#why would they release the trailer on premiere day?

[twistedtummies2]

Top 10 Appearances of Disney's Evil Queen

Not so long ago, Disney released the teaser trailer for an upcoming live-action remake of its first great animated feature, “Snow White,” scheduled for release in Spring of 2025. When I saw the teaser, two thoughts immediately sprung to mind. The first was, “May God have mercy on their souls for this stupidity.” The second was…while the trailer largely did not impress me, I was genuinely intrigued by the first looks at Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Ever since her casting was announced, she was the one part I was genuinely interested in seeing, and for all the problems the trailer presented, I remain hopeful that she, at least, will turn in a worthy performance. This got me thinking of all the past times the Evil Queen has shown up in Disney properties since her debut in their premiere animated motion picture. I’ve done similar lists in the past for two other Disney Villains - Maleficent and Scar - and I decided it would be fun, in light of this news, to give the Queen a look-see, too. Now, a few key rules must be established: first of all, I’m only talking about DISNEY’S Evil Queen. Other versions of the fairy-tale icon aren’t counted here at all; I made a separate list of my favorite versions of the character in general a while back. Second, and slightly tied to that, I am NOT including the characters of Regina from “Once Upon a Time” and Queen Ravenna from “Snow White and the Huntsman.” This is because I feel, while each certainly has been influenced by the Queen from the original Disney movie, they really stand as their own versions of the character. I’m only talking about the original Disney Queen and her reappearances. Third and finally, I can obviously only count appearances I’m actually fairly familiar with; for example, there’s a somewhat famous Disney comic series called ‘The Return of Snow White” which I’ve heard is very, VERY good…but I sadly haven’t read it yet, so I don’t think it’s right to include it here. With that said…“dip the apple in the brew, let the sleeping death seep through!” These are My Top 10 Appearances of Disney’s Evil Queen!

10. Kingdom Hearts.

“Kingdom Hearts” is one of my favorite video game series of all time, and a big part of why is the appearances of the Disney Villains. From Maleficent to Hades, from Pete to Ursula, it’s great to see all of these famous baddies show up, and - when the chance arises - to battle them in delightfully crazed combat. HOWEVER, not every villain is a knockout antagonist. I think partially because, as time has gone on, the series has focused more and more on its own original lore and characters than on mingling the Disney worlds INTO that lore, the villains seem to be taking a step back with every other installment. Case in point: the Evil Queen. While by no means the worst of the Disney Villains in this universe, I’ve personally always felt slightly disappointed with the Queen’s appearances in KH. She’s kept perfectly in character, and her times onscreen do lead to some great moments, but she has very little to do with the overarching plot of games like “Birth By Sleep” and it feels like there was more that could have been done with the character than ultimately was. However, it was great to see her, and her presence did lead to possibly my favorite boss fight (at least for the Disney characters) in all of KH history. End of the day, I’d be remiss to leave this off the running entirely. I really just wish we'd gotten more of her.

9. Villains Tonight!

This now-retired spooky spoof was a tongue-in-cheek musical farce originally performed on Disney Cruise Lines. The main character of the show is Hades, who - at the start of the play - is trying to reform…not because he actually desires redemption or feels genuinely repentant, but simply because he is so sick and tired of being foiled time and time again by Hercules, he’s had enough. However, things change when the Fates inform Hades that he needs an upgrade in evil-ness, otherwise he’ll lose control of the Underworld (and, really, that’s all Hades has left). So, the God of the Dead decides to summon some of his fellow villains to his lair, hoping their collective wickedness can help him out. While most of the villains in the show are essentially cameo appearances - showing up for a single "spotlight moment" musical number, and then departing till the end of the show, a-la “CATS” - the Evil Queen actually plays a fairly sizeable role in the story. Hades sends out Pain and Panic with physical invitations for both the Queen and Maleficent. It’s revealed that the two arch-villainesses are not only rivals, but also old flames (har har) of the Lord of the Underworld. Their competitive spirit nearly gets the better of them, but later in the show, they put their differences aside to spoil the day (they’re certainly not SAVING it), and help Hades get back into the evil groove. This is by far the silliest of all the Queen’s appearances on this list, but it’s a lot of fun; the back and forth between herself and Maleficent is so delightfully catty, and it’s cool seeing these two end up being the…ah…“heroes” that help Hades in the end.

8. Disney’s Villains’ Revenge.

I only recently rediscovered this PC game from my youth. While not everything in it still holds up in my adult years, I’d generally say it’s still a pretty interesting title! Made as a sort of promotional method to advertise some of Disney’s older films (which were being either released or re-released to video en masse at the time), this game features four of Disney’s resident rogues: Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, the Ringmaster from Dumbo (...okay, that’s the odd one out…), and - of course - the Evil Queen. The plot begins when Jiminy Cricket (in an uncharacteristic show of abject stupidity) decides to meddle with a magical storybook, tearing out the last page from four of the tales contained within (you can guess which ones). Because of this, the villains are able to rewrite their stories the way they want to, twisting things around and coming up with the “unhappy endings” they want most. With help from the Blue Fairy, Jiminy and the Player thus travel into each story to set things right again. In the Snow White section of the game, the Evil Queen has written the Prince out of existence. She tricks Snow White into eating a poisoned apple, and then - just for good measure - she begins to force each of the Seven Dwarfs to take an apple as well, putting them to sleep one by one. Jiminy and the Player need to work fast to find a way to bring the Prince back from the proverbial void before all of the Dwarfs are knocked out. Later, at the climax of the game, the Queen joins in the final battle with the other villains. Instead of being killed, her punishment for her evil deeds is to be forced to remain in her hideous old crone form for the rest of her life. Serves her right, I’d say!

7. Fantasmic!

This nighttime spectacular - an extravaganza of stunts, dance routines, and special effects, all tied together by a loose plot - is generally considered one of the greatest shows ever put on at the Disney Parks. While the exact size of the Queen’s role in the story has changed a couple times through different evolutions and interpretations, she has always been an integral figure in the proceedings. The story - what little there is - begins with Mickey Mouse taking the audience on a tour through his own dreamworld, “where beauty and love will always survive.” The Queen’s arrival is a major turning point: she’s having none of this happiness and harmony rubbish, thank you very much! So, with the help of the Magic Mirror, the Queen summons some of the other Disney Villains to help her “turn that little mouse’s dream into a Nightmare Fantasmic!” (Hence the title.) Although Maleficent is ultimately the final obstacle Mickey must overcome to save his dreamland, it’s the Evil Queen who spearheads the conflict and is the true leader of the villains in the show. Through every change and iteration of Fantasmic, this has remained fairly constant; whatever alterations the nightly spectacle goes through, it’s a fair bet she won’t be leaving Mickey’s dreams alone anytime soon.

6. Kingdom Keepers.

It took me a bit of time to warm up to the Evil Queen in this book series, but once I did, I found she was more than worthy of praise. The “Kingdom Keepers” series is a sort of “Night at the Museum”-esque series of novels, with the premise being that, every night, all of the rides and attractions at the Disney Parks come to life…and so do a great many Disney characters. Not all of these characters are good guys, of course, and a number of them - mostly Villains, naturally - have banded together to form an organization called “The Overtakers.” You can guess what their evil scheme is based on that name alone. While the main leaders of the Overtakers are Chernabog and Maleficent, the Queen plays a notable role in the latter half of the initial series of novels: first, she takes charge as the main antagonist of the fourth book, “Power Play,” leading the Overtakers in a scheme to release the imprisoned Dark Fairy and Black God. The Queen remains a prominent character for the next couple books, and once again takes command in the final novel of the series, “The Insider,” after the main protagonist of the series - Finn Whitman - succeeds in slaying Maleficent. While I personally feel that, in “Power Play,” the character felt like a sort of “Diet Maleficent” - the two characters just have a lot in common in general - the Queen really came into her own as the series progressed, and we saw her interact with other characters more and more. Part of the fun throughout the books was her interactions with her main henchperson: Cruella DeVil. The Queen and Cruella made for a truly odd couple of baddies, since, while Maleficent and the Queen have a lot in common, Cruella and Her Majesty are almost polar opposites. I haven’t read the sequel series to the original seven books, but I can only hope the self-proclaimed Fairest in the Land is just as good (bad?) there.

5. Snow White’s Scary Adventures.

As far as the Parks go, I would argue this ride…USED to be the Queen’s magnum opus. Originally simply called “Snow White’s Adventures” in past iterations, the ride was later more appropriately titled in light of the fact it REALLY leaned on the darker, more macabre elements of the story, with the Queen - seen primarily in her Witch form - basically being the star of the show. Throughout the ride she menaces the riders, tempting them with her Poisoned Apple and cackling with glee, popping up at unexpected intervals as the guests navigate their way through her dungeons and the spooky woods beyond. It was widely regarded as one of the best of Disney’s film-themed dark rides, and when I visited Disneyland (a whole twelve years ago, jeeze I feel old…), it was probably my second favorite after “Peter Pan’s Flight.” UNFORTUNATELY, this ride basically doesn’t exist anymore, at least not at the American Parks: at Walt Disney World, it was replaced with the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster, and the Witch has almost nothing to do for that one. (Though her one brief appearance near the end IS done with a VERY impressive animatronic.) As for Disneyland, the ride was recently refurbished as “Snow White’s Enchanted Wish,” which effectively neutered the original ride and, in my opinion, lacks the emotional impact the original, much darker attraction had. It’s truly sad how some of the best things must always remain in the past.

4. Mirror, Mirror.

This was the sixth of the “Twisted Tales” series of books released by Disney, and it is the first one I ever got to read. The series, created by author Liz Braswell, works off a very simple formula: take a random “What If?” question about a Disney movie, and then create either an alternate universe or a sequel or even a prequel out of that concept. While Braswell spearheaded the series and wrote the vast majority of the books, she was not the only author involved; a few other creators also joined in to handle various subjects and stories. Enter Jen Calonita, whose first entry into the books was this one. As the byline on the book’s cover indicates, the concept is based on the idea that, instead of using the Poisoned Apple to kill Snow White right off the bat, the Queen instead tricks the Prince. However, there’s a bit more to the story than that: while the Queen is still utterly despicable, the book gives her a sympathetic leaning, with a backstory that explains more of her wicked actions, while still keeping it clear that her deeds are reprehensible. The twist to the plot also allows Snow White herself to take a more proactive role in the story, as she goes from a humble and sweethearted young lady like in the film to the one who has to face the Queen to save the kingdom. It’s an interesting turnaround that takes the classic fairy-tale and turns into a more complex and action-oriented story, and while I don’t think it’s the best book of the Twisted Tales series, it’s nevertheless a personal favorite.

3. Snow White Live!

Nowadays, we take Disney’s stage musicals somewhat for granted. From Beauty and the Beast, to The Lion King, to Mary Poppins, and more, it’s almost more surprising when an especially popular Disney movie DOESN’T have some kind of staged version out there, be it Broadway or some other avenue. (I mean, by God, they have a stage version of “The Aristocats,” for crying out loud!) However, this was not always the case: the very first attempt at doing a full-length stage musical treatment of a Disney film came in the late 70s/early 80s, as part of a plan to save the prestigious Radio City Music Hall. And what better movie was there to choose than “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”: the first animated feature film Disney made would also be their first foray onto the New York stage scene. This production has gone by several titles, some longer than others, but I’ve always known it by the colloquial name “Snow White Live!” in reference to NBC’s fairly recent live TV musicals. This production was, in fact, recorded and aired on TV and in video release at its height of popularity…but since it has never been re-staged, to my knowledge, and has never received a DVD or Blu-ray release, it’s largely fallen into obscurity. This is a shame, because it’s really a very good production! Part of its appeal, of course, comes from the villain: the Evil Queen is played by two different actors in the show. In her radiant, Queenly form, she is played by Anne Francine; most well-known onstage for her work in the musicals “Mame” and “Anything Goes,” and recognizable to film audiences for her appearance in the movie “Crocodile Dundee.” As the Witch, the character was played by a male actor, Charles Hall, who also voiced the Magic Mirror. Hall would go on to be a constant presence at Radio City, playing the role of Santa Claus for many years in a row during their famous Christmas Spectacular. Both do a great job putting their own spin on the character’s dual identities, and I love them almost as much as the original Queen from the movie! If you haven’t seen this show before, you can easily find it on YouTube; definitely go and check it out.

2. Vil Schoenheit, from Twisted Wonderland.

Well, if you know me, you should have known this guy was coming. In case you haven’t been paying attention to or just didn’t know about my frankly unhealthy addiction to this mobile game, let me give you the basic summation: “Twisted Wonderland” is a gacha-style game, wherein the player gets transported to a parallel universe, and begins life staying at a School of Dark Magic. This school has apparently been inspired by “The Great Seven” - seven of the most infamous Disney Villains - and throughout the game’s story you encounter different figures based on the Great Seven, as well as other Disney characters (mostly villains). The Evil Queen is one of the Great Seven, and while she, herself, has virtually no bearing on the game at all, the analogous character to her is this lad: Vil Schoenheit. Vil is the resident celebrity of Night Raven College, the school in question: he is a professional actor, dancer, singer, and model, who also dabbles in directing, costume design, photography, and even commercial fashion. He is vain, domineering, and carries himself with an icy, sometimes deadpan authority, and is highly persnickety about personal appearances. His Unique Magic allows him to place a poisonous curse on anything he touches, and he is, in fact, a very skilled potion maker and poisons expert: it was this knowledge that allowed him to become the leader of Pomefiore, the house inspired by the Queen. Admittedly, when the game was first released, Vil was actually one of the characters I was LEAST interested in…but as time has gone on, and we’ve seen more of him and learned more about him, he’s become more and more of a favorite of mine. He wouldn’t likely be in too many other people’s top three, but he’s certainly in mine.

1. Fairest of All.

As much as I love Vil, you really can’t beat the original Evil Queen. And as far as other works beyond the film go, I don’t think anything has ever beaten this story. This was the first - and, in my opinion, the best - of Serena Valentino’s book series collectively entitled “Villains.” The series explores the origins of different famous Disney antagonists, and shows their own side of the story for their respective films. As the series went on, it began to build its own lore and a broader universe, which I’ve always had mixed feelings about. “Fairest of All,” however, as the first book, doesn’t have any of the issues this budding lore presents in other novels of the series: it stays with its subject, not really deviating from it, presenting simply the story of how the Evil Queen became so evil. Even more than the later “Mirror, Mirror,” this book makes you sympathize with the Queen, and explains her origins and motives in a way that is both tragic and disturbing. At the start of the story, she actually tries hard to be a good mother to dear Snow White, and a worthy bride to her husband, the King. However, as time goes on, personal insecurities and the pressure of her power begin to twist her heart and mind, ultimately transforming her into the villainess we all recognize. There have been many sympathetic takes on the Evil Queen, both by Disney and by others, but this may very well be my favorite take: it inspired me a lot when I was working on my own twist to the plot…but that’s another story (literally). Bottom line, for somehow being both beautifully simple and wonderfully complex, “Fairest of All” is, in my opinion, the best appearance of Disney’s Evil Queen.

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

House of Mouse.

The Queen had multiple small appearances throughout this show, but nothing super substantial. Still, it was fun to see her pop up and all the shenanigans she’d get up to. I think my favorite was the time she sold Pete a poisoned apple like a used car saleswoman. XD

Once Upon a Halloween.

A Halloween special in tribute to the Disney Villains, where the Evil Queen consults not the Magic Mirror, but rather the Black Cauldron, in a plan to - what else? - take over the world. At the end of the special, the power of the Cauldron overwhelms the Queen…though thankfully, her end is much less horrifying than the Horned King’s.

Snow White: An Enchanting Musical.

This was a stage show at Disneyland that was a reimagining of the original Disney film, with some minor changes to the plot and new dialogue. It featured a pre-recorded Patrick Stewart as the Magic Mirror. Fun show, but I find the other appearances more noteworthy of interest.

Disney’s Golden Anniversary of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs.

An EXTREMELY weird (and very, VERY cheesy) 1987 TV special made in tribute to the film’s 50th anniversary. Jane Curtin played the Queen, seeking revenge on the Seven Dwarfs, with the help of…uh…Sherman Hemsley. (pauses) Weird choice for the face of the Magic Mirror, that one…

[memyselfandmya]

6 days until JWCT

In this post I'm gonna talk about the extended trailer that came with the premier yesterday. Some people have put it on youtube so it is available to watch separately.

So first, my initial thoughts and observations:

There's a scene where Ben, Darius, and Sammy are in Darius's cabin or perhaps it's Kenji's RV.

Darius slips during rock-climbing

Yasmina frozen moment? There's a scene where she's sitting/frozen in the dark looking at something in fear maybe

Sammy's kick is by far my favorite part of this entire trailer. Like damnnn girl <3<3 The sweet harmless Sammy we saw in CC has definitely changed and I love that for her.

The dinosaur free island is so interesting to me and I'm so talking about it.

The scene where Sammy gets into the van and she's holding onto Yaz <3

Darius crying at the crime scene...

Now let's get into the substance of it.

The main thing I want to talk about is the dinosaur-free zone and Yaz living on it. I find it really interesting how people made a DFZ in the aftermath of dinos on the mainland. It makes sense, especially if you consider it a sort of apocalyptic scenario that there will be communities in order to get away from the chaos. The place seems really pretty and cool enough and I can for sure see why Yaz chose to live there and also why she doesn't want to leave. It's the same place that we see in the released clip so let's get into my first theory:

Brooklynn's death is what caused Yasmina to move into the DFZ. From the mock interviews that were released we know that before the events of CT and Brooklynn's death, she and Sammy were living together on the (dinosaur ranch). Perhaps Yasmina was managing well enough with living with the dinosaurs on the ranch but when Brooklynn was killed by a dinosaur it caused all of the progress she had been making with her trauma to regress. Maybe seeing Brooklynn die at the dinosaurs they had evaded on Nublar reinforced the idea that they aren't invincible just bc they survived Nublar and that dinosaurs are still dangerous. And I'm going to assume that Sammy is ranching herbivores so maybe that made it easier for Yaz at first but after Brooklynn's death, all dinosaurs were off the table so she moves to the DFZ.

Now the clip that was released earlier with Yaz and the hologram, it either takes place before or after they try to get Yaz to come with them. Now, assuming that the clip takes place before, here's my next theory. And I'm going to assume this bc I feel like the mood and the pace of the released clip is not one that would happen after being told they're being hunted.

Obviously with Yaz's PTSD and such they probably don't want to freak her out with the whole being hunted thing (shout out to Ben who failed at the "I don't want to freak you out" with Darius) and want to drop it on her delicately. But Yaz gets side tracked/really wants to show them what she's been working on so it's making it more difficult for them and of course Sammy wants to be a supportive gf but also needs Yaz to leave her comfort zone because of the rising circumstances. Like Yaz's "give me a second" along with Sammy's elbowing and "help me out here" leads me to believe this. Sammy's trying to break the news to Yaz and seeks out Ben's help who's like, 'hey she's your girlfriend."

I've also seen a couple of people say that maybe they had an argument after which I agree with. We see Sammy alone, possibly cooling down, when the van comes through the tunnel and being chased by a dinosaur.

That'll be it for today's post because I do want to get it out today when we have 6 days left.

[storiesforallfandoms]

my favorite superhero ~ robert pattinson

word count: 2601

request?: yes!

“hii, recently saw that u write for robert pattinson, if ur requests r open, could u write something about being his gf and going to the batman premiere with him and overall just being excited that he is Batman, thank uuu”

description: in which she goes to support him on the biggest night of his career

pairing: robert pattinson x female!reader

warnings: swearing, lil steamy moment but nothing explicit, rpf

masterlist (one, two, three)

From the very beginning, Robert had zero confidence that he would get the role as Batman.

He had mentioned it so casually to me during dinner one night, as if he was telling me about a mundane thing that happened in his day. “Curtis put my name in for some Batman movie.”

I nearly dropped my fork in shock. “What?! As which character?”

“Batman.”

“What?! Babe, that’s exciting! Why aren’t you more excited over it?”

“I’m likely not going to get it, so why get my hopes up?”

I looked at him, stunned. I couldn’t believe he was saying this. Robert loved acting, and he was excited over every character he had even a chance of playing. To have the opportunity to play one of the biggest and most loved superheroes in the world should’ve had him giddy with excitement, even if there were a number of steps until he knew whether or not he got the role.

“You have just as much chance as anyone else whose names are in for the role,” I said. “I think you can be excited over it.”

Robert shook his head. “I’d doubt it. I’m just the Twilight guy, I’m not a real candidate to play Batman of all characters.”

“I’d argue that playing a vampire makes you the best candidate to play a bat.” My joke finally coaxed a smile out of him, and I smiled back. “You don’t have to be excited if you don’t want to, but I’ll be excited enough for the both of us.”

And I was. I continued to be excited when Curtis called Robert to let him know that the director, Matt Reeves, wanted him to audition for the role. I hyped him up the day of the audition, which I could tell was making him feel a little more confident, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. I held that confidence when he was one of few actors that was chosen for a callback. I held it all the way to the day that Robert got a call from Matt Reeves himself.

His face gave everything away during the phone call, but I waited until he gave me the news himself before I celebrated. “I got it. I got the part!”

I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly, kissing all over his face just to be a little more extra with my celebrations. I refrained from the “I told you so” in that moment. I figured it would be best to save that for when the movie came out and was a massive hit.

It was a long process. Robert didn’t change much physically as he didn’t agree with actors basically completely changing their bodies to play superheroes, but Matt still figured out a way to make the process incredibly long. The costume fittings and fight choreography took weeks before filming even began. When filming did start, it lasted for many months. Robert would never admit to how exhausted filming made him, but I cold see it on him after his long days on set. Despite all of that, though, Robert was beyond happy in the role and excited for the movie’s release.

That day arrived a lot quicker than we expected. It felt like one day the filming was just starting, and the next the two of us were getting ready for the premiere. I had picked out a silky black dress to wear and was in the process of putting on a smokey eye look as my tribute to Robert’s character when he walked into the room.

“You really do not need that much makeup,” he said as he came over to kiss my cheek. “You look so beautiful without it.”

“I know,” I responded with a shrug. He chuckled. “But I wanted to base my look on Batman. So, black dress, and I think smokey eye makeup works really well for the vibe of the character. Especially after your raccoon eyes in the trailer.”

Robert laughed again. He sat down on the bed behind me and watched me finish up my makeup. I caught a few glimpses of him through the mirror every so often. He was dressed in a black suit, looking incredibly dapper and handsome, and he was watching me with this dreamy look on his face. I smiled to myself as I put on my foundation. I felt incredibly lucky to have such an amazing and loving boyfriend. Here he was, a big named actor who had just played the role of a lifetime and was about to debut that movie, but he was looking at me as if I were the star.

“What if we ditch the premiere and you let me take that dress off you and make your makeup run?” he asked once I had put the finishing touches to my look on.

I spun around to look at him, trying to seem shocked but I knew my amusement was outweighing the shock. “Robert!”

“What? Can you blame me? You look so good.”

He took hold of me and pulled me up from my vanity. He sat me down on his lap and started to kiss my neck. I tried to fight back the tingling feeling that was running from where he was kissing me down to between my legs. If I gave into that feeling I knew we would miss the premiere, like Robert was trying to do.

“We are not missing the premiere of what will likely be the biggest movie of your career,” I said as I reluctantly pushed him away from my neck. “Besides, I took too long getting ready for you to mess it all up so soon, and for no one to see how good I look.”

Robert groaned and rested his head against my shoulder. “I don’t want to go.”

“Why not? I thought yo were excited about the movie.”

“I am. I’m proud of what we made, and I can’t wait to see the finished product. But...what if people don’t like it?”

I took his face in my hands. “There’s always going to be people who don’t like it, baby.”

“I know that. But what if no one likes it? What if they all think it’s garbage? That I’m garbage?”

“You can’t let the what ifs stop you though. There’s always a chance people won’t like it, that’s just how being in the entertainment business is. But you put everything into this role. No one can say you were garbage in this role. And if they do, it’s because they just don’t like who you are or they can’t see past your role in Twilight to realize how amazing you truly are as an actor, not because you did bad in the role.”

He looked at me for a while before leaning forward to kiss my lips. “I don’t deserve you.”

I giggled. “I wouldn’t say that. I’m your girlfriend, I’m supposed to support you and tell you not to sweat the haters because they suck anyways and you’re cool, and stuff like that.”

He smiled and gave me another kiss. “I guess we should get going then, before I change my mind.”

“I guess we should.”

I could feel Robert’s anxiety as we drove to the premiere. I held his hand the entire way, giving him reassuring squeezes every now and then. I knew there wasn’t much else I could do for him besides just support him until the premiere started and he got to see everyone’s reactions to he movie. I had nothing but faith that the movie was going to be good, and I knew that Robert had done amazing in it. I just wished he had that same confidence in himself that I did. But, once again, I didn’t mind having enough confidence for the two of us.

When we arrived to the red carpet, I felt his entire body tense. There were so many people there already, all cheering and taking pictures. They knew who was in the car before Robert even opened the door. So many excited people there to see him in this role.

I squeezed his hand again, drawing his attention back to me. “You’re gonna be fine. The movie is going to be amazing.”

He gave me a small smile before opening the car door. Deafening cheers filled the air as everyone saw him. He held out a hand to me to help me out of the car as well, ever the gentleman that he was. We both smiled and waved at the fans who had been waiting for him. Robert took the time to sign some autographs and take pictures. I could see the fan interactions were helping to bring down his nerves a little bit. If he could, I knew he would’ve stayed here with the fans all night instead of actually doing an interviews or going in for the premiere. But, unfortunately for him, he had to move along eventually.

He stopped to do a couple of interviews on the red carpet. All of the questions were basically the same: how did he prepare for the role? What was his reaction when he got the call about getting the part? Could he see this movie becoming a franchise of it’s own given that it wasn’t a part of the currently established DC cinematic universe?

Robert answered each question with the same generic answer before moving along to the next interview. He tried to move through them as quickly as possible so we could get into the venue, but being he main star of the movie meant that every interviewer was trying to stop him for a couple of questions, and there were a lot of interviewers. I wasn’t even the one talking and yet I could feel myself growing tired of it all.

One interviewer did spot me behind Robert and said, “I see you’ve brought the lovely (Y/N) with you tonight.”

“I have indeed,” Robert responded, turning to extend an arm to me so I would join them. “If it wasn’t for her endless support throughout the entire process, I may not have even be here tonight.”

“What does that mean?” the interviewer asked.

“It means that I forced him to be here tonight,” I responded, keeping my tone light. “He’s a little nervous, as one would be playing such a huge character, but I think he’s done amazing and the movie is going to be amazing.”

“There seems to be a lot of good buzz around the movie from critics so far, so I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about in that regard.”

I smiled up at Robert, mentally preparing for that “I told you so” moment.

We finally managed to get off of the red carpet and into the venue. I felt the tension in Robert’s body deflate once we were away from all the cameras and the screaming fans. The next step was going to be the Q&A, and then finally the movie.

“The movie has good buzz,” I repeated to him as we walked through the venue.

He playfully rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I heard her. I guess I’ll know tonight for sure how much positive buzz it will have.”

“You gotta stop doubting yourself. It’s going to be amazing!”

Robert wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. “What would I do without you?”

“Crash and burn,” I teased before kissing his cheek.

~

Hours passed. The Q&A went smoothly, and then it was time for everyone to finally see the movie. Robert’s knee bounced anxiously almost the entire time. He kept glancing around the quiet room as we all took in the film. I noticed him look over at me a number of times during the film, but I was so entranced by it that I couldn��t pull myself to look back at him.

I had no idea what he was so worried about. The movie was amazing! Probably one of the best movies in general I had seen in such a long time, let alone the best superhero movie I had seen. And I can promise that wasn’t just because my boyfriend was in the starring role. It was genuinely amazing, and I was prepared to sing its praises to Robert when it ended, but it seemed I had to wait my turn. The moment the credits started to roll, the audience began to clap and raise to their feet. Robert looked around him in surprise at everyone facing him, and the rest of the cast, as they applauded. I smiled brightly at him as I also rose to my feet to be a part of the standing ovation.

Robert, Matt, and Zoe moved towards the front of the room so they could bow for all the applause. The standing ovation went on for some time, which they definitely deserved but my hands began stinging after a minute or too, so I just stopped and smiled happily at Robert. I could see that the weight had been completely lifted from his shoulders. He was standing a little taller, and a little prouder now that he had gotten to see the positive reaction to the movie first hand.

When the applause finally died down, Robert was kept around for another few minutes as people came up to him to congratulate him on how great it was. I stood by and watched, feeling extremely happy for him but also starting to feel the pain of wearing heels for basically five hours straight. Robert looked over and spotted me, then thanked those around him for the kind words before excusing himself. He took me into his arms the moment he reached me and pulled me to him to kiss my lips.

“They really loved it,” he said, as if he still couldn’t believe it. “Everyone did.”

“That’s because the movie is incredible, babe,” I told him. “Seriously, I think it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.”

I could see the tips of his ears turning pink at the compliment. “Well, let’s not go that far.” But the smile on his face gave away the humble act he was trying to pull.

“Let’s go home?” I asked, leaning into his touch as I felt fatigue start to wash over me. “I’m ready to take all of this off and let you do whatever it was you had planned for me earlier.”

He smirked. “Oh, I’ve been waiting to do that all night. I could barley keep my hands off of you in this dress. I can’t wait to see how nice it looks on the floor next to our bed, though.”

We started for the exit. Our ride was waiting for us just outside the door. Robert thanked a few more people who stopped him to compliment him on the movie before the two of us finally got into the car and started back towards home. My head was resting against his shoulder as we drove along, the car dark except for the occasional street light shining in through the window. We were close to home when something popped into my head.

“I told you so.”

He looked over at me, an eyebrow quirked. “What was that?”

“I said I told you so. I’ve been waiting a very long time to be able to say that, and now I can.”

Robert chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “You did tell me so. Please keep telling me so for the rest of time.”

I smiled. “I will.”

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA JULY DEV LOG : “LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON”

Yeah baby, none of that "If you're new here" stuff anymore! This is dev log #6! If you're new here read anyways, because if you're reading this you probably know what HYPERSOMNIA is. If not though, then welcome! Let me show you what I've been working on this month!

BUT BEFORE THAT!

If you didn't know, the MOTHER DIRECT is TOMORROW! (Which is why I'm writing this on Friday instead of Saturday)

HYPERSOMNIA will be there! We released a trailer teaser that you can watch right now, and the full trailer will be a part of the direct premiering at 6PM ET!

If you are a content creator, I ask as an indie developer to please talk about the indies and don't just skip over them. I'm not asking this because I want you to talk about my game, but just please talk about the indies because they deserve your attention. Just because you're not familiar with these games doesn't mean they're not worth looking into. If theres an indie game in this direct or in general that catches your attention please talk about it, because it's incredibly valuable to people trying to find an audience.

TALK ABOUT INDIES!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled indie games:

So, what have you been up to Ferris? I'll show ya!

First off, I've been working on designing enemies for the demo! Now I've realized over the last month that I am really really weak at designing common enemies. Trying to avoid RPG tropes and weak/overused ideas and jokes is tough because it means I can't really bullshit like 50 enemies and call it a day, each enemy takes a long time and needs a strong idea, sometimes it'll take me multiple days to come up with good ideas!

I came up with these two recently, and I think they're good examples of my thought process for designing enemies.

HYPERSOMNIA's enemies revolve around a paranormal theme. It's an aspect of the first MOTHER that I missed in MOTHER 2 and 3, which inspired HYPERSOMNIA to lean into it so much.

I try to also keep some sense of comedy in my designs, HYPERSOMNIA has paranormal aspects and it has serious moments, but I try not to mix the two with common enemies because I just don't think it'd make a very interesting enemy roster. Could you imagine an EarthBound inspired game with enemies like actual demons from hell or serial killers? It's something I would've written in 7th grade, like the most basic bait-and-switch you could ever see from any media.

I also put together a flowchart while talking with my partner about enemy designs, they weren't exactly on the same page as me while thinking of ideas so I made this to illustrate my thought process for an idea.

It really helps me narrow ideas that I think would work for the game. It isn't exact, so don't look at it like some sort of design bible, but it's more a general guideline.

I also got around to spriting that cow enemy. My friend suggested the name Moo-F-O which I liked better than the names I was thinking of.

I'll probably get around to spriting that TV enemy after I finish writing.

As the next "Thing I Did This Month", you may have noticed that Katz's coat is a different color!

I made this change while redoing her sprites. I was dissatisfied with how her black coat blends into the game's brown outlines so I decided on giving her a brown coat instead. It also helps her stand out a bit against Iggy, who also has a black coat.

I've also recently been working on some concept art, I've talked before about how I don't like Ross' special attack sprite, so I've been trying to come up with a better pose

I tried hard to make that pose he has in the original work because I think it looks cool but I just found that the pose on the right was easier for me to draw.

I've also been thinking of giving Debra a new starter weapon, initially she had a pan but I figured I should find something else for her, I don't like how similar it is to Ana and Paula from MOTHER. I'm still on the fence about it, so if I don't write about her having a new weapon next month then I'm still thinking about it.

And other then that, that's all I've really done this month! It's not much but I feel its more interesting then the last few months. I've had a lot going on in my life, and early in august I'll be moving out. Hopefully I'll be able to settle quick, because for August I'll probably mostly be taking a break.

I usually do take a break after a trailer comes out, so you'll definitely hear from me next month but we'll see if I have things to talk about. Until next time! And don't forget to watch the MOTHER DIRECT, live at 6pm ET!

If this is your first log you’re reading, or even your first time seeing ANYTHING relating to HYPERSOMNIA, I got a whole bunch of links for you to check out if you wanna know more about me and my stupid little game.

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[commenter2]

"Overture" review

After so many years, Hazbin Hotel is finally out. As of making this, I was a bit surprised that Vivzie (and Prime) posted the first episode on YouTube with the series coming out soon but I’m not complaining, as I had a recent conversation with someone about if Vivzie would post the episodes on her YouTube channel over time and I think it could happen but SLOWLY, like months after season 1 is done and with months in between postings.

Now let’s begin this review/reaction literature. Along with obvious spoilers, this will be a long review (sorry in advance) but I would really appreciate if you could read the whole thing.

Being the premiere, it makes sense to start with exposition from Charlie. It’s also fitting that she tells it like a fairy tale as I see it reflecting how Charlie sees the world, though I bet it will change a bit later on. Hopefully she can still keep that POV a bit at the end of the series, maybe like a kind of modern day fairytale view of the world.

Insert “accurate angels” joke here.

So 2 women are representing good and evil. I’m making a note for that as that is definitely going to lead to something.

I do like how the story is keeping the fact that Lucifer was good, like how some versions say Lucifer was God’s number 1 angel. Also in the scene with the angels working on Earth, one of the angels is shaped like that angel we saw in the season 1 trailer, meaning she and Lucifer likely go way back and confirming that she is really powerful/high ranking angel. Some say she is a refence to an old character of Vivzie’s of an angle who LOVED torturing sinners so who knows.

LILITH! Also this confirms that she WAS human. Hopefully this means Lucifer is okay with other humans/sinners, especially Vaggie (hint hint writers) and Lilith being the “queen of succubus” is an honorary title like I brought up in the past.

I am curious about what “pre apple Adam” was like and if he was any different than his modern age self. There definitely should be a prequel episode showing more details of how Lucifer and Lilith met and leading to everything else.

Lucifer X Lilith is soo cute, I really hope nothing bad happened between them before the events of the series, as for some reason people have been theorizing and headcanoning that.

I’m hoping that Charlie’s happy tone at that part of the story confirms that they are still together.

Charlie’s story quickly goes from Lilith and Lucifer falling in love to them interacting with Eve. I feel like later on we will learn that something big happened in between these events, another reason for why a prequel episode should happen one day.

The apple makes the figure of Eve glow a bit like that woman from the beginning representing evil, I knew that’d come in handy. This and the fact that the apple is supposed to represent the knowledge of BOTH good and evil but isn’t here makes me wonder if Eve will be a villain in the show? I mean Adam is and after seeing how he ended up, I could see Eve being much worse. Plus Vivzie did say that the female characters will have more focus in Hazbin Hotel so I’ll keep an extra eye out with them. I also want to point out that this scene of Eve looks a lot like the early released trading card of Lilith! There is this theory floating around related to that but I’ll save that when we get more info.

The stuff about evil coming to be is a bit interesting/confusing. I just find it a little hard to believe that both good and evil can both existed at the same time here but it only took Lucifer’s actions to release it. Where was it before then and what was it doing? Could this possibly be hinting that elements of other religions/mythologies exist in this series, and whatever was left over became Hell/evilness? I do recall Stolas mentioning a creature from one such mythology in “Seeing Stars”. Could the “epilogue” of the Norse Ragnarök story be canon in this world? I do like the idea of God being Baldur. This also reminds me of an old idea of mind for a pic so stay tune for that.

Since this is from Charlie’s/Hell’s POV I do think that some of these events aren’t 100% true, like I don’t picture Lucifer wanting to give humans free will BUT it’s not impossible, as maybe he was so prideful and truly through it would be a good idea. Maybe he did it for Lilith, as she thought it will help Eve not go through the kind of things she went through with Adam that made her miserable. The story also does make Lucifer more sympathetic, considering the fact that he and Lilith were just tossed to Hell and no mentions of a fan popular idea of a war between Heaven and Hell along with that odd line about Lucifer never seeing/wanted to see the good in humanity and gave up on it and dreaming, considering how prideful he is supposed to be and how to me Lucifer looks like the kind of guy who wouldn’t give up that easily. Maybe Charlie will discover that Lucifer liked the evil and decided to make more things to hurt humanity, which as a bonus hurt those that ignored him for so long. This also does make me think this could be another idea/reason for why Lucifer is against Charlie’s plan, as he knows Heaven will say no to her redemption idea every time and doesn’t want Charlie to go through that pain, which could also again relate to another idea I’ve mentioned before of Lucifer not wanting Charlie to be constantly under threat from Heaven and its forces like he is.

It JUST occurred to me that Lilith could have singing powers, like a bard or maybe even a sonic scream but I rather see that last thing happen with Stella first :3

Again that female angel from the trailer is show but this time she is sad, implying she doesn’t like the Exterminations while Adam is happy with the idea. I wonder if this means that the female angel, while she seems to be okay with the Exterminations during the events of the show COULD eventually be remined that she wasn’t always like this and at the end of the season could become an angelic ally of Charlie and helps her get her redemption plan in motion on the Heaven side of things.

So there is another reason for the exterminations instead of just population control. This could mean that the popular idea of Lucifer and Lilith making the deal so they could have Charlie could be true as well.

The scene of sad Charlie having her eyes open when her heart beats must be symbolic of the day she came up with her redemption plan.

I think that line about “Lilith’s hope passing down to Charlie” could be much darker than it sounds. Yeah Lilith and Charlie want Hell to thrive, but what if while Charlie thinks working with Heaven to solve the population problem would be best for everyone, Lilith hoped Charlie would destroy Heaven and thinks peace is too submissive in her eyes? Just a random idea but it could be a reason if there is tension between the mother and daughter.

I wonder if that book Charlie is reading was actually made by her, like her POV of everything, or made by her parents? Sure maybe they altered some things but maybe this is how she or they really think about things? If not then I bet the author got an earful from Lucifer about making him a quitter though after seeing Ozzie and Bee, Lucifer could be less prideful than we think he is.

So just like in the pilot, it seems like Charlie has a stronger connection to her mother and wants to make her proud, even if my idea of them having different wants to make Hell thrive is different. Again going back to the trailer maybe they will both get what they want and realize that there are other options, causing the two to bond and spend more time in the next season.

Thinking back I personally think it would have been interesting if the scene of Charlie reading the story and saying she would make her mom proud had been a flashfoward situation, taking place before the season finale. It has been implied in the trailer that a big battle between Hell and the Exorcist will happen, so I would have liked the idea of Charlie reading the book to remind her that what she is doing is the right thing in the end, and if the book HAD been made by her it would have been something to inspire future demons and sinners in case she doesn’t make it. That would be awesome and again fits with what I said about her altering things in the story if she is the writer.

Still funny to hear Charlie curse.

I know I’m late on the VA thing but I’m still going to post my thoughts about them when they come up, like right now as Vaggie’s new voice strangely reminds me of Harley Quinn’s Poison Ivy and It doesn’t help that those two characters are a lot alike. At least it leads to fun fanart as I love both shows.

“person doesn’t know someone is in the room with them” cliché

This episode is confirmed to take place shortly after the pilot. Specifically a week according to Vaggie later on.

Lilith’s 7 year gap is concerning but given how Charlie and her family are immortal, it probably isn’t that bad to them. It actually fits with this funny headcanon idea of mine about how when Lucifer and Lilith have big fights, they won’t see each other for decades or centuries before apologizing, but to them it is the equivalent of a day or two. I am a bit concerned that while her parents think this isn’t that long, it IS to Charlie, who is technically still “young” seemingly being only a few centuries old. This also goes back to that theory I was going to save for later, but it’s implied that Lilith is on a mission to stop something or someone but could be disguised as someone we know or could appear later on. I think we should play it safe when we see a modern day Lilith and assume that it could be someone else pretending to be Lilith.

Charlie X Vaggie are so CUTE!

I mentioned this in my HH S1 trailer breakdown but I still find the part of the commercial of the one guy stabbing the other funny cause the guy being stabbed doesn’t seem to mind XD.

That pic in Al’s commercial of Charlie and Lucifer better be overexaggerating, or I say we riot!

Also Al’s new voice is okay, though I do hear the difference. Can’t say the same thing for Angel as it sounds really odd like an accent is trying to get through his voice.

Charlie having a rubber duck to represent her dad. WAIT HER DAD! Viv was right we did get him fatheAWWW. Touché Vivzie.

Husk and Niffty’s voices sound fine, Niffty’s being the most perfect so far.

I once brought up the idea of Charlie basing her teachings on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, I just want to bring that up as a possible thing they will do for rehabilitation since they don’t have any ideas how to at this moment.

Was the scene of Charlie with wild eyes a meme or refence to something? It was still pretty funny.

So Lucifer wants Charlie to meet Adam for him. On one hand this could just be him being lazy OR maybe he is trying to help Charlie in his own way. That or like I said before, maybe he thinks if Charlie realizes what she is up against, it could make her want to quit her redemption goal.

Despite her father being an angel/fallen angel, Charlie doesn’t know if angels have hearts. I wonder how much of Lucifer did change when he became a fallen angel.

Ought to bring this up now but since she was born and raised in Hell, though she sees the flaws, I feel like it might be a little bit hard for Charlie to see why Heaven wouldn’t want to make it better or bring the people there into Heaven.

Charlie’s song, while nice, has reminded me about this old fan idea people had about a possible future scene where Charlie sadly realizes that not EVERYONE could/should be redeemed. I thought I bring it up because I could see that coming up soon.

I think that is Blitzo in the scene where Charlie hitches a ride on the delivery truck. Speaking of which (looking at logo) :)

I didn’t bring this up in my HH S1 trailer breakdown because I didn’t think it was need, but now it is. TLDR I wonder if Pentagram City is now more like a “country” or all of the Pride Ring with towns and named areas acting more like states. Until we get an episode outside of it and into another circle of Pride (something referenced in Helluva Boss and the HH pilot trailer WAY back by Katie Killjoy) I’ll likely treat Pentagram City as the whole Pride Ring.

I think I brought this up before, but if there is a Heavenly emissary in Hell, then I wonder if there is one for Hell in the outskirts of Heaven? Could this building allow sinners to talk to people, like loved ones in Heaven? Something like this would be perfect for my OC Ratchet, as one of his goals is to talk to his deceased/murdered little brother again.

It’s funny seeing Adam eat, considering his mouth doesn’t look real and thus should work. Also yes I see Adam eating ribs, but I’m not making a joke about it because it is a bit cheesy.

Honestly we should have seen the hologram thing coming, since I bet no angel in Heaven (as of now) wants to be in Hell unless it’s during an Extermination.

IS ADAM FLIRTING WITH CHARLIE!!!! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING TO MAKE IT STOP!!!

Adam’s behavior here is making my “pre apple Adam being an immature child” theory look canon, don’t you agree?

I think we’re seeing the Lilith side of Charlie when she is pretend laughing.

Adam and Eve aren’t a thing anymore. I knew that was coming, but it is still a bummer to hear as it is predictable. No surprise but I wonder if they split after the Cain incident, as I’m starting to wonder if in this world, Cain was a lot like his father as he is now.

Though as 1D as he is, at least this makes Adam a good antagonist, unlike with Stella but that is getting WAY off topic. I do hope that Adam is just going to be the antagonist of this season, and after that he is either written off or given the Emperor Pilaf treatment and be demoted to a very, VERY minor threat. This way other antagonist could arrive leading to new challenges for Charlie and the others.

AGAIN SOMEONE DO SOMETHING, GET LUCIFER OR LILITH!!!

Charlie seems to be thinking like her dad when she tries to use Adam’s ego to get her project started.

Though mainly for laughs, I’m still going to guess that cameras, being on camera, or being watched/the focus of is going to have a connection to Niffty’s backstory. One really sad theory is that an older guy she liked was a stalker who eventually abducted her and showed her off to his friends and though Niffty eventually escaped and killed him, their struggle caused a fire to break out which would kill her too. This obviously messed her up and likely resulted in her obtaining something like Stockholm syndrome and having her mind regress to that of a child, explaining some of her personality quirks.

Just a personal thought, but I hope later on the writers will stop calling sinners as demons and just call them sinners or humans, as I feel like it is going to lead to problems later on. I mean what if one day we get a character that looks like a Hellborn demon but is actually a sinner… OMG LIKE BAXTER!

Al just being Al, which is still concerning. Heck even his “deal’ with Vaggie sounds like there is more to it, and I don’t mean that thing about how deals make people stronger. Then there is the way he said ‘your choice” though that could be the acting.

Some things here. The O on the Director’s chair is shaped like an eye which could be referencing Al’s cane or something else, Niffty refencing Marilyn Monroe, and the return of the characters outfits from “Alastor’s Reprise”.

Insert “Lute being prideful for not accounting that Lucifer is an angel” comment here.

So how would having a former sinner in Heaven be any different then how Adam acts? I bet it will be more complicated than that. I once brought up the idea of demons being scared of sinners because of their potential, so maybe Heaven has a similar thing? Maybe Heaven doesn’t know HOW to loosen restrictions to get more people or sinners into Heaven, as when they made the rules they didn’t have the foresight to make sure things could change with the times. I do recall a quote from the Bible that was about how souls couldn’t get into Heaven for a time until Jesus arrived and opened the gates. Heck there is another saying where Jesus DID get some people out of Hell which caused some quakes, maybe he coined the term Hellquakes. I wonder if a great sacrifice will have to be made in order to get worthy souls out of Hell? The Jesus thing also adds more to my idea of Jesus and Charlie being allies later in the series.

Though short, you can see during Adam’s song that Zhu Li, I mean Lute, does have a bit of a fun side deep down in that serious soldier personality.

Charlie is asking questions before I can type them down.

How high ranking is Adam in Heaven’s hierarchy if he can change the date of Exterminations? You think he would have to run that with other people like the archangels or seraphim.

After what she went through, it was nice to see Charlie happCOME ON!

This was going to come up eventually but I have mix feelings about Brandon Rogers being the new VA for Katie Killjoy. One main reason is that I personally see too many similarities between Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss (especially with the characters) and now having a VA from HB be in HH makes that list bigger. I also wonder if this decision was made as a kind of “damage control” since last time the character of Katie Killjoy was on screen she said something homophobic which got people angry, even though the series is in Hell and there are logically going to be people like that there. HOWEVER I understand why he was chosen, one being that he has played Katie Killjoy like characters already and I do like that they got someone that is easy to contact and has experience in such a role to do it then someone new. This has also strangely started making me connect Katie Killjoy to the Monarchs from the Venture Bros., like the daughter they never had who never went into costumed villainy (the news world can be evil though) which makes no sense but I LOVE IT anyway. I mean she acts like The Monarch but with a joke voice like Dr. Mrs. the Monarch, and the fact that she smokes and is insect themed just adds more to it XD.

AGAIN how did Adam get this through so fast? I wonder if Charlie will be blamed for this next episode? Eventually it will be revealed but I hope they do it sooner than later, as I do recall a screenshot of the Overlords talking about the Exorcist.

Also I feel like a line should have been added explaining that the upcoming Extermination will be worse than usual. I mean we the viewers know that but if it wasn’t for that Lute and Adam scene in the end, it would have looked like everyone is just panicking about something common happening earlier than usual. Maybe they do offscreen, going back to that Overlord meeting.

An angel drone? Is this a Sumerian mythology refence?

A dead Exorcist! Though not a surprise given it was spoiled via the trading cards along with it appearing MUCH earlier than I thought it would, it’s still interesting as now we have a mystery.

I find hard to believe that no one took down an Exorcist until now given how powerful sinners can be, but then again the writers seem to be making the forces of good/Heaven really OP which I’m not like that much. I don’t it would have hurt the story if it was revealed that while there are a few angelic casualties in every Extermination, the number has risen over the past several years which has now made the Exorcist army (not Adam because he probably sucks at his job and never noticed it) worried leading to the earlier Extermination plan.

It also seems that angels have golden blood, like the ichor in Greek myth. Looks like my headcanon of Heaven/Hell inspiring the various other myths of this world is canon!

This episode was a good starter for the season and series. While it feels a lot like another pilot at times, that is fine since it’s been years since the actual pilot, and the episode does add more new info to the series (a benefit of having a short season) like another glimpse at what Heaven is like and how they feel about Hell, along with adding in a situation that now effects everyone and can lead to future situations/interactions.

We also now have an interesting mystery going on about who could have killed that Exorcist. I think it’s likely going to be someone in Heaven wanting an excuse to attack Hell, I mean Lute really hates them so she could be the one or others suspects are that angel from the S1 trailer/was seen at the beginning of the episode and an old character of Vivzie’s named Roo who apparently represents all evil, and who people have been thinking is coming up soon. Heck maybe an actual demon like a goetia did it while trying to escape, or this was a result of accidental friendly fire? This is going to be fun.

The only negatives things about this episode are that I do agree that some of the new VAs, though talented, are kind of out of place for the characters especially Angels. I bet we will get use to them over time though. Then there are the very small things like how Adam has so much power to do things, and either changing a few scenes or adding a line.

I have one more theory I have to say before I end this. I think this whole season is going to be some kind of Heavenly challenge/test for Charlie. I wouldn’t be surprised if Heaven IS tired of Adam’s attitude especially when compared to how nice the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith of all people is, but they can’t discipline him given he is the leader of their army. This doesn’t help that they also see signs of a potential future threat coming up (likely why Lilith has been gone for so long) and think that Adam won’t be able to handle it, so some angels think Charlie should be the one trained to deal with this force while others think they should stick with Adam and just prepare for when he messes up. This is why the higher ups are allowing Adam’s early extermination to happen because they want to see if Charlie can handle this situation, along with seeing her skills at being a leader and most importantly see if she will still be her nice self in the process. If she fails then thing stay as they are, but if she passes then the angelic forces will give Charlie the chance to try and convince the forces of Heaven to go with her redemption plan, and demote/get rid of Adam as karma. Again it would be a way to get rid of Adam as a villain and have someone else fill in the role next season. Same for how the writers could use this to lead this to a bigger story like a GOW Ragnarök like reveal where Charlie finds out the generic “end of days” prophecy is a lie and the real prophecy says something big will come to destroy everything in Heaven, Hell, and Earth and it’s debated on if she could be the one destined to fight it and save everything.

This was a big review and there a still 3 episodes left so you want to keep up to date, give me a follow.

What were your thoughts on the episode? Though there are a lot, do you agree with any of my thoughts/ideas here? Was there anything I missed that you would want to hear my thoughts on?

[felassan]

Snippets/speculation etc of interest from Mark Darrah part 2 (in parts due to Tumblr character limits. Part 1 link), from his co-stream of The Game Awards, under a cut due to length:

"[BioWare] did have a trailer just 4 days ago [the new cinematic], it was a trailer that wouldn't have gotten, Geoff would not have put that on TGA, so it was too small for TGA and too big to be [inaudible]". He said it would have been a lot at one time to show the new cinematic on DA Day, Absolution releasing and to be at TGA. On why that video was chosen, he said probably because it was done, or close to done

When another game was announced and gave a date in its announcement during the world premieres, he said "Yeah, see, they're literally dating and announcing at the same time, Dragon Age might be thinking of doing the same thing"

When asked in chat "​does this mean we're getting DA:D in 2024 tops? Not even late 2023?" he said "no, it doesn't mean that, it means they're keeping their options open and they're just planning to spend their money over their summer, like they're just compressing their marketing so they can have a louder campaign, it doesn't mean anything. It means you're not gonna see it [it's not going to release] in the summer [of 2023], but you were never gonna see it in the summer. 'Cause they have one more big beat. They could drop a big trailer at E3, that's June, if they come out in November that's still tons of time. We'll see something from them in the summer, unless something goes horribly wrong they would have to do something in the summer. I still think they're targeting November 2023, like, eleven months from now. They would do it [push to 2024 if they had to], their financial year ends at the end of March, but the reason they would delay it is for quality reasons, EA wouldn't push it for any other reason"

He said "I don't know, but I doubt DA:D will have a multiplayer at all". Chat asked "the mandate from EA to make DA4 MP when you were running it, did you think it would eventually shape up and work, or was it a bad idea from the start?" and he said "it could have worked, but it was the right choice to move away from it. [...] It could have been made to work, there was work yet to be done there and definitely there wasn't perfect alignment on it. [...] The team wasn't really on-board with multiplayer so it would've been uphill. If the team doesn't wanna do it, it's basically a virtual impossibility to get them to do it effectively and make it good"

He doesn't think the temporal gap between DA:I and DA:D matters really, if the game is good, though "you're definitely not building on momentum. It's a standing start, for sure". "2016 was the best time to release another Dragon Age, but after 2016 you largely lost that moment". Mass Effect is going to have the same situation obviously - "there's enough time between them. [though] it can actually work in your favor because you don't have any drag either"

When asked in chat "wonder if BioWare could have afforded to release DA spin offs in between DA:I and DA:D. Heck why not have some other studio make something? Lack of resources?" he said "EA doesn't like spending money"

"RPGs are expensive and they take a long time". "Probably we need to get used to long development times, but I do think the industry knows, we haven't figured out a way out the other side yet. I think the answer is more true sequels and more [asset] reuse, but there is an active [gaming] community backlash against that sort of thing, so". Not reusing assets much between DA games has happened "for stupider reasons than concern about fan backlash" though

"You just have to treat Frostbite with respect. BioWare has not built upon itself [re: Frostbite] as effectively as it could have unfortunately"

When asked in chat "what did the Dragon Age 'finalling team' do in Mass Effect: Andromeda?" he said "lots of things. The DA team helped shipped ME:A, they came up pretty late, helped with triage, helped with bug-fixing, some level, I think one level was made by that team"

The Alpha phase is much later than two years out from release

"I don't know what it's gonna be like playing DA:D [himself], because there will definitely be stuff in there that was there when I was working on it, so it'll be really weird, I think"

He's not covered by any NDA from BioWare about any upcoming news, but he doesn't ask them for things that he wouldn't want to talk about, because otherwise they would stop telling him things

One of his pitches for Joplin was "no DLC and to make another game in 18 months"

Expansions and DLCs are things you can have devs working on while you're waiting for the next franchise to pick them up. When asked in chat "​why were DAI DLCs so short compared to games like The Witcher 3 DLC? Any reason in particular?" he said that the DA DLCs were trying to be more focused, while The Witcher 3 DLCs were stretching up towards expansion packs and CDPR had/has different terminology for things like patch vs DLC vs expansion pack

When asked in chat "has the origin of the Blight plot been modified since DA:O or did the team stick with the original vision?" he said "the idea is always to leave those threads as open as possible so that they can be tied into a lot of different places, so. Broad strokes are still the same, yeah"

"If we don't see DA:D today we won't see it til EA Play or E3, because that would be as late as you could go in date for pre-orders. I doubt we would see anything between now and then, anything like a trailer at least"

Mark and Matthew Goldman were working together on the DA:D teaser trailer from 2018. "More Matt than me, because I was already taking over Anthem at that point". Mark's talked a few times to Matt since he left BioWare. Matt was only on Twitter because of his role in BioWare and is still in game development

For voice acting in DA, Kate Mulgrew became expensive after Orange is the New Black (which released in 2013)

When chat said "I think it would be a bit late to change DA4 based on Absolution's reception" he said "they wouldn't change it based on its reception but they could change their positioning"

When chat said "maybe they want to give some time between showing Absolution and the trailer for DA:D just in case, since new fans may judge DA:D by Absolution" he said "yeah, that's the thing, they might be holding, they might be keeping some powder dry in case, if Absolution stinks they have something to, a palate cleanser. I think that's reasonable thinking"

[source, part 1]

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (October 23-29, 2022)

Marvel published Ultraman: The Mystery of Ultraseven #3 (of 5) on Wednesday. Kaiju-Ultra combat dominates this one, with Hayata and Ultraman debating how to handle the out-of-control Ultraseven as well. I've fallen off with a lot of Ultra Series stuff, including the post-Z shows (hence Decker's absence from these reviews), but this reimagining of the classics continues to impress. Watch for the Pestar cameo!

Rumble has finally come to Blu-ray and DVD in the U.S. Made for theaters (the first trailer played before Sonic the Hedgehog) but banished to Paramount+ last December, this kaiju wrestling comedy went completely overlooked by genre fans. Maybe now it'll get its due. I quite enjoyed it—as a sports movie, it's pure formula, but as a monster movie it's something new. And yes, the wrestling organization has the same name as the old fanfic series on Godzilla Tower. I actually bought the artbook as prep for a podcast episode I recorded last year that never aired, so expect more posts on this one soon.

By the way, this is actually last week's news—I just didn't know about it until I found the DVD on a cart of new materials at my library.

Godzilla vs. Kong won the Saturn Award for Best Film Visual Effects, beating out a crowded field thanks to an almost two-year eligibility period. This is familiar territory for both monsters: Godzilla (1998) and King Kong (2005) were among the previous victors. Deserved over Top Gun: Maverick? Probably not, but I dunno why Maverick was one of the nominees to begin with. It was also nominated for Best Science Fiction Film, losing to Nope.

Varan won a remarkably intensive Godzilla Store poll earlier this year to become the next Movie Monster Series figure (Super Mechagodzilla placed second again after losing to Gorosaurus last year), and said figure has finally been revealed. It'll go on sale November 3. Other Godzilla Store-exclusive vinyls can be ordered through Buyee, so I expect this one will be too.

The upcoming CG short Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex is also getting MMS figures. No details yet that I could find, but since the film premieres November 3rd, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped that day too.

Godzilla Battle Line is teasing Evangelion Unit 01 as the next new Battle Piece, a rare EvaGoji collaboration that won't require traveling to or importing from Japan to experience. That would cover three of the four films in the Shin series... can a giant Kamen Rider be far behind?

Godzilla's 68th birthday is next Thursday, and since reporting on all the U.S. tie-in screenings after the fact won't do anyone any good, I'm going to list them all now:

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla - Limited release nationwide through Fathom Events; check if it's playing near you here

Godzilla (1954) - Alamo Drafthouse locations; will use Toho's 4K restoration

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - Roxy Cinema in NYC; 35mm print

Godzilla (1954); Rodan; Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster; The War of the Gargantuas - hosted by John Carpenter on various digital channels from November 3 to 6

Licensing International also has a list of all the non-film collaborations planned for that day. Nothing jumps out, to be honest, but I figured I'd include it.

But if you're like me and already have commitments that evening, why not check out @spacehunter-m's reconstruction of the 1956 German theatrical version of Godzilla instead? It premiered in West Germany just a few months after Godzilla, King of the Monsters! opened in the States, but it's actually based on the Japanese cut (just 13 minutes shorter). English subtitles are included.

[inkedkoi]

Bingo Card: Part One

Continuation of "Hold On To “What If”: Overanalyzing and Rewriting Sonic Prime" essay

[Once Again, spoilers for Sonic Prime, all media here belong to their respective creators.]

✨//🌻//✨

Long at last, I get to explain what the hell I had on my bingo card. For those who are unaware, after Prime released the teaser and trailer of S3, I went through them frame by frame and made a whole list of theories I wanted to post. But since I was traveling, I didn’t have the time to post them, so instead I made myself a bingo card when S3 was just around the corner. Here’s a post from Twitter as proof:

I’ll go through each row, explaining what I placed, and the meaning behind the label I put on the box. The text in BLUE represents my past self BEFORE S3 premiered (or in italics just in case) and the RED text represents my thoughts AFTER watching S3. Let's start with the first row:

Chilidogs

Pretty self-explanatory

Label: “X”: (absolutely) confirmed [pic from S3 EP7: ending]

Time Difference

Back in Season 1, they established that time affects differently between Shatterspaces and they kind of showed it in Season 2 when the Boscage gang and the Dread’s crew were surprised to see him, likely because they hadn’t seen him in a while. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if this gets brought up in Season 3.

Transcript:

Renegade: “A day? You’ve been gone weeks.” Sonic: “Time must move differently there.”

[S1 EP6]

Label: “N/A” — Oh, past Koi, they didn’t even mention it once.

Rusty Rose’s backstory

It would be great if we get her backstory since all we know from her is that she’s mechanically enhanced when she said it back in S1 EP1,

Transcript:

Rusty: “Survival required adaptation, as you will soon learn.”

[S1 EP1]

Not only that but it looks like she lost her ability to feel.

Transcript:

Sonic: “You can’t suddenly be this heartless.” Rusty: “Birdie would disagree.”

[S1 EP1]

As a cyborg, she was an assistant to the Council, a so-called “valuable asset” (until they abandoned her in S2). It could explain the contradiction of the Council not using Flickies for their bots but one had to be used for Rusty to live, and in turn, it could explain why she had to serve the Council, because she had a debt to repay.

Label: “—”: we didn’t get a flashback to why Rusty had to adapt to survive. But we did get a sort of implication from Rusty’s speech to another bot:

Transcript:

Rusty: “You don’t feel anything, but I do. And that’s what makes us different. My masters had me believe that Birdie gave me my inner strength and power. But I know now it was another lie. Told to keep me under their control. Symbolic of my oppression. But I don’t need this little bird for power. And this little bird needs to be free. The only thing I need is me!”

Very “I am… All of Me” speech, Rusty. Honestly, with this, we don’t need a flashback. With what she said, it can be determined that Rusty had to adapt in order to survive, likely being operated by the Council. Of course, as most of her body has changed, she must’ve lost her ability to feel, either by damage to her brain or being forced into the image of a robot. It came to another price: the Council wouldn’t simply let one of their “creations” go when the Rebellion is around. They used Birdie against her, as a threat, telling her that she needed Birdie in order to live. Rusty had a debt to pay. As the viewer, we could still have fun with it and theorize the rest,

What exactly happened to Rusty, as implied that she may have been in an accident? Did she work for the Chaos Council before she had to adapt? Did Birdie sacrifice herself to save Rusty?

I had my own little backstory for her, that Rusty used to be an assistant of the Council (Dr. Rose), highly intelligent and physically strong. But she cared too much, seeing how her home was destroyed by the Council. She had doubts but she couldn’t risk her safety. She befriended Birdie, could be one of the experiments the Council had or part of their “zoo”, but it reminded her of the past. Perhaps one day, she saw something she shouldn’t have. It was the last straw for her. After releasing Birdie and guiding the flicky through the vents to reach the computer room where she was at, Rose went to grab the files to assist the Rebellion. But when she tried to escape, she was caught by a security protocol, harming most of her body. The Council found her and the files, along with Birdie trying to defend her from them. To protect their Empire from downfall, they operated her with mechanical limbs, losing most of her memory. Once she was conscious, they lied to her: telling her that she was badly damaged but they were lucky that they could fix her up as she was their “most valuable asset”, and gave her a new name: Rusty. Birdie’s cries could be heard from the inside of her chest cavity. Confused and worried, she attempted to open her hatch to free Birdie, but they stopped her, telling her that it was Birdie’s sacrifice that saved Rusty’s life. Without the flicky, Rusty wouldn’t be able to live. Unable to see their true intentions, she decided to pay her debt, to be under their command, becoming colder and colder. It didn’t make it better that every time she saw her own reflection, she looked like any other badnik. Almost. Did she wish that deep down, she didn't have to be this way? Sometimes. And yet, she understood that it was necessary. Besides, the Council needed her, she should stay loyal. That was until they abandoned her in No Place, as their way of getting rid of her for good. What happens to her, from water to pirates, they don’t care. Nothing would damage their empire.

...Uh, I didn't mean to ramble. Anyway, I think the canon scene that we got is still just as powerful, even more so with the fight afterward. Rusty finishes off the bot with the hammer. Despite Rusty not being Amy, it was symbolic of Rusty breaking out of her chains and seeing her self-worth. After all, it’s what made her connect with Black Rose. Both Rusty and Birdie were finally free, that is beautiful.

To be continued...

Previous Part || Next Part || Masterpost

[chirpsythismorning]

it's also telling that the byler posting also spans multiple Netflix accounts. if it was down to individual people running the international accounts etc, they wouldn't all sync up. there would accounts that clearly favour mleven or byler. but that's not the case. it's a constant increase of serious byler posts and more and more jokes on milvens expense. aside from it already being public knowledge that the Netflix accounts are very organized in what they post, this should be everyone's last tip off that all the account managers are very clearly following the same script

I don't want to claim to know all the ins and outs, but even in the most basic way, it's standard practice for people in these positions to be advised what kind of content to post.

They're not just pulling premiere dates out of their asses and making it up, they're getting informed about what to post and when to post it and they do have ties to the direct sources obviously, even if it's deep down the line with people working higher up, aka the people who make the big decisions based on top secret information and how that trickles down to people working in more low-level areas like social media.

A lot of it's scheduled days, weeks in advance, and while most of it can be written off as meaningless, that's not always the case.

When it comes to casual stuff like a post that digs at milkvan, or just milkvan posts that are ambiguous in general at this point (bc 9/10 they are very ambiguous, literally poking fun at Mike not being able to say i love you or being a bad bf), I think that's just an example of the people working in marketing doing graphics, who were tasked with making posts of that nature, and someone working on a specific account, looking through their catalogue of photos they can put on posts they're scheduling, and that's how posts like that end up in the mix.

There's obviously posts with more weight, like literal release date announcements and trailers. I'm not saying that that April Fools Day post with milkvan on the cover and Mike looking confused was that Netflix UK intern themselves scheduling that post with full knowledge about what they were doing and the irony of it all. But again, this is also an account that posts queer content arguably more than the others, and so they very well could have been instructed to make that specific post that day without really being able to have much of a say in it, assuming that could already be the case. Or again since they already seem to have some queer bias, they might have noticed something off with the byler content provided in their catalogue of options, often paralleling with other queer content in some cases (bc if you guys didn't know they have compared st to heartstopper and young royals directly as like trilogy, which... why), and put the pieces together themselves based on that, even without being outright told about what is going on. And so in that case at least, it's not surprising they would choose that post to make on that day... l

It's possible there could be bias even so though. Like for example, it would make sense that the social media employee in charge of scheduling posts for Netflix UK (an account that posts queer content heavily, more than most of it's affiliates), would be looking at a catalogue of photos to choose from (the same catalogue presumably offered to every other Netflix social media), made by graphic designers who also had their own notes, only to notice some gay subtext in something and perhaps be more inclined to post it, than say another account that's maybe run by a different employee, that avoids that sort of thing, unless explicitly advised to do so? Bc obviously if they're outright told to, they no doubt will. But if they're given freedom to choose from options, they might not?

That's why even though I think they're all given mostly the same options to look from for posts to make, I do think that if they're run by different people that's why you'd see some slight bias if any at all when it comes to casual posts. Even so that doesn't change the fact that a lot of what they do in the grand scheme of things is calculated based on data, feedback and the wishes of the creators, which whether it's easy to believe or not, does play a role in how Netflix approaches marketing, especially in ST case which is a production surrounded by easter eggs in all facets of it's production both within the show and outside of it.

[ecargmura]

Dog Signal Episode 1 Review - Dog Lovers Should Watch This!

I feel bad for this anime. It’s debut was really late this month (October 22) and before that, the trailer was released super late as well. I feel like there’s very little hype for this anime because of the late premiere. However, I’m so glad it’s finally available with subtitles because I want to see cute dogs! As a dog owner, I might be able to relate or even learn new things with this show!

The story is about Miyu Samura who got forced to raise a mini poodle after his ex-girlfriend dropped him off at his place three days ago. He has no desire to raise the dog, but since he cannot find an owner, the dog is just chilling at his place for the time being. With the way he keeps barking, Miyu decides to train him by walking, but does a disastrous job and almost got it killed before Shinichiro Niwa, a dog trainer, saved the day. After some ups and downs, Miyu decides to become a dog trainer in hopes to bond with his dog more.

First off, the ex-girlfriend really pissed me off. If you’re not going to raise the dog, then don’t drop him off onto someone else! The reason why the dog is so rowdy is because he senses Miyu’s discomfort towards him! Like, Miyu doesn’t want the dog either, yet he’s putting in some effort to raise it even if it’s terrible.

Second, seeing Miyu try to walk the dog really hurts me on the inside because I have two poodles that I adopted eight years ago and I wouldn’t want to walk my dogs like this either! Instead of a collar, a harness would be preferable because the dog won’t choke—that’s why I changed from collar to harness for my dogs. Seeing Miyu pull the dog so hard that he flew hurt me too. I know that this story is about Miyu changing from not wanting the dog to loving it, but it really hurts to see all of this.

Third, the part where Niwa “trains” Miyu by making him wear a collar and having experience what his dog felt during the walk made me laugh and also gave me second-hand embarrassment. It feels like a smart way to train first-time dog owners on how their dog feels when going on walks incorrectly, but the way these two did it in public was the reason for my second-hand embarrassment. I’d probably lock myself in the house for the rest of the year if that had happened to me. The fact that Miyu legit quit his job at the bar and decides to work for Niwa…and then learns that Niwa hadn’t had business for two months also feels like a hasty decision. I’d feel like I got scammed if I were in his situation.

I feel like the only sensible person in this anime, so far, is the pet groomer, Ritsuka Izumi. She’s the best character so far. Hopefully, she will be the voice of reason for the cast as they seriously need one. I also hope that through her, I can see cute animated dogs as well. Also, Woolson is adorable and I need more of him! I don’t think Miyu’s dog has been named yet. I do wonder what name he’ll give it.

The voice cast is top-notch for such an obscure anime. Miyu is voiced by Kensho Ono and Niwa is voiced by Kenichi Suzumura; I think I saw a video of his radio show where he and his wife Maaya Sakamoto mentioned they had dogs. This would mean Suzumura has experience raising dogs, which could be a great fit for him. Yuko Kaida voices Izumi. The last character, the vet, has yet to be seen. The dogs have their own voice actors too, and I think they did a great job sounding like dogs but also being distinct.

Overall, I do think this can be a very educational anime! The show even provides dog training tips! I read somewhere that the author used to be a dog groomer before changing jobs to a manga artist. I think having prior knowledge about a subject really enhances it a lot.  I am resisting the urge to spam pictures of my dogs, which are coincidentally poodles as well! I have mini poodles and they’re the cutest things ever! They’re smart and loving creatures, but they can be such brats and gluttons. What are your thoughts on this anime’s premiere?

[majaloveschris]

Most definitely! I think the fact they launched their "relationship" on the same day the second season came out, considering all the things that happened around July, when it was originally planned to premiere, would be too many coincidences. I think they wanted them to go public exactly when WN premiered.

But they knew WN wasn’t being released until the winter in May. That’s why I said I think they were going to launch or at least majorly hint 5/30-6/6 because that was when he had his biggest buy of followers over 486k. That’s when the WN trailer was going to be released along with TGM trailer and he was getting ready for Lightyear promo. Don’t know what happened maybe he had cold feet lol maybe too much hate for her but the next possible launch would’ve been in July but once he gave his answer to the laser focused question everyone thought he was single so they scrapped the plan again. Now that I am writing this I wonder if it was supposed to be another breadcrumb or soft launch as some of you would say with the real launch planned for November. I say this because I think maybe a breadcrumb was supposed to be dropped in May to gain interest in the two trailers and a possibly a sighting in July which would explain why she was in Berlin but no one saw her because they decided against it. I think the laser focused question was supposed to be another breadcrumb but the fans didn’t pick up on it because of the way he said it. So yeah now I think maybe the fans were supposed to connect that answer back to her because of the ok mag article in March and then she was supposed to be spotted with him after the premiere in Berlin.

You're right. Sometimes I lose track..😂

That I can imagine is that they wanted to give more specific hints that something might've been happening between the two of them, but they decided not to. Could've been because of the backlash, however, I think it was probably more about them thinking that TGM was doing pretty well and they wanted all the attention for WN. After everything that went down at the beginning of the year and seeing how people reacted to it, they probably didn't want to risk TGM's success, which is understandable, especially after how much they'd spent on it. They thought maybe if

[awesomefringey]

"Believe me, there is this part of me that really couldn’t make sense of why Harry stretched out the pr stunt for as long as he did, especially the more he got dragged into the entire embarrassing Olivia Wilde trash tv show.

From custody papers to the entire Shia dispute, from Miss Flo to nanny silhouette interviews. Why would Harry even agree to make himself part of Olivia’s camp in all of this…!? But blackmail?" but if not blackmail then for what reason would Harry have dragged out the stunt when it was ruining his image? her being a beard for the MP release date doesn't wash for me. If you're a closeted gay man who has gay rumors and is worried about more speculation on your sexuality then maybe don't do a gay movie where you're playing a closeted gay man? no doubt Harry expected Holivia to end before MP came out. DWD was delayed a year because of the pandemic and on top of that it was delayed because a staff was fired and they kept editing the trailer. It was repeatedly pushed back until it was released a short time from MP. Harry couldn't have forseen that. The day the RS interview came out Harry was in tears at his show that night and was upset the whole time. Whenever Amazon promoted MP Olivia and WB would drop the 10th, 11th, 12th DWD trailer or poster to try and steal attention away from MP. There were 'reviews' coming from Olivia's side who were praising Olivia to high heavens and doing character assassinations on Harry. So yes, Olivia and WB was out to get Harry and he was probably scared to end the stunt because of what would happen next. Blackmail sounds plausible. Louis isn't the only one who gets grief in the industry.

"but if not blackmail then for what reason would Harry have dragged out the stunt when it was ruining his image?"

This is the real question here. And while I see how you found a possible explanation for it (Warner Brothers and Olivia Wilde forcing Harry in continuing the showmance), I still don't understand how that would work.

I get that the Azoffs have enemies and that plenty would like to see them go, and how someone could use knowledge about Harry to try and hurt Jeff's reputation. But I think I'm missing major information to fully comprehend how a blackmail would lead into Harry not ending a fake relationship that hurts his profile.

I'm rather inclined to believe Harry/Jeff agreed to a PR stunt to promote DWD until its premiere. But then it was delayed by a year and Harry couldn't/wouldn't get out of it.

I also think that both movies were released back to back and Olivia having literally NOTHING in her calendar for two years was a cluster fuck situation for Harry.

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who 2022 Centenary Special Review: The Power of the Doctor

Air date: 23 October 2022

Way back in April, there was an apparent leak stating that the title of this episode would be called The Lives of the Doctor. That turned out to be a hoax fabricated by some people from the Doctor Who Discord server, but the name we have now is close enough to be similar, even though we already went through an “X of the Doctor” phase in 2013 for the 50th anniversary.

Well everyone, we have finally made it. After over 4 years (of which 2 years and 8 months consisted of EXTREMELY prolonged hiatuses), Jodie Whittaker’s final episode as the Thirteenth Doctor has finally aired. After that, we’re getting another EXTREMELY prolonged hiatus of 13 months until the 60th anniversary.

Before I make my final verdict on Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as the Doctor and by extension, the Chibnall era of Doctor Who, let’s jump into the final episode and see whether any loose ends will be tied up.

Here is my spoiler-free thought for this episode and the final one for the Chibnall era: “Oof, Yaz favouritism overload.” Nah, it’s the final episode, we can do better. “Sometimes, rumours can come true and sometimes, things don’t always turn out the way you predicted.”

MAJOR spoilers continue after the break.

Year-long hubbub

This section was written before this episode was aired just to see whether this prediction comes true.

People might be wondering why they didn’t see Ncuti Gatwa debut as the Doctor and I can speculate a few reasons as to why. The filming for this special took place from 23 August to 15 October 2021. The news of Russell T Davies returning as the new showrunner was announced on 25 September 2021 and the crew were only notified of this the day before. Ncuti Gatwa was cast as the Doctor in February 2022 and the announcement was made on 8 May 2022. With these timeframes, it would have been impossible for Ncuti to have made an appearance in the Centenary Special, unless some strings were pulled to allow for this.

Also, I totally predicted back in the review for Legend of the Sea Devils that this episode would premiere on 23 October (as part of the BBC’s centenary week of programming that started on 22 October). I honestly wonder what it would have been like had the Centenary Special not been commissioned; would this episode have taken the place of the Easter Special (albeit a bit shorter), or would the Doctor have successfully sacrificed herself to stop the Sea Devils without Ji-Hun to take her place? I guess we’ll never know.

TV Zone revealed the air date for this episode on 2 October before the BBC released the trailer for the episode a week after. It’s really telling of the care factor that went into the promotion of the series (amongst other things regarding production) when an unofficial source revealed the air date of the episode before the BBC did. Maybe the air date was kind of predictable given that it is the BBC Centenary (and, as I stated previously, the Chibnall era seems to like putting episodes on Sundays), but fans should have gotten confirmation at least four to six weeks before the air date. For the record, the title was revealed in Doctor Who Magazine 582, released 15 September, over five weeks before the air date. Apparently the marketing got messed up due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the official title reveal got pushed to 21 September.

Grab onto the waves of time space

Somewhere in space, a train- oh great, they’re finally doing a DenLiner. Nah, not really, it’s a space train, not a time train, plus, if I had to pick between the TARDIS and the DenLiner, I’d pick the TARDIS. That’s the reason why Den-O got replaced with an original Rider in my personal project. Anyway...

Somewhere in space, a train belonging to the Torajii Transport Network makes an emergency transmission after it has been hijacked by Cybermen- no, Cyber-Time Lords- no, CyberMasters. The Doctor receives the transmission and heads down with Yaz and Dan. During this, they are confronted by the CyberMasters and one of them shoots a hole in Dan’s helmet, causing him to float away, though Yaz manages to hold onto him as the Doctor deactivates the electromagnetic roof, causing the CyberMasters to float away.

The Doctor, Yaz and Dan head into the train. While Dan uses the sonic screwdriver to take control of the train, Yaz helps one of the personnel with a wound while the Doctor goes to confront the CyberMasters, who manage to teleport away with some cargo the ship was carrying, namely- The Timeless Child? Nah, not really, we’ll come back to them, but that’s the first thought I had when I saw them.

After this, the Doctor takes Dan back to Liverpool in time for his date (presumably with Diane), but as he leaves, he stops and turns to tell the Doctor that she doesn’t have to come back for him, deciding that he doesn’t want to push his luck any further after the accident he had earlier. I honestly thought he’d stopped upon hearing that there was a child to be rescued, but I can understand why he would decide to leave. The Doctor and Yaz see Dan off before they head back into the TARDIS. You know, I’m pretty sure the Doctor picked Dan’s house up after it was shrunk by Karvanista’s trap, so you’d think she’d be able to find a way to restore it, but oh well.

That’s the last we see of Dan for this entire special. You know, you’ve got to admire his dedication for Diane, a woman who considers being ghosted worse than being kidnapped amidst a crisis threatening the universe. Also, remember what Jack Harkness said to Yaz in Revolution of the Daleks? “Being with the Doctor, you don’t get to choose when it stops. Whether you leave her, or she leaves you.” I think Dan’s departure is an exception in that he actually got to choose when he left the Doctor. He could have not said anything and the Doctor would pick him up again 24 hours later, though given what’s about to happen next, I suppose he made the right decision.

Ra-Ra-Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen

At an art gallery in 2022 London (not really the National Gallery, Somerset House maybe?), Ace learns that a painting has been taken down for restoration work after it was restored only two months prior. Yeah, I bet it was those climate protesters, who oh so conveniently came back when the pandemic was all but over and most of the world got vaccinated. Anyway, Ace contacts Tegan Jovanka over video chat and tells her that 15 paintings over the world have been taken down with no explanation. Tegan, who is in Romania, tells Ace that three seismologists she was looking for (among others) have disappeared while investigating a nearby earthquake near a volcanic chain. On top of that, Tegan discovered a package upon arriving at her cabin; inside was a Russian doll toy box with a card saying that it was from the Doctor and a doll, specifically the doll of the shrunken Lone Cyberman, Ashad.

In 1916, the Master, in disguise as Father Grigori Rasputin (who could ever have known) is called urgently to the Winter Palace from Siberia. As he compels the Tsar and his family to take some time away, the TARDIS lands on an extra planet in the shadow of Earth, where all the organic life has been converted into metal - let’s call it a Cyberplanet. They discover an extra TARDIS there, which is later revealed to a Type 75 belonging to the Master. Upon discovering another energy source on the surface, the Doctor and Yaz investigate and discover that the child has been tethered to the Cyberplanet alongside the Master’s TARDIS. The Doctor undoes the consciousness shield and discovers that the child is merely a visual filter for the quaranx, a rare source of sentient energy capable of powering planets and civilisations, now being used by the CyberMasters to power mass Cyber conversion.

As more CyberMasters appear and shoot at the Doctor and Yaz, they run back into the TARDIS to find a message from Kate Stewart calling them to UNIT. Upon arriving at UNIT HQ, the Doctor meets Tegan and Ace after so many years. Kate shows them all the situation; it is revealed that the paintings were taken down because they were defaced with the Master’s face. The Master has also left a message inviting the Doctor to the International Seismology Memorial Conference in Naples near Mount Vesuvius. Before she and Yaz leave, the Doctor greets Tegan and Ace with a touch on the shoulder, inadvertently shocking them with static electricity.

The Doctor and Yaz head to the conference to confront the Master, who has compressed all the seismologists with his TCE. The Master warns the Doctor to leave Earth or her existence will be erased forever, but UNIT troops come in and arrest the Master. The Doctor has one of the soldiers give Yaz a gun as they intend to take the Master back to UNIT HQ in the TARDIS.

Meanwhile, Vinder comes through a wormhole in search of the missing quaranx and crashes on the Cyberplanet, resulting in him being stranded as a result of the damage to his ship sustained by travelling through the wormhole. He decides to use the device the Doctor gave him to contact her.

After the Doctor drops the Master off at UNIT HQ, she leaves Tegan and Ace with Kate to guard the Master while she goes in search of a jaded Dalek who contacted her with an offer to destroy his kind and a warning that a Dalek invasion of Earth is imminent. Yaz gets a static shock from the Doctor during their conversation before they land inside a volcano in Bolivia. The Doctor and Yaz go their separate ways; the Doctor meets the jaded Dalek to extract the information he is offering her while Yaz discovers more Daleks attempting to harness the volcano’s power. Yaz makes it back to the TARDIS as three more Daleks find the Doctor; the jaded Dalek is exterminated while the other Daleks use its shell to capture the Doctor, leaving Yaz to set off in the TARDIS alone just as she receives Vinder’s call.

Back at UNIT HQ, Tegan and Ace notices that the Lone Cyberman doll is on the ground. As the Master confronts them through the camera system in his bunker, the doll expands to its normal size, revealing that he was the one who sent it to Tegan. The doll opens up and out come a group of Cybermen, including Ashad, who was apparently cloned. Tegan and Ace try to shoot the Cybermen with gold bullets but it fails, resulting in them having to run upstairs. Ashad kills all the soldiers in the bunker and releases the Master from his imprisonment. The Master recovers his TCE and teleports away.

In the Winter Palace, the Master brings the Doctor before him, the Daleks and the Cybermen, where we see the Master dancing to Boney M’s Rasputin in something that could only rival the Master dancing to the Rogue Traders’ Voodoo Child or the Scissor Sisters’ I Can’t Decide during the Series 3 finale two-parter. Meh, if I was the Master in that episode I’d be singing along as well plus including some ad-libbed dance moves from tokusatsu to zhuzh it up. The Master then makes contact with the TARDIS and has Yaz watch as he uses the Cyberplanet to force the Doctor to regenerate into him; or to put it a better way, I think he forced the Doctor to regenerate so he could hijack the regeneration and take over her body. Yaz lands the TARDIS in the Winter Palace and the Master, now in the Doctor’s body, proceeds to commandeer it. Landing on an asteroid (presumably), the Master heads outside to see the Earth and what I think could be the Cyberplanet (but judging how the other planet doesn’t even remotely resemble it, I think it could actually be Mondas) firing missiles at each other. The Master, intending to tarnish the Doctor’s name, tells a news camera drone that he (meaning the Doctor) caused this, but that is all he could do as Yaz pushes him out of the TARDIS and sets off.

All we need is “DRIVE”

The Doctor finds herself within her own consciousness at the Edge of Existence, where she meets a man sitting next to a telephone pole, namely the First Doctor, played by David Bradley, with his last appearance being in Peter Capaldi’s final episode, Twice Upon a Time, in 2017. During the sequence, the man is also shown becoming the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Fifth Doctors- wait, Fifth? Peter Davison? Didn’t he get cancelled back in 2017 for claiming that Jodie Whittaker’s casting meant that the Doctor would no longer be a role model for boys? Eh, I suppose people forgot about it even though he really meant no ill will towards the decision or the people involved in it. (For the record, I think that the Doctor has been a role model for ALL genders, as they say these days, and women have seen the Doctor as a role model even before Jodie Whittaker’s casting, just as some men may still see the Doctor as a role model now.)

The Doctors claim that the Thirteenth Doctor refuses to pass through the Edge of Existence, though they acknowledge that the Master has taken over her body and that they can’t let him permanently hijack their existence. The Thirteenth Doctor realises that there is always a way before she finds herself alone.

Back in the TARDIS, Yaz sees an AI hologram of the Doctor, activated through a nano-implant which was inserted into her, Ace and Tegan when they got static shocks from the Doctor. Yaz then goes to pick up Vinder from the Cyberplanet before telling the Doctor hologram about her forced regeneration, at which point she switches between faces as she tries to adapt to the new information.

At UNIT HQ, Kate locks down the building while Ace and Tegan prepare to jump off the roof, but Tegan decides to go back down and help Kate. As Ashad and the Cybermen proceed to convert the UNIT soldiers, Tegan meets back with Kate, who tells her to head to the basement and find the manual override for the structural termination system. Tegan heads off while Kate distracts the Cybermen by giving them an offer. Ace jumps off the roof and lands in the TARDIS just as Cybermen are shooting at her parachute. Yaz drops Ace off inside the volcano in Bolivia before she has Vinder hide as she goes to pick up the Master from the asteroid. Tegan’s hologram activates, but her emotional memory causes the hologram to become that of the Fifth Doctor, who gives her some reassuring words before she opens a panel into the lift shaft. Inside the volcano, Ace’s hologram activates and she reconciles with the Seventh Doctor after apparently having a falling-out offscreen. Ace sets off after this and runs into Graham, who is having trouble with his psychic paper, though I could pass it off as being ineffective on previous companions of the Doctor.

The Master takes the TARDIS back to the Winter Palace, where he orders the Daleks to activate volcanoes around the world. With help from a hologram of Ruth (the Fugitive Doctor) and Vinder, the CyberMasters are defeated and Yaz forces the Master back into the machine before harnessing the CyberMasters’ regeneration to degenerate the Doctor’s body back into her previous self and return the Master back to his body. The Ruth hologram disappears and the Doctor, Yaz and Vinder return to the TARDIS.

Ashad and the Cybermen find Kate, who allows herself to be taken for conversion. Tegan climbs down the lift shaft, but Ashad hears her and the Cybermen shoot through it, forcing her to let go and drop to the basement. Tegan manages to stop Kate from being converted, while at the same time causing Ashad and the Cybermen to be shocked. Meanwhile, Ace and Graham manage to blow up a Dalek and the disruptor pulse system before they escape in the TARDIS, the Doctor having flown in to pick them up. The bombs detonate, taking the volcano and the Daleks with it. Tegan and Kate escape from the building as it is destroyed (a building that size you’d think would cause more destruction) and the Doctor picks them up as well.

Come on and feel the Nexus Future

As the Master stumbles out of the Winter Palace, the Doctor heads back to the Cyberplanet and puts Graham, Yaz, Tegan, Ace and Kate around the TARDIS before heading out and fixing Vinder’s ship. She then goes into the Master’s TARDIS and links it with her TARDIS, transporting it to 2022 while Vinder leaves through the wormhole. The Doctor then uses the Cyber conversion systems to freeze the lava into steel, quelling the eruptions.

The Doctor heads out and tells the quaranx to disintegrate the Cyberplanet before freeing itself. She is about to head back to her TARDIS when the Master, whose body began failing from the previous ordeal, teleports back to his TARDIS, using the TCE to aim the quaranx’s energy at her before collapsing. Yaz picks up the Doctor and takes her back into the TARDIS before leaving as the Cyberplanet fully disintegrates and the quaranx goes free.

The Doctor regains consciousness after Yaz took everyone else home (or rather, Croydon, but don’t worry, with transport being so advanced in London these days, plus Ubers being a thing, I’m sure they managed to get home easily). As the Cloister Bell rings, Yaz and the Doctor discover that the latter is regenerating. The two of them enjoy a final view of Earth over some ice cream before the Doctor decides that she must be alone and drops Yaz off, presumably in Sheffield, and leaving without a goodbye. And they never got to kiss lol.

Yaz encounters Graham and Dan, a month having passed since Dan’s return, and they take her to a Doctor’s Companions Anonymous meetup, where they are joined by Tegan, Ace, Kate and additionally, Jo Jones, Melanie Bush and Ian Chesterton.

The Doctor takes the TARDIS atop a cliff, and after some final words, she regenerates (with her clothes as well?) into... David Tennant? I mean, we know he’s coming back for the 60th, but this is honestly just fan-wanky and admittedly, this is something I’d expect from fan theories. Well, now we know that RTD isn’t rebooting the franchise, but continuing it, albeit sweeping the Timeless Child revelation under the rug. Also, this was kind of expected given what I mentioned earlier about the next Doctor not being cast yet at the time of filming.

Random expectations

So over the past year, I’ve seen rumours about this special here and there and I want to address some random things.

Yaz was apparently going to be shown back with the police, which would be a serious regression of her character because she barely went back to the force ever since she started travelling with the Doctor. It was for the best that Yaz quit the police given these circumstances.

I’d read somewhere that the Doctor was going to have to wipe Yaz’s mind (along with Tegan’s and Ace’s) because her travels were affecting the stability of the timeline (hence the static shocks in the episode) and in doing so, it would give the Thasmin stans the kiss they were looking for. Frankly, if this was the case, it would be an insult to her character (and possibly Tegan’s and Ace’s) because it completely negates her journey and what little character development she got (and on top of that, destroying more Doctor Who canon established by other people over 30 years ago). This would be like when the Doctor wiped Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan’s minds back in Spyfall Part Two, but a hundred times worse. The only time a memory wipe was justified was with Donna Noble in Series 4.

Given what little information we got about the 60th Anniversary, some people (including myself) presumed that it would be a reboot and that this episode would end on the Doctor’s regeneration with a fade to black. In fact, given that the production didn’t know about RTD taking over as showrunner until a month into filming the episode, I think that it would have been the case had it not happened. Honestly, I’m kind of glad that they at least got David Tennant back for it because it’d end up being a situation where others would have to address a missing regeneration somewhere down the line.

Also, if the teaser we got at the end of the episode was any indication, the RTD2 era is going to continue with the Univisium 2:1 ratio instead of going back to 16:9 widescreen. Not a big problem in the end, but still.

So, the BBC has confirmed that David Tennant is now the Fourteenth Doctor (in addition to being the Tenth Doctor) and that Ncuti Gatwa will be playing the Fifteenth Doctor. Three specials are due to air in November 2023 before Ncuti’s first episode is expected to premiere “over the festive period” in 2023 (please there be a Christmas Special, please). With this, I would also like to announce that I intend to continue reviewing new Doctor Who episodes in the RTD2 era and hopefully beyond, even if only for the content. I’ll explain this in my final wrap-up post for the Chibnall era, but RTD’s return has given me a renewed hope in a series that has seen better days. Anyway, that’s beyond the scope of this review series for now. Let’s quickly wrap up the review.

UPDATE - 19 November 2022: So news about the production of the regeneration scene has come out since broadcast and I'd like to discuss it. David Tennant’s portion of the regeneration scene was filmed on 13 May 2022, seven months after filming on the whole special wrapped. It was filmed in a greenscreen studio with the help of a stand-in and the scene was directed by Rachel Talalay, who was also directing one of the 60th Anniversary Specials as well.

RTD has explained the reason why the Doctor’s clothes regenerated with them as well, saying that he was certain that it had to happen because the notion of drag can be delicate and David Tennant wearing the Thirteenth Doctor’s clothes would be a mockery of the culture. Also, he was worried that the media would focus on it and that it would be weaponised by people. On one hand I can understand this, as the scene was a big moment for the franchise and David Tennant wearing the Thirteenth Doctor’s clothes, while natural, can look a little silly, plus there was precedent for this during the first regeneration in 1966, which was presumably written off as a production error. On the other hand, however, the Master was shown in the Doctor’s outfit when he took over her body and barely anyone kicked up a stink about it. Also, all arguments aside, crossdressing isn’t necessarily drag culture, meaning that RTD did this because he was afraid of the scene being shown as “drag blackface”. It’s not like they couldn’t show David Tennant wearing the Thirteenth Doctor’s clothes and then reveal his new outfit soon after. I hope RTD has an in-universe explanation for this, or it’ll just get left unexplained and I’ll be disappointed.

Also, if I haven’t pointed this out already, the whole regeneration sequence was filmed in a greenscreen studio, with the scenery being filmed at Durdle Door in Dorset using drones. The owners of the estate where Durdle Door sits have complained to the BBC for being dishonest about the filming of the scene, saying that it would attract people to the dangerous landmark and possibly jump into the water, like any normal person would even consider it in the first place until the media highlighted it.

Other general thoughts

Like many others, I was surprised to see all the previous Doctors returning for this special. If it weren’t for Ruth’s introduction and the Timeless Child arc, I’d have the Eighth Doctor in place of Ruth for that scene in the Winter Palace. He honestly deserves more screentime if the BBC won’t give him a mini-series.

They changed the font used for the locations again. It’s not that jarring, I’ll give it that, but the thing that’s even more jarring is that they couldn’t be consistent with their fonts for four years.

Ryan is mentioned to be in Patagonia after the Doctor picks up Graham. Such a shame he couldn’t return for at least one more appearance.

When the Doctor sees the Dalek appear in her TARDIS, she tells it that it is “the first Dalek to ever mean that”. Has she forgotten Rusty already?

“The Master’s Dalek Plan” is also the name of a Big Finish audio featuring Derek Jacobi as the Time War Master.

I feel like Sacha Dhawan could have gotten the opening titles credit instead of John Bishop given how Dan leaves the TARDIS soon after.

The Master gives himself a gold star and a sticker upon seeing the destruction between Earth and the other planet (probably Mondas). If I had to really count it, I’ll just assume it’s 15 points. Such a shame the Doctor stopped giving out points.

In the Doctor’s Companions Anonymous scene, there is an extra chair with an iPad on it, as someone on Twitter pointed out. In the replies, someone thought that it was meant to be for Ryan, while another thought that it could be for Polly Wright. Fun fact, Anneke Wills, who played Polly, was invited to reprise her role for this scene but she declined as she wanted to tend to her garden instead. Also, Chris Chibnall mentioned to the Mirror that Tom Baker was also invited for a cameo but he presumably declined due to his age. Amusingly, some people mentioned that the iPad belonged to Dan and amusingly, in the quote tweets, I found a link to a Twitter for Dan’s iPad. Whoever runs that page made the next Evil Dan, I swear.

Earlier in October, Bonnie Langford, who played Mel, was announced to be reprising her role, but we didn’t expect to see her in this episode. I assume that she would be returning in the RTD2 era and I hope that’s still the case.

The way that Tegan and Ace were reintroduced in this episode is quite weird. They state that it has been 30-40 years since they last saw the Doctor, though this disregards all the times they met the Doctor again since their departures, whether it be through Big Finish audios or prose. This is particularly the case for Ace as it is assumed she continued travelling with the Doctor after the classic series ended in 1989, though the 2020 book, At Childhood’s End, written by Sophie Aldred who played Ace (and also shows Ace meeting the Thirteenth Doctor and her fam), acknowledges all her adventures as being possible futures. That story also apparently explains the origin of Ace’s falling-out with the Doctor, though the Seventh Doctor Big Finish audio Dark Universe, also released in 2020, could come in at a close second. I won’t blame Chibnall that much for not doing his research, but if I were writing the episode, I would have read the wiki and found a way to acknowledge the adventures in the extended universe(s).

Fun fact unrelated to this episode but related to the classic series: Tegan, an Australian companion, was introduced as a way to make Doctor Who more attractive to the ABC in an attempt to get them to invest in Doctor Who, though they were not interested in a co-production deal in the end. She was also introduced as a replacement for Romana when the actresses for Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) and Leela (Louise Jameson) were unable to reprise their roles. Oh, an additional fun fact; I knew someone in primary school and high school who was named after Tegan and her younger sister was named after Nyssa.

Summary and verdict

Well, I’ve got to hand it to Chibnall. Admittedly, he promised an epic episode and we got an epic episode, though that can be said for a lot of finales. This feels like one of his better episodes even with the memberberry nostalgia baiting or the fanwanky ending, but I’m not forgetting what he did to this series so easily. It feels on par with an anniversary special, but it’s basically just The Day of the Doctor on another scale so it would kind of feel shallow if this was the actual 60th Anniversary episode. This could have premiered on 23 November for the 59th Anniversary and it would still have the same effect.

Dan left the TARDIS 10 minutes into the episode and the leaving companions near the end felt a bit rushed, but Graham’s reappearance in the last half-hour and the Doctor’s Companions Anonymous meeting really make up for it. Yaz got some time to shine, even without having much in the way of character development. Ruth makes an appearance as well which is good, but we get no resolution to the Timeless Child arc or Ruth’s place in the Doctor’s timeline after Chibnall pussied out of the double-down at the end of Flux. Kate gets the screentime and involvement she deserved after lacking it in Flux, plus the returning companions and Doctors were a really nice touch.

I came into this episode with the expectation that I would have to give it a negative score, but it got subverted because it didn’t mention the Timeless Child at all. It’s almost like you don’t have to disrespect nearly 60 years of canon to tell a good story. I just wish we got this quality of writing over the last five years instead of what we got.

Rating: 7/10 Series 13 cumulative total (with Legend of the Sea Devils): 11/80 (14%) Series 13 cumulative total (with The Power of the Doctor): 18/90 (20%) Hypothetical total: 47/90 (52%) Conservative total: 27/90 (30%)

I wanted to give Chibnall credit for all the memberberries, but I don’t want to give him the benefit of the doubt given how I said I’d be reviewing this series more critically last year.

And so, we have finally reached the end after 4 long years. There won’t be any new episodes until the 60th Anniversary Specials in November 2023, but I’ve still got Doctor Who-related things lined up for this blog, such as Kisekae Insights and Doctor Who 10 for 10 (which has had to be pushed back to next year because I’ve been so busy this year finishing off Kamen Rider Zi-O for my personal project). In the meantime, I have one final post in the works to round off the Thirteenth Doctor Reviews series, so stay tuned one last time as I bookend this series with a recap of my reviews and my closing thoughts on the Chibnall era of Doctor Who.

[rosewendybros]

Disney Signature Collection And Movie Club Rant

Since the 1980's, the Walt Disney company has released their animated classics on whatever home media was popular at time, starting with the Classics line in 1984, then the Masterpiece line in 1994, followed by the Gold Classics editions, Platinum, Diamond, and now the Signature editions which kicked off in 2016. Each of these different lines represents only the best animated films of Disney's catalogue. Some titles started out being released in these lines such as "Robin Hood" and "The Sword In The Stone" but nowadays are considered regular release films. Others have joined the roster of films that go through the Disney Vault process to be released on home media every seven or so years such as the early Renaissance films like "Beauty And The Beast" and "The Lion King". But, overall, the focus of these lines is to preserve the best of Disney animation for multiple generations, which I can say that all of these lines have done a fantastic job at. However, this most recent line, the Walt Disney Signature Collection, is starting to become the most flawed. Let's explain why.

Just recently, "Lady And The Tramp" was announced as the sixth title in this line and is scheduled for release on February 27th of 2018 (an ironic release date considering that's the date the sequel, "Lady And The Tramp 2: Scamp's Adventure", was released back in 2001). From what is being stated about this particular release, there are apparently a load of cool features attached to it such as an early song that was cut from the film, some behind the scenes material including one that goes inside story meetings from Walt's office regarding the film, and some of the original trailers for the film like the 1986 theatrical rerelease which came a year before the film's original Classic release which was in October of 1987. This is all pretty cool stuff, especially the fact that they decided to add three vintage theatrical trailers of the film into the special bonus features. And there will probably be a collectible piece that comes with this package, sort of like what they did with the "Bambi" and "Lion King" releases that included the lithograph and the limited edition film frame, respectively. So, that adds to the whole "collector" appeal to this package. But, one funny thing is... they are announcing all of this only less than a couple of months away from the release date. That's very strange.

Of course, if you're familiar with the former lines of the Disney animated films, you'd figure that "Lady And The Tramp" would be the next film to premiere in this new line considering back in the Diamond Edition days, "Lady And The Tramp" was released after "The Lion King", which followed "Bambi". in that line. I'm very certain that "The Lion King" and other releases at the time such as the second release of "Bambi 2" featured a trailer for the Diamond reissue of "Lady And The Tramp" in the trailers section on the menu. Back in the 1990's, several Disney films had trailers on the videocassettes MONTHS before they were officially released, so people back then knew that these films were coming out again. Particularly "The Aristocats" in the Masterpiece line, which was teased on the original "Lion King" VHS from 1995, and didn't get released until April 1996. That's slightly over a year away! From what I recall, that release was pushed back, but at least we knew it was being prepped up to premiere on home video. "Bambi" was previewed on the original 1996 VHS for "Toy Story", which was released in October of that year, and "Bambi" premiered in the Masterpiece line in February of 1997. Nowadays, if you look in the trailer sections on current Disney DVDs and Blu-Rays, you'll get only two trailers and that's it. An outdated Disney Rewards ad that ironically shows the "Bambi" Diamond Edition release and a trailer for an upcoming movie, sometimes two. The new release of "Bambi" shows a trailer for "Cars 3", and "The Lion King" only has a preview for "Coco". Nothing informing us that "Lady And The Tramp" or any other titles are coming to the Signature collection. Then, in early January, we finally get information and cover artwork and a release date confirming its placement in the line.

I guess this isn't really a flaw that SOLELY applies to the Signature Collection, as it could be going on with other films like current releases, but, this is very troubling. Things are much different than they were in "the good ole days". In the VHS days, there was a lot more excitement and appeal to the contents of the package. The trailers before the movie felt more like an actual short film in itself, which was especially true in the late 90's when Disney started using the company intro that had Beau Weaver's voiceover literally stating that there was always something "new and exciting". And then, you'd go to the previews, which Beau Weaver would introduce (for example, when the trailers for upcoming theatrical releases were coming up, you'd see a shot of a theater while Beau Weaver excitedly prepares to roll out the previews with animation of Tinker Bell helping out). Even when they weren't utilizing this intro and instead the flash-bang or early 2000's scheme bumpers were being utilized, there still seemed to be a real pull to want to watch the trailers instead of just reusing the same overused ad for seven years straight, followed by one measly movie trailer that you can probably watch on YouTube easily. They advertised all sorts of things, from movies, to TV shows, to parks and resorts, to computer/video games, and even music releases. They even kept this method of doing trailers throughout the 2000's and early 2010's when VHS was phasing out and optical media like DVDs and Blu-Rays were taking over. I don't know what happened, but, I really wish that Disney was teasing more releases than they do now. Not everything needs to be unveiled at the last minute. And DVDs don't need to have only one trailer. If the Blu-Rays feature more trailers, please inform me since I do not own a Blu-Ray player; I just collect the Blu-Rays of the films just to have them in my collection, and they often times come with DVDs. However, I really want to see more of an effort to advertise new titles such as the Signature Collection releases in the future. And please, STOP with that Disney Movie Rewards ad that has been playing on DVD releases for seven years straight! Or at least scrap that trailer and make a new one featuring RECENT titles. Not 2010/2011 titles that are probably not being sold anymore.

Now, onto the whole Disney Movie Club Exclusives thing. Again, if you have kept up with Disney, you'll know that whenever a movie like "Lady And The Tramp" or "Bambi" would be rereleased on home media again, the direct-to-video sequel, or sequels, would follow very close behind. Sometimes, they'd be released on the same day or be released in a two-movie package. I realize that the Disney sequels get flak for supposedly being "cash-ins", and there are cases where that's true, but that's not what I'm talking about. I bring this up because when "Bambi" was released in the Signature Collection in June of 2017, its sequel did not get released in stores to accommodate its predecessor. In order to get this edition of "Bambi 2", you have to sign up with this Disney Movie Club thing, or you have to wait for copies to show up on eBay and painstakingly wait for days in order to get it in the mail. Well, according to some sources, "Lady And The Tramp 2: Scamp's Adventure" is going down this sad trajectory as well. Yes, this and the first movie will be released on the same day, but instead of finding the sequel at a store, you need to be a Disney Movie Club member or be willing to shell out dough and potentially lose multiple auctions on eBay before finally getting a copy.

I wouldn't be so mad about this if they were doing this with every sequel that came out. I mean, yeah, the whole Movie Club thing sucks to begin with, but at least Disney would actually be treating EVERY movie in a specific line the exact same, good or bad. But no. To make matters worse, and to propel my fuel for thinking that "The Lion King" was overrated to new heights of intensity, they did not do this with "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride" and "The Lion King 1 1/2". All three of the movies in that franchise made it on store shelves. So, what Disney is basically saying is this: "Both of "The Lion King" sequels are good enough to be on store shelves, because we have "The Lion Guard" airing on TV now and we're making a remake of the original film. And every fucking Disney fan seems to think either of the two sequels are the best out of the Disney sequel canon. So, you will be seeing those on a Best Buy shelf! But movies like "Lady And The Tramp 2" and "Bambi 2", both of which seem to not get as good of recognition? Screw those films! Let's make it harder to get those films on a physical copy. If you're not a Disney Movie Club member or a sheep person who only watches movies digitally, than fuck off!" And yes, both "Bambi 2" and "LATT2" were and will be released digitally a week earlier. Oh no, not on physical media like the original films (which I don't have a problem with in the slightest since "Bambi" and "Lady And The Tramp" are NOT overrated films; they're just as phenomenal in my opinion). Just digitally. Or if you're a member of the club. No outsiders!

Here is how I feel both of these things need to change. First off, for the trailers section on future releases, add about 5-10 trailers to the mix. One or two upcoming theatrical releases, then a few films coming to any physical/digital media in the future, then one or two shows that are on any of the channels that Disney owns like the Disney Channel or ABC, then an advertisement for a game that's coming out from Disney, then an ad for one of Disney's parks and resorts, and finally, you can have the option to advertise a soundtrack/new album from an artist on Hollywood Records or Walt Disney Records. You don't necessarily need to follow this routine every single time you put together a lineup of trailers, and you can mix the order up a little bit to add some variety, but this is still the recommended way to go. This could even be done in a similar fashion to the 1990's, where you announce before a set of previews which ones are coming to theaters or releasing on store shelves or digital retailers. But please stop the routine where it's just one theatrical trailer and the same advertisement you've been beating the horse's bloody pulp of for a long period of time. People of this generation need some more variety and interest in what's going on. They don't need to go online for every piece of information on an upcoming title in the Signature line. You don't need to drop that information suddenly on consumers not even a full two months before release date. So, that's that. I'd also like to see more booklets and promotional papers and coupons in DVD and Blu-Ray cases, but, that's just me.

Secondly, all of the films in the Disney canon, INCLUDING the sequels, should be released ON STORE SHELVES. Every single movie, from "Snow White" to any current Disney film. That's probably going to irritate and infuriate all of the Disney purists who think that the Disney sequels should be forgotten in a pile of rotten dust in the desert, but all of them have an audience, like it or not. Even critically panned sequels like "Belle's Magical World", "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame 2", and "The Fox And The Hound 2" have fans. While I may agree with most people and say that I don't have much interest in watching much of the Disney sequel library, kids and other people have every right to be exposed to these movies, even if most of them are inferior to their predecessors. And I'm not just focusing on the Disney sequels in this as well, but also the other films that aren't one of the titles that get rereleased in a specific line like "Robin Hood", "The Black Cauldron", "Oliver And Company", and the package features from the 1940's. All of these movies need to be available. I understand if a store can't fit too much content in their inventory, but, for crying out loud, they should AT LEAST be noticed by someone! Movie collectors don't need to be given the finger as eloquently as they are right now, especially in the scheme of Disney movie collecting. The Movie Club Exclusive should ONLY be for bonus exclusive items and merchandise that comes along with the actual movie. Not the actual movies themselves that are seemingly being looked at as "inferior" by Disney.

That's all for now. Sorry if I seemed a bit agitated and irate during this rant, but the reason is because I'm sick and tired of Disney making fatal flaws like this, and I want Disney to keep on being the great company that it is. It introduced us to a lot of good memories, and we should keep these memories alive, even if the memory doesn't age too well within someone's mind. Let's end on a positive note and not bask in agony for too long. Here is a question for all of you reading. What is your favorite line of Disney classics? It can be the Classics line, the Masterpiece line, or any of the subsequent lines that they have done. Leave your responses in the comments below. Other than that, I think I'm going to chill out for now. Take care, everyone.

[blogger360ncislarules]

Can Colter Shaw trust anyone heading into Season 2 of CBS‘ Tracker?

For two decades, Colter believed that his older brother, Jensen Ackles’ Russell, pushed Ashton to his death. Following Dad’s demise, Dory went to live with an Uncle Dave and Aunt Melissa, and Mary urged Russell to leave home. Since then, Mom had done nothing to dissuade Colter that his older brother was responsible for Ashton’s fatal fall. In fact, she insisted that Colter ignore Russell’s calls.

It wasn’t until Episode 12, when the Brothers Shaw were reunited for the first time since 2003, that Russell shared his truth with Colter.

“I don’t know if he fell, or if somebody else pushed him, but I do know that there was somebody else in those woods that night,” he said. “Dad had enemies…. He was a crazy son of a bitch.”

That brings us to Episode 13. The final installment in Tracker‘s freshman run introduces Justin Hartley‘s This Is Us co-star Jennifer Morrison as family friend Lizzy Hawking. Colter helps Lizzy track down her M.I.A. daughter, then Colter and Lizzy catch up over breakfast, where Lizzy serves up more than just pancakes. She hands Colter fresh intel on Dad….

Years ago, Ashton worked with Lizzy’s mother. First they were coworkers, then they were lovers. “They were having an affair… but that’s not the weirdest part,” Lizzy says. “Last year, when my mom passed away, I was going through her stuff and most of it was junk… but there was this file box under her bed. Inside it were all these research papers and journals — very personal ones. At first, I didn’t know what it was, and then I realized it belonged to your father. It was his work.”

“Why would she have something like that?” Colter asks.

“I asked myself that same thing,” Lizzy answers. She brings up a recently recovered memory of Ashton visiting her mom right before he died. “My room overlooked the driveway, and I could hear shouting one night. I looked out the window, and my mom and your dad were having some kind of argument. Then they stopped, and hugged, and she carried this box into the house.”

If Colter wants to pursue the truth, Lizzy suggests that he get in touch with Mary. Alas, Colter isn’t so sure he can trust Mom after what Russell told him about Dad’s death.

“What are you going to do now?” Lizzy asks.

“Right now? Nothing,” Colter answers.

He leaves, he goes surfing, he sits on a beach and he contemplates his next move.

Reenie, meanwhile, has been in touch with Colter’s brother. Russell’s in Argentina, and invites Reenie to fly out and join him. Suffice it to say, she’s got her hands full at the moment: Not only is she secretly investigating Russell’s employer — The Horizon Group, a shady private security firm first referenced in Episode 12 — but she’s in the midst of a major career change. In the finale, we learn that she’s resigned from her cushy law firm. Will she join Colter’s team full time in Season 2?

As previously reported, Tracker has been renewed at CBS. Season 2 will premiere this fall (release date TBD) and air at a new, earlier time — Sundays at 8/7c — following 60 Minutes; episodes stream next day on Paramount+. TVLine will keep you posted as we learn more (and share a Season 2 trailer once it’s made available), so be sure to bookmark this page and check back soon.

[sitpwgs]

Hi! I hope you had a good weekend! Where did you go? Did you do anything fun? Happy Lunar New Year! Don't worry about the lengths of your replies at all. Mine will probably be shorter from now on too. How are you? I don't know which songs will be singles. Maybe the first two songs since one is a feature and those numbers are usually singles in an album..or number 3. I have like no idea for this album though but maybe we will get three singles like Midnights. I always tend to love the first 3 songs of every Taylor album so I'm also excited for those. I've also noticed I don't care for her number sevens as much lol, and I think her 10s are just okay. I haven't liked any song that's number 14 as much for her last few albums, but I actually love the Great War so hopefully I like the new one. I only noticed cuz it's one of my favorite numbers. Haha I hope that's not too crazy that I know that. But I always seem to love the first and last and title songs. I haven't seen the rumored list except someone that worked on a few Lover songs worked on a few songs so that's interesting and gives some ideas of what it will sound like. I'm sure Aaron worked on a few songs too. There seems to be a lot of upcoming music I'm looking forward to..even before her album comes out. Ariana Grande has a new album and Beyonce announced her Act 2 album and released two songs! They are so good and I'm really interested to see her do a full country album. Ariana's album comes out the beginning of next month, the same day as Bleachers actually, and Beyonce's is the end of next month! We are also expecting twenty one pilots new music by the end of this month and I'm curious when their album will come out too. What have you been listening to recently or what are some albums you're looking forward to?

Speaking of Ariana, the first look and trailer for Wicked premiered last night. What are your thoughts? I've watched it a few times and think it's okay. I don't really know what I expected from it but I don't know how to feel. I like Ariana I guess but idk if she is exactly Glinda to me but I don't really know who else I would want either. It didn't really show enough but I thought the actual movie and trailer at least looked nice, with the colors and stuff. I am still not sure about the two parts thing though and I'm wondering if that's why it didn't show much? I admit I am more familiar with Act 1. I like Cynthia and think the movie has potential but it doesn't feel like Wicked either to me yet. I think they also said the movie might add stuff from the book, so I might read it before the movie comes out. I love Wicked a lot though, more than other musicals and have been waiting forever for a movie version. I'm sure a lot of other people have too and have mixed feelings. I feel the same way for now but I'm definitely seeing the movie anyway. What do you think about it?

Also I love your new url! I can't believe she played that song when I don't think she's played it live before. She did that with a few songs during these shows with Eyes Open and Electric Touch and Superman lol. I actually have no idea what surprise songs to guess anymore haha. I will probably send you my guesses later this week though. Do you have any guesses? I'm so curious if she will share more about the album in the next few weeks or if she will play a new song before it's out but I doubt it. Do you think she will add it to the show in some way or even wear any new costumes? I guess I can't decide or how that would be. I can't believe we were all expecting rep at this point and she even said she would have announced the new album at a show, but it feels so crazy now. I thought this ask would be shorter, but they always look long anyway. You don't have to worry about replying either or it can be shorter. My reply was also late so I understand but I hope you have a great week.

hellooo friend! hope you've been well — i saw something on twitter about a 21p album and thought of you today! i was in california, visiting some family!

it's always nice to see family — got to eat a lot of good food and a lot of (much needed) sunshine! wait what's your least favorite number seven? i don't think i've ever noticed a pattern of some sorts for my favorite/least favorites, now that you mention it! i loveeee the great war, it's probably in my top 5 on midnights — dear reader, mastermind, yoyok, the great war, and paris. in no particular order. i've been listening to a lot of holly humberstone lately as usual, but most recently have been spinning the last dinner party! last week my favorites were the rosie darling album "lanterns", as well as the kaitlyn tarver album "quitter". what about you? i'm super excited for the new bleachers, new holly EP, new beyonce — lots of good music for the month of march!

i actually somehow still have not seen the wicked trailer in full 😭 but my friends seem very mixed on it (mostly not a fan). i'm wondering if i should try to read the book before seeing it, since i feel like there'll be more book influence? maybe? hopefully? but from the stills i've seen, i still have a very hard time imagining ... everyone ... as their characters haha.

ugh i love the outside! i used to listen to it in the car constantly as an incredibly lonely little girl who didn't fit in at school and just moved to a new country. it's one of the songs i'm most excited for on debut tv — aside from tied together with a smile, cold as you, and invisible. debut is just... a perfect album to me. very nostalgic.

we have a show tonight! i wonder what she'll sing! i'm likely going to be up for surprise songs (i have some friends going, so i'm hoping to watch their surprise songs); i feel like it'll be from some more recent albums (maybe rep? maybe lover?); i feel like she hasn't sang from them in a while! i don't think she'll add a TTPD set — eras is already so long, they'd have to go back into rehearsals/choreo for it, it just feels like a bit of a logistical nightmare — especially when you consider the movie, and that she's already toured for so long. my guess is we'll see it on the b-stage for surprise songs!! either way, i'm excited! that being said, if you were to cut maybe 5 songs from the current setlist to make a TTPD setlist, what 5 songs would you cut?

hope you're having a good week! love you! 🤍