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hawkins-losers · 2 years

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Nightmare on Elm Street vs Halloween | Robin Buckley x Reader

Summary: You and Robin have a heated cinematic debate about horror movies

Word count: 0.7k

Request: if u haven’t could u do #80 w robin!! (80. crashing your lips together during an argument)

A/N: I do think that Robin is right in this debate and I would love to have cinematic debates like that with her. Anyone else?

‘‘What? You are so wrong and for so many reasons,’‘ Robin argued while stacking the returns after scanning them. ‘’How is Halloween better than Nightmare on Elm Street? John Carpenter is a great filmmaker, but Wes Craven brought originality and a strong premise. He created a memorable villain and unforgettable images- Glen’s gore bed death? The bathtub when Nancy is falling asleep in the bath and Freddy’s hand is the water? The ending? Fucking brilliant! Halloween can’t beat that.’’

Nightmare on Elm Street was a great horror classic, but in your opinion, it wasn’t better or scarier than the original Halloween.

‘’Michael is a much harder villain to escape than Freddy. Freddy targets the children of the ones who killed him. His killings are about revenge. No one stands a chance against Michael. He goes on a stabbing spree without any clear motivation other than to kill every bastard in sight.’’

’’Yeah, but Freddy is scarier. He hunts teenagers in their dreams and kills them in reality. That’s terrifying!’’ A shiver ran down her spine at the thought. ‘’There’s also no way to escape him. You can run from Michael or hide, but the only way to escape Freddy is to not sleep...except you can’t just stop sleeping. Your body needs sleep or else it’s gonna shut down and you can fall into a coma- Is a coma induced still considered sleeping?’’ Robin questioned.

You shrugged, not knowing the answer.

Technically, a coma is a prolonged state of unconsciousness. During coma, your eyes are closed and you do not respond to sounds or other things in your environment. Unlike sleep, you can't be awakened, even with vigorous or painful stimulation.

In a coma, the brain doesn't go through normal sleep cycles. Someone who is sleeping may move if they're uncomfortable, but a person in a coma will not. Therefore, a coma is not the same as sleep.

Would Freddy care though?

‘’Any ways, you’re fucked.’’ Robin looked over your shoulder. ‘’Steve! Come back me up here,’’ she called to her co-worker who was fixing a display some group of kids had knocked over ten minutes ago. ‘’Can you tell Y/N-’’

Steve shook his head before Robin could even finish. ‘’Your girlfriend, your debate. I’m not getting tangled into this again. The last time I participated in one of your cinematic debates, you ended up siding together and shouting at me for finding a movie boring-’’

‘’Because you were in the wrong!’’ you blurted, turning on your heels to face Steve. The guy had terrible movie taste.

‘‘The Shining is a masterpiece and you’re just too basic to understand get it,’’ Robin added, making Steve relive his nightmare. ‘’Jack Nicholson gave an incredible performance and so did Shelley Duvall. The staircase scene was shot 127 times due to Stanley Kubrick’s perfectionism, and Jack Nicholson destroyed nearly 60 doors to get the shot to Kubrick's liking.’’

‘‘Do I even need to bring up the iconic elevator scene?’’

‘’Here we go again…’’ Steve mumbled under his breath, getting horrible PTSD.

‘’Thirdly,’’ Robin continued where she had left of, taking the stack of returned and scanned VHS to put back on the shelves. ‘’Heather Langenkamp hotter than Jamie Lee Curtis.’’

You couldn’t disagree. You had watched Nancy reminded and paused Nancy’s bathtub scene too many times. ‘’I’ll give you that one,’’ you said, following her to the movies section of the store.

‘‘Ha!’’ Robin exclaimed, turning around with a victory grin forming on her lips. ‘’That’s another point for me!’‘

You furrowed eyebrows. ‘‘Another? When did we agree you got a point in the first place-’‘

You didn't get to finish your sentence, Robin's lips crashing on yours, the debate forgotten for a few seconds. Usually, it was you who would kiss her in the middle of a rant. It was nice to have the table turned.

You grabbed her green Family Video vest and pulled her closer, prolonging the kiss.

If you hadn’t been in the middle of her workplace, she would’ve dropped the stack of movies and kept going, but a customer could walk in anytime - and poor Steve was annoyed by all the kissing.

‘‘Does that give me a point?’‘ Robin asked.

You bit your bottom lip and sighed. The hold this girl had on you...

‘‘Okay, you win,’‘ you said in defeat. ‘’But, I still stand that Freddy is easier to survive. If you are not one of the kids of the parents who killed him, you’re safe. Michael is a deranged, murderous psychopath who kills babysitters. We both are babysitters and we can’t run. Oh, and need I remember you that he killed his sister when he was six years old. Babe, we would not survive.’’

Taglist: @broadway-or-noway @violetsleftfist @thelaststraw3 @cursedandromedablack @Slashersimpfor @savagejane1 @wh0reforbucknasty @eddiemunson-slut @slvdsjjk @hehehehannahthings @dreamdancers-world @grace-loux @iamharrystyleslover

Robin Buckley taglist: @uhidklol-26 @prettyplant0 @ran-rap @eddiemvunsongf @batorchids222 @scarlet-kazuha @saphmoth @uhidklol-26 @you-makeme-crazier-blog @spongebob-in-the-upsidedown @swiftbyul

#robin buckley #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley imagine #robin buckley x you #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things s4 #robin stranger things

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kaypeace21 · 3 years

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Will and the car on fire (theories)

*this is just under the assumption this is Will in the pic and not some other character. Which is still very possible .

Why it could be Will (it's for sure possibly not)

But, most of the rebuttals saying it's not Will are iffy. Cause we really don't have much evidence to point to any 1 character. Like the hair counterargument: that the hair is too long to be Will's .Will's s4 body double has a similar hair tuff on the back of his neck. And we know st uses camera shots of the back of Will's neck/silouette ,in past seasons . So doing so here could make sense. And Will of course is the most associated with fire: using fireball for Will the wise in s1 (3 times), the will the wise drawing from s2 had flames on his cloak, Will being being burned in s2,etc.

So...Will looking at lightning. And (Will?) looking at fire. Both have a dark full body sillhouete and red in the forefront .

We also see this character is possibly wearing a watch like Will?

And i've been hearing this a lot here ... but southern california (where the Byers are) does have a lot of trees lol. Not sure why people think otherwise.But, regardless a trip from cali to Hawkins would most certainly have some forrest.

*Also, any movies I’ll be mentioning (in the theories , below) were stated to be inspiration for ST.

So theories...

Theory 1) It's Joyce's car ( and it was rigged to explode/look like an accident by Brenner or Lonnie). And Will wasn't there but sees it in a nightmare cause it's already happened/or it's a dream vision of the future.

Evidence: CAR TROUBLES: Joyce’s car model was infamous for exploding in car accidents-being sued by the state of Indianna before the start of the series. We also have Alexi tell murray about a way to cause cars to explode-and turn people into dust (and make it look like an accident). Brenner’s name means “to burn” and he already hurt 1 mother to keep a subject -so not out of the realm of possibilities for him to hurt Joyce (and make it look like an accident to try and get Will and or el).

In s3, we have Jonathan and Hopper try and fix the car-and after this cars explode with people inside. Jonathan lifts the car hood- and notices someone rigged nancy’s car . Than, right after,Billy’s car lights on fire with him inside. With Hopper (he also lifts the car hood) and joyce barely escapes the lit car (but she may not be so lucky next time).

We also have Joyce tell Will 3x she’s going to be ok... which is a bit overkill if she will be OK ...

And, notice during the hoodlift we see Will observing- which is similar to Alexi watching and warning them before hand that the car (with Joyce inside) will explode. So it’s possible foreshadowing since Will may predict the future and was was paralleled to Alexi.Alexi ‘can we watch lonnie toons now?. Will : can we play d&d now?

movie inspos:

It’s hinted s4 will be around Will’s b day: In gilbert grape- Arnie after his b day, has his mom die, and a fire was stagged that lit his mom on fire. ( Before this,Arnie was also raised by his older brother Gilbert cause his dad wasn’t around). stoker- kid’s parent dies in staged car ‘accident’ on her bday (this allows ab*sive relative closer to kid-since dead parent banned him from seeing kid). The kid was taught how to hunt, by dad. And is also a painter and bullied at school (like Will). what dreams may come-painter blames themselves for fam dying in freak car accident- the relative was getting a present for them when it happened. so they blame themselves. The descent- also had (right before a b day, the main character’s fam dying in a car accident) .And the sole survivor/family member of the deceased hallucinates a shadow chasing her in a empty hospital hall. Get out-photographer (jonathan)blames himself for mother dying in car accident.

There’s also a lot of other films where the kid (for no logical reason) blames themselves for their mom’s/parent’s death: goodson, dream catcher, analyse this,etc. Of course ... this could simply relate to max and el having survivors guilt after the mall killed their family members (in a fake ‘mall fire’). However, a fake out fire causing family to die (in s3) could be foreshadowing for it actually happening in s4?

rigged car explosions: scarface -have guys try and bomb a car with kids and parent inside. backdraft -guy raised by older brother had 1 parent die in explosion and sees the freak explosion occur- later in the film someone rigs a car to explode and masks it as a freak car accident. Same thing occurs in godfather- he sees family member die in rigged car explosion. The dark knight- rigs car to explode. batman v superman- calls superman a demon and says they need to burn the witch that bore him (aka his mom).

dreams (if in the past): Never ending story (reffed in s3)- starts with kid with bowl cut saying he had another dream about his mother who died. Peanut butter solution- kid has visions in dreams about people he knew who died in fire. this next movie (emily rose) is said to be Joyce byers inspo according to Winona - has (kid with 2 personalities) have nightmares from the past of her and her mother burning in a car fire. while screaming/sleep walking she burns windows with her hands -accidentally using her powers. Some people suspect the videogame “life is strange’ is show inspo too- it has character named max caufield with a ‘never maxine rule’, etc. Anyways in the game prequel queer chloe, who plays d&d, would have dreams/nightmares of her nice parent’s car accident . Despite , chloe not being present for the car accident. After the parent’s death, she’s stuck with her mean step dad.

dreams (if predicting the future): Will says in s3 Will the wise can see into the future. We also see Will/Will the wise via a dream predict Hopper was in danger-saying to Joyce “he’s going to die”. In ‘12 monkeys’ and ‘Rebel Robin st novel’ they mention the myth of cassandra- who could make accurate future prophecies , but was cursed to never be believed by those she warned. In 12 monkeys- he tries warning others of a dreaded event in future- and it’s dismissed as him being mentally ill. Since, Will’s other abilities were dismissed as his ptsd in s2-and with the Byers fam having a family history of mental illness (they may not believe him over such a prediction). In ‘the ring’-the movie opens with the guardian saying the boy is drawing the car accident that killed his mom -as a psychological coping mechanism. Only for the teacher to say he made that drawing before his mother’s death (and it’s revealed later the boy is psychic). Terminator 2- sarah conner says she is having future visions, which include explosions, and everyone dismisses it as her being schizophrenic. Like how in s2 a scientist said about Will “let’s see if this boy is a wizard or a schizo”.

If joyce survives the accident she may be hospitlized (and unable to have legal custody). In black swan the girl (with 2 personas) -blames herself for what happened to Winona Ryder’s character (who is in a coma after a car accident. They had had a verbal fight before the accident). In girl with the dragon tattoo- the main character (who is compared to a phoenix and dragon) has 1 parent burned in a fire- and after this her kind guardian is hospitilized so they can no longer take care of her- and she is placed with an ab*sive foster dad (who resembles her bio dad). If Joyce was in a coma - it would further parallel her to terry- and be another willel parallel.

if dead: Tokyodrift- mom loses custody, and dad who is a mechanic and abandoned the family years ago, later gets custody. Super 8-mom dies in freak accident- douche dad gets custody. Book of henry-mom dies pre-film, ab*sive dad got custody. Outsiders- parents die in car wreck, relative gets custody of teen who he slaps etc.In black swan-girl who blames herself for Winona’s accident is stuck living with ab*sive parent. good son- mom dies, stuck with violent and manipulative relative after this.

Of course-joyce may be fine. And Lonnie may just visit for Will’s b-day and ruin shit that way.

Theory 2) It's an undercover government car that Will uses his powers against in self defense... or in anger after they hurt someone he loves.

Evidence:

Joyce about ‘Will the wise’: If he’s so wise, why does he need the fireballs? Why can’t he just outsmart the bad guys? Will: cause the bad guys are smart too. Joyce: so he needs the fireballs? Will: Yeah, to burn them to a crisp.

* the fact-this flashback happens at a funeral of a Byers, could also be narratively significant as foreshadowing.

Gov agents in s1 are called “the bad-men” so Will may use fireball on “the bad-guys”(government agents) . Fire has been used on all the other adversaries relating to the upsidedown-so why not the gov agents (aka human villains) next? 2 movies on the inspo list caught my attention: firestarter & carrie (which are both stephen king adaptions with psychic kids who have fire abilities).

Firestarter- she has pyrokineseis (firepowers) . And unlike every other psychic in the film- she is the only psychic that doesn't get nose bleeds (aka mini brain hemorages) from using her powers (Will). We know el and kali gets nose bleeds.

(Anger): She only unleashes her fire abilities on gov agents after they kill her parent...

*And uses a literal “fireball” on them.

Could also be another willel parallel. kali about the US gov:" They took your mother away from you!" El str*ngles man from gov agency that incapacitated her mom . El before str*ngling him: " you hurt mama".

(self defense): While in carrie she kills people who tried to run her over with a car. And causes the car to explode.

Also, in s3 Steve does technically cause a car to explode to protect Nancy from being run over by a car (so maybe foreshadowing?). I believe, tumblr user ‘bran-who-writes-theoretically” was the first to point out the Carrie/car on fire parallel.

* This car scene could also be added to the list of Willel parallels. El in s1 uses her powers to flip a government-car upside down. And looks back at it. And it’s a ref to the film Et. So Will causing a government -car to explode and flip upsidedown (referencing carrie) could be a parallel.

Of course El flipped over a car in s3 to attack the Soviet agents and protect her friends too ( right before losing her powers). Sort of like Steve using his car as a weapon in s3 to protect his friends. so who knows, if not Will, maybe El (wearing a ponytail) got her telekenesis back and she flips the car and it explodes ? To be honest, I just find this explanation too boring, cliche, and predictable. And I still hypothosize the mindflayer took her telekensis (but not her other powers). Since in d&d mindflayers have ‘mage hand’ (what el is called) and ‘telekenesis’/ along with the ability to steal powers from other life forms. But, we’ll see...

Theory 3) The car flips (maybe caused by a deer jumping in the road) and it blows up after the crash- with Joyce inside. And maybe Jonathan survives it/ Will wasn’t there but had a nightmare /vision about it?

Evidence: in s1 Jonathan sees a dead deer that was hit by a car. This could be symbolic : because it related to Jonathan mentioning the hunting story with his dad and how he cried for a week cause he liked the film Bambi. Which in the film : Bambi (a deer) has his mother k*lled. And after his mother’s death, he’s taken in by his douchey dad who was M.I.A for most of his life ,until his mom passed away. And the hunters are the bad guys in the film . In ‘get out’ the photographer , Chris,blames himself for his mother dying in a car accident - and he sees a dead deer hit by a car -and the dying deer was used to symbolize the guilt he has over his mother’s death. in ‘the long kiss goodnight’ a character is driving home with a friend- they swerve and hit a deer and 1 of them is ejected from the car into the forrest. But their friend is unconscious in the car and it quickly explodes on the road. The survivor turns and sees the car in flames- disoriented they stumble and kill the dying deer. And it’s left ambiguous if they were helping the deer end it’s pain or if it was vengeful-hunting (since it caused the car accident that killed their friend). Cause their face was emotionless from shock.

Even in the st novel "suspicious minds' rabbits- like jonathan was forced to kill on the hunting trip with his dad (around his b-day) represented the bond between mother and child.And the mother sacrificing herself for the baby-to not get k*lled (by Brenner).

-so maybe?? jonathan before he gets the pizza job/car (may have his car break down , like hinted it would in s3).

So him and Joyce share the car (once his car stops working) and the accident happens while Jonathan is behind the wheel -with Joyce. And after this he gets the job at surfer boy pizza. Billy was a surfer boy and that memory was used to think about his mother who is no longer around (once he's stuck with his ab*sive dad after moving away from Cali). While Jonathan moved to Cali after his mom passed-maybe stuck with Lonnie.Jonathan's actor in recent pics has a blonde mullet - which sort of resembles joyce/Billy's og hair. This may be why he starts doing dr*gs - which is pretty out of character for him- but it could be a coping mechanism(like in the s4 films). One of many examples was 'enter the void'- the older brother was surrogate parent to their lil sibling and after a car accident k*lls his parents , he starts doing dr*gs to cope. Also ‘hunger games’ was on the list- and Katniss (who was a surrogate parent to her litle sibling, like Jonathan is to Will) in the sequel, saw her family die in an explosion. And it really broke her emotionally.

I've mentioned this before but Billy is used to parallel and foil Will and Jonathan. And it may be more than a ... what if Lonnie had custody scenario. But to show how Lonnie (like most ab*sers) will later bring out the worst in the kids (once he does have custody). Like how s3 has Will mimick lonnie with the baseball bat (and we see in s3 Billy being bullied by his dad to play baseball and flashbacks showing him mimicking Neil). I've also discussed how there's a theme with pretty much every character mimicking their parent- for better or worse.

Killing a deer would certainly hint at Jonathan's possible character regression (and mimicking Lonnie to a certain extent). if he not only blames himself for Joyce's death. But is also stuck with his ab*ser.

The animal k*lling motif , and after that, mimicking an a b*sive father is already shown with el. Brenner , in s1,tried to make her k*ll a cat (using her powers) and she refused (similar to the s1 rabbit hunting story of Lonnie forcing Jonathan to k*ll a rabbit ). But in s2, she uses her powers to k*ll a squirrel (and like a deer- it's typical hunting game). Than in s3 el does literally everything Brenner ever asked of her- she spies on people and repeats the words back (like brenner told her to do), she becomes a weapon to ‘fight the commies’ (which was said to be the reason he k*dnapped her in the first place), and when looking into the void to see the mf (she mirrors the words brenner told her - when he made her go into the void to face the demogorgan).

And some s4 movies are literally about being trapped in a house with your ab*ser and slowly losing your mind because of the ab*se and gaslighting- lighthouse , black swan , good son, are prime examples. But movies like scar face , girl with the dragon tattoo, and book of Henry touch on this theme a bit as well. And ordinary people- is about a guy who survived a vehicular accident but his relative in the same accident didn't- and it causes him alot of issues /survivor's guilt.

The shadowy figure could just be Will in the shot - seeing it in a dream before or after it happens?

Theory 4) Will sees a future vision or has his ’now memories’ of someone else's car.

Evidence: i guess the s4 shot parallels El (in s3) spying on Billy while he’s hurting Heather. During that spying scene: the shot is of El near Billy's car. So it’s possibly a diff willel parallel?

If not Will. Who knows ...if El’s telekenesis is gone maybe her spying abilities strengthened and look different because of it (and now she can see background details)?

Theory 5) it's Lonnie's car and Will escapes from the trunk and uses his powers in self defense

Evidence: I’m pretty iffy on this one. This goes back to how people suspected Lonnie took Will in s1 (and could be foreshadowing). Even the recent rebel robin book-has characters say Lonnie probably took Will. Jonathan suspected Will may be at Lonnie’s - so checks Lonnie’s car trunk (to see if Will is there). We also see how the mf in s3, knocked people out by dr*gs/str*ngulation, ties them up, and throws them in a trunk (to k*dnap them). Or how the cops raided jonathan’s trunk- which had stuff to track the demogorgan (and the demogorgan parallels Lonnie) . And after looking in Jonathan’s trunk-they suspected something fishy is going on.

*heather was described as “another me” by Will- who was thrown in the trunk.

movies: “tangled” was on the s4 list- and had an ab*sive parent later try and kidnap their kid ,and that parent ends up dying. in girl with the dragon tattoo (the girl associated with dragons & phoenixes- lights her ab*sive bio dad on fire. In ‘drop dead fred’ (girl who is in love with childhood friend, named Mikey, who she met at age 5) lights a imaginary version of her ab*sive parent on fire - while in a trippy memory world. Chrissy accidentally lights her ab*sive relative (nickname “daddy”) on fire in self defense- in a trippy hell memory scape. in ‘long kiss goodnight- the girl with 2 personalities (Will/will the wise) was kidnapped and put in a trunk and escapes by jumping into a quarry. Not sure if that could relate to a flashback or something else? like in ‘don’t breath’ the older sibling who essentially was a surrogate parent to the younger sibling-mentions how their dad left the family, and her parent would throw her in the trunk for hours as a punishment.

#will byers #jonathan byers #joyce byers #el hopper #stranger things #stranger things theory

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes That Best Define the Franchise

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By the time my generation got to watch Star Trek: The Original Series, the episodes often were being presented in top-ten marathons. When I was ten-years-old, for the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek, I tape-recorded a marathon of ten episodes that had all been voted by fans as the best-ever installments of The Original Series. Later, I got lucky and found Trek stickers at the grocery store and was able to label my VHS tapes correctly. But do I think all the episodes that were in that marathon back in 1991 were really the best episodes of all of the classic Star Trek? The short answer: no. Although I love nearly every episode of the first 79 installments of Star Trek, I do think that certain lists have been created by what we think should be on the list rather than what episodes really best represent the classic show.

This is a long-winded way of saying, no, I didn’t include “Amok Time” or “The Menagerie” on this list because, as great as they are, I don’t think they really represent the greatest hits of the series. Also, if you’ve never watched TOS, I think those two episodes will throw you off cause you’ll assume Spock is always losing his mind or trying to steal the ship. If you’ve never watched TOS, or you feel like rewatching it with fresh eyes, I feel pretty strong that these 10 episodes are not only wonderful, but that they best represent what the entire series is really about. Given this metric, my choice for the best episode of TOS may surprise you…

10. “The Man Trap”

The first Star Trek ever episode aired should not be the first episode you watch. And yet, you should watch it at some point. The goofy premise concerns an alien with shaggy dog fur, suckers on its hand, and a face like a terrifying deep-sea fish. This alien is also a salt vampire that uses telepathy that effectively also makes it a shapeshifter. It’s all so specifically bonkers that trying to rip-off this trope would be nuts. Written by science fiction legend George Clayton Johnson (one half of Logan’s Run authorship) “The Man Trap” still slaps, and not because Spock (Leonard Nimoy) tries to slap the alien. Back in the early Season 1 episodes of Star Trek, the “supporting” players like Uhura and Sulu are actually doing stuff in the episode. We all talk about Kirk crying out in pain when the M-113 creature puts those suckers on his face, but the real scene to watch is when Uhura starts speaking Swahili. The casual way Uhura and Sulu are just their lovable selves in this episode is part of why we just can’t quit the classic Star Trek to this day. Plus, the fact that the story is technically centered on Bones gives the episode some gravitas and oomph. You will believe an old country doctor thinks that salt vampire is Nancy! (Spoiler alert: It’s not Nancy.)

9. “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield”

There are two episodes everyone always likes to bring up when discussing the ways in which Star Trek changed the game for the better in pop culture’s discourse on racism: “Plato’s Stepchildren” and this episode, “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield.” The former episode is famous because Kirk and Uhura kiss, which is sometimes considered the first interracial kiss on an American TV show. (British TV shows had a few of those before Star Trek, though.) But “Plato’s Stepchildren” is not a great episode, and Kirk and Uhura were also manipulated to kiss by telepaths. So, no, I’m not crazy about “Plato’s Stepchildren.” Uhura being forced to kiss a white dude isn’t great.

But “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield,” oddly holds up. Yep. This is the one about space racism where the Riddler from the ‘60s Batman (Frank Gorshin) looks like a black-and-white cookie. Is this episode cheesy? Is it hard to take most of it seriously? Is it weird that Bele (Frank Gorshin) didn’t have a spaceship because the budget was so low at that time? Yes. Is the entire episode dated, and sometimes borderline offensive even though its heart is in the right place? Yes. Does the ending of the episode still work? You bet it does. If you’re going to watch OG Star Trek and skip this episode, you’re kind of missing out on just how charmingly heavy-handed the series could get. “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield” is like a ‘60s after-school special about racism, but they were high while they were writing it.

8. “Arena”

You’re gonna try to list the best episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series and not list the episode where Kirk fights a lizard wearing gold dress-tunic? The most amazing thing about “Arena” is that it’s a Season 1 episode of The Original Series and somehow everyone involved in making TOS had enough restraint not to ever try to use this Gorn costume again. They didn’t throw it away either! This famous rubber lizard was built by Wah Chang and is currently owned by none other than Ben Stiller.

So, here’s the thing about “Arena” that makes it a great episode of Star Trek, or any TV series with a lizard person. Kirk refuses to kill the Gorn even though he could have, and Star Trek refused to put a lizard costume in a bunch of episodes later, even though they totally could have. Gold stars all around.

7. “Balance of Terror”

The fact that Star Trek managed to introduce a race of aliens that looked exactly like Spock, and not confuse its viewership is amazing. On top of that, the fact that this detail isn’t exactly the entire focus of the episode is equally impressive. The notion that the Romulans look like Vulcans is a great twist in The Original Series, and decades upon decades of seeing Romulans has probably dulled the novelty ever so slightly. But, the idea that there was a brutally cold and efficient version of the Vulcans flying around in invisible ships blowing shit up is not only cool, but smart.

“Balance of Terror” made the Romulans the best villains of Star Trek because their villainy felt personal. Most Romulan stories in TNG, DS9, and Picard are pretty damn good and they all start right here.

6. “Space Seed”

Khaaaan!!!! Although The Wrath of Khan is infinitely more famous than the episode from which it came, “Space Seed” is one of the best episodes of The Original Series even if it hadn’t been the progenitor of that famous film. In this episode, the worst human villain the Enterprise can encounter doesn’t come from the present, but instead, the past. Even though “Space Seed” isn’t considered a very thoughtful episode and Khan is a straight-up gaslighter, the larger point here is that Khan’s evilness is connected to the fact that he lived on a version of Earth closer to our own.

The episode’s coda is also amazing and speaks of just how interesting Captain Kirk really is. After Khan beat the shit out of him and tried to suffocate the entire Enterprise crew, Kirk’s like “Yeah, this guy just needs a long camping trip.”

5. “A Piece of the Action”

A few years back, Saturday Night Live did a Star Trek sketch in which it was revealed that Spock had a relative named “Spocko.” This sketch was tragically unfunny because TOS had already made the “Spocko” joke a million times better in “A Piece of the Action.” When you describe the premise of this episode to someone who has never seen it or even heard of it, it sounds like you’re making it up. Kirk, Spock, and Bones are tasked with cleaning-up a planet full of old-timey mobsters who use phrases like “put the bag on you.” Not only is the episode hilarious, but it also demonstrates the range of what Star Trek can do as an emerging type of pop-art. In “A Piece of the Action,” Star Trek begins asking questions about genres that nobody ever dreamed of before. Such as, “what if we did an old-timey gangster movie, but there’s a spaceship involved?”

4. “Devil in the Dark”

When I was a kid, my sister and I called this episode, “the one with giant pizza.” Today, it’s one of those episodes of Star Trek that people tell you defines the entire franchise. They’re not wrong, particularly because we’re just talking about The Original Series. The legacy of this episode is beyond brilliant and set-up a wonderful tradition within the rest of the franchise; a monster story is almost never a monster story

The ending of this episode is so good, and Leonard Nimoy and Shatner play the final scenes so well that I’m actually not sure it’s cool to reveal what the big twist is. If you somehow don’t know, I’ll just say this. You can’t imagine Chris Pratt’s friendly Velicrapotrs, or Ripper on Discovery without the Horta getting their first.

3. “The Corbomite Maneuver”

If there’s one episode on this list that truly represents what Star Trek is usually all about on a plot level, it’s this one. After the first two pilot episodes —“Where No Man Has Gone Before” and “The Cage”—this was the first regular episode filmed. It’s the first episode with Uhura and, in almost every single way, a great way to actually explain who all these characters are and what the hell they’re doing. The episode begins with Spock saying something is “fascinating” and then, after the opening credits, calling Kirk, who is down in sickbay with his shirt off. Bones gives Kirk shit about not having done his physical in a while, and Kirk wanders through the halls of the episode without his shirt, just kind of holding his boots.

That’s just the first like 5 minutes. It just gets better and better from there. Like a good bottle of tranya, this episode only improves with time. And if you think it’s cheesy and the big reveal bizarre, then I’m going to say, you’re not going to like the rest of Star Trek.

2. “The City on the Edge of Forever”

No more blah blah blah! Sorry, wrong episode. Still, you’ve heard about “The City on the Edge of Forever.” You’ve heard it’s a great time travel episode. You’ve heard Harlan Ellison was pissed about how the script turned out. You heard that Ron Moore really wanted to bring back Edith Keeler for Star Trek Generations. (Okay, maybe you haven’t heard that, but he did.)

Everything you’ve heard about this episode is correct. There’s some stuff that will make any sensible person roll their eyes today, but the overall feeling of this episode is unparalleled. Time travel stories are always popular, but Star Trek has never really done a time travel story this good ever again. The edge of forever will always be just out of reach.

1. “A Taste of Armageddon”

Plot twist! This excellent episode of TOS almost never makes it on top ten lists. Until now! If you blink, “A Taste of Armageddon” could resemble at least a dozen other episodes of TOS. Kirk and Spock are trapped without their communicators. The crew has to overpower some guards to get to some central computer hub and blow it up. Scotty is in command with Kirk on the surface and is just kind of scowling the whole time. Kirk is giving big speeches about how humanity is great because it’s so deeply flawed.

What makes this episode fantastic is that all of these elements come together thanks to a simplistic science fiction premise: What if a society eliminated violence but retained murder? What if hatred was still encouraged, but war was automated? Star Trek’s best moments were often direct allegories about things that were actually happening, but what makes “A Taste of Armageddon” so great is that this metaphor reached for something that could happen. Kirk’s solution to this problem is a non-solution, which makes the episode even better. At its best classic Star Trek wasn’t just presenting a social problem and then telling us how to fix it. Sometimes it was saying something more interesting — what if the problem gets even harder? What do we do then?

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The humor and bombast of “A Taste of Armageddon” is part of the answer to that unspoken question, but there’s also a clever lesson about making smaller philosophical decisions. In Star Wars, people are always trying to rid themselves of the dark side of the Force. In Star Trek, Kirk just teaches us to say, “Hey I won’t be a terrible person, today” and then just see how many days we can go in a row being like that.

What do you think are the most franchise-defining episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series? Let us know in the comments below.

The post The Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes That Best Define the Franchise appeared first on Den of Geek.

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entamewitchlulu · 4 years

Photo

so i did a reading challenge this year and i wanna talk about what i read

transcription under the cut

i did Popsugar 2019 and wanna talk about what i read: Book Reccs and Anti-Reccs

1.) Becoming a Movie in 2019: Umbrella Academy (vol 1) by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

4/5. A fascinating take on superpowers, dysfunctional families, and the apocalypse. Can get pretty gory, confusing here and there and you have to pay close attention to panels for lore, but overall an entertaining romp.

2.) Makes you Feel Nostalgic: Circles in the Stream by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Middle grade novel about the magic of music, belief, and of course, friendship. Definitely written for kids, and has some unfortunately clumsy Native rep, but overall an absolute joy to dive into once again.

3.) Written by a Musician: Umbrella Academy (vol 2) by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

4/5. Ramps up the confusion to ridiculous degrees with some absolutely bonkers, unexplained arcs, but still fun to watch this dysfunctional family do its dysfunctional thing.

4.) You Think Should be Turned into a movie: All That Glitters by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Continuation of Circles in the Stream, but with more unicorns, more rainbows, and more fae, which makes it automatically even better than the first.

5.) With At Least 1 Mil. Ratings on Goodreads: 1984 by George Orwell

1/5. I understand why it's important and all but wasn't prepared for some of the more graphic scenes and the overall hopelessness of the message. Would not recommend or read again.

6.) W/ a Plant in the title or cover: The secret of Dreadwillow carse by Brian farrey

5/5. A fantasy world where everyone is always happy, save for one girl and the princess, who set out to solve the mystery of their kingdom. Poignant and great for kids and adults.

7.) Reread of a favorite: Cry of the Wolf by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Yet another installment in the Avalon: Web of Magic series, which clearly I am obsessed with. Please just read them.

8.) About a Hobby: Welcome to the Writer's Life by Paulette Perhach

5/5. A welcome kick in the pants, chock full of great advice told without condescension, and full of hope and inspiration for writers both new and old.

9.) Meant to read in 2018: The Poet x by Elizabeth Acevedo

4/5. Absolutely beautiful coming of age novel told in verse. Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook version.

10.) w/ "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title: Black Sugar by Miguel Bonnefoy

2/5. I think maybe I just don't understand this genre. Or maybe the translation was weird. I was confused.

11.) w/ An Item of Clothing or Accessory on the cover: Our dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

4/5. It had a lot more slurs/homophobia than I was prepared for, but otherwise is a very touching, relatable collection of queer characters living in a heteronormative world.

12.) Inspired by Mythology or Folklore: Ravenous by MarcyKate Connolly

3/5. A girl goes on an impossible quest to save her brother from a child-eating witch. Really wanted to like it more because I loved the first one, Monstrous, but it dragged a little.

13.) Published Posthumously: The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones

3/5. I adore Diana Wynne Jones, but this one was missing some of the magic of her other books. Not sure if it was because it had to be finished by someone else, or if I just grew out of her stories.

14.) Set in Space: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

4/5. Powerfully written story of a girl straddling tradition and innovation, who wields power through mathematical magic, surviving on a spaceship alone with a dangerous alien occupation after everyone else has been killed.

15.) By 2 Female Authors: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

2/5. Ostensibly a story about a revenge pact in a small island town, but leaves far too many dangling threads to attempt alluring you to the sequel.

16.) W/ A Title containing "salty," "bitter," "Sweet," or "Spicy": The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

3/5. It's okay but I literally just never know what anyone means at any time. Are they being reticent on purpose or do i just not understand communication

17.) Set in scandinavia: Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura

2/5. Technically and historically accurate and well made, but the story itself is not my cup of tea. Very gory.

18.) Takes Place in a Single Day: Long WAy Down by Jason Reynolds

4/5. A boy goes to avenge his murdered brother, but ghostly passengers join him on the elevator ride down. Stunning and powerful character-driven analysis.

19.) Debut Novel: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

4/5. Charming and then surprisingly heart-breaking comic about Nimona, a shapeshifter who wants to become a villain's minion. Really love the villain/hero dynamic going on in the background, along with the dysfunctional found family.

20.) Published in 2019: The Book of Pride by Mason Funk

4/5. A collection of interviews with the movers, shakers, and pioneers of the queer and LGBTQ+ community. An absolutely essential work for community members and allies alike.

21.) Featuring an extinct/imaginary creature: Phoebe and her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

4/5. Incredibly charming, Calvin and Hobbes-esque collection of comics featuring the adventures of Phoebe and her unicorn best friend.

22.) Recced by a celebrity you admire: The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen

2/5. Recced by my fave author Brandon Sanderson. An unfortunately disappointing anthology proving that any story can be made uninteresting by telling the wrong section of it.

23.) With "Love" in the Title: Book Love by Debbie Tung

4/5. One of those relatable webcomics, only this one I felt super hard almost the entire time. Books are awesome and libraries rule.

24.) Featuring an amateur detective: Nancy Drew: Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson

4/5. REALLY love this modern take on Nancy Drew, coming back home to her roots to solve a brand new mystery. Diverse cast and lovely artwork, though definitely more adult.

25.) About a family: Amulet by Kabu Kibuishi

4/5. Excellent, top tier graphic novel about a sister and brother who have to go rescue their mother with a mysterious magic stone. LOVE that the mom gets to be involved in the adventure for once.

26.) by an author from asia, Africa, or s. America: Girls' Last tour by Tsukumizu

4/5. Somehow both light-hearted and melancholy. Two girls travel about an empty, post-apocalyptic world, and muse about life and their next meal.

27.) w/ a Zodiac or astrology term in title: Drawing down the moon by margot adler

3/5. A good starting place for anyone interested in the Neo Pagan movement, but didn't really give me what I was personally looking for.

28.) you see someone reading in a tv show or movie: The Promised NEverland by Kaiu Shirai

4/5. I don't watch TV or movies where people read books so i think reading an adaptation of a TV series after watching the series counts. Anyway it was good but beware racist caricatures

29.) A retelling of a classic: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero

5/5. We can stop the Little Women reboots and retellings now, this is the only one we need. In fact, we can toss out the original too, this is the only one necessary.

30.) w/ a question in the title: So I'm a spider, so what? by Asahiro Kakashi

4/5. Cute art despite the subject matter, and a surprisingly enthralling take on the isekai genre. Love the doubling down on the video game skills.

31.) Set in a college or university campus: Moonstruck (vol 2) by Grace Ellis

2/5. An incredibly cute, beautiful, and fascinating world of modern magic and creatures, but unfortunately falls apart at the plot and pacing.

32.) About someone with a superpower: Moonstruck (vol 1) by Grace Ellis

4/5. Though nearly as messy plot-wise as its sequel, the first volume is overwhelmingly charming in a way that overpowers the more confusing plot elements.

33.) told from multiple povs: The Long way to a Small, Angry Planet by becky Chambers

4/5. Told almost in a serial format, like watching a miniseries, a group of found-family spaceship crew members make the long journey to their biggest job ever.

34.) Includes a wedding: We Set the dark on fire by Tehlor kay mejia

4/5. Timely and poignant, a girl tumbles into both love and resistance after becoming one of two wives to one of the most powerful men in the country.

35.) by an author w/ alliterative name: The only harmless great Thing by brooke bolander

3/5. Much deeper than I can currently comprehend. Beautifully written, but difficult to parse.

36.) A ghost story: Her body and other parties by Carmen Maria Machado

4/5. It counts because one of the stories in it has ghosts. A sometimes difficult collection of surrealist, feminist, queer short stories.

37.) W/ a 2 word title: Good omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

4/5. Charming, touching, and comical, probably the best take on the apocalypse to date. Also excellent ruminations on religion and purpose.

38.) based on a true story: The faithful Spy by John Hendrix

4/5. Brilliantly crafted graphic biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and his assistance in fighting back against Nazi Germany.

39.) Revolving around a puzzle or game: the Crossover by Kwame alexander

4/5. The verse didn't always hit right with me, but the story is a sweet, melancholy one about family, loss, and moving on.

40.) previous popsugar prompt (animal in title): The last unicorn by peter s. Beagle

5/5. Absolutely one of my all-time favorite books, it manages to perfectly combine anachronism and comedy with lyricism, melancholy, and ethereal beauty.

41.) Cli-fi: Tokyo Mew Mew by Mia ikumi and Reiko Yoshida

4/5. Shut up it counts

42.) Choose-your-own-adventure: My Lady's choosing by Kitty curran

3/5. Cute in concept, a bit underwhelming in execution. Honestly, just play an otome.

43.) "Own Voices": Home by Nnedi Okorafor

3/5. The storytelling style was definitely not my style; while the first book was slow, too, it felt more purposeful. I found my attention wandering during this installment.

44.) During the season it's set in: Pumpkinheads by rainbow rowell

3/5. Cute art, but precious little substance. The concept simply wasn't for me in the first place.

45.) LITRPG: My next life as a villainess: All routes lead to doom! by Hidaka nami

5/5. An absolute insta-fave! Charming art, endearing characters, an incredible premise, and so much sweet wholesome fluff it'll give you cavities.

46.) No chapters: The field guide to dumb birds of north america by matt kracht

3/5. It started out super strong, but the joke started to wear thin at a little past the halfway point.

47.) 2 books with the same title: Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roger

4/5. A brave and enduring personal story of growing up in and eventually leaving the Westboro Baptist Church. Really called to me to act with grace and kindness even more in the future.

48.) 2 books with the same title: unfollow by rob williams and michael dowling

1/5. How many times do you think we can make Battle Royale again before someone notices

49.) That has inspired a common phrase or idiom: THe Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

4/5. Definitely good and deserves it's praise as something that pretty much revolutionized and created an entire demographic of literature.

50.) Set in an abbey, cloister, Monastery, convent, or vicarage: Murder at the vicarage by agatha christie

3/5. I just cannot. physically keep up with all of these characters or find the energy to read between the lines.

ok that's all i got, what did y'all read and like this year? (oh god it’s gonna be 2020)

#book reccs #lulu booktalks

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poresorpixels · 6 years

Text

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)/

Halloween 5: The Revenge of

Michael Myers (1989)

gluishtuuks: return/revenge flick, Pleasence in extremis, creepy uncle, seasonal afflictive disorder, Haddonfield follies, formula soluable

This review is tougher to justify than the Ms. 45 one, which at least I hadn't seen. These two I am somewhat well acquainted with, and am pretty sure are more bad than good. Not to mention Wham City's pseudo-interactive livestreamed call-in melodrama (The Call of Warr) is back on Adult Swim for the next few days. If it's as scary, hilarious, demented and original as last year's The Cry of Mann (they even did a fantastically vapid accompanying show-about-a-show parody called Tanking Mann), then there is next to no reason to be wasting my time with these crummy sequels.

But I made this arbitrary October commitment, so I'm gonna go ahead and shovel some overdue dirt on this sorry pair and pat it down.

First of all, there's Donald Pleasence. He don't look so good. Particularly in Revenge, it seems as though the movie itself is trying to kill him as we watch on, bemused and more than a little bored. Danielle Harris is Laurie Strode's daughter Jamie, who is now a foster child, but her uncle strides past the Videodrome-for-dummies corporate death conspiracy (easily the best sequel, both because of and despite its crazy Michael-less storyline, for starters) and death itself to cut that family line. Harris was great as Furry Tom and the thorn in her McClane-redux-daddy's side in The Last Boyscout. She's solid here too, conveying more believable traumatized intensity than either film earns.

I was ten when I first got steeped in these sorts of movies, and the ruthlessly simple machinery just worked. The mockery of the more silly elements (though more so with the Friday/Elm Street movies) was often over-eager, barely containing the rising dread. That the anticipation dulls with age is a phenomenon often fixed on the viewership, but I'd argue that the blame lies more with cynically crude bottom-lining, crass presumptions of audience by the money. Horror is a genre with merit beyond watching people get butchered, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who'd go too far to attest to as much. No matter what you're watching, exploitation is the name of the game. But if you're producing, as is the case here, purely rote content, who can blame a viewer for glazing over till the killing starts?

Depsite some nice flourishes here and there, the Jamie saga portion of this franchise is as dull as it is anti-climactic. Particularly regarding the kills, which are all flat. The original and naturally best of the series wasn't particularly gory, but it had a lot more on the ball than anything that came after. It was working within budget constraints, but its perfect score and naturally winning cast (namely Curtis, PJ Soles and Nancy Kyes) and masterfully scored autmnal atmosphere made it work. These two films strive to recapture that original spark, but wind up feeling like drab, minor, tv movie-slight variations.

At a glance they may seem classier than the Friday the 13th stuff, but that's kind of what makes them obnoxious. They're slashers with delusions of thematic heft. The fact that they manage to stick some of their stylistic landings only seems to make this pretense worse. In Return there is a droning minimalist credit sequence comprising a series of drab, desolate country exteriors. It is a great mood setter, but when we leave these outskirt locations for the suburbs, it seems superfluous. All the best stuff happens outside of Haddonfield. Loomis gets nearly blown up at a sevice station, then hitches a ride with the boxcar hobo from Pee Wee's Big Adventure (still boozin' his cares away, but with a somehow worse singing voice and a sweet gig as a turn of the century fire and brimstone preacher). Sam actually smiles in this bit, and the unPleasence of this is mitigated by the fact that its a small relief to see the man take a brief siesta from the ceaseless wide-eyed flailing.

After that (and this holds for Revenge as well) it seems as though aping the highschool crush mini-drama of the original and endless hallucinatory false scares is supposed to suffice. Loomis would be hilarious in his stumbling mania were it not for the fact that he seems more horrific to poor Jamie than her stabby Uncle Mike. It doesn't help that, as has oft been remarked, they kept fucking with the mask to worse and worse effect, leaving one to wonder if it was ever scary to begin with. One thing's for sure, "humanizing" Michael (apparently what they were going for in Revenge) was never the fucking point! He was called "the shape" for good reason.

Even if they're roughly the same ratioed templates, Revenge squeaks ahead in the quirky teen dept. Though its anachronistic greaser boyfriend in Revenge pales in comparison to those rat-a-tat-tooie boys in the fifth Friday movie (and we have to spend considerably less time with them). But Jamie's friend (foster sister? who fuckin' cares) Tina is actually kinda charming and smarter seeming than her ditsy lines and misguided notions (including ones of neon-hearted love w/r/t the aforementioned greaser) would suggest.

Sadly, it looks like Tina's Wendy Kaplan may've never went on to anything more substantial. But here's as good a place as any to remind people that there's much more to Donald Pleasence than this babbling shrink with a gun (or the Bond villain, Blofeld). Despite having some decently budgeted technical chops (most exemplified in Jamie's nerve shredding, claustrophobic knife/laundry chute sequence in Revenge), these two are not the beat use of one's viewing time. So why not check out the 1971 film Wake In Fright? Directed by Ted Kotcheff (First Blood), its a nasty, sweaty, drunken trip set in the outback with a lively Pleasence, unhinged as you've never seen him. And if you've seen it, see it again. It's better than both of these movies combined, with a lot of room to spare.

Halloween movies ranked:

10/11

Halloween 1/2 (Rob Zombie has too much money and no/dumb ideas. shoulda just stuck with that rusty rutabega mudflap metal what made him famous)

Halloween: Resurrection (reality tv premise bites hard, though that similarly plotted Tales from The Crypt ep with Morton Downey Jr.* was a hoot)

Halloween: The Curse of MM (Paul Rudd is wonderful and all, but he cannot begin to save this tedious exercise in myth padding - but here's a clip anyway.)

Halloween 5 (roman numerals...

Halloween [2018] (I can remember nothing about this, except that I don't see myself watching it again. i guess it was loud and expensive, and wasted Judy Greer and Toby Huss. Just another cash-grab reboot nail in imagination's coffin.)

Halloween 4 ...are for squares, man!)

Halloween II (creepy enough, strangely dreary, but more than a bit sluggish)

H20 (the boarding school setting works and its slick cast and production values don't smooth over the grit. plus there's the weird kid from The Ice Storm that Christina Ricci deflowers)

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Tom Atkins, heads exploding into bugs and snakes, mustard-bleeding robuts and a catchy jingle. Bites off more than it manages to chew, but in an uncommonly satisfying way)

Halloween (best John Carpenter film after The Thing and one of the best horror films period)

* "Television Terror"/S02/E16/1990

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 6 years

Note

A - Z (Fandom ‘Come At Me, Friend’ Meme)

WELL THEN *cracks knuckles* HERE WE GO

(all 26 letters behind a cut bc this is very long)

A - Your current OTP(s)/OT3(s)/OTX(s)

As of this hour, my top OTPs are Penelope/Schneider from ODAAT and Joyce/Hopper from Stranger Things. But I have endless numbers of them, even within each fandom.

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

Jean/Alice from TDBM.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will (be nice)

Um…hmm. I’m such a multishipper, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my NOTPs. I’ve never been onboard the Keens from The Blacklist, though. Not even a little. I only enjoyed Tom in his original villainous state.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t (again: be nice)

A couple of my spouse’s faves, I really wish I liked too, especially Sam/Josh and Mal/Simon. I don’t like one of the characters in each very much, so I’ve never been able to get into them–even though I understand them, and have had fun writing them…I just don’t love them too.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what

Yeah, mostly graphics, though. I don’t think I’ve ever written crackfic. I did New York Times Minus Content edits for TDBM, a ton of those. Also Sext Message Error sets for Lizzington and for Josh/Donna. And Welcome To Nightvale sets for iZombie and Lizzington. And OTP Bot sets for Lizzington.

And this isn’t EXACTLY crack, but my original tumblr claim to fame was this Hamilton/TWW crossover that got reblogged by Lin himself.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom

Mm, the first time I actively joined a fandom was Buffy, and I was about 14 when that started for me…so as of this year I’ll have been in that fandom for 20 years! But I’ve been a fangirl literally my whole life, I just didn’t really join fandoms before the internet, and I started using the internet more in junior high and HS.

G - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it

Lou/Joey from Brotherly Love, or Claire/Trevor from Cupid (original run), or Dharma and Greg, or Allison/Wade from CryBaby, or Idgie/Ruth from Fried Green Tomatoes. I was a shipping prodigy, and the couples I was obsessed with as a literal child blur together a bit in the timeline, so I’m not completely sure which came first.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., tv shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)

TV shows.

I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why

The Aaron Tveit fandom made me uncomfortable watching BrainDead before I even had the chance to decide if I liked it or not. Most fandoms I love, though. I prefer to ignore the drama and focus on the people I actually like.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr

SO MANY. Parks and Rec, TDBM, Stranger Things…a significant portion of my watchlist comes from this hellsite by now–I have friends with good taste.

K -Say something nice about someone in any of your fandoms

@mossdonnatella is in a lot of my fandoms. She is a much better fic writer than she thinks she is!!

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves (chars you’re neutral on are fair game, as are chars you dislike)

I really ended up disliking Jacob a lot, on Grace and Frankie. But I will say that in the beginning he is very respectful of Frankie’s boundaries and tries to be patient with her, and I did like that.

M - Say something genuinely nice about a ship that you don’t ship (or its shippers, or anything related to you)

I don’t actively ship Jancy on Stranger Things after seeing S1 (I don’t really ship Steve/Nancy either, though…I think I mostly just ship Nancy x happiness) but the moment when her mom knocks on her bedroom door and they reach for each others’ hands instinctively? That is a damn fine understated sweet connection moment and I really enjoyed and believed it.

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

Okay since a lot of my top fandoms are for shows that ended a long time ago, I’m going with One Day At A Time. In fic or in canon, I want to see a lot more of Schneider being Penelope’s BFF and her confidant. I want more serious!Schneider moments bc it turns out the actor rocks at them, and I want to see Pen really get to move on from Victor as her kids get older, I want real confirmation that she’s finally past any possibility of reconciliation with him bc she deserves SO MUCH BETTER.

O - Choose a song at random, which ship or character does it remind you of

Randomizing my music gave me “Quiet” by MiLCK feat. GW Sirens and Capital Blend.

Sample lyrics:

Cuz no one knows me, no one ever willIf I don’t say something, take that dry blue pillThey may see a monster, they may run awayBut I have to do thisI can’t keep quiet, no A one woman riot

Despite the mature meaning behind the lyrics, and probably because I’m watching Stranger Things right now, it reminds me of Eleven, the tiny badass fighting her way to freedom.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas)

Alright, I’m gonna invent one right off the top of my head right here and now since you asked. Um… a One Day At A Time AU in which Penelope meets Schneider not as her landlord but as a patient, once she becomes an NP. Doctor/patient “okay if you won’t stop asking me out then get a new doctor so I can say yes” fluff ensues.

Q - A ship you’ve abandoned and why

Lizzington. I’m technically still writing fic for it bc I have a chapter fic to finish, but I haven’t watched the show in years, I avoid content for it, and have no interest in it anymore besides the phantom limb feeling of having been so invested in a ship for that long and making friends around it.

R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships

Well, since I mentioned it earlier, I think I’m the only person ever to watch the scenes Bud and Brianna have together in Grace and Frankie and think “that should really be a thing.”

Also…Kate/Donna from The West Wing. Based entirely on one scene.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

I genuinely don’t understand this question, sorry. What’s an ‘example’ of my headcanon, and how does that relate to prompts? If somebody wants to explain this to me, I’ll answer it.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

Yep yep yep. Andy was the leak, not Toby, and that is the hill I will die on always. I’m sure I have others, but that’s the big one.

U - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms

Toby Ziegler (TWW), Alice Harvey (TDBM), Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls), Jim Hopper (Stranger Things), and Spencer Hastings (from what I just saw of PLL with @actuallylukedanes).

V - 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms

Luke/Lorelai, Gilmore Girls. Parker/Hardison/Eliot, Leverage. Joyce/Hopper, Stranger Things.

W - 5 favorite ships and 5 kinks you like best for said ships

Josh/Donna (TWW), Donna in control. Matthew/Alice (TDBM), hurt/comfort sex. Alvareider (ODAAT), “whoops are we kissing wait do we like each other?”Jared/Miss Parker (The Pretender), conflicted kisses up against wallsI’m having trouble thinking of a 5th one but I used to really like Lizzington angry!sex bc damn that ship was angsty

X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM

Eleven, Toby Ziegler, Schneider, Lena Luthor, Logan Echolls, literally every main character on The Good Place.

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)

Game of Thrones, Agents of Shield, Doctor Who (though I finally have started this one!), Jane the Virgin, The Worst Witch, and lots more…I like learning about fandoms secondhand.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go (prompts optional but encouraged)

Every single one of these tiny Stranger Things children in S1 is the epitome of epic friendship and I love it. Mike jumps off a cliff to protect Dustin and Dustin’s willing to get his teeth cut out to protect Mike and Lucas offers a sincere apology when he’s wrong, something most adults still suck at, and Will tells Mike the truth even when he would benefit from lying and Eleven chooses death to save them all and they are beautiful and perfect and I love them.

#thanks for this it was sooo fun #stranger things #alvareider #grace and frankie #designatedmsec #replies

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robbieinterviews · 5 years

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‘Suicide Squad’: Margot Robbie on Understanding Harley Quinn, Cracking The Joker, and Fighting in Heels, 2016

Last summer, I was invited to visit the Toronto set of Suicide Squad along with a small group of reporters. While the scene we were supposed to see be shot was rained out, Robbie graciously agreed to stick around and speak to us about the film and her experience thus far. The actress discussed the daunting prospect of taking on such an iconic character, where she turned to for research, the intensely personal rehearsal process, her training regimen, and the difficulty of doing everything everyone else does while wearing heels.

Robbie, of course, also talked about Quinn’s relationship with The Joker, how she was able to make sense of it in her head, and the experience of working opposite Jared Leto as a method actor. It’s a fascinating deep-dive interview that I do think you’ll find engaging. Take a look below.

Question: How exciting and daunting was it to take on such an iconic character?

MARGOT ROBBIE: Very daunting, for sure. Fortunately, everything kinda moved at such a quick pace and I was working on some other projects at the time, that I didn’t have as much time to think about it. Which I think was definitely a blessing in disguise. And since then, we’ve kind of been straight-training and stuff, and it all just moved kind of quickly that we got here before we realized it. Definitely I’ve had a lot of moments of panic, where I’m like ‘Oh God, they’re gonna hate it.’ And there’s just so many people to please, and you can’t ever really make everyone happy. So, do as much research as possible. Put as much of myself into the role as possible. As long as I do my absolute best and prepare as much as I physically can, hopefully, hopefully people are happy.

There are so many iterations of the character from the comic books when it was first introduced, to the cartoon—more recently she’s been, like, in the Suicide Squad comics. Did you get a stack of comics to read for research?

ROBBIE: Yeah, well, I got the role right before Christmas, so my Christmas list consisted of Harley Quinn comics, Suicide Squad comics, any comics that, like, incorporate Harley Quinn. So yeah, I have a massive stack.

Did Geoff Johns recommend some stuff, or did you kinda find your own?

ROBBIE: No, I just did my own and whatever my family gave me for Christmas, really.

Can you talk about the expanding role of female superheroes, or anti heroes in your case, and how Harley Quinn fits into that?

ROBBIE: I don’t think it’s any secret that the industry is definitely gravitating towards female leads and giving the women a voice. And I think they’ve finally realized that women go to see movies as much as men do. Ticket sales are coming from them as well, so why not appeal to them? I think they’re finding a way…I think the superhero platform gives the female character, you know, a relate-ability for the male audience as well. So, I think that’s why people are kinda gravitating towards female super hero characters, and also female characters in general as big parts of the film. So, that’s great for us, female actors who want to do roles like that, which is really great. But um, Harley in particular, like you said earlier, she’s like a very—she has an endearing quality even though she is technically one of the bad guys I was kinda searching online trying to figure out why that was, that even though…you know, how do you make someone likable when they’re doing horrible things? Definitely her soft spot for Joker seems to be something people relate to and empathize with. And it makes her more real. And I think, also the fact—not just for Harley, but all the characters—because they are so flawed, I think it makes them very accessible for an audience, and I think the fact that they are super villains kind of makes them a little more exciting, and like I said, accessible. So yeah, I think you definitely don’t need to be a good guy to win the audience over.

We were just talking about the six weeks of training that you guys had to do. Was this the most intense amount of training you had to do for a role?

ROBBIE: I started training in November last year, so it was more like six months for me. But, uh, yeah, definitely by far the most training regime I’ve ever gone through.

Specifically for this role, you were training since November?

ROBBIE: Yeah.

What was the hardest part for you? We heard that you’re dancing, you’re fighting…

ROBBIE: Yeah, I mean, ironically enough, it’s the more simple things that prove to be the most difficult Like I can technically learn…you know, I started doing gymnastics, I started doing gun training and this and that. I can understand the technical side of how to do something. Oh, that’s how you can do a forward walk over or a hand stand for thirty seconds? But I didn’t have the physical strength to allow myself to do those things. Even the gun training. If I’ve done gymnastics for an hour and a half and I go straight to the gun range and I’m holding a revolver in my left hand just in case I need to shoot with two hands, my hands are like shaking like this because my muscles are just so sore. And just not strong enough to deal with that, but you have to be able to do that because on set, you know, if you’ve got a close up shot of the gun in the foreground of the frame and it’s shaking like this, you think, ‘Harley doesn’t know that she’s doing. She doesn’t look scary right now. She’s definitely going to miss this shot.’ So ironically enough, it was the more simple things that I had trouble with.

Can you talk about the psychological complexity of the relationship between her and Joker, and what she basically goes over to the dark side for? What is it about him? Can you talk a little bit about the sort of Sid and Nancy thing that comes up?

ROBBIE: Yeah, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out their relationship because it’s so easy…it’s kinda like when your friend is in, like doing something stupid in a relationship, and you’re just so frustrated. You’re like, what are you doing? Why are you doing that? So it kinda feels like that when you watch it, when you’re reading comics and Harley goes back to him. And you’re just so frustrated, what are you doing? So I was like, this is really important that I understand, and I want to do the things that she does. I need to really feel like that’s how I would react in a situation. I ended up landing upon codependency as the tact to take with that. And it turns out it’s far more…It’s like a compulsion, I suppose. It’s kinda when you start looking at it the way an alcoholic is compelled, you know, needs to have a drink. When you think of it in those terms, like it’s an actual psychological problem, which codependency actually is, in really severe cases of codependency. So the more research I did, the more it made sense for me to behave the way she behaved.

The producers compared Harley to Hannibal Lecter where her power of words can mess up anybody. What does that involve for you in terms of how you speak or how you get into someone’s head?

ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah, that actually I found really difficult because I find myself in real life, if there’s ever tension, I try to diffuse the tension. And that’s just a natural reaction for me. Where for Harley it’s the complete opposite. And David’s really, our director’s really encouraged me to hone in on that aspect of her, because it’s something that doesn’t come to me naturally. Or most people who wanna, like, not be involved in confrontation. But she feeds off that, so any opportunity in the rehearsal process where we did lots of improvising and stuff that’s not even in the script but you end up delving into quite deep places. And you’re pretty aware that whoever’s doing that scene at the time, you know the costars I’m working with, they’re kinda feeding off real things, so my natural reaction is to kinda like, leave it be or talk over it, so that we don’t have to…but that’s not what Harley would do. If Harley saw that they’ve shown a weak spot, she would like a little scorpion tail just like *psst*, get in there. And I felt so awful and so many times we did, like, these scenes and I was just saying awful things. And seeing that someone’s struggling with something in particular, and David’s looking at me like, ‘you better get in there, that’s your window of opportunity right there, take it.’ It feels really awful sometimes.

She was a shrink though, too. Did you study any of those tactics?

ROBBIE: Yeah, I kinda wanted, funnily enough. I mean, yes I had to like look into that side of things, which I did and I’m just learning the basics of that and different mental illnesses, and how you recognize them or whatever. But where it became most useful is we started doing rehearsals with Jared Leto who plays Joker, and he’s a method actor. So he’s in character all the time. Because he’s got his facade up all the time, it was really hard for me to get through to him at first, I felt. So I was like, ok I really gotta take this you know, as if, I am trying to crack the Joker. And ended up looking into the MMPI testings they have. It’s kinda like a test that psychologists use to determine what mental illness people might have. It’s kinda like a list of 500 questions or something, I spent a lot of time reading those, and then whenever we had time to rehearse or improvise, or even in the scenes, I’d just start with those questions. Some of them are basic, and some of them are not. See which ones would catch him off guard, see how he’d react, and I’d be like, ok I’m gonna go for this tact now. It’s a lot of trial and error, but yeah, it was definitely interesting to do that side of things.

Can you tell us a little about the costume and the hair, and how you feel when you’re done up as Harley? And is there a part of it that you love the most, and on the flip side a part of it that you kinda hate?

ROBBIE: Funnily enough the things that I love the most go very much hand in hand with the things I hate the most, as well, because it looks so amazing when your skin’s completely white and you’ve got tattoos and the wig’s crazy, annnnnnd it takes three hours to do. So I hate that I have to…but having said that, without all that hair and makeup, I wouldn’t feel like the character at all. When I am all done up I don’t look anything like myself, and I start behaving very differently, and it kinda does a lot of the work for you, I guess, with the whole getting into character side of things.

Talking about costume, in the art they released, Harley is wearing stiletto gym shoes. Did you get to push back on that at all, like can I wear some real shoes if I’m gonna be running around?

ROBBIE: Yeah, when the process started—

Twist an ankle?

ROBBIE: Oh trust me, there was a…yes, and anytime anyone on set complains like, ‘this is really hard, I’m getting tired,” I’m like “everything you’re doing, I’m doing in stilettos, ok? I’m doing as much as you, all these stairs we’re walking up, I’m doing it in heels.” Yeah, no, to begin with we were looking at wearing docs and flat shoes, and then we did the camera tests, and I think was pretty unanimous, that like “you’ll be a lot better looking if you’ve got a bit height.” So, that’s when the powers that be stepped in and voted on a pair of heels. And then once I knew that it had to be a pair of heels, I was like right, well I want the most badass looking ones. And when I saw the Adidas ones I was like, they are siiiick. It all happened quite quickly, and before I knew it I was like, “ok yeah, so that’s the costume.” And I walked around in them for a day and I was like, that was the worst idea. Ever.

We’ve heard the actors have been really integral to developing the characters with David when you first signed on. How did the character evolve once you signed on and had input and you guys talked through the character? How different is it now that that first iteration that was in the script?

ROBBIE: Yeah, that’s a good question. Like I said, I had done as much research as I possibly could. I mean, I’m still reading comics as we go. It’s really hard to read all of them. But I guess it just takes it to a much deeper level, and he finds parts in you that relate to the character. Which is something that you think you’re doing when you do your prep. But then you start working with someone like David and realize that you haven’t done that at all. And like subconsciously you were just using your top layers, because you don’t want to go to the deeper layers cause that’s, you know, terrifying, and you definitely don’t want to expose that in front of people that you don’t know. But day one we’re in the rehearsal room in front of everyone I’d just met and David’s like, so tell me about your childhood. It’s immediately in deep and you’re completely exposed and it’s kinda awful but ends up being extremely helpful for the character work and development.

How wild are the scenes between you and the Joker? How would you characterize them?

ROBBIE: Pretty wild. Crazy. I’ve never seen scenes like it before, personally. It’s next level. People better brace themselves. It’s weird, they’re a fascinating couple. Honestly, I find their stuff the most exciting out of everything. I’d watch a dialogue scene between them over, like, buildings blowing up and guns, which I love that stuff as well. But when they are just—or when they find someone that they wanna pick on, it’s scary. Yeah, they’re messed up.

With her being so attached to the Joker how does she interact with the rest of the Squad? What is her relationship with them and how does she fit in amongst them, being so completely enamored with the Joker all the time?

ROBBIE: Yeah, fortunately, I mean I was kinda banking on the fact that when Harley isn’t around Joker she’s slightly less crazy than she is when she is with him. Only because there’s a lot of plot points you need to get across, and there’s a whole lot other list of characters that have their story lines and stuff. And I find acting 1000 percent crazy all the time it’s just totally gonna distract from what we need to be focusing on in that particular scene. When it’s a Joker scene, she’s pretty nuts because he brings that out in her for sure. And when it’s the rest of the Squad’s scenes, yeah she has her moments for sure. But she’s a little, I wouldn’t say sensible, she’s never sensible. But she’s a little more focused, I suppose.

You said you went back and read some of her stuff to prep. Was there are particular story arc that you related to, a particular run that you liked the most?

ROBBIE: I was obviously really interested in all the parts of how she became Harley Quinn and how she ended up at Arkham, and why she wanted to be there. And then I couldn’t really find too much more on…you know, you find bits and pieces, but with the comic books a lot of things, like some coincide, and some are completely different versions and it gets a little confusing. So you kinda have to make up, and decide, Oh I’m gonna go with this version, or whatever. Yeah, so there wasn’t…I mean, there are lots of little stories like oh I found that really fun. I always like her romantic story lines because I’m a girl and I can’t help it. But the things that I found most interesting were the parts where she had her big initial conversations with Joker and there’s a couple bits throughout the comics where you do flashbacks and you see their first conversations and what they talked about and why. Because I just wanted to understand why was she attracted to him why does she love him?

We see the Joker in the fetal position surrounded by all these weapons with Harley looking over him. Have you shot that scene already?

ROBBIE: No we haven’t. I saw that too and I was like, ugh, I hope they do it like that.

Is that in Arkham, is that an early kinda scene, you think?

ROBBIE: Um, no it’s not in Arkham, but it is a flashback scene. For more on Suicide Squad, peruse the links to the rest of my set visit coverage below:

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funnythingshere0-blog · 6 years

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15 Hilarious Buffy Memes Only True Funs Will Understand

New Post has been published on https://funnythingshere.xyz/15-hilarious-buffy-memes-only-true-funs-will-understand/

15 Hilarious Buffy Memes Only True Funs Will Understand

by Nancy O. Greene

– on May 22, 2018

in Lists

Created by Joss Whedon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has only continued to grow in popularity over the years. In the age of the Internet, this endlessly quotable series had lead to more than a few funny and relatable memes. Buffy tried to live her life like everybody else, despite the responsibilities that she had to deal with. Most people can relate to the pros and cons of trying to have a happy existence, while dealing with the sometimes less-than-pleasant aspects of life.

One of the many ways people do this is by relating to shared experiences through entertainment. Memes allow people to quickly share ideas, quotes, and observations, usually along with a picture or series of pictures that bring it all together nicely.

Even after 20 years, people still find ways that situations on Buffy can apply to everyday life. As with other more recent popular shows, there are things in the series that just fit so well with these ever more bustling times.

We’ve rounded up 15 funny memes incorporating Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All of them are hilarious, though some might be funnier than others. Here to brighten your day are 15 Hilarious Buffy Memes Only True Funs Will Understand

15 ANGELUS EQUALS AWESOME?

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The Angel/Angelus struggle was akin to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, except instead of science it was magic. Cursed to lose his soul if he experienced a moment of happiness, Angel had Angelus locked firmly away within the recesses of his being. Except for when he didn’t (And there was that time that he locked a roomful of lawyers in with two bloodthirsty vampires. But technically, he still had his soul then, so…). Back to the point. Angel was the good guy and plenty cool in his own right. Angelus, on the other hand, wasn’t so much cool as he was unburdened by what happened to those around him. Because he didn’t have a soul, he only cared about what he wanted to do and that freed him up. Caring about his own needs, though, wasn’t the evil part (as demonstrated by Angel and Spike both finally being unburdened of most of their guilt – Angel through the mind-trip with Faith, and Spike through Robin’s attempt at using the First’s brainwashing).

It was the fact that part of his “needs” involved mentally and physically hurting people before taking them out. However, in his evil state, he was like Freddy Krueger on a one-liner bender, slicing and dicing people’s emotions and watching the carnage fly. As horrifying as Angelus was, he had a way with words and actions that made him stand out as a villain.

14 HAPPILY EVER AFTER? SURE, WHY NOT

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To be fair, this isn’t entirely true. Sure, Joss is known for stories where characters experience a lot of heartache and some pass on, but that’s rarely the end of the story. Tara’s life was ended unfairly, it’s true, but Willow continued to grow as a character. Riley left, but there was Buffy and Spike. Spike sacrificed himself to save the Slayers and the world, but he got to have another life on Angel. Fred passed away, but Illyria took her place in the group eventually — and if you go into the comics, Fred comes back too. What really gets fans about Joss’ work is the heartache isn’t just about death.

Writers end our favorite characters all the time.

But with Whedon, whether it’s an ending of life or ending of a relationship, the way it’s done cuts deep and is lasting, even if the character returns. It’s true that there are other writers and directors who do this – countless shows, movies, and books have left readers and audiences curled up, blubbering messes from the destruction of characters and/or worlds they grew to care about. Maybe it’s just kind of funny to point out that the happiness audiences feel about characters in Joss Whedon’s work can just as quickly turn to devastation and back again to happiness. It certainly gives you something to sing about!

13 YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED BUFFY?

When you’re a fan of something that has only grown in popularity over time, it’s difficult to imagine that there might actually be people in the world who haven’t seen it, or at least heard of it. Naturally, it’s impossible for everyone to have seen every show ever made, even ones that are cultural phenomenon. It’s reasonable. It happens. We would just like to say… Who are you people?!?! Why haven’t you watched Buffy?!? What is wrong with you? It’s not like you haven’t had 21 years to get caught up! This is insanity. Everyone in the world should have seen this by now. Even babies. Babies should all be Buffy fans now. Elon Musk is planning on shooting satellites into space to blanket the world in Wi-Fi (side note – is that a good guy becoming a super villain kind of thing or nah?). Requirement number one should be to beam every episode of Buffy and Angel into everyone’s mind. But, you know. No rush or anything (And just in case it’s not apparent, this is just a bit of fandom fun, even though the series is fantastic. Obviously, the satellites won’t be able to beam shows into our minds. If they can, then we should probably get Buffy’s beeper number).

12 TO BROOD OR NOT TO BROOD

Brood-y McBrood-y pants. Angel was the king of brooding. But, let’s face it, he had good reason. Saddled with a soul after he turned into a Vampire, he started to feel all of the guilt that Angelus didn’t have, along with the perfect memory of everything Angelus did. Eventually, he did become less broody, turning his focus fully to fighting the good fight, especially where Wolfram and Hart was concerned.

The argument can be made that this was their intention all along. While Jasmine made the claim that she manipulated events so that Angel would end up in Los Angeles and eventually have a son, Connor, it was Wolfram and Hart that had skin in the game from the beginning. They always had their eye on the vampire with a soul, since it was foretold that whichever side he fought on would succeed. This was still true, even though Holland Manners’s claim in “Reprise” also appeared to be true: “See, for us, there is no fight. Which is why winning doesn’t enter into it. We go on, no matter what. Our firm has always been here on Earth… in one form or another… we’re in the hearts and minds of every single living being. See, the world doesn’t work in spite of evil, Angel. It works with us. It works because of us.” Interestingly enough, that speech lead to Angel’s lowest moment, which in turn lead to his epiphany and renewed resolve to fight – and a little less brooding.

11 WAIT, WHAT?

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This is so accurate. One thing that makes the show stand out is that it doesn’t really seem dated. The styles, the lingo, the situations – they pretty much seem like they can be placed in today’s world without being out of place. But then, bam, you see a computer and it reminds you that the show is actually old enough to go to a bar. In four years, it’ll be old enough to rent a car. They do grow up so fast, don’t they? Luckily, because the focus of the show was magic-based, real-life technology wasn’t always so heavily featured. Even with the Initiative in season 4 and with Willow’s knowledge of computers, it doesn’t detract from anything.

Who need an iPad when you could have a brick?

At the time, it was probably difficult to imagine that a show about a girl saving the world from demons and vampires would go on to become a cultural phenomenon, inspiring countless people across the world. It changed the landscape of television, spawned college courses, similar stories in all forms of entertainment, and still continues to influence the world of entertainment today. Who knows what will happen in the world in the next 20 years, but for its part Buffy and its spin off Angel have left significant impressions on the history of entertainment thus far, which is quite a feat.

10 YOLO OR NO, YO?

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One of the cornerstones of Buffy is the fact that her life was briefly taken by the Master, breaking the Slayer loop, and she was brought back again after giving her life to save Dawn/the World. These facts about her have been a huge part of shaping the whole series. In the comics, it’s revealed that there was a prophecy about a Slayer who would upend everything and it turns out, of course, to be Buffy. She develops God-like powers and chaos more or less ensues. Must be a Tuesday. Of course, Dwight is a fitting character to use for a meme like this, which pokes fun at the popularity of YOLO by pointing out that maybe there are situations where that’s not exactly true. Particularly as far as the Buffyverse is concerned. When you think about it, YOLO is used a lot as a fun, motivational quick-reference, but with advances in technology, this eventually might not be the case anymore. Cryogenics, stem cells, you name it. If the real world was the Buffyverse (or vice versa) they probably could have just uploaded Buffy’s full life memories into the Buffy Bot – then there really would have been two them (oh, wait. Andrew actually did that in the comics). But this is probably taking the meme way out of context. How very Dwight!

9 DON’T WANNA, NOT GONNA

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This meme features Buffy in season 5, after she becomes distraught and trapped in her head after losing Dawn to Glory. She had given up and Willow had to help her out of it so they could all stop Glorificus. If one thing is for certain, it’s that Buffy never really wanted to be the Slayer. It’s one of those things where, since she was the Slayer she wouldn’t exactly want it taken away. But, if she could have a normal life she wouldn’t mind that either. Kind of a double-edged scythe. Nowhere was this seen more clearly than in season 6 after she returns the second time. Buffy is despondent, she would rather have anyone else take care of the responsibilities, even as she does them herself. We’ve all been there, right? It’s quickly revealed that she was in a place of absolute peace. After that, she simply didn’t want to be in the harsh, cruel world, responsible for saving everyone yet again. While it was a departure from Buffy’s normal fire to fight, it was still in keeping with her desire to not have the responsibilities of the Slayer hoisted upon her. Come to think of it, maybe this meme is only funny out of context, huh?

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8 BUFFY VS. TWILIGHT. FIGHT!

The Twilight here is not the Angel/Twilight of the comics. Instead, it’s that vampire series that’s totally, honestly, really not a rip-off of Buffy, without the gravitas. Really. At this point, everybody knows that there’s a bit of back-and-forth regarding Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight and Buffy. The similarities are pretty apparent, even though Meyer’s initially stated that she never watched Buffy so she wasn’t influenced by it, but also stated that her sister would watch the show and she was familiar with it through hearing it in the background. But back to the meme. Spike alone would decimate a sparkling vampire with all the swiftness of throwing back a shot of whiskey and Buffy would make a few quips about using too much body glitter along with the dispatching.

Move over Twilight vampires, we got some real vampires approaching.

Apparently, the Twilight vamps have Dracula-like powers, but seeing as how Buffy has gone toe-to-toe against Dracula himself, that wouldn’t be an issue either. Add Angel to the mix, and despite their superpowers, the vamps and werewolves (there were werewolves too, right?) of Twilight wouldn’t stand a chance. Even Selene from Underworld, a super tough vampire in her own right, would turn the Twi-Vamps into extra-crispy toast. Fans of Twilight might beg to differ — and they would be wrong — but it’s all good. It’s all fun in the fandoms. Sparkling vampires still make no sense, but tomato, toMAto, right?

7 BUFFY VS. XENA

There is no Buffy vs. Xena. There’s no way to choose between the two. Sure, the shows were pretty different, but their differences and similarities alike made them great. Xena and Buffy were both tough. Xena started out as a bad guy but quickly became a fighter of the good fight, thanks largely to her friendship with Gabrielle. Both relied on their own toughness to get them through, but they also had the people who cared about them to back them up when needed. Even though some liked to try it, a lot of bad guys recognized their strength. Xena saved the world too, though not in the same ways as Buffy. Like Angel, Xena felt a need for redemption for all the lives she took when she was an evil warlord. In fact, Xena and Buffy would probably just join forces to save the world, right? Though they would have to figure out how to cross the boundaries of time. Sounds like a job for Willow. So, in essence, this funny meme is also wholly accurate. You simply can’t pick between the two. And you don’t just simply walk into Mordor. It all makes perfect sense.

6 SERIOUSLY, THOUGH.

Sure, Buffy had some luck. But, there was a lot of ingenuity and help from her friends. When Buffy had to retrieve Faith, so Angel could heal from the poison the rogue Slayer hit him with, she didn’t have much luck. That resulted in Angel having to drink from her, which temporarily put her in a coma. Things turned out much better with the final plan to stop the mayor from consuming most of Sunnydale High’s graduating class, though. It’s the little things, you know? As with the responsibilities meme, this one points out that it’s not always easy being the Slayer. She had to go to school, fight demons, save the world, protect her friends and family, work and somehow fit in a romantic relationship and general social life, all while keeping herself together emotionally. Her to-do list was a doozy. What’s the plural of Apocalypse, again? But, despite all that, Buffy was definitely luckier than the Slayers before her. The first Slayer probably had it the worst. Implanted with demon powers by a group of men who figured it was better to risk the life of a young girl than battle evil themselves, she apparently had no family or friends to speak of and had to live in uncomfortable conditions. In fact, before Buffy, it was the general rule that the only person the Slayer was supposed to have time for was her Watcher and that was for training and assignments. No wonder Buffy and Willow broke that system.

5 HOW YOU DOING?

Remember the “Hey, Girl” meme? Of course you do. The numerous variations mostly feature Ryan Gosling, some with adorable caption additions like, “Hey girl, let’s stay in and make Pinterest recipes.” Well, this is its super creepy opposite. Less pleasant and tongue-in-cheek, and more screaming in horror. The Gentlemen from “Hush” were the stuff of nightmares. They were like a time-split cross between Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Slenderman. Easily one of the best one-off villains of the series. The episode even received Emmy nominations. One can only imagine that the motivation behind this meme was to poke fun at the original meme by giving it an uber-creepy twist.

Hey gurl, who needs good conversation when you can have a creepy smile instead?

It works. What’s also funny is the fact that the Gentlemen don’t ever speak. That was part of what made them frightening within the context of the show. They didn’t speak and made it impossible for people in Sunnydale to speak while they were there, because the sound of the human voice was fatal to them. That’s how they’re defeated. In a great twist (this is how Riley and Buffy learn about each other’s secret lives) Riley helps Buffy get her voice back and she saves the day by screaming until the villains’ skulls pop. Talk about hey, girl. Hey, girl, yourself!

4 THE PHILOSOPHY OF OZ

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Oz was always known for his stoic nature, which turned out to be pretty handy when he was bit by a werewolf. Most characters would probably flip out in panic or go power trip (Hey, Veruca. Heeeeeyyyyyyyyy.). Instead, Oz mostly took it in stride, even coming up with a way to protect others from the werewolf. His Zen nature was a great balance at the time to Willow’s less-Zen nature. But things didn’t stay that way, and Oz had to go away to find out how to better control that side of himself. Once he returned, he had almost full control over the werewolf. He was able to turn at will, no longer locked to the full moon. This didn’t turn out to be the best thing, though, as he unwillingly lost control of the werewolf after he learned about Willow and Tara. So he leaves again. Oz and Xander were similar in a few ways at times, particularly when Xander was being more wise than the wise guy, but Oz never really connected with the rest of the group in the same way. In the comics, Oz eventually becomes something of a Zen-like master and is married. He ends up helping the Scooby Gang and the new Slayers, and even after all that time he retained his stoic nature.

3 SPIKE WAS FIRST

Spike makes the claim that Billy Idol stole his look. Given that Spike is over a hundred years old, this is a reasonable theory. Before Spike claimed his spoils of war after ending Principal Wood’s mom, a Slayer, he was punk, sans cool trench coat. But, Spike went through quite a few phases before donning his signature look. He started out as a poet, a polite man in society. His style of dress back then was more on the conservative side, fitting mostly with the styles of the day, even though he still didn’t fit in with the society around him. He went through a 1950s chic phase in Italy with Drusilla. After he got his soul back, there was a while when he didn’t feel as connected to the coat he stole from Nikki, Robin Wood’s mom. Regardless of how he got it, this was Spike’s look, the look. Fittingly, on Angel the original jacket was destroyed, and Wolfram and Hart had another available for him – sort of symbolizing the new Spike. No matter how you look at it, Spike definitely had his own style and it worked. He was undeniably cool – even more so after he started fighting for the good guys and became one himself — and he knew it.

2 THE MASTER VS. VOLDEMORT

Twinsies? The Master and Voldemort apparently both went to the School of Evil for Evil Villains and it shows. They both lost more of their humanity in their quests for power and they lost most of what made them appear human. Too bad the same thing doesn’t always happen in real life. Punch mouth, as Buffy called him, was one of the older vampires and was proud of his lack of human qualities. He didn’t like it much when Angelus pointed out the lack of physical appeal. Voldemort also didn’t care much about outside appearances, he was too busy being hung up on “pure blood” vs “mudblood”.

Who needs good looks, when you’re flawless?

Go figure – two evil creatures with a thing about the supposed quality of blood. They had to be long lost brothers. If the Master had succeeded in opening up his people wine-bar, they could have gone into business together. Let’s not forget, both had their evil world-domination plans thwarted by school students and their administrative guardians. They were like peas in a pod. Both of them were powerful and had lasted longer than other villains, but that didn’t do them much good. Maybe if they should have gone the way of Dracula and at least kept up appearances, they could have succeeded? Who knows. Even though they were great villain characters to root against, good riddance to both.

1 BUFFY MEET SARAH

With a new Terminator movie in this works, this meme is funny and timely. Sarah Connor is another woman who prophecy launched from normal life to fighting for humanity. Unlike Buffy, Sarah didn’t try to lead a regular life. In the “Wish” episode, Buffy was more like Connor – sadly having no time for close friendships other than the ones that provided her with weapons. She did soften a smidge towards the end of Terminator 2 though. But as for her world view… seeing yourself being blown to bits by a nuclear blast initiated by an AI would dampen anyone’s sunny outlook. Put that along with having killer robots sent through time to kill you and your child and, well, you get the picture. But if you think about it, this would be an amazing combination. Joss Whedon and James Cameron working together on a Terminator/Buffy crossover (or anything for that matter) would be a dream team. Buffy’s faced terminator-like robots before (Ted, for one). If demons suddenly became a part of the Terminator world, which would be kind of odd, but stay with us for a sec here – Sarah Connor wouldn’t even blink. Add Willow, and she would make quick work of Skynet too. Does magic time travel beat time machine? We’re going to go with yes in this scenario.

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Can you think of any funny Buffy memes? Share them in the comments below!

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