#the battle of helm's deep will forever be iconic

[minikate--24-05]

TOLKIEN WEEK (w2, d3): Favourite movie → The two towers

“The men have found their captain, they will follow you into battle, even to death. You have given us hope.”

[serceleste]

star trek: tos season 1

I’ve been rewatching Star Trek: The Original Series instead of starting anything new (of course) and I have some thoughts about season 1! I love this show. Here are some random things I love.

1. Kirk and Spock wordlessly communicating. They’re in love, okay.

2. In ‘The Naked Time’, everything is falling apart, the bridge is in chaos, Kirk loses his temper, Uhura loses her temper. Then Uhura takes a breath, and she is immediately back in ultra professional mode, damn whatever she’s actually thinking and feeling. And Kirk immediately apologizes. It’s amazing.

3. I appreciate random shirtless Kirk. And that time Sulu was randomly shirtless and attacking people with a sword. (The look on the two dudes’ faces when he is brandishing his sword at them in the corridor is PRICELESS.)

4. The unicorn dog. Fave.

5. Spock playing the ka’athyra, and then Uhura sings with him, and she’s totally good-naturedly poking fun at him the whole time, and Spock accepts it with such good humor and he has no feelings my ass.

6. Obviously Kirk’s shirt tearing all the damn time, sometimes with no plausible reason. My favorite is when McCoy just rips the shoulder open to jab him with a hypo on the bridge.

7. There’s some pretty nice work done in the pilot establishing that Kirk and Mitchell have a long history and a deep friendship, and that makes what happens in the episode so much more tragic. I also love Spock’s easy acceptance of Kirk wanting the record to state that Mitchell (and Dehner) died in the line of duty.

8. Uhura competently taking over other positions on the bridge at a word from Kirk. The implication that all members of the bridge crew/senior staff have their specialties but learned all necessary functions in case of emergency is really nice. (I’ve noticed Sulu taking over navigation sometimes, too, and Scotty’s taken the helm at least once, and Kirk himself operates various positions.)

9. One of my favorite things about Star Trek is its optimism, and also the enduring sense of hopefulness and compassion it and the characters embody. In ‘Charlie X’, even after all the shit he did to them, you can see that they are nevertheless moved by Charlie’s genuine terror and Kirk tries to come up with a different solution that will help him. Or in ‘The Corbomite Maneuver’, after the alien has threatened to destroy them, and he puts out the distress call, Kirk’s response is still to help.

10. Kirk is in love with the Enterprise and the show doesn’t even try to be coy about it, it just comes right out and says so. Multiple times. <3

11. It’s clearly a product of its time and some things are... not great, but I love that it tries, and it honestly wants to portray a future where everyone is treated the same and things like race and gender don’t matter, even if it isn’t quite there in the execution of it. (Yeoman Rand in particular gets some wince-worthy moments in the first season, unfortunately.)

12. Evil!Kirk wears eyeliner, because of course he does. LMAO.

13. The green shirt! I love Kirk’s green shirt. (Actually I love the TOS uniforms in general. Best Trek uniforms, fight me.)

14. McCoy and Spock making fun of each other. <3

15. The number of times Scotty tells Kirk he needs hours/days to fix/accomplish something and Kirk is like ‘you have ten minutes’ and Scotty is just like ‘...fuck, okay’.

16. In ‘What Are Little Girls Made Of?’ Kirk sabotages his android by thinking negatively about Spock because THAT’S the thing he knows will make it clear something’s wrong. OMG. And then Spock makes fun of him for using an unsophisticated insult. Hearteyes.

17. Every time Spock calls Kirk Jim. Also, every time Kirk calls McCoy Bones.

18. Their food is hilarious, it always just looks like little colorful blocks. And their idea of futuristic fashion is completely ridiculous and also the best. 

19. Kirk is so charming, but it’s so genuine, which is I think why it’s so devastating. When he’s looking at people, and smiling at them, you know he really genuinely gives a shit, and actually cares about them, and tbh I think I’d do anything he asked if he looked at me like that, lol. 

20. McCoy is a gift. He’s so grumpy! And he calls everyone out on their shit, especially Kirk, and he’d never say so but he cares so goddamn much.

21. I just ship Kirk/Spock so fucking hard, OMG. Every time they interact I’m just like YESSSSSS THEY’RE FUCKING IN LOVE DAMN.

22. “Fascinating.” <33333 Oh! And the eyebrow raise! Especially when he does it at Kirk. Or McCoy.

23. Kirk’s absolute faith in Spock at the beginning of ‘The Menagerie’. It’s a bit heartbreaking, considering. And the moment you can see Spock choose Pike over Kirk, at the end of Part 1, stabs me right in the heart. And when Kirk agrees that Spock is guilty during the “trial”. (Also I love that they found a way to use the rejected pilot and turn it into what’s really a compelling pair of episodes.)

24. ‘Balance of Terror’ is so good. It’s just a battle of wills between Kirk and the Romulan commander, with how difficult the pressure of command can be for Kirk, and that look into racism with the navigator who distrusts Spock.

25. McCoy and Spock having a battle of wills over Spock needing/not needing medical attention and raising their eyebrows at each other. Love. I understand the Spock/McCoy shipping. (Speaking of, in ‘Operation Annihilate’ when McCoy doesn’t want Kirk to tell Spock he said he was the best first officer in the fleet but Spock overhears and says thank you, McCoy’s face, lmao.)

26. When they find Kirk’s brother dead in ‘Operation Annihilate’ Spock actually attempts to offer comfort!!! Also Kirk holds Spock a couple of times in that ep, it’s great.

27. Every time Spock gets offended because they’ve accused him of having a human emotion or reaction. <3333

28. I think ‘City on the Edge of Forever’ works not just because it’s a truly compelling question of not holding one life, no matter how dear, over the lives of millions, but because Edith herself is genuinely lovely. You can see the tragedy in the death of a woman like her, and the soft romance between her and Kirk is beautiful.

29. And even in the midst of what’s easily one of the strongest (if not the strongest) of Kirk’s relationships on the show, you get Edith saying that she can see that where Spock belongs is by Kirk’s side. My heart.

30. The Gorn. Come on. Iconic.

31. As compassionate as Kirk is I also love the moments that remind you that part of the reason he’s such a good captain is that he’s ruthless when he needs to be. He will make the hard decisions firmly and surely and he won’t let his crew know if he’s internally struggling with them.

32. Kirk’s fighting style!! He’s just throwing himself at people and hitting them with his ass and clinging onto their backs and I LOVE IT.

33. In 'Court Martial’, I think Kirk’s lawyer ex might wear a female dress uniform for the only time ever on the show (certainly the only time in the first season). All the times when the dudes are wearing them, the women are all still wearing their regular duty uniforms. It’s sort of hilarious to me that the men’s look so fancy but hers is just a slightly different collar and a longer skirt, lol.

34. When Spock mindmelds with the Horta in ‘Devil in the Dark’! It’s so sad, and I think that’s the first time we really get a look into what it means for Spock to meld, to share so deeply with another being. 

35. I’m into how Kirk looks in that old-fashioned suit in ‘The Return of the Archons’ but definitely nothing beats him and Spock in short tunics and tights in ‘Errand of Mercy’. Plus Spock gets a half-cape!

36. ‘The Conscience of the King’, responsible for so much woobie Kirk backstory, even in AOS fic where it’s not even canon, lol.

37. McCoy strolling out with those women at the end of ‘Shore Leave’, all “well I am on shore leave”, lmao.

38. Of course McCoy’s iconic declarations of ‘I’m a doctor, not a ‘insert occupation here’. 

39. The computer programmed to seductively purr at Kirk is hilarious.

40. The origin of the redshirt. Classic. 

[lucymontero]

Princess Agents: The Stopping

I don’t know how else to describe the final episode of Princess Agents. It wasn’t an ending. Ending implies resolution. It can be a happy or sad resolution, bit it implies that something is decided either way.

That is not what happened here. There was a body count and then all the story lines just.. stopped.

And in a hell of an uncertain place. I have questions- like, how long does it take someone to drown, and what is this Chill Ice Power (I’m getting it mixed up with the Chill Spell that featured in The Flame’s Daughter last week), and can it bring people back from the brink of death? Because there are quite a few people who are maybe alive, maybe dead. This show has a way of taking people who have no right to be alive (Yan Xun after the Forever Serenity Platform, Prince  Yu after he’s been relieved of his right arm) and having them recover after sleeping for a little bit like it’s no big deal. So in theory, those in peril could possibly be revived.

But I have other questions- like where is Chun’er? Did she really just abandon her quest for vengeance? And what about the Prince of Wei- the one commanding the army, is he going to invade? And Mr Wu- who was never mentioned until the last 4 episodes and is suddenly super-important- where is he and what are he and my beloved Miss Yu going to do? The Emperor, who of all people, deserves to die an agonizing death, is still alive?! And what about the Princess of Liang and the Prince of Liang? Liang was behind 80% of the plots and we never saw how they benefitted from any of it. And Meng Feng and Prince Yu- what happens to them back at Meiln Pass while the showdown at the frozen lake is happening. And the Fenyung Order- where have they been since their mistress got amnesia a few years ago- have they been on vacation? And Yuwen Yue’s sonofabitch grandfather- he’s still alive?! In what world is that a desirable outcome? And what the fuck happened to Chu Qiao’s two sisters? They waited for her and she never came- where did they go? Yuwen Yue kept mentioning his mother was murdered- but we never found out why?

All that being said- and I knew a bit of it before I picked up where I left off months ago- I still liked it. Like, enough that I’m thinking, that was fun, I should go re-watch it.

Cho Qiao just got to do so much cool shit. So many iconic, heroic moments were her idea and her triumph. Like if the battle of Helm’s deep wasn’t all dudes. And yes, it took her a really long time to give up on her friend as a lost cause, but her loyalty was also one of her most laudable qualities. And it was fun watching two people in a ‘romance’ that were both the stoic, taciturn, un-smilling,keep all emotions bottled up, types.

Everyone’s journey, even if it led to ruin, was compelling to watch. Although I’m still pissed about Chun’er- that wasn’t fucking necessary she had plenty of reason to burn the world after her wedding day alone-  she had a spectacular run (that doesn’t seem to be over because everyone wants to be the one to save Chun’er from herself and she refuses to go along with ANYONE else’s plan). Even Yuwen Yue went from living for his family to giving the Wuxia equivalent of Spock’s “Live Long and Prosper But I Really Mean Fuck You” response to the Vulcan Academy jerks who dissed his mother.

All of the secondary ladies had stories- from Meng Feng and her creepy underground sect with it’s annual Hunger Games, to the Super Spy/Princess of Liang  (that family really could have their own show). Except for Chu Qiao’s family, which seemed to be canon fodder. There was a LOT of canon fodder- if someone befriended Chu Qiao they had like a 50% survival rate. 

I think the book is a little different, because there was definitely something in blurbs I’ve read for the show that were clearly based on the book that implies stopping point we saw in the finale is maybe the midpoint of the book. There was definitely talk of “she eventually leaves her first love to join forces with Yuwen Yue and end slavery”. That could be a whole season 2. It happened for Nirvana in Fire.