura outside of Cassadine chaos, family mess, and mayoral stuff. we just did more stuff w her brothers, so... here

also, I guess we're trying to make Fiz a thing AGAIN? plz no

parts of my life I can't get back:

that awkward conversation about ordering food only for Michael to show up 0.01 seconds later to make it all a moot point

the whole "check yes or no" montage

the beginning of that date with Fiz. of course you're glad she came. that's why you invited her. and clearly you didn't feel like burning the note. Why tF are they acting like they've never dated each other? this is first date vibes, but they're coming back together

lmao moments I can't believe were real:

Willow asking Michael if he tires of saving the day. what, girl??

Willow "suddenly" realizing that Michael has a devious side. Did those chemo meds finally wake you up??

Liz asking-- with a straight face-- what this date is that they both dressed up for, in a restaurant to themselves, that she literally checked "yes" on a passed note for. wtf?

that ridic split screen between Fiz post-date. omg, stop. no really please just stop

[adventures-in-a-world-of-fiction]

So I was thinking about Babylon 5 spin-offs, because there were various made-for-TV movies and a spin-off series called Crusade.

Crusade wasn’t very successful and got cancelled after one season - and during the production there was a lot of meddling from the studio. The writer and cast talked about it on the DVD extras and episode commentaries and the like. Things like the studio insisting on changing the run order of the episodes (to the point where I think it creates a continuity error in that a thing that is used in one episode isn’t actually discovered until an episode or two later), or meddling with the costumes (there’s a subplot in one episode about people from Earth insisting of the crew getting new uniforms to be more inspiring to the people back home), and things like that.

I remember in one of the extras, the lead writer talked about how the plague was there because the studio insisted there had to be a main hook. The plague is basically the entire made plot thread for the show - Earth has been infected and the ship and crew have a few years to seek out alien technology that could provide a cure before people start dying. But that wasn’t the story the lead writer wanted to tell. He wanted to tell a story about conspiracies and not knowing who to trust or what authority should be obeyed. But no, that was too vague. There needed to be a big, obvious threat. Hence, the plague.

But I don’t actually want to talk about Crusade. I want to talk about The Legend of the Rangers.

This was a made-for-TV movie that was clearly intended to be the pilot for a new spin off that never got the actual show.

And I really enjoyed this movie - mostly. There was a lot that was a lot of fun. There was a great bantering dynamic between the captain, the first officer, and the weapons specialist. There was a really interesting mystery because the captain for his first command was given a cursed, twenty-year-old spaceship that the entire last crew had died mysteriously on board. The spirits of the former crew were apparently haunting the ship - and at one point one gives the message, “The one who survived us is the one who betrayed us.” That’s super cool. And other key members of the crew were made up of the people who were passed over to serve on other ships.

I would have loved to watch a whole series of these characters cheerfully bickering their way through adventures as they dealt with raiders and escort duty and parts of the ship occasionally breaking down because of their age.

As I said, there was a lot I really, really liked about the movie.

What I didn’t like was the big hook. The movie introduced a big bad, evil alien race who are super dangerous and even worse than the Shadows (the big bad for several seasons of the original Babylon 5 show) - and yet who have somehow never come up in all the discussions of ancient powers that occurred in B5. It felt so contrived.

It felt like someone sat down and said, “But we have to introduce a new enemy and we have to raise the stakes.”

No. No, you don’t.

The movie would have been massively improved if instead of trying to introduce a new apocalypticly bad alien race, the crew had been escorting a bunch of diplomats to a summit and been attacked by raiders, or a faction of one alien race who are mad that their government is making peace with a race who were historical enemies. If they’d made the antagonists something more in line with the established politics of the universe, I would have enjoyed the movie even more.

But the reason I brought up Crusade at the start is that I suspect something similar was happening here. I suspect someone at a studio insisted that the movie had to hook people in with a new enemy and that just made it worse. The mystery of what happened on the ship was a much better hook. It was interesting and personal and more of a human level. But nope, instead we got super-bad-evil-ancient-aliens and the movie flopped badly enough that the show never materialised.

And the ridiculous thing is that the original Babylon 5 didn’t do anything like this with its big bad. I don’t think the Shadows are mentioned at all in The Gathering, and they barely show up in the entire first season - there are some episodes that hint at them or set up future plot lines, but they start out very much in the background and their threat builds up extremely gradually over the first two seasons. You don’t have someone stand up in the middle of the pilot and say, “Right, so these are the enemy we need to worry about.”

B5 is an extremely slow build and I can understand why that build was too slow for some people to get into it, but the audience trusted that the show was going somewhere and went along for the ride. It lasted 5 seasons.

Crusade, with all that meddling, barely made 1.

Legend of the Rangers, didn’t even get that.

And that’s a shame, because I would love to watch the show that could have been spawned from that movie (without the new mega-enemy).

[kmp78]

Episode 1 done. 📺

A beyond ridic show that made me laugh (unintentionally obvs) sooo many times cos these chicks are bimbos with a massive B and the mentors are a joke (how did that one chick even get the part when she can barely say 3 words in English?!) and don´t even talk to me about that insufferable Yu character... 😂.

But I will say this:

GTGT is EEEEEASILY the prettiest of them all.

Like... that´s a ruff crowd right there. 😬

[this-is-not-a-slow-burn]

So, I played DAI first, which is a biiiiig no no in the DA fandom (I get it, but imo it's a little ridic)

What this means is that I have always played DAI with the default worldstate. I've never once imported a worldstate.

I had NO IDEA who Hawke was, or Stroud. No clue who Alistair was when he shows up in DAI. To me he was just some guy that yells at the mages and tells them to pack up and leave. (I hated him instantly for that. what an egotistical prick)

I also had no idea who Morrigan was, but also hated her instantly because i knew she had some kind of secret motive and was using the Inquisition for something. I've never shook that. She's forever a scheming snake to me.

I sorta get some stuff now after learning a bit from playing a big chunk of DAO and playing DA2 I think twice.

But I am also very very bad at following plot lines in general, so even with that knowledge, I'm still completely lost in any conversations about DAI that reference throughlines in the story that started in DAO.

I could not tell you more than just the surface details about GoT even though I watched every episode. Too many people. I can't keep track. I might be ok at a quiz, but could not just tell you the story unprompted.

My point being, I'm kind of annoyed that I can't go back in time and start from DAO, because I want to.