#episode: “armageddon game”

[episodes-without-incident]

6/6/2023:

2 episodes since Drawfee last referenced Cats (2019)

#episode: Drawing Games Based on Randomly Generated Titles #drawfee #that was certainly an episode. that I watched. I would play the duck armageddon game though #2 episodes without Cats incident

[sophies-junkyard]

NOBODY ASKED but… Obviously Simon’s arc in adventure time solidified the series as one of greatest of all time (and I’m so hyped for this ice king sadness renaissance) but now I’m thinking of OTHER Adventure Time moments that rewired my brain as a kid. In no particular order:

1. “Once the strong guys got it how they liked it they said ‘this is fair now. This is the law.’ Once they were winning they changed the rules”. They really had the cartoon dog say that on tv in 2014.

2. “People get built different. We don’t have to understand it, we just gotta respect it”

3. The entirety of All The Little People. That shit was absolutely nuts for a kids show but also like…. I can’t articulate the lesson I just know there was one and it haunted me. The danger of the human ego. Hubris. Irreverence. Don’t play god bro.

4. Lady and Peebles. When PB ripped Ricardio’s leg off and bashed his skull in with it. And it was so hardcore they edited it out of the episode. Bro. I remember watching that after school one day and how my jaw just DROPPED at a PRINCESS being so brutal. They let her be so fucking angry and that was a game changer.

5. [Finn, about a horrific memory] “that one’s going in the vault. Aaaaaaaaaandd. It’s gone.” I quote that CONSTANTLY. It’s a great way to bring levity to a bad situation, but also forces me to go “hey wait a sec that’s not gonna work forever”. Things don’t stay in the vault.

6. Puhoy. He lived an entire life in that pillow world. He had kids. And then it’s just gone like a dream.

7. The deer. It was probably my first real introduction to horror. The hand wiggle. You all know exactly what I’m referencing. Were the candy people stuck in that well for 6 months???

8. What Was Missing!! Obviously now because it foreshadowed (and confirmed past) Bubbline, but back then just because it was so good??? IMO, this is the episode that defined WHO our main cast was, and how their relationships needed to grow for them to be content. It set up the next 6 years of the show! Plus it gave us 2 absolute BANGERS. Ugh i rewatched that recording so many times it wasn’t even funny.

9. Ghost Princess. Really just for the line where he sounds like he’s gonna shit his pants remembering his death and then in a clear narrator voice he’s like “I was a broken man.”

10. The pajama war episode. Now I’m doing this from memory so I could be wrong, but I think this really marks the start of Finn growing up. “I’ve really enjoyed just… hanging out with you.” The ability to start over with someone you’ve got complicated history with. The kindness. The growth from both of them!! It’s a direct parallel of episode 1 but their tones couldn’t be more different and I love it.

11. The slow and horrifying realization that The Mushroom War was nuclear Armageddon. Mushroom clouds. That went so far over my head as a kid even though they reference it constantly. It finally clicked during “I remember you”. Which I am NOT gonna go into because holy fuck that’s like 18 posts on its own.

12. Goliad! A child mirroring EVERYTHING they see, for better or worse. Seeing Jake in a bad moment screaming at the kids and goliad absorbing that behavior. Seeing she can use fear to control people. Also PB was Fucking Crazy! Her line “I’m not gonna live forever… I would if I could” is even more unhinged when we learn (like years later) that she’s already 900 years old. But she does physically age so I guess there’s that. The Suitor also falls into this category of episodes.

Ok getting into some of the more talked about moments

1. OK I LIED I have to talk about I remember you. I was 11 years old. I turned on the new adventure time episode like usual. 10 minutes later I was grappling with a grief I had never imagined before. Absolutely BAWLING not just for Simon and Marceline (the PLOT), but for what it showed me. The reality that every kid tries not to think about: your loved ones will leave you someday, even if they don’t want to. It’s an episode that becomes more powerful with every year I get older. To get a bit personal, dementia has completely taken my grandparents from me. I’ve seen sides of my grandfather that should never have existed, and I must constantly forgive him for what he does… now that he doesn’t remember me. And someday it’ll be my parents. That’s just the way of the world, ya know? Anyways, I remember my mom got home right as the credits were rolling and we had a long talk about keeping people alive with memory, mortality, and how the future was far away and we should decide on dinner lmao.

2. The Hall of Egress. I was almost 15. Life was changing. I was changing, and it was strange and frightening. That feeling where you know you’re losing your childhood but you just want to cling to it. Follow the same old familiar path, stick with what’s comfortable. But life doesn’t work that way. It took me years to really understand this episode and it’s symbolism. Honestly I still don’t think I could fully explain it. It’s like. How do I put this. I was so glad to be in the target age group in that moment. I was so glad that something I was growing up with was assuring me “you’re changing, but we’re changing too”. And isn’t that the theme of adventure time? Everything stays, but it still changes.

3. The absolute horror of Ferns existence. He’s Finn, but he’s wrong and warped. All those memories of the people he loves and they can’t stand to be in the same room as him.

4. Susan Strong. The introduction of a RUNNING PLOT. The show up to that point had really been so goofy and so monster of the week. I think the only really plot heavy episode before this one was It Came From the Nightosphere? And then suddenly they call into question the fact that Finn really is the ONLY HUMAN in all of OOO. And then… is he? It was SUCH a departure from the usual tone. Ending that episode with him reaching below her hat and gasping in shock, but never telling the audience what he found. And then she’s just gone. Which leads us to Islands!

5. Min and Marty. Second saddest episode in the entirety of adventure time, made worse because you know exactly how this family is gonna end up. There’s SO MUCH to dissect about Martins behavior in the series. A reformed con artist receives a traumatic brain injury while attempting to save his son. They’re both lost at sea, and he never looks for him. Was it the emotional trauma? Was it the physical damage? Meanwhile a mother loses her husband and her child in a single night and never EVER learns why. Nobody but Martin knows what happened that night. Also Finns fear of the ocean from season 1 is finally explained. 7 years of ignoring Finns origins and then they throw you THIS??? Watching it live was unreal.

Anyways I’m sure I’ll think of more. I might add on to this later for my own sake lmao, but I’d love to hear other peoples formative moments, quotes, episodes, etc. I really just needed to dump this information out of my brain so I can get on with my week.

#If you see this you’re obligated to comment an adventure time moment that lives rent free in your head #or don’t it’s your life babe #I have nobody in my life who has watched adventure time and therefore I must ramble here to myself #adventure time #princess bubblegum #marceline #ice king #finn the human #fern #Fionna and cake #this is my life #bubbline

[amuseoffyre]

This may be wishful thinking...but earlier in The Episode, we get Crowley explicitly comparing Heaven to a beehive, with himself as the hornet, safely escorted inside its well-guarded borders. Aziraphale refuses Metatron's offer several times, outright...until the Metatron bring Crowley into it, and only then does he agree. Crowley's existence on the line is clearly a game-changer. During the end credits, as the lift is going up, we see Aziraphale's carefully neutral expression shift into a smile. I wonder if he knew Crowley would refuse, which is why he doesn't seem as devastated as we'd expect, and his goal was just to get into Heaven, in an accepted, established position.

Is it too much to hope that Aziraphale may have something more on the mind, once he gets to Heaven, than being a god little worker bee?

My thought when it came to Crowley's comment there was that Aziraphale knows Heaven is like that too and part of his logic about getting Crowley into Heaven with him is that "once you're in there", they don't see you as an invader.

If we extend the bee metaphor further, Aziraphale has been convinced he's going into heaven as the person in charge. He believes he'll be able to make a difference in there. But you can't have two queen bees in a hive. One of them will always kill the other. They will not take a rival. This is between Aziraphale and the Metatron now.

My brain went to Pratchett's Lord and Ladies book as soon as the bee analogy came up as well because it's a good summation of Heaven. They're an entity working towards a single goal. They all work together, unquestioning, but the second there are two forces at loggerheads (two queens) it doesn't work. As Terry put it so succinctly "slash! Stab!" - you can't have two people trying to control/run it. One will destroy/get rid of the other and only the strongest will prevail.

And I think S3 is when Aziraphale realises exactly how strong he is. A lot of the time he's let the other angels squash him down, confine and constrain him with their rules and codes, but now, he has gone all-or-nothing to protect Crowley and humanity. Now, he won't hold back.

The Metatron believes he is predictable and I think that'll come back and bite him hard, because yes Aziraphale is predictable in that he will defend. But he was a soldier once, a fighter, and he will fight if needs be. As Crowley said to Nina, "he's unpredictable". This is the angel who told Heaven to stuff it and backflipped out of there to go and stop Armageddon 1.0. More recently, he was willing to put Heaven and Hell on a war footing to protect two humans. He didn't need to. He could have just removed himself from the situation, but he stayed to protect them as they stayed to help him.

Slash. Stab. The Metatron has no idea who he has invited back into his hive.

#good omens #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #gos2 #go s2 #good omens spoilers

[walkingstackofbooks]

Season 2 Observations - What the DS9 crew call each other

I'm back with my spreadsheet and armed with new facts. Let's go! (For Season 1 Observations, see here.)

This is a bit longer and there was still more I wanted to include - if you want to check out the raw data yourself, you can view the spreadsheet here!

Sisko

Is slightly more likely to introduce himself as "Benjamin Sisko" (6x) than "Commander Benjamin Sisko" (5x) - though this is often followed in both cases by "of the United Federation of Planets" or something similar.

Kira, Odo and Quark mostly call him "Commander", and rarely "Sir" - all are extremely consistent with season 1. (37:8, 16:2 and 11:0 as compared to in s1 35:8. 15:2 and 9:0)

Miles and Julian are more likely to call him "Sir", but use "Commander" often as well. How often has changed for them both since Season 1: > Julian has moved from using both equally, to using "Sir" twice as often. > Miles has moved from using "Sir" three times as much to almost using both equally (40:35)

Dax still uses Benjamin almost exclusively (24x), although she will use "Commander" on occasion (2x).

Is most often referred to as "Commander Sisko (22x), followed by Sisko (12x) - O'Brien is the only one to use "Sisko" more frequently.

Kira

Most often calls herself "Major Kira Nerys" (4x).

Everyone, apart from Dax, almost always calls her "Major".

Dax exclusively calls her Kira (2x) - Bashir and Sisko have both also called her this (2x and 1x respectively).

Is most often referred to as "Kira" (13x), followed by "Major Kira" (6x) - a change from Season 1 where the "Kira: Major Kira" ratio was 5:18 > Odo bucks this trend: as in season 1, he refers to her as "Major Kira" 2 times and "Kira" only once.

Odo

Introduces himself as "Chief of Security Odo" (2x).

Is called "Odo" by everybody; Kira (7x), Dax (7x), O'Brien (4x) and Quark (24x!!!!) will use this most often.

Sisko and Bashir are more likely to call him "Constable" - 13:8 and 2:1 respectively. > Kira and Dax never call him "Constable" > Miles uses it almost just as much as "Odo" (3:4) > Quark calls him it twice

Is almost exclusively referred to as Odo by everyone - Kira referred to him as "Constable Odo" once, and O'Brien as "the constable" once.

Trends are consistent with Season 1, apart from Kira stopping using Constable entirely, and Bashir, Dax and O'Brien actually speaking about/ talking to him more than two times this season!

Julian

Refers to himself most often as "Julian" or "Julian Bashir".

Sisko, Kira, Odo and Quark exclusively call him "Doctor" - apart from Kira calling him "Julian" once, on his request!

Dax and O'Brien more often call him "Julian" (9:1 and 12:5 respectively) > After Armageddon Game, O'Brien only calls him Julian.

He is still referred to as "Doctor Bashir" most often by Sisko, Kira and Odo

Jadzia still refers to him mostly as "Julian".

O'Brien now refers to him mostly as "the doctor" or "Bashir" (2x each), as opposed to "Dr Bashir" in S1 (2x) > Quark similarly uses "Bashir" most (3x), followed by "the doctor" (2x)

Jadzia

Refers to herself as "Jadzia" most often (5x), but 4 of those times are in the episode Playing God where she is talking in the third person about herself. > She also calls herself "Dax" (2x), "Jadzia Dax" (2x) and when talking to Klingons in Blood Oath, "I who was Curzon Dax" and "You knew me as Curzon Dax".

Sisko and Kira call her "Dax" most often, followed by "Lieutenant" (22:11 and 7:5 respectively). > No change from S1 for Sisko, but Kira only began to call her Dax this season. > Kira also first calls her Jadzia - unprompted! - in Blood Oath. > Sisko only calls her "Old Man" once.

Odo, O'Brien and Quark exclusively call her "Lieutenant".

Julian exclusively calls her Jadzia, but only twice.

Sisko, Kira and O'Brien usually refer to her as "Dax" - the latter two exclusively. > Sisko uses "Jadzia" just as much (6x), but only in the episode Invasive Procedures, when talking about her as opposed to Verad Dax who has stolen her symbiont. > Once again, this is same as S1 for Sisko, but a change from exclusively "Lieutenant Dax" (1x) for Kira.

Julian most often refers to her as "Jadzia" (4x), followed by Dax (2x).

Miles

Calls himself "O'Brien" most often (4x) - "Miles O'Brien" (6x) is skewed because of his repetition of it (4x) under torture in Tribunal.

Everyone most often calls him "Chief". > For Odo, this is equal with "Mister O'Brien" (2x each), and for Quark this is equal with "O'Brien" (1x each).

"Mister O'Brien" is still used at a similar rate by Sisko, being used about four times less frequently than "Chief" in both seasons. Kira only uses it once, in early s2, compared to "Chief" 14x - she used both equally in S1.

Sisko, Bashir and Dax most often refer to him as "Chief O'Brien", a change for all of them from S1. > For Sisko, this is followed by "Mister O'Brien", his most common use in S1. > For Bashir this is followed equally by "O'Brien", his most common in S1, and by "the chief".

Kira and Quark refer to him as "O'Brien" more often.

Odo uses both "Chief O'Brien" and "O'Brien" equally (2x each)

----------------------------------------

Thanks for your interest in this, it's definitely encouraged me to keep going! Not sure if this is the correct tag etiquette, but I thought I'd tag those of you who seemed keen to look at more data - let me know if you don't want this to happen in the future! (Or indeed if you want to be added to the update list!) But 100% thank you so much for your kind comments about this project - I'm glad to see it's not just me who likes to nerd out over cold, hard data! (Also feel free to talk about stuff in the comments, there were so many tag comments I wanted to reply to aha 😅)

@joelleity @elainemorisi @istherewifiinhell @dumbnerd13-42 @yourea--stubborn--man @writteninsilences @worfianism @mickstart @ilovefredjones @tomthefanboy @ds9official @ussdefiant @autisticburnham @daforged @loudfederationscreeching @deepacenine @thethirdromana @tocautiouslygo @transhologram

#andi's spreadsheet project #ds9 #ds9 meta #benjamin sisko #kira nerys #odo #julian bashir #jadzia dax #miles o'brien #WSB

[stra-tek]

Kzinti and Star Trek

You don't see many Kzinti in Star Trek, and there's a very good reason for that: They're not actually Star Trek aliens, but a borrow from Larry Niven's Known Space series of books. And so Paramount don't actually own them. "The Slaver Weapon" episode of The Animated Series is an adaptation of Larry's "The Soft Weapon"

TAS' "Slaver Weapon" brought lots of Known Space lore into Trek. 4 Man-Kzin Wars were fought prior to the invention of faster-than-light travel, which really doesn't work in Trek where First Contact established, well, first contact and it was between humans and Vulcans after the first warp flight.

We also saw a Slaver, which have a rich backstory in Known Space where they're known as the Thrint and once ruled over the galaxy with their telepathy.

Some of Niven's backstory fits into Trek but other parts don't.

The Man-Kzin Wars don't. That being said, there have been attempts to bring Kzin back into Trek and several references to them. The Next Gen novel "The Captain's Honor" features the M'dok in the B-plot, a feline species who fought 2 wars with humanity one before the founding of the Federation and one after... sound vaguely familiar? They were originally the Kzin, and had name and details changed to avoid potential legal issues.

The Kzin exist in the Star Fleet Battles tabletop gaming universe (which is like a Trek splinter universe, licensed from TOS, TAS and the Star Fleet Technical Manual but nothing else), but they lack the distinctive bat ears.

Starfleet Command, the videogame adaptation of Star Fleet Battles swaps the Kzinti for the Mirak, again to avoid copyright issues.

But then came Star Trek Picard, where in season one Riker talks about an issue with the Kzinti (apparently permission was sought from Larry Niven and given for the mention) and then Lower Decks gave us Taylor, who is clearly Kzinti but likely will just never have anyone say it out loud just to be on the safe side

Oh, and the 1980 Star Trek Maps were cheeky and called them the K'zinti and hoped the apostrophe would make everything okay.

There have been attempts to bring the Kzinti back to Trek, like a planned Enterprise season 5 episode called "Kilkenny Cats" which was almost resurrected as a New Voyages fan film project. Here's the poster, where they'd replaced the Kzinti with the Kytharri (another Kzin-expy from the DS9 "Prophecy and Change" anthology

The "Kilkenny Cats" story read somewhat like a retread of DS9's "Armageddon Game". There were also attempts to get an animated Star Trek movie made called Lions of the Night, involving Sulu and the Enterprise-B dealing with a Kzinti invasion.

Oh oh, and read Ringworld. It's fantastic. And makes one wonder what the Kzin world is like in the Trek world... because they're unable to stop themselves launching violent wars on neighbours which they have no hope of winning, their world is essentially occupied by humans and that's very un-Trek (which of course makes it 10x more fascinating) indeed. How would Starfleet and the Federation deal with such a threat?

#star trek #known space #larry niven #kzinti #lower decks #star trek enterprise #ringworld #the animated series #star trek tas #deep lore #deep dive #star trek novels #star trek novelverse

[smolwritingchick]

Forced To Believe Masterlist

A Dean Ambrose x OC story! The Shield 4th member.

Summary: Taking place during the start of The Shield's debut in 2012, follow Morgan Lopez's career as she becomes a member of The Shield, revamps herself as The Outspoken Diva and makes a name for herself in WWE.

OC Profile of Morgan Lopez

Chapter 1- So, You Wanna Wrestle?

Chapter 2- My WWE Debut

Chapter 3- Fighting Back

Chapter 4- My First Wrestlemania

Chapter 5- Becoming Heel

Chapter 6- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 1

Chapter 7- The Shield's Girl

Chapter 8- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 2

Chapter 9- The Shield Isn't Unstoppable

Chapter 10- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 4

Chapter 11- Justice Continues Being Served

Chapter 12- The Underdog from Philly

Chapter 13- Catching Up Before MITB

Chapter 14- Money In The Bank 2013

Chapter 15- Total Slap!

Chapter 16- Frustration

Chapter 17- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 5

Chapter 18- I Know What I Have To Do

Chapter 19- Do You Know Who I Am!?

Chapter 20- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 6

Chapter 21- Army of One

Chapter 22- Wiping That Smirk Off Your Face

Chapter 23- You Look Like You've Seen A Ghost

Chapter 24- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 7

Chapter 25- Mommy Knows Best

Chapter 26- Revenge Is Sweet

Chapter 27- Total Divas Season 1 Episode 8

Chapter 28- Is That You Being Serious?

Chapter 29- In Due Time

Chapter 30- Trying To Gain Momentum

Chapter 31- The Slammy Awards

Chapter 32- That Was A Miracle

Chapter 33- The Answer Is No

Chapter 34- Tribute To The Troops

Chapter 35- Morgan's Answer

Chapter 36- Move Thief

Chapter 37- Meeting Hot Rod

Chapter 38- Respect

Chapter 39- I Hate Snakes

Chapter 40- If Only You Knew

Chapter 41- Making A Statement

Chapter 42- Yikes

Chapter 43- Sister Abigail

Chapter 44- I Lost Her

Chapter 45- She Belongs To Us Now

Chapter 46- I See What You Want

Chapter 47- Armageddon

Chapter 48- Armageddon Part 2

Chapter 49- That Supernatural Stuff Don't Work

Chapter 50- What Are You Doing!?

Chapter 51- Things Got Personal

Chapter 52- He Kept His Word

Chapter 53- Harley Mode Was Captivating

Chapter 54- Rosa's Mind Games

Chapter 55- Togetherness

Chapter 56- Public Displays of Affection

Chapter 57- The Shield Against The Authority

Chapter 58- Bad News Dinner

Chapter 59- Getting The Upper Hand

Chapter 60- Annihilated

Chapter 61- Catching Up With Old Friends

Chapter 62- Wrestling's Fun

Chapter 63- Get Back Here!

Chapter 64- War

Chapter 65- Trust Is Dead To Us Now

#the shield #wwe #dean ambrose #dean ambrose x oc #Seth rollins #roman reigns #masterlist #forced to believe masterlist #FTB #Forced to believe #the shield 4th member #wwe imagine #wwe fanfic #wwe fanfiction #Jon moxley #jon moxley x oc #dean Ambrose fluff #wwe fluff

[quasi-normalcy]

#star trek deep space nine #benjamin sisko #kira nerys #odo #quark #julian bashir #elim garak #miles o'brien #jadzia dax #ezri dax #gul dukat #nog #rom #jake sisko

[majortomyourcurcuitsdead]

Some S2 E2 thoughts

Just rewatched a second episode of a second season; what a good one it is.

I wanted to write out some thoughts I had about Aziraphale’s and Crowley’s dynamic while watching it; this may have been discussed already in one way or another, but I think this aspect is so omnipresent within the series that it can sort of be taken of granted, and possibly overlooked. I also like analysing out loud, or, like here, by writing it out (it's good for my as I like to call it my acting brain).

So, my main point being is (and it can divulge into a different one in a bit cause I am sleepy yet passionate about this)- Both of them see through each other, like no one else they know does.

Crowley’s “I want to destroy children of Job” ? (Naah, Aziraphale doesn’t buy it)

Aziraphale’s responses to Crowley ~ - Whose side are you on? - God’s of course. - Oh, really? The same God that wants me to whack the kids? - Yes… (Crowley’s like lmao angel welcome to the club I guess)

And please, this is so important to support this whole point - can we talk about Crowley’s

“What do you know about what I want” bit

The facial expression, tone of voice and the eyes which we luckily have a quick glimpse of in this scene (and I have a suspicion that it was done on purpose so they are visible here), they scream “I see and understand that you know me, but it’s too dangerous for me to just be who I am. So let’s continue, at least for now, to play this game and let me create the illusion that I am a demon that I am, they need to see it. Not because I sincerely want to actually be one, fuck that to be honest; I just don’t want to die. Am I angry at this? Do I even feel a certain contempt, actually directed at myself for where I am at? Yes. Can it be better? No”.

But I also think that this is buried quite deep in the case of Crowley; you could say it’s subconscious (but most likely with time and at some point comes more to the light). I also realised with rewatching and reading other’s thoughts about this, this I-want-to-destroy-children-of-job-and-stuff “shield” for his own survival has actually grown thicker with time. (And what I want to add, not deep enough to actually sincerely want to be evil, that wouldn’t be the character we have; at least in a canon way we have now).

It’s interesting because Aziraphale is not quite the same [yet], in regards to a stance with his respective “offices”; so they are not fully mirroring each other in this aspect [again, and hopefully yet]. (As an additional note, the most similar Aziraphale was to Crowley in this regard was right after the failed Armageddon, but as we know at the end of Season 2 he returned to Heaven with a newfound hope to make it better).

Yes, Aziraphale sees through Crowley and Crowley sees through Aziraphale. But it’s only Aziraphale who actually wants to be a part of Heaven. And more precisely, he stands for what Heaven is on paper (love light peace etc), which is in fact very obviously very questionable in practice. And excuse me, Crowley? The Shuhite Crowley who in the end saves children (and also later down the line is concerned about feeding ducks with bread? Pure evil incarnate yes). Definitely a very loyal servant of Hell.

Crowley is obviously way ahead in his journey of being the odd one out, and this episode beautifully shows a muuuchh slower downhill route of a similar nature for Aziraphale (“You’re going to fast for me Crowley” much?) But that being sad, Crowley assists him on his journey when he feels is a right moment to do so, by nudging him in a direction of questioning Heaven (cause he sees his Angel is deep down in his propaganda sh*t and Crowley just wants him out of there), but also just by being there where Aziraphale is in distress without making uncomfortable moments more uncomfortable for him (I remember specifically this being pointed out by someone already, I will make sure to link the post once I find it). So as mentioned, both of them see through each other, like no one else they know does, right? Imagine how the will see through each other even more clearly after both of them are on the same page in this regard.

Ok I will be going to sleep .. soonish cause if I said "now" that would be lying tbf I just take tooo long to prepare for sleep

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #good omens theory #good omens thoughts #crowley #demon crowley #aziraphale #angel aziraphale #ineffable lovers #ineffable boyfriends #ineffable spouses #ineffable idiots #ineffable partners #good omens posting

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story

TOURNAMENT MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Midnight

Synopsis

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble go to the leisure planet of Midnight for a simple, relaxing holiday. However, life with the Doctor can never be that simple, and things go horribly wrong for the Doctor when he decides to go off on a bus trip to see the Sapphire Waterfall, starting with the bus shutting down. When a mysterious entity infiltrates the shuttle bus, no one is to be trusted. Not even the Doctor himself...

Propaganda

Midnight is amazing. So thrilling. The monster was human fear and it cost the life of two innocent women. (plus two men on accident, well, more or less) And we never know what the midnight entity was. Perfect. My absolute favourite episode. The best thing is that it tricks you into liking the passengers before it slowly, slowly turns that into horror of what they're capable of. Chills every time. (Plus it's totally what inspired among us if you ask me) (anonymous)

Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

Synopsis

Separated and with no TARDIS, the Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Jack have to fight for their lives on board the Game Station, but a far more dangerous threat is lurking, just out of sight. The Doctor realises that the entire human race has been blinded to the threat on its doorstep, and Armageddon is fast approaching.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

#not that im encouraging strategic voting (i am) #but whichever wins this is against the last of the audios #and one of these stands a slightly worse chance #round 7

[meilas]

Socks’ Star Trek must-watch list

Socks’ list of must-watch Trek episodes

OG Trek

Welcome to the NCC-1701 starship, known as the Enterprise. The captain and crew follow rules when the plot says so, the captain is often on away missions with his top-ranked crew members leaving some unqualified guy in charge, and the captain gets to snog a lot of ladies. Like, a lot. Seriously. This series features lots of questionable fashion choices, including men’s heeled boots and miniskirts. 

Space Seed - our introduction to Khan Noonien Singh, played by Ricardo Montalban. Khan is the villain of the second Trek movie Wrath of Khan which is why this episode is on the list.

Taste of Armageddon - Do you remember the game Battleship? Two planets wage a war against each other. There is staggering loss of life, but no destruction. The Lottery in Space.

Mirror, Mirror - obligatory parallel universe episode! This parallel universe shows up later in Deep Space Nine which is why it is on this list.

Trouble With Tribbles - Clue in Space. Just a fun episode. Also shows up in Deep Space Nine!

A Piece of the Action - another fun episode. And the reason I don’t know if the proper expression is concrete galoshes or cement overshoes.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield - two individuals who are the very last members of their races who were at war are still trying to kill each other. This episode was about racism and it is not subtle about it at all.

Next Generation

Welcome to the NCC-1701D, also known as the Enterprise! Not the Enterprise from the original series, but a younger, more advanced starship that is the successor to the Enterprise name. And since the Enterprise and trouble go so well together, the crew of this Enterprise find lots of adventures to keep them busy as they explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilisations.

Encounter at Farpoint - The very first episode. Not great, but it also serves as an introduction to Q, who will show up several times throughout the series. So that I don’t fill up this whole post, just go ahead and watch every Q episode (which will 99% of the time have Q in the title.)

Measure of a Man - Data is put on trial to determine if he is property or his own person, and Riker is forced to testify against him for plot reasons. This episode explores individuality and friendship.

Q Who - I said I wouldn’t fill this up and I won’t, but this episode is special because it introduces the Borg. There’s also a great moment between Picard and Q toward the end.

The Survivors - An elderly couple are the last survivors on a planet. Hard to explain why I like this episode without giving away the whole plot.

Sarek - This episode can be pretty sad as it deals with dementia and what it can do to people.

Menage a Troi - Any episode with Deanna’s mother, Lwaxana, is always a funny one. (Except the one that is sad, more on that later.) This episode is excellent because we get to hear Sir Patrick Stewart recite Shakespeare in the most over-the-top delivery possible.

Best of Both Worlds, parts one and two - THE CLIFFHANGER TO END ALL CLIFFHANGERS HOLY SHIT THIS EPISODE HAS ALL THE DRAMA

Family - A follow-up to Best of Both Worlds. Deals with family that is gone, family that can be A Bit Much, and family that is estranged.

Suddenly Human - This episode is similar to the Deep Space Nine episode Cardassians: a boy who has been adopted by others is discovered and found to have living family who want him back. Which family is the child supposed to stay with?

Darmok - An episode all about language and how ideas are communicated. Yes it has some flaws, but overall it is interesting from a linguistic point of view. By the end of the episode, you will understand how darmok=memes and inside jokes.

The First Duty - A good Wesley episode. This explores truth, loyalty, and doing what is right.

I, Borg - The Enterprise rescues a Borg teenager, who begins to develop individuality. He is named Hugh. Hugh is adorable.

The Inner Light - THIS IS THE BEST EPISODE EVER. IF THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING ON THIS LIST THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING PLEASE AT LEAST WATCH THIS.

Rascals - Picard and a few other randos (no seriously why is this bunch of people even on a shuttle together?) experience a transporter malfunction and are beamed aboard the Enterprise, except they materialise as pre-teen children! This episode is just pure fun. Contains: bby!Picard throwing a tantrum, and bby!Guinan jumping on the bed.

*Frame of Mind - This is a pretty heavy episode that deals with hallucinations. Riker is supposed to be performing in a play, but suddenly he’s in an alien mental institution and accused of murder. Riker repeatedly flashes between being on the Enterprise and being in the institution and he increasingly cannot tell which is real.

*Technically, this episode does not contain gaslighting even though it will seem like it. Please make sure you are in a good place if you decide to watch this episode.

**Dark Page - Lwaxana Troi is back! But something is up with her.

**I can’t explain why this is a serious episode without giving it away, so here it is: this episode deals with child death.

Deep Space Nine

By far my absolute favourite series, and the only one I have seen every episode of. Deep Space Nine is about a Cardassian space station that is now occupied by joint Federation and Bajoran forces. Deep Space Nine just so happens to be situated right by a stable wormhole that goes to another quadrant of space that would take years and years and years to travel to by starship alone. Naturally, everyone wants to be in control of the wormhole. The closest planet, Bajor, was until recently occupied by Cardassians. (Think of Cardassians as Space Russians.) The Bajorans are deeply spiritual people (literally every fucking Bajoran subscribes to the same religion) and they believe that their gods reside in the wormhole. (THEY ARE WORMHOLE ALIENS FFS AND THEY DON’T CARE ONE BIT ABOUT BAJOR OR CARDASSIA OR THE FEDERATION.) Because this series is set on a space station that does not go anywhere, we get to see that actions have consequences. If Next Generation was the fuck around series, this one is the find out series.

Emissary - A two-parter and our introduction to Deep Space Nine and the majority of the major characters in this show. 

Past Prologue - This episode is important because we meet Garak, a tailor and the only Cardassian still living on the station. What could he possibly be doing here?

Duet - A Cardassian arrives at the station, as they often do, but this one seems to be hiding something. This explores topics of colonialism, genocide, terrorism, and how complicated people really are. This was one of the episodes that made me watch the entirety of DS9. (The other was Take Me Out to the Holosuite.)

Cardassians - Another Garak episode. This one has a similar plot to the Next Generation episode Suddenly Human. Garak and Bashir discover a Cardassian boy is the adopted son of a Bajoran man. But since Bajorans and Cardassians kind of hate each other because Cardassions tried to colonize Bajor, there is a concern that the Cardassian boy is being abused by his adopted father. To make matters worse, Gul Dukat gets involved. (Gul Dukat is played by a native Wisconsinite!)

Shadowplay - Kind of similar to the Next Generation episode Survivors.

The Wire - Garak episode! This episode deals with the topic of addiction and friendship.

Second Skin - Kira might actually be an undercover Cardassian agent?!?

Crossover - Welcome back to the mirror universe, which we haven't seen since the OG series. Here we find out what happened after Kirk left that universe. Told you this was the 'find out' series.

Fascination - A fun Lwaxana episode

Past Tense, parts one and two - Time travel episode! This episode takes place August 30-September 1, 2024. The Bell Riots occurred in San Francisco, and were a turning point in earth history. These are pretty heavy episodes, and they deal with things that still resonate today: poverty, racism, classism, homelessness.

The Visitor - Similar vibes to The Inner Light. Sisko jumps through time at increasing intervals. Meanwhile, Jake lives his life with his father literally popping into existance for a short time only. Jake is older every time. Sisko is not.

Trials and Tribble-ations - The 'find out' episode to OG Trek's Trouble With Tribbles. This is just a really cool episode that blends footage from OG Trek with DS9.

Things Past - An interesting episode where some of the crew wake up in the bodies of people living on the station during the Cardassian occupation.

Ties of Blood and Water - Kira's Cardassian "father" (the guy from Second Skin) arrives on the station.

In the Cards - Jake and Nog do increasingly weird tasks in their quest to obtain a baseball card for Jake's father. Oh and that bitch Kai Winn is there too.

Statistical Probabilities - This episode introduces the Jack Pack! They're a bunch of genetically altered humans, just like Bashir! Oh, and they are extremely neurodivergent and would probably be tons of fun to hang out with.

Far Beyond the Stars - The crew, but what if they were science fiction writers in the 50s? Deals with the topic of racism.

In the Pale Moonlight - How far is Sisko willing to go to get the Romulans to join the war against the Dominion?

Take Me Out to the Holosuite - One of DS9's obligatory holosuite episodes. A Vulcan that Sisko knows shows up and in a very un-Vulcan-like manner boasts to Sisko that he and his crew are superior beings who have been trying Sisko's favorite sport and just absolutely crushing it. Sisko challenges him to a baseball game. The only problem is that most of his crew are not human and have never played baseball before.

Chrysalis - Have you ever read Flowers for Algernon? The Jack Pack returns.

#socks list #star trek #the next generation #deep space nine #star trek tng #star trek the next generation #star trek tos #star trek ds9 #star trek deep space nine #star trek deep space 9

[myrddinmirror]

The Divine Plan Theory

I'd like to talk about MOTIVES. My first investigation started with a question I asked myself: "Why does Gabriel need a big box?" This theory begins with the question: "Why does the Metatron need Aziraphale?" No one has so far convincingly answered it. The only logical version that was voiced: he was afraid of the miracle of 25 lazarus and decided to separate the couple. There are several questions about the idea:

What could stop Crowley from coming to Heaven AGAIN?

Why shouldn't Crowley change his mind after a little alone time?

How can the Metatron interfere if Crowley shows up in Heaven and says: "Yes, I want to become an angel, you promised"?

Who will prevent the Supreme Archangel from visiting Earth as often as he wishes?

Why give one of the strong enemies even more power? After all, the position of Archangel implies an increase in available power, right?

Having kidnapped Aziraphale, the Metatron leaves the enraged enemy on Earth. With the power of the Throne or more, who moreover belongs to the Other Side.

Why would the Metatron start a complicated conversation, manipulate, etc., if he could just let Michael run the Extreme Sanctions?

Suppose the Book of Life is unavailable. The Metatron can still request the subordinate angel to report to Heaven at any time and erase his memory there immediately.

He can just let Michael launch Armageddon 2.0 again, confirming that she is now the Supreme Archangel. What can Aziracrow do on Earth? They won’t even know about the End of Days until it’s too late.

Please give me a convincing answer to at least one of these questions, and I will drop my theory.

Well, if you’re willing to listen to me, let’s move on.

Two Plans

In the Good Omens universe there are two Plans of development: the Great, which is known to all parties, including Humanity (Armageddon, the Second Coming) and the Ineffable, the secret game of the Almighty, the rules of which no one knows. Heaven and Hell are guided by the Great Plan, but nothing is known about the Ineffable, except that it exists. And it definitely exists, the Almighty Themselves tell us about this at the beginning of the first episode of the first season.

The Archangels and the Dukes of Hell prefer not to think about this mysterious game because it doesn't fit into the established status quo and introduces too many unknown variables into the usual existence (too much of a headache for the authorities). So, speculations about the Ineffable Plan remain a verbal game for marginals, such as a boring bibliophile angel lost somewhere in a corner of the Earth.

Probably, there was only one Plan in the Beginning. God were young, cruel and quick to slaughter. We haven't seen the Fall yet. Perhaps this event has cooled off the Almighty's ardor. Did They understand what violence leads to and have grown up a little? Then the Flood - and a bit of growing up again? The Great Plan remained as it was, but God changed. Of course, They were not going to appear in front of Their children and, blushing with embarrassment, explain: "You know, I went through a period of youthful maximalism, I was probably wrong about something…". This is how two Plans appeared.

The Almighty

The Almighty is a full-fledged actor. They make decisions, manipulate events. At the beginning of History They did it more roughly and openly (the Flood - Job), then more and more subtly. But They are still playing - we see it. They gave all Their creatures Free Will: mortals, angels, and demons (1) but in some miraculous way everyone does what They want. Imagine that you are walking around the city, come to a street intersection and you can turn right or left, and suddenly a big dirty rat runs by on the right. You turn left, although no one forced you to do so, right? Their work is even more subtle.

How do we understand whether Their Plan leads to Good or Evil? Do you think They want to destroy the Earth? It does not look like. They tried the Flood, and They didn’t like it (2). Sodom and Gomorrah? Thank you, no more. Look from the beginning of History: of course, They wanted mortals to bite an apple (3), They obviously know that a certain angel gave people his sword. Well, They don't mind. They know that Job won because of Aziracrow's cheating. There is no punishment. Is it possible for subordinate creatures to go unpunished if the Almighty God is angry with them? Why would They replace babies, if not to make Armageddon less likely? A warning from Agnes Nutter that flew out of the book, and so timely and successfully fell right into the hands of Aziraphale? Was it just a gust of wind? Did the Almighty want Their children to be executed?

You can never be sure that you understand God, but it seems to me that They want the Earth and all Their children to continue to exist, because "God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (4)

In both seasons we are periodically shown a view from above. Obviously, this is the look of God (5).

They hear words directed to Them, but don't respond with speech. Gabriel’s words in the voice of the Almighty (6): "I remember when the morning stars sang together, and the all Angels of God shouted for joy" are hints to the angel and the demon. God doesn't command or ask, because for an angel, even a request from God would mean an ORDER, and thus means a refusal of Free Will. They TEST Their children. God is still quite cruel in Their trials. In the first season, the world was minutes away from the End, and Aziraphale had to deal with the destruction of his bookstore and Crowley suffered the loss of his angel. Do you think the fire was an accident? Just a windflaw? Then look at this frame, who set it up?

At the same time, the Book of Prophecies also "quite by accident" turns out to be lying on the floor right in front of Crowley. Why this fire, why so much pain? Well, perhaps They were unhappy that Aziraсrow were moving too slowly. "Don't dawdle." Azi thinks a lot after the minisode with Job. Test again? Cause to worry. Aziraphale is worried and calls for Crowley, but Crowley is GONE. Likewise, the demon will leave in the finale.

However, beyond glances and wind gusts, it would be nice for God to have agents on Earth to directly influence events when necessary.

Field Agent the Metatron

The most obvious helper, you’d be surprised, the Metatron. Well, he’s the Voice of God. Walks the Earth, unrecognized by anyone, ingested things (7), doesn't arouse suspicion among mortals - apparently, he has been in the field for a long time.

Really, why did everyone assume he was the main antagonist? Because of the serious expression on his face or the stare at Crowley? Manipulator - Yes. Crude methods, intimidation - YES. But an unfriendly appearance doesn't mean that a person is on the side of evil.

I know where it came from - the scene in the first season. (And yes, also from the book. But the book canon and the series canon are different canons for me.) Let’s analyze that dialogue in detail, because it's important (8).

-You are speaking to the Metatron, Aziraphale. To speak to me is to speak to God. I'm the Voice of the Almighty. What is said to me is said to the Almighty -The important thing is the Antichrist. I know who he is, I know where he is. -Good work, well done. -So there doesn't need to be any of that nonsense about a third of the seas turning to blood or anything. There needn't be a war. We can save everyone. -The point is not to avoid the war. The point is to win it. -What sort of initiating event will precipitate the war? -We thought a multi-nation nuclear exchange would be a nice start. -Very imaginative. -The battle commences, Aziraphale. Join us. -In a jiffy. Two shakes of a lamb's tail. Just a couple of things left to tie up. -We will leave the gateway open for you, then. Do not dawdle.

The dialogue begins with the Metatron’s assertion that talking to him equals talking to God. Many are wary because they don't believe that God desires evil. They're right. But I suggest you believe that the Metatron is telling the truth, because he ALSO means no harm. Praising Aziraphale for finding the Antichrist. It’s not a mockery, it’s sincere: "You’re doing great, you’re doing everything right".

"The point is not to avoid the war. The point is to win it": "Saving the Earth is YOUR mission. Do you want an easy way for the Almighty to do everything for you? It’s not gonna happen".

Nuclear war. It wasn’t the Metatron’s idea, it wasn’t his plan. Did he say "We want it"? No. It’s a prediction of what the Horsemen will do, a clue to the angel. And the Metatron has no gift of omniscience, it’s an attribute of God.

"The battle commences, Aziraphale. Join us." - "Join our team, the battle for Earth begins now".

"Do not dawdle". We already know that the Metatron knows how to be harsh, knows how to order (9). If he was playing for Armageddon, he could say, "You can’t stay here doing anything, because this place is about to turn to dust. Troops built, get in line now!" Instead, he said, "If you want, you can come to Heaven, but if you have work to do (if you want to save the Earth), then hurry up, there’s almost no time left".

You know, the Metatron may not know the Ineffable Plan, he’s really just a Will of God translator. He may not understand the Plan or sympathize with Aziraphale (much less Crowley). He simply does his duty as he is told. Think about the fact that the Metatron actually has NO reason why he should go AGAINST God's Will.

If Michael is stubborn in her determination to complete the Great Plan, it doesn't mean that ALL angels are. The Metatron DOES NOT obey the Archangels. Moreover, it seems that Michael annoys him with his excessive fanaticism.

In the Last Fifteen, Azi starts a conversation with Crowley with "The Metatron, you know, I don't think he's as bad a fellow. Well, I think I might've misjudged him". (thought after that scene in the first season). He may have begun to understand the motives of the Voice of God, but he failed to convey his insight to Crowley. You will object, why then doesn’t he tell the demon directly: "I think the Metatron needs us to prevent the End of the World from happening"? Firstly, because this is only an assumption and in fact Aziraphale is scared by the Metatron's words, which sound like a threat. And secondly, because Crowley obviously won't believe or agree. The demon RENOUNCED from Heaven, from God, he hates them and will never go to work FOR THEM in his life (10). Therefore, Aziraphale asks: "Work with ME! I NEED YOU!" He probably thinks that by bringing Crowley to Heaven he can protect him (from Hell at least). The angel knows that Crowley loves him immeasurably more than God. But even this doesn't help. I don’t judge Crowley, he has his reasons. But the fact remains - Crowley LEAVES.

In the Last Fifteen, Aziraphale is actually threatened by the Metatron. In any case, the words about his partnership with Crowley sound like a threat:

-I've been looking back over a number of your previous exploits, and I see that in quite a few of them you formed a de facto partnership with the demon Crowley. Now, if you wanted to work with him again, that… might be considered irregular, but…

That's his way of doing things. As you noticed, he's not very friendly in general. So, he is given the task of returning Aziraphale to Heaven (I remember about MOTIVES, we will return to them). Let’s review his manipulation technique a little more.

First a gift: "Well, I brought you a coffee from the shop". A gesture that should appease the interlocutor. It’s like the first "yes" in a negotiation: if you agree with your opponent once, then it’s harder to refuse.

Step two is to have a one-to-one conversation.

Step three is flattery. A set of obvious lies (11), because we have all seen how Aziraphale knows how to lie, how he tries to be a good subordinate and not contradict his superiors unnecessarily (12).

Step four - offer. Aziraphale refuses, well, the Metatron has an ace up his sleeve: "You can make Crowley an angel again. You will take him with you to Heaven. We don't mind." A very strong move. But Aziraphale is not so simple, so we move on.

Step five is an alternative that cannot be accepted. The illusion of choice, where in reality there is no choice. "You can refuse the proposed position, I’m not forcing you. But. I know about your fraternization with the demon. And that’s not what Heaven approves of, if you know what I mean…"

The methods are shitty, but the task is completed.

Saraqael and Muriel

The Metatron is undoubtedly the main conductor of the God's Will. But he also needs help. As we already found out in the previous theory, Saraqael is very familiar with the Metatron, she immediately recognized him in human form. Why? Obviously, because she saw him on Earth more than once. All operational information flows to Saraqael; she is the first to know about everything that happens in Heaven and Earth (13). It is Saraqael who sends Muriel to spy on Aziraphale. Moreover, she has the power to erase angels' memories and turn mortals into salt pillars (why doesn’t Michael do this?).

There’s an interesting detail. Remember how Saraqael spotted Crowley looking through Gabriel’s file and didn’t turn on the alarm? (14) Do you remember how a little later Crowley and the Archangels descended to Earth?

Who do you think told Michael and Uriel to come and WHO told them not to hurt Crowley? Saraqael is not technically an Archangel, but is actually the second person in Heaven after the Metatron. She makes her own decisions and DOESN'T LOOK like she's working for the Great Plan.

Muriel, who was "recruited" by Saraqael and apparently must report directly to her, easily falls under the Metatron's command. It is clear that she could not object to the Voice of God, but he also hires her quite calmly (are there any more angels in Heaven?), without worrying that the information she receives may leak into the "wrong" hands. He is not afraid precisely because he and Saraqael play on the same team.

Undercover Agent Maggie

We come to a dubious point. I think Maggie is an angel in the Metatron's service. Moreover - the Ascended demon. We are being hinted that Maggie is not so easy in the first note she writes to Aziraphale (15). Spelling problems are the demons feature in the Good Omens universe. Maggie doesn’t look like a demon. But there’s definitely something wrong with her.

I'm sure her quirks have been covered many times before, but let's quickly recap:

a) she cries very unnaturally (but she seems to be genuinely interested in Nina). b) she owns a record store c) she thanks Aziraphale for his kindness with the words "You are an angel." d) she is not affected by some miracles. e) she has no fear of demons. f) her words ("You wanna come in here and say that to my face?" ) work for demons as a permission to come in. g) she doesn't leave the store during the assault, doesn't ask questions like "what's going on here" (unlike Nina) and helps Aziraphale fight off the demons. h) she decides that it's very urgent to talk to Crowley, tearing Nina away from her work right in front of the line of customers. i) Nina calls her "angel". j) she doesn't drink alcohol (16)

Why all these weird things actually matter:

a) with her "financial difficulties" she attracts Aziraphale’s attention, and with her tears forces him to ask what happened, and thereby draws him into close communication just at the moment when Gabriel disappears from Heaven. Coincidence! b) you can come up with any plausible legend, no one will check anyway, but it is incredibly convenient to be the owner of a rare record store for an antique record player, and how lucky that the only one who needs them lives right across the street. c) there are many words of thanks, but she chooses this one. It’s like trying to give a sign: "I know who you are". d) some miracles don’t work on her at all, on Nina - not much. Is it because Nina is under her "wing"? e) it’s not a very natural reaction for an ordinary person to stand face-to-face with a crowd of angry otherworldly creatures who just "devoured" your neighbor and tell them that you grew up with brothers, and therefore you are not afraid (hey, even Crowley and Aziraphale are very nervous). f) if an invitation from any mortal worked, it would be too easy for any demon to get where he wants: give a coin to a beggar and he would happily hold the door for you. g) why does she need all this? There are much safer ways to impress a girl, especially since you are actually putting her in serious danger by getting into a fight that’s none of your business. h) is it really so urgent? It’s like she’s deliberately pushing the demon to lose control of himself at the worst possible moment. Nina warns her: "It won’t do any good". But she replies as if she had received an order: "It doesn’t matter. We have to tell them". i) yes, it’s just a term of affection, but there are a lot of other affectionate words out there, why that? a clue? j) in itself this would not be strange if not for all the other points. In addition, we remember how in the time of Job Aziraphale reacted to the offer of a drink (17)

Why do I think Maggie is not just an angel, but a former demon? Because it fits into the scenario logic: so many characters, events, or even items in the series have mirrors. So, if the plot mentioned the possibility of Ascending, then it's very likely that it will be played with respect to another character. Anyway it’s not really the most important part of the current theory.

What conclusions can I draw based on the above? Maggie was a demon, and then somehow she earned forgiveness. Few in Heaven may have the ability to Ascend: the Almighty, the Metatron, and (possibly) the Supreme Archangel. But no one ever mentioned that someone has been Ascended. Officially, this never happened. So when it happened one day, it remained a secret (no one wants it to come out and shake the status quo, just like Gabriel’s Fall). And then this angel goes to Earth: to work secretly among people or among angels - earthly representatives of Heaven (or maybe demons), wherever special finesse and insignificance are required.

The Metatron had probably been keeping an eye on Aziraphale (or all the angels on Earth) for a long time, his dossier on him must be quite extensive, and he could not help but realize that Aziraphale is the special one. And at some point Maggie goes to be nearby (eyes and ears that not only ducks have). Gabriel's escape is an extraordinary enough event to command the agent to activate. This is where season two began.

A little more about Motives

So, the Almighty doesn't want Armageddon and the End of the World. Through cunning manipulation of babies, and a dedication of one angel and one demon, Armageddon 1.0 fails. But the Heaven-Hell bureaucracy still needs it (it's the Great Plan!). Somehow so imperceptibly it turns out that the Supreme Archangel and Duke of Hell, responsible for the beginning of Armageddon 2.0, withdraw. Free will, a little luck, a couple of minor passes of the divine hands in the dark, and now the End of Days has not happened again, and seats at the top of the two hierarchies are vacant.

Our divine conspirators need to put someone on the throne who will help successfully fail the Second Coming. The candidacy is obvious, and it’s definitely not Michael (18). So I believe that although the Metatron’s methods are brutal and his flattery is false, in the main he told Aziraphale the truth:

-There are huge plans afoot, enormous projects, and I will need you to run them. You are just the angel for the job. … Well, I can't think of a better angel to wrap things up, and to set into motion the next step in the Great Plan. It's something we need an angel of your talents to direct. An angel who is familiar with how they do things on Earth.

The Voice of God did it. Yeah, Aziraphale and Crowley had a fight and now they’re not talking. God knows if it’s what the Metatron wanted. Maybe yes, maybe no. I'm inclined to think he wanted both of them. This is a much more logical option (see questions at the very top). But the Ineffable Plan is still ineffable, and everything that happens must lead to the best.

I wonder if Crowley will understand the Almighty's hint about the Second Coming? (19) Place bets.

By the way, have you noticed? The Metatron often says WE. Who are "we"? Heaven is only a habitat. And each Archangel plays his own game. So "we" isn’t "all of us, angels," it’s a specific "we": "God, me and our team". Besides, "we," are probably Jesus and Adam. I don’t think Jesus wants the End of the World, wants to cast people into Hell (even bad ones), or destroy demons. But he needs allies in Heaven - those who will not run joyfully to blow the trumpet of the Last Judgment and send misfortune to Earth. And Michael, Sandalphon and Uriel are among those who will (20).

(1) Neil's answers about free will: here and here (2) S1 Ep.3 02:08 "The Almighty's going to put up a new thing, called a "rain bow", as a promise not to drown everyone again". (3) S1 Ep.1 04:15 "Fruit tree in the middle of a garden with a "Don't Touch" sign. I mean, why not put it on the top of a high mountain?" (4) Genesis 1:31 (5) During the assault: is this not the gaze of God, but of the Metatron? (6) 21:34 Ep.2 (7) 35:54 Ep.6 "I've ingested things in my time, you know". (8) 50:26 S1 Ep.4 (9) 33:56 Ep.6 "Right, you, you, you, back to Heaven, spit, spot, not another word. … Well, go on, off you go, the lot of you!" (10) 42:58 Ep.6 -He said I could appoint you to be an angel. You could come back to Heaven and… -And you told him just where he could stick it, then? (11) 41:54 Ep.6 "You're a leader, you're honest, you don't just tell people what they want to hear". (12) 13:14 S1 Ep.1, 01:15 S1 Ep.2, 38:54 S1 Ep.3, 04:49 S1 Ep.4 ("I'm soft!"), 13:50 Ep.2, 39:10 Ep.2 (13) Muriel first takes the matchbox to Saraqael, and she is the first at the globe with a miracle of 25 lazarus. (14) 10:56 Ep.6 (15) 08:24 Ep.1 "ugrency" (16) a) 10:22 Ep.2 b) 38:01 Ep.1 c) 24:30 Ep.1 "Oh, Mr. Fell, about the rent. I just want to say, you're an angel". d) 37:03 Ep.5 e) 02:17 Ep.6 "You lot are ridiculous" f) 03:37 Ep.6 g) 37:20 Ep.5 "I'm not leaving him to face them on his own". h) 37:33 Ep.6 i) 38:52 Ep.6 j) 36:49 Ep.1 -I don't drink. I just never wanted to. I don't like the taste. -Well, I need a drink. -No judgement. (17) 30:15 Ep.2 (18) Oh, Aziraphale knows how to be willful! That’s why he is needed, because for thoughtless order execution there are other Archangels. (19) 38:53 Ep.3 "There will come a tempest, and darkness, and great storms. And the dead will leave their graves and walk the earth once more. And there will be great lamentations. Every day it's getting closer". (20) Michael is the main antagonist of the third season, I am SURE. Sandalphon loved to destroy people of Sodom and Gomorrah. And Uriel already had her first question.

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #good omens theory #the Metatron #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #ineffable fandom #goodomens #gomens #gomens 2

[lady-sci-fi]

I find it interesting how TNG and DS9 did the same plot with Data/Geordi and Miles/Keiko in “TNG: The Most Toys” and “DS9: Armageddon Game”.

Data and Miles “die” at the start of the episodes with very good evidence that they are dead. Data’s shuttle explosion with his components in the right proportions in the debris. The video recording of Miles being disintegrated in a radiation burst.

Geordi and Keiko have an initially kind of stoic reaction to it, which I read as disbelief. They then both seem to accept it for a little while, although we only see Geordi going through Data’s things and not Keiko doing the same.

Geordi and Keiko get it into their minds that Data and Miles are not dead, because of one tiny thing they believe was off about their behavior before they died. Data not saying the piloting protocol word-for-word on his last trip. Miles drinking coffee in the afternoon.

This leads Geordi and Keiko to think that they aren’t dead, and they’re both very set in this idea. They manage to convince the others, and Data and Miles are rescued.

But there are two differences.

One is that there’s much more emphasis on Geordi’s experience of Data’s death and his denial of it. Keiko doesn’t get to show the same for Miles.

Two is that Geordi was completely right about the slight offness of Data’s behavior. Keiko was wrong, because Miles does regularly drink coffee in the afternoon.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this.

Except maybe the vague notion of Geordi’s attention to Data being played completely seriously, while Keiko’s attention to Miles being played as a bit of a joke?

#tng #ds9 #data #geordi laforge #daforge #miles o'brien #keiko o'brien #star trek : the next generation #Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls 2/16, There's The Rub, The Part Where Dean Shows Up And Ruins Everything, Part 5

Read parts 1-4 and all other episodes in my pinned post. This one may not come across as terribly funny; I felt the urge to continue with this episode but I also felt a bit off my humor game, probably because it's 8,000 fucking degrees outside. Maybe that's what's draining my funny juices. But it does contain a bonus surprise (something I've never done before), so read on. Where we last left off, we were moments away from armageddon as Dean was heading over to the Gilmore house, with his fucking pint of ice cream in a bag, ignoring Rory's wishes to be left alone because consent has never been his forte, hell bent on destroying this evening of blissful harmony being shared between Jess, Rory, and Paris. Rory has just checked the Butthead News and Weather report and learned that a Level 5 DeanStorm is bearing down on the Gilly Girls house. She immediately shifts into panic mode as she tries to evacuate everyone from the house.

I swear he is too smart for his own good. #AdmireTheBaby #ISAIDADMIREHIM

Please don't go, my love.

God, I'm ashamed to admit how long it took me to notice this was actualy a clever ploy to get Rory alone in her room. Clever baby.

I thought Jess was saying he wants to sit down and have a heart to heart talk with Rory, then I realized he actually meant Dean and that is way funnier. I love the absurd image of those two idiots working together to achieve mature conflict resolution. Totally bonkers concept. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Dean and Jess would just fucking make out with each other there would be peace in Stars Hollow. Rory would be spared, Lindsey would be spared, Lorelai would watch her dreams of marrying Dean Forrester wither on the vine, Shane would still be alive and not murdered by Jess after the dance marathon...

Milos "tiny little ice cream package" line delivery in the following scene is so fucking adorable that I went ahead and made it into a video clip. I should start doing this more often tbh.

I don't know how Jess is always so fearless around Dean, if I were Jess I'd be pissing my fucking pants. Dean fucking terrifies me.

Shit. Is the cold fear that this fictional character instills in me on a regular basis a testament to Jared Padalecki's acting or what? I mean, I hope it's just acting. It's a little too convincing.

He is one scary motherfucker.

Poor Paris. Dean is so horrible to Rory in the next scene, like he is just getting more and more abusive towards Rory as time goes on. So you know what, I'm not even going to write about it. Fuck Dean Forrester. Paris jumps to Rory's defense and makes up an excuse to calm Dean down from his jealous rage and it works. I wish I just could give the both of them (Paris and Rory) a great big hug. Paris is a hero and her love for Rory knows no bounds.

You are not. Fuck you!

Rory, honey. No...just no. 😭

#denise rewatches gilmore girls #rory gilmore #jess mariano #milo ventimiglia #gilmore girls season 2 #theres the rub #paris geller #anti dean forester #The MESSAGES these shows were planting in our young millennial brains #Dean yells at Rory so she apologizes to him and kisses him #and promises not to spend her time with anyone else #like #I didn’t watch these kind of shows when they first aired #so this still blows my mind there was tv like this

[walkingstackofbooks]

The first time Sisko calls him "Julian"

I'm back on my spreadsheet bs (finally, it's so nice to be back!) and I've just got to Season Three and my Siskoshir heart cannot wait until I do the main analysis to talk about Sisko calling Julian "Julian"...

SO-

Right, so far Sisko has used Julian's name twice - once in Armageddon Game (2x13) when Julian is presumed dead, to tell Dax "Find out how I can contact Julian's family."; the other is in The Abandoned (3x06) when he introduces them both to the Jem'Hadar child as "I'm Benjamin, and that's Julian."

Usually, when talking to Julian (55/64 times in the 1st and 2nd series, to be exact), he calls him Doctor, and Past Tense (3x11, 3x12) is no exception. BUT, in 3x11 he calls Julian by his name for the first time and it's clearly not just random.

On the first day as they are talking, Sisko uses "Doctor" 4 times - but on the second, when Sisko wakes him up with food, he says, "Here you go, Julian." :3 :3 :3 I leave it to you whether that is the first time he uses Julian, whether they got closer the night before as they talked, or if it's been said off-screen many times; but I think it's significant that this canonical shift happens right here.

There are three more times Sisko calls Julian by a name in Past Tense:

Later that day when Julian asks to take a look at Webb's boy, Sisko simply says "Julian." to try and stop him (it doesn't)

That evening, when Bell has just got killed, and Julian is upset that he hadn't had a medkit to save him, Sisko changes back and says, "You did all you could, Doctor." :3

When Dax has arrived and they've all caught up with each other, Sisko says "Julian, I want you to help Dax find the men who took her comm. badge and then I want you both to get away from this place."

(And of course, that's the bit when Julian replies, "Sir, obviously Jadzia has got to leave... But you're still going to need help to keep those hostages alive, and if it's all the same to you, I'll stay." Which, 🥰🥰🥰, but also Julian responding with "Sir" to it is interesting idk 🤷‍♀️)

An addition:

Sisko does not use first names very often:

at this point he has never called Nerys or Miles by their first name (tbf neither have most of the crew)

of the 8 times he has called Dax "Jadzia", 6 were from episodes where he was differentiating between her and the Dax symbiont AND her life was in danger. By contrast, he has called her "Lieutenant" 19 times, and "Dax" 51!

he even calls Odo "Constable" about 60% of the time, rather than using his name, unlike most of the crew

So I think it's actually pretty significant that here he does choose, for whatever reason, to call Julian by his first name. And it has melted my heart just that little bit more for them :3 :3 :3

#Siskoshir #Siskoshir meta #DS9 stats #Benjamin Sisko #Julian Bashir #my Trek musings #andi's spreadsheet project #I should have been in bed an hour ago but I couldn't sleep without sharing this! #WSB

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Keiko O’Brien

By Ames

Ring ring ring. Take your seats. The first period school bell just rang, and that means we’ve got to talk about Star Trek’s botanist-turned-school-marm: Keiko Ishikawa O’Brien. She’s another character that bridges both TNG and DS9, the former cementing her mostly in the role of Miles’s wife and the latter taking every opportunity to give her the week off. Keiko never really gets a fair shake on either show, which is a shame because she has so much potential. So A Star to Steer Her By is going to give her some time in the sun this week to see how she grows! Like a plant… because she’s a botanist… Moving on.

Amusingly, even though last week we joked that all of Garak’s moments should go on BOTH his Best and Worst Moments lists, it’s actually Keiko for whom we’re seeing the most simultaneously good and bad arguments! So grab your pruning shears and ring your school bell with us as you read on below and listen to us argue with Miles on the promenade on this week’s podcast episode (jump to 59:28), or else you’ll have to stay late for detention!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Try to touch the cup Introduced halfway through The Next Generation, Keiko mostly seems to be around to support other characters. So in “Violations,” she’s there to help with the investigation into the mind-probing Ullians. She doesn’t do much, but she’s there. And we’ve got to admit that her scene remembering her childhood with her grandmother is rather sweet.

I would die to save the life of my child Keiko shows some badassery in “Power Play” when Miles is possessed by a being who seems to relish the idea of tormenting its host’s significant other, really twisting the knife and making things personal. Keiko bravely demands that the being let baby Molly go and even expresses she would rather die than let this thing survive. This all to the face of the man she loves!

So easy a child could do it I shit on “Rascals” a lot (and rightly so), but one thing it actually succeeds in is giving Keiko something to do. Even if it is the child form of Keiko, and not that great a child actor to boot. But she does get to help foil the Ferengi takeover of the ship, which somehow the adults on the ship are unable to do. So, uh, low bar but she and the other kid-crew leap over that sucker.

Children are the future By the time Miles and Keiko have moved over to Deep Space Nine, the little missus is looking for some way to contribute now that her botanying is basically on pause, and she leaps feet first into taking on the education of all the children on the station in “A Man Alone.” It’s a commendable endeavor since, even in the future, teaching is drastically underappreciated.

Separation of religion and station We also have to stand up and applaud Keiko for standing up to Vedek Winn in “In the Hands of the Prophets” when the Bajoran leader wants her to stop teaching the science of the wormhole and instead enforce their backwards religion. Keiko’s spot-on response “I don't teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs; that's your job” is the secular philosophy Star Trek is all about.

You know, that was a very ugly thing you just said We give Miles shit for his anti-Cardassian racism, so it’s refreshing to see Keiko do the same and call him in on his dog whistling in “Cardassians.” Miles tries to insinuate that Cardassians had gentleness bred out of them, and Keiko won’t hear it. She lets Rugal stay with them, she encourages him to play with Molly, and she even tries (and fails) to feed him like she would any kid.

It keeps him up all night! Keiko later foils the Kelleruns’ plan in “Armageddon Game” when she sees through their doctored recording of the harvester-deactivation team getting wiped out by some failsafe or other. The whole thing, of course, is a lie. Without Keiko insisting that the thing is a forgery because Miles wouldn’t be drinking coffee ends up saving the lives of Bashir and O’Brien.

We call it Voight-Kampff for short Viewers at home don’t even realize it until the end, but Keiko does a great job not rumbling the game for Miles’s replicant in “Whispers.” The twist at the end reveals that she’s been hiding from him that everyone on the station knows he’s not the real Miles, but she manages to keep him from fulfilling whatever his directive and treats him like the actual deal as much as she can.

I have no intention of testifying against my husband Even while cemented into the limiting role of “Miles’s wife,” Keiko gets some moments to shine. Ostensibly, she attends Miles’s trial in “Tribunal” just to be the face of the defendant’s family (and to give Miles the chance to blame domestic abuse if he wants), but Keiko never gives the corrupt judiciaries what they want, pushing back against their legal system the whole time.

Be the best damned botanist in the galaxy When Keiko is forced to close down the school when the Bajoran kiddos leave the station in “The House of Quark,” she’s back to where she started in the premiere. So it’s great to have her go back to her roots and agree to join the agrobiology expedition on Bajor rather than wallow in despair. Was it just to write her out of episodes? A little, but at least it’s in character.

Cheer him up a little This one probably belongs on Miles’s Worst Moments list, so let’s cover it now. Miles spends “Accession” moping that he can’t hang out with Bashir anymore now that Keiko’s back from her botany assignment, even though she never once gives him any indication he can’t still have fun. So she tricks him into going to play with his friend like setting up a toddler playdate.

You’re family now More on this in the Worst Moments section, but first let’s praise Keiko for how she treats Kira, who is surrogating Yoshi after the events of “Body Parts.” The O’Briens have Kira move in with them during the pregnancy, and Keiko is super progressive during “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places” about how Miles takes care of the Major. It’s sweet, right? Right…?

—

Worst moments

Runabout Bride I griped about this in both Data’s and Miles’s spotlight posts as well, but really Keiko is the one who started it! In her series debut “Data’s Day,” she continuously tries to call off her own wedding on the day. And even worse than that: she makes poor Data (of all people!) do it for her! The franchise really starts off this character as demonstrably unlikeable. But don’t worry, there’s more!

Plankton loaf du jour Chris put this on our Miles list as well, but it bears repeating. In “The Wounded,” immediately after their marriage, Keiko makes them breakfast of kelp buds, plankton loaf, and sea berries, which to my Western palette sounds awful. And then turns up her nose at Miles’s food culture. Did you two never eat together before this or did you go straight to the “I do”s with a stranger?

Is our marriage over? So Keiko and the kids outsmarting the Ferengi in “Rascals” made the good list, but the rest of her behavior while a child is just WEIRD. As a twelve-year-old, she tries to act like her relationship with Miles should remain the same. Excuse me? It’s one thing for him to be supportive of you in a crisis, but your life is entirely upended. Do not put this man in this position.

This garden transplant didn’t take Another element of the Keiko character that we brought up before in the Miles post comes when they transfer together to DS9 and Keiko effectively loses her job as botanist. How this wasn’t a conversation between the two of them is beyond me, as they spend all of “A Man Alone” publicly fighting at Quark’s and on the promenade about their terrible life choices.

School is now in session The writers strangely decide to make Keiko a school teacher in “A Man Alone” just to keep her character relevant to the new show. It’s a good thing for someone to do, as we mentioned in our Best Moments list, but frankly it feels like a disservice to her character, who already had a life before this. It just didn’t fit the Frontier Station™ setting, so Keiko gets a personality overwrite.

No more pencils, no more books Standing up to Vedek Winn in “In the Hands of the Prophets,” it turns out, is a terrible idea, as Keiko essentially stirs up racial tensions all across the station, resulting in most of the students pulling out of school, which ends up getting blown up. Coincidence? Oh definitely not. And shame on the writers for not giving Keiko another line after the destruction. Boo.

The best part of waking up… We’re still not sure what we think of the reveal that Miles does indeed drink coffee whenever the hell he pleases in “Armageddon Game,” as it negates the insight that Keiko had earlier brought to the episode (and to this blogpost!) when she saves the day. It feels like the writers are saying “nyah nyah!” because it turns out Keiko doesn’t know her husband as well as she thinks.

I don’t even want to sit at the same table with you More fighting in public with Miles. We loved Keiko getting back to her botany roots, but springing on her husband in “Fascination” that her survey expedition was going to take seven months longer than planned is an argument that should not have been happening at Quark’s in the Gratitude Festival. The writers made any excuse they could to not have her on the show!

So you wish Keiko was a man? Keiko is upset at Miles at the top of “Hippocratic Oath” for putting a workshop in the bedroom during one of the myriad times she’s away, and clearly there was another argument about it in which Keiko accuses him of living like a bachelor again. Bitch, you’re not even there 90% of the time. No wonder Miles admits to Julian he wishes she were more like a man.

I think she’s actually enjoying it, Miles We talked in both Kira’s and Miles’s posts about how ridiculous their B-plot was in “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places,” but Keiko is so naive that she keeps forcing them together by accident. What’s even worse: this whole surrogacy plot was a fabulous opportunity to have Keiko and Kira bond instead, as two women who rarely have scenes together. What a ripoff.

Where’re Baloo and Bagheera when you need them? I will never stop giving Miles and Keiko (and to some extent Odo!) grief about how they send feral Molly back into her cave in “Time’s Orphan.” How anyone can neglect their child this blatantly and then be rewarded for it by the episode’s intent is just terrible. Keiko doesn’t even resist the idea when Miles shares it, but is onboard immediately to give up on their child rather than get her actual help.

But the cat came back the very next day A smaller detail in “Time’s Orphan” hints at how Keiko doesn’t like Chester, the cat that O’Brien takes in after he absolutely gets Bilby killed in “Honor Among Thieves.” Keiko strongly insinuates that she’d be happy if Chester ran away, never to return, if they brought him on their picnic. How this woman cannot love this poor orphaned cat is beyond me and deserves some hate.

—

Aaaaand we’re all suspended for setting off stink bombs on the promenade. We’ll be back next week though to highlight Keiko’s arch nemesis. No, not Miles. Kai Winn Adami! Look forward to that, keep up with our trip through the Delphic Expance with us on our Enterprise watchalong on SoundCloud (and the other podcast places), pass notes in class to us on Facebook and Twitter, and no fighting on the promenade!

#star trek #star trek podcast #podcast #the next generation #deep space nine #keiko o'brien #violations #power play #rascals #a man alone #in the hands of the prophets #cardassians #armageddon game #whispers #tribunal #the house of quark #accession #body parts #looking for par'mach in all the wrong places #data's day #the wounded #fascination #hippocratic oath #time's orphan #rosalind chao

[dragontamerno3]

DS9 S2E13 - Armageddon Game

This episode made me cry. Overall it was another mixed bag episode for me but it was pretty good all the same.

I know we have to get through the rougher patches of two people getting to know each other before we can get to true friendship so some of this is just quibbles rather than full issues with it, but the awkwardness between Miles and Bashir did lend to the hot/coldness of this episode. I will say I enjoy tend to enjoy it when the show puts these two together.

I wasn't a fan of how the only thing Miles and Bashir seemed to talk about was women but I was happy when Miles pointed out just how much Bashir obsesses over them. (Also side note, I *really* appreciate the "I'm married not blind" part of the conversation. Just because someone is married doesn't mean people can't still be attractive, it just matters what happens with that person)

Watching how each person reacted to the news of their "deaths was touching" but it was Keiko and Quark that pushed me to tears. Quark's was clearly not necessarily the best but it was clearly an attempt on his part. Keiko's reaction, though, how she could just

tell by Sisko's body language and expression and then how she was clearly shattered but didn't shed a tear? She knew this day was possible, she had worried and stressed about it, enough that when it finally happened she had gone through it enough times to hold herself together. Even for a few minutes.

And Sisko just believing the grieving wife that a late hour cup of coffee was too out of character that there had to be something wrong? I love his trust in his crew or at the very least, her.

Another side note, I actually laughed out loud at the end when Miles asks for coffee and she's baffled that he drinks coffee that late.

I was surprised by the twist that they were all in on the terrorism rather than just one said. They hid it well and made one side super suspicious and the other seem like they were in the dark. I'm not one to be generally thrown for a loop like this (I over analyze, think, and break things down from a writers POV and it can ruin things sometimes for me lol) but this one did take me by surprise.

Also the "when two people nearly die together" convo made me see why some folks are in on the polyam fam bus for Bashir/Miles. lol

7/10 - this one was hard to score cause I legit couldn't care less about Bashir's love life cause he's really gross about woman and I wanted to score it less for that reason but tbh the rest of the episode is pretty solid.

#armageddon game #deep space nine #star trek #star trek ds9 #watchalong #star trek deep space nine #miles x bashir