#this show needed more seasons and more of exploration of new galaxies instead of still being tied to earth and their problems

[aenslem]

okay, i want to touch more on things you said in your last reply, but i just watched the episode Justice and asjlkdjlasdja WHAT THE FUCK guys! x'D i love this show and that ship, they're horrible and so sweet and awful and lovely ♥

i have a couple of things i need to do now, so i can't watch the next for half an hour to an hour or so, and i am so very impatient to keep watching xD

i do enjoy Wray and TJ too (Ming-Na Wen 😍)! and i'm enjoying Greer a lot, a bit surprised by that as i hated him at first xD and idk, the kids are okay i guess, i like them well enough xD

okay, gotta go do the things, but i'm looking forward to seeing more of Tired Dad Young, and, uh, Rush??? x'D

i am also very impatient to finish this watch so i can look at your sgu gifs, it's nice to have that to look forward to =D

/that Stargate anon who likes Rodney x'D

oh yeAH justice! that moment of them on the planet lives rent free in my mind they are the worst and the best thing in this show honestly

get ready Rodney anon, there gonna be so much happening in the next episodes, I don't want to spoiler anything so I am not saying, I guess I am doing that with gifs but they hardly show any plot, just my two disaster men having stare contest here and there lmao

but I loved those episodes so much on my rewatch

I disliked Greer in the beginning too, I guess it's default mode for these characters :D well, now they are okay for me too, cos I got to know them from the later season + fanfiction, cos they are much more interesting when fans are writing about them, so reading fanfiction made me love those characters more, thanks to amazing writers out there <3

they are both gonna be so so tired lmao they need like few years of vacation

[alexsbrain]

Deep Space Nine at Thirty

Thirty years ago, on January 3rd, 1993, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted on the airwaves. The show would not only change the Star Trek franchise but along with a few other 90s shows, laid the foundation for serialized storytelling in prime-time television and later streamers. DS9, as the fans call it, has a prescience and was not only relevant when it aired, but much can still be gleaned from the show today.

The idea of having a stationary setting for a Star Trek installation had been floating about since the 80s with producer Harve Bennet’s unsuccessful Starfleet Academy pitch. Since the franchise had done two starship instalments, it seemed the next frontier, but not the final, would see a crew more or less stay put and have the galaxy come to them. A New York city in space.

Originally Brandon Tartikoff, the head of Paramount, pitched the idea. If Star Trek had been a “wagon train to the stars,” what the franchise needed was a Rifleman-type show. A sheriff raising a son in a wild west frontier colony on some distant planet at the far ends of Federation territory. Since this would entail a copious amount of location shooting, the idea was shifted to a space station, but the western motif stuck. Sisko became the mayor, Jake his son. Odo was the Sheriff, O’Brien the Everyman, Dax the Wise ol’ timer, Quark the local barkeep, Kira the Indigenous person, and Bashir was the town doctor.

What fascinated the show's creators, Rick Berman and especially Michael Piller, was this idea of staying put. Instead of solving problems and then leaving to explore some new planet each week, the characters of DS9 would have to face the ramifications of their actions week after week. What Piller described as the difference between “a one-night stand and a relationship.” DS9's ethos would also allow the writers to explore relationships and community in greater depth. The show has been described as a family-oriented Star Trek series. This theme was explored in the previous two outings and subsequent instalments, but not in the same breadth as DS9. As Armin Shimerman (Quark) has said, every Ferengi episode is a “family episode.”

Each character on the show, including the recurring characters, would have to face their family, or in Dax’s case, her previous hosts. Even Gul Dukat, the baddest Cardassian in the whole damn town, would have to half-assedly raise his half-Bajoran daughter.

           Unlike the previous two Star Trek shows, the cast of DS9 would boldly go into the exploration of themselves. Sisko says it best in the pilot, “we explore our lives day by day.” Each character on DS9 experiences profound growth and change that they do not resemble the person we first meet. While character growth occurs in the other series, DS9’s episodic serialization and stationary setting forced an introspective aspect on the characters. It was the character show. DS9 was also full of several firsts for the franchise. Like Avery Brooks as the first Black lead, Kira as the first female first officer that wasn’t written off after the pilot, Dax as the first full-time transgender character, and several other notables.

DS9 isn’t just the best Star Trek series, it was some of the best American television of the 1990s. Along with other series like Twin Peaks, Melrose Place, and later seasons of The Larry Sanders Show, DS9 brought continuity to prime-time television through the dreaded ‘S’ word, serialization. Not a new concept, serialization was foreign to most prime-time outings. These shows not only offered nascent serialization but a continuity lacking in other prime-time shows. Despite the continuity of Voyager, writer Ronald D. Moore left the show after a few episodes in season six when he realized the producers weren’t interested in DS9-style continuity. 

The characters on 80s American television essentially remained the same. This is especially true of sitcoms where the delicate balance of comedic tensions between personalities must maintain the comedic pecking order. A character learns a lesson, but essentially things are back to normal in the next episode. Norm on Cheers might be victorious one day, but eventually, he has to go back to his barstool to play the loser but is always one level above Cliff Clavin. That’s how the show maintained the comedy. Rose on The Golden Girls will always be Rose.

Characters on The Next Generation grew, but any event was solved by the next episode, and things were back to normal as the Enterprise D was off on a new adventure. On DS9 the characters grew, morphed, changed, and each episode mattered to the episodes after it. They couldn’t warp to some new planet. The crew had to stay on that station dealing with the ramifications of what they did last week or the week before. Unfortunately, the pseudo serialization, or episodic serialization, killed the ratings. If you missed episode three of the season, you might be lost in episode twenty, as happened to this writer.

This was before DVD box sets. The producers of DS9 were taking a chance with the format, a format that is ubiquitous in the streaming world. In the 90s, it was tantamount to ratings suicide as audiences were accustomed to missing an episode here and there. After all, there was life to live and grass to touch.

I was in grade five when the show debuted. I caught every episode of the first season. In grade six, I started to play baseball and had after-school art programs and rehearsals for plays. These things usually happened on the night DS9 aired. I didn’t always have the spare cash to tape the episodes. However, this was similar to my TNG experience. If I missed an episode, I would catch it on hiatus week or in syndication, no biggie. With DS9, missing an episode was flirting with disaster. I always seemed to miss the important episodes too. I eventually stopped watching the show regularly in the third season. I’d catch the odd episode in later seasons and ask, why are they at war with the Klingons? Why is Weyoun alive? My DS9 love affair, and my Star Trek fandom, were put on hold as I entered mid-adolescence.

By the early aughts, several factors going on in my life drew me back into the warmth of Star Trek fandom. I downloaded the entire run of DS9 and started from the beginning. I still have those files. I sentimentally refuse to delete them despite their lacklustre quality. 

Although it took about six years after the show ended, I did catch up. DS9 now holds a special place in my heart. Unlike the perfectly evolved humans on the Enterprise D, the DS9 characters start the show with major character flaws. As the show progresses, they learn and grow. Sisko’s journey is perhaps the most profound, starting out with PTSD caused by the death of his wife, isolated, alone, a single parent, questioning his career and life. Sisko then ends up a demigod destined not only to save the alpha quadrant but the wormhole aliens, aka the Prophets. When asked which is my favourite Star Trek series, I sometimes reply with, “the Sisko is of Bajor.” 

Sisko’s salvation partially comes from the community he helps build on the station. As the saying goes, “it takes a community,” and that’s DS9’s legacy. At its core, it’s about friendship, community, and family, not just blood kin but the family we create along with way. When my mental health is at its worst, I turn to Star Trek to buoy my spirits. When I am in deep crisis, survival mode, I turn not to the original series, Enterprise, nor Next Gen but to DS9. It’s the bicycle wheel-shaped space station that gives the most comfort, and the most hope to keep going. To fight and try to overcome.

DS9 also attempted to walk back some of the more overt colonialist and imperialist tropes found in previous Star Trek outings. Not being an American, the original series displays a type of American bravado, melting pot assimilation, and is rife with American imperialism and exceptionalism. In the future, Earth unified into an American type of state, not a Westminster style of government. The United Federation of Planets is described by outsiders as a “homo sapiens-only club,” and its head is a President. Kirk’s main enemies, the Klingons and Romulans, were stand-ins for America’s communist foes, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. One of the main villain species on Next Gen was the Borg, a homogenizing force which threatened occidental ideals of liberalism and the rights of the individual.

Although DS9’s backdrop was the Cardassian occupation of Bajor and is analogous to many atrocious regimes, such as South African apartheid, French Algeria, the Holocaust, and the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the Americas, the main villain on DS9 was the Dominion. Created as an anti-federation, a dictatorial colonizing/imperialist regime, it allowed the show to explore the darker side of the Federation by meeting its antithesis.

Star Trek displays an unshakeable Federation exceptionalism that TNG was the first to dissect. Yet internal threats to the Federation on that show were often rouge Starfleet admirals who would be caught by the Enterprise D crew, and all would be well next episode. DS9 dismantles that trope. The Federation, as great as it is, is flawed. When the going gets rough, the smug moral superiority of the Federation gets tossed out the window to achieve its goal.

Mass hysteria and fear, brought on by the Dominion and Changeling infiltrators, are akin to the Red Scare and McCarthyism, and with great prescience, the War on Terror. Not only does DS9 tackle, in a historical context, nationalism, capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, and exceptionalism, but contains a universality that projects the show’s themes into the future. Most recently, the Iranian government and the Ferengi has a lot in common. Protests over the reach of the state on women’s dress and bodies mirror the Ferengi’s attitudes towards women. Ferengi women are not allowed to fully participate in society and must remain unclothed. Eventually, this injustice is corrected in the show when Quark’s mother Ishka leads a suffragette/feminist movement.

DS9 also tackled an often-taboo topic in the Star Trek universe. Namely faith and religion. Not only would Bajoran faith dominate throughout the show, but the show's writers never gave concrete answers to several posed questions about faith. One reading of the show could be of a human, Sisko, reconnecting with or finding their faith. 

Whether they are wormhole aliens or the Prophets to you, January 3rd is a sacred day, Ha’mara. Ha’mara is the anniversary of when the prophets delivered the Emissary, the Sisko, to the Bajoran people and Star Trek fandom, and this is the thirtieth anniversary. Although I won’t be fasting, I am trying to show my festive gratitude to DS9 through this post.

There is no shortage of modern-day analogies which DS9 did not explore. One of its main failings, as showrunner Ira Steven Behr has stated, is the lack of Queer representation. Dax is transgendered, having been “both a man and a woman.” Yet this wasn't explored fully or brought into the light save for one episode, Rejoined, in season four, and an awkward kiss in season seven. Actor Andrew Robinson has stated on many occasions that he played his character Garak as bisexual and was attracted to Doctor Bashir. However, the Queer community would have to wait until the Berman era of Star Trek ended to see themselves not cloaked behind metaphor.

DS9 is neatly packaged in 90s aesthetics. The colour palette, production design, casting, acting, and story structure, but that is also part of its charm. It cannot be divorced visually from its time, yet its stories and themes transcend the decade. DS9 showcases humanity at its best and its worst. Perhaps it is that humility, the acceptance of our failures and our collective desire to do better which makes the show so endearing.

During DS9's first run, not only were fans not amused by the stationary aspect of the show, but they were also equally appalled by its darkness and its probing of the failings of the Federation. As several fans have pointed out, DS9 is the lefthanded red-headed stepchild of the franchise and fans like me, although in love with the show, got lost by its episodic serialization. It took the last thirty years after it first aired to achieve a super status in Star Trek fandom. Now regarded in the community as the best series out of the lot, paradoxically it is still not necessarily a fan favourite. DS9’s frank and sobering look at humanity is its power, and no other series, save for perhaps Discovery and Picard, dare to look so closely at our collective failings.

Star Trek is by definition idealistic and utopian. Earth has evolved into a paradise and made peace with many alien races, cofounding the Federation. A galactic idealist state. DS9 challenged that utopianism and in self-referential glory, attempted to dismantle Star Trek exceptionalism itself. In that process, the show stands alone, with perhaps Discovery carrying on the torch. Thirty years after its premiere, it still has a lasting impact on viewers. As Sisko tells Kira in season two, “it’s easy to be a saint in paradise…but…out [here those] problems haven’t been solved yet.” As we claw our way through the twenty-first century, DS9’s message, its warning, stands as a rallying cry to keep on fighting, to solve that which has not been solved and to continue to explore our lives "day by day."

[highsviolets]

INTERVIEW NO. 1: RACHEL @djarinsbeskar

hello hello! i am so happy to announce that rachel — aka the immense talent that is @djarinsbeskar — has agreed to be my first interviewee for this new series! thank you to rach and to each one of you for all of your support. to read more about the project, click here, and to submit an author, click here.

| why rachel? |

Rachel captured my imagination from the first time we interacted as mutuals-in-law. She’s bursting with energy and vivaciousness, with a current of kindness just underneath everything she does. Her work is no exception. Oftentimes gritty, raw, and exposing (in … ahem…more ways than one), Rachel challenges her readers to dig deeper into both the story and themselves. Her smut brings a particular fire as it’s laced with need, desire, and mutual trust that leads us deeper into the characters’ identities and how physical affection can mimic other forms of intimacy. She’s a tour de force in this fandom and an absolute joy.

| known for |

Engaging with and encouraging other authors, cultivating inspo posts, attention to world building & character development

| my favorites |

Stitches

Boxer!Din

Full Masterlist • Ko-Fi

| q & a |

When did you start writing? What was that project, and what was it like? Has that feeling or process ever changed over time? Why?

I can’t remember a time I wasn’t writing. I was an avid reader, as I think most writers are—and I remember, after picking up Lord of the Rings—that I could live so many lives, experience so many things, all from the pages of a book. I could make sense of the world through words and ink and paper. And it offered me a level of peace and clarity I wanted to share with others. So, I started writing.

My first project I remember to this day, was a short story about a dog. I had been so heartbroken when I learned that dogs were colourblind. I must have been about seven or eight at the time, and I was fixated on this idea that dogs couldn’t see the vibrant hues that made the world beautiful. It was something I wanted to change—and with all the righteous anger of a child not getting their own way, I sulked over the fact that I couldn’t. Until I wrote it down.

“How do dogs see colour?”

And much like my writing today, I answered myself.

“Dogs don’t need to see colour. Dogs smell colour.”

And so, I wrote a story, about a puppy being brought on different walks by its owner. And with every new street it walked down—colour bloomed with scent. Colours more beautiful and vibrant than we could ever hope to see with our eyes. And it gave me solace and helped me work through an emotion that – granted was immature and inconsequential – had affected me. To this day, I still smile seeing dogs sniffing at everything they pass on their walks. Smelling colour. It gave me the key to my favourite thing in life. I don’t think my process has changed much since then. Much of what I write is based on a skeleton plan, but I leave room for characters to speak and feel as they need to. I like to know the starting point and destination of a chapter—but how they get there, that still falls to instinct. I think I’ve found a happy medium of strict planning and winging it that suits me now—and hopefully it will continue to improve over time!

When did you start posting your writing, and on what platform? What gave you the push to do that?

I mean, fanfiction has always been part of my life. I think anyone who was growing up in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s found their way to fanfiction.net at some time or other. The wild west compared to what we have now! My first post was for the Lord of the Rings fandom on fanfiction.net. It was an anthology of the story told through the eyes of the steeds. Bill the Pony, Shadowfax—it was all very innocent. That was probably in 2010 when I was fifteen. I had been wanting to share writing for a long time but was worried about how it would be received. I didn’t really have a gauge on my level or my creativity and – one of the many flaws of someone with crippling perfectionism – I only ever wanted to provide perfection. That was a major inhibitor when I was younger. By wanting it to be perfect, I never posted anything. Until that stupidly cute LOTR fic. It was freeing to write something that no one but me had any interest in, because if I was writing for myself then there was no one to disappoint, right? And that was all it took. I had some pauses over the years between college and life and such, but I’ve never lost that mindset when it comes to posting.

What your favorite work of yours that you have ever written? Why is it your favorite? What is more important to you when considering your own stories for your own enjoyment — characters? fandom? spice? emotional development? the work you’ve put into it? Is that different than what you enjoy reading most in other people’s fics?

I don’t think it’ll come as much of a surprise when I say Stitches. While not original, I mean—it follows the plot of the Mandalorian quite diligently, it is the piece of work I really hold very close to my heart. Din Djarin as a character is what got me back into writing after what must have been five years? He inspired something. His manner, his personality—he resonated with me as a person in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time. And gave me back a creative outlet I had been missing.

It’s funny to say out loud—but I wanted to give him something? I spent so long thinking about his character that half my brain felt like it belonged to him—how he reacted and responded to things etc. and of course, like every dreamy Pisces—I wanted to give him love and happiness. So, Stitches came along. Personally, when writing—it’s a combination of characters, emotional development and spice (I can’t help myself) and when we can follow that development. With Stitches, it’s definitely the spice that is the conduit for development—but I adore showing how the physical can help people who struggle to communicate emotions too complex for words.

I don’t usually read for Din, as most people know—but I do enjoy reading the type of work that Stitches is. Human, damaged—but still with an undercurrent of hope that makes me think of children’s books.

You said, “much like writing today, I answered myself.” Could you talk about that in relation to Stitches?

So, I’m endlessly curious, it has to be said. Especially about why people are the way they are. Why people do A instead of B. Why X person’s immediate thought went to this place instead of that place. And I’m rarely satisfied with superficial explanations. One of the most exciting parts of writing and fanfiction especially, is making sense of that why. There can be countless explanations, some that are content with what is seen on the surface and some that go deep and some that go even deeper still.

Stitches is almost a – very long winded and much too long – answer to the questions I was so intrigued by about Din Djarin, about the Mandalorian and about the Star Wars universe as a whole. I often wondered what happened to people after the Rebellion, the normal people who fought—the people in the background. What did they do next? Did some of them suffer from PTSD? What was the galaxy like right after the Empire fell? That first season of the Mandalorian answered some of those questions, but I wanted to know more. So, I created a reader insert who was a combat medic—and through her, I let myself answer the questions of what happened next.

Regarding Din as a character, I wanted to know what a bounty hunter with a code of honour would do in certain situations—what made him tick, what made hm vulnerable. I wanted to explore the discovery of his identity. Din Djarin didn’t exist after he was taken from Aq Vetina. He became a cog in a very efficient machine of Mandalorians—and it was safe there. I wanted to see what – or who – might encourage him to step into his own. Grogu was that person in a familial sense, but what about romantically? What about individually? There’s so much to explore with this man! So many facets of personality and nuances of character that make him so gorgeous to write and think about.

Talk to me about the Din Djarin Athletic Universe. How does Din as all of these forms of athlete play off who you see him as in canon?

The Athletic Universe! How I adore my athletes. Despite being in a modern setting, I have kept the core of Din’s character in each of them (at least I hope I have!). I like to divide Din’s character into three phases when it comes to canon because he’s not as immovable as people seem to think he is. We discussed this before, how I see Din as a water element—adaptable, but strong enough that he can be as steadfast as rock. But I digress, the first phase is the character we see in the first episode. Basically, before Grogu. There’s an aggressive brutality to Din when we see him bounty hunting. He works on autopilot and isn’t swayed by sob stories or promises. He has the covert but is ultimately separate. Those soft feelings he comes to recognise when he has Grogu are dormant – not non-existent – but they haven’t been nurtured or encouraged. This is the point I extracted Boxer!Din’s personality and story from.

Cyclist!Din on the other hand—is already a father, a biological father to Grogu. And his personality, I took from that moment in the finale of Season two where I believe Din’s transformative arc of character solidified. He was always a father to Grogu, but I do believe that moment where he removes his helmet is the moment, he accepts that role fully in his heart and mind. And that is why I don’t believe for a second, that removing his helmet was him breaking his Creed. In fact, I believe it was the purest act he could do in devotion to his Creed—to his foundling, to his son. The Cyclist!AU is very much the character I see canon Din having should Grogu have stayed with him. This single dad who isn’t quite sure how he got to where he is now—but does anything and everything for his child without thought. It’s a natural instinct for him, and I like exploring those possibilities with Cyclist!Din.

You also said, “he has the covert but is ultimately separate.” What does it take for him — and you — to get to that point of being ‘not separate?’

I mentioned this above, but one of the biggest interests I have in Din as a character is his identity. He’s a Mandalorian, he’s a bounty hunter, he’s the child’s guardian but those are all what he is, not who. I think Din is separate while being part of the covert because he doesn’t know. I don’t think anyone can really be part of something if they don’t know who they are or, they struggle with their identity. It’s curious to me—how you can deceive even yourself to mimic the standard set for the many. In the boxer verse, he identifies himself in relation to his boxing—and every part of his outward personality exhibits those qualities. But when he’s given a softer touch—an outlet of affection, and comfort—we see the softer side of him surface. It’s very much the same with Stitches Din. Identity is like anything, emotions—relationships, bodies. It needs nurturing to thrive, an open door—a safe space. At least, that’s what goes through my mind when I think of him.

Who is your favorite character to read?

Frankie because there are so many ways his character can be interpreted and there are some stellar versions of him that I think of at least once a day. Javi because he reminds me of kintsugi-- golden recovery, broken pottery where the cracks are highlighted with gold. I also adore reading for Boba Fett, Paz Viszla and the clones!

Is there anything else you want your readers to know about you, your writing, or your creative process?

Hmm... only that I am quite literally a gremlin clown who is always here to chat Din, Star Wars, literature, book recs and anything else under the sun! I like to hear people's stories, their opinions etc. it helps me see things from alternative points of view and can truly help the writing process! Other than that, I think I can only thank readers for putting up with my ridiculously long chapters and rambling introspection. Thank you for indulging me always! ❤️

[obi-wkenobi]

Whumptober 2021

Day 5: Comfort (alternative prompt)

Read below or on A03.

“I need to leave for work now,” Bail said, picking up his datapad from the table and smiling at Obi-Wan. “Once I’m back we’ll have some more time to talk about how you could help the Rebellion. You’ve been away from any action for a long time,” he teased gently.

Obi-Wan huffed and nodded, resisting the urge to remind Bail that he would only be on Alderaan for a short while. Luke still needed him on Tatooine, after all.

In the silence of Bail’s home he decided to use the computer to check the HoloNet. 

Ten years ago he never would have had to do such a thing, as a Jedi he was always kept up to date on the latest Galactic news and hadn’t realised just how much he took it for granted until he was forced to live on Tatooine. His homestead in the Dune Sea didn’t offer him close-by access to prominent Senators or the Republic’s capital, instead he barely even saw one individual in a standard week and so the latest news was the furthest thing from his mind.

At first it had been difficult, but as he glanced through the news he found that he didn’t care for any of it. This knowledge wouldn’t affect his life whatsoever, he had adapted himself to a myopic worldview whereby his only considerations were how much water he had, what he should eat next, how he would get that piece of food and if Luke was safe. Why should his focus be on anything else? He was still a Jedi and so he knew that he should still somewhat care for the state of the Galaxy, but he could also acknowledge that he was a bit bitter. The Galaxy had not helped the Jedi and so why should he care? Perhaps if he had the ability to do something about it then he would. He huffed to himself, such thoughts were pointless. 

Soon afterward he went to explore the house, where he quickly found a patio door that led to an expansive garden blooming with exotic flowers. In the distance a winding gravel path could be seen leading to a large, bountiful lake. He stood there in awe, amazed by all the colours, flourishing in an infinity of shades. The lake mesmerized him the most, it’s complete stillness, yet also its constant motion. The ripples that could be seen from a harsh breeze and the small splashes made when wildlife came up for air. They showed that it was a living thing, not just an inanimate object. 

There weren’t such colours or displays of life on Tatooine, all he had to see there was an endless expanse of sand, capable of movement but always the same; coarse, rough, and beige, with no indication that it relied on its surroundings to survive. 

Obi-Wan stood there for a long time, staring at the lake in contemplation. A consequence of Tatooine was that time had become unimportant to him, why shouldn’t he spend a minute or an hour on one task? Other than the darkening of the sky there was no need for him to monitor time. What was the point when there wasn’t even the changing of a season to keep him company? He was unable to say what year he had broken a finger whilst climbing a canyon wall, or what month a sandstorm had blown down the enclosure that contained his Bantha. If asked he could comment on which had come first, but not the exact date that they happened or the amount of time that had passed in between. 

The tedious desert had taught him the one thing that he had always needed to learn, how to live in the present moment. Although, he suspected Qui-Gon had not had such drastic teaching methods in mind when training him all those years ago. 

Therefore, he wasn’t too surprised when Leia turned up at his side sometime later. She stood there with him as he continued observing the boundless swaying of the trees and ripples of the lake, so like his time spent watching the ebb and flow of the Dunes outside his home. He wasn’t disturbed, nor did he mind when she slipped her hand inside his own, patiently waiting for him to start a conversation. 

Eventually though, it appeared that she was unable to contain herself and so she asked, “Do you like the water? I think I prefer space, that way I can fly wherever I want.”

Obi-Wan pulled a face instinctively. “I much prefer the water, flying isn’t something that I really enjoy.” He wondered if he had been exiled to an ocean world if he would have come to hate water, just as he had come to hate sand. 

“You don’t like flying?” she said, aghast. “But you must have flown to loads of planets.”

“I have,” he conceded. 

Still curious, she inquired, “Did you just have people flying you to places then? Like your Padawan?”

He stiffened immediately, his hand tensing within Leia’s. 

“You don’t like talking about him do you?”

Obi-Wan didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing.

“Father told me that he died, is that why? You must miss him, especially after you spent years and years together.”

He battled with his grief before deciding on the truth. “It’s hard to talk about someone who you miss.”

She gazed up at him, innocent and oblivious. “Maybe one day when the Jedi Order is restored you can have another Padawan?”

His eyes closed in anguish. One day the Jedi Order may be restored, but it wouldn’t be in his lifetime. And even if it was, he wouldn’t take on another Padawan lest he failed them as well. 

A tug on his hand drew his attention down and he stared at Anakin’s child, whose earnest eyes only made him think of the young slave boy he had met on Tatooine. 

An unpleasant wave of helplessness crashed over him then. He was the one unifying thread intertwining the fate of the Galaxy together, he was bound to these children—and Anakin, and it was his destiny to bring them together and to ensure that their purposes be fulfilled. It had never been his decision to do so though, that had been taken from him when Qui-Gon had made him promise to train a troubled, young boy. And so he may have been the key to everything, but his life had never been his own and he must bear the brunt of it—of the responsibility and the guilt, for they had always been his alone. 

Leia frowned at him in concern, her underlying Force sensitivity undeniably able to sense his distress. “Ben?”

The soft name roused him from his despair and he scolded himself for being unable to find balance, for letting his fear still hold him hostage even after all this time. Surely he could find some cause for joy here? Leia was safe and happy and that more than anything should have stirred his optimism. But even that didn’t comfort him, who knew what might happen to Leia should he fail in the end.

“Are you okay? Why are you so sad?”

He smiled at her gently, though he was sure it wasn’t convincing. “I’m okay.”

Her lip wobbled threateningly, so he fell down on one knee and grabbed both of her hands in his. “I promise I’m okay,” he reassured.

Irritation appeared on her face even as her eyes pulled down in worry. “You’re lying,” Leia mumbled. “You’re so sad, I can feel it, you’ve been sad since you got here.”

What could he say to that? Obi-Wan knew his shields were strong and so he could only assume that she had a certain talent for detecting people’s emotions, but how does one explain to a child the extent of his grief? The sadness of his Force signature was always present now and he very much doubted that would ever change.

It wasn’t that Obi-Wan hadn’t accepted his loss, he had. He had accepted the destruction of the Jedi and had accepted that it was his pupil that had helped with the genocide of his fellow, but he was a forever changed man because of it and as a result, his presence had changed too.

As with before he decided to be honest, or at least as honest as he could be. “I am sad, but that doesn’t mean that I’m also not happy. Seeing you and your father has made me the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”

In a display of perception that no normal child would have, she narrowed her eyes at him and observed him with quiet interest, “Really?”

“Yes,” he said truthfully. 

Having decided that he wasn’t lying, Leia gave him a nod of acceptance and then launched herself at him and drew him into an enveloping hug. It took his breath away. He had not been touched with such kind intent in nearly a decade and the knowledge that it was Padmé’s and Anakin’s daughter doing so made him want to cry from both happiness and remorse. 

“Thank you,” he mumbled, further sitting on the floor and pulling Leia onto his lap, smiling when she rested her head on his shoulder.

[strideofpride]

Not a passage exactly but I would love to hear your thoughts on your role swap au and how you flipped the blair-chip-louis triangle to dan-georgina-olivia. Really I’m just interested in your thoughts on olivia paralleling louis bc I think it’s galaxy brained of you 💛

Okay so backtracking a bit, obviously Brooklyn!Blair/UES!Dan is a significant AU trope within the dair fandom. I wanted to do my own spin on it, and especially have a little bit of pining!Blair/denial!Dan in there as well, like this image series, because you never really see that swap get explored. Originally I wanted to like...do a swap of the entire show lol but that ended up being way too ambitious (unfortunately capitalism exists and I can't devote all my time to writing fic), so I settled for doing swaps of individual episodes.

And then when I was trying to make it make sense for season 1 eps, I had this thought...what if I swapped Nate and Serena too? Dan/Serena's dynamic would become Nate/Blair's and vice versa. Same goes for Dan/Nate and Serena/Blair (although I didn't really get to explore the latter unfortunately). And then I had the thought that I thought was TRULY galaxy brained which is: what if I swapped Georgina and Chuck? Which, god, was SO much fun to write. And I felt that all kind of worked. Because much like Dan & Blair, Serena & Nate and Georgina & Chuck all share similar traits so it doesn't change things too much.

I was honestly going to try to avoid the ~royal arc~ of it all, because like...I hate it very much lol. Blair and Louis' engagement is when the show jumped the shark imho. But I also didn't want to do a season 5 episode where they were already together because again...I really really wanted pining!Blair and denial!Dan lol, so I ultimately had to include at least a little bit of it.

As for the Louis and Olivia of it all, I had actually already talked about their parallels a while back on here. But to recap: Louis and Olivia brought Blair & Dan into whole new worlds (royalty/Hollywood), both purposely did not reveal their true identities at first as well, and these relationships were just distractions while they avoided dealing with their feelings for other people.

So when I was writing that chapter and needed a Louis for Dan, it was a no brainer that it was going to be Olivia for me cause I had already done the whole relationship parallel analysis. And honestly that parallel had probably just occurred to me in the first place because I had gone through and looked at their dynamics with all their other love interests.

But yeah, I think it worked well! Obviously, there would be no pregnancy or a "who's the father" mystery. But I had some fun with this little monologue:

“Are you kidding me? Look at everything we’ve been through together. You kept it a secret when everything with Georgina went down. You shielded me from the world when the paparazzi wouldn’t stop trying to get dirt on my relationship with Olivia and you brought me to a therapist during my darkest hour. You wrote Olivia’s big romantic acceptance speech for her, and then you saved me from the most awkward Oscars party imaginable. Do I need to go on?”

And kinda implied that Dan still cheated with Georgina and that blew up in his face somehow and that instead of having a wedding, Dan got to go to the Oscars instead lol (good for him!). And I mean, in some sense, it's kind of just a more dramatic version of the Dan-Olivia-Georgina triangle that already existed in the show. (Does this mean that in the season 3 world of my swap, Blair had a casual fling with Chuck before dumping him for Louis?? Does this mean that Chuck bribed the NYU housing office to be Dan's roommate?? Idk but those ideas do make me laugh lol)

EDIT: Wait also does this mean that Blair, Louis, and Vanessa (the one character I didn't swap btw - although I guess I kinda soft-swapped her with Eric in terms of his role in a certain scene) had a threesome that caused Blair to realize that she actually had feelings for Vanessa?? Obsessed

Anyway, I'm glad you liked it! Honestly, your championing of this fic is the reason I even finished it in the first place so thank you!!

fic dvd commentary

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Bad Batch Season 1 Review

Overall, I give this season a 7/10. Out of all the Star Wars shows that I’ve seen, this is definitely weakest so far. However, this is only season 1 and as I recall, Rebels and Clone Wars didn’t start off that strong either. In fact, season 1 Ahsoka was very annoying but she got better as the show went on. I hope The Bad Batch is the same way.

Personally, I did enjoy this show. There are some really great things about this show, which I will discuss. On the other hand, my criticisms are pretty big and I hope the second season does a better job with handling them.

What I loved: 

The animation is absolutely stunning. Some of the backgrounds looked real and were gorgeous to look at. The expressions on the characters were so detailed and I really enjoyed the attention to detail. Although some of the character models need work, I still loved the designs. Cad Bane probably was the best updated character model. Yes, his hat needs to be larger, but I loved how detailed his face was with all the scars. This was really crisp animation and it was awesome.

The music was beautiful to listen to. The Kiner brothers are amazing composers. I really enjoyed the soundtrack. Star Wars has always had epic music, no matter what movie or show you’re watching. My favorite track has got to be “The Bounty Hunter is Back.” Hearing the western theme while Cad Bane made his grand entrance was epic! I love how he finally got his own theme song. The final episode’s music tugged at my heartstrings. This is the end of the clones and the music tells us that.

The voice acting is superb. Dee Bradley Baker is so talented and I have no idea how he does it. He’s voicing 5 main characters who all have slightly different accents. To add to that, he has to portray a lot of emotions while being two different characters at the same time. How he always hits the emotional moments or doesn’t forget which voice to use is amazing. I loved Michelle Ang’s work as Omega. She does a great job portraying her and her voice is very unique. And yes, Corey Burton as Cad Bane and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand were awesome. 

I also really loved the parallels to other characters like Kallus and the action sequences. There are some really thrilling moments in this show. Cad Bane’s standoff with Hunter was amazing and visually stunning. Our space cowboy finally got his big western moment. Now, we need the Boba Fett standoff and it’ll be perfect. 

The cameos were fun as well. Seeing Cad Bane and Cut again were great. Young Fennec and Hera were also enjoyable. We see where they began their journeys and I’m here for it. I also like how the cameos weren’t just for fan service but tied into the story. We know now how Rex and Gregor found each other. Cad Bane and Hera were probably my favorites out of all the cameos.

As for the Bad Batch themselves, I did enjoy watching them. Omega is great addition and Crosshair worked his way into my heart. What can I say, I love tragic villains. 

What I didn’t like:

Now, for my criticisms. I still love the show but it isn’t perfect.

I feel like this show is unfocused with its plot. When it’s allowed to explore the main story like with Omega’s purpose and Crosshair, the show is at its best. However, the filler episodes do get in the way and don’t offer much except for fun side quests. I think if they cut a few of the filler episodes or rewrote them to develop the characters, then they would have worked. However, as they stand right now, they do drag the show a bit. The plot, from what I gathered, is the Batch trying to survive in a changing galaxy. However, I wish they showed more of the Batch struggling to fit in. I wish we saw more of the Empire’s presence affect things. The Batch seem to be doing just fine for most of the episodes. Perhaps a shorter season with a more focused plot would benefit this show.

Secondly, the character development needs to be worked on. Hunter and Omega got the most followed by Wrecker and Crosshair. Tech and Echo received very little. They touched on Echo’s PTSD and I wish we explored more of that. Seeing how he adjusts to his new life after months of trauma would be great storytelling. I’m glad he at least got to be the focus of one episode. I feel like the filler episodes should have developed the Batch instead of focusing on Omega or Hunter. I hope in season 2, we get more development for the Batch instead of just learning how to be parents. Tech and Echo deserve more. I want to know these characters better but it’s hard when some get left behind.

Finally, Crosshair. He’s still my fave but the show didn’t do him justice. When Crosshair is allowed to be the focus, he really shines and is easily one of the most compelling characters. However, he’s only really in the last few episodes. I definitely think the show should have explored his time with the Empire more. Then, we’d really see what he’s feeling. I think the show did a major disservice by portraying the Batch as if they didn’t care about him. They do, but it’s not shown very well. Hunter especially because he came off as being very uncaring at times. I think Crosshair deserved a lot more. Under his cold exterior, he’s really hurting and still cares for his family. I hope season 2 explores more of his feelings because he clearly feels a lot. The pain of being abandoned is something he feels strongly. I want to see him heal and eventually find his place where he isn’t hurt or forgotten. The Empire doesn’t care and I hope he realizes that. I also think the chip is still in because of his occasional headaches. And I need more scenes with him and Omega. Going forward, I want more Crosshair because he’s such an interesting character. 

Anyways, that’s all folks! I’m looking forward to the second season. I hope that it does fix the problems I mentioned above. See y’all later!

[cannedbread-arts]

✨The bad batch season 1 personal vibes✨

The finale aired today and I wanna get my overall feelings regarding the season out of the way before i repress it all.

My overall feeling is kinda lukewarm, while the first episode and some other eps were absolute bangers i never felt like the show hit that same level of excitement the first episode did. I  feel this way due to many of the expectations i had after the first ep werent met. But im sure everyone had expectations that werent met so that isnt really a fair critique, but compaired to what was given instead i cant help but feel like there where many missed opportunities.

The first issue i had being that this show isnt really about “The bad batch”, most of the screentime and character development is given to Hunter and Omega whilst Wrecker got some smaller moments here and there. But Echo and Tech might aswell been replaced with a cutouts. Tech only served to give exposition or come up with escape plans whenever the plot called for it and echo....was there. And Crosshairs case i find the most aggrivating, how can you give one of the characters the most intriguing plotline and show us the absolute bare minimum? When one of the biggest aspects of the show is showing the rise of the empire why would not parts of that be shown through Crosshairs pov? 

So despite the show being called The bad batch its more focused on Hunter and Omega. Personally i didnt find their relationship intressting enough to be main focus of most episodes. Reason why i feel that way is partly because we have seen this format before, the parent-child dynamic is nothing new in star wars especially in the last ten years with Anakin-Ahsoka, Kanan-Ezra and Djin-Grogu. what could have improved this would have been to have more of the other batch members take part in “parenting” omega, instead of having Hunter act as the sole parental figure. This would have allowed for more characters to shine and show more aspects of themselves we might not have seen before, like what would it look like to have Tech try to console Omega after a difficult mission? What skills could Echo teach Omega to make her a better Batch member?

Another aspect i disliked is how it felt like alot of episodes where just filler, so much time was spent with the Batch flying around the galaxy doin odd jobs, many of those episodes focused little on the charactersation or development of the cast. The few story relevant episodes we got were few and far inbetween, ill never forget having to wait 3-4 episodes for a follow up on the war crimes Crosshair commited.

Whilst im on the topic of crosshair, i found it a little dissapointing how crosshair was basically turned into just some grunt villian, the first ep sets it up to make it look like crosshair was gonna be a real threat to the Batch, but instead Crosshair is just treated like Team Rocket and every time him and the Batch cross paths they treat it like its sotcha inconvenience. 

The bad batchs lack of agency regarding crosshairs rescue was another factor i took issue with, in the finale Hunter tries to make it seem like him and the rest wanted him back but in no point in the show apart from an short comment in episode 4 did they express in anyway they were planning on getting him back. And it makes it even more frustrating when they were able to rescue an ex-seperatist and a whole family from right under the empires noses but never once was the question about their brothers rescue ever brought up. It just felt like the writers purposly gave the characters dementia and just completely forgot about their brother who, for all we knew, was being kept against his will within the empire.

In regards to the finale, i kinda hated it at first but came to like after three rewatches. There are still many uncertainties like it not being completely clear wether or not crosshairs chip is actually out or not with how he keeps clutching his head (like boy you need a aspirin?) I was majorly mad they left him again but its probably gonna be apart of some bigger character arc for him next season. And the other batch members feelings regarding crosshairs supposed ‘betrayel’ still need some exploring.

Overall the show was fine, but with many of the characters lacking in screentime and the focus feeling off i felt like it could have been better. Will i still watch season 2? Yes, because i still like the characters and hope to see more development but most importantly i still want my dream family reunion between the characters. I dont like being left in a bad mood and would appreciate it if Filoni fixed it, thanks :)

[tessiete]

So, my mum sent me a prompt, and I...I wrote it. Still working on those in my inbox, but mum’s come first, ya know?

She picked Spotify #12 (Love You Back, by Metric), and she wanted Luke and Qui-Gon bonding. I tried, mum, but Korkie just shows up all the time.

Love, your daughter.

LIFT UP, AND FALL AWAY

Luke travels to Dantooine by himself.

It’s been weeks since Bespin, weeks since he’d been released from medical supervision aboard the Dreamless Sleep and weeks since he’d left all its well-meaning but overbearing clinicians behind. He knows he should go back to Yoda, or hunt for the bounty hunter who took Han, or help Leia rally the scattered rebel forces back into order, but instead, he makes his escape.

There is little enough to recommend the planet. It is an outer rim world with no industry or economy to speak of. There are no cities, or monuments, the largest settlements boasting hardly more than a few thousand people and recent rumours suggest a small but growing number of them may be Imperial sympathisers which doesn’t bode well for him: The Miracle of Yavin; The First Hope of the Alliance. He can’t imagine anything like that will be met with particular enthusiasm here. 

But even beyond political allegiances, it is a distinctly unappealing place being both unremarkable and largely unremarked. It is off of any useful trade route. It has few interplanetary allies, and only one weak judicial body to govern the entirety of its surface. In fact, the best thing Luke can think to say of it is that it is nearly as far away from Tatooine as it is possible for anything to be.

And far from Dagobah, too.

He brings his X-Wing down in the middle of a grassy plain, and leaves Artoo to run diagnostics on the ship. It’s his second (since he’d abandoned the first in Cloud City), and so lacking in all the alterations he’d so carefully programmed and calibrated into his previous fighter. He’s trying not to think of it as a nuisance, but an opportunity. A second chance. A second ship. A second hand - he smirks at this, and adjusts the blaster at his hip. He needs a second blade.

But there is something else that he must do first.

The sun is high as he sets off, only a small ration pack slung across his chest, and the blaster with him. Artoo’s whistling complaints grow fainter as he goes, until they are drowned completely beneath the whispers of swaying grasses. They are all turned brown. It is late in the year, and so they are filled with the gossip of an entire season. They brush against his legs, eager to touch this visitor and pass on rumours of his presence to their brethren, the trees, whose voices are heard in the rustle of leaves, then carried off on the wind in birdsong. 

In the distance, he sees a herd of grazing iriaz, but they move off long before he is close enough to comprehend them as anything more than silent shadows, silhouetted against the sky. They leave prints - wide tracks scratched into dusty earth, and little pools where they have kicked up some water to sustain them. Common havoc kites circle lazily overhead, riding the updrafts on stiff, unyielding wings. They too, take no interest in Luke, and soon disappear in search of prey. The drone of some insect rises and falls and vanishes, its source remaining unseen. It seems to Luke that all of Dantooine is of a beautiful, but uncurious nature, content to live and let live without extending either welcome or censure to those who cross its lands.

It is in this manner, unencumbered by anything but the weight of his thoughts, that Luke finds himself only a few hours later passing beneath the boughs of ancient blba trees to arrive on the doorstep of a tidy stone cottage in the middle of the Khoonda plains. The base is a round structure, supporting another smaller yet equally round structure on top, like buckets of sand packed tight and upturned upon each other. Where they meet, there is a ring of wood slats, angled steeply downward as shingles to protect from run off, the door an old fashioned vertical slide that folds over itself as it springs from the floor to hide away in the crossbeam above. He knocks, and when a man with blue eyes, and gold hair threaded silver answers, Luke knows why Ben’s ghost has asked him to come.

“I’m looking for Kryze,” he says. 

“That’s me,” the man replies, his brow furrowed. He keeps one hand on the door, and the other braced against the wall within to lend him strength should he need it, but there is no fear in his voice, despite the blaster he’s clearly noted. 

“I’ve been sent to find you,” Luke says, and Kryze sighs.

“Well,” he says, shoulders sagging, and his body shifting to grant Luke admittance. “You’d better come inside.”

The space is warm, the amber light of the afternoon filtering through rippled glass windows to dance over cluttered walls, and overfull shelves. There are plants, bursting from their pots like Tusken black powder on fire. Paintings cover every inch of the wall not taken up with windows or furniture, and canvases lie stacked atop one another in various crevices and corners where space has run out. Books - proper old volumes printed on flimsi, and in some cases actual paper, stand front to back to front in orderly lines high in their cramped cases, regimented troops of education and exploration. Lower down are curiously bent sticks, twisted knots of dry grass, beetle wings, the shed scales of a rosy drayk, leaves of various size and colour, and a small river stone, smooth and black and streaked with red. 

“Various treasures,” Kryze explains, as Luke is lost in his perusal. “You can touch them, if you like. Shall I put a kettle on?”

He wipes his hands upon an old rag, leaving streaks of blue and green, tossing it down beside a murky pitcher of water, and several brushes, and it is then that Luke realises he has caught him in the middle of something personal and profound.

“I don’t mean to bother you,” he says. “If you’re busy, I can wait. Or come back. Or -”

“Nonsense,” says Kryze, smiling. The expression is familiar, and Luke smiles back, feeling some common thread strum between them. “I ought to start on lastmeal anyway. We’re having muja dai-ungo for pudding. A favourite, you see, and yet I am the sole chef in this endeavour, since the other beasts which live here are prone to eating the jelly and leaving none for the glaze.”

It is some joke which Luke is not entirely certain of, so he smiles politely but doesn’t laugh as Kryze draws him into the cramped cookroom at the side. Water is set to boil on an ancient hot top, and Kryze sweeps aside a variety of holopads and half-finished string weaves to make space on the countertop. He pulls down two ceramplast cups, chipped and cracked, and smirks ruefully at his guest.

“A hazard of my unfortunate circumstances, you see. They say no plan survives contact with the enemy, and I take it to mean nothing at all survives contact with children. Everything here is somewhat the worse for wear, I’m afraid.” But there is nothing except long-suffering amusement in his voice, as though his pretensions of civility are an easy and happy price to pay for the benefit of such injury.

A shriek, followed by a chorus of laughter tumbles in from outside, and Kryze opens the window for a better view. Luke, overly alert to danger and almost surprised by joy, cannot help but duck his head to look, too.

A woman in long skirts races across the yard, followed by a girl brandishing a stick who looks only a few years younger than Luke, though she feels lightyears away. 

“Wait!” calls another voice, high and pleading. As the first two cavort out of sight, a third girl appears, only to stop at the call, and turn back as the fourth, and final member of the party staggers into view. A boy, no older than seven or so, sets himself down upon the ground, crossing his arms in displeasure as the girl walks back to soothe him. “They run too fast,” Luke hears him lament. “And I have lost the poesy you made me.”

Kryze lets out a breath of laughter, assured there is no danger except perhaps to his son’s vanity, and returns to his pot, measuring out leaves and water with equal care. Luke watches the girl give her brother a hug, and coax him off in pursuit of the others.

“My eldest, Jinn,” Kryze explains. “She’s a wild thing, like her mother. And Mav, too, but with a softer heart. Corim is the youngest, and most civilised of the bunch. Thank the stars, or I’m afraid I’d be terribly overrun out here. Do you take anything in your tea?”

“Um, no,” Luke says, thinking of the heavy spices of Tatooine brews. 

But the drink placed before him is a thin and watery kind of thing, of a pale pink colour. He can see the ceramplast through the liquid, and raises it to his lips skeptically.

Kryze watches him with that same kind amusement he seems to regard everything.

“It is a local variety of my own invention,” he explains. “Made from dried diabolix berries. Just the dried ones, mind you. The ones off the bush are deadly.”

Luke freezes, the rim of the cup pressed to his lips, the mild sweetness of sun still on his tongue, and Kryze laughs. He’s come here for a purpose, but has instead found himself trapped with a kind of domesticated eccentric.

He sets his tea down as politely as he can, while Kryze doesn’t hesitate to drink deeply from his own cup.

“I don’t want to be rude,” he says. “But I actually came here to deliver a message. From Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

At this, Kryze finally stills, his eyes meeting Luke’s with an apprehensive solemnity. “Of course,” he says. “What news?”

“He’s dead.”

The cup settles upon its saucer with only a faint chime of protest.

“Ah,” says Kryze.

In the following silence, guilt sweeps in, and soon Luke finds himself scrambling for the frayed edges of comfort and sympathy.

“It was fast,” he says. “And he knew what he was doing. He saved my life, and my friends. Vader - do you know anything that’s going on in the galaxy right now?”

That quiet, aching smirk curls upwards once more. 

“Of course,” says Kryze. “Why else would I be way out here?”

“I’m sorry,” Luke says.

Kryze stands to clear the table of their tea. 

“You say you’ve left your ship a few hours west? It is much too late for you to return to it now. Stay. Eat with us. Have a good night’s rest. Tomorrow, I should like to show you something.”

It is impossible for Luke to refuse this hospitality, not after he’s made such a mess of his own reason for coming here. He owes Kryze this much, at least.

“Of course,” he says. “If it isn’t any problem.”

“No problem at all,” Kryze insists. “There is an orchard down the path. If you follow the screams and laughter you should find it all right. The girls will collect you in time for latemeal.”

Thus dismissed, Luke removes his pack, but keeps his blaster close, heading for the door. At the threshold, he is overcome by a need to know for certain, and he turns back for one last look at the mysterious Kryze.

“Can I just ask,” he begins. “How did you know him? Obi-Wan, I mean. Why did he send me here to talk to you?”

His back to the door, Luke almost misses the reply carried back on the ghost of laughter.

“Oh, that,” says Kryze. “Well, after all, I am his son.”

 The sun of Dantooine is much too reserved to intrude, and so it is to the clatter of dishware, and eager voices that Luke wakes the next morning. He stretches, and moves from his room to the sonics across the hall he thinks without attracting notice, but he is met, upon his exit, with the startled aspect of the youngest Kryze listening at the door.

Corim’s jaw snaps shut, and he frowns before declaring quite firmly that, “I wasn’t spying. I was only checking to see if you hadn’t died in the night you slept in so late.”

Luke grins. “Not dead yet, I don’t think.”

“Well, if you don’t hurry, there shan’t be any flatcakes left, no matter what Bebu says.”

“I’ll be there in a sec,” Luke assures him, and he stalks away entirely unconvinced.

Despite this threat, the table in the main room is still heaped with food when Luke emerges, fresher and more relaxed than he’s been in ages. The Kryzes are already packed tight around the table, but Mav and Jinn happily bunch over to make room for Luke between them. Mav, especially, goes out of her way to fill his glass, and pile his plate with the last of the muja preserves left over from the night before.

“Hey, that was my share,” complains Jinn, her mouth full. “You’ve already had seconds today.”

Mav blushes, and ducks her head, but her retort is vehement for all that her embarrassment is public. “We have a guest,” she says. “And your face is so full of cake you wouldn’t even taste the jelly anyway!”

“I didn’t get seconds!” Corim chimes in.

“Mother!” Jinn demands, taking her appeal to a higher court.

“Jinn, relax,” says Wyla, supremely unbothered, sipping her kaf and reading off her holopad. “Mav, be nice. Corim, I have a treat for you later.”

“S’not fair,” Jinn grumbles into her plate, but Wyla reaches over to pat her hand sympathetically.

“If you’re looking for the worst villain to blame, then examine your father’s plate. He’s more than enough jelly on that cake to last us to next harvest.”

At this, Kryze looks up to shoot his daughter a smug grin, before shoveling a heavily laden portion of flatcake into his mouth. Jelly, piled too high to survive the journey, tumbles from his fork to splatter against the flat of his plate as emphasis of his unjust indulgence.

“Delicious,” he declares. Jinn rolls her eyes, while Luke smuggles in a bite of his own portion.

It is tasty, both sweet and tart and satisfyingly thick. The meal continues through several more hotly negotiated contracts, and concludes with Wyla and Mav packing up the old speeder with the spoils of their orchard, and Jinn agreeing to mind Corim, much to her delight and his wary dismay. Kryze, it is announced, has business to attend to with Luke, and he does not expect their return before nightfall. 

“Bring your rucksack,” he says, as they prepare to leave. “It is a long walk, and I shall want for snacks on the way.”

They set off with the sun on their faces, passing once more beneath the blba trees, the little cottage growing more and more distant as they make their way forth on the plains. Luke trusts that Kryze has some set destination in mind, but after the first hour he privately wonders if his guide has been distracted, and has brought them to wander in admiration of the land.

“That there is an extremely rare simbyloona butterfly,” he says, gesturing with a long wooden staff at the erratic path of the insect. “You ever been to Konkiv? Or Sriluur?”

“No,” says Luke.

“They have butterflies there,” explains Kryze. “What about Endor’s forest moon?”

“Never heard of it.”

“Well, if you ever go, keep an eye out,” he says, pushing on. 

The world seems much more alive with Kryze today. Longhoppers leap from the grass as he wades through, warbling tiktiks swoop over head to catch them. One of unique boldness lands upon the top of Kryze’s staff when he stops to show Luke the little dirt mounds of puppi mice beneath their feet. He smiles, and extends a finger to the bird which cocks its head from side to side before giving in to temptation and hopping upon Kryze’s outstretched hand.

“Hello, there,” he sings, soft and low. “Aren’t you a brave thing?”

He holds the bird forth so that Luke may have a closer look at the colourful plumage before lifting it higher to the sky to release it.

“Off you go, then,” he says. “Beautiful animal, isn’t it? Usually quite shy though. You must bring good luck.”

Luke watches the course of the bird, and hardly knows he’s replied until he’s already said, “Your father said there was no such thing.”

“Did he?” Kryze beams. “Well, he always had such odd notions.”

“Unlike you?” Luke asks. It’s not that he’s insulted by the man’s amusement at a dead man, but it does seem somewhat hypocritical in light of the bird, and the paintings, and the tea.

But Kryze takes no offense, only quirking an eyebrow to say, “Where do you think I got it from?”

For all his evident curiosity this challenge seems to be exactly the sort of query Kryze was waiting for, and he begins to tell Luke all manner of things about himself as they move ever on towards the horizon.

“My mother was the Duchess of Mandalore,” he says. “A pacifist, though you’d never know it by the way the galaxy remembers us. And for a year she was under the protection of my father. They fell in love, as tragically and impossibly as any young person could wish, and when they parted my father left confident in his ignorance, and my mother was left with me. It’s difficult to say who came out ahead in that.”

“I thought the Jedi couldn’t love,” says Luke.

“And whoever told you that nonsense?” asks Kryze. “You told me my father died saving you, and he cannot have done that for anything less than the purest love.”

Luke says nothing to this, only twists a knot of grass off in his hand and releases it to the wind. They walk in strained silence until it becomes comfortable again, and Luke exhales in resignation.

“I only just met my father,” he says. “He tried to kill me.”

Kryze looks at him, then stops to look at him harder. 

“Oh, I see it now,” he says. “You’re a Skywalker. I might have guessed it, but I’m afraid I’m rather out of practice these days.”

“Are you a Jedi, too?”

“No, no,” he scoffs. “Nothing so serious as all that. But I know enough to be able to tell the blaze of a Skywalker from the general inferno of starfire. I know enough to be recognised in turn.”

“Is that why you’re out here? Hiding from the Empire?”

Kryze grimaces at this, and turns back to the path ahead. A shadow looms, rising out of the ground, and he turns their course to that.

“What makes you think I’m hiding?” he asks. Then, before Luke can parse the riddle in this, he continues. “I used to be in the Alliance,” he says. “Wyla, too. We ran intelligence rings, and sabotage missions. We fought. Even had more than a few close calls with the Empire. But at some point, around the time that Wyla found out about Jinn, we decided that was it. We’d done our part. And when the Rebellion left their base here, we stayed behind.”

“The Empire still exists,” says Luke. 

“And it will not be my hand which stops it,” counters Kryze. Then, as the shadow takes the form of a ruined temple sprung from the earth itself, he speaks again. “My parents both died for peace. I think that I owe it to them to live for it. Here we go.”

Vines cling to ancient stone, while tangles of brush climb up and over crumbled walls and gaping cracks in the side of the old building. The trees grow thickly here, still green and lush despite the lateness of the year.

“A wellspring,” explains Kryze, without Luke’s having to ask. 

He guides him past hollowed out chambers pierced only by shafts of dazzling sunlight breaking through fractured ceilings, and bouncing off shallow, invisible puddles within. Animals chirrup in the brush, and birds nest in all the little nooks and crannies of decaying architecture. Though it is long abandoned, there is still something light and sacred about the space. The air is fresher here.

“This is a Jedi place,” breathes Luke.

“It was,” agrees Kryze. “Long before the Empire. Come along. There’s something else.”

Beneath a fall of greenery and fallen rocks lies an opening. 

“What is it?” asks Luke.

“Caves,” says Kryze. Luke looks at him, still uncertain. “I have noticed that you carry no lightsaber,” he explains.

Luke flexes the fingers of his false hand, feeling the pistons and levers firing in time with his desire, but different from the muscles and sinew of his flesh. It cannot be observed by casual inspection, but somehow Kryze seems to know.

“I lost it,” says Luke. 

“Then you shall have to build another.” He gestures again to the cave mouth, and Luke braces himself to go in. He shifts the blaster on his hip, checking the settings. “You won’t need that in there,” says Kyze. “There’s nothing inside but old ghosts.”

He is halfway to moving when he hesitates, and leans back. With his eyes fixed on Kryze’s, Luke unstraps the holster from his side, and hands it and his blaster into the hands of Ben Kenobi’s son. He goes into the caves alone.

It is dark inside, and there is a chill and the sound of water dripping into water somewhere far away. Luke steps carefully. Though the ground is rocky and uneven, his steps are certain and he does not falter. After several minutes of silent exploration, with no strange whispers or startling movement, the fear he entered with begins to fall away, leaving Luke’s mind open to the growing threat of boredom. There is nothing here. He sighs, and turns to leave only to discover the way out has grown just as dark as the path going farther in. He has no torch, no light, and no sabre to guide his path, but his irritation blazes bright enough to guide him and he sets off the way he came. 

When he has walked more than twice the distance he came, and then gone back to walk the distance again, he decides there is little he can do but sit and hope that Kryze will come for him. Surely, he hasn’t brought him here to starve after feeding him so thoroughly only hours ago. And for all that Luke feels helpless in the inky pits of the caves, Kryze had not lied when he said his blaster would be of no use. There is no one here but Luke.

He sets himself down against a stone, the seat of his pants made uncomfortably damp by the floor, and quite to his own surprise, drifts off.

When he wakes, there is light.

All around him are outcroppings of crystals in various shapes and colours. Some shine more brightly than the others, and some glow so fervently it is as though they sing. He reaches out to touch one, and the rest all clamour in harmony to meet him. 

Every thought of escape is eclipsed by the beauty in the caves, and Luke trails his fingers over each crystal that calls out, following their voices deeper and deeper into the caves. Until, in the deepest chamber, on the shores of a vast underground lake, he is met by something which glows brighter than all the crystals combined.

For a moment, he is compelled to shield his eyes, as the flare bursts forth in effulgent magnificence before dying down to live within the confines of an unrecognisable form.

It is a man with long hair, a kind smile, and wearing the robes of a Jedi.

“Hello, little one,” it calls out, and Luke raises his hand in reply. “I was wondering when I might have the chance to meet you.”

“Do I know you?” asks Luke, stepping closer. 

The ghost chuckles. “Not as such,” he replies. “But I know you. You are the student of my student, after all. I am Qui-Gon Jinn.”

“You were Master Obi-Wan’s master!” 

“And Master Yoda’s, too,” brags the ghost, enjoying the awe of Luke’s epiphany, but this is a boast too far, and Luke’s face falls into lines of skepticism.

“That can’t be true,” he says. “Master Yoda is much too old to have been taught by you.”

“Ah, and must education end with the cessation of breath? Cannot knowledge outlast us? Cannot learning outlive us?”

“Can it?” asks Luke.

“We are more than what we do in life, my boy,” says Qui-Gon. He sits upon one of the larger stones which border the edge of the lake, leaving space beside him for Luke. “And there is much to be learned by death, for those brave enough to seek it.”

Luke frowns, and moves to join him, trying to puzzle out the ghost’s philosophy. 

“Are you suggesting -” he looks to the Jedi for confirmation, not convinced of his conclusion. “You’re not saying that we should just give in, are you? That we should just accept death when we could stop it?”

“Not at all,” says Qui-Gon, and Luke relaxes upon the stone. “It’s good that you fight. It’s important you fight. Don’t rush to death in the vain hope that it will bring you easy satisfaction. Life and death - they are balanced. They are equal. And there is much value to be found in both.”

“Is that why Ben let go?” Luke asks. 

“Obi-Wan was wise to concede his life,” says Qui-Gon. “But that does not make his loss any more bearable for you. Or for me. And though I am glad to be with him once again, I will always wish he’d had more time with you.”

There is a smear of clay grown dry upon his knee, and he brushes it off with one hand.

“Me, too,” he says to the ghost.

“But that is Obi-Wan’s lesson for you,” says Qui-Gon, his voice ringing clear across the lake. “He knows what it means to let go, but I -” he says. “I am here to show you how to hold on.”

And in the crystalline light of the caves, and the glittering warmth of the ghost, Luke learns of his lineage, and his family, and all the ways in which he is never alone. Qui-Gon speaks of the past. He tells him of a little boy who struggled and overcame, and a little boy who struggled and fell, and how neither of them loved the other any less. He tells the story of an ancient Order, and a girl queen; of a duchess, and a knight; of children lost to their parents, and parents lost to themselves. He tells of blood, and consequences, and desire, and regret, and joy, and sorrow, and how it all lives on in memory, and in stories, and in relics, and in paintings, and in river stones, and in muja dai-ungo, and in him.

“There is nothing lost,” says Qui-Gon. “So long as you choose to remember it. Neither life, nor love, nor people. Hold on. And don’t let go.”

And as he fades away into darkness, the song of a single crystal cries out, drawing Luke up, and up, and out of the black of the caves into the evening sun.

At the mouth of the hollow, standing with the light in his hair, and Ben Kenobi in his eyes, stands Kiorkicek Kryze. In his hands, a sabre, the kyber inside calling out.

And when Luke touches the hilt, he knows that this one is his.

“I thought it might be you,” says Kryze, smiling. He shifts Luke’s bag high against his shoulder and turns to the setting sun. “Come on,” he says. “They’ll be waiting for us.”

And when he finally returns to his ship, and Artoo, and programmes a course for home, Luke leaves Dantooine by himself, but he is not alone.

[firebunnylover]

LoSH S2 discussion

I love Legion of Superheroes. And i love season 2, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about how it could have been improved. In terms of quality, it varies more than season 1. Some parts are top tier while others… eh.

Season 2 is darker than season 1. And there’s the inherent stigmatism that darker means better. But it’s not true.

A horror schlock film is not inherently better than an animated film.

I don’t blame the staff on all its shortcomings. Kids WB was on its deathbed, so they probably had less time to work and iron out ideas. And executive meddling.

The second season had a lot of good elements, but there are things that weighed it down. I am here to discuss how to improve said things.

Heads up: ended up editing part of this post after rewatching the episodes.

This first bit is more of a personal preference, but instead of the 41st century, maybe move the original source of conflict to a farther region of space, one that the UP doesn’t interact with, and has been growing in terms of turmoil until they finally resort to bringing the Legion over. In other words, it has just been put aside by everyone else to the last minute.

Parallel to Brainy’s relationship to Brainiac. He doesn’t want to deal with it. He never brings it up. But maybe if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten corrupted.

This place still has plenty of old documentation of the original age of superman, so Kell is disillusioned with the ideal glory days. Keep Kell Edgy.

Kell’s home and K3NT still gets destroyed - reflects Krypton’s own destruction.

SPEAKING OF KELL:

Make his story more apparent that it’s one realizing that kindness is not an inherent weakness. And neither is being soft. He was raised for fighting and killing Imperiex, and was taught to think that they were weaknesses. Have him realize his identity can be beyond the Clone of Superman made to kill Imperiex. Or rather, have him react more to realizing that he’s moving beyond his given identity.

To clarify; they do address his development in the show a few times, but I want more continuous development instead of the rapid nods we get. Have him try to interact in a more humane way with others. Especially with other members of the Legion. Where they have to take a double take in seeing him acting not that edgy. Maybe offer more flashback of him fighting Imperiex in comparison, and how he treated allies then.

Also put K3NT’s story under the microscope. I doubt Imperiex just came out of nowhere with his attacks. Plus the fact they went far enough to send a hitman after a fucking child? That screams yikes and maybe we need to double check the story.

And an overall issue to be addressed is what rights do robots have and what conditions need to be met? Because let’s face it, we make robots to do complex work for us. But Colu is a culture where the main people ARE robots. Like in Transformers. What line do we draw between non-sentient robots vs the sentient ones in the 31st century? And what about cyborgs/people who give up their original bodies for robotic ones?

Plus Imperiex himself came to be because of the perfected combination of organic tissue and robotics. This topic of robots and individuality/personhood could have been a fun topic to explore.

Don’t sideline the girls. Leave TG alone. 

Don’t put SG in a coma for nearly the whole season - seriously it’s the reason why the guys make one bad decision after the other. Although with that said, it’s because she’s not around we got the majority of s2 plots. She’s the goddamn mom of the squad. Just make her busier and unable to keep an eye on her idiot boys for the plots based on bad decisions to happen. 

Or have her deal with after-effects of what Esper did to her. Maybe after a whole season of being the emotional support character, have her be the one in need of emotional support or not being able to help directly, especially when the group needs emotional support. Emotional support paradox.

Maybe don’t make Cosmic Boy appear as much as a dick in the episodes where he does show up. He’s trying to hold this goddamn team together, and there’s a goddamn tyrant trying to conquer the galaxy. HE’S FUCKING TIRED AND STRESSED. AND IM SURE THERE ARE A BUNCH OF JERKS WHO WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT TO DISSOLVE THE LEGION. Better yet, throw in some more backstory with him and his little brother Pol!

And in regards to Imperiex… The dude has a lot of potential. I like his voice actor, Phil Morris. The guy voiced Dr. Sweets from Atlantis.

But his writing needs help.

In the original DC comics, he’s the embodiment of Entropy. Anyone who’s seen Madoka is probably familiar with what that is. But if you're not, here’s a definition: “ the measure of a system’s thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work...” He’s the embodiment of that energy that cannot be used for anything. And Entropy grows over time.

Another definition of what Entropy is “lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.”

In the comics, he’s more of a cosmic being as a result of him being an embodiment of unusable energy. He’s been in existence since, well, the beginning. He had destroyed the universe and recreated it multiple times. Okay, so that lines up with how the show portrays him. And technically, he does get the universe to reset itself in the 41st century when he alters the 31st century enough.

But I personally feel that making him a cosmic being is kinda… meh?

I personally prefer more personal villains most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, an Eldritch being done right makes a great character, but I can’t see Imperiex as one. At least not LoSH’s version.

Plus I like it when the protagonist sees the villain has a point and has changed as a result for the better.

You know, over a year ago, I used to think that it was impossible to make a tyrannical villain who’s presented as real evil seem complex.

And then… I was introduced to TFP Megatron.

Now for you LoSH fans who haven’t watched Transformers Prime, Megatron was once Megatronus. A low caste member who worked in the mines and Gladiator games. He wanted to fix the growing corruption of Cybertron. To make things better.

But his worse personality traits took over, and he lost that good motivation. Now he’s just fighting to win and defeat Optimus Prime. 

But despite the change of goals and ideals, he doesn’t want to simply abandon his relationship with Optimus. He and Optimus, or as he used to be called, Orion, were fighting for the betterment of society. And they meant something to each other. Megatron doesn’t want to just get it over with. He wants fanfare for his victory over Optimus. And he doesn’t want anyone else to rob him off that. But he isn’t opposed to getting Optimus/Orion back on his side. It’s because of this you can still argue that there is a remaining shred of good in him.

They were the best young lovers anD NO I AM NOT CRYING OVER THEM!

Also, the fact we know he was part of a minority group in the form of the lower cast  that was enslaved can make us sympathize with Megatronus of the past, as well as understand how he came to be.

It doesn’t mean we forgive him for his actions - and he has done a lot of shitty things. And I mean a lot.

But his history is more understandable. TFP Megatron’s a fall from grace.

OK I’m done dissecting TFP Meg’s writing.

We know Imperiex was a slave, and was originally organic, who’s from a society where his purpose is literally just to fight, and was gradually stripped of his original body. He was originally stripped of any agency before then though.

But he says this was a good thing. Calling his original body a weakness. And refers to his old self as a pathetic slave.

He gave up whatever softness he had.

Also, this is where K3NT’s story needs to be reexamined. Imperiex was made during what K3NT described as “A Time of Extended Prosperity”. That time had freaking slaves. And K3NT says that when Imperiex did rise up, they were unprepared. So… they were prosperous, but lacked defense to prevent anything like that happening? Or perhaps those who were in charge were that unpopular that it was easy for Imperiex to start the war.

What made him decide conquering the galaxy was the next thing to do after he had every bit of his original self stripped away? Why go as far as destroy it?

What I’m trying to say is that they could borrow a few pages from the Megatron book. Maybe he was once trying to better the society he was part of, but he decides to play the violent card at some point. And somewhere along that strategy, he starts to lose sight of the initial goal. With that, being the victor and in control becomes the main one.

Or perhaps he has grown cynical of the galaxy as it is and decides it just needs to go all together, and then start from scratch.

Like the second definition of Entropy, he gradually declines in predictability and descends into disorder.

Maybe to juxtaposition the fact that Brainiac became the main threat at the end, make him the opposite or foil to him. Rationality or logic do not serve as first-or-second influences to decisions under pressure. Emotions and his own perceived ideas do.

Speaking of Brainiac, maybe offer more of the OG Brainiac. Give us more of that smooth-voiced Corey Burton. 

Or TFA Megatron.

Seductive Bastard.

I’m sorry I have fallen for the shady-business-mafia-boss-but-morally-grey robot.

Also, the members of the legion that only get one episode focus? Give them more screen time. You can’t just introduce superman’s new adopted son Karate Kid and just not bring him for another speaking role again!

Actually, that brings me to another point.

As @spandexinspace​ pointed out, his episode is not the best, and is arguably the worst written of the whole series. Things that are issues do get brushed off to the side.

So a proposal on potential rewrite:

First, have the legion look over its current rules and what exceptions/changes they need to make.

Explore the subject of kids having to participate in these fights.

To clarify, kid shows are meant to be escapism for kids.

Shocking, I know.

So it makes sense that some characters would be the same age as the viewers. 

But while this is good representation, as you get older, you find yourself going “WHY WOULD THE ADULTS LET THEM ENDANGER THEMSELVES?!”

Kids having to fight at that age does have consequences. Batman Beyond certainly addressed it. So did Steven Universe Future.

Steven ended up being responsible for so much, that when he no longer needed to take care of things, he was unsure of who he was. And then there’s the fact he ended up with PTSD because of him having to fight so much. Then you have the fact that Greg and Rose never intended to raise him like their caretakers did... but as good as their intentions were, they still caused damage. Rose for… all the gem stuff. And look, Greg is a great dad, but not enforcing anything for Steven when he’s growing up still has it’s cost.

With Batman, he’s obviously going to do his damn best to keep kids safe, including the Robins. But sometimes, it’s not enough. He wasn’t able to keep Tim safe in the event with the Joker in Batman Beyond. Where he was held captive and tortured.

But the Batkids are never expected to resolve this stuff by themselves. Because Batman knows how much you can get screwed up as a kid. He fucking cares.

And to be fair, in most continuities I’m aware of, the other sidekicks came out pretty okay overall.

Except Jason Todd.

So my proposal?

Have Val originally with Grimbor, as a sort of Protege. But have the legion capture him, only to go “uhhh this is a child with no powers”. And Superman, being the good, wholesome paragon we all love, takes him under his wing.

In all honesty, I want Superman pulling a batdad for Karate Kid in his intro episode the whole time. That was the best part of the episode for me.

Plus after the events of “Cry Wolf”, the Legion should examine the no-killing rule. Because they do need to kill Imperiex to save the universe. But that goes against the code. But they can argue it’s a necessity. But Mar Londo is also a monster. He’s the everyday monster some of us have grown up with.

When do you need to make exceptions to kill someone?

And my final main suggestion:

Add more Mekt.

What the heck were you guys expecting? You all KNOW me by now. I LOVE MY GARBAGE BOY.

Joking aside, here’s what I would do.

Have the Chained Lightning episode pushed back, but have Mekt with Imperiex earlier. Most of us would yell “Why the heck would you join the guy whose main goal is to destroy the galaxy?!” But this is one of the easiest things to address.

Explore more of his past. Use the comic sources with him being outcast for being a solo on Winath. With that in mind, him deciding to side with Imperiex can make sense.

Why try protecting something that has done nothing but hurt you?

There’s actually a pretty good reason why he would side with Imperiex, as seen in Champions and Lightning Storm. Remember, Mekt was willing to cheat to get ahead of the sports competition he was introduced in. And also was thrilled when fighting Garth and was beating him on his own. He likes being in power.

Imperiex offers him that.

As for why Imperiex would bother with Mekt? That’s a little harder to answer. He knows that Mekt has a soft spot for his brother, and in turn sister, which proves to be the reason why the Tachyon Cannon fails. You’d think Imperiex would remove a huge fatality.

But he doesn’t.

Maybe he could hold another type of value for Mekt. Perhaps... nostalgia?

I’m still sold on the idea that they were sleeping together.

Also, give us a conclusive answer on where Mekt stands with the LSV. In the comics, he was the leader, but that role was given to Tyr in the cartoon more or less.

OK I think this has been polished enough for me to post now. What you guys think? Feel free to add on!

[gffa]

Clone Wars EP Dave Filoni breaks down the first episodes of the final season [x]

It’s been a long journey in a galaxy far, far away, but Star Wars: The Clone Wars is finally back. After its unexpected cancellation in 2013, fans had a new hope for the revered series. At Star Wars Celebration in 2015, audience members got to see rough animations (story reels) of a few unfinished episodes, including a plot focusing on imperfect clone soldiers called the Bad Batch. Those episodes make up the first arc of the seventh and final season, which debuted Feb. 21 on Disney+. After the premiere of the first two episodes, EW spoke with Clone Wars and The Mandalorian executive producer Dave Filoni about bringing back the series — and a fallen friend.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When you produced the first six seasons, the pace of production was pretty quick. But for this season, you had years to look back and reflect on the story. As you were looking to bring back these first few episodes was there anything you really wanted to go back and update?

DAVE FILONI: If you go back to the original series, what we put out in 2008, it's such a dramatic leap. But then you realize it's been 11 years since that show first aired, which is kind of striking for me that it's been so long. So there should be dramatic improvements, visually. I think that facial animation, the fidelity of the expression — things like that — we were able to improve in the animation itself. I really feel looking at this show now, it's kind of how >George [Lucas] and I envisioned it to look in the beginning. We just didn't have the tools necessary to actually realize it then. But over time with a lot of training, you know, like any good Jedi I learned my way.

One scene that's a little different from the original story reel of “The Bad Batch” is that it originally opened with a longer extended sequence between Mace, Anakin, Rex, and Cody. In the final version, you added a pretty touching scene between Rex and Cody talking about a lot of the fallen clones. What was the decision to add that scene in there?

I just thought the story was really dragging in the beginning. I felt like there was a whole lot of exposition, one too many scenes where they're saying what they're going to do instead of just doing it. And then I wanted to add a better sense of personal stakes to the story. You know, part of the consideration I had to make when doing this was, how do people even know who Echo is? I'm imagining a lot of people will just watch these 12 episodes and maybe not go back and watch the previous, you know, over 100 episodes where Echo plays a moderate role.

The Bad Batch are mutant clones who are new faces we meet at the top of the season. How did you go about designing the looks for these guys and also new clone hairstyles that I didn’t know were possible?

Yes, we always had this bizarre hairstyle trend with clones where they would pick ways to individualize. And the Bad Batch themselves, that was all right from George. He wanted to explore this idea that there were clones that were a little bit more unique from one another that were like a special forces unit that had enhanced skills. And so the trick for those characters is really making them feel special in what their abilities could be, but not making them superheroes. Wrecker should not be the Hulk, even though we love the Hulk and those types of stories. That's not what Star Wars is. So we had to keep it all kind of within the reality of Star Wars.

I loved the callback to clone 99 from season 3. Was that always the plan to call the Bad Batch "Clone Force 99"?

Yeah. That's where the idea kind of came from story-wise, was that, you know, 99 proved back in the original Clone Wars series to have greater heart and strength than some of the clones that were thought of better warriors, and Cody felt that that was worth exploring. And so he really lobbies the Kaminoans to take a second look at clones that they might deem different.

These first two episodes feature almost entirely clone troopers. Dee Bradley Baker voices all the clones — what was his reaction when he saw the script?

He has a unique skill where he's able to lend his voice to the individual nature of these characters. You forget it's one guy doing it. And I can tell you, it's exhausting for him. Being inside one character's mind is exhausting. And I can't imagine what it's like when he's in a whole squad of guys. And he's got to keep the energy up and he's got to keep the conflict up. And he's arguing with himself.

He and I over the years have had different ways to remember clones. When we were in the series we had certain words that would be like triggering for each of the clones — what their key personality was. The Bad Batch is a little easier, you know, because they're so different.

I think one of the coolest scenes that has ever come out of Clone Wars is the attack on the command center in episode 1 of this season. Do you remember plotting that out?

Yeah, that was really well-directed by Kyle Dulevy. George was always pushing us to think more in terms of what the live-action blocking would be and how a live-action film could do things. And that's where some of those longer takes that hand off action and keep with movement and feel more handheld and operated come from. It's the way to really put the viewer right in there, like you're running alongside the clones.

The way we do Clone Wars, there's no storyboards. So when we plan the scene like that, it's all virtually blocked in the computer. All the staging is done in a privatized system George created called Zviz, which is like a virtual blocking tool for directors. And you can put all the characters on the stage and then you can watch them play out the scenes like you’re watching the morning walkthrough of the rehearsal run, and then you can set up your cameras and so you can follow everybody. There's this virtual camera, and you can tweak the timing to get it to be really perfect.

The animator, Kyle, and his team were really proficient at using it. I know exactly the shot you're talking about. The way I look at it in my mind is that the Bad Batch arc is the most authentic to the way I think Clone Wars was back when we did it. Yes, we improved the animation. We improved the rendering. But it's very much something that we had shot. It's pretty authentic. The middle arc is more of a halfway point, where we tweaked it and we worked on the script quite a bit, but it's still the relative idea of what we were going to be doing cinematically. And then the end is really something like we've never done before in Clone Wars — because it’s the end.

It was so great to see Echo again despite the circumstances. When he seemingly died in the Citadel, did you know then that you wanted to bring him back later?

No, ha. That [death], really more than any of the other ones, we all kind of noticed that people were like, “Oh, man, Echo.” And we thought it'd be interesting that the Techno Union — a creepy bunch of guys on the evil side of things — maybe there's something to be done there. So we started to hatch a plan for if that would even be something that's possible. But it wasn't top of mind when we did the Citadel arc.

Another difference between the story reels in the second episode was this new scene about Anakin slipping away to call Padme, which I thought was a pretty illuminating addition.

When I looked at these 12 episodes, there was no Padme in them, and that seemed like a really huge oversight. That was never the plan, because there were more episodes planned, but we ended up doing these 12. I just thought that was really unfortunate. I talked to the actress who played her, Cat Taber, and I think it was a bummer for her because she'd been so involved in the series over the years.

And again, [this new scene] is important to the story and for people that might be walking into Clone Wars new. Having a scene with Padme actually interacting with Anakin was a very important moment. It also shows people where they're at in their relationship. It shows that he goes to her for advice, that she really gets the relationship he has with Rex, that she needs to remind him that actually that was going out on a limb for him, so maybe you should take it on faith and go on this limb for Rex. And also that she has a big influence over Anakin still and that he trusts her. And it also hints at the timeline. And that's always a tricky one, I think, because you as the viewer have to remember that at this point in Star Wars, we know way more than the characters do.

To be honest, I'd worked so much on Rebels, I had to go back and reread and watch a whole bunch of the Clone Wars era just to turn my brain back on. I had to upload a whole bunch of information to my drive because, you know, I guess I'm getting old and losing some of it, but it came back in time.

You posted an intriguing Instagram last month. It was a picture of Gandalf and Ahsoka. And Gandalf says, “People thought I was dead, too. Look how that turned out…” And, you know, a lot of people assumed Asoka was dead because we hear her voice in The Rise of Skywalker. Are we going to see her again?

Well, you'll see her in Clone Wars if you watch these 12 episodes. [Laughs] I told the truth! I had an answer for once.

Was there anything that you learned from working on and directing in this first season of The Mandalorian that you were able to apply to this final season of Clone Wars?

I think a lot. Working with Jon Favreau has been another extension of my education. There are a lot of things that George had taught me over the years about live-action, and finally here I was in a place where I could apply it. And I'm so fortunate to be working alongside Jon as another mentor and someone who is very experienced to help me through the questions and the challenges that you have in a different medium.

But yeah, it definitely affected me as far as looking back on the Clone Wars with different eyes and saying we could tighten this up, this could be better. You know, some of the things I learned from Jon about just keeping it moving and heightening and transforming things as we go. He brings a great perspective, and one that I've really never had as an actor to every scene and the emotions and the character. And so I've learned a lot from him in the past year about hopefully improving our performances and relating to performances.

[twilightofthe]

Chapter Fourteen liveblog of The Mandalorian Season 2!  Let’s go!!!

Gonna say right now this episode already has VERY large boots to fill, my only prior experience with Tython is when my DM took our party there in the Star Wars RPG I’m playing in atm and we had a blast doing stuff like negotiating peace between warring peoples, finding lost children, visiting and exploring the very temple Din and the baby will be going to, AND we got attacked by Imps and I got to steal and drive an AT-AT.  Idk how to make Tython better than that xD

Ok but here we go, opening scene

Ooooooh we getting the FENNEC SHAND flashback???  (Lol but seriously if she is showing up again I’m all too happy to see my girl Ming-Na but how the fuuuuuck are we going to tie aNOTHER character’s storyline into this season? xD)

Once more I would die for the nameless baby Yodito 

SEROUSLY LOOKIT HIM AND HIS WIDDLE BALL DIN HOW COULD YOU EVER GIVE THAT UP

Welp I guess acknowledging the kid’s name is good parent/child bonding activities

“Bitch that’s my ball you keep taking it”

BABY LISTENS TO DADDY

HE’S HELPING THE BABY TRAIIIIIIIN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

HEY NO I’M NOT MAD AT YOU AAAAA GOOD PARENT

“Nice lady” lol perfect way to describe Ahsoka

OMG THE SOFTNESS IN HIS VOICE MISTER PEDRO YOU ARE KILLING ME ;_;

“You’re very special, kid” KILL ME RIGHT FUCKING NOW HOW DARE YOU TOY WITH MY HEART--

DIN YOU DO NOT SOUND CONVINCING AT ALL

NOT EVEN TO YOURSELF

JUST ACCEPT YOUR FATHERHOOD GODDAMMIT

“The TRAGEDY???” Oh No

Welp I guess Gideon tracks the Crest and kidnaps Baby in this one waaaaaah

Ok so forest planet like my DM said, but he made it snowy instead of acrid.....

Temple didn’t quite look like the first battle outcropping from Fellowship of the Ring either...

Oh is this another “wave your hand to pull it out of the ground” thingies like the Lothal temple?

DIN DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE JUST ABANDON HIM THERE

Ah ok he’s just doing the seeing stone thing

Oh honey this must be a pain in the ass to deal with the Force when you’re not remotely Force sensitive

BABY AND BUTTERFLY I’D DIE FOR HIM

Oh whoop we have company, not the Imps already?

Ahhh nope just Boba

Wait was HE the one who found Fennec last season???

If Boba’s the one who ends up turning over the baby to the bad guys just know nothing y’all say will make me forgive him for it xD

Fennec I’d kinda expect it from tho lol

I still think the Slave 1 (still a Very Hmmm Name) is the one of the goofiest looking ships, like why is it shaped like that and why does it fly standing up? xD

OOP I guess Baby just needed some pressure?  Glowy stone!

Glowy stone wiiiiith magic forcefield oh dear

Guess this ep’s gonna have Din trying to fight off opponents while Baby’s openly vulnerable and meditating, a la Katara in ATLA season 1

And ultimately fail too oh no....

Lol first thing visible coming out of ship is dramatic-ass cape, this fucking galaxy xD

TEMUERAAAAAAAAAAAA ;_;  Loooook I’m not the biggest Boba fan but I fucking love Temuera Morrison and his perfect voice

Wait he wasn’t the one who planted the tracker on his ship was he?

Looool at least Din’s finally found out there’s deadass like two groups of people he ends up coming across in this story

Hmmm we lookin’ dressed kinda like a Jedi, huh there Fett boy?

Wait Boba why didn’t you just try and ask/fight Cobb for the armor???

Oh so they really aren’t gonna make Boba Mandalorian again?

Oop Boba down for child murder

FENNEC OK I’M STILL KINDA IN LOVE WITH HER

“There’s no need for bloodshed” ok maybe Boba’s had some character development???

PROTECTIVE PAPA GETTIN’ OUT THE WHISTLING BIRDS

God Ming-Na is so fuckin’ pretty

“left for dead” BITCH YOU GOT FUCKING EATEN SHUT UP

Ohhhh does Fennec have some of those special new artificial guts like they gave Breha Organa?  Ngl I’m thinking of using those in one of my fics.....

Ooooop and NOW there’s the Imps

And that looks like enough room for a LOT of Stormtroopers

Oh dear

OH lol I guess Boba and Fennec have it covered

Ok fine Bobs that’s kinda badass

Lol Stormtroopers can’t even aim a mortar 

And STILL can’t properly aim a rapid fire gun either

Dumbass should have moved

Boba don’t steal the armor you’ll just be doing exactly what all the other Mandos are trying to accuse you of

AND DIN DOESN’T EVEN CARE ABOUT ANY OF THIS HE’S JUST DESPERATELY TRYING TO RESCUE HIS BABY ;_; ;_; ;_;

NOOOO DON’T LEAVE HIM

And of COURSE if he had waited five more seconds

Oh I guess Boba’s changing into his armor

Yep there he is

Ooop is that the Boba Fett theme?

THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE

Aaaaand of course they’ve got a Star Destroyer 

WAIT ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME

Y’ALL SERIOUSLY TOOK THE RAZOR CREST AWAY

BITCHASSES

Damn but if Gideon doesn’t have a perfectly menacing theme too

Ok Favreau we see them looking more like Iron Man than anything else

Goddammit Boba why’d you make him take off his jetpack

Star Destroyer/Imperial Cruiser same thing, one’s just bigger

Y’ALL SHOULDN’T HAVE MADE HIM TAKE OFF HIS JETPACK

THE FUCKING TOY BALL GODDAMMIT Y’ALL ARE GONNA MAKE ME FUCKING CRY

Ooop at least the beskar’s fine

Yeahhh Boba knows this is at least kinda his fault xD

HAHAHA YEP THE FETTS ARE MANDOS AGAIN

Ohhhh and Jango fought in the Mando Civil War huh????  INTERESTING

Ohhhh they are picking up Ahsoka again

Wait fuck me I forgot, has Ahsoka ever directly met Boba before?

Wait you’re fucking kidding me you’re bringing MAYFIELD back nooooo he was annoying and untrustworthy

I hope Ahsoka bullies him

Dammit Gideon I hope the baby bites you

HAHA FUCKING GET THEM BABY

ok ok ok yeah I know Baby using the Dark Side is bad

OK OK OK NEVER MIND NEVER MIND NEVER MIND THAT’S REALLY BAD THAT’S WHAT THIS BASTARD WANTS

BITCH YOU STOP THAT

GIDEON I FUCKING SWEAR

DON’T Y’ALL FUCKING TOUCH HIM

OR SHOOT HIM YOU FUCKING BITCHES I HATE THIS I HATE EVERYTHING

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

POOR BABYYYYYYY

DIRECTED BY SPY KIDS MAN????  SIR HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME HURT

Okay okay okay fine, yes, Boba was Very Cool(TM)

Damn this was a good episode

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: His Name Is Alive

While Warren Defever’s name is perhaps less recognizable than that of his band His Name Is Alive, he’s also been connected with a seemingly endless array of other projects: Princess Dragon-Mom, Elvis Hitler, ESP Beetles, Control Panel, and far more. This doesn’t get into his recording and production credits for the likes of Michael Hurley, Iggy and the Stooges, and Mdou Moctar. Forever associated with Michigan’s weirdo-underground music scene, Defever has recently been issuing a series of long-buried recordings as His Name Is Alive. In February, the Disciples label released Hope Is a Candle, the third and final volume in the "Home Recordings" trilogy exploring Defever's teenage tape experimentation as well as A Silver Thread (Home Recordings 1979 - 1990), a four-volume collection of many of Defever’s solo home recordings prior to His Name Is Alive releasing their debut album Livonia on 4AD in 1990. In his review of A Silver Thread, Tim Clarke writes “For a collection of home recordings, what’s most striking about this music is how fully realized and carefully executed it sounds, comparable at times to contemporary artists such as Grouper, Benoît Pioulard and Tim Hecker. This is not the 1980s that I remember.”

Defever gives us his “What Else Is New” list, a set of personal snapshots, memories of a life spent in music, warning the reader that “the descriptions don’t always have an obvious correlation to the video, but welcome to my nightmare brain.”

In The Line of Fire

I started performing when I was five. My grandfather was a self-taught musician from Saskatchewan in Western Canada and he showed me and my brothers how to play banjo, guitar and fiddle. One of my earliest memories is having a full size 127 lb. accordion placed onto my lap and my grandmother voicing her disappointment when I refused to play. I did learn slide guitar from her later though. I have many, often terrible, memories of performing at square dances with his band and we would play old timey country music, folk songs, polkas and waltzes. There were also gigs at the trailer park, old folks homes and a convent. Although my grandfather believed that popular music died with Hank Williams in 1953, he still found room in his heart for Lawrence Welk and Slim Whitman.

Meet Me By The Water

By age ten I had a tape recorder and was using it to capture the sounds of nearby lakes, thunderstorms, and my older brothers LP collection played at the wrong speeds. I recently found the cassette, Echo Lake (1983) which features waves crashing onto the beach on the Canadian side of Lake St. Clair but it was recorded right after I got an echo pedal so it’s got a heavy dose of dreamy delay. Tape loops of the next door neighbor raking leaves and shoveling the driveway would be repurposed a few years later as rhythm tracks on the first His Name Is Alive LP, Livonia (4AD, 1990). Detroit in the late 70s and early 80s had totally insane radio and one of the highlights was Met-Ezzthetics, a late night show on WDET hosted by Faruq Z. Bey who also played saxophone in Griot Galaxy. Shortly before his death he played with His Name is Alive and we had a chance to formalize our student-teacher relationship.

Search For Higher Energies

In high school I was studying Bach Chorale harmonization and counterpoint during the day but recording and touring with the band Elvis Hitler at night. The other guys in band were older but at 16 I was a familiar sight at shitty Detroit punk clubs and Hamtramck dive bars, the nerdy teenager reading a book or doing homework sitting at the bar waiting ’til midnight or 1am for our slot to play our hellbilly hits, “It’s A Long Way From Berlin To Memphis,” and “Hot Rod To Hell.” I was still trying to make sense of the post 1953 music scene and when I met the guy with a giant afro and shiny super hero outfit complete with shiny cape I had no idea he was Rob Tyner of the MC5. We released three records before I was twenty one and played shows and toured with Devo, the Dwarves, the Dead Milkmen, Reverend Horton Heat, the Beat Farmers, Helios Creed, Babes In Toyland, the Cro-Mags, Corrosion of Conformity, the Frogs, the Gories, Pussy Galore, the Unsane and way more I can’t remember I was just a kid. It was some kind of education.

You Don’t Have To Go Home But You Can’t Stay Here

When I signed with 4AD I thought I was a composer and they let me write my own bio, so I called His Name Is Alive the work of a “fucked up, irresponsible teenage composer.” I had only been writing music for three years. When I heard “Tom Violence” by Sonic Youth I thought for the first time in my life, “I think I could do that.” In 1988 I made a mixtape with Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car, Leadbelly and some of Big Star’s third album and I tried to arrange it like it was an album, then I made my own album in that same shape, it was called I Had Sex With God and I sent it to 4AD. Our first album contained three of the first five pieces of music I had ever written. Within a few years I was playing festivals for contemporary classical composers and new age artists who were thirty or forty years older than me. His Name Is Alive played the Musicas Visuales Festival in Mexico with Harold Budd, Paul Horn and Jorge Reyes. The mayor of the city presented me with a guitar but then dramatically walked out of the theater during our performance realizing he had made a terrible mistake. I remember the surreal moment when from across the room Harold Budd walked in and greeted me as “Mr. Defever.” He had a cold and was sniffling during his set, the audience thought he was crying. I recorded his show and when I got back home to Livonia I added my own guitar to some of his songs and then edited the tapes, looping my favorite parts and editing out the parts I didn’t like, also adding additional layers of reverb and echo. More recently I did a concert in a five hundred year old temple in Japan where the unamplified meditation music never rose above a whisper and the monk had to turn off the furnace because the heat molecules were too loud. The show was recorded and released under the name Mountain Ocean Sun and features Ian Masters and Hitoko Sakai.

Energy Dealer

Both my parents were born in Canada, my mother in Saskatchewan, my father in Ontario. I have dual citizenship as my father was American and my mother had Canadian citizenship. I spent summers, holidays and weekends in a tiny cottage on Lake St. Clair that did not have a telephone and had curtains instead of doors separating the two rooms. Myrt Fortin who lived next door would receive phone calls for my mom, walk over to our place and yell into the window, “Hey wake up your ma, your dad’s on the phone.” My mom took a lot of naps, so she was always asleep when something important was happening. I remember always getting cut on broken glass while swimming in the lake or getting stabbed by one of the neighbors and having to go wake up my mom to take me to the hospital.

Lord I Don’t Believe You Exist

When I was ten my parents sat me down and told me it was time that I got a summer job. There were only two businesses in town, a gas station and a hardware store so I walked up to the hardware store and asked the owner for a job and immediately fell to the ground crying. Completely fell apart. He asked me why I wanted to work in hardware. I didn’t know what to say, I was only ten but I knew not to tell the owner that his store was stupid and I didn’t think he could handle the truth. It turned out he also owned the gas station so that didn’t really work out. Later that summer, I began working for the Pickseed Corporation as corn de-tasseling season was just beginning. All the moms would drop off their kids in the church parking lot in Tecumseh, just outside of Windsor, around 4:30am where an unmarked windowless cargo van was waiting that had cinderblocks and 2'x4' boards instead of benches so they could squeeze in the maximum amount of children. There were three job requirements to work in a cornfield, the child (it was only children, no adults) needed to show up with a baseball hat, a thermos with water and a large black plastic garbage bag. I think this was before sunglasses were invented. Upon arriving at the cornfield, we were separated into pickers and checkers, younger kids each taking a row of corn (a row could extend a mile or more) and a slightly older kid would organize and manage several of the younger kids. In the morning we were instructed to poke two arm holes and a head hole into our garbage bags and put it on like a raincoat because the corn was covered in dew and kids wearing wet clothes would walk slower than dry kids. So almost every day there was a point, usually around 11am when the dew would dry and we would be roasted alive from the summer sun coming down on our ridiculous shiny black plastic outfits. We worked from sun up until sun down. I received three dollars and thirty five cents an hour. For all you city folks, corn is planted in alternating rows of types of corn so that when the top part of the plant is removed, or “de-tasseled,” it can seed or cross-pollinate easily. It’s a terrible job with a high turnover rate and every day I would hear the sound of kids in nearby rows that had given up hope, sat down in the middle of the field and crying for hours. The following year, at age 11, I was promoted from picker to checker, and was put in charge of a group of about ten sixteen year old’s.

Sleep It Off

Mostly I like to record – His Name is Alive has over a hundred releases and I’ve done another fifty records under various names, Control Panel, Warren Michael Defever, ESP BEETLES, ESP SUMMER, Forest People, Infinity People, Jeepers Creepers, Layla al-Akhyaliyya, Mirror Dream, Princess Dragon-Mom, the Dirt Eaters, the Fishcats, the Whales, plus way more I can’t remember probably because the names were so dumb. I’ve recorded about four hundred records for other bands at my house or other studios. I’ve worked on records with Danny Kroha, Ida, Fred Thomas, Elizabeth Mitchell, Wild Belle, Michael Hurley, and when I was a teenager I helped record the first Gories album which was especially unique as I was the junior assistant engineer who helped move their equipment into the dirt floor garage next to the studio where it was decided the acoustics would be way worse. Also, I helped collage about a hundred Destroy All Monsters tapes from the 70s for a couple of their releases which led to remastering a bunch of tapes from the John Sinclair White Panther Party archives. I’ve done remixes for Thurston Moore and Yoko Ono and when Iggy and The Stooges started touring again I got a phone call from Ron Asheton seeing if I would help them record demos for their reunion album with Mike Watt on bass. They wrote the songs together while they were recording in Niagara’s basement sort of simultaneously. Iggy didn’t have a notebook with all his lyric ideas, instead he just sang about whatever happened that day – one song was about the airline losing his luggage, one about ATM machines and another was about reading in a newspaper that Ray Davies of the Kinks had been shot in New Orleans. In the end they weren’t terribly excited by my suggested song titles including “No Shirt” (you know because it’s like “No Fun” plus you know Iggy never wears a shirt) and they didn’t seem to love the mixes that I did that sounded kind of like those crappy Raw Power bootlegs.

Cost Of Living

Two summers ago I recorded an incredible concert by Mdou Moctar live at Third Man Records in Detroit. They’re wild hypnotic Hendrix style jammers who live in the desert. The band didn’t speak much english but I think I was able to communicate to them how excited I was about their amazing fingerpicking and hot guitar solos after the show by screaming and replaying the best solos over and over again and then screaming the word fuzz and pointing at their fingers. It’s insane and having seen them a few times since then with a different drummer and the addition of a bass player, I’m convinced it’s their best album. It’s wild but it’s still not Tchin-tabaraden wedding wild.

Licked By Lions

Jonathan Richman walks into Ethan and Gretchen's studio and asks if I can remove all the rugs, take the acoustic treatments off the walls and strike the baffles which normally separate the instruments, drums and amps, so the room will have the most echo possible, he has also invited about ten friends including Johnny Bee Badanjek the drummer from Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels and Mary Cobra from the Detroit Cobras to dance, sing and play percussion in the studio while he records. He has two vocal microphones set up at either end of the room and has brought his own microphones for the drums along with his own desired placement for them. He notices a tamboura near the control room and asks if I know how to play it or if I know how to tune it. Within seconds he’s tuned it and proceeds to sing Indian classical music accompanying himself on tamboura drone for about thirty five minutes. It’s beautiful and very surprising. He asks me if I recorded it, I lie and say no. Later he asks me not to play it for anyone. We record for hours. Some songs are quite long – ten and fifteen minutes, some are medleys of oldies or soft rock hits from the seventies segueing into new songs of his. It’s a confusing session as it’s not clear when songs are starting and ending and he often plays guitar and sings nowhere near a microphone. The distance between him and the microphone seems to have some meaning, there’s some formula to when he chooses to walk away in the middle of a verse but I am unable to determine the secret code. At the end of the session three or four songs are deemed usable, edited and mixed, although, sadly, an attempt at a completely insane and unexpected fuzz guitar solo is left unreleased. (The Harold Budd piece is at the opposite end of this spectrum.)

Calling All Believers

Shortly after Tecuciztecatl was released, I received an email from Dr. James Beacham at CERN inviting us to perform at a series of concerts that would combine experimental music with experimental science at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. He didn’t contact our booking agent, which would be how we generally receive offers for gigs, instead he sent an email to me, which would be how we generally receive crazy messages from our completely insane fans (murderous, delusional, poetic, threatening messages usually). I assumed the invitation was fake or a prank and replied that we would prefer to wait until they had successfully opened a pathway to interspatial dimensions and we’d play on the other side or that if that was unlikely to happen at a convenient time then perhaps we could set up our equipment right on the edge of a mini-black hole and perform as the Earth is being destroyed so we could release the concert film “Live At The End Of The World.” After a few messages back and forth, it was clear that he was legit and I apologized for being such a jerk. Soon I discovered poetry within the language of particle physics as well as a certain beauty in the idea that these scientists have devoted their lives to dreaming, searching and discovering basic principles that connect all things in existence. The song “Calling All Believers” refers to this devotion. “Energy Acceleration” compares the scientists to monastic life in medieval times and mystics trying to find and define the line between this world and the next and at the same time invoking the incredible amounts of energy needed to create the collisions experiments. The Patterns of Light LP was released in 2016 on London London Records and is about interpreting visions of light, trying to find universal truth with whatever tools available, it’s about the search for how everything works, why it works and how it got that way but also about being inspired on a basic level by the way a thing looks and how all your senses take in a thing. A thousand years ago Hildegard Von Bingen was writing about this same thing in letters, songs, medical texts, and had even developed her own language to use in her mystical writings, similar to Magma drummer Christian Vander using his own language for their concept albums or French black metalists Brenoritvrezorkre and Moëvöt.

The Light Inside You

We get a lot of letters from fans, mostly weirdos though. I think it started when we released Song of Schizophrenia, that sort of connected us to a certain demographic I suspect. Here’s a recent typical message we received. “Growing up in Panama City, Mouth By Mouth and Livonia were like passages to other realms. I drank a ton of cough syrup at the time but those albums helped make life more livable. I was about to go to art school for sculpture and graphic design and the textures I heard on those records had actual shapes to them. Most music I knew at that time was flat or linear. I got them on cassette via mail-order from an ad placed in a bmx magazine. Mouth By Mouth arrived just before going to work at the amusement park and I was able to listen to it twice on the way thanks to the never-ending beach traffic. As luck would have it, I worked on “The Abominable Snowman” ride, basically a tilt-a-whirl inside a dome with lots of fog machine action, blue lights, mirrors, and lots of air conditioning. It took about 10 listens that day before it wasn’t as weird as when I first put it on. Maybe it was my bubblegum flavor/robitussin combo slushie on top of no-doz that pulled it all together, but it was probably a weird ride for a lot of vacationing beach tourists and townies when all they really wanted to hear was “Naughty by Nature” by O.P.P. I had no business running those rides at the age of 17 but I really loved how disorienting that ride could be with all the mirrors, the fog, the cold and for the final 90 seconds the ride would go in reverse. I had a buddy named Kevin that did acid at work and would repeatedly run the mini-train off the tracks and all the riders had to walk back through the woods for about a half mile that summer.”

[baebeyza]

Pros and Cons of all the TF shows I watched [updated: Unicron Trilogy and BW Neo]

Update info: Whyever the hell I wrote this and why people care about my opinion is beyond my current understanding, but @chaoticgirl23 asked for the Unicron Trilogy I hadn't watched back then, so- Also decided to write down if I actually like the show or not xD

(also I removed wfc, because I cant really judge after all with the show not being finished) My personal opinions + stuff that can be dubbed controversial and problematic, so beware for racism and sexism! But also beware of my idiotic attempts at humour

G1 (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- The original show

- big cast of loveable characters

- Really awesome human side characters

- Very clever and witty dialogue

- fucking batshit insane

- Rodimus Prime is babe

Cons:

- apart from Arcee, female autobots being treated like a subspecies and only appearing in like one episode (3 if you are generous)

- Motherfucking country called “Carbombya”

- Some human characters are actually shit (those boys from B.O.T)

- Rodimus fucks as a human and not as a robot

- Everything animated by AKOM

- Galvatron’s portrayal as a person with brain-damage reads as ableistic (Personally I still love his G1 version more than the others I’ve seen)

- The “You’re only truly disabled if you lose your courage” line from Chip, it was explained to me that it’s ableistic as well

Headmasters (loved the show)

Pros:

- exciting plot

- characters die, fuck yeah

- Planets get destroyed, fuck yeah

- <3 ~ Power of Friendship ~ <3

- Sixshot is babe

Cons:

- Everything about Cyclonus and Wheelie

- Rodimus fucks off after episode 10 and never comes back

- Arcee going from warrior to secretary

- If you come from IDW I have to break it to you that Chromedome is straight

SuperGod  Masterforce (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- A darker and more serious storyline if you’re into that

- Lots of character arcs and well-written characters in general

- Decepticons having a more family like dynamic

- Decepticons with a level of depth to them

- Redemption much

- Ginrai is babe

Cons:

- This show’s focus is on the humans so if you don’t like human TF characters, this aint for you

- The character Cab has a level of racist stereotyping - he comes from a fictional country in Oceania called Karin and the depiction of that country is everyone living in wood homes and having no electricity. (The show plays in the future so that makes it worse) Cab himself gets introduced as a Tarzan kinda dude who can talk with animals.

While I found Cab himself not bad as a character, the problem with how his background is written sure is stupid and insulting. There isn’t a lot of focus on his country in the show however, but it’s still there

- There is a scene in which the boys Shuta and Cab spy on girls during swim class (they get called out and apologize for it though and the “fanservice” scene itself is really damn modest and tame)

Victory (loved the show)

Pros:

- Similiar fun tone as G1

- lovable cast of idiots

- Exciting episode plots

- Leozack is babe

Cons:

- The only two prominent female characters are love interests and nothing else (which is drop in quality when compared to Masterforce, which had Minerva as a fleshed out autobot with agency and Mega as an interesting female villain)

- Leozack never punches Deszaras in the face

- Fucking retcons the destruction of Mars in Headmasters

Beast Wars (loved with all my heart)

Pros:

- Really compelling story and characters!!!

- Well written dialogue

- Wonderful character animation

- Dinobot is HONOUR and babe. Also I’m crying

- Megatron and his bullshit

Cons:

- Megatron and his bullshit

- That stupid love triangle subplot in season 3

- Some major plotline not being fully developed (the Vok plotline)

Beast Wars II (liked the show)

Pros:

- The Predacons in general

- Lio Convoy (the Optimus of the show) having a son

- Galvatron is babe and so is Starscream

Cons:

- Maximals are lame apart from Lio Convoy and the arc with his son Lio Junior

- A lot of uninteresting characters an episodes

- The Jointrons as racist mexican stereotypes

- Only female robot is part of a love triangle (even more annoying than the love triangle in Beast Wars)

Beast Wars Neo (liked the show)

Pros:

- Big Convoy being a lone wolf turned teacher was a really sweet story to follow <3 How he and his team learnt to trust each other over the course of the show was really nice!

- Unicron in this show was a delight

- D-Navi was always fun

- Magmatron was a rather nice Decepticon leader

- Heinrad is babe

Cons:

- No girls (Boo!)

Beast Machines (very conflicted, tend to dislike)

Pros:

- Plays entirely on Cybertron

- Explores themes of technology and organic life forms and really tries to be something different and deep

- The last episode is really nice

- Jetstorm is babe

Cons:

- No fun allowed - the maximals are really frustrating because we only ever see them being angry and fighting and a lot of them only show us their worst sides

- The maximal character models are HIDEOUS

- You may not actually like the philosophical aspect of the show, especially when you think too long about it and realise it’s kinda shit

Robots in Disguise 2001/ Car Robots (liked the show)

Pros:

- New continuity! New story, new take!

- Funny and lighthearted

- Cute characters

- Sky-Byte/Gel-Shark is babe

- Ultra Magnus/God Magnus is a fucking jerk and I love it 

Cons:

- Sideburn/Speedbreaker’s gag about loving red sport cars and chasing after them - it’s played as a joke all the time but I can see that stuff making people uncomfortable when they see the female driver trying to get away from him and his catcalling (Apart from that I do like him a lot though)

Armada/Micron Densetsu (disliked the show)

Pros:

- Lots of feels between Megatron and Optimus

- Starscream's arc

- The ending arc

- Jetfire was babe

Cons:

- The pacing was unbearable

- Half the time the characters didn't act like people and I was confused about almost every conflict, action and point they made. It's not a great story when I watch episode and need an hour to figure what the hell the story even was

- The parts I liked in concept are not helped by how unnatural and weird the characters acted at times. I liked the ending, but how they got there was so weird that I just can't enjoy it

Energon/Superlink (loved the show)

Pros:

- Megatron/Galvatron - Everything about him

- The japanese voice acting was fantastic!

- Really nice death scenes (I love death scenes btw)

- Mirage/Shockfleet being in love with Megatron

- Bringing back old names apart from Megatron and Optimus

- Rodimus being an equal to Optimus was a nice touch

- The few scenes it was 2D animated

- Jetfire/Skyfire is babe

Cons:

- Animation

- The "for the toys" thing kinda ruined some characters, where instead of getting the toys as completely new characters, they killed old ones and brought them back with a new model. It did suck story-telling wise (and me, loving death scenes, get annoyed when a death scene gets ruined by bringing the character back). So you got all these character arcs that feel like the just stopped

Cybertron/Galaxy Force (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- Love the setting and world with all the different colonies and how they were explored ~

- Optimus Prime, this one is my favourite version of him!

- Vector Prime, they should bring him back

- All the different leaders

- The friendship between the characters- this show has my favourite set of Autobots from all TF media

- This also has my favourite Mega&Star dynamic

- Starscream himself is so well done here!

- Jetfire/Dreadlock was babe

Cons:

- Megatron was lacklustre. When it came to him and his dynamics with other characters (apart from Starscream), he was hardly written as a person with feelings. He never reacts to anything happening within the ranks of Decepticons and it is really disappointing, because there was a lot of potential! (with Flame Convoy and Chromia specifically)

Animated (loved the show)

Pros:

- Character writing, plot and themes!

- Lighthearted tone but enough scenes that dig a little deeper

- Really nice and smooth animation

- Optimus is baby

Cons:

- The chins

- No 4th season

Prime (loved the show)

Pros:

- Best friggin fight scenes and animation in general

- Really exciting plot 

- Ratchet is babe

Cons:

- Predacon Rising exists

- Characters dying for budget reasons (Just don’t hire celebrities when you cannot pay them for more?)

Robots in Disguise 2015 (it's okay)

Pros:

- ...the Stunticons are babe

Cons:

- characters never developing and learning the same shit over and over again

- almost no interesting villains

- even the interesting ones being shoved aside a lot 

- no real built-up for the climax

- lots of filler and not enough time spent on the actual plot of a corrupt Cybertron goverment

Prime Wars Trilogy (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- Megatron, everything about him, he’s babe

- I really like the soundtrack

Cons:

- Bad storytelling, both narrative and visual

- Horrible or mediocre voice acting

- Static and bad facial expressions

- Static and bad character animation

- Feels like no one involved in the production had any idea how to tell a story

Cyberverse (meh)

Pros:

- Really cute as fuck

- Big cast 

- Astrotrain is babe

Cons:

- No time for character arcs, they just jump from set up to conclusion with nothing in-between

- Unfocused plot that jumps from one idea to another

- Megatron broke my heart and I hate him

[duchess-of-mandalore]

Kenobi Show Idea

Korkie Kryze and his friends escape after Satine's death and end up going ... somewhere. Idk, but considering he's not in any of the other episodes in spite of the fact that he's clearly got military training and whatnot, they probably disappear for a while. 

After the death of his pacifist "aunt" (his only real family since his “mother” Bo-Katan's been gone so long), Korkie determines that Satine's mentality of peace was completely ineffectual (I mean, look at what happened!). He dives into his military training whole-heartedly and believes that justice can only be pursued by a strong hand that takes up the offensive when need be. 

(I’m not sure what his thoughts would be on the rise of the Empire ... but obviously, that’s all happening in the first couple of years after Satine’s death)

He harbors a sense of resentment toward Satine for basically opening up Mandalore to attack by asserting their neutrality in the war, and this half-justified animosity continues well into Korkie’s adult life. It’s clear that he’s never dealt with Satine’s death (and probably the fact that he couldn’t save her). Instead, he’s stuffed his grief down and hidden it in anger.

Eventually Bo-Katan comes clean and tells him that he's the son of Satine and "that Jedi knight who spent a year protecting her." Korkie's shocked but it explains a lot, including his appearance and the fact that as a kid there were several moments that (he retroactively realizes) he displayed a minor force-sensitivity [he’s a mirror of Luke, who never knew about his force-sensitivity until he was basically an adult and Obi-Wan gave him the language to describe his differences].

Desperate to know more, Korkie ends up somehow tracking Obi-Wan [or rather Ben] down in Tatooine.  Obi-Wan is shocked, but probably not terribly surprised that Satine never told him. 

(Also, I demand Liam Neeson come back so that Force-ghost Qui-Gon can basically just smile knowingly and shake his head because it’s just so obvious that this young man is the son of his former padawan and the fiery Duchess of Mandalore)

I’m not really sure how Obi-Wan would react to Korkie’s presence at first (I think he accepts that Korkie’s his son basically without hesitation because he can feel that it’s true), but I could see Obi-Wan being a rather grumpy and frustrated man at the start of the Kenobi show, perhaps due to the isolation (there’s only so much even an introvert like Obi-Wan can take) and the frustration surrounding Owen and Beru’s refusal to let him have a relationship with Luke.   

Ultimately, the Kenobi show is the growth of Obi-Wan and Korkie’s relationship. Obi-Wan trains him as a “sort-of” Jedi, though it’s difficult. Not only because he’s an adult and very headstrong, but Korkie’s very resistant to the ideas of surrendering to the force and finding peace through meditation, since all of his unresolved issues that he had shoved down come flooding back. Obi-Wan’s grief over Anakin rears itself again as he trains his new “sort-of” padawan, and of course the topic of Satine’s is a weighty and difficult topic for both of them.  

The rest of the show (which I’m hoping is just one season long; relatively short and sweet) is Obi-Wan and Korkie fighting some local threat together, keeping Luke safe from afar, and working through their issues and grief regarding everything that has happened to Satine, Anakin, and the galaxy in general.

Regarding how it ends: You could say there’s already a problem with Korkie being force-sensitive because it raises questions about where he was during the original trilogy (and his whereabouts would have to be accounted for later on in terms of Luke truly being “last Jedi”). Perhaps he’s force-sensitive, but doesn’t pursue it further. I’m not sure, but what I refuse to have happen is for Korkie to die on Tatooine (dying, inevitably, in Obi-Wan’s arms). That would just be rubbing salt in too many wounds.

Still, I see this story having a satisfying but melancholy ending. I think that at the end, Korkie would leave to go back to whatever his duties involving Mandalore are. He would return with a much better understanding of Satine’s pursuit of peace and the Jedi way, which would make him a better leader. Obi-Wan is more at peace with what happened with Satine and Anakin and with his purpose in continuing to watch over the Lars homestead. But I think they both know that Korkie can’t come back to Tatooine again, since it risks drawing too much attention to Luke and Obi-Wan’s presence, so their parting is final, but full of new-found love for one another.

(Ugh!! I really have to tell myself not to get too attached to this idea in case the writers have no intention exploring this!! Stop it, stop it ... attachments only lead to pain!!)

[rebelcourtesan]

Fanfic Sneak Peek

Season 5 spoilers below.  Forgive typos and mistakes.  Not finish and haven’t been put through Grammarly yet.

“Do you like it?”  

She was looking at him with such open eagerness that he was taken aback.  The item had been thrust into his hands so quickly, he had almost dropped it.  It had tangled around his fingers and after several tries, he managed to unravel the chain and study at what he held.

The purple crystal shone bright at him, instead into a pendant on a thin necklace chain.  His image reflected in it, eyes now pinkish and slowly reclaiming the bright crimson they had one been.  

“When did you . . .?”  He began, but Entrapta was alright going speeding off into an explanation.

“I thought about putting it into another armor for you, but there’s no need!  No war!  No armor!  So I thought about a ring, but I thought it would keep your finger from bending when holding a tool.  Then Bow said a necklace would be pretty so here you are!”

“It’s very  . . . sound, Entrapta,” he said, beholding the necklace as if it were an unusual object.  It was for a clone.  

They were never given any adornments save for their clothing.  Jewelry were wasteful products of hedonism and vanity.  Only lesser beings partake in trivials.  

No, that was the old way of thinking.  This was different.  This was a gift, a show of love he did not deserve, but will accept if only to see her smile.  “Thank you.”

“Put it on!”

It took several tries and he enlisted her help to secure it at the nap of his neck.  The crystal lay against his breast, inches where it had once been when he first received.  She stayed close to him, her hands on his shoulders and her hair almost swaddling him.  

“Hordak, I’m glad you’re back.”  

“Me too, Entrapta.  Me too.”  

Actually, he wasn’t back in the Fright Zone, or Peaceful Fields as it's not called by the Scorpion people who now reclaimed it as their home.  He had been living with her in her castle in Dryl for almost a month now.  A month since Horde Prime was gone, the magic of Etheria brought life back into the land and the Universe.

Most of their days were spent in her labs, dismantling each of the weaponry Horde Prime had brought to Etheria and repurposing them for beneficial purposes.  A mile outside of the castle a farmer made use of white robots to till his field for a new crop and a merchant used half a dozen to defend his wagon from raiders in the crimson waste which was seeing more traders now.  Not to mention they were designing new ships for Etherians to visit the rest of the galaxy.  If there was one positive thing Horde Prime had brought to this planet, it had been the untold amount of information on technology and galactic travel.  

Entrapta had worked so long into the nights that he had more than once insisted she rest.  Even outright carrying her from the labs while her hair struggled to pull long a component to work on along the way.  The nights she had allowed him to carry her to her . . .their room . . . had been . . .exploratory.

His hands linked with hers.  It was still early morning.  The servants wouldn’t come for another hour and knew to ring the bell before coming into their room.  There was time yet for more exploration . . .

A knocking at the door set his teeth on edge.  Who would dare . . .?

“Brother?  Brother!  They are doing it again!”

“Oh, it’s Wrong Hor . . . I mean Zed,” Entrapta corrected herself, disentangling her hair from him.  

Hordak sighed, rubbing a thumb and finger above his eyes.  “This is the fifth time this week . . .”

“They can’t help it,” Entrapta said, perching on the bed next to him.  “It takes time to learn something new.”

He took pleasure in her presence, wishing they could have that hour now, but knew there were many nights to come.  “Go ahead to the labs.  I’ll be along once I deal with this.”

The kiss on his cheek was balm to his nerves.  “I’ll see you later.”

With help from her hair, she was dressed and out the door within minutes.  Upon opening the door, Zed came in a whirl of fear and anxiety.  He winked a greeting at Entrapta who gave him a quick squeeze with her hair as she dashed out the door.           

Zed, once known as Wrong Hordak, was a myriad of colors.  Once he learned he could wear and adorn himself with colors other than white and gray, he was almost struck down with indecision by so many colors until he chose them all . . .save for green or white.  His mop of hair was down a strangled rainbow and his eyes were lined by silver glitter.  He wore a tunic that gradient from a light shade of blue to darker blue at the bottom.   

“They are praying again, brother!”  Zed stammered, fidgeting with both hands.  “I would go, but they do not listen to me.”

“And I make them listen to me,” Hordak grumbled, feeling cold without Entrapta’s presence by his side.  He grabbed a cloak on the way out and Zed followed close behind him.  

“Brother, you shouldn’t shout at them.”

“How else will they listen?”  Hordak growled, fitting the cloak around his shoulders.  

They reached the courtyard and Hordak flinched at the sudden cold air blowing against him.  Etheria was reaching it’s wintry season sooner than he would have liked.  He would see into having long boots made to protect his legs from the cold.  A transport was waiting in the courtyard with a grinning driver waiting for it’s riders.  

“You do not need to come with me,” Hordak said over his shoulder.  “I can handle this alone.”

“No, you shouldn’t go alone,” Zed replied, following in close behind him.             

[popwasabi]

“Picard” S1 Review: Doesn’t boldly go but is nonetheless engaging

Produced by CBS All Access

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Isa Briones, Allison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Evan Evagora, Harry Treadaway

Many fans had high hopes for “Picard” going into CBS All Access’s continuing voyage into the Star Trek franchise.

Fans wanted to see the lore finally expanded into the future after its previous three ventures (Enterprise, Abrams Trek, and Discovery) took place in the past, bring modern themes and ideas to Star Trek’s futurist’s world view in a way that felt fresh and relevant, but most importantly continue the story of the franchise’s greatest captain; Jean-Luc Picard, of course.

(He’s the best captain. This is not up for debate. Don’t @ me!)

In some ways the new series succeeds at this. We get glimpses of the previously untouched world of Star Trek post “Nemesis,” new themes that are resonant with real world events and exploratory, even critical, of the Federation’s worldview, and of course plenty of Picard himself as he navigates the strange new galaxy he inhabits.

But Picard ultimately misses the mark due to rushed storytelling, half-baked side plots, and just plain poor execution overall. It’s sad because “Picard” and this very talented cast and production team have their moments throughout this first season’s ten episode run but somehow even with 10 episodes of content to work with fans still end up with a somewhat jumbled mess.

(Me by like the eighth episode.)

This isn’t to say “Picard” isn’t worth your time if you’re an avid Star Trek fan or just someone who likes Patrick Stewart in this role in general but the first season will leave you still hungry for more and not in a good way.

“Picard” continues the story of the titular captain, now retired admiral, many years after the events of “Nemesis” as a retired Jean Luc reflects on his life in Starfleet and of his late friend Data who gave his life for his. A synth ban has been enacted in Starfleet after a major riot on Mars some years prior and Picard is understandably sour on the idea, given his relationship with Data, while also fighting Starfleet on not helping the exodus of the Romulans after the supernova that wiped out their homeworld in “Star Trek (2009).” When a young woman comes seeking Picard’s aid after an attack by mysterious assailants, revealing that she is an android and the possible daughter of Data, and gets killed, it is up to the retired Admiral to find her twin sister before she suffers the same fate.

Before we get started let’s throw out some of the bad faith arguments on why this series wasn’t all that good.

“Picard” doesn’t suck because it has “politics” in it. At this point, if you are complaining about the existence of social viewpoints and political/philosophical discussions in your Star Trek, or let alone any series for that matter, I don’t know what the hell you’ve been watching the past few decades. Star Trek has always been more than just a show about cool-looking spaceships and laser beams, you neckbeards.

(Hell, even the other “Star” got more going on in it than that.)

It’s also not bad because of female representation or “girl power.” Again, Star Trek has always had this and frankly having a few more instances of the women of Trek taking center stage doesn’t even come close to rebalancing the scales on the overall massive representation of cis white men across the genre and even the series anyways.

Also get the fuck over the use of curse words in this series. While certainly some instances in this show felt awkward, the use of the word “fuck” does not dilute Star Trek’s overall story.

(It would have made earlier season’s funnier for sure.)

Now that that’s out of way let’s get into the real reasons that, for me at least, the series fell short of an otherwise promising goal of delivering great new Star Trek.

The main problem stems from the series overall jumping off point in its first episode. Picard is understandably still upset about the death of Data and having him deal with survivor’s guilt is a great way to bring this character into the future and reexplore the humanist viewpoints Data touched on in the older series. But also having Picard deal with his fallout from Starfleet, both from the synth ban AND the Romulan exodus, creates chasmic diverging plotlines that never quite come together. The story really needed it to be one or the other. Either Picard wanting to advocate for the continued existence of synthetic life or the rescue of the Romulans post super nova. The latter is touched on a bit through the addition of the character Elnor but doesn’t quite work given that majority of the Romulans in this series are portrayed as villains.

There is definitely a post Brexit, anti-immigrant hysteria message being told there but not enough depth and nuance is given to make it look like Starfleet was particularly wrong here to abandon them given that they do end up being spies committing espionage in the Federation and the clear villains of the first season. The showrunners could have brought these two stories together by perhaps making Soji a Romulan bent on bringing down synthetic life because maybe her twin sister died in the riots on Mars, making Picard have to choose between his commitment to both minority groups abandoned by the Federation but of course, that’s not what the series goes with.

Also suddenly shoehorning in a convoluted anti-synth worldview into the already ultra-secretive Romulan empire was muddled to say the least.

(A decent summation of the Romulans, pretty much ever. Also why is the only Asian actress in this scene in Osaka depicted as an alien, Mr Kurtzman?...)

Some of these ideas could’ve been saved through better editing and pacing though but not enough is done in this first season to mitigate these issues. Too much of plot is told through plain exposition; people sitting down and talking for five-ten minutes about prophecies and backstory instead of having the story simply show us instead. It makes the pacing often slow even by Trek standards and grinds the action to a halt even when there are lasers being shot at one another in the next scene.

Many of these plots get barely any attention too. The Borg cube, why it’s abandoned, and why Hugh is working for the Romulans through the Federation is given surface level development at best. Seven of Nine returns and at one point is momentarily hooked up to the Collective and she doesn’t really say much about it after it happens. The new character’s Rios and Raffi both have side stories given to their development that get touched on once and never brought up again. Dr. Jurati straight up murders her lover and is set to turn herself into the Federation and it’s just kind of forgotten about in the finale. And Elnor, well, he gets to do his best Legolas impression slicing and dicing fellow Romulans with his sword I guess.

(He is still best boi though :3...)

The main co-star however, Soji the perfect android, has a particularly rushed development going from a scientist unknowing of her nature, to supposed prophet of doom, to predictably the savior all in one season. Her arc needed more time to develop with perhaps her Romulan love affair with Narek being the first season’s main driving force and her realization as an android being the climax. 

Instead we get basically four seasons of Battlestar Galactica’s Sharon arc crammed into one season and it unfortunately makes the story feel half-baked.

(Ok, Boomer.)

Don’t get the wrong idea, all these new characters have great individual moments as well throughout the season but sooooo much side plot is shoved in already into a muddled overarching narrative that it feels like several seasons worth of storytelling stuffed and edited down into a ten episode arc. Why the series felt it needed to conclude this robust story about synth hating Romulans in “Picard’s” first season feels like an unforced error in this reviewer’s opinion even if Sir P Stew only has maybe a couple seasons of extensive acting left in him anyways.

But the season isn’t completely worthless, as much as this review has been spent dunking on its less than stellar parts. The cast is exceptional, even working with the spare parts they’ve been given. Episode 5’s “Stardust City Rag,” in particular, stands out as a good mix of old and new Trek, with a decent dosage of cheese featuring Patrick Stewart trying on a French accent in a space bar. Santiago Cabrera is delightful as the ship captain Rios while also playing various forms of himself in AI form in equally enjoyable roles. Evan Evagora is fun as the deadly yet somewhat aloof Elnor, even if his character doesn’t do all that much except cut up a few Romulans. Seeing Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis reprise their roles as Riker and Troi respectively in episode 6 was heartwarming and felt the most like TNG out of all the episodes. And Jeri Ryan seems liberated in this series in this version of Seven of Nine, no doubt glad to be rid of that restrictive corset and Rick Berman’s meddling hands.

(Big “Fuck you, Rick Berman” energy going on in this scene.)

The production value is obviously high level as Trek has rarely looked this good on the small screen. There’s some great cinematography throughout the season whether it’s Picard’s chateau winery, the haunting nature of the Borg cube, or the synth homeworld in the season’s final beats. The spaceships look cool as always and the world of the future feels well futuristic.

The musical score is also top notch, with a great opening theme that feels very much in line with Trek at its futurist glimpse into a hopeful cosmos.

The season’s best moments though are between Picard and Data and will remind you why they were more than likely your favorite characters on TNG. Generally speaking, exploring the humanist themes of artificial intelligence in new Trek was a good choice and having Picard deal with survivor’s guilt kept the pulse of the muddled story still beating. Brent Spiner is still great as Data and will remind you all again how talented he has always been as an actor and though his age seeps through the makeup a bit he is nonetheless still a perfect android.

Though the finale as a whole is underwhelming, the characters do share a nice final moment that is both touching and reminiscent of everything a fan loves about Star Trek. It’s a great cap to an otherwise ok return to Star Trek for TNG’s top characters and its truly touching in the best way that this franchise has always been known to be.

(Deactivating my emotions chip because I just..can’t! I just can’t, ok! *Sobs*)

But great acting and high production value can only mask so many flaws with a convoluted plot and “Picard” unfortunately suffers from the bloated and uncooked nature of its many ideas. What the story really needed was three season arc not just ten episodes and it shows. I guess the plus side is with this particular plot wrapped up it leaves the door open for new ideas and a fresh start in the second season but it does feel like an overall miss for Picard’s homecoming back into the universe of Star Trek.

Overall, though there are worse ways a Star Trek fan can spend their quarantine than watching “Picard” and there’s certainly enough here for fans to latch onto and have hope for better things in the next season.

Hopefully things are less rushed or at least more focused in the second season and we can see a more proper return to form for both Picard and future Star Trek.

Here’s hoping the producers and writers make it so…

VERDICT:

3 out of 5

Let’s hope we get a return of Q in the next season.