#threshold ask

[fushiglow]

Question for Satoru: Do you have any favourite song in terms of singing? Do you prefer songs with a wider range or not?

Generally speaking, what would you say contributes more into a song becoming your favourite? The meaning/lyrics? Or is the melody more of a decisive factor?

Thank you so much!

From the new stuff, it's Sugar. Easy.

Well, not easy. Sugar is actually really challenging. When I'm singing it live night after night — and I always sing live, always — those high notes are exhausting. It's definitely hardgoing, but that's what makes it rewarding. Yeah, I love Sugar.

Singing it, I mean. And the rest. I can't separate the lyrics from the melody from the harmony from the production. It's the whole package for me. That's what makes Sugar my favourite.

—

'Ask Satoru' your own question or find out more.

[kedreeva]

What on earth is going on in the Star Trek fandom today, it's like my dash exploded

lol 28 years ago today, the Star Trek Voyager episode "Threshold" aired. The premise of the episode was that humans cannot travel at or faster than warp 10, because if they do, they would be traveling at "infinite velocity" and would exist in all points of space time simultaneously. Tom Paris found a way to travel at this speed, and doing so accidentally hyper-evolved him and his captain (Janeway) into giant salamanders, whereupon they immediately reproduced and created 3 baby salamanders. They were then turned back into normal humans, and forced to leave their salamander babies on the planet they had escaped to.

The episode was long held as the worst star trek episode. Not just the worst Star Trek Voyager episode, but the worst episode, period, because it was extremely weird and people turning into salamanders greatly annoyed a lot of people who don't know what fun is. Tumblr, having discovered this episode like excavating an exciting fossil, has taken a shine to this episode and many people now produce art and memes and eat pepperoni pizza in celebration of its air date, mostly to annoy the episode's creator, as in a very Arthur Conan Doyle way, he hates this episode and wants it de-canonized.

Anyway, happy Threshold Day!

[trek-tracks]

I don’t know if I’m comfortable with apparently being the leading online authority on Threshold Day

[great-and-small]

ok but if i actually made this into a bumper sticker, would you mind?

You have my every blessing to do that but if you have any funny interactions with fellow trekkies as a result I only ask that you come back and share those stories with us

[writergeekrhw]

Robert, I noticed you liked a Threshold Day post from a couple of months ago. That leads me to wonder: do other Trek writers secretly look upon the episode as a blessing? I mean, it's kind of become a shorthand for "awful Trek", which draws attention from **arguably** equally dubious episodes (there's no "Let He Who Is Without Sin Day" for instance.)

I never really thought about it that way, but yeah, I guess it's reassuring to know even my worse episode isn't Star Trek's rock bottom.

That said, I don' think that's "Threshold" either." Honestly, "Threshold" is entertaining if you're in the right mood, more in the vein of "Move Along Home."

Rock bottom for me is probably "Shades of Gray" or "Code of Honor."

[rhinocio]

照らすの夜の中 導いて、 君は

[batnbreakfast]

LIZARDS!!! 🦎🦎🦎

Lizards!!!

[writing-for-life]

hello hello 👋 your post about dream & desire reminded me of something i wanted to ask: why is desire's realm called the threshold? the other domains of the endless seem to have fairly straightforward titles... perhaps i am overthinking? 🤔

i don't know if you have an answer to this, or if there even is a proper answer to begin with, but i figured it might be worth a shot since you're the Sandman Scholar of tumblr 🙏

First of all: I’m blushing, thank you so much. No pressure to get the answer right then 🤣

Apart from giving you my own take on it, I had a look first if there are any interviews etc that directly go into this. And I found two references.

This is from Hy Bender’s Sandman Companion (it reads a bit odd in hindsight, just as a disclaimer):

THE THRESHOLD AND THE DREAMING

HB: Following the prologue story, we meet the androgynous Desire for the first time; and we learn Desire lives in a giant replica of its body called The Threshold.

Where did that come from?

NG: I stole the name from a story Clive Barker planned to do that included me as a character, but that he never wound up writing. The story featured a realm of pain called "The Threshold," which I thought was a nice name for a place because threshold contains hold, meaning a home or fortress. And I came up with the idea of Desire residing in its body because I decided desire lives under the skin.

The other reference is from Leslie Klinger’s Annotated Sandman:

The "Fortress of Desire" recalls Superman's "Fortress of Solitude," which itself was preceded by Superman's “secret citadel”, mentioned as early as Superman #17 (Jul-Aug 1942). The Fortress of Solitude was first mentioned in Action Comics #241 (June 1958).

That on its own is also interesting, because the Endless are all lonely—they just deal with it differently (some better than others I guess 🫤).

I always have to think of this one in this context:

That’s my girl Hope calling out Desire on their BS in exactly the same way she already called out Dream. [Again, they make me ill; I want to throttle these two numbnuts and then force them to hug it out!]

As for my own thoughts:

First of all, “threshold” makes me think of being on the verge or boundary of something. Desire, as a concept, constantly operates at that edge: Wanting, yearning, longing all have the potential to be fulfilled, but there could also be frustration/disappointment at the end. So by calling it the Threshold, it makes me think of being on the brink of attainment, and it could go either way. That only falls away when we get what we want or give up.

Also, and that’s more to the point of the Threshold as the place where D/desire lives: They can live there, but mortals can’t, because desire is striving, not staying. So it’s a place we strive to reach, but we can’t inhabit it (for lack of better term). Desire is transient. If we want something, we focus on the act of getting it, or if we finally do, experiencing the desired object or state. But once we have it, the longing disappears, and we either move on or wait until satiety is replaced by want again. And the Threshold is both a threshold and this vast empty space because it cannot be permanently inhabited, only crossed?

Then there’s obviously also the whole metaphorical thing around the Threshold being a Fortress of the Self: It’s made of flesh and blood, with Desire residing in its heart. Ultimately, all desire is rooted within the individual. The source is internal even if the focus of our desires is external. The Threshold is a monument to want, but ultimately, it’s also fairly empty because desire is transient. It strikes me as a commentary on the rather unsatisfying nature of desire: Once we have what we want, the longing stops, and it has the potential to leave a void that can only be filled by a new want. And the Threshold marks the boundary in the cycle of wanting and lack of lasting contentment maybe? It’s ultimately empty…

So if I had to put it in a nutshell, “Threshold” represents a liminal space, the boundary between wanting and potential satisfaction of that want. The constant state of being on the edge of fulfilment, but not actually fulfilled. Because it drives us, and that’s very powerful—but only as long as we don’t cross that threshold.

Not sure if I put this into words very well, but I hope it makes sense?

@vivisectrix ask answered

[fushiglow]

Question for Satoru. What is your love language?

Music.

—

'Ask Satoru' your own question or find out more.

[katabay]

hi katabay!! this is prob a wack question lowkey but i was just wondering how you read/know so much?? i love reading the descriptions on ur art bc they’re so interesting and i Wish i could do that LOL

tbh a lot of why I read so much is because growing up, money was tight and the library was free. and now I'm broke as an adult, but the library is still free & also I spend a lot of time on public transit which is also is "free" reading time

a large chunk of what I read for fun is actually non fiction- it reads like poetry to me, and I like seeing if I can apply stuff I read when I was going through public domain stuff from the lancet to. uh. borderlands or something. it's kinda fun for me!

usually the process is: I'll have A Question about something while I'm reading and after, I'll see if there's An Answer somewhere & there's no real limit to what I'll read until I satisfy the curiosity, I will chase that thread down until I've run out of thread and hit a wall lol (and ofc the time honored tradition of watching a cool movie/show/comic and then going to see if the writers/producers/artists have their own favorites and check all of those things out)

anyway, my thoughts jump around a lot so I keep track of things in a commonplace style notebook; while I'm reading I'll take some quick notes abt anything I thought was interesting or really banger turns of phrase I want to remember for inspiration and list any questions or themes I want to explore later in a dedicated margin. I'll come back later & either answer my own questions in a different color (so it's easier for me to find), make a book list of additional things to follow up on, or just circle back with additional thoughts I had since then (or comic scene ideas)

lmao you can tell I have trouble wrangling my thoughts in order, I forgot to say: tldr; if you'd like to give my approach to whatever this is a shot, I'd recommend getting a notebook you wont mind carrying around and just write down shit you think is cool when you come across it & why bc the 'why' is the fun part to explore

[stirdrawsandreblaws]

The "Ban Conversion Therapy" has exceeded its goals! Ofc, more people signing is still good, just thought you might want to know.

Hell Yeah Hell Yeah Hell Yeah Hell Yeah

thank you for sharing the good news!

...I typed in good news and my phone suggested this image, so hey, good news octopus

[post-it-notes7]

a small collection of Mir Falspar drawings

[evilwickedme]

i do not know what threshold day is, but it is on my birthday and that makes me happy

First thing happy birthday! Second thing Threshold is widely considered to be the worst episode in all of Star Trek and the only one to be declared retroactively non canonical! It's an episode of voyager where the pilot Tom Paris goes Very Very Fast and turns into a lizard as a result, and then Captain Janeway also goes Very Very Fast and also turns into a lizard and they have lizard babies. The episode aired on this date in 1996 and apparently is very fun to watch if you're drunk, so I'll have to give that a try at some point

[doctahchang]

janeway in tuvix but make it threshold au. no i won't elaborate

[baylardian-1]

janeway is retirementmaxxing

[fatedroses]

So we know Titus has to follow Lucius everytime he recklessly goes to battle, but with his size, how many times has Lucius picked up Titus like a potato sack or just scruffed him up?? xd

A lot. Lucius did it a lot. Even growing up Lucius would ferry Titus around whenever Titus didn't feel like walking (or when they were really young, and Lucius carried him around like he was a teddy bear). But on the battlefield, especially if he knew Titus had been spotted, you would watch that man fling across the field or into the brush to protect his brother and move him if he needed, though Titus would usually also be heard yelling because Lucius was really fast and agile for his size, and imagine someone still doing a flip when you're thrown over their shoulder. Him being picked up by the back of his shirt/scruff was more common back at the forward camp. It was honestly common with Titus and some of Lucius' rowdier men, breaking up fights (or Titus trying to hit some the nosier men with a wrench while he's trying to work) ect. Though (to the displeasure of most LOL) the most common way Lucius was picking up most people was by their waist.