the--point--is--dolphins - Tumblr blog

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The point is... the point is... Crowley is no more innately ‘good‘ than Aziraphale is innately ‘bad‘ and the thing is that with the scenes you see them in when they have just started being on earth is that they’re really not that much different to the other demons/angels. I mean yes, Aziraphale gives away the sword, but that all starts because of humans. And the point is that everything that makes Aziraphale and Crowley different from say Beelzebub and Michael is that they’ve been hanging around with humans for thousands of years, and they’ve learnt and changed and become so much better, and the point is that what makes Aziraphale and Crowley good is not something special about them, but their humanity

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My fav Ziras and Crowleys!

@goth-butchbitch @faun-songs @meloartist @sator-the-wanderess @yubird @nemean-art-blog @tegraliz @capitanjamesflint 

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God only knows what the context of this is

But the Crowley and Aziraphale energy is off the charts

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two tiny illustrations i did for @goodomonths, a good omens 2020 calendar!

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my one and only reaction to the hell that was '92 screenplay

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Highlights of the Good Omens Screenplay

Okay, so first of all, the bookshop doesn't exist. Aziraphale works in a museum and Crowley runs a nightclub. This is... not too bad in that those are at least sort of in-character places for them to work (if there was any in character reason for Crowley to have a job in the first place). Like, I could see a human au where they had those jobs working quite well, but the downside is that this Aziraphale doesn't get to be all possessive of his collection, which robs us of a huge chunk of the bastard side of his character.

Crowley picked it up for him. Crowley is significantly more of a dick to Aziraphale specifically, in this. It's not that he's acting more demonic or anything like that, just that he clearly has no real respect for the angel and makes it known. (Book Crowley wants Aziraphale to just tell him to bugger off already. TV Crowley wants to do something horrible to him, probably involving rats.)

Aziraphale hangs out with him, but it's not 100% clear why. Crowley calls him stupid on several occasions, regularly states that he's only hanging with him on Earth until a better offer comes along, and just generally shows none of the patience that other Crowleys have shown with Aziraphale's need to keep presenting himself as a Proper Angel™️ and pay lipservice to Heavenly propaganda. But, despite this, Aziraphale keeps following him around and helping him out and absorbing his insults. The closest taste we get of his bastard side is when he refuses to help Crowley find the antichrist unless he is allowed to try and influence the boy to good. (TV Aziraphale wants to know if he's alright. Book Aziraphale just wants him to bloody pull himself together already.)

Also they kept the whole 'kinda naïve and overly optimistic (or at least pretending to be) about the true nature of Good and Evil' thing with Aziraphale's character, but left out the 'actually really intelligent but a master of Cognitive Dissonance' part, which just makes him come across as kind of an idiot.

Adam is raised by Madame Tracy (because she's the one who found him when Crowley lost him. Because children are puppies that can be taken in by anyone, I guess). Specifically a caricature of Madame Tracy who is entirely the airy-fairy persona she puts on for clients, with none of the shrewd businesswoman that lies beneath. Canon Madame Tracy, I could see doing okay at raising a kid (I mean, she's been keeping Shadwell alive for years by this point), but we've got this Madame Tracy instead, so Adam ends up suffering almost criminal levels of neglect.

I mean, it's played off like 'she's kinda embarassing, but they love each other, so it's fine', but Adam is literally running a B&B singlehandedly by age 11, while Madame Tracy isn't even together enough to know where the gas meter is. I've seen other posts complaining about how emo Adam is in this (he is so emo. He sneaks out at night to build model towns in an abandoned fairground and think about how shit his life is. Think less Richmal Crompton and more Tim Burton), but honestly? I'd be emo too.

All the Them, bar Pepper, are dickheads. Brian in particular is actively a bully who keeps picking on Adam for having no father. Pepper is basically the same as she is in the book, but like a watered-down version of that. Also, I think she and Adam are meant to be dating.

Crowley doesn't like Earth. He calls it a "mudball" and wants to move to Alpha Centauri. (Seriously, one cool thing about this script is that you can see all these things that later developed into the TV series and just thing "wow, thank god he did that instead".) I cannot stress enough how much this defeats the point of his character, 'the one demon who likes Earth'. In fact, neither he nor Aziraphale are at all motivated by the prospect of saving the Earth for most of the script. Crowley is motivated by the need to save his own arse, while Aziraphale is motivated by... the fact that his relationship with Crowley is basically toxic, so that he feels the need to help the demon out even though said demon is terrible to him.

I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, but Satan is actually... kind of a good Dad in this? I mean, sure, he still doesn't show up for eleven years, but when he does he actually takes an interest in Adam's life beyond using him as a tool to end the world. He genuinely seems to care that his son enjoy the whole armageddon thing, and helps mould the world into the way Adam wants it to be. And sure, Adam rejects this when he realises that brainwashing people isn't cool, but up till that point he's having a fucking blast. I'm not saying that he's Parent of the Year or anything, but the only other parental figure in this thing is Madame Tracy, and she is totally losing to Satan.

Satan reacts incredibly well to Adam rejecting his destiny. He is pissed off for about two seconds until Crowley points out that Adam's just rebelling the same way he did, at which point he does a complete U-turn and literally just laughs it off and says that he's fine with it now. It's bizarre, totally anticlimactic and entirely out of character, but also weirdly hilarious, though not necessarily in a good way.

Shadwell and Newt don't exist. (Well, I say Shadwell doesn't exist, but there is a character who is literally named 'Mad Old Man' who I think we can agree is Shadwell in spirit.) I mean, I hate to say it, but I can kind of see why, in that they're probably the least popular of the main characters, but this now means that Anathema doesn't have an arc. We've lost the 'Newt learning to believe in things' vs 'Anathema learning to live her own life' dynamic, and I kinda liked that.

Agnes doesn't exist, and Anathema is instead influenced and directed by psychic powers. This is bad for three reasons. First, because Aziraphale doesn't get to solve the puzzle or possess anyone (which makes his character seem like even more of an idiot than it did already), secondly because it's a cliche, and thirdly because the fact that Anathema isn't being guided by a mystic ancestor who she's been taught to trust in all things makes it even more disturbing that her reaction to finding out who the antichrist is to try and stab him to death. I mean, there's none of this "but he's the sweetest kid in the village" or anything like that. She has to work up a bit of nerve to do it (thus giving Adam time to escape) but she never doubts that stabbing him might not be the right thing to do.

The dynamic between Aziraphale and Crowley is kind of reversed in that Crowley is now the one who keeps insisting on Sides and threatens to leave at one point. The difference is that other versions of Aziraphale and Crowley have that whole "of course we're friends really, but we can't admit it because we'll risk being killed and Aziraphale would have to confront the inherent contradictions in his personal belief system" understanding going on. This Aziraphale is genuinely hurt when Crowley says that they're on opposite sides, implying that either they don't have that understanding, or that this version of Aziraphale is too stupid to comprehend that sort of thing.

Also, I know that the TV show didn't exist at the time this was written and so it's kind of unfair to compare them, but still show Aziraphale said that they weren't friends under extreme stress and then rose from the dead to apologise and make things right. Screenplay Crowley denies his friendship with Aziraphale just because he's decided he wants to leave Earth now and doesn't need him anymore. And there's no real scene where they make up again, beyond Crowley deciding to stay on Earth anyway because Aziraphale cheats at checkers.

And, I mean, these all would be criticisms, except that Gaiman stated in an article that he wrote this with the intention of making it absolutely nothing like Good Omens. So, actually, I think he outdid himself.

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My favorite non-Crowley/Aziraphale ship in the Good Omens world is without a doubt the postman and his wife. We only got one little scene with them both, but it told us that they’re still in love after many years together, still crazy about each other, still wildly attracted to each other. Romantic, too, with their memorable tryst by the river. I love them and I can’t believe, with all the bizarre combinations people have made, that I’ve never seen even one piece of postman/Maude fanart. We, who love a long, comfortable romance! It’s what we deserve!

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Rip to an unfortunately very large number of people but I’m different 

If I was an author making a TV show who would later go on twitter and say that I had meant to show the main characters in a relationship all along I would simply let them say I love you in canon 

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If I was an author making a TV show/book/movie who would later go on twitter and say that I had meant to show the main characters in a relationship all along I would simply let them say I love you in canon 

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can we talk about aziraphale's character arc please i'm dying to talk about aziraphale's character arc nobody's talking about aziraphale's character arc and how he goes from This

to This

over the course of the book when he, with Crowley's help, realizes that he doesn't have to remain silent when his "side" does things that he finds distasteful or objectionable and that he has the free will in himself to choose to defend humanity in the face of Heaven and Hell's celestial war and I Love Him

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I want you all to look at the opener of the 1990 Kirkus Media review for Good Omens.

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My guess would be

Crowley:

Neil: 3, 8

Terry: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7

Aziraphale:

Neil: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 11

Terry: 3, 6, 8, 9, 10

Crowley & Aziraphale’s New Year’s Wishes

From http://www.harpercollins.com/author/AuthorExtra.aspx?displayType=essay&authorID=3417

Crowley: 

Resolution #1: I must accept that Super-Gluing valuable coins to the sidewalk and then watching events from a nearby café is not proper demonic activity.

Resolution #2: The same applies to rearranging the letters on wayside pulpits.

Resolution #3: Try to come up with something as good as cell phone ringtones, following one last stab at convincing Downstairs that cell phone ringtones are right up there in the whole Human Misery stakes. And iPods. Has anybody Down There even said thank you for iPods? Or “Googling yourself?” Frankly, I deserve some kind of award for “Googling yourself.”

Resolution #4: I must encourage greedy people to use the term, “Low-hanging fruit,” because that’s just like old times.

Resolution #5: This year, I will get a desk near the window.

Resolution #6: I will try to understand why Hell is a no-smoking area. I just think it’s ridiculous having to stand around outside the gates, that’s all.

Resolution #7: On the orders of Head Office I will encourage the belief in Intelligent Design, because it upsets everyone.

Resolution #8: Stop Googling myself.

Aziraphale:

Resolution #1: Spread peace and love and glad tidings of great joy throughout the world. Also try to get out more.

Resolution #2: I will be charitable to people who use the term “core values,” however difficult this may be.

Resolution #3: Notwithstanding Resolution #2 (above), I will redouble my efforts to have the utterance of the phrase “core values” classified as a deadly sin. I believe Himself is with me on this one.

Resolution #4: I will try to be nicer to the customers. They want to buy books; I want to sell them. It can’t be that hard. (Memo to self: Regular opening hours? Mark prices on books?)

Resolution #5: I will try to be polite to Gabriel, no matter what the provocation.

Resolution #6: Find out exactly what an “Internet” is.

Resolution #7: Really must resume dancing lessons. Learn the “Galloping Major,” the “Gay Gordons,” the “Mashed Potatoes.” Possibly even the “Twist”?

Resolution #8: Thwart Infernal Wiles (ongoing).

Resolution #9: I will try to understand why Heaven is a non-smoking area.

Resolution #10: On the orders of Head Office I will encourage the belief in Intelligent Design – despite the fact that the human airway crosses the digestive tract. Who thought that was intelligent?

Resolution #11: Feed the ducks.

…

PS: If you are a person who wrote Good Omens, do not EVER look at the Tumblr Aziraphale tag to find a nice picture of Crowley and Aziraphale to put into a New Year’s blog. There are things you can never unsee.

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Neil Gaiman: This is Ligur the demon

Me: villain

Neilman: *puts a lizard on his head*

Me: Ligur GoodOmens is babey actually

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Obviously we all love Michael Sheen’s ineffable softness and David Tennant’s boneless limbs but can we talk about how fucking good Miranda Richardson was at playing three separate characters and an entire soundboard?

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This is what I think every time I watch this scene lmao 

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Crowley: *is talking*

Aziraphale: *looks into the camera like he's on the office*

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Aziraphale: Crowley is my enemy, but it turns out that Crowley is also his own worst enemy.

Gabriel: Okay…

Aziraphale: And the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so Crowley is actually my friend.

Gabriel: No, I don’t think that’s how that works actually.