#there are some differences here and there and elements that make his pose feel roy-like

[amelikos]

Amethio and Roy are both imitating Friede for their Terastal pose.

[the-hunchback-of-notre-dame]

‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at 25: An Oral History of Disney’s Darkest Animated Classic

Posted on Slashfilm on Monday, June 21st, 2021 by Josh Spiegel

“This Is Going to Change Your Life”

The future directors of The Hunchback of Notre Dame were riding high from the success of Beauty and the Beast. Or, at least, they were happy to be finished.

Gary Trousdale, director: After Beauty and the Beast, I was exhausted. Plus, Kirk and I were not entirely trusted at first, because we were novices. I was looking forward to going back to drawing.

Kirk Wise, director: It was this crazy, wonderful roller-coaster ride. I had all this vacation time and I took a couple months off.

Gary Trousdale: A little later, it was suggested: “If you want to get back into directing, start looking for a project. You can’t sit around doing nothing.”

Kirk Wise: [Songwriters] Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty had a pitch called Song of the Sea, a loose retelling of the Orpheus myth with humpback whales. I thought it was very strong.

Gary Trousdale: We were a few months in, and there was artwork and a rough draft. There were a couple tentative songs, and we were getting a head of steam.

Kirk Wise: The phone rang. It was Jeffrey [Katzenberg, then-chairman of Walt Disney Studios], saying, “Drop everything. I got your next picture: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

Gary Trousdale: “I’ve already got Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. You’re going to do this.” It wasn’t like we were given a choice. It was, “Here’s the project. You’re on.”

Kirk Wise: I was pleased that [Jeffrey] was so excited about it. I think the success of Beauty and the Beast had a lot to do with him pushing it our way. It would’ve been crazy to say no.

Gary Trousdale: What [Kirk and I] didn’t know is that Alan and Stephen were being used as bait for us. And Jeffrey was playing us as bait for Alan and Stephen.

Alan Menken, composer: Jeffrey made reference to it being Michael Eisner’s passion project, which implied he was less enthused about it as a story source for an animated picture.

Stephen Schwartz, lyricist: They had two ideas. One was an adaptation of Hunchback and the other was about whales. We chose Hunchback. I’d seen the [Charles Laughton] movie. Then I read the novel and really liked it.

Peter Schneider, president of Disney Feature Animation (1985-99): I think what attracted Stephen was the darkness. One’s lust for something and one’s power and vengeance, and this poor, helpless fellow, Quasimodo.

Roy Conli, co-producer: I was working at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, doing new play development. I was asked if I’d thought about producing animation. I said, “Yeah, sure.”

Don Hahn, producer: The goose had laid lots of golden eggs. The studio was trying to create two units so they could have multiple films come out. Roy was tasked with something hard, to build a crew out of whole cloth.

Kirk Wise: The idea appealed to me because [of] the setting and main character. I worked with an elder story man, Joe Grant, [who] goes back to Snow White. He said, “Some of the best animation ideas are about a little guy with a big problem.” Hunchback fit that bill.

Gary Trousdale: It’s a story I always liked. When Jeffrey said, “This is going to change your life,” Kirk and I said, “Cool.” When I was a kid, I [had an] Aurora Monster Model of Quasimodo lashed to the wheel. I thought, “He’s not a monster.”

Don Hahn: It’s a great piece of literature and it had a lot of elements I liked. The underdog hero. [He] was not a handsome prince. I loved the potential.

Gary Trousdale: We thought, “What are we going to do to make this dark piece of literature into a Disney cartoon without screwing it up?”

Peter Schneider: The subject matter is very difficult. The conflict was how far to go with it or not go with it. This is basically [about] a pederast who says “Fuck me or you’ll die.” Right?

“We Were Able to Take More Chances”

Wise and Trousdale recruited a group of disparate artists from the States and beyond to bring the story of Quasimodo the bell-ringer to animated life.

Paul Brizzi, sequence director: We were freshly arrived from Paris.

Gaëtan Brizzi, sequence director: [The filmmakers] were looking for a great dramatic prologue, and they couldn’t figure [it] out. Paul and I spent the better part of the night conceiving this prologue. They said, “You have to storyboard it. We love it.”

Roy Conli: We had two amazing artists in Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi who became spiritual leaders in the production. They were so incredible.

Gaëtan Brizzi: [“The Bells of Notre Dame”] was not supposed to be a song first.

Paul Brizzi: The prologue was traditional in the Disney way. Gaëtan and I were thinking of German expressionism to emphasize the drama. I’m not sure we could do that today.

Paul Kandel, voice of Clopin: They were toying with Clopin being the narrator. So they wrote “The Bells of Notre Dame” to open the movie.

Stephen Schwartz: [Alan and I] got called into a presentation, and on all these boards [was] laid out “The Bells of Notre Dame.” We musicalized the story they put up there. We used the pieces of dialogue they invented for Frollo and the other characters. I wrote lyrics that described the narrative. It was very exciting. I had never written a song like that.

Kirk Wise: Early on, we [took] a research trip with the core creative team to Paris. We spent two weeks all over Notre Dame. They gave us unrestricted access, going down into the catacombs. That was a huge inspiration.

Don Hahn: To crawl up in the bell towers and imagine Quasimodo there, to see the bells and the timbers, the scale of it all is unbelievable.

Kirk Wise: One morning, I was listening to this pipe organ in this shadowy cathedral, with light filtering through the stained-glass windows. The sound was so powerful, I could feel it thudding in my chest. I thought, “This is what the movie needs to feel like.”

Brenda Chapman, story: It was fun to sit in a room and draw and think up stuff. I liked the idea of this lonely character up in a bell tower and how we could portray his imagination.

Kathy Zielinski, supervising animator, Frollo: It was the earliest I’ve ever started on a production. I was doing character designs for months. I did a lot of design work for the gargoyles, as a springboard for the other supervisors.

James Baxter, supervising animator, Quasimodo: Kirk and Gary said, “We’d like you to do Quasimodo.” [I thought] that would be such a cool, amazing thing to do. They wanted this innocent vibe to him. Part of the design process was getting that part of his character to read.

Will Finn, head of story/supervising animator, Laverne: Kirk and Gary wanted me on the project. Kirk, Gary, and Don Hahn gave me opportunities no one else would have, and I am forever grateful.

Kathy Zielinski: I spent several months doing 50 or 60 designs [for Frollo]. I looked at villainous actors. Actually, one was Peter Schneider. [laughing] Not to say he’s a villain, but a lot of the mannerisms and poses. “Oh, that looks a little like Peter.”

James Baxter: I was doing design work on the characters with Tony Fucile, the animator on Esmerelda. I think Kirk and Gary felt Beauty and the Beast had been disparate and the characters weren’t as unified as they wanted.

Kathy Zielinski: Frollo stemmed from Hans Conried [the voice of Disney’s Captain Hook]. He had a longish nose and a very stern-looking face. Frollo was modeled a little bit after him.

Will Finn: The team they put together was a powerhouse group – Brenda Chapman, Kevin Harkey, Ed Gombert, and veterans like Burny Mattinson and Vance Gerry. I felt funny being their “supervisor.”

Kathy Zielinski: Half my crew was in France, eight hours ahead. We were able to do phone calls. But because of the time difference, our end of the day was their beginning of the morning. I was working a lot of late hours, because [Frollo] was challenging to draw.

Kirk Wise: Our secret weapon was James Baxter, who animated the ballroom sequence [in Beauty and the Beast] on his own. He had a unique gift of rotating characters in three-dimensional space perfectly.

Gary Trousdale: James Baxter is, to my mind, one of the greatest living animators in the world.

James Baxter: I’ve always enjoyed doing things that were quite elaborate in terms of camera movement and three-dimensional space. I’m a glutton for punishment, because those shots are very hard to do.

Gary Trousdale: In the scene with Quasimodo carrying Esmeralda over his shoulder, climbing up the cathedral, he looks back under his arms, snarling at the crowd below. James called that his King Kong moment.

As production continued, Roy Conli’s position shifted, as Don Hahn joined the project, and Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney in heated fashion in 1994.

Roy Conli: Jeffrey was going to create his own animation studio. Peter Schneider was interested in maintaining a relationship with Don Hahn. We were into animation, ahead of schedule. They asked Don if he would produce and if I would run the studio in Paris.

Don Hahn: Roy hadn’t done an animated film before. I was able to be a more senior presence. I’d worked with Kirk and Gary before, which I enjoy. They’re unsung heroes of these movies.

Kirk Wise: The [production] pace was more leisurely. As leisurely as these things can be. We had more breathing room to develop the storyboards and the script and the songs.

Gary Trousdale: Jeffrey never liked characters to have facial hair. No beards, no mustaches, nothing. There’s original designs of Gaston [with] a little Errol Flynn mustache. Jeffrey hated it. “I don’t want any facial hair.” Once he left, we were like, “We could give [Phoebus] a beard now.”

Kirk Wise: The ballroom sequence [in Beauty] gave us confidence to incorporate more computer graphics into Hunchback. We [had] to create the illusion of a throng of thousands of cheering people. To do it by hand would have been prohibitive, and look cheap.

Stephen Schwartz: Michael Eisner started being more hands-on. Michael was annoyed at me for a while, because when Jeffrey left, I accepted the job of doing the score for Prince of Egypt. I got fired from Mulan because of it. But once he fired me, Michael couldn’t have been a more supportive, positive colleague on Hunchback.

Kirk Wise: [The executives] were distracted. We were able to take more chances than we would have under the circumstances that we made Beauty and the Beast.

Don Hahn: Hunchback was in a league of its own, feeling like we [could] step out and take some creative risks. We could have done princess movies forever, and been reasonably successful. Our long-term survival relied on trying those risks.

One sticking point revolved around Notre Dame’s gargoyles, three of whom interact with Quasimodo, but feel more lighthearted than the rest of the dark story.

Gary Trousdale: In the book and several of the movies, Quasimodo talks to the gargoyles. We thought, “This is Disney, we’re doing a cartoon. The gargoyles can talk back.” One thing led to another and we’ve got “A Guy Like You.”

Kirk Wise: “A Guy Like You” was literally created so we could lighten the mood so the audience wasn’t sitting in this trough of despair for so long.

Stephen Schwartz: Out of context, the number is pretty good. I think I wrote some funny lyrics. But ultimately it was a step too far tonally for the movie and it has been dropped from the stage version.

Gary Trousdale: People have been asking for a long time: are they real? Are they part of Quasimodo’s personality? There were discussions that maybe Quasimodo is schizophrenic. We never definitively answered it, and can argue convincingly both ways.

Jason Alexander, voice of Hugo: I wouldn’t dream of interfering with anyone’s choice on that. It’s ambiguous for a reason and part of that reason is the viewers’ participation in the answer. Whatever you believe about it, I’m going to say you’re right.

Brenda Chapman: I left before they landed on how [to play] the gargoyles. My concern was, what are the rules? Are they real? Are they in his imagination? What can they do? Can they do stuff or is it all Quasi? I looked at it a little askance in the finished film. I wasn’t sure if I liked how it ended up…[Laverne] with the boa on the piano.

Kirk Wise: There was a component of the audience that felt the gargoyles were incompatible with Hunchback. But all of Disney’s movies, including the darkest ones, have comic-relief characters. And Disney was the last person to treat the written word as gospel.

“A Fantastic Opportunity”

After a successful collaboration on Pocahontas, Menken and Schwartz worked on turning Victor Hugo’s tragic story into a musical.

Alan Menken: The world of the story was very appealing, and it had so much social relevance and cultural nuance.

Stephen Schwartz: The story lent itself quite well to musicalization because of the extremity of the characters and the emotions. There was a lot to sing about. There was a great milieu.

Alan Menken: To embed the liturgy of the Catholic Church into a piece of music that’s operatic and also classical and pop-oriented enriches it in a very original way. Stephen was amazing. He would take the theme from the story and specifically set it in Latin to that music.

Stephen Schwartz: The fact that we were doing a piece set in a church allowed us to use all those elements of the Catholic mass, and for Alan to do all that wonderful choral music.

Alan Menken: The first creative impulse was “Out There.” I’m a craftsman. I’m working towards a specific assignment, but that was a rare instance where that piece of music existed.

Stephen Schwartz: I would come in with a title, maybe a couple of lines for Alan to be inspired by. We would talk about the whole unit, its job from a storytelling point of view. He would write some music. I could say, “I liked that. Let’s follow that.” He’d push a button and there would be a sloppy printout, enough that I could play it as I was starting the lyrics.

Roy Conli: Stephen’s lyrics are absolutely phenomenal. With that as a guiding light, we were in really good shape.

Stephen Schwartz: Alan played [the “Out There” theme] for me, and I really liked it. I asked for one change in the original chorus. Other than that, the music was exactly as he gave it to me.

Gary Trousdale: Talking with these guys about music is always intimidating. There was one [lyric] Don and I both questioned in “Out There,” when Frollo is singing, “Why invite their calumny and consternation?” Don and I went, “Calumny?” Kirk said, “Nope, it’s OK, I saw it in an X-Men comic book.” I went, “All right! It’s in a comic book! It’s good.”

Stephen Schwartz: Disney made it possible for me to get into Notre Dame before it opened to the public. I’d climb up the steps to the bell tower. I’d sit there with my yellow pad and pencil. I’d have the tune for “Out There” in my head, and I would look out at Paris, and be Quasimodo. By the time we left Paris, the song was written.

Kirk Wise: Stephen’s lyrics are really smart and literate. I don’t think the comical stuff was necessarily [his] strongest area. But this movie was a perfect fit, because the power of the emotions were so strong. Stephen just has a natural ability to connect with that.

Will Finn: The directors wanted a funny song for the gargoyles and Stephen was not eager to write it. He came to me and Irene Mecchi and asked us to help him think of comedy ideas for “A Guy Like You,” and we pitched a bunch of gags.

Jason Alexander: Singing with an orchestra the likes of which Alan and Stephen and Disney can assemble is nirvana. It’s electrifying and gives you the boost to sing over and over. Fortunately, everyone was open to discovery. I love nuance and intention in interpretation. I was given wonderful freedom to find both.

Stephen Schwartz: “Topsy Turvy,” it’s one of those numbers of musical theater where you can accomplish an enormous amount of storytelling. If you didn’t have that, you’d feel you were drowning in exposition. When you put it in the context of the celebration of the Feast of Fools, you could get a lot of work done.

Paul Kandel: The first time I sang [“Topsy Turvy”] through, I got a little applause from the orchestra. That was a very nice thing to happen and calm me down a little bit.

Brenda Chapman: Poor Kevin Harkey must’ve worked on “Topsy Turvy” for over a year. Just hearing [singing] “Topsy turvy!” I thought, “I would shoot myself.” It’s a fun song, but to listen to that, that many times. I don’t know if he ever got to work on anything else.

Paul Kandel: There were places where I thought the music was squarer than it needed to be. I wanted to round it out because Clopin is unpredictable. Is he good? Is he bad? That’s what I was trying to edge in there.

Kirk Wise: “God Help the Outcasts” made Jeffrey restless. I think he wanted “Memory” from Cats. Alan and Stephen wrote “Someday.” Jeffrey said, “This is good, but it needs to be bigger!” Alan was sitting at his piano bench, and Jeffrey was next to him. Jeffrey said, “When I want it bigger, I’ll nudge you.” Alan started playing and Jeffrey was jabbing him in the ribs. “Bigger, bigger!”

Don Hahn: In terms of what told the story better, one song was poetic, but the other was specific. “Outcasts” was very specific about Quasimodo. “Someday” was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

Kirk Wise: When Don watched the movie, he said, “It’s working pretty well. But ‘Someday,’ I don’t know. It feels like she’s yelling at God.” We played “God Help the Outcasts” for him and Don said, “Oh, this is perfect.” That song is the signature of the entire movie.

Don Hahn: “Someday” was lovely. But I had come off of working with Howard Ashman, and I felt, “This doesn’t move the plot forward much, does it?” We ended up with “Someday” as an end-credits song, which was fortunate. ‘Cause they’re both good songs.

Kirk Wise: It was all about what conveys the emotion of the scene and the central theme of the movie best. “God Help the Outcasts” did that.

Everyone agrees on one point.

Stephen Schwartz: Hunchback is Alan’s best score. And that’s saying a lot, because he’s written a whole bunch of really good ones.

Gary Trousdale: With Hunchback, there were a couple of people that said, “This is why I chose music as a career.” Alan and Stephen’s songs are so amazing, so that’s really something.

Paul Kandel: It has a beautiful score.

Jason Alexander: It has the singularly most sophisticated score of most of the animated films of that era.

Roy Conli: The score of Hunchback is one of the greatest we’ve done.

Don Hahn: This is Alan’s most brilliant score. The amount of gravitas Alan put in the score is amazing.

Alan Menken: It’s the most ambitious score I’ve ever written. It has emotional depth. It’s a different assignment. And it was the project where awards stopped happening. It’s almost like, “OK, now you’ve gone too far.”

Stephen Schwartz: It’s astonishing that Alan has won about 173 Academy Awards, and the one score he did not win for is his best score.

The film featured marquee performers singing covers of “God Help the Outcasts” and “Someday”. But one of the most famous performers ever nearly brought those songs to life.

Alan Menken: I met Michael Jackson when we were looking for someone to sing “A Whole New World” for Aladdin. Michael wanted to co-write the song. I could get a sense of who Michael was. He was a very unique, interesting individual…in his own world.

I get a call out of nowhere from Michael’s assistant, when Michael was at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. He had to [deal with] allegations about inappropriate behavior with underage kids, and the breakup with Lisa Marie Presley. He’s looking to change the subject. And he obviously loves Disney so much. So I mentioned Hunchback. He said he’d love to come to my studio, watch the movie and talk about it. So we got in touch with Disney Animation. They said, “Meet with him! If he likes it…well, see what he says.” [laughing]

There’s three songs. One was “Out There,” one was “God Help the Outcasts,” one was “Someday.” Michael said, “I would like to produce the songs and record some of them.” Wow. Okay. What do we do now? Michael left. We got in touch with Disney. It was like somebody dropped a hot poker into a fragile bowl with explosives. “Uh, we’ll get back to you about that.”

Finally, predictably, the word came back, “Disney doesn’t want to do this with Michael Jackson.” I go, “OK, could someone tell him this?” You can hear a pin drop, no response, and nobody did [tell him]. It fell to my late manager, Scott Shukat, to tell Michael or Michael’s attorney.

In retrospect, it was the right decision. [But] Quasimodo is a character…if you look at his relationships with his family and his father, I would think there’s a lot of identification there.

“They’re Never Going to Do This Kind of Character Again”

The film is known for the way it grapples with the hypocrisy and lust typified by the villainous Judge Frollo, whose terrifying song “Hellfire” remains a high point of Disney animation.

Gary Trousdale: Somebody asked me recently: “How the hell did you get ‘Hellfire’ past Disney?” It’s a good question.

Alan Menken: When Stephen and I wrote “Hellfire,” I was so excited by what we accomplished. It really raised the bar for Disney animation. It raised the bar for Stephen’s and my collaboration.

Stephen Schwartz: I thought the would never let me get away with [“Hellfire”]. And they never asked for a single change.

Alan Menken: Lust and religious conflict. Now more than ever, these are very thorny issues to put in front of the Disney audience. We wanted to go at it as truthfully as possible.

Stephen Schwartz: When Alan and I tackled “Hellfire,” I did what I usually did: write what I thought it should be and assume that [Disney would] tell me what I couldn’t get away with. But they accepted exactly what we wrote.

Don Hahn: Every good song score needs a villain’s moment. Stephen and Alan approached it with “Hellfire.”

Alan Menken: It was very clear, we’d thrown the gauntlet pretty far. It was also clear within our creative team that everybody was excited about going there.

Don Hahn: You use all the tools in your toolkit, and one of the most powerful ones was Alan and Stephen. Stephen can be dark, but he’s also very funny. He’s brilliant.

Gary Trousdale: The [MPAA] said, “When Frollo says ‘This burning desire is turning me to sin,’ we don’t like the word ‘sin.’” We can’t change the lyrics now. It’s all recorded. Kinda tough. “What if we just dip the volume of the word ‘sin’ and increase the sound effects?” They said, “Good.”

Stephen Schwartz: It’s one of the most admirable things [laughs] I have ever seen Disney Animation do. It was very supportive and adventurous, which is a spirit that…let’s just say, I don’t think [the company would] make this movie today.

Don Hahn: It’s funny. Violence is far more accepted than sex in a family movie. You can go see a Star Wars movie and the body count’s pretty huge, but there’s rarely any sexual innuendo.

Kathy Zielinski: I got to watch [Tony Jay] record “Hellfire” with another actor. I was sweating watching him record, because it was unbelievably intense. Afterwards, he asked me, “Did you learn anything from my performance?” I said, “Yeah, I never want to be a singer.” [laughing]

Paul Kandel: Tony Jay knocked that out of the park. He [was] an incredible guy. Very sweet. He was terrified to record “Hellfire.” He was at a couple of my sessions. He went, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen when it’s my turn? I don’t sing. I’m not a singer. I never pretended to be a singer.” I said, “Look, I’m not a singer. I’m an actor who figured out that they could hold a tune.”

Kathy Zielinski: I listened to Tony sing “Hellfire” tons. I knew I had gone too far when, one morning, we were sitting at the breakfast table and my daughter, who was two or three at the time, started singing the song and doing the mannerisms. [laughs]

Don Hahn: We didn’t literally want to show [Frollo’s lust]. It turns into a Fantasia sequence, almost. A lot of the imagery is something you could see coming out of Frollo’s imagination. It’s very impressionistic. It does stretch the boundaries of what had been done before at Disney.

Kirk Wise: We stylized it like “Night on Bald Mountain.” The best of Walt’s films balanced very dark and light elements. Instead of making it explicit, we tried to make it more visual and use symbolic imagery.

Gaëtan Brizzi: We were totally free. We could show symbolically how sick Frollo is between his hate and his carnal desire.

Kathy Zielinski: The storyboards had a tremendous influence. Everybody was incredibly admiring of the work that [Paul and Gaëtan] had done.

Don Hahn: They brought the storyboarded sequence to life in a way that is exactly what the movie looks like. The strength of it is that we didn’t have to show anything as much as we did suggest things to the audience. Give the audience credit for filling in the blanks.

Gary Trousdale: It was absolutely gorgeous. Their draftsmanship and their cinematography. They are the top. They pitched it with a cassette recording of Stephen singing “Hellfire”, and we were all in the story room watching it, going “Oh shit!”

Paul Brizzi: When Frollo is at the fireplace with Esmeralda’s scarf, his face is hypnotized. From the smoke, there’s the silhouette of Esmeralda coming to him. She’s naked in our drawings.

Gary Trousdale: We joked, maybe because they’re French, Esmeralda was in the nude when she was in the fire. Roy Disney put his foot down and said, “That’s not going to happen.” Chris Jenkins, the head of effects, and I went over every drawing to make sure she was appropriately attired. That was the one concession we made to the studio.

Gaëtan Brizzi: It’s the role of storyboard artists to go far, and then you scale it down. Her body was meant to be suggestive. It was more poetic than provocative.

Brenda Chapman: I thought what the Brizzis did with “Hellfire” was just stunning.

Roy Conli: We make films for people from four to 104, and we’re trying to ensure that the thematic material engages adults and engages children. We had a lot of conversations on “Hellfire,” [which] was groundbreaking. You saw the torment, but you didn’t necessarily, if you were a kid, read it as sexual. And if you were an adult, you picked it up pretty well.

Will Finn: “Hellfire” was uncomfortable to watch with a family audience. I’m not a prude, but what are small kids to make of such a scene?

Kathy Zielinski: When I was working on “Hellfire,” I thought, “Wow. They’re never going to do this kind of character again.” And I’m pretty much right.

“Straight for the Heart”

“Hellfire” may be the apex of the maturity of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but the entire film is the most complex and adult Disney animated feature of the modern era.

Gary Trousdale: We went straight for the heart and then pulled back.

Kirk Wise: I was comfortable with moments of broad comedy contrasted with moments that were dark or scary or violent. All of the Disney movies did that, particularly in Walt’s time.

Don Hahn: A lot of it is gut level, where [the story group would] sit around and talk to ourselves and pitch it to executives. But Walt Disney’s original animated films were really dark. We wanted to create something that had the impact of what animation can do.

Will Finn: Eisner insisted we follow the book to the letter, but he said the villain could not be a priest, and we had to have a happy ending. The book is an epic tragedy – everybody dies!

Kathy Zielinski: It’s a little scary that I felt comfortable with [Frollo]. [laughing] I don’t know what that means. Maybe I need to go to therapy. I’ve always had a desire to do villains. I just love evil.

Don Hahn: Kathy Zielinski is brilliant. She works on The Simpsons now, which is hilarious. She’s very intense, very aware of what [Frollo] had to do.

One specific choice in the relationship between Frollo and Esmeralda caused problems.

Stephen Schwartz: I remember there was great controversy over Frollo sniffing Esmeralda’s hair.

Kirk Wise: The scene that caused the most consternation was in the cathedral where Frollo grabs Esmeralda, whispers in her ear and sniffs her hair. The sniffing made people ask, “Is this too far?” We got a lot of support from Peter Schneider, Tom Schumacher, and Michael Eisner.

Kathy Zielinski: Brenda Chapman came up with that idea and the storyboard. I animated it. It’s interesting, because two females were responsible for that. That scene was problematic, so they had to cut it down. It used to be a lot longer.

Brenda Chapman: I know I’m probably pushing it too far, but let’s give it a go, you know?

Kirk Wise: We agreed it was going to be a matter of execution and our collective gut would tell us whether we were crossing the line. We learned that the difference between a G and PG is the loudness of a sniff. Ultimately, that’s what it came down to.

Brenda Chapman: I never knew that! [laughing]

Don Hahn: Is it rated G? That’s surprising.

Gary Trousdale: I’m sure there was backroom bargaining done that Kirk and I didn’t know about.

Don Hahn: It’s negotiation. The same was true of The Lion King. We had intensity notes on the fight at the end. You either say, we’re going to live with that and it’s PG, or we’re not and it’s G.

Brenda Chapman: I heard stories of little kids going, “Ewww, he’s rubbing his boogers in her hair!” [laughing] If that’s what they want to think, that’s fine. But there are plenty of adults that went, “Whoa!”

Don Hahn: You make the movies for yourselves, [but] we all have families, and you try to make something that’s appropriate for that audience. So we made some changes. Frollo isn’t a member of the clergy to take out any politicizing.

Gaëtan Brizzi: We developed the idea of Frollo’s racism against the gypsies. To feel that he desires Esmeralda and he wants to kill her. It was ambiguity that was interesting to develop. In the storyboards, Paul made [Frollo] handsome with a big jaw, a guy with class. They said he was too handsome. We had to break that formula.

Stephen Schwartz: I [and others] said, “It doesn’t make any sense for him to not be the Archdeacon, because what’s he doing with Quasimodo? What possible relationship could they have?” Which is what led to the backstory that became “The Bells of Notre Dame.”

Don Hahn: The things Frollo represents are alive and well in the world. Bigotry and prejudice are human traits and always have been. One of his traits was lust. How do you portray that in a Disney movie? We tried to portray that in a way that might be over kids’ heads and may not give them nightmares necessarily, but it’s not going to pull its punches. So it was a fine line.

Stephen Schwartz: Hugo’s novel is not critical of the church the way a lot of French literature is. It creates this character of Frollo, who’s a deeply hypocritical person and tormented by his hypocrisy.

Peter Schneider: I am going to be controversial. I think it failed. The fundamental basis is problematic, if you’re going to try and do a Disney movie. In [light of] the #MeToo movement, you couldn’t still do the movie and try what we tried to do. As much as we tried to soften it, you couldn’t get away from the fundamental darkness.

Don Hahn: Yeah, that sounds like Peter. He’s always the contrarian.

Peter Schneider: I’m not sure we should have made the movie, in retrospect. I mean, it did well, Kirk and Gary did a beautiful job. The voices are beautiful. The songs are lovely, but I’m not sure we should have made the movie.

Gaëtan Brizzi: The hardest part was to stick to the commercial side of the movie…to make sure we were still addressing kids.

Kirk Wise: We knew it was going to be a challenge to honor the source material while delivering a movie that would fit comfortably on the shelf with the other Disney musicals. We embraced it.

Roy Conli: I don’t think it was too mature. I do find it at times slightly provocative, but not in a judgmental or negative way. I stand by the film 100 percent in sending a message of hope.

Peter Schneider: It never settled its tone. If you look at the gargoyles and bringing in Jason Alexander to try and give comedy to this rather bleak story of a judge keeping a deformed young man in the tower…there’s so many icky factors for a Disney movie.

Jason Alexander: Some children might be frightened by Quasi’s look or not be able to understand the complexity. But what we see is an honest, innocent and capable underdog confront his obstacles and naysayers and emerge triumphant, seen and accepted. I think young people rally to those stories. They can handle the fearsome and celebrate the good.

Brenda Chapman: There was a scene where Frollo was locking Quasimodo in the tower, and Quasi was quite upset. I had to pull back from how cruel Frollo was in that moment, if I’m remembering correctly. I wanted to make him a very human monster, which can be scarier than a real monster.

Roy Conli: We walked such a tight line and we were on the edge and the fact that Disney allowed us to be on the edge was a huge tribute to them.

“Hear the Voice”

The story was set, the songs were ready. All that was left was getting a cast together to bring the characters’ voices to life.

Jason Alexander: Disney, Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz, Victor Hugo – you had me at hello.

Paul Kandel: I was in Tommy, on Broadway. I was also a Tony nominee. So I had those prerequisites. Then I got a call from my agent that Jeffrey Katzenberg decided he wanted a star. I was out of a job I already had. I said, “I want to go back in and audition again.” I wanted to let them choose between me and whoever had a name that would help sell the film. So that series of auditions went on and I got the job back.

Kirk Wise: Everybody auditioned, with the exception of Kevin Kline and Demi Moore. We went to them with an offer. But we had a few people come in for Quasimodo, including Meat Loaf.

Will Finn: Katzenberg saw Meat Loaf and Cher playing Quasimodo and Esmeralda – more of a rock opera. He also wanted Leno, Letterman, and Arsenio as the gargoyles at one point.

Kirk Wise: Meat Loaf sat with Alan and rehearsed the song. It was very different than what we ended up with, because Meat Loaf has a very distinct sound. Ultimately, I think his record company and Disney couldn’t play nice together, and the deal fell apart.

Gary Trousdale: We all had the drawings of the characters we were currently casting for in front of us. Instead of watching the actor, we’d be looking down at the piece of paper, trying to hear that voice come out of the drawing. And it was, we learned, a little disconcerting for some of the actors and actresses, who would put on hair and makeup and clothes and they’ve got their body language and expressions. We just want to hear the voice.

Kirk Wise: We cast Cyndi Lauper as one of the gargoyles. We thought she was hilarious and sweet. The little fat obnoxious gargoyle had a different name, and was going to be played by Sam McMurray. We had Cyndi and Sam record, and Roy Disney hated it. The quality of Cyndi’s voice and Sam’s voice were extremely grating to his ear. This is no disrespect to them – Cyndi Lauper is amazing. And Sam McMurray is very funny. But it was not working for the people in the room on that day.

Jason Alexander: The authors cast you for a reason – they think they’ve heard a voice in you that fits their character. I always try to look at the image of the character – his shape, his size, his energy and start to allow sounds, pitches, vocal tics to emerge. Then everyone kicks that around, nudging here, tweaking there and within a few minutes you have the approach to the vocalization. It’s not usually a long process, but it is fun.

Kirk Wise: We decided to reconceive the gargoyles. We always knew we wanted three of them. We wanted a Laurel and Hardy pair. The third gargoyle, the female gargoyle, was up in the air. I think it was Will Finn who said, “Why don’t we make her older?” As the wisdom-keeper. That led us to Mary Wickes, who was absolutely terrific. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Mary, and 98% of the dialogue is her. But she sadly passed away before we were finished.

Will Finn: We brought in a ton of voice-over actresses and none sounded like Mary. One night, I woke up thinking about Jane Withers, who had been a character actress in the golden age of Hollywood. She had a similar twang in her voice, and very luckily, she was alive and well.

Kirk Wise: Our first session with Kevin Kline went OK, but something was missing. It just didn’t feel like there was enough of a twinkle in his voice. Roy Conli said, “Guys, he’s an actor. Give him a prop.” For the next session, the supervising animator for Phoebus brought in a medieval broadsword. Before the session started, we said “Kevin, we’ve got a present for you.” We brought out this sword, and he lit up like a kid at Christmas. He would gesture with it and lean on it. Roy found the key there.

Gary Trousdale: Kevin Kline is naturally funny, so we may have [written] some funnier lines for him. When he’s sparring with Esmeralda in the cathedral and he gets hit by the goat. “I didn’t know you had a kid,” which is the worst line ever. But he pulls it off. He had good comic timing.

Kirk Wise: Tom Hulce had a terrific body of work, including Amadeus. But the performance that stuck with me was in Dominic and Eugene. There was a sensitivity and emotional reality to that performance that made us lean in and think he might make a good Quasimodo.

Gary Trousdale: [His voice] had a nice mix of youthful and adult. He had a maturity, but he had an innocence as well. We’re picturing Quasimodo as a guy who’s basically an innocent. It was a quality of his voice that we could hear.

Don Hahn: He’s one of those actors who could perform and act while he sang. Solo songs, especially for Quasimodo, are monologues set to music. So you’re looking for someone who can portray all the emotion of the scene. It’s about performance and storytelling, and creating a character while you’re singing. That’s why Tom rose to the top.

Stephen Schwartz: I thought Tom did great. I had known Tom a little bit beforehand, as an actor in New York. I’d seen him do Equus and I was sort of surprised. I just knew him as an actor in straight plays. I didn’t know that he sang at all, and then it turned out that he really sang.

Paul Kandel: [Tom] didn’t think of himself as a singer. He’s an actor who can sing. “Out There,” his big number – whether he’s going to admit it to you or not – that was scary for him. But a beautiful job.

Brenda Chapman: Quasimodo was the key to make it family-friendly. Tom Hulce did such a great job making him appealing.

Kirk Wise: Gary came back with the audiotape of Tom’s first session. And his first appearance with the little bird, where he asks if the bird is ready to fly…that whole scene was his rehearsal tape. His instincts were so good. He just nailed it. I think he was surprised that we went with that take. It was the least overworked and the most spontaneous, and felt emotionally real to us.

Kathy Zielinski: Early on, they wanted Anthony Hopkins to do the voice [of Frollo]. [We] did an animation test with a line of his from Silence of the Lambs.

Kirk Wise: We were thinking of Hannibal Lecter in the earliest iterations of Frollo. They made an offer, but Hopkins passed. We came full circle to Tony, because it had been such a good experience working with him on Beauty and the Beast. It was the combination of the quality of his voice, the familiarity of working with him, and knowing how professional and sharp he was.

Though the role of Quasimodo went to Tom Hulce (who did not respond to multiple requests for comment), there was one audition those involved haven’t forgotten.

Kirk Wise: We had a few people come in for Quasimodo, including Mandy Patinkin.

Stephen Schwartz: That was a difficult day. [laughing]

Kirk Wise: Mandy informed Alan and Stephen that he brought his own accompanist, which was unexpected because we had one in the room. He had taken a few liberties with [“Out There”]. He had done a little rearranging. You could see Alan’s and Stephen’s spines stiffen. It was not the feel that Alan and Stephen were going for. Stephen pretty much said so in the room. I think his words were a little sharper and more pointed than mine.

Stephen Schwartz: I’ve never worked with Mandy Patinkin. But I admired Evita and Sunday in the Park with George. He came in to audition for Quasimodo. When I came in, Ben Vereen was sitting in the hallway. Ben is a friend of mine and kind of a giant star. I felt we should be polite in terms of bringing him in relatively close to the time for which he was called.

Mandy took a long time with his audition, and asked to do it over and over again. If you’re Mandy Patinkin, you should have enough time scheduled to feel you were able to show what you wanted to show. However, that amount of time was not scheduled. At a certain point, I became a bit agitated because I knew Ben was sitting there, cooling his heels. I remember asking [to] move along or something. That created a huge contretemps.

Kirk Wise: Gary and I stepped outside to work on a dialogue scene with Mandy. As we were explaining the scene and our take on the character, Mandy threw up his hands and said, “Guys, I’m really sorry. I can’t do this.” He turned on his heel and went into the rehearsal hall and shut the door. We started hearing an intense argument. He basically went in and read Alan and Stephen the riot act. The door opens, smoke issuing from the crater that he left inside. Mandy storms out, and he’s gone. We step back in the room, asking, “What the hell happened?”

Gary Trousdale: I did a drawing of it afterwards. The Patinkin Incident.

Stephen Schwartz: Battleship Patinkin!

“Join the Party”

The darkness in the film made it difficult to market. Even some involved acknowledged the issue. In the run-up to release, Jason Alexander said to Entertainment Weekly, “Disney would have us believe this movie’s like the Ringling Bros., for children of all ages. But I won’t be taking my 4-year old. I wouldn’t expose him to it, not for another year.”

Alan Menken: There was all the outrage about Jason Alexander referring to it as a dark story that’s not for kids. Probably Disney wasn’t happy he said that.

Jason Alexander: Most Disney animated films are entertaining and engaging for any child with an attention span. All of them have elements that are frightening. But people are abused in Hunchback. These are people, not cute animals. Some children could be overwhelmed by some of it at a very young age. My son at the time could not tolerate any sense of dread in movies so it would have been hard for him. However, that is certainly not all children.

Don Hahn: I don’t think Jason was wrong. People have to decide for themselves. It probably wasn’t a movie for four-year olds. You as a parent know your kid better than I do.

If everyone agrees the score is excellent, they also agree on something that was not.

Alan Menken: God knows we couldn’t control how Disney marketing dealt with the movie, which was a parade with Quasimodo on everybody’s shoulders going, “Join the party.” [laughing]

Roy Conli: I always thought “Animation comes of age” would be a great [tagline]. I think the marketing ended up, “Join the party.”

Brenda Chapman: Marketing had it as this big party. And then you get into the story and there’s all this darkness. I think audiences were not expecting that, if they didn’t know the original story.

Kathy Zielinski: It was a hard movie for Disney to merchandise and sell to the public.

Gaëtan Brizzi: People must have been totally surprised by the dramatic sequences. The advertising was not reflecting what the movie was about.

Stephen Schwartz: To this day, they just don’t know how to market “Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.” I understand what their quandary is. They have developed a brand that says, “If you see the word Disney on something, it means you can take your 6-year old.” You probably shouldn’t even take your 8-year old, unless he or she is very mature, to Hunchback.

Alan Menken: We [Disney] had such a run of successful projects. It was inevitable there was going to be a time where people said, “I’ve seen all those, but what else is out there?” I had that experience sitting at a diner with my family, overhearing a family talk about Hunchback and say, “Oh yeah, we saw Beauty and Aladdin, but this one…let’s see something else.”

Stephen Schwartz: I did have a sense that some in the critical community didn’t know how to reconcile animation and an adult approach. They have the same attitude some critics have about musicals. “It’s fine if it’s tap-dancing and about silly subjects. But if it’s something that has intellectual import, you can’t do that.” Obviously we have Hamilton and Sweeney Todd and Wicked. Over the years, that’s changed to some extent, but not for everybody.

Roy Conli: Every film is not a Lion King. [But] if that story has legs and will touch people, then you’ve succeeded.

Kirk Wise: We were a little disappointed in its initial weekend. It didn’t do as well as we hoped. We were also disappointed in the critical reaction. It was well-reviewed, but more mixed. Roger Ebert loved us. The New York Times hated us! I felt whipsawed. It was the same critic [Janet Maslin] who praised Beauty and the Beast to the high heavens. She utterly shat on Hunchback.

Don Hahn: We had really good previews, but we also knew it was out of the box creatively. We were also worried about the French and we were worried about the handicapped community and those were the two communities that supported the movie the most.

Will Finn: I knew we were in trouble when the first trailers played and audiences laughed at Quasimodo singing “Out There” on the roof.

Kirk Wise: All of us were proud of the movie on an artistic level. In terms of animation and backgrounds and music and the use of the camera and the performances. It’s the entire studio operating at its peak level of performance, as far as I’m concerned.

Gary Trousdale: I didn’t think people were going to have such a negative reaction to the gargoyles. They’re a little silly. And they do undercut the gravity. But speaking with friends who were kids at the time, they have nothing but fond memories. There were adults, high school age and older when they saw it, they were turned off. We thought it was going to do really great. We thought, “We’re topping ourselves.” It’s a sophisticated story and the music is amazing.

Kirk Wise: The 2D animated movies used to be released before Christmas [or] Thanksgiving. The Lion King changed that. Now everything was a summer release. I always questioned the wisdom of releasing Hunchback in the summertime, in competition with other blockbusters.

Paul Kandel: It made $300 million and it cost $80 million to make. So they were not hurting as far as profits were concerned. But I thought it was groundbreaking in so many ways that I was surprised at the mixed reviews.

Kirk Wise: By most measures, it was a hit. I think The Lion King spoiled everybody, because [it] was such a phenomenon, a bolt from the blue, not-to-be-repeated kind of event.

Gary Trousdale: We were getting mixed reviews. Some of them were really good. “This is a stunning masterpiece.” And other people were saying, “This is a travesty.” And the box office was coming in, not as well as hoped.

Don Hahn: I was in Argentina doing South American press. I got a call from Peter Schneider, who said, “It’s performing OK, but it’s probably going to hit 100 million.” Which, for any other moviemaker, would be a goldmine. But we’d been used to huge successes. I was disappointed.

Peter Schneider: I think it was a hit, right? It just wasn’t the same. As they say in the theater, you don’t set out to make a failure.

Don Hahn: If you’re the New York Yankees, and you’ve had a winning season where you could not lose, and then people hit standup singles instead of home runs…that’s OK. But it has this aura of disappointment. That’s the feeling that’s awful to have, because it’s selfish. Animation is an art, and the arts are meant to be without a price tag hanging off of them all the time.

Paul Brizzi: We are still grateful to Kirk and Gary and Don. We worked on [Hunchback] for maybe a year or a year and a half. Every sequence, we did with passion.

Gaëtan Brizzi: Our work on Hunchback was a triumph of our career.

Kathy Zielinski: There are certainly a whole crowd of people who wish we had not [done] the comedy, because that wasn’t faithful. That’s the main complaint I heard – we should’ve gone for this total dramatic piece and not worried about the kiddies.

Gaetan Brizzi: The only concern we had was the lack of homogeneity. The drama was really strong, and the [comedy] was sometimes a little bit goofy. It was a paradox. When you go from “Hellfire” to a big joke, the transition was not working well. Otherwise, we were very proud.

James Baxter: We were happy with what we did, but we understood it was going to be a slightly harder sell. The Hunchback of Notre Dame usually doesn’t engender connotations like, “Oh, that’s going to be a Disney classic.” I was very happy that it did as well as it did.

Jason Alexander: I thought it was even more mature and emotional on screen. It was an exciting maturation of what a Disney animated feature could be. I was impressed and touched.

“An Undersung Hero”

25 years later, The Hunchback of Notre Dame endures. The animated film inspired an even darker stage show that played both domestically and overseas, and in recent years, there have been rumors that Josh Gad would star as Quasimodo in a live-action remake.

Alan Menken: I think it’s a project that with every passing year will more and more become recognized as a really important part of my career.

Stephen Schwartz: This will be immodest, but I think it’s a really fine adaptation. I think it’s the best musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel, and there have been a lot. I think the music is just unbelievably good. I think, as a lyricist, I was working at pretty much the top of my form. I have so many people telling me it’s their favorite Disney film.

Alan Menken: During the pandemic, there was this hundred-piece choir doing “The Bells of Notre Dame.” People are picking up on it. It’s the combination of the storytelling and how well the score is constructed that gets it to longevity. If something is good enough, it gets found.

Paul Kandel: I think people were more sensitive. There was an expectation that a new Disney animated film would not push boundaries at all, which it did. For critics, it pushed a little too hard and I don’t think they would think that now. It’s a work of art.

Gaëtan Brizzi: Hunchback is poetic, because of its dark romanticism. We have tons of animated movies, but I think they all look alike because of the computer technique. This movie is very important in making people understand that hate has no place in our society, between a culture or people or a country. That’s the message of the movie, and of Victor Hugo himself.

Jason Alexander: I think it’s an undersung hero. It’s one of the most beautiful and moving animated films. But it is not the title that lives on everyone’s tongue. I think more people haven’t seen this one than any of the others. I adore it.

Peter Schneider: What Disney did around this period [is] we stopped making musicals. I think that was probably a mistake on some level, but the animators were bored with it.

Don Hahn: You know people reacted to Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King. They were successful movies in their day. You don’t know the reaction to anything else. So when [I] go to Comic-Con or do press on other movies, people started talking about Hunchback. “My favorite Alan Menken score is Hunchback.” It’s always surprising and delightful.

Kirk Wise: I’ve had so many people come up to me and say, “This is my absolute favorite movie. I adored this movie as a kid. I wore out my VHS.” That makes all the difference in the world.

Paul Kandel: Sitting on my desk right now are four long letters and requests for autographs. I get 20 of those a week. People are still seeing that film and being moved by it.

Alan Menken: Now there’s a discussion about a live-action film with Hunchback. And that’s [sighs] exciting and problematic. We have to, once again, wade into the troubled waters of “What is Disney’s movie version of Hunchback?” Especially now.

Jason Alexander: Live action could work because the vast majority of characters are human. The story of an actual human who is in some ways less abled and who is defined by how he looks, rather than his heart and character, is timely and important, to say the least.

Kirk Wise: I imagine if there were a live-action adaptation, it would skew more towards the stage version. That’s just my guess.

Stephen Schwartz: I think it would lend itself extremely well to a live-action movie, particularly if they use the stage show as the basis. I think the stage show is fantastic.

Kirk Wise: It’s gratifying to be involved in movies like Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback that have created so much affection. But animation is as legitimate a form of storytelling as live-action is. It might be different, but I don’t think it’s better. I feel like [saying], “Just put on the old one. It’s still good!”

Gary Trousdale: There were enough versions before. Somebody wants to make another version? Okay. Most people can tell the difference between the animated version and a live-action reboot. Mostly I’m not a fan of those. But if that’s what Disney wants to do, great.

Don Hahn: It’s very visual. It’s got huge potential because of its setting and the drama, and the music. It’s pretty powerful, so it makes sense to remake that movie. I think we will someday.

Brenda Chapman: It’s a history lesson. Now that Notre Dame is in such dire straits, after having burned so badly, hopefully [this] will increase interest in all that history.

James Baxter: It meant two children. I met my wife on that movie. [laughs] In a wider sense, the legacy is another step of broadening the scope of what Disney feature animation could be.

Kirk Wise: Hunchback is the movie where the final product turned out closest to the original vision. There was such terrific passion by the crew that carried throughout the process.

Roy Conli: It’s one of the most beautiful films we’ve made. 25 years later, I’d say “Join the party.” [laughs]

[darkpoisonouslove]

Ranking the Winx Club Finales

I recently finished my rewatch (and first watch of a season and a half) of Winx Club and wrote out my thoughts on all of it. However, to send off a year that was in experience a lot like watching this series - meaning, generally frustrating and downright disappointing whenever I got excited over a thing with a few highlights that actually stuck the landing - and to get out any remaining feelings over the series, I have decided to rank the finales from least to most favorite. I just have a lot of rage to spare over season 8′s finale and needed an excuse to do so. Plus, I am being thematic here goddammit! Here we go:

8. Season 8

Yeah, I really spoiled that already. To sum it up:

But let me elaborate. Like I already said, this finale enraged the living fuck out of me. I just cannot comprehend whatever possessed them to write a finale so, so... excruciatingly devastating... to a season that started out with a lot of promise and had some extremely solid decisions (except for the art style, which is just NOT IT). This finale is an absolute disaster in every way. First, there is a new plot point introduced mere minutes before the finale and it is never tied into the overall narrative of the season which doesn’t do it any favors, especially after the two halves of the season already have trouble connecting together into one overarching story. The reason they brought in the creatures from the Dark Dimension was to distract Valtor while Winx make their attempt at stealing the stars which could have very well been a role filled by Arken confronting Valtor in an opportunity to clear up all the muddy details around their partnership and bring together the two halves of the season. The Winx’ plan had potential that was completely wasted by their own interruption instead of seeing each girl (provided Layla was playing Icy, Stella - Darcy and Musa/Tecna - Stormy) doing her best to pretend to be the Trix she’s posing as to give the Trix the due role they should have had in this finale. Instead, we get an Icy that is a complete opposite of the character we’ve known her to be for seven seasons all for the sake of a wish she doesn’t even get fulfilled despite her decision to help. Her motivation is a direct contradiction to the original plan of the Trix and disrespects her character from all previous instances of her being on the show for absolutely no reason as she is left with nothing in the end and the whole backstory they invented for her out of nowhere and couldn’t fit in any way with anything previously known about her was in vain because it was never resolved. Winx essentially manage to defeat Valtor once they wish for their own power-up and are gifted powers they haven’t really earned only to be pronounced great heroes who even get their own constellation in the sky. Come again? There was no narrative tension in this episode, no big climax to resolve what is supposedly the biggest threat in the universe at the moment, and no actual emotional conclusion to the season. It can’t even be called a messy wrap when so many threads were left hanging in there. A true disaster on every front.

7. Season 6

Even if you count both 6x25 and 6x26 as the finale of season 6, the structure is still lacking big time. Acheron who is the main drive of the entire season is defeated before the end of 6x25 and the Trix who are the other main villains were also more or less neutralized at that point to leave absolutely no stakes for the last episode so they had to pull some bullshit to fill it. The Winx are useless for the entire episode, including Bloom whose battle with the Trix is an absolute joke. Like, they can’t even think of syncing their attacks so that she can’t protect herself from all three of them with her ridiculously small shield and Bloom couldn’t even bother to actually buy herself enough time to leave the Legendarium. The only saving grace of that fight is the little emotional moment it causes for Bloom but that was also not really set up at any point of the season so it was just out of the blue. Selina changing her affiliations permanently even after the imminent threat for her life was neutralized made about as much sense as her turning evil in the first place and the fact that they needed her to lock the Legendarium made everything 1000% shittier because of how convenient it was that she just decided to turn good again without any justification for her course of actions. That coupled with the lack of consequences for any of her actions (she nearly killed Flora for heaven’s sake and no one even brought that up?) plus the dreadful info dump monologue they gave her just brought the whole thing down. The wrap-up of the season was also underwhelming after they had an entire episode that was mainly free of villains in order to close the other storylines... but, of course, there were no other storylines. Pretty disastrous.

6. Season 7

Just like in season 6, Winx were pretty useless here as they really didn’t do all that much for the plot. Luckily, the fact that the Trix were brought in allowed for the villains to have a battle that was more intriguing and provided some action as for a finale. The other key elements of the season (fairy animals, Trix, wild magic, Kalshara and Brafilius and the time travel) were actually woven together pretty well to make for a pretty satisfying finish to a season that really lacked any solid plot. The mini worlds and the Tynix transformation did not have use in the last episode but that wasn’t too catastrophic. There was actually a pretty emotional moment between the fairy animals and Winx that would have been even better if their relationships had been better developed throughout the season... You’d really think that since fairy animals were the main point of the season and there was no solid plot to account for, they would have taken the time to pay attention to Winx bonding with their fairy animals but nah. I am still impressed with how touching their goodbye was given the fact that they didn’t really have all that much time to actually become close so bonus points for that. The very last scene is a little generic but what else to expect from a season that has sung all its songs already (thank god that there were no musical numbers in this because I have a feeling it would have been even worse)?

5. Season 5

Season 5 could at least pat itself on the back for dealing with the main villain of the season even if there were a couple iffy things about the whole deal. I’m taking away consistency points for a) the fact that the Throne was supposed to be activated with the seals from the Pillars of the Infinite Ocean, yet suddenly stealing a random Sirenix would do, b) Tritannus being defeated by simply having his trident taken away even though he literally grew in body mass implying that the power of the Emperor’s Throne had seeped inside of him (also confirmed by Mystery of the Abyss) and c) the mutants inexplicably turning back into people once Tritannus lost his powers even though they never turned back during his times of relapsing back into a human thanks to running out of pollution. His defeat was just ridiculously easy and Bloom got to do it even though Layla was the one with the personal connection to Tritannus and the one most directly impacted by his actions as her family fell prey to him. Instead of getting to shine in a season that focused heavily not just on her home world but on the environment from which her powers come, she got benched in favor of Bloom getting to do everything again with only mild assist from Layla’s cousin. They should have kept it in the family and left Layla and Nereus deal with Tritannus. The Trix were blasted out of the narrative extremely conveniently and the rest of Winx were saved twice by the mutants just turning their back on them instead of destroying them right then and there and then being turned back into their original form as well. There wasn’t the usual teamwork of the whole Winx unit which I am still salty about despite being sick of all the time they reached for convergence in that season. Theredor fighting alongside Winx (different from his own daughter) was a nice touch but the king and queen of Andros coming off as so helpless (and apparently the only people in the castle unless you admit that everyone else drowned) was frustrating. Where was the Andros army? We only got Tressa, Roy, four of Winx and a handful of mermaids. Is that the whole population of the Heart of All Oceans? Additionally, the finale left no time for any emotional resolution of the season’s events, especially considering the big deal that Daphne’s revival was. Instead they opted for a musical number at the end. Not the best form.

4. Season 3

Season 3 had a finale and then another finale. Granted, better than season 6 that had a finale and then filler but there was not a lot of glory to the ending of a story with such a strong opening and emotional moments that send you bursting into tears. The spell of the four elements was pretty decent in its first appearance in 3x25 but the way Valtor lost it all was a real let down after the climatic confrontations between him and the Winx girls throughout the rest of the season. His return was more or less a desperate last attempt at personal revenge against Winx as his goal was mostly out of reach at this point. The spell of the elements was brought down in both its use to create clones of Winx’ boyfriends and in its power as it was much easier to undo in its reappearance. The saving graces of this season’s finale are the couple emotional moments sprinkled through both 3x25 and 3x26. Bloom’s willingness to sacrifice herself for her friends and the world was the thread that the finale hangs on as she is mostly the one resolving the whole conflict which was a bit dissatisfying after the emotional damage Valtor inflicted on all of them directly or indirectly. There is a few moments left to recover from the emotional intensity of their battles against Valtor but nothing that really addresses the seriousness of the trauma they had to survive because of him. The Trix didn’t even get to have a last stand of their own in either of the last two episodes despite the position in which they started the season but that was more or less unnecessary anyway since we’d already seen they can’t hold their ground against Enchantix Winx even with a boost from Valtor. Overall, the finale is pretty weak, especially as a follow-up of the dynamic and strong experiences that the season put them all through. It was the first finale that was confined to a single episode (or rather two separate battles spanning over an episode to end the season) and there wasn’t enough tension building in the confined storyline an episode told.

3. Season 4

The season 4 finale is overall a solid conclusion that delivers both a final battle with the Wizards and enough time left to address all the other storylines left unfinished. The final battle was pretty short but there was enough intensity in the previous couple episodes to have covered the action demand that the season had already set up and it also provided the opportunity to have Winx come back together as a team after Layla split up. Not only that, but Nebula and Roxy also get to play their part while the Wizards make their last desperate attempt to regain the upper hand. It’s pretty climatic for something that length that also left about 15 minutes of the episode still to fill. Everything that had to do with the closure of the Earth fairies storyline was emotional beyond belief and gave more depth to all of them and Layla’s decision to join them. Winx had to face all of the separate responsibilities they have on their shoulders and find a way to balance them all so that they can pursue their dreams. There was a plethora of emotional moments and a deserved spotlight shined on Layla’s situation and how she’s dealing with it, plus the others’ feelings. It was a really touching finale and also an inspiring one to see Winx stand behind their dreams while still balancing their responsibilities. It seemed to achieve the initial goal of the season to have them adapting to the adult life they were shifting into.

2. Season 2

I’m gonna be honest, I had a very hard time deciding whether this would be number one or two because the season 2 finale had a lot more character moments that were very moving. It really corresponds to the season since it was more character driven than the first one and the finale suited that. However, ultimately I decided that it would take silver because of a couple minor things that bring it down. To get that out of the way, the second portal to Realix that led Winx there was imo a copout that destroyed pretty much all of the tension that the entire season spent building around the search for the Codex. It just felt so wrong for there to be another way to enter that dimension and to me it was a big disappointment. Especially since the key to activating the copy of the Codex was the color riddle that was a ridiculous panicked attempt on the writers’ part to show that Stella isn’t useless and has what to give the team but it only made her look worse in my eyes. Also, minor gripe for the fact that there wasn’t that much of a final battle since everything ended with a single convergence. Of course, there were several battles across the episode between different sides that made for good action and tension and there was magic involved in more ways than simply the convergence in order to defeat Darkar but it was still a bit of a letdown to never truly see him put his everything in battle. And the fact that Griffin and Faragonda held him off for as long as they did on their own actually hurt his credibility as a threat as well. But hey, on the plus side, remember when the teachers actually helped and did not leave the fate of the whole universe in the hands of 16-year-olds? Good times! The MegaTrix and her? their? battle with Darkar was epic. 20/10 on that concept alone, plus it really brought a great feeling of vindication after the number Darkar did on them and felt so satisfying even if they were also part of the villain team of the season. They were portrayed as three-dimensional and weren’t cast out of the narrative without care just because they were villains and that was actually probably the most solid moment that the Trix have ever had on the show (just minor gripe for the fact that they were supposed to be trapped in Realix when the dimension was sealed forever but they were later somehow brought out of there which was never explained). Sky’s speech to Bloom was actually a pretty emotional moment and the payoff from it felt earned and allowed for Bloom’s victory against the darkness to feel natural and in place. It was probably one of their best moments as a couple. Plus, the cute little interactions that we got during the celebration party to send off the season on its merry way made for a great finale. (And a shoutout to the Musa x Riven scenes both in 2x25 and 2x26 because that was some good shit and some cute shit and it was exactly what we deserved).

1. Season 1

Season 1 reigns supreme with its finale. There is just no other finale that can rise to the level of the first one that was built for about one third of the season so that the last episode could dive right into the action without wasting time on setup. This is also the only place where we truly and fully get to see each of the Winx and the Trix (well, minus Layla who hasn’t been introduced yet) showcase their powers but especially Bloom and Icy. It is the longest battle we have seen and it builds a lot of tension on top of what was already there to leave you on the edge of your seat. The exploration of magic in this episode makes it so iconic and such a great watch even on the 300th time. There isn’t really much more to say than simply “It is epic”. What makes it even better though is the fact that there is enough time left in the episode to wrap up everything else and not in a rushed way. The battleground is extended to the locations that have already suffered the previous battles to show the full extension of the action and to setup the wrap-up that comes at the end. They even find the time to let some of the minor characters have distinct and touching moments as well and thus expand the universe of Winx further than just the main characters. Speaking off, they all get their moments, too, and the Specialists aren’t left out of that (you will never catch me not fangirling over Sky and Riven fighting back to back). The finale also doesn’t forget about the overarching story about Bloom’s origin which is commendable considering the constant lack of consistency the show suffers. This is really the only finale that isn’t lacking in any of the departments and manages to provide a truly fascinating story that keeps you entertained and in suspense while at the same time does not discard the emotional payoff or the logical continuation of events. It just excels in every way.

Well, this is my analysis on the finales of Winx Club. What started out as a bitch fest actually left on on a positive and uplifting note to make for a great ending to a harsh year. Let’s see what beginnings 2021 will bring! ;)

[m00nslippers]

I feel like I need to justify why I haven’t posted any writing at all in like a month or two, so here’s the first part of a WIP.

No Title yet. I’m shit at titles.

Fandom: Batman, Red Hood And The Outlaws, Red Hood/Arsenal, Grayson, Nightwing Relationships: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne Characters: Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson, Timothy Drake, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Talia Al'Ghul, Roy Harper, Helena Bertinelli, Tiger | Agent 1 Tags: No Capes AU, Jason was never adopted by Bruce, Spyral Agent Dick, Bodyguard/Mercenary Jason, Child Soldiers, PTSD, Survivor’s Guilt, Talia is a good-ish mom, Tiger is so done with Dick, Brief elements of Racism and American Imperialism in the Middle East.

Summery: When Spyral Agent Dick Grayson accompanies his brother Tim to his school science fair, he meets his brother's stuffy arch-rival Damian and realizes he's the son of Talia Al Ghul, heir to the Al Ghul international criminal empire that has its tentacles in everything from high-profile political assassinations to weapons trafficking. Concerned about the danger the association poses to his younger brother, Dick decides to find out more...and comes up against Damian's dangerously attractive bodyguard, Jason Todd.

- - -

Timothy was sighing as he lead Dick to his school auditorium. “I'm telling you Dick, it's fine.”

But Dick was not having it. He frowned and pulled his suit blazer a little closer around him in the chilly night air as they crossed the parking lot, approaching the lights and bustle of the school building.

“How is it fine?” he asked Tim. “You're getting a first place prize for your science fair project and Bruce doesn't even have the decency to come!”

He wasn't mad about this a few minutes ago, but seeing all the families spilling out of the building, children hugging parents and vice versa for a job well done or consolation at having underperformed, made Dick feel like a half-assed chaperone. Bruce should have been here with them, and Alfred, and Steph and Conner and all Tim's other friends, but instead it's just him and he didn't feel like he was doing a great job of being support, even if it was just for a high school science fair.

Tim rolled his eyes. “This is my fourth one, Dick. And he had an important business meeting, I already told him it was okay that he couldn't make it. I meant that. It's just the district-wide competition. Now if I get one from the state, then his ass better show up.”

Dick didn't think a business meeting was a great excuse—he'd been privy to it enough in his own youth to find it played out—but Tim seemed sincere so maybe it really was important. “Well, you could have had Alfred come at least. He wanted to, even.”

“He's still pretending he doesn't have a cold. I'd rather he just rest,” Tim argued, and okay, Dick could see that. Neither of them wanted Alfred to exert himself when he wasn't feeling well and the night air could be hard on an old man.

“Besides, having a brothers' night out isn't so bad,” Tim added with a shrug. “We don't get to hang out much, especially just us.”

Dick beamed and Tim smiled back. Technically speaking, Dick should have more time with family since he'd quit the Blüdhaven police force (more like he was drummed out for being against the corruption and refusing to fall in line) and moved back to Gotham to work for Spyral, but in practice he'd been out of town for months at a time on field work until just recently. So maybe this was fine. Just him and Tim, brotherly bonding. It wasn't half-assed, it was exclusive. Okay.

Suddenly Tim's smile fell, avoiding looking at someone in the crowd as he half hid behind his older, taller brother. “Actually, let's just skip the awards ceremony and go straight to sushi,” Tim suggested with a suspiciously too-pleasant voice. “I mean, one big fancy ribbon is just like another, right? And who needs jealous, begrudging applause from the Gotham Academy Science Club Captain? I'm so over the rush of smug superiority it gives me.”

Dick narrowed his eyes. “Okay, the Timothy Drake-Wayne I know would never say that. What's going on?”

Tim tried to manhandle Dick into turning around, but Dick was curious enough at his adoptive brother's behavior to stand his ground.

“Damn it, too late.” Tim winced and stepped back out from behind Dick to paste a tight smile on his face.

A dark young boy with flashing jade eyes strode up to Tim and somehow looked down his nose at the taller boy from a few inches under five feet tall. He was clearly younger than Tim, but he held himself as if the whole world was his to command and his shoulders were as straight as any boardroom executive. Despite being fairly sure he'd never seen the kid before, Dick found him uncannily familiar, though he couldn't say why. Then Dick had an odd flash of Bruce icing out an idiot at a Wayne Gala, and comparing Bruce's general demeanor to some jumped-up little kid had Dick choking back a laugh. This was probably exactly what he was like as a child, Dick suspected. He'd run into Bruce's tiny doppelganger.

As the child stopped in front of Tim, Dick realized he had a shadow. Behind the boy stalked a man who made Dick feel small and somehow still managed to slink smoothly at the boy's heels like a massive guard dog with movements that spoke of training and deadly skill that put him on high alert. Dick found himself frowning as his muscles tensed, his brain leaping automatically into Agent Thirty-Seven mode as he assessed the man's threat potential and realized it was way too high for their venue. This wasn't the kind of person he expected to run into at a school function. This was more like the kind of people Dick dealt with in his day job.

“Drake, I see you've made an appearance at this shabby competition,” the boy spoke in an imperious tone, his accent something like Britain colored by the Middle East. “First place in the High School division was it? The standards for schooling in this country must be even lower than I'd been lead to believe for someone of your caliber to rise to the top.”

“Damian, so you're here,” Tim droned. “And you've pinned your first place ribbon in the Junior High division to your blazer like a prize pig at a state fair. You look pretty proud of yourself, despite those so-called low standards you're delusional about.” Tim's eyelids had lowered at the boy, Damian, in an annoyed, dismissive way that surprised Dick. Tim was generally a friendly, understanding person, even the loathed Franklin Debauer the Third, the Science Club Captain, didn't get this level of hostility.

Damian clicked his tongue and gave a haughty scoff. “Please, Drake. It's clear to me that you're basal intellect couldn't stand up to real competition. I'm only disappointed that our age difference is such that you'll be ineligible to participate in the judging when I've graduated to the high school division.”

Timothy sneered. “Yes, I'm sure it's such a relief for you to know I'll be above such petty concerns as a high school science fair competition with children when I'm in college and can't utterly crush you and your cute little excuse of an experiment. Being surrounded by small fish is where you excel, isn't it?”

Dick's eyes widened. Wow. What the hell was going on? Dick had never seen Tim engage in this kind of sharp repartee and as entertaining as it was, Dick wasn't sure he liked seeing Tim this way. “Tim,” he hastily interrupted, “why don't you introduce me to your friends.”

Tim sighed and gestured vaguely at Damian, who was now looking Dick up and down, measuring him against some invisible standard and finding him wanting. “Dick, this is Damian. Just a kid at my school. He recently moved to Gotham from outside the country. And that's...Mr. Todd? He's Damian's bodyguard, or his babysitter. One of the two.”

Dick's attention snapped back to the man standing behind Damian with an easy stance that to his trained eye concealed coiled violence. Bodyguard, huh? Dick chewed on the idea for a moment before he decided it was a reasonable explanation for the man's presence. Gotham Academy was a rich school, plenty of paranoid billionaires here employed some kind of personal security. They just weren't usually at this level of ability. Mr. Todd was the real deal, he could tell that much by the way his eyes swept over the parking lot and calculated the vectors of people passing by.

Dick decided to work under the assumption that Mr. Todd was who he said he was—for now.

He reached out to shake hands with Mr. Todd and found himself examining the man's large, rough hands with too many scars, filing every detail away in the back of his mind. His gaze followed those hands to the man's muscular arms and broad shoulders filling out a brown leather jacket like a dream. Mr. Todd's face was no less distracting to Dick. He was much younger than Dick would have expected, with a wide mouth, a thin nose that showed signs of having been broken, and dark, hooded brows cut by a scar, shadowing eyes the color of sea glass.

Dick found himself drawn in by those eyes that seemed to gaze deep into him, down to his bones. For a few seconds he forgot that he'd just labeled this man a 'dangerous individual to be watched closely' and indulged himself in the attraction.

But then Mr. Todd pulled back his hand and Dick saw the subtle cling of his jacket over those shoulders and he realized the man was carrying a gun.

Dick scowled.

“He is not my babysitter!” Damian objected with a pout.

Mr. Todd's laugh was gravelly and deep, sending shivers up Dick's spine. “Naw, I'd say that's accurate. But don't ever call me Mr. Todd. Jason or Jay is fine,” the man said in a thick Gotham accent, wearing a smirk that would have had Dick's stomach doing flip-flops if he wasn't trying to subtly undress the man in a way that was much less fun than Dick wanted it to be—instead of imagining the man's assets, Dick was looking for more concealed weapons. Now that he knew to look, he suspected there would be a few.

Anger boiled within him and Dick glared up at the man who had the nerve to bring a gun into a school. “Okay, but do you have a permit for those firearms, 'Jay'?”

Mr. Todd—Jason—frowned and all the charm drained from his expression. From the subtle changes in his stance, the set of his shoulders and the way his eyes went dark and hollow, Dick could confirm he was dealing with a very dangerous man. He had met dictators, mercenaries, psychopaths and assassins that didn't have a fraction of the menace as this Mr. Todd was aiming his way. It would have been impressive if it wasn't so unnerving.

“You a cop, or something?” Jason said, now looking over Dick in the same minutely analytical way as he had moments before, though Jason wouldn't find any weapons on Dick, outside of a pocket-perfume sprayer filled with the most potent mace Spyral's R&D could concoct. He didn't carry a gun outside of the field. He wouldn't carry a gun at all if he could manage it.

“Or something,” Dick acknowledged, but by the highly competent way Jason had taken in his shoes, clothing, haircut, lack of weapons and general demeanor, Dick figured he'd already come to a conclusion that couldn't be far off the mark.

“Dick...” Tim warned him through hissed teeth.

Jason clenched his jaw and gave Dick a glare that he fully believed could stop men's hearts in more ways than one.

“Yeah, I've got your permit right here,” he growled. And while Dick held himself back from attempting a disarm, Todd reached one hand into an inner pocket in his jacket to pull out what Dick recognized as a diplomatic visa from Qurac that might as well have been a get-out-of-jail-free card.

With his other hand, he firmly flipped Dick a middle finger.

Dick raised a brow. “That's not a permit, that's a visa. But it's a good head start on some of the other documents I want to see from you now.”

Jason released a put-upon sigh and flashed Dick a smile with too many teeth. He stepped right into Dick's space and nearly backed him up into Tim, trying to intimidate Dick with his threatening bulk and delicious looking mouth—wait, no, not that last one. The intimidation was only sort of working, since Dick fully believed the man was as dangerous as he was portraying himself to be, but Dick had never been properly scared of anything in his life, and he had the skills to back up his bravery.

“So it's going to be like that,” Jason said, low and quiet and far more frightening than shouting could ever be. “Fine. Look, buddy, this is a fucking school. The kid just got his science fair award, he's not a goddamn terrorist, he is a child. You and all of your pals are wasting your time and pissing me off—and I'm sure you've got a whole stack of files that explain exactly what happens when you piss me off. Now you turn yourself around and tell whatever ABC-soup agency you're from to leave Damian the fuck alone, or I'm going to test how far this diplomatic immunity extends. And I don't know what you did to get Timmy in on your cover, but leave him alone too while your at it.” He turned his head and spat directly on Dick's shoes with a curled lip of disgusted and stepped back. “The government using kids in my own damn country. It's sick. It's fucking reprehensible.”

Dick frowned in confusion, feeling as if he was missing a piece of the conversation, and not just because he'd had trouble tearing his eyes and imagination away from Jason's dynamic mouth. “I think we have a misunderstanding here,” he realized.

Jason just snarled, ready to tell Dick off again, but his charge interrupted him. “Drake! Do you always let your bodyguard interrupt your conversations? It's unprofessional.”

Tim's eyes were flicking from Dick to Jason with suspicion, but it seemed he couldn't resist the other boy's taunts as he turned to the kid with a sniff. “Dick isn't my bodyguard, he's my brother. I'm not such an asshole that I have people trying to kill me twenty-four seven, like you.”

Dick's brows snapped together as he warned, “Tim...” It was one thing to exchange clever banter with one's rival, but flinging bald insults was crossing a line.

Damian snorted, oddly unperturbed at being called an asshole, as well as the suggestion of his life being under threat. “Despite your complete lack of class and intellect, you are a Wayne heir, are you not Drake? Clearly your adoptive father isn't particularly interested in your well-being if he sends you around alone. On the contrary, my mother cares for me.”

Tim shook his head, his face flushed with anger. “Yeah no, Damian. You don't get to imply that Bruce doesn't love me because he doesn't make me walk around with an armed thug at my back.” Said armed thug raised a brow, looked vaguely amused at being labeled as such. “He had a really important meeting, but he offered to ditch it just for me, and my brother worked all day but he showed up just to see me get a dinky award I've already won three years in a row. Who came with you? No one. Just your bodyguard, and he's paid to be there. It seems like you're the one no one cares about him, not me. Where's your precious mother? Do you even know who your father is? What are you even doing here, Damian, you ever think of that?”

Dick gasped, “Tim!” at the same moment as Damian rose on his hackles like a pissed off cat and snarled, “You—!”

“Okay,” Jason interrupted, stepping between Tim and Damian before either could make a move as Dick just found himself staring at Tim in shock that he would say something so cruel. Whatever was gong on with his bodyguard, Damian was still just a kid.

Jason cast a displeased stare Tim's way, and Dick realized that Timothy must like or respect Jason somewhat because his brother ducked his head in shame. “This little rivalry thing you kids have got going on here is cute, but that's enough with the trash talk.” Jason bodily turned Damian toward the parking lot and started guiding him away. “You've already got your prize Dee, so let's bounce the fuck out of here. I'll make us a late night snack at the penthouse.”

Damian scowled and shot Tim one last dirty look before he turned to follow Jason, jogging to keep up with his much longer legs as they walked. “Apple crumble and vanilla ice cream?”

“Sure. You got it,” Jason agreed, but his attention was fixed on Dick, shooting him an 'I'll be watching you' stare before turning away.

Damian snorted but said, “Fine, let us depart,” and Tim and Dick watched their interaction with open interest as the boy and his bodyguard walked over to a powerful-looking motorcycle that Dick had admired when they'd walked passed it in the parking lot.

“You want my jacket? It's pretty cold,” Jason asked, but didn't wait for an answer before he took off the garment and dropped it around Damian's shoulders where they nearly drowned the kid in leather, it was so large.

Damian wrinkled his nose. “It smells like cigarettes,” he complained.

Jason's hand moved to take it back. “If you don't want it—”

“Mine.” Damian hugged the jacket around him possessively, with a pout that made him look even younger than he probably was. He burrowed his face into the leather of the collar before making a face. “Ugh. Todd, do you ever wash this thing?”

Jason smiled, rolled his eyes and ruffled Damian's hair while the boy tried to shove his hand away, and Dick felt his knees go weak as he stared very unprofessionally at the man's broad back, covered by a loose red flannel over a gray shirt and snug shoulder holsters built for concealed carry from the way they seemed to disappear into the lines of his body.

“Shut up,” Jason said with amusement in his voice as he put on a shiny red racing helmet and passed Damian a smaller, similar one. “You've never washed a thing in your damn life, Dee, you just have the maids do it. Besides, you don't wash leather, brat. You dry clean it.”

Damian snorted and accepted the helmet, tugging it in place with a practiced motion. “Since I have never once seen you enter a dry-cleaning establishment, then I suppose I know the answer to that question.”

Jason laughed as they both got on the bike, bright and genuine sounding, and he turned the key and revved the engine before roaring away out of sight.

Suddenly Dick was aware that he had pretty much been drooling over himself for the last few minutes, watching an admittedly blisteringly hot, but obviously dangerous and armed man drive away with a minor. Tim and Damian clearly knew the guy, and both seemed comfortable in his presence, but Dick felt he still should have asked for more documentation or something. Or enforced the revelation of the documentation he did ask for.

Well, too late now. And he knew the man's name—or the alias he was using currently at least—that was enough to get him almost any other information he needed, back at Spyral.

Dick turned to Tim, who was suspiciously quiet. He found his brother considering Dick himself, the gears in his genius brain spinning over something he'd witnessed. “So, Tim,” Dick asked, “are you going to tell me what that was about?”

Tim didn't quite manage to be casual as he shrugged. “Nothing to tell. Damian is a hyper-competitive little ass who makes it his hobby to get on my last nerve. Jason is his bodyguard for everything outside of actual school. He's usually pretty nice, even if he's kind of paranoid. You really must have pressed his buttons because I've never seen him act like that before.”

Well, from what Dick had gathered, the man thought Dick was some kind of government agent who'd attached himself to Tim to stalk and harass a junior high schooler, so he figured the hostility from Jason was understandable.

“The kid really looks familiar to me, for some reason,” Dick admitted. “Has he been to one of Bruce's galas or something?”

Tim huffed. “No, thank God. I can't even imagine having to be civil to that brat for a whole night.” And neither could Dick, considering the two had only managed tonight for about five seconds before it all went downhill. “Maybe you've seen him in the news?” Tim suggested. “His family is pretty important in the Middle East, apparently.”

The Middle East, huh? If that was the case then Dick knew exactly who to go to for answers tomorrow. “What's his last name?”

“Al Ghul.” Understanding flooded Dick. He knew that name, it was attached with one of the largest and most successful criminal empires in the world, and Dick had run into them on more than one occasion. It explained a lot, from the boy's familiar appearance to why he had a bodyguard with a Quraqi diplomatic visa.

Tim eyed him knowingly. “So they really are important, then. Political, business or criminal sector?”

“I can't talk about sensitive intelligence, Tim.” It was the answer he had to give, but it wasn't enough to put off Tim, it never was.

“Hm. Criminal, then,” Tim deduced as Dick kept his face carefully blank. His younger brother gave a gallic shrug. “Well, despite how much he talks himself up, he's just a brat, nothing dangerous, and I wouldn't think you can get any information out of him, either. Clearly his mom sent him to the U.S. to keep him out of the business or something. Or people are really after him. Or both.”

“What? Of course not, Tim.” Dick said. “That's not even my department, I'm just...concerned.” As in concerned why a kid was in such danger than he had a guy like Jason Todd following him around.

Tim was unconvinced. “Sure. Now forget work for a moment while I get my award and rub it in 'Franklin Debauer the Third's dumb face.”

[sylleboi]

𝕮𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 | 16/03/20

College announcements:

There will be e-mails coming through soon, so make sure to check frequently. Advise if the college does close due to COVID-19; check the school website.

What have we done so far, now being two weeks into our FMP, and what should we be able to evidence?

We have done the following:

The theme of “Encounters”.

Starting points reflecting on keywords and terms from previous projects

Developing portrait illustrations and basic artist research (simple analysis and quote)

Primary Observation of objects and working collaboratively in drawing

Proposal writing and establishing research/start points

Elective/Workshop practice and developing technical skills

Checklist for the end of week 2:

Mind map of the Encounter brief linking together previous projects with current themes and ideas (production file)

Reaction to brief on the blog with some initial thoughts and ideas

FMP handbook up to date including any tutorials or tasks completed

Visual examples of the stages of “icons” workshop (Printed and then examples of artist work

𝕮𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘

Revisiting pose to pose animation and morph animation.

Our aims & objectives:

To review and apply the elements of visual language to illustrated & animated ideas

To experiment with working from a reference to develop imagined responses to a specific idea

Visual language

We did a mindmap, trying to trace back to what we have been taught about visual language.

What else do we need to consider?

Meaning, purpose, and function

Design elements, balance, proximity, alignment, repetition, contrast, space, hierarchy, composition, layout, consistency

We then looked at two different examples of artwork as a task;

Task: Looking at both of these images, describe what you can see in terms of the visual language elements (rough textures/bright colours/contrasting tones). Then decide as a table what you think those elements together communicate, what do you think the work/artist is trying to say? why do you think this?

Katsushika Hokusai - Poem by Sarumaru Dayû, 1835

Colour: Muted, soft, earthy, balanced hue, pastel

Line: Delicate, thin, careful. It contributes to the calmness that the picture portrays.

Form: 

Shape: Organic, natural. It looks tranquil as if the people have been through the countryside, working, seeing the city where they live to come home.

Will Sweeney, Temptation

Colour: Contrast, warm and cold, bright, bold, juxtaposition. Communicates conflict. It reminds me of pop art–

Line: Bold, heavy, dense but detailed.

Form:

Shape: Mechanical, jagged, sharp. It feels busy and sort of unnerving.

We are going to focus on Hokusai and Sweeny for the inspiration for today.

Hokusai: Observation - reference, observational drawing, looking - drawing - looking.

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Task 1: Initial encounter

Based on the principles of Hokusai’s sketchbook (simple renderings and characterization from observation), pick a photographic image of a person from the collection of found photographs.

Caricature your source and refine over the course of multiple sketches (5-10) and drawings (Re-drawing will be key here). You can choose to just do the head of the character or the full-body depending on the source.

Finish your drawing by producing a final linework version using fine-liner to ink in your lines etc.

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Task 2: Mutation

Based on the eccentric characterizations of Will Sweeney and the following premise develop/mutate and evolve your character.

Imagine that Alien life forms have been living among us for 1000’s of years inhabiting the bodies of human hosts, Your job is to now render your human character into alienated version, adding whatever details/flourishes and changes you like, whilst still retaining some of the original qualities of size/scale/structures and the initial characterization.

This will be important for the next stage of metamorphosis.

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Task 3: Metamorphosis

Using the two versions of your character (Human / Alien) you must now try to create a morphing frame by frame animation using the two versions as your key frames/positions.

Think about how you did this before?

Are you going to work use subtraction or addition?

Will it be a mix of both approaches?

How will you tween consistently?

How many frames will you need?

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Definition of Terms within frame by frame animation:

Key poses (Keys): They are the key positions of your sequence, essentially the book ends (1st and last frame/body position, etc)

Extremes: These are frames/poses that are the extremes of action (leaping then landing/leaning/weight shifts/expression/facial changes etc) within the range of the key poses.

Inbetweens/Tweens: These are the frames that get you between the extremes, more or fewer tweens will dictate the speed/smoothness/timing of the animation. You need to review this as you animate.

Review & Reflect on ‘Close encounters’

Question and reflect on your process today, think about the following when writing your blog review:

What was the aim for today’s session?

Who did we look at for inspiration?

Can you find some of them and analyze examples of their work?

Can you compare them?

Can you describe your process in response to this research?

Considering the animations you made in term 1 & 2, how was this different?

Was this a harder process? If so why?

What is the potential with this process?

Can you set yourself an action based on the successes/weaknesses of your work today?

How does this now effect your ideas and

What developments could you do now for your own project?

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Tutorial:

Intellectual property (IP) is an idea that one person has and has copyrighted.

Loretto, a graffiti artist in Paris and France, a lot of political work. Banksy has taken inspiration from his work since Loretto did this style of grafitti art long before Banksy.

A lot of work that Andy Warhol has done has been copied and strongly inspired; Andy was inspired by another artist; Roy Lichtenstein.

It is important to stay protected when one creates something, as well as being inspired, not copying!

We watched some videos on Intellectual property to get a better understanding of it;

If you want to bring other people one for a bigger project that you cant complete yourself alone, it is very important to make it clear what their job is. If a written contract and/or lawyer isn’t an option, recordings and keeping track of everything agreed on between the people working together as evidence for ownership.

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We watched a second video, a poet talking about how he makes his work as well as the trail of the research before he comes up with the final product.

We watched this video for the reason of understanding what the difference is between stealing, copying and being inspired.

[roomformovement]

Written Rationale Draft

Written Rationale

This project was about creating a satirical magazine posing as a manifesto for an abhorrent populist party of the type that is currently enjoying a resurgence. The far right went too far decades ago when Timothy Mcveigh detonated his car bomb in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.  It went too far when Dylann Roof killed 9 African Americans in their home church while they held bible study. Too far in New Zealand, too far in Charlottesville and too far in Norway. It went too far when Thomas Mair murdered MP Jo Cox as she held her constituency surgery.  

Aside from the 2008 crash, I trace this turn to radicalism to a particular set of people – Alex Jones of Info Wars, Steve Bannon, ‘Tommy Robinson’, Richard Spencer, Rebel Media, Lauren Southern and Milo Yiannopoulos (to name a few).  Then there are the ‘reasonable’ people who enable them: Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, Fox News, Nigel Farage & Ukip etc.  My publication attempts to mock these people.

It seeks to send a strong message by highlighting common racist dog-whistles, hidden agendas and prejudices via the use of fashion and humour.  I have tried to address these issues using collaging, styling and photography.  

Each model plays a character – Roy Swett as party leader, Chastity Hollers for health, Ambrose Brown for industry, Webb Foote for immigration, Monty Blackshirt for housing, and Dirk Paul for education.  

My publication captures each character looking shifty, or otherwise creepy. Getting the balance between a comedic picture and a satirical-but-still-stylised was very important to every shoot.  I think this line could have perhaps been better tread in the headshot shoot – where even though lots of effort was put into styling selections – it could have been perhaps elevated to the level of fashion more effectively. Having said this, as images I do think they are very effective and have the satirical effect that I really wanted.

The collages (which are my favourite method of illustration and feature throughout my body of work) were produced from the mindset of some of my politicians.  They attempt to complement their imagery and polices, and visually make manifest their words.

I think the world is getting scarier, with ‘men of the people’ either being scripted to the absolute hilt, informed by the latest (illegally?) attained public data or saying abhorrent things that have poisoned the discourse.  ‘Telling it like it is’ mostly now seems to mean identifying scapegoats, attacking them and standing up for the ‘traditional working class’ (a dogwhistle for *white* working class), all with either a pint or a golf club in hand. Because this ‘honesty’ is poisonous and negative rather than constructive, I think it is important to not meet this with further negativity.  This is often the reaction of well meaning people, but it creates tribes. Further, compassion is so important and I think in some respects necessary here.  But validation of this movement is incredibly dangerous.  This is why I have, therefore, decided to meet it with humour.  To make these powerful figures look less powerful.    I focused on distinct tropes, and each shoot was a response to these: ‘conservative women are the most beautiful’, climate change denial, a strong popular leader, pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and paranoid health concerns.

This is a publication for people who despair at our current political climate – people like me.  Although this could be seen as ‘preaching to the choir’, I think it is important for people who want to fight the far right to feel empowered – less alone.  This, in turn empowers the movement.  And a movement, to be truly pervasive, should ideally come from all spheres. Maybe fashion is not the first thing you would think of, but fashion should be motivated by contemporary issues.  And for me, this is the greatest, along with climate change. I feel like if you feel a gap for something, if you feel like the way you feel is not being represented, then there are at least a few people who feel the same, and as this is a global movement, and the zine does not focus heavily on one particular nation, it could appeal throughout the western world.  The words from this publication are a new idea for me – normally I would include poetry and interviews – but in this circumstance, they come directly from the politicians themselves. To get a real feel for how these people think, I pored over Infowars.com, Alex Jones clips on YouTube, Dave Rubin gaffes (he genuinely wants to scrap building codes because he believes the market would ensure safe builds – NOT SURE THAT WORKS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD…), Katie Hopkins, Sargon of Akkad, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, Breitbart and Dennis Prager etc.   Among other things, I begun to realise just how depressing this worldview is. I lost a lot of hope and humour while submerging myself into this world, and can only imagine what it would be like to believe every word.  I think it would make you very, very angry at the world.

I can see this publication on the shelves flanked perhaps by Adbusters and Eye on Design’s latest issue. The are both motivated by external political stimuli, which they respond to in an urgent, but lighthearted way. With more of a focus on fashion, rather than art (although I produced a lot of collages), I think this justifies the gap being left between them on the shelf for The Sovereign Advancement League.  The target audience is the same – creative, liberal individuals who are politically motivated – from around 17-40.  My unique selling point is the concept  as it pairs with fashion.  As hard as I looked, I couldn’t find anything similar, but really feel there is a need for it.

This zine will be sold over the internet (find at ellieedis.com/sovereign-advancement-league) at £20 (each costs £10 to print).  I would like to make this a series of issues – either continuing with the same group of fake politicians, or with a different group each time focusing on the most pertinent issue of the day – perhaps a whole issue of climate-change-denial.  It will be in print each time because, while I think online is a great space to promote, I think it is more likely that people will come across the issue by chance, and feel more of a connection with it in person.

I took all images myself apart from the headshot shoot and the picture that I feature in.  The first was shot by Declan Creffield, an amazing professional portrait photo who I was able to collaborate with because I offered to model for him for free.  He was great to work with and he really understood the kind of awkward feel I wanted. The second mentioned was a collaboration shoot between me, Lauren Davey (an illustration student) and Simi Kanda (a photography student).  We got together to take some fairly simple shots (alternating photography/creative direction ideas) and then went on to edit them however we wanted.  Lauren did all of the makeup, and I did the styling. As with most of my work, each shoot was very different from the other, but with a common thread. I like to do this because it keeps it interesting as you go through the zine.  I kept the colour scheme (deep red, blue and cream/gold) throughout, to maintain cohesiveness.  A lot of these shoots are innovative mainly through post-production, editing faces slightly to carry a sense of evil/awkwardness, changing colours or adding a sense of retro kitsch fantasy by changing the background altogether, as in the final collaboration shoot.

The stylisation of the shoots references a lot of 70s/80s, but the zine is hopefully self-aware enough to modernise these concepts.  Further to that, these eras are back in a big way, evidenced by the famous Balenciaga A/W18 campaign shot by Robbie Ausberger. I mainly used lightroom and photoshop to achieve the effects I did.  

When it comes to evaluation, as always happens with projects, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome, particularly the headshot shoot, where it was vital that I had at least 7 models showed up on the same day, at the same time.  Three models I had planned all messaged last minute to say they couldn’t make it, so sourcing three people who were right for the shoot on the same day it was happening was stressful.  Despite this, I actually think that it turned out for the best, and that the models who were able to do it in the end were actually even better for the party. This is the kind of thing you expect when you are asking people for favours, and you have to account for it.  I do normally have shoots with two models and shoot them both, so that if one pulls out I can definitely shoot that day, but having backups for 7 people was a lot!  I also got my publication printed too early, and noticed certain issues and so had to rejig it and print again. This was tough on finances, but was important to the final outcome. I have learned to be more persuasive and to double and triple check things before I send them off for print.

I am happy and proud of what I produced.  I think if I were to do the project again, I might perhaps somehow focus more on the fashion element. I styled everything down to small details, but I think the images could look slightly more editorial (in a fashion communication context). I also produced a short promotional film (also viewable at ellieedis.com/sovereign-advancement-league).  I am proud that I managed to turn a political issue I care about deeply into a fully realised, stylised project.  The photographer I collaborated with is the most professional I have thus far, and I believe the models are also more relevant to my project than they have been in the past.  I pushed myself in this module despite a few hurdles, and I hope it shows.