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smokeybrandreviews · 2 years

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Real Bad News

A friend of mine sent me an article claiming Disney is looking to create a Dragon Ball Z franchise, helmed by Kevin Feige, with the intent on making it larger than their MCU and Star Wars worlds, combined. It’s always the Mouse House, ain’t it. I just got done critiquing Obi-Wan and now this. F*ck, man, they won’t stop until they own everything! Okay, so my gut reaction to this news was "Bad. I feel bad about this." How the f*ck can Disney even make a DB franchise with all of the violence, toilet humor, and sexual innuendo? Impossible! It’d have to be completely watered down, even if they release it under the 20th Century imprint. So i did some quick google-fu and found out that they don't own the rights to Dragon Ball. That's still Shueisha, Toei, and Toriyama. What Disney owns is the same rights Fox did, the rights that gave us Dragon Ball: Evolution. Unless Disney goes back to Shueisha, Toriyama, and Toei, they are incredibly limited in what they can and can't do with those rights. What Disney has with DB is similar to what Star Trek has with Paramount.

I imagine they'll have to create their own universe and can only call those characters by the names they own, but not make them LOOK like the characters, you know? Star Trek created the Kelvin timeline because they don't have the rights to anything created before. That's why the Klingons look different and Picard is an android or whatever. It's why they pushed Spock's black sister that never existed and there is a whole ass cat person on Lower Decks. This is the sh*t Disney is probably going to forced into as the Japanese rights holders hated Evolution so much, they literally created Super in response to it. Evo was so bad, Toriyama rushed Battle of the Gods into production in response, which led to Dragon Ball Super, which gave us the Broly movie (Which is f*cking amazing) and now, Superhero. Dragon Ball Super: Superhero is making so much money in Japan, it’s stupid. AND it’s getting released here in August. They don’t need Disney’s money and, being a whole as Japanese company, Disney can’t even threaten them with acquisition if they don’t play ball. I doubt they'll give us Yanks a shot at that franchise proper again, especially with a Super continuation all but guaranteed at this point. also, if I'm not mistaken, Sony owns the US distribution rights for anything Dragon Ball through Funimation! All that said, after my research and with a better understanding of the rights situation, I still feel pretty bad.

Feige does Marvel justice because he's a fan of the comics. He knows the business of Hollywood very well, too. Both of these things Dragon Ball is not. I don't see how Disney resists the urge to Americanize the narrative in an effort to "broaden the appeal", ie: Whitewash the f*ck out of this show in an effort not to offend or alienate middle America. Dragon Ball, and most manga, are hard to adapt because they are intrinsically Japanese. They approach storytelling completely different than we do and trust their audience way more than any domestic content creator. Seriously, you ever get a Normie to try and watch an A24 film? There’s a reason why mainstream studios don’t fund sh*t like The VVitch or Uncut Gems. And that’s just narrative dense, slow burn, character studies. Imagine having to sell that lore heavy plot, with horrific violence and absolutely evil antagonist, to Karen from Wisconsin. Now, i love the MCU but i love it because i love Marvel comics. None of these stories challenge the audience like, say, the character of a genocidal, narcissists, prince, who is responsible for millions of lives taken, getting the happy ending of marrying the richest woman on the planet and having two beautiful kids. Like, people were mad that Thanos snapped. Imagine them getting a face full of Vegeta, whole ass bodying a planet full of innocent moth people on his way to murder a bunch of earthlings for the Dragon Balls.

Like, Vegeta is a whole ass Thanos, one that gets personally bloody, and he literally never gets his comeuppance. Motherf*cker THRIVES! On top of that, his overtly racist, alien, boss who might as well be Space Hitler and enslaved an entire planet until he got tired of them and blew it the f*ck up, gets a pass, too! This motherf*cker not only comes back to life, but gets to be the fourth most powerful creature in the goddamn universe! People were mad that Thanos had a real point. Motherf*ckers were actually upset that there were cats out there saying "Thanos was right" which he kind of was. In the end, though, Thanos died. He got what he deserved. Twice. How the f*ck are they going to react to someone as irredeemable as Freeza getting redemption? The motherf*cker came back to life, twice, and immediately started Hitler-ing again with no consequence! Like, he’s out there, buying, selling, enslaving, and destroying whole ass planets, and no one is doing anything about it. Goku and Vegeta are just like, “Eh. We stay ready whenever he wants to come and try us but f*ck the rest of the galaxy.” F*ck, i forgot about Goku! How do you Mickey Mouse Goku into a likable character?? How does the Mouse House Square that sh*t? You can't separate the atrocities from Freeza, just like you can’t separate the constantly wold-endangering selfishness of Goku. He’s the f*cking main character! This motherf*cker is not Captain America, he's a slightly more reasonable Omni-Man!

I trust in Feige, always. When it comes to Marvel. I am a little sus about his Star War and even more skeptical that he can handle a franchise like Dragon Ball. The MCU structure cribs a lot from anime and manga, it's basically set up like the narrative arcs or sagas in shonen releases, but these are still very American stories being told. Just because it looks like anime, doesn’t mean it is. Definitely doesn’t mean the man that built the MCU understands anime. As much as people like to claim it to be, Avatar is not an anime but it is the closest thing to it I've seen anyone in the West, outside of France, make. That sh*t was already very Americanized from the outset, some would say very it ever appropriated a great deal from Asian culture, and the live action remake is one of the worst films ever made. If you can’t even adapt something for the American audience, that was already made for the American audience, the f*ck chance does Dragon Ball (or any other anime or manga for that matter) have? I don't see a live action, US created, Dragon Ball Z capturing that same spirit of it’s Japanese origins, especially when it's being made under the stifling creative conditions of Disney. I trust Feige to make something but i am very much dubious about the end product. I'm curious what they will create but, don't misunderstand me, it's probably going to be bad and it certainly won't be anything close to Dragon Ball Z.

#Dragon Ball #Dragon Ball Z #Disney #20th Century Studios

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smokeybrand · 2 years

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Real Bad News

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gar-trek · 3 years

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As per tradition, here is my thoughts on TNG season three (I just realized I finished a whole season in like 10 days wtf)

Well, as you may have guessed that shit was like crack cocaine to me. For comparison, it took me almost 2 months to finish season 2. But season 3... oh man that shit just hit different 😳Finally, finally they have started hitting their stride. I feel like a big problem in season 2 was they had a lot of episodes that had completely unrelated A and B plots. I didn’t really like this because it would sometimes feel awkward jumping around plots in the same episode. I felt like the episodes in this season were a lot more cohesive. Everything just flowed together really nicely and kept me really engaged. Also they are a lot better at keeping characters consistent and likable... I don’t hate Picard anymore, friendship regain with Picard. They stopped writing him as an asshole and made his motivations more clear. Also, I am now in love with Riker, just am. Okay, here are some more specific thoughts on episodes:

Ones that were meh:

Manage a Troi: Idk why but Lwaxana Troi episodes just haven’t hit since her first appearance. Like I say her episode in season 1 was one of the best, but then her season 2 episode was soooo bad. This one was a little better but it was just a little boring and awkward. AND PLEASE! what is the nature of Riker and Troi’s relationship ??? are the exs? are they casually dating?? do they just bone every now and then? I’m so confused cuz like I thought they just had a crush on each other but didn’t wanna pursue a relationship, but then in this episode its just understood they are going to go to Betazoid and fuck. WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

Sins of the Father: I didn’t really like Worf’s brother or the fact they introduced a secret brother. Star Trek, that trope is so tired now. Stop with the secret sibling bullshit. Also I get it’s different for Klingons but I didn’t like that Worf was okay answering for things his biological dad did when he has two adopted parents who love him very much. Also, I have no idea what happened at the end of this episode. Was anyone else confused or was it just because I may or may not have been under the influence of legal substances? I was confused the whole episode.

My favs!!:

The Ensigns of Command: I loooovvveeee episodes were they test Data and he struggles a bit but of course ends up saving the day!!! Very good with tension all throughout and like even the plot on the enterprise was interesting. Also... Data got a little kissy :3

The Enemy: Centurion Bochra!!! CENTURION BOCHRA!!!! Who the fuck doesn’t love a redemption arc for an unhinged boy? I’d say its the backbone of this fucking website. ALSO!! a fucking GEORDI CENTRIC episode ???? we get to see my best friend Geordi save the day and work hard and use his kindness and good attitude and determination and smarts to do it?? I LOVE GEORDI!!!! also i just love Romulans, I think they are my fav evil race (Ferengi very close second)

Offspring: Let me tell you guys, I NEVER EVER cry and media ever, I don’t even cry at ANYTHING!! but.... certain scenes here... may have got me a little choked up... ngl. This episode was so funny but also so heart wrenching, that’s all I’ll say.

Hollow Pursuits: I don’t know, I just really like that they gave us a character centric episode that wasn’t one of the main cast. It was just a super interesting story. The whole time you are kinda tore between routing for Barclay and feeling like he’s a massive creep. Also, it shows the main cast an imperfect and not always accepting, as even the captain is a little mean to Barclay at one point and Riker kinda turns into a Chad bully. Idk it was an episode I would never expect from this show but very much enjoyed.

The Most Toys: yes Three out of five of my favorite episodes were Data centric ones, fucking sue me. I’m a basic Data loving bitch I will fully admit to that. I have a lot to say about this episode and what I wish they would have done different, but i think I’m going to post about that separately. But anyway, when Data went against his own will and sat in the chair to save that women's life... that shit got to me. I think about that scene daily

Okay, that’s all for now folks!! feel free to debate me in the comments and what not

#star trek #I read my season 1 reflection again #man it's so crazy #how man opinions are sooo different now #tng #the next generation #this was a ramble afffffffff

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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September 17: 3x07 Day of the Dove

I am incredibly discombobulated today—usual weekend nocturnal shenanigans I guess! Anyway it’s somehow midnight. Gonna try to write up these note on the Classic episode The Day of the Dove in as efficient a manner as possible.

Hmm, a planet with wavy pink Fraggle plants. I like it already.

But where is Spock? Very suspicious.

I really appreciate Kirk giving a little speech to set up the overall question/issue for us. (I know he does this all the time with the Captain’s logs but this is out loud and so… more obviously expository.)

Oh no, it’s our old friends…the Klingons.

I will admit that this ONE TIME, the Klingon is being reasonable. Like, it is reasonable to think that Kirk and the Enterprise attacked his ship, given that his hip WAS attacked, and who else would it be?

Three years of peace between the Klingons and the Federation? That is inclusive of the show so all this tension must technically be “peace” and also implies there was something more like a direct war going on, like, right before Kirk got the captaincy.

Zoolander voice: What is this, a colony of the INVISIBLE?

“We have no devil. But we understand the habits of yours.”

No takers? No takers on the torture? No volunteers to be mercilessly tortured by the Klingons?

Star Trek Beyond could have had Kirk and Chekov bond over being brothers! I mean, to other people.

They’ll kill 100 hostages at the first sign of treachery. He does know there are only 400-some people on the ship right? Maybe you should pace yourself, Kang.

Kirk’s so badass he needs MULTIPLE guns trained on him just to use the phone.

Oh-ho secret message to Spock. Which version of the iPhone will be capable of doing THAT?

The Klingons are “suspended in transit” is an awfully nice way of saying they’re just dematerialized atoms in space. Philosophy major and/or Bones nightmare fuel.

How did Kang not see this coming, by the way? Like, he just says “I’m taking your ship now, me and my 6 men versus your 400-some men, and I’ll do this by simply declaring it to be so. Now let’s beam up to your ship, where I’ll be greatly outnumbered, and there are armed security guards all around me.” Guess he’s been reading The Secret!

WIFE AND SCIENCE OFFICER

Aka the most important part of this whole episode.

Kirk’s face is very ?????? You can have both????

It’s legitimately not even important for her to be the science officer tbqh. Like that is so gratuitous. That’s just in there to drive me insane.

"We're prisoners, somehow, after I demanded to come on the ship, assuming they'd just give it to me without any kind of fight. How DID this happen?”

Federation death camps lol—someone’s been watching Fox News.

I do kind of wonder… is this an actual rumor that goes around the Klingon homeworld or is it something that the alien entity put in her head specifically to make her angrier right now? I mean it really could be either.

I also appreciate this episode for being pretty much the only one to actually attempt to give the Klingons a reason for being as they are. The Romulans… maybe aren’t well-described, but they do have a sort of regalness to them, appropriate for being related to Vulcans, and you can kind of imagine that they are the way they are because they’re Vulcans without the intense self-control. Plus they’re literally only in 2 TOS eps and in the second, the Federation are the aggressors. But the Klingons show up a half-dozen times only to be depicted each time as just like Cartoonishly Bad, aggressive, violent, and selfish for basically no reason. And I mean, some people really are!! But TOS has so much nuance in other places, that it always seemed a little disappointing to me that the Klingons are really just like ‘well we’re just bad and we hate everyone and we really like killing I guess.” At least in this ep there’s a little more added to that: that there is poverty on their world, that they feel aggrieved, that they feel unprotected, that taking and conquering is how they look after themselves…

I think that’s later in the episode though.

He’s detaining them in the LOUNGE lol. With their favorite dishes available to them to eat. Absolutely barbarous conditions.

I can’t believe Chekov is hanging in the elevator with the cool kids. Like, one of these things really isn’t like the others.

Kang is officially sure of himself for someone currently imprisoned in the lounge, that most fearsome of Federation death camps.

Hmm, could the glittery light alien have taken over??

You know what, that's a lot of tasks for Johnson to do all by himself: search the whole ship, fix the engines, and free 400 people.

Sulu would love this: everyone gets a sword!!

“Bridge. I gotta show this to Sulu immediately.”

Klingons have maintained a dueling tradition. That’s interesting. Finally some characterization going on.

Spock is really living up to his logical nature today. Everyone else has gone off the emotional deep end and he’s like “have you considered this completely rational explanation that accounts for the actual, observed facts??”

Whoops Chekov is actually an only child. Scratch that previous Beyond headcanon. (Interesting that his dead brother does really resemble Sam though—killed on a research colony??)

Love that Sulu knows that about him though.

Oh, that’s a pretty schematic picture of the Enterprise. I want that on a t-shirt.

Lol the pan out to the armory, now filled with… swords!!

Do ALL of these men have a fetish for swords? Sulu and fencing, Spock displaying swords in his quarters, and Kirk in his San Francisco apartment, and Scotty salivating over this Scottish blade.

“Klingon units.”

Finally Sulu gets his sword! It’s what he deserves.

Love that the shiny light alien also has a fetish for swords.

Oh no, it’s our old adversary, an alien life force.

What is the alien’s purpose? Um, I’m pretty sure its purpose is to start shit.

“An appropriate choice of terms, Captain.” I don’t even remember what this is referring to but I think it’s pretty clear that Spock is enjoying himself during a crisis again.

Bones, being so dramatic. Were there atrocities? He’s talking about the Klingons as if they were literally hacking off limbs—it’s a few stab wounds here and there, chill.

Oooh, time to behave like military men—strong words. (But I thought it wasn’t the military?? @ S**** P****) (This might not even be my best argument, given the context of this episode, but I’m sticking with it.)

This is like a giant game of capture the flag.

AU that’s just about the Enterprise crew playing capture the flag with the Klingons.

Sulu in the background standing guard with his sword

Damn, turning on Spock with the slurs now!!

Spock was absolutely ready to kill him. Like he would 100% have taken him out with a blow to the head. And he’d been doing such a good job of not feeling the alien’s effects so far! Admittedly, that was a strong provocation though.

Honestly, I really like this scene. It’s uncomfortable and tense and you can really see how the alien is bringing out the worst possible influences of their respective races. And I liked how Spock was definitely full on pre-Reform Vulcan for a minute there. It was a more effective portrayal of what that might have looked like than All Our Yesterdays tbqh.

A result of… stress?

Kirk got himself out of it first. He’s so strong. He knows himself so well, he cannot be outsmarted by any alien.

“We’ve been taught to think in terms other than war.”

“The alien brings out the worst of us—patriotic drumbeating…even race hatred.”

He’s so sad; he can’t imagine thinking like that about Spock :(

Sulu in a Jeffries tube! A man of many talents. It’s okay bb, take credit for turning on the lights.

The alien must have been getting bored. The Klingons must have been doing too well, and the playing field needs to be leveled for maximum shit-stirring.

“Let’s find that alien.” That’s how I ALWAYS feel.

Oh, Kang, you’re so close—“What power supports our battle but thwarts our victory.” So, so close to getting it.

ALIEN DETECTED.

Spock takes his sword, of course.

“Jim.” Obligatory Jim moments hit differently when they’re not so obligatory.

“Jim—stop hitting my protégé. And put that sword down.”

Kirk looks so sad, picking Chekov up to carry him bridal style.

Also in addition to ‘race hatred’ I think we need to add ‘rape-y tendances’ to the bad stuff that the alien is inspiring here.

“A brief surge of racial bigotry. Most distasteful.” Spock winning for understatement of the year.

They're assuming the alien is trying to test out their relative powers but I think it just wants entertainment. I mean, doesn’t it look like a naughty little thing?

Mara’s outfit is… little shorts? Interesting. Usually not my style but she makes it work.

Spock doesn’t even look at Johnson as he falls lol. Another one bites the dust.

“It exists on the hate of others.”

What does this remind me of? Oh, the Vast of Night and the whole “aliens made us do every bad thing ever” conspiracy theory. At least this one makes more sense, in part because it is not quite so overwhelmingly broad!

All hostile attitudes must be eliminated, he says, and there's Mara right behind Kirk giving him a death stare lol.

Kang is so obviously posing. Google Earth, always taking pictures.

Only a few minutes before drifting forever in space becomes inevitable? Good thing Kirk works well under pressure.

“Well… do whatever you can, Scotty. You know the drill.” Doesn’t even bother giving real directions anymore. We’ve been in this scenario before.

“So we drift in space, with only hatred and bloodshed aboard.”

And the 392 people below just get to…live in Enterprise prison, I guess.

Star date: Armageddon. So dramatic!

I’m not even making that up; that’s an actual quote. Can you imagine being an Admiral listening to this?

“Stop the war now.” An actual line, really aired on television.

Spock wants to threaten the wife lol. That's the old pre-Reform Vulcan seeping through. Surak who?

Damn, Kang is cold. “Eh, she gets the concept of being killed in battle.” They’re gonna need marriage counseling after this.

“There is another way. Mutual trust and help.” Yes that’s my hero!!

“No one can guarantee the actions of another.” Can’t remember the context of this entirely anymore, but great line.

The entity is loving this—multi-person choreographed sword fight!!

"Those who hate and fight must stop themselves. otherwise it is not stopped.” Another baller line. Spock has a lot of deep thoughts today. And so does Kirk. And Kang.

Kirk tries to reason with the alien. Nice try.

“Shoo. Shoo, alien. Off the ship, go away.”

Omg that last moment—Kang slapping Kirk’s back way too hard, Spock’s completely ridiculous wide-eyed expression when he does, like some sort of combo of amusement and confusion, and then Sulu just passing on by in the background….

Then the alien just yeets itself into space. And that’s the end!

Always feels weird when there’s no wrap up on the bridge.

Also, what are they going to do with the Klingons? They have no ship. They really did come out of this a lot worse than Kirk and co. No ship, huge casualties—and no one to blame even, but the alien.

I feel like the alien messed up a little in killing so many Klingons. Like, it could have accomplished its purpose, angering the Klingons and turning them on Kirk, by attacking the ship a little less violently—you know they’d react to 5 deaths pretty much the same as 400, and then there would be many more people to fight forever and produce that sweet sweet anger!

Maybe the alien’s powers aren’t strong enough to influence 800 people though. Also it wants equal forces and 800 people wouldn’t fit on the Enterprise, one assumes. So it still makes sense.

That was, of course, an excellent episode. 100% agree with is classic status, even though the main things I remembered going in were the wife + science officer bit, and everyone laughing at the end in a really forced, fake way, in order to make the alien go away.

I thought the Klingons were a lot better/more interesting today than usual. First, I think Kang is a better character, or a better actor maybe, than the others; he has a certain way about him that is… more watchable, more sympathetic. And he’s always saying these really dramatic things that make it seem likely he writes patriotic Klingon war poetry in his off time. Also, including his wife made them seem more… not human obviously, but normal. Not just cardboard cut-out villains. And of course the actual lightly specific motivations I earlier mentioned helped too.

Also, the plotting was very good: it built up slowly but surely over time, so at first the alien’s influence wasn’t that obvious, and then it became more so, and then it became horrifically obvious and extreme. And then you had to re-evaluate earlier moments: was that the alien changing facts in their heads, or a real part of the animosity between humans and Klingons? And it wasn’t always clear, which I appreciated. The tension when the people were at their worst wasn’t overdone, like in that moment with Scotty, Spock, and Kirk—or even in Chekov’s assault on Mara, tbh. The various strategies of the different sides were very entertaining too; there was never a dull moment, and they fit in a lot of straight-up actions and twists into 50 minutes.

The possible threat was truly terrifying, also: stuck in a space ship, forever, unable to die, feeling the worst possible emotions all the time, besieged, angered, despairing, fighting a war that can’t be won, being injured and suffering only to recover and fight again, and it never stops… A perfect nightmare mixture of insanity and violence and pain. And the alien, in encouraging hatred and anger, doesn’t discriminate between sides: they turn on each other just as much as on the Klingons, breeding paranoia and infighting. For eternity.

The episode also felt much more strongly anti-war than I remember tbh. Like it was not subtle. Kirk literally says “stop the war” in so many words. He has a part in his speech where he talks about the possibility of other aliens out there, encouraging other wars. And while I do think “maybe the aliens are making us do it” is a cop out explanation, or would be if it were real, the scenario gave the show a lot of room to say, like, pretty ballsy things: to include “patriotic drum beating” along with “race hatred” in a list of corrupting feelings they were experiencing; to show how the same instincts that lead to warring also lead to sexual assault and the aforementioned ‘race hatred;” to reveal the true horror of an endless war by making the participants unkillable and sticking them in a singular space ship in the middle of nowhere; to imply that the combatants of war gain nothing from it, but outside or third-party entities will pull strings of their own design to profit from the conflict as long as possible; even to make an impassioned plea to camera to stop the endlessness of the conflict. Like I can’t even totally unpack this but it is a lot!

Finally, it was also a great Kirk episode, which of course is my most important factor. He’s smart; he’s strong; he’s so sure of himself and his values that he cannot be manipulated to mindless hatred, he represents the values of the Federation, and the show itself; he treats even his enemies with basic respect and humanity; and ultimately, he saves the day.

Okay I was not efficient in writing this up at all! It is very late!!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #2021: fandom thoughts #star trek tos

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autisticburnham · 3 years

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Children of Time

If only y'all could hear the disgusted noise I just made upon seeing this was the next episode

Which, don't get me wrong, a lot of this episode is good to my memory

But if the intent was to sell us on kiraodo, fucking immense backfire

Jadzia, you were on a Klingon ship last episode, and you're complaining about the Defiant's bunks?

Hilarious that Kira and Shakaar don't even get a breakup episode

Smart fungus!

It's so annoying that I have to say that Enterprise did this concept better

It's be interesting to see a Trill joined to a relevant of a previous host, one that doesn't suck, at least

Fun way to give Armin Shimmerman his contractual appearance

At least this is a fun episode for Dax/kiradax angst

Just Thomas Riker a whole ass ship

Siddig and Nana (obviously) have great chemistry acting off of each other, it'd be fun to see more scenes of them together

Bitch has really been fantasizing about this dead woman for 200 years

I hate this suffering in the friendzone bullshit. Fucking get over her, creep

On the one hand, it's cool that the Klingon group lets people in regardless of their genetics, but I have a feeling that the fact that the woman is human has something to do with Berman's bullshit women have to be pretty rule

Also potential angst for Julian considering him having said he doesn't think he's cut out to be a parent vs his obvious excitement to have descendants and the potential that his genetic status would complicate having children in the Federation

The Prophets don't understand time, they'd be fine with praying over your own grave

Ma'am, weren't you begging Julian to turn Bariel into Frankenstein? But you feel uncomfortable using technology to avoid fate? You can just tell Odo you don't like him

It's not just Kira's life you're sacrificing, it's all of theirs

How are you gonna talk to them about how painful the past was just to make Jadzia relive it?

I don't know about that whole "I can't ask someone to sacrifice their life for the sake of others," Benjamin, you are in the space navy

Actually, I really like this episode, I just hate Odo

Would have been a cool callback to point out that Miles has already spent 20 years forcibly separated from Keiko and Molly in Hard Time

Okay, I know I just made that point about Miles, but why does he get to decide for everyone?

What the fuck kind of line of thinking is "he killed 8,000 people for her, isn't it romantic?"

Guess Odo listens when people tell him to go fuck himself

Frankly, if a man murdered 8,000 people "for me," I'd never date him, no matter how long I talked to him in my friend's closet

Couldda been great, but the only thing I hate more than Odo is kiraodo. 5/10. Would have a higher rating if they didn't eventually get together

#ds9 #my post #ds9 rewatch

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calliecat93 · 3 years

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ST: The Next Generation Season Two Episodes 19-22.

Manhunt: Lwaxana is back… yay. Yeah I made it no secret that I thought that she was uttery obnoxious in her first episode even if Majel Barret played her very well, and when I read the description for this I became even less enthused about her return. I’ll give her points in that she does seem to be a better mother towards Troi this time around. But… yeah this episode did nothing to make me like her better, if anything her advances on Picard who clearly didn’t feel the same way only made me dislike her more. Admittedly Picard calling in Data to ramble about different cultures was funny, but still I am NOT liking Troi’s mother at all, coming off as more obnoxious and forceful than sympathetic. Looking for a new husband is perfectly fine, but it’s not funny at least to me and no the explanation about a Betazoid woman’s s*x drive increasing at middle age doesn’t make it any better especially when she tries to make Riker marry her. I guess it was funnier than the last one since only the ‘can you continue the petty bickering’ line got me to laugh, but somehow this one annoys me more. I like the dress uniform being an actual dress though and the men wearing it with no complaints. In your face gender norms! Otherwise outside a few amusing bits like the holodeck scenes and me feeling bad for Picard and Troi, I very much disliked this episode and it may be my least favorite thus far this season. 1/5

The Emissary: More romance, yippee… this time it’s Worf and a half Klingon, half human emissary. I really liked K’Ehleyr. The actress was freakin’ excellent and her character, a woman struggling with two sides and seems utterly afraid of her Klingon half as well as a general distrust f Klingons makes her very interesting. It feels kinda bigoted but still adds character. Or I just really like tough women and that’s why I liked her, but still. Also she was totally flirting with Troi. You cannot convince me that she wasn’t. As far as her and Worf being old flames go… didn’t really feel it? Maybe I’m just not into the whole old flames dynamic or the flirting with Troi got to me, but eh. Not sure how I feel about Worf’s part of it. It kinda feels like he wanted to force a marriage thag K’Ehleyr made clear that she wasn’t ready for, but I guess his insecurites about being a human-raised Klingon out of touch with his culture remains if I’m reading things right. And the climax shows how his experience in Starfleet has done good for him and his Klingon knowledge ultimately saved the day. All in all, it was an okay episode. No strong feelings or opinions. I liked it better than the last one, that’s all I’m certain about. 3/5.

Peak Performance: So for this episode we have Riker, Word, Geordi, and Wesley undergoing a simulation/training exercise against the rest of the Enterprise with Riker leading the former. Also on board is an asshole who is supposidly a master strategist and even beats Data in a strategy game. It’s an okay episode. No real strong opinions. I liked seeing Riker’s group being competent and being able to match the Enterprise. The asshole guy insulting Riker’s competency annoyed me because the odd mo ment aside, Riker is a very capable First Officer and leader and if anything his charming, jovial personality makes him someone to inspire others. Data is also down after losing and becomes worried about failing, especially as he’s the acting First Officer with Riker on the other team. It felt like Pulaski kind of relapsed I feel, but she DOES apologize to Data so that’s still better than earlier. Oh and the Ferengi came back, been a while. I think this also shows how being knowledgeable about strategy and using it in a game is NOT the same as actually using those skills in a battlefield or having the experience. Hence why Riker is awesome and the asshole is not. Again, a fine episode. No strong feelings. No strong positive or negative thiughts. It was just fine, and sometimes that’s all I ever ask for. 3/5.

Shades of Gray: Season finale, hooray! I made it~! So how do we end the season? Riker hurting himself on a planet that they know nothing about and is now dying! Of course, wouldn’t be Star Trek if the First Officer didn’t hurt/almost kill himself! So how does this potential for an emotional episode about the loyal, devoted First Officer clinging to life and Troi and his friends/fellow officers facing losing him while trying to find a way to save him? We have… Diker reliving his memories over the past two seasons. That’s right folks, it’s a clip show! Umm… yeah I’m… disappointed? I don’t necessarily hate clipshows bit this could have been a really good episode for Riker and allow some emotions, even show how far things had come since the start. Which tbf a clip show can still allow, but as it’s Riker just dreaming through old memories and not the crew reminiscing or talking to him whole he’s sleeping about those memories, the effect a clip show could have… well, fails. It impacts Troi I guess since she’s sensing his emotions, but that’s ot. Also since I know she just gets dropped without even mentioning her, this is Pulaski’s final episode… and she just does her usual doctor thing. Bjt considering the reception towards her that I’ll go into in another post, maybe this is the best sendoff for her. Overall it’s not a bad episode and not even a bad finale necessarily, but it doesn’t really do much. Though I guess it reminds me of why I like Riker at least and remember a few moments, so there’s that XD 2/5

And thus, Season Two is oficially done! It took FAAAR too long to finally get to it and… well I’ll delve into my feelings in the overall thoughts post that I’ll hopefully have ready for tomorrow. For now, let’s just say you never knew what you were getting. It’s been a ride though, that’s for sure. I’ll begin Season 3 on Tuesday and we’ll see what awaits us thrn. Until then, it may have taken a while to get back underway, but the S2 journey is complete. But there’s still much more to go.

#st watchthrough

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nonbinaryhatboxghost · 3 years

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Okay, today has been a quiet Saturday morning so far, I have some time, and I like lists. So here is my random (personal) ranking of Star Trek series and movies, out of what I’ve seen, which is everything but seasons 5-7 of Voyager, all of Enterprise, and all of Picard. I’m only counting shows with three or more seasons because it’s easier. But let the record show that I love Lower Decks so far and The Animated Series is actually a blast.

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT

Series Ranking

The Original Series - As influential of a show as it is, I constantly forget how much damn fun the original Trek is. There is an almost Community-like variance in tone and genre throughout the show. And I’m a sucker for a future that embraces primary colors. It is the Trek show I revisit the most so far, and it remains my favorite.

Deep Space Nine - This one comes close, though. It starts out as a solid spinoff with very well-defined characters, and then becomes a big, sprawling epic that had my eyes welling up by the end. It feels more like a sequel to The Original Series than The Next Generation did to me. It dealt with subject matter both different and darker than was expected for the time. It had characters at odds with each other. Religion was explored in a way that balanced brutal honesty with genuine respect. War and the various traumas it induces were acknowledged. And it had “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”. I only finished this one recently but I look forward to watching it again.

Discovery - I was rooting for this show to be good even as it went through so much behind-the-scenes drama during its first two seasons. Even with all of that going on, the show became a fascinating watch as you saw it change from its arguably-too-dark beginnings as a prequel, to the almost Doctor Who-like second season with its joyful embracing of classic Trek, and finally to its current iteration that at long last gives us a Trek show that’s not bound by prequel limitations. Michael Burnham is such a great character and getting to see her arc alone makes this one of my favorite Trek stories. The queer/nonbinary representation also warms my heart.

Voyager - I’m just starting the fifth season, but the show has settled into an interesting groove with its characters. And Voyager’s characters are so damn good that they counterbalance a lot of the show’s early problems. It takes a while for Voyager to realize that the Kazon do not work very well as villains. But once the show realizes that, it begins an upward trajectory in quality that reminds me of Deep Space Nine after it began doing Dominion plots. And Seven of Nine’s effect on the crew dynamic lives up to the hype. Any scene between her and Janeway demonstrates such a unique relationship between captain and crewmate that an episode plot can be meh and still worth it for a scene with those two. Also, Janeway is the best captain character. No other Trek show (that I’ve seen so far) comes close to showing us the weight of leadership like Voyager, and Mulgrew constantly brings it.

The Next Generation - This is my first Trek show. It’s the one that my dad watched. There are several standout episodes to me, but I find myself less drawn to revisiting TNG than the other Trek shows because ultimately it took me too long to understand and care about its cast of characters. If you were to ask me to describe any character from any other Trek show, I would be able to. Ask me to describe a TNG character and I would likely fail to give any good adjectives for any character besides Data and Worf. As iconic as the show is, and as great as it became, it doesn’t have the same pull on me as other Trek shows. But it was the template for the spinoffs that followed, and the portrayal of Picard’s trauma post-Borg assimilation earns its reputation as an all-timer for me.

Movie Ranking

VI: The Undiscovered Country - I’m surprised this one isn’t talked about as much as other Trek movies. It’s a very frank depiction of prejudices and learning to deal with them. It has one of the best Kirk/Spock scenes ever. Christopher Plummer as a Klingon. The ORIGINAL cast credits sign-off (yes, Avengers: Endgame borrowed from this). A score that carefully balances menace with eventual hope. A fun whodunit structure. I could go on and on. It’s just so damn great, and so far the only successful send-off to a Trek crew in any of the movies.

II: The Wrath of Khan - It’s a classic for a reason. I’ve probably rewatched this more than any other Trek movie. You got your great villain, your classic crew beginning to deal with their mortality, an all-timer death scene, a kickass early James Horner score. What more could you want?

The Motion Picture - This is an interesting one. When I first watched it as a teen, I hated it. I agreed with every critique of it being thinly plotted and having an excessive runtime. When I revisited it in my 20s, it became a favorite. It’s Star Trek’s exploration of existential dread, and the struggle to find agency and identity within that dread. It has possibly Jerry Goldsmith’s greatest score. It is the best that the Enterprise has ever looked. This movie envelopes you with eerie and epic imagery, culminating in a finale with interesting philosophical ramifications and a well-earned return to optimism from its crew. This one is criminally underrated.

First Contact - This one is just rock solid all around. The best-ever TNG villains, further exploration of Picard’s trauma from Borg assimilation, Alfre Woodard, Alice Krige, fun action, the genesis of the Federation. It has the best balance of darkness and fun out of all of the Trek movies. It also has a character actually say the words “star trek” in a way that never ceases to make me smile. I don’t know if it’s a good line, but it’s funny regardless.

Beyond - Like The Motion Picture, I initially disliked this upon first viewing. I was still in the middle of watching The Original Series and was in the wrong mindset for this mashup of TOS and Fast & Furious. But it’s one of the most underrated Treks because it’s a perfect balance of the more kinetic action found in the 2010s with a very well-done breakdown of the inherent point and value of Star Trek: learning to be better and move beyond fighting the same battles among ourselves.

IV: The Voyage Home - This one is such a satisfying culmination of the crew’s arc starting in The Wrath of Khan that the joy of the 1980s material is almost just a bonus to me. Nimoy does a good job of keeping things light without disregarding stakes. He gets the best portrayal of the crew’s camaraderie in this and The Search for Spock. And Spock’s reaction to the concept of “exact change” always makes me laugh.

III: The Search for Spock - I revisited this one recently and it held up better than I expected. Seeing the weight of Spock’s death on Kirk in the beginning hits hard. Christopher Lloyd as the Klingon villain is casually one of the best Trek movie villains. And seeing the crew uniting over trying to bring back Spock gives us some of the best on-screen moments of this cast.

Star Trek - One of the reasons I love Beyond so much is that it retroactively makes this one better. I was crazy for this movie when it came out. I was in high school, Star Trek in general was something I was only really aware of because of my dad. But this is the thing that got me into Trek. And as mixed of a bag as it now plays to me, ‘09 Star Trek being a gateway for me to general Trek, combined with the perfect casting of the crew, the excellent Giacchino score, and the emotion of the opening sequence, thankfully makes this one still a blast to revisit.

Nemesis - I have only seen this twice, and both of those times without having seen TNG in its entirety. This was also the very first Trek movie I ever saw. Nostalgia is a factor for why this is higher than the others on the list. Curiosity is another, as I was unaware of Tom Hardy when I watched this, and have no idea what my opinion will be on rewatch. But what I always remembered of this movie was its ending, which even to a novice like myself when I first saw it had an impact.

Generations - There are quite a few great scenes that Stewart gets in this movie. Malcolm McDowell is also great in it. But the whole plot feels too forced for me to get actually swept up in it. And as fun as it is to see Shatner and Stewart share the screen... it ultimately has no impact and leads to a strangely lame death for Kirk.

Insurrection - The idea of Enterprise going rogue against the Federation for forcibly relocating a population for a natural resource is such a good concept... which makes the goofiness and half-baked writing of this entry all the more confusing. All the elements are there, but it feels like the tone was forced to be lighter than the material warranted. It’s frustrating because Frakes’ directing chops that he showed off on First Contact are still visible here. But for whatever reason, this one just falls apart.

Into Darkness - This one is low on the list mainly because it represents almost all the negative traits of the modern blockbuster to me. Darkness without depth, franchise callbacks without substance, and no character development/change by the end. Another reason why Beyond works better as a sequel to ‘09 Star Trek than this one is that Into Darkness feels more like it’s trying to make Star Trek a bigger movie franchise rather than develop this iteration of the Enterprise crew. Nothing and no one is changed by the end of this story.

V: The Final Frontier - It is the most difficult Trek movie to sit through, and yet I can’t call it a disaster. For all of its misfirings on the comedy front (dancing Uhura, for instance), the camping material with Kirk, Spock and McCoy is genuinely great. The premise of its villain being on a quest to find God is ultimately a misfire, but it leads to a very engagingly ridiculous climax centered around the question “What does God need with a starship?” There are far too many undeveloped ideas in this one, but that scene is worth seeing this movie for. At least, now that we know it didn’t kill the franchise, as so many apparently feared when this came out.

#star trek #kyle rants

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green-blooded · 4 years

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how do u feel bout disco??

Okay, first of all. I have not finished it yet! I am just about to go to Talos IV, so anything after that I don’t have an opinion about.

But okay.

THE GOOD STUFF

um hello they wrote stamets for me specifically? like they didn’t have to put everything i like into a character but those weirdos went for it and i appreciate that.

I like the characters in general! They are fun. The actors are mostly p good.

i like what they did with amanda and sarek and pike. i like that spock has a learning disability like mine because i’m self-centered. i don’t know how i feel about spock other than that because he hasn’t said shit yet.

TILLY.

ummmmmmmmmmmmm i like some things about the way they used the mirror universe, but in the grand tradition of star trek series, it didn’t explore all the shit i wanted it to.

hey you know that episode where stamets and reno are working together? I honestly can’t think of very much genre fiction where an explicitly queer man and an explicitly queer woman interacted in a way totally divorced from their sexualities. it literally made me cry.

The ??? stuff

So far (as in, the part I’ve seen) season 2 has just been a lot of reactions to fan complaints about season 1 and I don’t like that. Do it or don’t do it, change it or don’t. But I hate that kid of fan service. Every show I’ve seen who gives in to fans too much ends up destroying itself. Take feedback, sure, but… this has been A Lot.

I kind of wish that star trek series would go forward instead of constantly going back. as much as i loooove amanda and sarek and pike, i just. feel like the character of michael got all caught up in their drama instead of being her own new character at times? I still love her so very much but… i continuously feel ehhh about it.

i’m real curious what they’re going to do with hugh (the doctor not the borg whoops). i was furious when he was killed, but now that he’s unkilled idk.

speaking of unkilled, they need to stop doing the comic book thing of killing characters and bringing them back. it’s already getting old and like. if you’re going to be all gritty and shit, it’s pretty weak to undo all the dark shit you did. makes it hit less hard, and hitting hard is the whole point of the gritty shit… maybe admit that gritty and grimdark doesn’t work that well with star trek idk.

i don’t really mind the weird ass vandermeer style science fiction, even if it’s a little odd in Star Trek. I think things need to change in different series. I kind of wish they’d play it up more or drop it, though.

The, like, actually bad stuff

the cinematography is fucking awful. why, of all the styles to cop from, did they choose jj abrams reboot shiny ass every angle is canted every shot is moving nothing is still ever bullshit style

… that not klingon guy. is his name taylor? i don’t remember. i find him really boring and he has no chemistry with michael and i just roll my eyes at him all the time.

i don’t like the design of the ship at all. once again, it’s like the jj enterprise. too dang big.

i hate the season long plot arcs. give me a good 3-6 episode arc and i’m good. more than that is too much. but also only 6 episodes if it’s as good as the 6 episode arc in DS9 where the Cardassians take the station, okay. Generally keep it to 3 at most.

PLEASE JUST GIVE ME A NICE, CALM EPISODE WHERE THE CHARACTERS JUST GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER NOW AND THEN. GIVE ME MORE LITTLE MOMENTS THAT MAKE ME LOVE EVERYBODY. NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE THE END OF THE UNIVERSE.

too much action. please let my children rest.

#st: disco #negativity #some of it anyway #i think i was pretty positive #Anonymous

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koalas-koalas-everywhere · 4 years

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I can’t seem to comment on your posts but I read a couple about Vulcans and xenophobia/racism, etc so I just wanted to let you know I agree with most of what you say. It’s a tricky topic and I applaud you for being thoughtful about it. Making an alien culture which is “different’ from so-called human( aka american) culture be hostile/hateful/immoral is classically how all kinds of -isms work be it colonialism, racism, albeism, etc, in my opinion.

Submission^

Damn, while I would have preferred it if you hadn’t been unable to comment at all, I hope it’s a you thing. I like the discussions that tumblr makes possible (when they’re respectful to everyone) and I’m aware that there other issues that come into play other than what I’ve mentioned, either because I left it out because I don’t know enough about it to feel comfortable talking about it or because I haven’t even seen them, and it’s always helpful and usually fun to have more than one person weight in on a topic.

Yeah, I think the problem I see is that while Vulcans did start off different and had in-world criticism (I wouldn’t be old enough to know what people thought in RL), they also had a sympathetic portrayal. I mean, there are plenty of aliens shown to be just wrong and hostile/hateful/immoral, but those are mostly guest stars needed to make the political commentary Star Trek is so known for, like the people from Cheron, with the black and white faces. They serve the purpose of talking about racism at a time when it should have been eradicated from human culture so that it might help to start that process of eradication on those watching.

In my opinion, the problem is that we’ve gone from “race of the week that the Enterprise will be able to convince towards equality, justice and/or peace, or which will fall on its own sword upon choosing to stick to their ways” to “Founding member of the Federation who everyone has to interact with (and with a rich past development) is now undeniably the bad guy”. With the other races, you also had a clean break of “we came, we saw, we conquered because these people are idiots, or we left because these people are idiots and we can’t handle them anymore” and the assumption that their members represented their whole race (a creative license), meanwhile often times you had to deal with Vulcans not just because they’re big deals but also because one of them was part of the main cast, so they were more complex than, say, the Platonians. What happened now that not only have they been made into the bad guy, but they’ve been simplified and I’d say even retconned is that they have no identity other than “smart, smug and cold”, so even Michael’s arc of finding a healthy middle between her Vulcan and her Human identities ended up more like “well, see, she’s Human because she expresses her emotions freely and behaves like everyone around her* and she’s Vulcan because she’s smart and knows martial arts (and also she’s not as expressive as, idk, Tilly)” because it’s what Vulcans have been reduced to. I think it’s also a matter of how much they’re willing to look at things from the other’s perspective. There was a general disagreement over Vulcan’s dedication to logic, but they were allowed their dignity in other ways, and later so were even the Klingons! But now it’s a pretty clear “yeah, Klingons are the alt-right, the best member of their race we could find to manipulate their politics and help instate as a leader holy shit was still a-okay with war crimes, and the only people to have shown positive values among Vulcans had a really strong connection to Earth, either through blood, raising or marriage, and even the last one’s kind of meh”.

Sorry, I just realized that it seemed like I was arguing with your opinion when I do agree and wanted to discuss it, like, what I said just now is meant to be taken as a “yes, and”.

*By the way, don’t you just love that everyone in that bridge crew can speak English? And that the people of Terralysium, from the 21st century, can speak Federation Standard, implying that it’s actually English? Really, Esperanto is right there.

#Vulcans #Star Trek #submission

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frasier-crane-style · 5 years

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Let’s talk about Treks baby

The One Where Riker Stars In The Grey.

When Riker is reassigned to go over a terraforming colony bedeviled by pesky, genetically engineered wolves, a new first officer is assigned to the Enterprise. And he’s kwazy.

The irritatingly named Quintin Stone is sort of the Nick Locarno to Peter David’s later Mackenzie Calhoun. Brooding rogue, troubled past, gets the job done, you know how it goes. It’s a pretty unabashed power fantasy/Mary Sue in New Frontier, but there the whole thing is so over the top and tongue in cheek that you really can’t take it too seriously. Quintin, on the other hand, is more played for drama--for most of the story, there’s a question as to whether he’s outright homicidally insane. Luckily, Troi is on top of things, checking on his mental well-being and also kinda being his love interest, like a literal version of this gif.

Spoiler alert: It turns out he’s deeply traumatized by a not wholly believable incident in his past*, so good on ya for catching that one, Troi.

Looking back on it, this book would almost seem to count as a deconstruction of the ‘broody antihero’ trope, showing that the character type just doesn’t work in TNG. He infuriates most of the cast and doesn’t get the girl, while those who are taken in by him are presented as saps (yup, Wesley).

Speaking of New Frontier, with the self-aware jokeyness and tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of Trek’s campier elements, would it be fair to say PAD was ahead of the curve in predicting the modern incarnation of Trek? Its take on Star Trek would definitely fit in with the Kelvinverse movies and especially with The Orville, which is pretty much the people’s choice for Trek these days.

*Okay, I get the interpretation of the Prime Directive as not interfering or revealing yourself to alien cultures until they develop warp drive, at which point they’re going to figure out you’re there anyway. And if you can stop an asteroid from wiping them out without them knowing about it, fine. Cool. I get that. But I don’t get Star Trek stories where the PD means you can’t interfere with the Romulans’ development, even though they’re showing up on your doorstep every other week and shooting at you. It’s like saying if Hitler 2.0 showed up in Germany and started amassing power, the US shouldn’t try to discourage that shit or, I guess, engage in any diplomacy whatsoever. It’s mindbogglingly isolationist. And isn’t it arguable that part of a culture’s natural development is interacting with other cultures? Like the back and forth between America and Japan driving forward the medium of animation?

The One Where Picard Nearly Bangs Guinan’s Sister

This one has a bit of nontroversy attached to it, because it came out while Star Trek was still kind of hashing out the Borg, so there’s a disclaimer at the beginning basically going

The gist of it is that Borg aren’t supposed to have gender (a bunch of people with blue hair just had their ears perk up, didn’t they?), but PAD here has a drone that gets detached from the Collective and is a girl. It seems pretty self-evident to me--Picard gets assimilated, they get him back, he’s still a dude, so why wouldn’t it work that way with a chick? But this is back when assimilation wasn’t the Borg’s m.o. the way it would later become. They assimilate a Ferengi in this book (yup) and it’s kind of a big deal. Oh, and as you might’ve guessed, Girl Borg bears a few similarities to Seven of Nine, who would show up later in the franchise, although PAD’s take on it is more “we rescued a girl from a serial killer’s basement after ten years and she’s totally catatonic,” less “what is this human emotion you call ‘kissing’?”

Good thing we have Deanna Troi, a counselor, to ease Girl Borg through the healing process. Oh, wait, she basically takes one look at GB and goes

Thanks for the help, Troi. I guess this subplot is supposed to prove that it’s pointless to try to save any assimilated person other than Picard, because mentally they’re already dead, so might as well just have a bunch of fun guiltlessly blowing them away

(And that goes for you too, audience.) But still, bit of a downer. At least Spock would’ve tried a mind-meld.

There’s also this chick Delcara, who in a pretty XXtra Flamin' Hot narrative choice is like Picard’s soulmate and he’s sort of in love with her slash obsessed with her after having a psychic vision of her in Starfleet Academy and y’know? TNG might’ve opened the door to this by having Crusher bang a ghost, but we should close that door. We should close it right now.

(By the way, in case you’re wondering if this Guinan’s sister business means Picard is down with the swirl, it turns out she’s Guinan’s adopted sister, so is it just me or is that weirdly ambiguous? She’s a beautiful black woman and Picard wants to do her. You can come out and say it, book. No one minds.)

Anyway, Delcara is piloting one of dem planet-killers from back in TOS--in hindsight, it’s weird that the Abrams movies never did anything with the one big Death Star-y thing that actually is canon to TOS, isn’t it? They gave Khan and Nero ridiculously super-sized ships, but the one kaiju that’s actually in continuity, nothing--on a vendetta against the Borg, who basically killed her family twice over. Man, if only there were some kind of psychologist on board the Enterprise to help her through that trauma.

I sense she feels great bitterness, Captain.

Yeah, why does she get a seat next to the Captain again? Let Worf have that seat. How is it fair that he has to stand around all day, he actually does stuff!

Anyhoo, as you might’ve guessed from the opening set on a holographic rendition of Don Quixote, with a Data Discussion(tm) of quixotic endeavors... and the fact that Delcara intends to totally wipe out the Borg, gosh, I wonder if she’ll succeed--this one’s something of a downer. It does give the promised Planet Killer on Borg Cube action for those fanboys who’ve wondered who would win in a wrassling match, and Picard learns a valuable lesson about not pursuing suicidal vendettas against the Borg, which he definitely takes to heart...

(Wow, he did that one-handed? What kind of gains does Sir Patrick have?)

But still... bit depressing.

The One Where Bones Becomes A Space Pirate

Another giant novel, I’m surprised this one never got raided for parts in any adaptation. Even on the page, it’s pretty breathtakingly cinematic, and yet, the only part of it that’s really been used is, if you squint, Bob Burnham in Discovery being a disgraced Starfleeter.

The premise is that, some months ago, the TOS Enterprise crew was involved in a breaking of the Prime Directive that resulted in the destruction of a world and the ‘Enterprise 5′ of bridge officers blamed for the tragedy being shunned and hated wherever they go (ah, that utopian Star Trek future, predicting an entire population that’s politically engaged).

Now, with the command crew scattered, everyone’s trying to get back to the planet where it all happened to find out what tf went down for reals. In a bit of a stretch, this is really hard for them--no one seems to be able to call in a favor or hire Han Solo to take them there or anything, which I suppose is in keeping with Star Trek 3′s similar situation six years prior. They don’t have to go so far as to steal a Constitution-class this time. I suppose it’s fitting for the wild and woolly TOS era. In TNG time, they’d probably be able to dial a Space Uber. (As it turns out, it seems like if they’d just coordinated their plans, they all could’ve hitched a ride with Spock, but then there’d be no book, much less a Giant Book.)

Anyway, Kirk’s been court-martialed and is working as an asteroid miner, Chekov and Sulu fall in with Orion pirates, Spock is challenging the whole thing in court, and Uhura’s in jail........oh. It’s like that, huh, Starfleet?

Like I said, most of the plot involves the crew going off on all their separate adventures, eventually getting the band back together and figuring out what went down. Apparently, the book was criticized for its nonlinear structure, but I think it worked out really well. Starting months after the incident, with everyone disgraced, gets you pumped to find out what happened. Then when they flashback to the shit going down, there’s a great sense of foreboding because you know something is going to happen, just not what exactly.

If I can make a criticism, it’s that after some great build-up, the ending seems a bit anticlimactic. The nature of the threat requires some unbelievable Hollywood Evolution to buy (nothing new for Star Trek, admittedly, and this is a crew that’s fresh off meeting Apollo and Abraham Lincoln) and while it is fitting that they’re able to resolve the situation without blowing up anything or punching anyone (Star Trek loves to talk the talk about how anti-military it is, then end their movie with some Klingons getting blasted), it still seems a little... dry. You’re not going to have Kirk hang off of anything, story? Not even a little? Okay. I still had fun.

And you’ll note that once again, Deanna Troi was of no help whatsoever. Geez, woman, you’re oh for three here!

#star trek #peter david #judith and garfield reeves-stevens

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tippitv · 5 years

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Supernatural TippiTV Recap: 14-13 “Lebanon”

Okay before we get started. This is a long one and while I think it's pretty funny if I do say so myself, there's also a lot of me just... frickin ranting about John Winchester and rushed plots. If you loved this episode and don't want to see someone snarking about it, this might not be the recap for you.

On the other hand if you're like me and come from the TWoP tradition of snarking about the things we love most, then come on in!

THEN!

Two children talk about how their dad is on a hunting trip and hasn't been home in a while.

Oh wait... holy crap it's Sam and Dean. It took a sec to recognize them without the gravelly voices and almost 14 years of soul-crushing despair.

We also get a reminder of very recent episodes, including the one where Mary learns about the time John threw young Dean's food away because it reminded him of her. It's important to remember what an abusive, hardened asshole John Winchester was... so that we can forget it! Forget it all!

[insert video of recapper letting out a Klingon scream]

NOW!

Sam and Dean mosey on into a pawn shop that I'm positive is in the US because they never leave the US but there's a sign that says the shop buys "jewellery" which is how they spell it in places that also spell "flavor" with a u. Dean flashes a big wad of cash to get the broker to show them "the good stuff."

By this, he means the magical goods, although the secret room looks like a high school drama department prop closet.

Dean says they're looking for the skull of a woman who was executed during the Salem witch trials. While the broker goes looking for it, Sam picks up a teddy bear from, you know, a shelf full of cursed and magical items because it's not as if stuffed animals have ever been dangerous. <cue ironic flashback>

Luckily he's warned away from it before he can unleash some kind of... Pooh demon... probably.

Anyway, it turns out having the skull proves that the broker killed a friend of theirs or something... Honestly, very little of this is going to have any bearing on anything. Long story short, fisticuffs ensue and Dean shoots the broker while he's expositing to Sam. "They always talk too much," Dean says.

Sam and Dean decide to take a bunch of magical items home with them. Although... what if they rightfully belong to other peop---ah screw it.

Okay now... here comes a long, boring subplot about teenagers back in Lebanon, Kansas. The main thing that's pertinent to the show is that Sam and Dean have a certain reputation around town. And no wonder! They park right in front these teenagers and start talking about shit they would never want anyone to hear.

They head into the world's skimpiest liquor store and the owner addresses them as "the Campbell brothers." Say whaaaat? Have they been using their mom's maiden name for a while and I just missed it? I mean, I guess it makes sense because... Actually, I don't remember how much stuff is still in their world about the infamous Winchesters. Like I legit can't remember if Charlie or someone erased their FBI/police records or if it was just some fanon someone told me about.

Also, nothing says "real liquor store" like shelves of bottles turned so that their name brands don't show.

Anyway, Sam stage-whispers to Dean about an ancient Chinese pearl that grants "what your heart desires."

The plan is to get Michael out of his head, but they notice someone is driving off with the Impala. They run out to confront one of the teenagers about it. He confesses that a girl named Max is the culprit, so that we can spend several minutes on this subplot instead of the much more emotional and important main plot.

I mean, we go from the post office to a pizza joint to an old house on the edge of town to catch up to the Impala. Max has apparently brought all that lethal “secret” stuff inside for a party. The camera lingers on that teddy bear again as if it's going to be important to the plot later.

Max, the car thief, has a crush on a girl and ISTG I was prepared to be mad if she died. Like I don't even want this whole subplot at all but I'd be puh-hissed if they had queer characters on just to kill one. Luckily I was wrong and neither of them die. However, the dialog is killing me. "I'm sooo excited for pizza." Tell me you can't imagine Lumpy Space Princess saying that.

Apparently the ghost of John Wayne Gacy (sigh) was waiting for the kids to go in search of pizza before oozing out of a cigar box the Winchesters brought from the pawn shop.

Why is his ghost dressed as a clown? I mean yes I know Gacy was a children's party clown, but it's not like he died in that outfit. Aren't ghosts supposed to be wearing what they died in? OH GOD WHY DO I CARE.

The Winchesters show up and scoot everyone out of the house, but not before at least one kid sees the ghost. Sam zeroes in on the cigar box and Dean points out how Sam's love of serial killers and hatred of clowns are in conflict.

Of course, some of the kids come back in just as the ghost goes up in flames. Sam and Dean decide to just... tell them the whole truth instead of just lying. Like..."Yo, one of the things you stole was secret holographic tech and you could face prison time if you talk about it." See? Easy peasy. Instead, they just trust the kids to never talk about ghosts being real and meeting actual ghost hunters.

I briefly wondered if this was some kind of back door pilot for teen hunters, but I haven't heard anything about that. Granted I didn't actually look that hard.

Once back at the bunker, Sam finds the magic pearl but it's kinda... chalky and medicinal looking. It looks like something Goop would sell to stick up your hoohaw.

Dean decides there's no time to wait because we've already spent too long on teenagers playing hooky. Like, even Sam doesn't really know how to use it. "I guess you just concentrate on what your heart desires," he says, scrunching his face uncertainly. I mean what if this had happened

The music swells dramatically. The lights flicker off dramatically. A shadowy figure approaches... dramatically. Fisticuffs ensue! It's a nice callback to Dean and Sam fighting in the dark in the pilot episode because ta da! It's actually John Winchester! Which we all knew because this was foretold in promotions.

The lights come up, showing... just a whole lot of things for me to process.

Now, at first, things don't seem that weird. We've seen people come back from the dead so many times, it's basically as surprising as buying socks at this point. Except! John isn't back from the dead at all! He's traveled through time! He eventually tells us he's from the year TWO THOUSAND AND THREE. TWO ZERO ZERO THREE.

He's both three years younger than the last time the bros saw him AND 13 years older, because for Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and all the rest of us mortals, time has marched on. Consequently, John Winchester looks like he got stuck in a wormhole for a good while.

Now, kudos to John for recognizing his sons, especially Sam, who looked a little something like this the last time they saw each other.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Palo Alto?" he asks Sam. "And also not a middle-aged man?" he doesn't ask, but I bet he was thinkin' it.

It's just... sigh. I might as well get it all out now. I get what they were going for here. It's the 300th episode and they wanted to have John show up. But because everything is so rushed, they just gloss over anything remotely realistic to the characters. John is all softness and awe the instant the lights go up, instead of bristling and suspicious. Why wouldn't he think it was a djinn or some other creature's doing? "Well we don't have time for him to be as flinty and wary as John would have been in 2003, because we need to get to the part where he spends quality time with his family!" YES EXACTLY. The show is three hundred episodes old now and it deserves more than this speedy treatment put together seemingly for the concomitant promotional opportunity.

Anyway they have a Sit-n-Chat to catch John up on what they've been doing, including the living situation there at the bunker which includes an angel and the son of Lucifer. Goodness only knows what John is picturing.

Now that I think about it, the brothers should be hella wary too. I mean, what if the pearl is cursed? What if John is actually some shambling interdimensional beast masquerading as John? What if the whole thing is just a hallucination brought on by nefarious moon herbs in Paltrow's pookie pearl? They just uncharacteristically seem to rely on the pawn broker's ledger.

Fine! Fine! I’ll drop it.

They talk about how they met John's dad via time travel, too, but don't mention that's why John never saw him again after childhood. They talk about the Men of Letters, finally killing old Yellow Eyes, saving the world... Then just when they're about to tell him that Mary's back from the dead, she actually shows up and starts calling to her sons. What a coincidence! John is pained.

It seems like they didn't tell her, either? Did they just tell her to come over for a surprise or did she just happen to be on her way there anyway? Anyway John and Mary start in on a smoochy reunion so Sam and Dean quietly leave the room.

Sam's like, "How'd this happen?" And Dean's like, "We spent too much time on the teenager subplot instead of looking into this potentially dangerous thing, is how!"

For some reason, John is perusing the library alone instead of... um... making up for lost time with his hot wife. Sam goes to talk to him and finds out Mary's off writing a shopping list for Dean so she can make that emotionally important casserole again. This leads John to admit he fucked up with his kids. Sam is reluctant to blame John because he's had almost 13 years to get over it.

I hate that everyone's acting their little hearts out and all I can think is how painfully contrived the episode is. Whatever problems I have with the writing and the premise, I don't have a problem with the job the actors are doing. Okay, okay, I'm really letting go of it this time.

John rubs Sam's shoulder and tearfully says, "Son, I am so sorry." The cellos of sadness play sadly. "I'm sorry, too," says Sam. "You did your best, Dad. You fought for us, you loved us... that's enough."

It's one thing to decide you're going to move past the shitty, shitty things someone did because you're in the midst of the enormity of what's going on RIGHT NOW. But it's another thing for the show to minimize the past. John did NOT do his best. For fuck's sake, he left a little boy in charge of an even littler boy! Dean knew his Dad was possessed because his REAL dad would never be proud of him! When Dean stole food to feed Sam, John abandoned him to face the consequences!

God damn it I guess I'm not going to let it go, after all!

Anyway, Sam and Dean head into town for groceries and time paradoxes. The liquor store owner no longer recognizes Dean, which is the surest sign that something is Very Wrong. Dean is flabbergasted. "It's me! Dean Campbell! I come in here like... always!"

As Sam heads back to the car, he sees a wanted poster for his bro. It's the old Blue Steel one except I think Sam used to be on it too? He's not anymore. He heads back to the car to tell Dean, but Dean's already been a-googlin' on his phone.

He plays back a video of Sam as a turtleneck-wearing lawyer espousing a raw food diet with plenty of kale. Good lord how much raw food does someone the size of Sam have to eat to fulfill his daily caloric needs?

They kind of hand-wave how these new versions of themselves exist at the same time as the OG versions. "Our timeline is changing to this new one!" Sam says. He says they need to put things back the way they were or they'll be stuck. It's nice of the timeline to work slowly enough that they can figure this out.

Somewhere nearby, the angel Zachariah appears. Castiel moseys up beside him and he's brought some old friends.

They decide to head into the nearest pizza place. The teenagers are there because not even a paradox will get rid of this subplot. "Can I help you?" asks the waitress. I think the usual question would be, "Can I get you a table for two?" but whatever. Zachariah asks her who's been messing with time. "We sensed a disturbance in the, well, let's call it the Force," he says. Naturally, she's very confused, and even more confused when he says they're from Heaven.

He says he'll have Castiel murder everyone if they don't tell him what's going on. To emphasize this, Castiel whips out his angel mojo.

Sam and Dean see the bright light from across the street and come running in. Sam's like, "Zachariah?!" and Dean's like, "Cas?!" and Cas is like, "Is that with one S or two, and also who are you?"

Zachariah exposits that Heaven had big plans for the Winchesters but then their dad suddenly disappeared in 2003. Why wouldn't the angels assume the disappearance and the time event are connected? Why'd they have to just start asking questions in a random pizzeria? Fisticuffs ensue!

Zachariah force-chokes Sam while asking him for an explanation. Why do villains always try to make people talk while they're choking? Pick one or the other! But this gives Sam a chance to surprise Zachariah with an angel blade in the heart. Oh, Zachariah. Destined to die by Winchester in every version.

Meanwhile, Dean and Castiel are still tussling even though I'm pretty sure Castiel could kill them both pretty quick. Sam joins in for a bit, but gets flung into a table. If there's a table around, someone's getting flung into it. Then he goes back to strangling Dean instead of finishing off Sam, giving Sam a chance to make one of those angel-vanquishing sigils with his own blood.

They go back home. Dean explains the whole paradox thing to John. If he doesn't return to 2003, Dean will live the same life but alone, Mary will never have come back to life, and Sam will devastate kale crops like a moose-sized locust.

John agrees to go back. "Me versus your mom, that's not even a choice." That's... a weird way to phrase that dilemma. At the same time, Sam is delivering the news to Mary. He says "the lore is pretty clear" that if they destroy the pearl, everything goes back the way it was. What lore? They knew jack squat about it before they used it. Mary has some questions.

John tells Dean he's proud of him and I slightly expect Dean to whip a gun out on him. "I never meant for this.... I guess I hoped that eventually you get yourself a normal life..a family..."

WHAT.

WHAAAAAT.

He did nothing to prepare them for a normal life! Leaving your kids in motel rooms, never letting them settle down in one school, issuing ultimatums when Sam wanted to go to college? Man, Dean should've been like, "Nah, that was your other son, Adam, who got to live a normal life... at least until a ghoul ate him and his body was used by an archangel." But Dean is nicer than me, I guess. "I have a family," he says.

They decide to eat dinner even though who knows when the timeline is going to snap into place permanently. Oh my God they even take the time to wash the dishes after. They have a nice chat and again, everyone's acting their little hearts out and I'm trying not to be distracted. Dean tells Sam he doesn't want to change the past. "I'm good with who I am. I'm good with who you are." Please let that stick with no reversions to self-loathing and I'll retroactively like this episode more.

They cut to this shot and for a second I thought it was Sam and Dean holding hands at the sink.

Of course it's John and Mary. Sad piano plays sadly. John's not going to remember anything, but the rest of them will. Oh man what if John got Mary pregnant during his visit. Sam and Dean were out shopping for a while. I wish I hadn't thought that, but now that I have, you all have to be witness to my horrible brain's meanderings.

John reiterates that he's proud of them. So this time Sam pulls a gun on him! No, he doesn't. They all hug and cry genuine tears before John goes back to holding hands with Mary. Sam reluctantly smashes the pearl to bits. Seems like Dean would have to be the one to smash it since he's the one who made the wish, but it works and John slowly fades out of the present.

Everything goes back to normal, including the teenagers remembering and loudly discussing the existence of monsters in public.

Castiel returns to the bunker in his newer, homelier coat and less erotically tousled hair. "What happened?" he asks. The response in my brain:

Back in 2003, John wakes up in the Impala to the sound of his flip phone ringing. Smart phones are great and all but man I miss the battery life of my flip. It's the Dean of the day calling to check on him. John, although he's not supposed to remember anything from the future, seems to have experienced it as some kind of dream. He seems nicer, too. This will probably have no bearing on the timeline, though... right?

I mean, is that 2019 casserole still in his stomach? Did the wine turn back into grapes? Probably not but these are the kinds of things I think about.

Sigh.

I feel the episode does a disservice to its main characters. I've already ranted more than enough so I'll just pick one example:

If Sam had gone on to live a normal life, he would've become a cold-hearted douchebag who tells people that hobbies and families are a waste of time. Like, ha ha yes it's amusing that Sam is the leaf-munching Steve Jobs of law, but what's the meaning here? Are we saying that wanting to get an education for himself means he's a selfish asshole? Like this is the alternative to the codependent relationship with Dean that formed because of their father? Argh.

The John apologia is just so clunky and unnecessary. John could've said, "I should've done more than teach you to hunt monsters... prepared you for a normal life so you could have a family." Then Dean ccould say, "Being able to kill monsters kept us alive long enough so that we figured out things for ourselves. And we do have a family." Bam! It lets John be rueful without rewriting the past or having Dean swallow all the years of hurt and it even acknowledges that knowing how to hunt isn't a bad thing.

Thank you for sticking with the recap to the end! I do still intend to recap past episodes but things have been kind of stressful. Just staying afloat has been a chore some days.

For updates and info you can check here: https://www.gofundme.com/winter-rent-and-dog-care

I also have a virtual tip jar of sorts here: https://www.paypal.me/tippiblevins

#spn snark #supernatural #spn recap #tippitv #recaps #lebanon

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carrietrekkie · 5 years

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Crossroads

Part I - I never wanted to do that.

Hello!

This one starts with a difficult decision and a little less Chris in it(Sorry for that, but he has his big moment in the next one.) Its three parts long, here is the first. Belongs to my Pike x Cathrin(OC) Story.

Warnings: Blood, violence, death,…

Tags: @bold-brave-courageous @allthetrek

Leave me a little fb, if you don´t mind.

Tyler’s eyes had something of a teacher who didn´t know what to do with his student. Like me, he stupidly had no choice.

The whole thing had started as kind of flight lesson, but then we had received a weak emergency call and since the shuttle was already on the move, Pike had decided that we could take a look at it. We all counted on a false alarm, but were instantly better informed when our shuttle exited Warp. The small cargo ship in front of us drove impulsively in the room, didn´t respond to our calls and the scans indicated that his crew, apart from a few, irregular signs of life, was no longer available. Tyler had dropped the shuttle in the hangar and continued to direct me into my first field mission. “Okay, I don´t like it, but I cannot look around in it all by myself.” He pulled out a gear belt, put it over me and closed it in front. “Too tight?” “I don´t know?” I watched him, a mixture of excitement and naked fear dancing tango in my stomach. “What should happen with it?” “Communicator.” He held out the box to me, I put it away. “Tricorder.” I reached for the device. He sighed, then slipped something into my belt, dropped slightly to his knees, and fastened a strap around my thigh. “Phaser.” He turned and picked up one of the weapons from the wall.

“Great.” I joined his sigh. “Must that be?” “It’s regulation. You will not need it.” “Your word in God’s ear canal.” I grinned at him, then I looked at the black weapon in my hand. “It’s set for stun.” Ash just put his own gun away, then leaned in to me. “So you change the attitude, well as I said, we don´t need that.” “But good to know.” Then I grabbed the phaser and looked at it. “And now?” He activated the opener for the ramp on the small spaceship, lifted his phaser lightly and we watched as it lowered and dulled on the ground. Slowly we left the ship and entered the freighter. Tyler threw a small ball in the air, which immediately began to collect data. “I’m not a pro, but it’s pretty quiet here.” I turned briefly around my axis, it was dark and cold. “Which would made our theory that the com system just has failed, for the ton.” Ash nodded towards the exit. “Let’s start on the bridge.” “What’s that thing?” I looked at our companion. “An observation drone. It tracks our movements and can help us if we lose our bearings. ” “That would be my part then.” I smiled at him, he returned it, then we moved on. Also out here it was very quiet. The lights flashed and some sparks flew through the area. “What happened here?” “It looks like an overvoltage has damaged the wires.” Ash glanced at one of the displays, which, too, flickered only lightly. He typed something in. “But the computer doesn´t give anything.” “So in the old-fashioned way.” “I allow myself to claim that we both understand two completely different things about that.” “That could be quite possible.” I glanced back over my shoulder. “How big is such a cargo ship?” “That depends on the class.” Tyler pointed to the left. “There are some that are just big enough for a few containers, some so huge that they can transport all the equipment needed to rebuild a colony.”

“Wow, like a ship of the galaxy class?” I took a quick look into the corridor that went off to the right, this was empty too. “What’s a galaxy class ship?” Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Well, the Enterprise.” I looked at him. “Um no.” Now he came up to me. “The Enterprise belongs to the Constitution class.” “Oh.” I pulled my eyebrows together. “Are you alright?” “Yes.” I didn´t take my smile off myself. “Yeah, all right, that just happened to me somehow like that.” I kept pointing, then I started walking and he followed me. “Do you have that more often?”

“This was the first time since Talos.” I thought for a moment. “And the first time it relates to anything other than the people I met here.” “What do you make of it?” “I don´t know.” I squinted at him. “Above all, I don´t know if I should tell you.” He laughed briefly. “It was enough for me Prescot missed a hell of a trip, I don´t want to know what Leland comes up with.” “Captain Leland is a lot less bad.” Tyler shook his head for a moment. “You know how that sounded?” “Yes, but it was already out of my mouth.”

We turned a corner and both stopped dead in our tracks. In front of us, a trail of blood spread, which quickly ended in a pool of blood. “Oh, bad.” I glanced at him. “Okay, you need the phaser.” “I was afraid you would say that.” I did, however, comply with his order. Slowly we moved on.

“Carefully.” Tyler made me understand that I should stay behind him, then we started. As we passed the bloodstain, I lit it with the Phaser’s faint lamp. "Is that pink?” Again my brain threw a rag and I answered myself. “Klingons have pink blood.” “How do you know that?” I raised an eyebrow, he did it to me. “Yes, right, sorry. However, that does not make our situation any better. ” “I thought there was peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation?” I had to see that I got on with my research. “That’s the way it is, but not everyone sees it and there are always black sheep´s. Even in the Federation. ” “Ohh, that I know.”

“Stop.” He stretched out his arm and I ran into it, then saw what alarmed him. A few feet away, a body lay on the ground. “I hate to say it, could be your responsibility.” “My responsibility?” “Medicine and so on? I’m not up to it.” “Mmh.” I followed him to the body, then dropped the phaser. “I don´t think I’m comfortable with it.” Slowly, I went to my knees and pulled the tricorder anyway. Tyler had been so far-sighted as to give me a medical one. “And I don´t think this thing is familiar with it either.” I tried to get out of the confusing data that the device showed me. “Okay, he seems to be dead.”

Tyler didn´t say anything, instead he stood behind me, his weapon at the ready and alerted to the tips of his hair. “Do you see why?” “I cannot see any big injuries.” I knelt down and leaned over the dead man. “Or something that looks like the hit of a weapon.” “But?” He looked over my shoulder. “He looks sick. He has bled from the body orifices I can see. "I refrained from pulling up his eyelids, but I was sure they would be bloodshot. "His skin looks swollen and sore.” I raised the phaser and lit it up. “Apparently he has also bleed out of his digestive system.” Now I lit Tyler. “I suppose Klingons have such organs?” His answer was another slate look. “Hey, I’ve never seen a real Klingon, so apart from you and I think that doesn´t count.” He started walking up and down a few steps. “Maybe 50 percent.”

“Do you know what a hemorrhagic fever is?” Now he looked at me questioningly. “It is a virus form on Earth, maybe something exists on other planets, unfortunately I don´t know that.” I got up again. “It’s a cruel way to die, the organs liquefy, you bleed from all orifices in the body, and if you don´t burn till high fever, you’ll suffocate your own blood or bleed inside.” “Get out!” “I didn´t touch him.” I stared at Tyler as he came to me wide-eyed, grabbing my arm and starting to pull me away. “Ash, what’s up?” “This is not a good sign.” He pointed to the corpse. “It’s contagious and far more dangerous than what you’ve just told me.” When I finally adjusted to his pace, he let go of me. “He was certainly not alone.” “If you wanted to scare me.”

Then something crashed into Ash with unimaginable force, knocking him off his feet, flinging him against the nearest wall, before twisting with a gruesome growl.

“Oh, great God.”

I backed away as my brain caught what was building up in front of me. So that was a Klingon, alive and apparently angry. “Ash!” I looked around frantically, then my eyes fell on the phaser in my hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler wobbly on his legs, shaking his head, then running and leaping with all his might against the attacker in front of me.

The Klingon swung a kind of sword. Tyler bent down and the blade missed him very sharply, but she caught me by the arm. I shouted for a moment, rolling over and falling to the ground. The phaser slipped out of my hand and down the hall a few yards away. A scream made me drive around and I could just see the Klingon twisted Tylers arm and slammed him against the door frame, dazed, he fell to the ground and remained lying. “Ash!”

Panic crept up in me as the Klingon now turned back to me. Growling, he came slowly closer. I felt like a prey he had chosen to play with. I pushed away and crawled toward the phaser on the ground more than I ran, but something caught my boot and pulled me back just as my fingers tips reached the gun’s handle. Helplessly I had to watch as it slipped away and the Klingon dragged me back. I reached out with my free leg and kicked him as hard as I could against his nose. He hissed and released me. Blood spurted from it, but I paid no attention to it, came to my feet, stumbled to my gun, tore it up and squeezed. Horrified, I watched him stumble for a moment, shaking himself as if the stun beam were an annoying insect, then he relented.

“Cathrin!” Tyler came slowly to himself, so I slowed down and was lucky that the beefy Klingon had not expected that and took a moment to realize that I ran past him to Tyler. “Ash, come on, we have to get out of here!” I grabbed him under hia arm and was surprised to find that despite his slender figure, he was surprisingly heavy. Behind us our attacker roared, drew another weapon and rushed towards us. “Shoot ‘em.” Ash could hardly speak in pain, but somehow managed to shove his phaser into my hand. I raised the gun and squeezed again. Again no effect. Ash rolled his eyes and began to slide out of my arms again. “Shit.”

I hesitated a moment, then turned the phaser fully open and pointed it forward again. But then I couldn´t do it. I couldn´t shoot. Tyler tore me down with him again, again he had to fight for his consciousness, but I with very different things. When the Klingon screamed again, he stood directly in front of us, his sword raised and his gaze fixed on Tyler. But before he could deliver the fatal blow, something inside me burned and I pulled the trigger. The strong beam hit him right on the head and I could see right away that this time it didn´t missed his effect. A terrible grunt slipped from his throat as he folded over me and fell to my feet.

I gasped and slipped back a bit, but before I could bang through, a pained sound from Tyler’s direction stopped me. “Ash!” I slipped over to him. He was bleeding from a cut on his cheek, his lip was slightly torn and he held his arm. “Can you get up?” “Yeah, just get out of here.” He scrambled to his feet and this time I somehow managed to get him on his feet. “This way.” “Okay.” I put his good arm over my shoulders and hoped he would have the strength to get through to the shuttle. Surprised by myself, we found the way back to the hangar faster than expected. I dragged him into the shuttle, slid down to the floor, and closed the ramp with a quick handshake. Nobody would get through that for now. Completely exhausted, I slapped myself on the floor, my muscles burned, my heart beat so hard it was almost blowing, and every breath burned like crazy. The fabric of my uniform was sticking to me and my hands were shaking.

“Ahhh.” Tyler rolled away when the attempt to get up failed. “Wait.” I pulled myself together, grabbed the first aid kit and crawled to him. I pulled out a tricorder, then crossed his arm. “He dislocated your shoulder.” “What you don´t say.” He squinted hard. “Do you have painkillers in there?” “If we don´t fix that, you might lose your arm.” I started looking for a hypospray. “Muscle Relaxation.”

Annoyed, I dumped the case and searched for an ampoule of the drug. “Ah.” I put it in the spray and pressed it to Tyler’s neck. “Do you want to tell me what this is going to be?” “I don´t think so.” I smiled weakly at him. “Sit up.” With a groan, he responded to the request. I loaded an ampoule of the strongest painkiller I found into the spray, then I inject it. “It should be better now.” “Okay and what’s that for?” “You´ll notice.” I grabbed his arm, knelt in front of him and looked at him. “Sorry.” “What?”

I pressed his upper body against the wall and then his arm back until I heard it crack loudly. It even hurt me. That he was screaming so much didn´t really make it any better. “Are you crazy !?” He glared at me evilly. “It would have been even worse if I had warned you.” I let go of his arm and dropped back onto my feet. “I’m sorry, but now it should be better immediately.” He took a breath, apparently he wanted to scold another round, but just when he opened his mouth, he apparently decided otherwise.

“I’m right.” I raised my eyebrows. “You are.” Carefully, he began to move his injured arm. “What was that?” I got up from the floor and looked out the window of the shuttle. “I guess, pirates, looters. Will you help me? ” “Sure.” I went back and helped him get up. “Slowly.” “Whoa, what did you give me?” He held his head. “Not that it doesn´t feel good.” “A relaxant and painkiller.” I brought him forward and just wanted to put him in the pilot’s seat as he waved off.

“No, this place.” He swung himself into the co-pilot’s. “If I lose consciousness, you have to fly the ship.” “Sure.” I grinned at him. “Any other wishes?” “You’re fine.” Now he grinned. “Can you still pull yourself together a little bit?” I started to ran up the shuttle’s systems. “I have no idea what I have to do.” Somehow I managed to get the engines started. “Oh, look at that.” Tyler sank back into the seat. “Something stuck. Now this switch. ” “Okay.” I followed his finger, then accelerated and left this inhospitable place. “How did I set a course?” I looked to the right, but instead of answering, Tyler’s head rolled backwards. “Ash!” I yelled at him, which made him start up again. “Don´t leave me alone now.” “Trying to connect Discovery, maybe they could pick us up.” “Yeah, that sounds good.” I looked out the window. “Could they shoot us?” “I think that’s unlikely.”

Tyler’s breathing was heavy, he fought the medications and the stuff that his own body was spilling out, but he wouldn´t be able to last forever. “What these Klingons had, also attacks the logical thinking. They only act, react. ” “Yeah well, save your energy, it’ll take a while before we get home.” I tried to remember Kelya’s flying lesson and carried out the necessary orders to reach Discovery.

“Shuttle three to Discovery, come in, please.” I listened to the silence that followed. “Shuttle three, here Discovery, we’ll hear you.” Pike’s voice came from the Con, shortly thereafter the screen came on and we saw the bridge. “Everything OK?” “Um, no, not really.” I smiled quickly. “We were attacked when we entered the damaged ship.” “Who attacked you?” “Klingon.” I was aware that my voice sounded a bit shrill. “And they were huge and incredibly bad. Well, actually it was only one. ” “Cathrin.” Ash muttered softly. “Oh, right. Tyler is injured and busy not totally losing consciousness. ”

“Where are you?” Pike signaled to Owo and I could see her fingers flying over the console. “I don´t know.” My eyes darted over the displays of the shuttle. “How…” “Quiet, we’ll help you through.” Pike turned to Burnham. “Can we find them?” “As long as they keep the frequency open, that should not be a problem.” “See,” he turned back to us. “All good.” I smiled crooked, then something else caught my attention. “There are a lot of colorful lights here all at once.” I squinted. “I think the cargo ship explodes!” “Start the impulse engines!” Pikes voice let me twitch briefly. “Left from you. Fingers on the control and slowly push forward. ” It took me a second to find the control panel, then I put my fingers on it and executed Pike’s instructions.

“Good.” He tried to smile encouragingly, well, as far as I could see, then I felt the blast of the collapsing freighter hit our hull and before I knew it, Tyler and I flung it out of the seats and threw ourselves through the small spaceship. Tyler slapped the floor, lay there and I rolled to my back. “Cathrin! Do you hear us? "That was Michael’s voice. "Ash, get in touch!” “Detmer set course, max Warp.” I opened my eyes, rolling over and cursing softly. “I clearly spend too much time on the ground of those things.” I scrambled up from them and looked ahead. The shuttle had turned and I could see the still smoldering remains of the freighter. “Shuttle three please respond!”

“Yeah, here Zimmer, we’re still alive, just shaken up a bit.” I went to Tyler and turned him carefully on the back. “Right now you are really to be envied.” Then it flashed again. A blue beam covered the ship and I felt something pull us backwards. “Discovery here, we have you.” “Understood.” I slumped against the wall next to Tyler, then closed my eyes briefly and didn´t open them until I felt the shuttle touched down and opened from the outside.

Masterlist

#star trek discovery #star trek discovery fan fiction #star trek discovery oc #chris pike #chris pike x reader #christopher pike x reader #captain pike x reader #captain pike x oc #pike x oc #chris pike x oc #captain christopher pike #writeblr #cathrin zimmer #captain pike fan fiction

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ijaws · 5 years

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My Captain Marvel Review

Before I do this, I want to clarify a few things. There are going to be both personal opinions on the character and simple objective observations from a different perspective that what most people are doing in defense of this character. I am not sexist. I am not racist. I am not misogynistic. I do not identify with the Alt-Right and consider myself a centrist. I believe that modern Feminism (Contrary to Classical Egalitarian-Feminism) is a toxin in society and now it has translated into the MCU through her movie.

I just wanted to put this out there first because any time I make any sort of evaluation of her movie or her as a character I get bombarded with hate, personal attacks, and people telling me why I hated the movie or something when they don't personally know me and aren't me. (You just hate strong female characters! Bitch, go look at my profile. I fucking LOVED Rescue, SCARLET FUCKING WITCH, and Nebula is literally one of my most favorite characters in the MCU... They were ALL badass in End Game)

So if you like her as a character and if you like her movie, please do not think that my observations of her or her movie are a personal attack against you. I've had so many people take my viewpoint personally for some reason and it no longer is a debate as they close their minds off to anything I say and start becoming immediately dismissive. I mean no disrespect in any of my viewpoints. I just feel like I needed to put this out there because... again... more often then not I'm dealing with some radical feminist that will foam at the mouth and protect her beloved character from any opposing viewpoint irrationally.

Lastly...

PLEASE. DO. NOT. REBLOG. WITH. A. REBUTTAL. AND. BLOCK. ME. LIKE. A. COWARD.

FUCKING. @. ME.

I’M JUST LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WITH A BRAIN TO GIVE ME A GOOD COUNTER ARGUMENT TO THIS.

Okay, so, I personally believe that Captain Marvel and her movie were a toxic addition to the franchise. This is going to be a little long, obviously, but I would appreciate it of you read through. Clearly you don't have to because it is a huge ass wall of text but taking in viewpoints that aren’t constantly validating your own is HEALTHY... So please read?

Firstly, they retconned the Skrull, that are one of the most recognizable villainous races in all of fiction like Klingons and Orcs, to be refugees of a war that they'd lost. In the comics they have 100% control of the Andromeda Galaxy as one massive Empire and the Kree were definitely not in the position to eradicate the Skrulls. They could put up a good fight, but I feel that the Skrulls were too well fortified in Andromeda to really be defeated by the Kree. That's the first, shortest, issue I disliked about the movie. They nerfed the hell out of the Skrulls to being simple refugees... and innocent. I'm sorry, but no... This is like going into the Star Trek Universe and retconning the Klingons to be some peace loving hippies. They were also some of the most human characters in the entire movie besides Nick and the Black Best friend. (I can't remember her name... she didn't stand out to me.) They were DEFINITELY more human than Carol Danvers herself. The moment when Talos goes to his family on Mar-Vells ship and hugs them was definitely the most human part of the entire film and it cemented my thoughts on the character. My favorite character in the entire movie was Talos. A lot more likable, interesting, and funny than Carol Danvers was... I wish the movie had entirely about him at this point because it would have been a better film by FAR.

Secondly, the themes. There was a clear message that this movie was trying to sell long before it even hit theaters, and that was Modern Feminism. The Air Force advertisements featuring female pilots, the girl-power advertisements, and so on. The movie was clearly trying have a target audience of young women or young girls and there's nothing wrong with that. However, I started to feel a bit off put by the movie when it showed literally ever male human character that wasn't Nick, Coulson, or the Skrull Leader, Talos, was a sexist prick. LITERALLY every single one of them were sexist. Even her Father. I understand in the comics her and her father never got along or something of that nature, but I personally feel that if they wanted to push the whole sexism narrative that they should have lead it with her father and kept it with her father. Instead they extended the narrative to every male in the entire movie and in her flashbacks.

I feel there needs to be a specific section on the flashbacks alone. Okay, so, in her flashbacks quite literally every single bad thing that happened to her was because of a man.

Carol was riding in that Go Kart and the boy told her she was going too fast. Of course in a feminist movie we can't have a girl listen to what a boy has to say, even if he may know more about what she was doing than she did, and so she goes and crashes horrifically. I thought it was a brutal crash.

A second later and her Dad appears looking down at his busted up and bleeding daughter, that I'd be taking to a hospital in a heartbeat, saying that she didn't belong there.

Okay, that alone is unrealistic to me to begin with. There are a VERY few fathers out there that would have the first words coming out of their mouth being that she didn't belong to be out there. It would be about her health, asking if she was okay, and they would be looking her over as best as possible. However, I will agree with the Father's initial comment that she didn't belong out there on the track. Why? Well I wouldn't want my daughter, who was too stubborn to listen to a boy that was giving good advice when she was doing something dangerous, to do anything dangerous again. Damn right she doesn't belong in dangerous, male, situations and jobs if she's going to act that way. The girl is going to get herself killed.

Then there's the whole, 'You know what it's called a cockpit, right?' scene and that alone, while not improbable, was unneeded at this point. We already had two male characters expressing their inherent, evil, sexism. Oh, but they went even further than that and got the motorcycle guy in there as well telling her to smile and everything. (Woulda been the first smile in that movie so far at that point for Brie.) While that does happen they’re continuing to beat a dead horse… Then later on it shows her being bullied on a beach when she’s REALLY little by BOYS he knock her down.

Then in Basic Training they’re all yelling out to her that she’s gonna die or and things of that nature are more or less unrealistic as well. My father was in the military and was going through basic around the same time that she was and he went into the same branch. The Air Force. When you go into the military they tell you that you are to be colorblind. That you are to be ONE force. ONE unit. You are a team and NOTHING should stand in the way of that. The means that racism, sexism, or any sort of predisposed idealism that puts on person down while raising another up is to be crushed and blown away like dust in the wind. It has no place in the Military as it reduces its effectiveness. So in that training scene where they’re yelling at Carol that she’s going to die and that she’s going to fail is NOT a proper representation of what happens in basic training. Maybe the Drill Instructors to stress you out or drill it into you that what your doing is dangerous and the military itself is dangerous, but not by your fellow team members. If anything your fellow team members are supportive because there are group punishments for your weakest link in your unit… If they fail, you all fail. If one person is stupid, you ALL get punished for their stupidity. So for her fellow trainees to be putting her down like that makes next to no sense and it is CLEARLY intimating the issue of women in the workplace not being able to do what a man can do or women simply being put down in the workplace for simply being women.

So, I don't necessarily agree with the route in which they went about the topic of sexism. The execution and presentation were not done well in my opinion. While you may have felt it resonated with you, what about the boys and the men?

Marvel Movies have always been oriented towards everyone. They've been family movies. Not one Marvel Movie has been solely and strictly for men. Why? Because movies with male leads don't focus on the fact that they are MALE leads... There's nothing special about a male lead or male actor in a film. They don't feel the need to point it out or make the male actor into a champion for men and masculinity.

So, again, what does this film tell you about men? It tells you what I've described. That men are sexist oppressors that want nothing more than to see women fail, smile, and do what they say. That men think women can't do the same job that a man can and that women aren't as strong as men. That's a message that is being conveyed here... and that's the ONLY message you get on the subject. That's the bottom line. There's no, 'but not all men-' in this film. There's no redemption act, representation (I know a lot of you love that word so here you go... You won’t like it cause I’m using it in a way you disagree with it.), or presentation of the fact that men will stand for women in face of true sexism. There isn't any sort of male role model to learn from in the film. Nick is there for comedic relief, Coulson is barely in the film, and the Skrull isn't even human. There's no outreach to TEACH boys and young men that sexism is bad. It simply states that men are sexist. That's literally it. This movie was for girls and girls alone, which is a failure in and of itself on the side of Marvel, and it is simply teaching them that men will do this. That boys will do this. There's nothing there to teach boys to not do that or any sort of redeeming quality for men in the film at all. Is this wrong?

So, yes, if you think it presented the female experience realistically, which I felt it did not in certain scenes, than I am not one to try and change your mind. I've never been in a woman's shoes and I've never experienced sexism from men like that. I'll let my opinions stand for themselves.

While I agree that sexism is truly a problem in society and still lingers, I simply feel that it wasn't presented well enough. That's my main issue with sexism in this film.

On a personal level I felt that if you’re a guy going to see this movie that you should prepare to feel like an asshole. The entire film is intimating that men are oppressing women, that men see women as objects that need to smile more, that women aren’t as strong as a guy or can’t do what a guy can do. It puts men in a bad light and sort of validates the Modern Feminist talking points and agendas that all men are evil, shallow, vile creatures that want to oppress women because they think that they are objects and aren’t as tough, strong, or brave as men.

(If Marvel had made a Movie about a Man that acted arrogant, cold, emotionless, and super super super strong and made all the female characters in his past trying to put him down, were annoying, were emotionally manipulative and controlling, were emotionally abusive, were using men for their wealth or income, and were lying cheaters with no sort of redemption character for women to prove things differently I think that this movie would have tanked.)

Thirdly, a shallow Carol Danvers. With all that being said up above, I feel like that all that made her character VERY shallow. The ONLY reason she’s a pilot, the ONLY reason she’s ‘strong independent woman’, the ONLY reason why she’s a hero is because she’s a woman that’s been put down by men her entire life. To prove that she can be a strong independent woman, and that men can’t keep her down anymore. It’s a consistent attitude of hers to challenge men regardless of who they are or to act arrogant towards them as when first seen by Nick Fury. Immediately upon seeing him she acts a bit sassy, or arrogant, because Nick isn’t knowledgeable about the alien conflicts that exists or doesn’t believe her about the shapeshifting Skrulls. This entire issue sort of cheapens the character as well because if you created the character with the sole purpose to be a conduit or avatar for feminism and feminist talking points… where do you go from there? All of her personality traits, all of her history, and everything that made Carol Danvers who she is about the oppressive nature of men. Once that is solved, which it is in her movie after she gains the full scale of her powers, where do you go from there?

For example in the Amazing Spider Man movies with Andrew Garfield his story was that his parents had died a long time ago and he knew nothing about them. After discovering some papers belonging to his father it becomes a story about self-discovery. To learn about his parents and what happened to them. To understand and connect with them in the only way he could which was through Dr. Conners. Later, since he is on this journey of discovery about his father and mother’s demise, he forgets to walk Aunt May home and Uncle Ben is mad at him for not remembering to do this and that he needs to start being responsible. Peter gets frustrated because this relates to his own past and current journey of understanding. To his father. Why did his father die? Why was he sent to his Aunt and Uncle's house when he had a responsibility to Peter and to be a father? Peter leaves out of this anger and selfishness and Ben attempts to follow. Peter had made his way to a convenience store and was trying to buy some milk but is a few cents short and lets a thief rob the place due to the cashier being somewhat of an asshole about it. While on his search for Peter, Uncle Ben encounters the thief and tries to stop him and that gets him shot. Uncle Ben dies and Peter realizes that it's his fault. That he had the power and strength to do the right thing but simply stood there and did nothing. That is what begins his quest as a Superhero. If a good person has the power to do something to save someone’s life, but doesn’t, are they really a good person? Are they just as bad as the man that pulled the trigger by letting someone die? So that becomes who Peter is. Peter isn’t a hero because he’s a strong white kid who got bit by a weird spider. Peter isn’t a strong hero because he’s a man or because women or men were keeping him down. Peter is a strong hero because he learned the HARD way that if you have the power to stop someone from doing something that could cost an innocent person their life, and do nothing, you’re just as bad as the guy that pulled that trigger…

Hell, Shazam’s is, ‘If you can’t save your family, what kind of Hero are you?’ I’m not sure if I got the wording perfect, but even the REAL Captain Marvel here stands for something that has deeper meaning and truth. Shazam is ALL about family and fighting for them...

That is a much deeper, much BETTER, character traits than the simple feminist argument that Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel stands for. That she’s a strong because she’s a woman. That she’s strong because she won’t let men keep her down anymore. That she can do whatever a man can do and do it even better. I simply feel like that cheapens the character and is a very boring, shallow, and limited origin story because throughout a Hero’s career they will be challenged on their morals and the reasoning behind what they do. (And GIRL POWER is already something that has been established in Cinema for well over 50 years...) Batman’s is vengeance versus justice. That is a HUGE topic for the hero and he has been struggling with that issue for decades. An argument could be made towards Shazam that his reason for being a hero and doing good, to protect his family, isn’t FOR his family or BECAUSE his family… it’s because he’s scared to be alone again. That could be a good inner struggle for Shazam. So what sort of personal beliefs are going to be challenged when it comes to Captain Marvel? What sort of personal dilemma or inner struggle can she possibly go through? Why is she a hero? Cause even if you extend her origin story away from her childhood and to the Kree Empire where she was being trained to be used as a weapon against the Skrull that goes back to the issue of oppression and ties in with the rest of her history. Carol has been oppressed by men, told what to do by men, and has been controlled and used by men (Yon-Rogg is the face of this issue, and once again he’s a man.) for their personal gain and desires.

I’m sorry, but it’s just weak and shallow. There are no further storylines that you can have that sort of validate her reasoning of being a hero without making it some gigantic feminist issue. If the issue isn’t about feminism then she’s simply trying to do the right thing to do the right thing… and ANYONE can do that. It doesn’t make her special. In fact, there’s nothing really special or ultimately heroic about her. All she is a woman that achieved powers and saved a couple of refugees and declared war on a corrupt Empire. It’s… weak. Steve Rogers fights for Freedom and fights against Tyranny and was forced to reevaluate America and Shield during Winter Soldier and Civil War. These CHALLENGED his very meaning of being a Hero and what he stood for... The Hulk and Bruce Banner fight because they’re constantly being hunted to be exploited for their power, and not just by people who want to use him for evil, but also by people that want to his power for good… the bottom line is Bruce and Hulk fight to escape being used as a chess piece. They just want to be left alone. In this sense they aren’t even a hero, and that makes it even better for them as a character because it makes their choices and issues interesting to say the least… Black Widow fights because she’s trying to make up for the evils of her past. Tony fights because he wants to protect who he loves most and that he feels he has an obligation to Earth and to protect innocent people from being killed like the ones that were being killed by the weapons he designed to protect them in Iron Man 1.

I’ll leave that there though. I think the last thing I want to talk about is the Mary Sue aspect of captain Marvel. Just so people don’t immediately hate me for calling her a Mary Sue I’m going to copy and paste the definition.

Mar·y Sue

noun

noun: Mary Sue; plural noun: Mary Sues

(originally in fan fiction) a type of female character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses.

"she was not a ‘strong woman’ so much as an insufferable Mary Sue"

So Captain Marvel is a Superhero and Superheros, in order to make them appealing and relatable, are ALWAYS shown to have flaws, weaknesses, and things about them that make them more human to the target audience. That’s what makes them lovable and likable. That you can relate to them and understand where they are coming from and sympathize with them. That you can watch them grow as a character and enjoy their Hero’s Journey. In this movie Captain Marvel has no character growth. Carol Danvers is literally the same as she was in the beginning as she was in the end except she has all her powers and now she hates the Kree. Carol Danvers has no personality flaws whatsoever except, maybe, arrogance and trust issues, and those aren’t exactly traits you want to share with her. They aren’t healthy character flaws. Besides that she barely has a personality to begin with for there to be any sort of flaws. ‘She’s spent six years learning to control her emotions,’ I’m sorry, but no. That argument is weak. Just because you learn how to CONTROL your emotions doesn’t mean that you sacrifice your personality in the process.

So with that being said she has no sort of personality flaw about herself and it is shown in the movie that she has no physical or emotional weaknesses either. In the entire movie the only time she was beaten was because of a surprise attack by Talon. From then on out she has consistently kicked ass, NEVER lost a fight, and NEVER physically struggled against any enemy. Carol was super strong and could NOT be stopped. It sucked any sort of drama or any sort of tension out of the movie. You knew she was going to win and be the hero because at that point nothing could stop her. Carol is a badass woman that could not be stopped. Yay Girl Power!

The best opportunity for her to have been given a weakness and a struggle was when she unlocked her full potential and had access to ALL of her power. To make her struggle to control it for the entirety of the battle except towards the end when she takes out those nukes sent down from Ronan. Even Peter Quill had issues controlling his powers and was CONSTANTLY being beaten by Ego until Yandu finally told him that he doesn’t control his inner strength and power with his head… he uses his heart… and that Power Up that he gets after that, after struggling and losing the ENTIRE movie, is extraordinarily satisfying. You LOVE it when he gets that power up. It’s like how in Wonder Woman she gets that power up after losing Steve and she goes ape shit… There’s a huge emotional lead up and tipping point in those scenes, but Captain Marvel doesn’t even do that. Instead she simply closes her eyes, and opens them and has complete control of her powers. It was ridiculous too because she hadn’t trained with even a decent percentage of her powers at her disposal before! For six years she just trained with a small itty bitty bit of her powers and then suddenly she has full control over ALL of her power as soon as unlocking it? That’s like a Fireman being trained to put out fires with a garden hose for six years only then to be dragged out to use a full on fire-hose at full power that usually requires more than one person to control and expected to do just fine…. Like, I’m sorry, but that’s not how that should have worked. After that point she’s basically Superman and cannot be stopped. There’s no fun to it anymore… it’s just a boring overpowered character being overpowered simply because she’s a woman… and this is only going to lead her up to being the hero that fans want to see lose. A LOT of people don’t like Superman because he’s a sort of Gary Stu in a sense and they ALWAYS love seeing him get his ass beat. By Batman, Shazam, Wonder Woman. Everyone enjoys seeing the most powerful man of all get taken down… Especially if they’re on their high horse like Captain Marvel is with her arrogant ass.

Oh yeah, the last thing I wanna add… They had to sex change Mar-Vell, the ORIGINAL Captain Marvel, because, of course, we can’t have a feminist movie with a feminist character that we’re trying to make into a feminist icon look up to a man after all. They had to have her looking up to a female Amelia Earhart sort of character instead of a Red Baron or Wright Brother sort of figure… That kinda peeved me as well.

So with ALL that being said, I simply think that she’s toxic because her entire character is based off of feminism. Modern Feminism at that. (I draw a line between Classical Egalitarian Feminism that I actually agree with, and Modern Feminism.) The issue is that not everyone agrees with the agenda of Modern Feminism and since she’s now the face of it, they’re just going to see an agenda they hate rather than a character they dislike. They’re going to see the Feminist Icon that they despise and won’t pay attention to her as a character. It’s going to cause a rift in the fan base, as it already has, and if she’s going to be made the face of Marvel like they want her to I can bet you that people are going to be finished with Marvel. Real, TRUE, fans of the MCU, not blue haired normie feminists as I’ve heard them described, are going to feel ostracised for not agreeing with Captain Marvels Politics and the fact that she’s so powerful simply because of girl power. I feel that with the introduction of her as a Feminist Icon that any movie she’s in is going to allude to that and buy into her Girl Power - Ex Machina stuff… Into the Mary Sue in her and it is going to cheapen every movie forward that she’s in. I mean, people are already talking about not seeing End Game because she’s in it and that they’re afraid she’s going to be the sole reason why the Avengers win… and frankly I’m afraid that she may be the reason why the Avengers win too and that would bother me a LOT. Not because she’s a woman, not because I hate women, but because she’s a terribly written character with no personality and is beyond arrogant. Especially in the, ‘Lets get Thanos.’ End Game clip that Marvel Released… It bothers me a lot…

EDIT: https://youtu.be/6byj_uqzGh8 Here's more proof that she's a Mary Sue in the MCU films... They buffed the fuck out of her over the MCU Thor who has been nerfed to hell.... "Captain Marvel is MUCH WEAKER than Thor."

#captain marvel #marvel comics #mcu #brie larson #marvel #end game #feminists @ me #debate this #read this #mary sue #can someone with a brain debate me #captain mary sue #brie #feminism #feminists #sjw #mary sue characters

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