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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 3 years

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M*A*S*H: Facets of Filmmaking

When it comes to adapting a film, already adapted from a book, into a television series, it seemed like series creator Larry Gelbart had quite the work cut out for him.

Especially considering the difference that lay in the mediums at the time.

Despite the tonal differences that obviously exist between MASH the film and M*A*S*H the television show, early on especially, everyone working on the show realized they owed a debt to Robert Altman’s original film, which provided the setting, style, and characters for them to work from. Despite this, when moving from the big screen to the small, plenty of things had to be changed in order for M*A*S*H to get on the air, and stay there.

For one, it had to have a laugh track.

This made more sense earlier on, when the show was primarily a comedy, but as time went by, the reason for the laugh track (hated by the cast and crew of the show) became more solidified: the studio was afraid that people wouldn’t realize the show was a comedy without it. And that sums up the rest of the differences pretty succinctly.

M*A*S*H was unashamedly a black-comedy political series, one with a target painted squarely on the American military, and it was impossible to miss. As Larry Gelbart put it:

“While the network displayed the typical sort of fears about language and permissiveness to a certain degree, they were always very supportive about the series politically. There was never any attempt to say let’s tone it down in terms of criticizing the military, the government. They knew what we were up to, very quickly, and never challenged that.”

This turned out to be quite a change from the original novel, the writers of whom really disliked the series that turned out to be the most popular version of their story. But while the network might have been alright with the political slant, they weren’t alright with some of the other content.

Early on in the series especially, the laugh track was enforced in all but the OR (Operating Room) scenes, which the network originally didn’t want at all. The blood and gore levels needed to portray an even mildly realistic operating room went above what networks of 1972 were comfortable with at the time. However, eventually, the show won out, not only by having the OR scenes in the first place, (without a laugh track!) but also slowly adding in more blood to add to realism. As time went on, eventually, the laugh track nearly disappeared entirely.

We’ve talked before about the genre switch that occured within the series, roughly between seasons five and six (the beginning of the Winchester era and the end of the Burns era), but while these changes in cast might have been the symptoms, they weren’t the cause.

The swap between comedy with dramatic undertones to drama with comedic undertones was a very simple change, brought about by the departure of joke-writer and series creator Larry Gelbart after season four, the first with new cast members Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan. The change was even further cemented at the end of season five, the last season with Larry Linville, and also the last season with co-creator, Gene Reynolds. With the original comedic foundation gone, and the rhythm of the early season’s fast-paced jokes no longer present, the show had to find a new identity, with new writers, at the start of the Charles Winchester era, after David Odgen Stiers joined the cast to replace Linville.

From season 6 onward, the show was in new hands: the new executive producer, Burt Metcalfe, and cast member Alan Alda, who had been writing episodes as early as season one. Soon enough, the show’s switch to drama was complete, cemented by the departure of Gary Burghoff early in season 8. With a shaken up cast and a shaken-up crew, it’s not really a surprise that M*A*S*H’s tone changed, but it is somewhat of a surprise that it wasn’t a jarring one, remaining consistent with characters and themes previously established in the series.

Another changing factor was the end of the Vietnam war in 1975.

With the war ending and the American focus changing, M*A*S*H’s stories became more character-driven, focusing less on ‘sticking it to the army’ and more on people’s individual stories and lives. At this time, the show started experimenting, working on episodes that weren’t ‘sitcom’ format, such as “Hawkeye”, “Life Time”, “Point of View”, “The Interview”, “A War for All Seasons”, and “Dreams”.

Despite these creative ideas, after over ten seasons, the show was out of steam. By season nine, writers admitted to being out of ideas, forced to accidently recycle plots already used a few times, and Alan Alda attempted to close the series out on season ten, persuaded by the network to extend for one more, shortened season, going out with a bang with the finale film: “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen”, the most-watched television show event in history (exceptions being Super Bowls).

With an ending like that, it’s hard to believe that the beginning was so rough.

Early on, M*A*S*H didn’t do well in ratings. After limping through the first season, writers anticipated the cancellation of the series, before CBS placed the series in a better time slot for the second season, catapulting it into the top ten rated programs of the year. For the remainder of it’s run, it remained in the top twenty shows per year, until ending with the finale, watched by 125 million people across the nation, with plenty of awards won between the pilot and the finale.

Overall, M*A*S*H as a process was a relatively well-oiled machine, surviving cast changes, crew changes, genre swaps, and a perhaps overly-long runtime, all coming together to become one of the most beloved and most acclaimed television shows in American history, gathering 14 Emmys and even receiving an exhibit at the Smithsonian museum. With a tight cast, a talented crew, and a genuinely great, thoughtful, and heartfelt series of stories, M*A*S*H earned its place among the television greats, still iconic to this day.

Join us next time for our final look and personal thoughts on M*A*S*H. Don’t forget to leave a comment for discussions, questions, suggestions, or conversations! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you in the next article.

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piratewithvigor · 3 years

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Out Of Sight, Out Of Our Minds: Chapter 1

Summary: After a freak accident lighting a stove, Hawkeye suffered severe flash burns that have left him blinded. Most people recover within a week or so, but as the days drag on, BJ becomes more convinced that Hawkeye isn’t most people.

Word Count: 2050

A/N: This is a birthday present for the wonderful @the--blackdahlia who inspired me to get back into a writing groove after months of inactivity. It’s a retelling of the season 5 episode “Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind”, so there will definitely be spoilers ahead.

BJ had never liked baseball all that much. He was a little too scrawny as a kid to play with the others and listening to games on the radio bored him senseless. That never stopped Peg from dragging him to Seals Stadium on the weekends he couldn’t come up with any work-related excuse. She’d been a fan ever since the AAGPBL had established a team in her hometown of Kenosha and though her loyalties changed upon her move to San Francisco with BJ, her craze for the game had never wavered. BJ never exactly wanted to spend his afternoons in a ballpark that was too hot and sunny, watching a game that always felt just a little too long, but watching Peg get so thrilled was worth the three dollars he spent on the tickets.

Of course, it wasn’t late in the afternoon, nor was it warm, and he wasn’t seated in the plastic chairs of the ball park. It was nearly three in the morning, with a chill breezing through his tent in Korea and Peg wasn’t there making the sounds of baseball bearable. He’d heard Hawkeye mumble at Frank to turn off the radio at least a dozen times and no matter how firmly he pressed his thin pillow against his ears, information about the bout between the Dodgers and the Giants kept leaking in. It didn’t even seem like Frank actually cared who won. Just what the score was. He never cheered, not even the little hissed ‘yes’ when either team scored like Peg did. It sounded more like he was just listening to know. Especially when BJ heard the tell-tale scratch of a pencil against paper. Probably some kind of slimy scheme to get ahead in life, as Frank was known to do. But this late at night, BJ couldn’t bring himself to care. The only thing he heard that made him smile was the announcement of the 4-3 concluding score and the promise of a rebroadcast at noon.

“Shut it off, Frank,” Hawkeye mumbled, pulling his thin blankets further over himself. “It’s 4-3 in the morning.”

“Stop dreaming and go back to sleep,” Frank shot back, switching off the little radio as he moved around in bed, assumedly trying to find a position on the cot that would retain body heat, but also fit between the limits.

“That makes good nonsense.”

BJ loved Hawkeye, really, he did, but the man had a serious problem with always needing the last word.

Now that the static-filled broadcast had been shut off, the tent seemed almost quiet. Korea was never dead silent, BJ had learned, but he took what he could where he could get it. As long as they weren’t being actively fired upon and there were no choppers going overhead, it was quiet in his books. He was finally starting to doze off when the door to the Swamp opened and at least two pairs of feet scuttled in. BJ hoped to God they were just very large rats. Rats didn’t make much noise besides the occasional squeak of fright.

“Hawkeye?”

Rats didn’t ask for doctors by name.

Rats.

“Wake up, Hawkeye, the stove in our tent went out.”

“Again?”

This wasn’t the first time the nurses had had issues with their stove this winter. It only happened once or twice when it first started getting cold, but when the winds got more violent, the stove seemed to be going out once a night. If BJ didn’t know any better, he’d think the nurses were just scheming to get Hawkeye alone in a room full of nurses and not have his wits about him.

“It’s freezing in there.”

“It’s warm in here.”

“There are four of us.”

BJ nearly chuckled at the resignation in Hawkeye’s voice as he pulled off his blanket to stand.

“I knew I should have gotten a bigger bed.”

“Could you people hold it down?” Frank piped up, his voice grating at BJ’s nerves. “I mean, show some consideration.”

“I don’t remember leaving a wake-up scream,” BJ grumbled. Consideration, his ass.

“Thanks, Hawkeye, you’re the only one who can fix it.” BJ was pretty sure that wasn’t true and given Hawkeye’s tired mutters of disdain, he felt safe in assuming the feeling was mutual.

“BJ?”

“Hmm?”

“If I’m not back in five minutes, don’t come get me.” If he wasn’t so tired, BJ might have chuckled.

Out of the corner of his partially-opened eye, he watched the light above Hawkeye’s cot shut off and his roommate shuffle out of the tent behind two nurses who were bundled up as tightly as they could be to avoid what had to be a bitter chill outside.

BJ stretched out a little as he turned onto his back to stare at the ceiling. Sleep was evading him all-too-rudely and likely would continue to until Hawkeye was back and snoring quietly. Ever since Peg and he had started sharing a bed all those years ago, BJ had begun to find it impossible to sleep without someone nearby. Frank was all the way across the tent and there was a stove between them; impossible to hear. He’d been worried coming over- there had been plenty of stories of what MASH units were like back home, but no details of the sleeping arrangements. He’d breathed an enormous sigh of relief when Hawkeye told him they’d be bunking together and an even larger one that evening when he realised his bunkmate snored loudly enough to drown out the distant sounds of gunfire. If he ever needed it, he just pretended the lanky man ten feet away was his beautiful wife, ten inches away. And if the homesickness was especially bad, he pretended Frank’s little fidgets during the night were Erin rustling in her crib. Sometimes it worked well enough to soothe him back to sleep. Other times, it left him in worse shape than he’d began. Korea had proven itself time and time again to be a lonely place, but knowing that he had people around him made it somewhat more bearable.

Between the stove warming the air around his feet and the thoughts of his family swirling around his head, the sleep that had been struggling to overtake him was finally succeeding in pulling BJ’s eyes closed. Until an explosion close enough to shake him out of any sleep he could have gotten rang through the camp. That would have been plenty to set him upright and his heart racing, but it was the collective screaming that got BJ out of bed (thank God he’d had the sense to wear shoes to bed). He paused in his scrambling just long enough to throw on his bathrobe before bolting to the nurse’s quarters. Hawkeye was stumbling out of the tent as he arrived, palms pressed to his eyes and screaming, all the while surrounded by nurses who were screaming just as shrilly. As worrisome as it was, at least Hawkeye was still able to walk. Plenty of soldiers had come through their OR who never learned of such luxury.

BJ reached him the same moment Colonel Potter did, but Potter, ever the leader, backed away from the forming posse to organise them. Flash burns were serious business and it was necessary to get Hawkeye to the OR as quickly as possible. BJ knew he heard Potter say something about an ophthalmologist, but it was hard to hear over Hawkeye’s screams of pain, the nurses’ screams of panic and the sound of his own heart pumping in his ears.

The next few hours were a blur to say the least. The sleep deprivation was already messing with his head, but hearing Hawkeye in so much pain was what was really knocking BJ out of his rhythm. He’d never seen anyone in that much pain without there being a substantial amount of blood involved. As much as he hated it, BJ had grown comfortable with blood. It was easy to fix: if it was where it wasn’t supposed to be, he had to stop it from getting there. Sometimes that involved stitching, or removing parts that were too broken to be fixed, or just removing things that weren’t supposed to be there, but there was almost always blood. In this case, there was absolutely none. The closest thing to red was Hawkeye’s bathrobe and the toasted skin around his eyes. The worst part about the whole situation was that there was nothing he could do to help. He was no ophthalmologist- didn’t know anything about the inner workings of the eyes beyond what he learned in first year biology.

BJ wasn’t sure how Radar accomplished it, but the ophthalmologist in question, Major Overman, arrived long before the sun was up and true to the reputation BJ had gathered of him, was swift in his examination and bandaging. It was awful, but the truth of the matter was that it was all there was to be done. Padding the eyes and wrapping a long length of bandage around the patient’s head so the padding wouldn’t move. It would let the eyes rest and after a week or so, if vision came back, everything would be okay. If not…

“How’s that feel?”

“Blind.”

BJ would have probably chuckled if the situation was different. The mood of the room seemed to express the same feelings. The Major didn’t even crack a smile.

“Okay, Hawkeye, you take it easy for a couple of days. I’ll be back Friday.”

Nearly a week away. As nervous as he was, BJ could only imagine the terror Hawkeye was feeling. But he never showed it. Never showed it unless you knew him, that is. He always told jokes to keep the atmosphere lighter, but he laughed at them. There was no laughter here. Not even a smile.

“Listen, one important question. Will I get to keep my nickname?”

“Let’s hope so.” The Major spoke for everyone there. They called him ‘Pierce’ often enough, That was different. Too impersonal. His name, but never his name.

“Just wondering if I should rent a seeing-eye dog or buy one.” The joking was getting weaker. Hawkeye was slowly accepting what had happened and it looked like everyone who had gathered around his cot could feel it too.

“See you Friday.”

Major Overman packed his gear and was escorted out of the post-op by Potter, asking something about a General O'Reilly. If BJ hadn’t been so on-edge, he would have maybe even laughed at the idea of Radar being a General, let alone a General who was so mad that he scared a clerk into a rushed shipment of an ophthalmologist. But instead, he was leaning on the end posts of Hawkeye’s cot, watching a nurse yell her sympathies at him. There was something about the injured and sick that made people forget what their actual ailments were and caused them to be treated as invalids. Based on Hawkeye’s wince, it was clear his partner-in-crime was already feeling the sting of the different treatment.

“You don’t have to shout, the sides still work.”

“We’re sorry,” she corrected herself, lowering her voice to a library-esque whisper.

“That’s alright. Next time, get a union man.”

“Hawk, if there’s anything you need…” It was generally said as a passing sympathy that didn’t really mean anything, but BJ wasn’t sure what else to say. He was a caretaker deep down and lord knew Hawkeye was going to need some help during the next few days.

“Well, if you’re going by the PX, you could get me a colouring book and some crayons.” Hawkeye’s head was angled towards him, but he wasn’t facing him by a long shot. Whether because it didn’t matter or because he didn’t care, BJ wasn’t sure. Nor was he sure he wanted to know the answer.

“I think you’re sick enough to qualify for the big box. I gotta go.” He was smiling, but BJ was sure Hawkeye could hear the worry in his voice. He tried to keep calm and carry on, no matter what the war threw, but this wasn’t something he could just walk away from. He wanted to be there.

“BJ?”

“Yeah?”

“Visit me a couple hundred times, will ya?” The request was small and quiet, almost desperate.

“At least.”

#Writing #Out Of Sight Out Of Our Minds #MASH #Fanfiction #Hawkeye Pierce #BJ Hunnicutt

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jackbabewang · 5 years

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Chapter 2 — Bad habits

Word count ‧ 3,730

Chapter summary ‧ You must be out of your mind to think that he actually cared.

Masterlist

You finally got your eyes to cooperate to stay open and looked up to see a silhouette of a man in very close proximity with you. Your heart leaped to your throat, suddenly remembered that you were in Yoonoh’s room.

“Jung… Yoonoh,” you said his name in a faltering and trembling voice. You dared not to move and stared dumbly at him. The touch of his hand on your bare skin sent streaks of fire racing up and down your body.

He seemed to hear your voice then his movements came to a complete stop. You felt his breath warm on your neck, heard his heavy breathing in your ear.

“Keep going, or not?” he asked, his voice deeper than before, huskier, and filled with unspoken desire.

Your nervous system shut down, but quickly came to life in a rush of heat. Your knees trembled and your stomach clenched. Your breath was uneven when your lips parted as if to say something, but nothing came out. It was intense and then suddenly he pulled back and lifted the blanket and made his way to the bathroom in the darkness.

You had no idea what time it was when you woke up last night, but it was an absolute certainty that your eyes were wide smack open till the next morning. And after Yoonoh went into the bathroom, he had been out of his room since. Where did he go?

You dilly-dallied, slipped out of bed, padded to the bathroom and damn—your head was swimming with dizziness along with pounding from the two or three hours of sleep. You stood before the mirror, you could see the stark evidence of the episode from the night before—that your pyjamas looked a bit crumpled. You had no idea how you were going to face him any later.

It was still early in the morning, not quite seven, your parents had not gotten up yet. All your clothes were in that room and you were afraid that you could not get in there at the moment. You remembered you had clothes hung outside that you washed yesterday and so you went downstairs to get a fresh set of clothes.

Chop, chop, chop. Slice, slice, slice. The sound of the knife cutting through and landing against the wooden board drew you into the doorway, onto the threshold of the kitchen. Assuming your mother had woken up rather early. You opened your mouth—to call out “mom”—but the word was suddenly stuck in your throat as soon as you came eyeball-to-eyeball with the last person you wanted to see just then. You jolted with the shock and spun on your heels preparing to sprint away.

“Come here.”

The second after you whirled, Yoonoh called out to you faintly. Did he not feel awkward at all?

Right, it was him who took advantage of you, how could he possibly feel awkward about it.

Reluctantly you turned back around, somehow keeping your face perfectly calm. “My! You’re up early today.”

He brought some thinly sliced spring onion into a small bowl, without any expression on his face he echoed, “When was I never earlier than you?”

Pfft! Only very slight bit, what’s there to be hoity-toity about?

“Wash your hands.” He commanded.

“What for?”

He did not answer but turned around to continue what he had been doing without giving a damn on you. On instinct you rolled your eyes and padded to the sink. You ran the water and held your hands under the stream, rubbing palm to palm as an indication whatsoever before turning off the faucet. Yoonoh swiveled his head rather abruptly and stared at your hands, “Wash with soap.”

It’s not like you’re a kid anymore, so what’s with the soap? Killing bacteria? You grumbled internally but not wanting to waste time and energy bickering over petty things so you had it his way and washed your hands once again with an antibacterial soap.

As you dried your hands with soft strokes of the towel, Yoonoh pointed to one, two, three and four eggs in the basket then said, “Peel the eggs.”

After all that fuss made about hygiene, was it his germophobia acting up then? Only just peeling eggs and you thought he wanted you to knead a dough instead.

You obliged without uttering a syllable and with every murky shell that peeled off you felt your cheeks grew warmer.

That… bared in its all glory… last night you shared a bed with someone as equally au naturel, and…

Stop, stop!

You became even more flushed than a minute ago, with bright red spots appearing on your cheeks. Yet Yoonoh noticed every detail with his sharpness as Hawkeye’s, giving no quarter that he pointed out, “What’s with your face matching the colour of pig’s blood early in the morning?”

He could’ve gone further exaggerating the metaphoricity; it would not hurt any less either way.

Noticing your silence, he seasoned his remark with malice, “Or, you’re shy about what happened last night?”

“Hmph,” he smirked, without another word he spun around and poured a little olive oil in the pan.

Pervert.

You did not want him to see your face, your embarrassed reaction to his comment so you could only turn your back to him as well and not pick an argument with him.

After breakfast, your parents had to catch the return flight back to Ulsan and so Yoonoh drove them to the airport. In wishing you goodbye, your mother held onto your hands, and over and over she was only concerned about Yoonoh that you might not take good care of him, leaving him to starve or freeze or wither up at leisure.

You were certain the woman standing before you was, indeed, not your biological mother.

Until your parents had settled in at the boarding gate then you returned home. As Yoonoh drove past a grocery store, you suddenly remembered that you were out of toothpaste so you made him stopped by.

Afraid that he might get impatient with waiting, you headed straight to the sales assistant for the placement of the product, impulsively grabbing a box of toothpaste and checked out at the counter.

Right after you walked out through the automatic doors labeled “Exit Only” you saw an oh-so-slim sylph sashaying towards the direction of Yoonoh’s car. The man got down, apparently completely clueless what he said to her that the very next moment she was in the passenger seat.

A message came in, signaled by the slight vibration of the device in your hand, from Yoonoh: Something came up, had to leave first. Get yourself a ride home.

He drove away and you watched until his car was out of sight. Gingerly you moved your thumbs over the screen, typing out a reply: Ok.

In the center of your palm laid a dull silver coin of 500won of the amount of change. It was cool and, weirdly, heavy.

Five years ago, 500won would have taken you through the main areas of downtown of Seoul. But now, 500won worth nothing to what seemed to be the cheapest transportation in the entire world.

During your summer break from middle school, you and your little companions would walk miles to travel around the city and returned on foot evening just to reserve that 500won for snacks. The distance of those journeys was never concerned, surprisingly you did not feel tired at all be it three hours, or that was because you were snacking along the way.

But, as you grew older, and supposed to be tougher, thirty minutes of walking already had you feeling tired and panting, the soles of your feet hurt.

It took you a little over an hour to walk back home from the airport. When you finally reached the front door and opened it, you could have just sit in the foyer and would not move a finger for hours on end. The fact that you made it into the house with persistence was enough to say that you were absolutely soiled.

A wave of utter exhaustion overtook you, and eventually you felt sleepy so you took a quick shower and went to bed. Till five thirty in the evening, you woke up. For so long you slept it was the reason that you had not sleep a wink last night.

You got up and filled yourself a glass of water. You gently raised your head high enough so you could drink without choking. The water was cool and refreshing and you sipped a few mouthfuls. You had not realized how thirsty you were, then your stomach grumbled, or how hungry. And so you made yourself a bowl of noodles then washed the breakfast dishes.

Yoonoh was not home yet, you had no idea what had he been doing or where was he with Sooyoung, or he might not return even…

Tidying up the living room after, dishwashing, you made your way upstairs again. Had you been sleeping all the afternoon through, you did not feel signs of drowsiness.

Flipping through pages, reading passages randomly, yet you could not commit to reading the book in its entirety, so you pulled out your phone.

Ever since you graduated from college, you had lost contact with many of your friends except for your dear Jennie. And you called her for long, giggly, pointless chats about the minutiae of life, not knowing when or how the conversation led to Yoonoh.

Jennie: Honestly, about your marriage to him, it’s kinda unbelievable, but bound to happen.

Y: What was bound to happen?

Jennie: Even though I don’t know him well, he seemed to be a cold person to me, it’s the truth. I couldn’t deny that I wasn’t shaken when I found out in high school that we have a senior that’s smart and so good-looking. But every single time when I greeted him he just ignored me, and I’m like ‘forget about it’ and moved on.

Jennie: But then again, I’m not the only shameless one. A lot of girls tried to talk to him and got ignored, except you. Every time you walked past him and need not to say anything, his eyes went to you instinctively.

Jennie: And I’d also realized that you’re the only person he talked to, that’s the only time his poker face showed expressions, which is why we’d all thought that out of all the women in the world, he’d choose you.

Frankly speaking, Jennie transferred to different school in 12th grade, she had no idea of the presence of another.

Y: Was his face like this every time he saw me? 🙄 This kinda expression was it? 😒

Jennie: Dang, those two. Accurate!

Y: …

And how did they even perceive that as signs of interest?

Jennie descended from a family of scholars, her father an archeologist while her mother a college professor, eventually their thinking was old fashioned—positively feudal. Watching their daughter of nearing thirty and had no male relation of potential son-in-law, they were undeniably concerned.

When Jennie was still in New Zealand, never had they ever brought up the topic in their phone calls. However merely returned for a few days, the poor girl had been getting her ear chewed off.

She grumbled, “Had I known it’s gonna be like this, I wouldn’t come back.”

Gloating over her misery, you pricked the bubbles of truth, “I guess your parents were afraid that you’ll find yourself a kiwi husband so they never pressed you about it. Now that they’ve coaxed you to come back, of course they’re gonna seize the opportunity to settle you down with a domestic spouse.”

She banged her head against the table, “That’s racist, racist! Why’s my life so miserable?”

You lifted the cup of fresh coffee to your lips, blowing on it prior to taking a sip, not even trying to console her at this point.

Your supposed “hang out” for the day was because of her desperately crying for help earlier in the morning that her parents had arranged a blind date for her.

She had never done anything like that, which was why she was extra nervous and dragged you out from your house to be that… third wheel.

The more she talked about it the more she grew restless and finally she slumped motionless on the table as if her body was hollowed out. You intended to remind her of her hair getting into the coffee, but before you could even speak up, a hand came out of nowhere and brushed out her messy strands.

Assuming that it was you, she lifted her head and grabbed ahold of the hand, then as if feeling an unusual sensation, aggressively surprised, “Who are you?”

The hand belonged to a remarkably handsome man with dark eyes and hair; well behaved, very courteous, very well-mannered, radiating all—Jennie’s designated partner for the blind date.

Maybe he was equally unfamiliar with the social engagement which he had also brought along a company as emotional support.

Therefore, what was supposed to be a blind date for two, appeared to be for a pair now.

Jennie’s partner, Kim Doyoung, came from a family of scholars as well; his friend went by the name Qian Kun, whose parents ran a small business.

You were struggling to manage a conversation with Kun and at the same time observing the other two, seemed like she already had the urge to run for her life, meanwhile the man was more of a gentleman that there was no way for the usually bold Jennie to lie her desire to escape.

As for the impression that Doyoung gave you… it was a positive that he had taken an interest in her.

No no no, but the way he looked at Jennie was definitely like… he was gazing upon his lover.

It gave an indication that they had known each other for a long time.

Interesting.

Kun was untalkative, but he was polite, the kind of person that would only answer questions, not offer more and kept silent when not. Though he lent a sense of comfort and harmony, but lacked existence at the same time. Thankfully he was born charming that even when he did not speak, people would almost stop and stare at him.

More than a little while at the cafe, Doyoung offered to buy dinner for everyone. Jennie had wanted to reject however under the supervision of her mother with a text message querying about their progress, she gritted her teeth and made it happen in case she would be having her parents breathing down her neck.

Doyoung only ate a little and then stuffing Jennie with so much food that it was visibly to you that she had lost patience with the man.

It was yet the end, that you proceeded to the next round at a karaoke bar. Somewhat dubious that Jennie had reached the limit of her tolerance, or she intended him to retreat. Who used to have a wonderful singing voice was intentionally going off pitch, and picked a trot song that she belted out from deep within her soul.

It was to the point that you, being a tone-deaf, could not help but grew annoyed at her awful singing.

She was rather ferocious that night that she bitterly suggested to compete Doyoung in drinking. Clearly she was a lightweight but insisted the attendant to serve bottles and bottles of soju.

Your eyes bulged in surprise as you stared at the dozen of alcohol, you contemplated warning her but out of the blue you registered the changing gaze of Jennie on Doyoung.

She cracked open a bottle of soju and slammed it on the table with a loud smack. She looked at him provocatively, speaking, “If you get through me tonight, I’ll try to date you for good, deal?”

Both you and Kun gaped at the pair in silence. There was a ghost of a smile crossed Doyoung’s face then he reached over to snatched the bottle from her grip, “You don’t have to drink, I’ll finish all of these, as long as you don’t go back on your word.”

Next thing you all witnessed him drowning bottle to bottle, ravenously. Till the third bottle, he was unable to swallow anymore, clear transparent liquor escaped from the corner of his mouth. Jennie roared, “Don’t let it drip!”

He shot a glance at her then ushered Kun to bring him another bottle.

Kun said nothing, and did not bother advising him, without a word he fetched another dozen of soju. You watched him as a small smirk crept onto your face, Doyoung was discreet in choosing friends, you thought.

Specifically how many bottles he had downed, you had lost count of it. He was completely wasted and could not even sit steadily.

You could not bear to watch another moment more and wanted to convince Jennie to make him stop, but in that sense, it meant that she would have to raise the white flag and date him for real. But acknowledging the cruel fact that she had not had even a slither of interest in him, you gave up instead after multiple failed attempts.

In a way everything just came to an end, there was not an outcome between Jennie and Doyoung. However on the way back, you could sense the bad omen in your friend.

You kept your voice calm and neutral, but there was clear teasing in your tone, “That was a difficult one, seems like you can’t get rid of him any way.”

Jennie went silent for a moment while she switched gears mentally, “At first I thought he was familiar but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly who he was until I saw that he was left handed during dinner then I suddenly remembered that he’s that douchebag Kim Dongyoung.”

“Dongyoung? That sounds familiar.” You heard somewhere but could not remember the sudden recollection.

She said, “During high school, the asshole that I had a crush on!”

Now, hearing that from her own lips, you came to the sudden realization and a blurry silhouette of a guy popped inside your head. For quite a while that Jennie dated him in high school, later it was because the counterpart was tangled with another girl that they broke up after. Then Jennie went overseas, and the guy called Dongyoung vanished into thin air, nowhere to be found.

“But why is he called Doyoung now?”

“It was some superstitious belief I guess. His family is weird.”

“Seems like he was hoping to rekindle the past romantic flames. Do you still have feelings for him?” you asked.

She answered disdainfully, “We were immature back then, I’d already lost whatever I had for him.”

“To me it’s like he couldn’t forget about you though.” Honestly you could tell that she had not moved on entirely from him, otherwise how could she recognized him as the Dongyoung back then?

“That’s his problem. I don’t dwell on the past, especially one that’s tainted.” When she spoke of the word ‘tainted’, she muttered between clenched teeth, which did not sound nice at all.

You became silent then, not wanting to jog her through bad memories. However you could not help but be reminded of the diminishing figure of Yoonoh and Sooyoung that day as the distance between them increased by a yard per mile. Suddenly you could feel the morose mood within.

Jennie drove you back home then buzzed off with a simple “goodnight”. You knew that she was definitely going for speeding down the road to get her mind off.

From afar you had already noticed that the lights were on, for sure Yoonoh was home. When you made your entrance and changed your shoes, there you saw him on the couch.

You were still sulky and resentful and bitchy so you decided to ignore him at the moment. You changed into your fluffy slippers and went straight for the stairs and up them.

“Where have you been, why do you smell like alcohol all over?” He sat on the couch, suddenly threw a question with obvious ill judgement.

Subconsciously you took a whiff of your own self, and retorted, “I didn’t drink.”

“What’s with the strong odor if you didn’t?”

“Probably when helping Doyoung…” you paused, previously you had made a mental note to ignore him at all costs, yet you were explaining yourself to him?

He sure knew how to pick up important points, “Who is Doyoung?”

You pursed your lips, had you wanted to explain to him, but questioned back instead, “Why do you care?”

His face went dark immediately, “You’ve been with that guy this whole day?”

“So what if I was?”

“It’s fine, but I have to remind you now that you’re labelled as me, Jung Yoonoh’s wife, you better not try something that puts me in shame,” he said, coldly.

Oh, so that’s it?

What were you exactly wishing for? Doing this deliberately, intentionally to get him misunderstood. You sure were out of your mind.

“Alright.” You were too tired to fight with him, mentally tired, honestly you had began to get tired of this lifestyle as well. Two people who lived under the same roof and seeing the same face every morning, day in and day out, yet always fighting and hurting each other every time when mouths opened that you basically did not speak the same language. It was indeed tiring.

As if he never thought that you would be easily compromised this time that he was stunned for a second, and just continued what he had been doing with nothing said. You did not stay any longer and went upstairs.

In fact, all these years you both had cared too much about pride which caused this constant tension and friction in between.

When one attacked another, there would be horrible and awful words as defensive comeback.

Those hurtful words would end up hurting yourselves anyway. If you did not went all out your way to maliciously hurt others, how would it lead to harsh and cruel retaliation in the other part?

As long as one first backed down and admitted defeat, eventually the other would stop before going too far.

Both adults knew that, yet no one had the courage to let go of their pride and ego.

#nct scenarios #nct jaehyun #jaehyun scenarios

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ljones41 · 5 years

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"THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" (2019) Review

Below is my review of the 22nd entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise, “THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME”. Warning - it is as long as the movie itself. Well . . . almost:

"THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" (2019) Review After eleven years, three phases and twenty-two movies, a certain era in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) came to an end with the release of "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME". This movie became a major win for both Walt Disney Studios and Marvel Films at the box office and for fans who saw this as the culmination of the Infinity Stones story arc. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" began nearly a day after the events of the franchise's previous chapter, "THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR". After years of searching for the Infinity Stones, Thanos managed to achieve his goal by using the stones and a gauntlet to wipe out half of the universe's living beings with a snap. Among the victims of his snap was the family of former Avengers Clint Barton aka Hawkeye. Nearly a day later found the surviving Avengers and the only surviving member of the Guardians - Rocket the Raccoon - return to the Avengers headquarters in upstate New York. The only two survivors on Titan - Tony Stark aka Iron Man and Nebula - had began their trip back to Earth and get lost in deep space. They were eventually rescued by Captain Marvel, who had earlier returned to Earth to contact the deceased Nick Fury. While Iron Man recovers from his ordeal, the other Avengers - Steve Rogers aka Captain America, James Rhodes aka War Machine, Bruce Banner aka the Hulk, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, and Thor - along with Rocket and Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel - track down Thanos to an unknown planet where they found him badly wounded from his use of the Infinity stones and starting a farm. The superheroes had planned to take the stones and gauntlet from him and used them to restore those who had died from the Snap. Unfortunately, Thanos reveals he had destroyed them to prevent further use. An enraged Thor decapitates Thanos. After being trapped in the quantum realm for five years - minutes before Thanos' Snap - Scott Lang aka Ant-Man is finally freed through the intervention of a rat. He reunites with his now adolescent daughter, Cassie, and learns about the Snap. He travels to New York and meets with the Avengers with his idea on how to reverse Thanos' Snap - using time travel via quantum physics. The Avengers plan to go back in time, collect the Infinity Stones, create a gauntlet and use it to reverse the Snap. They eventually recruit both a grieving Hawkeye, who had become a violent vigilante, and a reluctant Tony Stark into their scheme, who eventually finds a way to create a time machine. With Bruce and Rocket's help, along with Hank Pym's technology, Tony builds the time machine and the Avengers go back to various periods in time to collect the Infinity Stones. It was not difficult for me to surmise how this final plot involving the Infinity Stones would play out. I knew that the first movie would end in disaster with many characters being killed from the Snap. And I had suspected that the surviving Avengers would resort to time travel to reverse Thanos' action. I had accurately guessed this narrative, because I have seen other versions of it in other time travel movies, television shows and fan fiction. In fact, I had written a "CHARMED" fan fiction series featuring three stories with a similar scenario. Also, the D.C. Comics television series, "D.C.'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW" had created a similar scenario in its last three or four Season Two episodes involving an artifact called the Spear of Destiny. So, I am the last person who would compliment the narratives for both "INFINITY WAR" and "ENDGAME" for being original. There were aspects of "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" that I actually enjoyed or impressed me. Being a long time fan of the MCU, I must admit that when I saw the movie in the theaters, I had experienced something of a thrill watching the Avengers travel to different periods in the franchise's history - the Chitauri invasion in 2012's "THE AVENGERS", Asgard in 2013's "THOR: THE DARK WORLD" and Morag in 2014's "GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY". The time travel sequence also featured a visit to Vormir in 2014 and another to the old S.H.I.E.L.D. base in 1970 New Jersey. There were dramatic moments in the film that also impressed me. I enjoyed the brief scene between Scarlett Johansson's Black Window and Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, as the latter attempts to convince the latter to give up his vigilante activities and rejoin the Avengers. I also enjoy Thor's emotional encounter with his mother Frigga on the day of her death, thanks to Chris Hemsworth and Rene Russo's performances. I enjoyed the humor that evolved from 2023 Steve Rogers' encounter with the 2012 Steve as the former tries to get his hands on the Tesseract. I thought Chris Evans gave a very skillful and comedic performance in this scene. Another excellent dramatic scene featured Tony Stark's meeting with his father, Howard at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in 1970 . . . just before Tony's own birth. I thought it was very emotional and heartfelt and featured first-rate performances from both Robert Downey Jr. and John Slattery. I also found the reunion between 2023 Nebula and 2014 Gamora very satisfying, emotional and slightly tense, thanks to excellent performances from Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillan. Why is it that when these two share the screen, they managed to knock it out of the ballpark? Also, I found Gillan's scenes with Don Cheadle very satisfying as their characters - Nebula and War Machine land on Morag to prevent Peter Quill aka Star Lord from getting his hands on the Power Stone. I enjoyed how Rhodey and Nebula discussed her struggles to overcome her questionable past with Thanos. Considering this is a MCU movie, there are bound to be some interesting action sequences. For me, the best action scenes featured Evans' Captain America. The first proved to be that crazy fight scene between a younger and earnest Captain America and the older, yet more jaded version inside the Stark Tower building in 2012 Manhattan. I have no idea how the special effects team managed to achieve that brawl, but my hats off to them. Another sequence that impressed me featured Captain America's fight against the 2014 Thanos and the latter's minions during the Battle of Earth, the film's final battle at the Avengers' Compound. First of all, I found it impressive. Second of all, I found Captain America's use of Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, very satisfying considering that it seemed foreshadowed in 2015's "THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON". And finally, this sequence ended on an emotional and even more satisfying note when a portal opened near Steve with Sam Wilson's comment, "On your left", signalling the arrival of those Marvel heroes who had been dead for five years. Really . . . great moment. Captain Marvel's fight with Thanos proved to be mildly satisfying, but I really enjoyed Scarlet Witch's fight with the Mad Titan. I found it very satisfying that she really made him sweat before he resorted to crying for help from his minions. "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" had proved some satisfying moments and excellent performances. And yet . . . it was not enough. The great moments and performances were not enough to overcome my overall negative view of the movie. In the end, "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" proved to be one of the most disappointing MCU movies I have ever seen. And a great deal of this disappointment centered around Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's screenplay. First of all, there were minor aspects of Markus and McFeeley's screenplay that bothered me. Not long after her arrival at the Avengers Compound, Captain Marvel was sent by the group to search for Iron Man and Nebula. How did the Avengers know that the pair was alive? They were the only post-Snap survivors on Titan. For all they knew, Tony had been snapped. How did Captain Marvel know where to find them? I wish the movie had provided a few more details on the development of this scenario. How was Rocket able to extract the Reality Stone (the Aether) from Dr. Jane Foster's body without alerting her in 2013 Asgard? How did Captain America return the Aether into her body . . . again, without alerting her? Was she drugged at the time? I also noticed in the sequence featuring Scott Lang's return to San Francisco, the city seemed to look trashed from Thanos' snap . . . after five years. In other words, the City of San Francisco managed to construct a "Wall of the Vanished" featuring names of those who had been killed by the Snap. But it was unable to clean up the city? I saw damaged cars, littered streets, damaged buildings not only in San Francisco, but also in New York City. Seriously? Most Humans spent those five years wallowing in the loss of lives without bothering to clean up the damage? Thanos had killed off half of the universe, not three-fourths of it. There should have been enough people around to commence upon the clean up of most, if not all, major cities. However, these are minor issues I have with the film in compare to the following. One of my bigger issues regards Thor Odinson, King of Asgard since the death of his older sister in "THOR: RAGNAROK". One, the MCU continued its inconsistency regarding Thor's power level. There is also the matter of the continuing issue of Thor's encounters with Thanos. Since the death of his older sister near the end of "THOR: RAGNAROK", Thor Odinson has been the official King of Asgard. Which meant that at this point, he should have been powerful enough to take on Thanos in a fight. He could not even take on Thanos' minions at the beginning of "INFINITY WAR", yet with his new Stormbreaker axe, he had no trouble taking on the Mad Titan wearing an Infinity Gauntlet (with all six stones). However, in "ENDGAME", he could not take on 2014 Thanos . . . with Stormbreaker. Captain America had given Thanos more problems with Mjolnir. Were audiences expected to accept that Thor's recent weight gain made it exceedingly difficult for him to fight Thanos? As the Allfather, should his weight have mattered? Speaking of Thor's weight gain and recent drinking . . . what exactly was he drinking? Alcohol from Earth? I doubt very much that Thor had the chance to get his hands on Asgardian booze, considering that the planet no longer existed. So . . . audiences are expected to believe that Earth-created liquor can have an effect on a powerful Asgardian like Thor, let alone any Asgardian? The movie made it clear that the recent traumas he had experienced, along with guilt for his failure to immediately kill Thanos in Wakanda, had led him to depression and alcoholism. Unfortunately, every time it seemed the movie is about to delve into Thor's psyche, the screenplay undermines the scene with too much humor. It is basically a repeat of the overuse of humor in "THOR: RAGNAROK", only in this film, McFeely and Markus constantly bombarded audiences with jokes about Thor's weight. Fat jokes. I just . . . I found it all very frustrating to watch. Another characterization I had a problem with was Dr. Bruce Banner aka the Hulk. Or . . . "Smart Hulk". Whatever. I had two problems with the Hulk's characterization in this film. Apparently, during the five years between the Snap and most of the film, Bruce had learned to balance his two identities - the reserved scientist and the raging green being. How did it happen? When did Bruce learn to balance his multiple natures? Inquiring minds would love to know. Unfortunately, McFeely and Markus' screenplay told audiences what had happened to him. The screenplay did not bother to show what happened. I found this very frustrating. And what added to my frustration was that this new Bruce/Hulk balancing act had manifested in a new look for the character:

What in the hell? Was this ham-fisted visual image of the "Smart Hulk" really necessary? A Hulk with glasses? All the movie had to do was show Bruce transform into the Hulk, while keeping his emotions and intelligence in control. Would that have been too difficult for Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers to do? And then we have Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Most people would raise an eyebrow or two over labeling Tony's character arc as a problem. He was. At least to me. There were times when I had felt as if I was watching an ode to Tony Stark. I found this very frustrating. McFeely and Markus had allowed Tony to be the one who found the way for them to time travel. Why him? Tony was basically a weapons or tech engineer. He does not even have a doctorate. I do not know about Rocket, but I certainly believe Bruce Banner should have been the one to achieve this. The film also focused a lot on Tony's family life - past and present. And the film also allowed him to be the one to deliver the death blow on Thanos. Following his death, Tony was given a major funeral in which nearly every MCU character still alive that had appeared in the last eleven years had attended. Another Avenger had died in this film. But for some reason, McFeely and Markus thought it was not necessary to include that person's funeral. This really pissed me off. But what really pissed me off was the following scene after Tony and Nebula's return to Earth, early in the film: Tony Stark: What we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not, that’s what we needed! Steve Rogers: Well, that didn’t work out, did it? Tony Stark: I said we’d lose. You said, "we’ll do that together too." Guess what, Cap? We "lost," and you weren’t there. But that’s what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We’re the "Avengers?" Not the Prevengers, right? Kevin Feige, the Russo Brothers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have constantly informed fans and the media that Tony Stark had matured and developed as a character by "ENDGAME". Really? The above rant had failed to convince me. All Tony did was make excuses for his unexpected creation of Ultron and his ridiculous idea about creating androids to police the Earth's atmosphere. He also blamed Steve Rogers for Thanos' victory, because the latter "wasn't there". What I had hated about this rant is that no one had bothered to tell Tony he was wrong. His idea of an army of robots patrolling Earth's space led him to unintentionally creating Ulton. And the latter led to the whole mess surrounding the Sokovia Accords and some of the Avengers being on the run. Yet, no one had bothered to tell Tony that despite all of that . . . most of the Avengers had managed to reunite in Wakanda in time to fight Thanos' army. He was the only Avenger - past and present - that was missing at the time. Also, the rejection of the Sokovia Accords by Steve and other Avengers like Sam Wilson and Wanda Maximoff had NOTHING to do with Thanos' victory. In fact the Sokovia Accords, a useless and badly handled story arc since it was first introduced back in 2016, played no role in Thanos' victory whatsoever. What was the damn point of this scene? I eventually learned that Tony's rant against Steve was improvised by Downey Jr. If so, my dislike of both the character and the actor has greatly increased. I thought it was nothing more than an ego trip on the actor's part because he could not deal with his beloved Tony Stark being wrong about anything. Another major issue I had with the film was its handling of the female characters. I really do not know what to say about this. I will give the movie credit exploring Gamora and Nebula's relationship a little further in this movie. But I had a problem. The Gamora that Nebula had to convince to betray Thanos was the former's 2014 self . . . the same woman who was already secretly plotting to prevent Thanos' possession of the Infinity stones even before the "GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY" narrative had begun. Why on earth would she be reluctant to betray Thanos at this point in her life? I was also disappointed that neither woman had played a major role in 2014 Thanos' defeat. Instead, Nebula's biggest moment was when she killed her younger self to save Hawkeye's life. Killed her younger self? Yeah . . . more on that later. Both Nebula and Gamora had fared better than many other women MCU characters. First, there is Cassie Lang. What happened to her during those five years after the Snap? Did her mother and step-father, Maggie and Jim Paxton, also survive? Hope van Dyne, who had been killed with her parents by the Snap, returned to fight in the battle against Thanos. Basically, her role in the film was a cameo appearance . . . along with other MCU women characters like Pepper Potts, Okoye, and Princess Shuri. I was surprised to discover that Shuri had been killed by the Snap. This was never revealed in "INFINITY WAR" and the MCU kept her fate a mystery during the year between the two films. Why? I have no idea. Captain Marvel, who had received such a build up near the end of "INFINITY WAR" and her own solo film, "CAPTAIN MARVEL", was basically used as a tool to rescue Tony Stark and Nebula. She disappeared for most of the film, only to return for the final Battle on Earth. During this conflict, she briefly fought against Thanos before he stopped her with the Power Stone. Overall, I found Captain Marvel's presence in the film rather limited and disappointing. Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch was another who personally fought against Thanos. And although I found her role in that fight impressive, she was not used for anything else. Another woman character wasted. The movie provided a scene in which all or most of the MCU women played "hot potato" with the new Infinity gauntlet, resulting in one shot of them all lined up:

For me, it was nothing more than the franchise's attempt to pander at feminists and erase any charges of sexism on its part. One of the movie's biggest failures for me proved to be its handling of Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. Following 2018 Thanos' death, she was the only Avenger who went out of her way to take charge of the organization and lead both old and new members like War Machine and Captain Marvel to monitor both the Earth and the universe beyond. Yet, after Ant-Man had made his time travel suggestion and Iron Man returned to the fold, Natasha immediately relinquished her role as the Avengers' leader. WHY? Was it that important to the screenwriters, the Russo Brothers and Kevin Feige that a man - whether it was Captain America, the Hulk or Iron Man - become the leader of this new operation? When the team broke up to pursue the Infinity Stones in the past, Natasha and her oldest friend, Clint Barton went to Vormir to get the Soul Stone. I am certain many knew what happened. Natasha committed suicide . . . pardon me, "sacrificed herself" in order for Clint to get his hands on the stone. At this point, I developed a deep hatred for the MCU. It was bad enough that McFeely and Markus changed the Soul Stone's backstory in order to provide emotional conflict for Thanos, when he sacrificed Gamora for the stone. Matters got worse when Natasha had to die . . . for the stone. Vormir had become Planet of the Fridged Women. Many fans claimed that Natasha was not fridged since she had sacrificed herself. Morons. Natasha had died so that her male colleagues could experience a few moments of grief and anger over her death. Worse, Natasha did not receive an on-screen funeral like Tony. And she died because McFeely and Markus believed that Clint should live because he had a family (sexist motherfuckers) and because they had no idea that a Black Widow solo film had been planned, let alone announced. But Feige did. Yet, he still allowed Natasha's death to remain in the movie. Speaking of the stones, the Hulk got the Time Stone from Doctor Strange's former teacher, the Ancient One. During the Chitauri's invasion of Manhattan. It was stated or hinted that the Ancient One was at the New York Sanctum of her order in order to protect it during the Chitauri's invasion. Where was the sorcerer who should have been there? You know . . . the one who ended up being killed in "DOCTOR STRANGE". Where was he? Did the Ancient One felt he was not up to the task? But what I felt really sunk "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" was its portrayal of time travel in its narrative. Some naysayers had a problem with the screenwriters using time travel to reverse the deaths in the previous movie. I have enjoyed many movies involving time travel. I did NOT enjoy how this trope was used in the film. When Scott Lang first pushed the idea for time travel, Bruce Banner made it clear that one cannot change the timeline. He stated that by changing the past, one only creates an alternate timeline. I realized there is no clear rule regarding time travel. I also realized that Bruce's rule was basically a theory . . . even in real life. I also realize that this real life theory has never been proven one way or the other. However, I thought it unnecessary for the screenwriters to insult previous time travel movies and television series in order to convince moviegoers to mindlessly accept this theory. And I thought this was a shitty theory for fictional stories. Bruce's time travel rule or theory allowed the movie's writers to evade any consequences that the Avengers might have to face from time travel . . . other than Natasha Romanoff's death on Vormir. I also noticed that this theory had conflicted with previous examples of time travel in the franchise's past productions: 1. In 2016's "DOCTOR STRANGE", Doctor Stephen Strange used the Time Stone to create a time loop in order to browbeat the villainous Dormammu into leaving Earth. 2. During Season Five of "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.", Phil Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team was forced into the future where most of the Earth had been destroyed. When they returned back in time to 2018, they managed to prevent this future by defeating the person responsible for this grim future, Glenn Talbot aka Graviton and save Earth. 3. In "THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR", Thanos used the Time Stone to reset time and re-create the Mind Stone, which Scarlet Witch had previously destroyed, so that he can take it from Vision and place it in his gauntlet. And if these contradictions were not enough, I also realized that the screenwriters had decided to use this new theory for the sake of nostalgia. They scattered the Avengers throughout time to get the Infinity Stones and allow moviegoers visit different moments in the MCU's history. At first, I liked it. Then I realized that this was unnecessary. All they had to do was go back to a specific point in time and prevent Thanos from getting his hands on the first Infinity stone that he had managed to grab - namely the Power Stone. And that would mean revisiting Xandar. Either Rocket or Nebula (especially the latter) could have informed the Avenges on where to go. Between Thor and Captain Marvel, Thanos could have ended up dead. Instead, I found myself watching these series of messy and nostalgia-laden time travel trips, including that God-awful journey to Vormir. Bruce's time travel theory had created another problem . . . confusion. When 2014 Thanos had become aware of the Avengers' plans to reverse his future Snap, he and his army went nine years into the future to stop them. During this confrontation, the older Nebula prevented the 2014 Nebula (or "Evil" Nebula) from killing Hawkeye . . . by killing the latter. I am still trying to wrap my head over this. Some fans have claimed that one of the two Nebulas came from an alternate timeline. Really? Which one? So . . . Thanos, his army and Nebula did not time travel? They entered an alternate timeline? Both? If one of the Nebulas were from an alternate timeline, how was the 2014 Nebula's cybernetic implant was able to link with those from the 2023 Nebula? When did one of them become part of an "alternate timeline"? If you thought this was messy, try wrapping your brain over the situation regarding Steve Rogers aka Captain America. Following Thanos' defeat and Tony's funeral, Steve took the Infinity Stones and used the quantum time machine to go back to the past and return them, Loki's scepter and Mjölnir from where in time the Avengers got them. I simply could not imagine how he would react to seeing Natasha's body on Vormir, let alone meeting Red Skull again. Or let alone infusing the Reality Stone back into Jane Foster's body on Asgard. But after returning the stones, the scepter and the hammer; Steve decided to go back further into time to 1945 and reunite with Peggy. Apparently, he spent the next 78 years with her before returning to 2023 as an old man and handing over his shield to Sam Wilson. Huh. So . . . did this older Steve spend those 78 years in an alternate universe? If so, how did he return to the original timeline . . . or universe? The movie never explained. Did Steve do anything to change "his timeline" - like prevent S.H.I.E.L.D. from recruiting the likes of Arnim Zola and allowing HYRDA to infiltrate the agency? It is bad enough that Steve Rogers would do something to regress his character development on such a major level. In the comics, he was tempted to go back in time twice. And in both occasions, he decided against it, realizing that such an act was detrimental to his personal growth. But no . . . McFeely and Markus allowed Steve to pull a Jay Gatsby and not only ruin his character arc, but Peggy Carter's as well. What makes all of this even more sad is that the Russo Brothers and the screenwriters cannot seemed to agree on what really happened with Steve. I just realized that I had not discussed the performances in "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME". To be honest, I do not care. Not after realizing that I had spent three hours watching a bad movie. However . . . I will admit that the cast did their jobs and gave first-rate performances. I will also admit that the film featured some satisfying action and dramatic moments. Overall, I feel that "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME" proved to be the most bloated and overrated movie during the 2019 summer movie season, let alone one of the most disappointing comic book movies I have ever seen. I do not think it deserved its box office success. Not by a long shot.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How a Forgotten Avengers Cartoon Predicted MCU Phase 4

https://ift.tt/3pDpl2G

While it doesn’t quite stack up to its DC counterpart, the Marvel Animated Universe stretched through the ’90s and had some real bangers. Much like the modern cinematic universe, various cartoons were connected as one giant piece of continuity. X-Men and Spider-Man were the biggest hits while Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and others had less of an impact. The closest thing they had to a climactic culmination was the Secret Wars adaptation near the end of Spider-Man’s final season. After that, they kind of limped into oblivion with a few shows that didn’t catch on.

That leads to the biggest difference between the Marvel Animated Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When it came to the latter, the real beginning came from the Avengers brand name. Nick Fury appearing at the end of Iron Man to discuss the Avengers Initiative was a sign of what these movies were promising while the first Avengers movie was not only a finish line to the movies before it, but it was also the moment that spring-boarded Marvel’s film universe into the stratosphere.

But for the Marvel Animated Universe? Avengers was the harbinger for the end.

Avengers: United They Stand first aired in late October 1999 and ended in late February 2000. It was the final Marvel animated show in this continuity to be produced and start airing, though technically Spider-Man Unlimited was the last one to air any episodes whatsoever. The quick version is that Fox aired three episodes of Spider-Man Unlimited, it bombed hard in the ratings, they shelved it, and then over a year later decided, “Listen, we have ten more episodes of this on our hands. Let’s just air it already.”

Either way, the double-punch of this Avengers cartoon and the most un-Spider-Man show possible with Spider-Man in the title ended the Marvel Animated Universe. These came shortly after Silver Surfer failed to catch on, giving us three Marvel cartoons that only went thirteen episodes before getting the axe.

It’s fortunate that Avengers: United They Stand is available on Disney+ as for the first time in its existence, the show is actually relevant! Now don’t get me wrong. It’s still not a very GOOD show. I’m not going to treat it like some lost gem. Still, people need content to watch in this lengthy pandemic and this Avengers cartoon is a great way to get ready for MCU Phase 4.

So put on your transforming armor and let’s get this list started!

THE NEXT PHASE OF AVENGERS

One of the reasons the show existed was to follow suit and compete with Batman Beyond. Although it really isn’t well-explained, Avengers: United They Stand is supposed to take place years after the other animated Marvel shows. One of the showrunners once claimed it was 25 years later and that only works if Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye have really good genes, but sure. It’s [some years] in the future.

Even though there had barely been any mention of the Avengers before this show – and keep in mind, we had freaking Force Works as a regular part of Iron Man – the time jump allows for the team to be something that may have already peaked. This Avengers cartoon is infamous for its bizarre intro where the team poses together, the shot pans up to show Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, and it cuts away after a split second. For whatever reason, these guys weren’t allowed to be starring characters on the show, so it played them up as the founders and the shoes that this team needed to fill.

For the record, while Captain America and Iron Man each showed up for an episode, Thor never did.

The basic gist of the show is, “You know how Cap, Iron Man, and Thor are the Big Three of the Avengers? Well, their time has passed. Now you have to deal with Wonder Man and Wasp. Sorry.” There are even shots in the mansion that show paintings of former team members like Hulk, Beast, and Quicksilver.

Yes, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were on different rosters. Then again, she was in Force Works and he was in X-Factor. The lack of codependency between the two is probably way healthier than how they are in other Marvel continuities.

Getting back to the point, Phase 4 of the MCU is at a time when the classic Avengers have moved on. Iron Man and Black Widow are dead. Captain America is an old man. Thor is doing space stuff. Hawkeye is about to retire. Scarlet Witch is…busy.

The MCU has a void due to the big question mark of what the Avengers even are right now. And being 13 years in, we’re due to get the likes of Tigra thrown in at some point. The MCU is naturally what the Avengers cartoon was unnaturally.

WANDAVISION ORIGINS

The closest thing Avengers: United They Stand has to a main villain is Ultron, which is good for someone checking the series out for the first time as he’s familiar enough from his movie appearance. Unfortunately, he’s pretty one-dimensional and he talks just like the “Powered by The Cheat” version of Strong Bad. Say what you will about the James Spader version of the character in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but at least he had his moments of being intimidating.

The opening two-parter has Ultron create Vision as his ultimate killing machine and sends him after the Avengers. Vision proceeds to zap Wonder Man into a coma, gets overwhelmed by the Avengers, and is reprogrammed with Wonder Man’s brainwaves as the best available option of keeping Wonder Man alive in some way. Vision’s new personality overrides Ultron’s programming and he joins the Avengers, all while Ultron captures the comatose Wonder Man and holds onto him for much of the series.

Wonder Man is essentially supposed to be the Morph of the Avengers cartoon, but he can’t go five minutes without looking like a gigantic doofus and you get the idea that the Avengers are just better off without him.

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Since Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man already had a thing brewing between them, those feelings continue on in Vision. He spends the series gradually coming to terms with his romantic interest in Wanda. She never really picks up on it, nor does she entertain the idea of getting down with a mechanical man, but it’s definitely a love triangle we’re supposed to be invested in that would supposedly be developed more in the hypothetical second season.

Speaking of Vision, it is pretty funny how he’s easily the most powerful member of the team and he tends to politely hang out in the background so the writers can ignore his powers for the sake of the guy who shoots arrows, the guy who can fly, and the lady who does cat stuff. At least in the Atlantis episode they’re able to get around it by saying the lack of direct sunlight is causing him to fade.

Lastly, there’s one episode based around Agatha Harkness and Salem’s Seven. I’m not saying you should expect to see a delightful, sass-filled Kathryn Hahn performance, but it’s a hell of a thing seeing her in cartoon form and knowing the glow-up awaiting that witch in a couple decades.

FALCON THE REPLACEMENT

From the opening episode, the other new character to join the team (albeit without trying to kill the others beforehand) is Falcon. This is because unlike Hawkeye, Falcon is able to rescue the President of the United States from Vision’s rampage. What’s the President’s name? No idea. The show never gets around to telling us. Even Vision’s robot POV screen just calls him “President.”

Falcon – accompanied by his occasionally-green lips – is the closest thing the series has to a down-to-earth character. In other words, there are TWO moments where we see him doing normal guy things by hanging out with his nephew in public. We never do get to see Hawkeye buying groceries or Tigra returning library books or any other non-superhero stuff.

Unfortunately, despite his introduction to the series, Falcon doesn’t come off as the main character like he probably should. He fades in importance and even when Captain America pops in for an episode, they don’t spend any effort in building up the world’s most patriotic bromance. It’s instead about Hank Pym moping that he’ll never be as cool as Captain America.

To be fair, I’d also be moping about that if I was Hank Pym. I’m moping about that right now!

ANT-MAN VS. KANG THE CONQUEROR

Okay, so they didn’t really pair up Captain America with the Falcon. That’s okay, because we do get to see an episode dedicated to Ant-Man vs. Kang the Conqueror! Granted, it’s Hank Pym and not Scott Lang, but it’s still a nice enough prelude to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania!

One of the big drawbacks of Avengers: United They Stand is that the costume designs are outright terrible. The Avengers themselves have base costumes and various forms of armor depending on what kind of adventures they’re getting into (underwater, arctic weather, space, etc.). The villains, for the most part, also suffer from ugly designs.

As Kang the Conqueror has always looked hideous, his animated appearance is at worst a lateral move.

He gets his own episode, where it appears that he ruled (will rule?) the distant future, only to be kicked out of that era and the only way he can get back is with a powerful obelisk. The Avengers get their hands on the obelisk and Kang decides to threaten New York City to get it back.

Although he’s dealing with someone from centuries ahead, it’s all up to Ant-Man to outsmart him, giving us one of the better episodes of the show. Though it does include the incredibly awkward moment where Pym has to pretend that he’s all right with allowing slavery to happen while arguing with Falcon.

HAWKEYE AND THE SWORDSMAN

Watching animated Hawkeye, it really drives home how blessed we all were to get the X-Men: The Animated Series version of Wolverine. Logan was a ticking time bomb and gruff, but he also came off as badass, sympathetic, and genuinely likeable uncle figure. He’s someone you’d want to hang out and get a beer with.

Hawkeye on Avengers: United They Stand tries to be Wolverine, but is just a whiny asshole. You’d tell him good morning and he’d get in your face and clench his fists while wondering what you mean by that. He’s just the worst.

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But hey, Hawkeye is getting his own Disney+ show down the line and if there’s anything to prepare you for wanting to see Clint pass the torch-arrow and disappear forever, it’s this!

He does get one episode where he leaves the Avengers and reconnects with his old mentor the Swordsman. While Hawkeye is terrible here, Swordsman comes off as one of the more charming and likeable characters in the whole series. Tony Dalton is set to play him on the Disney+ show, and I welcome that.

BARON ZEMO MAKES HIS PLAY

The MCU already gave us Helmut Zemo back in Captain America: Civil War, but he was a bit restrained and sat on the sidelines while we focused on the hero vs. hero fights, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Chris Evans’ biceps during that helicopter scene. It’s in Falcon and the Winter Soldier that we’ll get to see him in his crazy comic book glory, wearing his purple sock mask and trying a little louder to destroy superhero society.

The episode of Avengers with Captain America is all about the Masters of Evil. It’s made up of your usual villain B-listers like Absorbing Man, Moonstone, Tiger Shark, etc. Leading them is, of course, Baron Zemo, who is fairly comic accurate compared to most other characters.

The episode for the most part doesn’t work because the Masters of Evil is a villain team-up group when we haven’t even been introduced to these villains ahead of time (unless you count Absorbing Man popping up in the Incredible Hulk cartoon). They’re no Secret Society of Supervillains, is what I’m saying.

Still, other than the conflict of who should be leading the Avengers between Cap and Ant-Man, the big rivalry here is Cap and Zemo. Granted, Falcon vs. Zemo would be more fitting these days, but the classic clash will have to do. Plus Zemo blames Cap for a death in his family, which goes well with the MCU version of Zemo if you ignore that the live-action Zemo mourns his innocent wife and kids while the cartoon version mourns his Nazi war criminal dad.

The Masters of Evil – especially with Moonstone there – is a stepping stone to Thunderbolts and there’s a chance we might get that plot in the MCU sooner than later, hopefully with Zemo involved.

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Speaking of villain team-ups, the finale dealt with the Avengers fighting the Zodiac. Yeah, we…we can go a few more phases before the MCU brings in Zodiac. That’s cool.

The post How a Forgotten Avengers Cartoon Predicted MCU Phase 4 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2ZzOznS

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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teefa85 · 4 years

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So, as I’m wracking my brain in working on this scene (Filia has just found out the truth about the Ancient Dragons from notes left behind by the former elder in the secret chapel of Laurent) I figure I want to talk about the history of my Slayers Rewrites. Because I find it A LOT of fun to retell various RPGs with the comedic nature of Slayers...

Cut for ramblage...read if you want!

So, I first heard about Slayers on the internet in the early 2000s. I just happened upon a crossover MST series through searching for stuff about a game I like, and both Zel and Xellos had roles within. There were also a few bad Slayers fics being made fun of on it so I got to somewhat meet the four mains and Xellos a bit more (Lina/Gourry/Zelgadis/Amelia are a team in every season, Xellos appears from NEXT onward, Sylphiel is in the first season and NEXT, same with Zangulus but he’s an enemy in the original, Martina is NEXT exclusive, Filia is TRY exclusive...no I have yet to watch Revolution or Evolution-R though I know a bit about them and you can blame that on laziness). And being the internet savvy girl I was, I was looking up A LOT of stuff online to learn more about the show and the cast to see if I wanted to buy it.

Now, I get some VHS Tapes (this was an era before boxed sets and DVDs were more expensive than VHS) and see the first thirteen episodes. That gets them through the first arc and ends with Lina, Gourry, and Amelia heading off to Sairaag in the second arc. I didn’t have money to buy more at that point in time...so what’s a girl to do? Simple! Write a stupid fanfic that only requires basic knowledge of the series to do! What I chose was to set the story after TRY, but only feature Lina and Gourry since I’d seen a lot less of Zel or Amelia to get a grasp on writing them. I knew there was going to be something between them on the road, but never 100% get together by the end of the show. Thus, shipping and getting married would happen!

The way I did it was write a parody...using Legend of Mana! Basically, Lina and Gourry get sucked into Fa’Diel and have to do all the quests in LoM using the magic swords they found before being teleported. Also, those two and their bottomless pits for stomachs worked wonders in giving them excuse to go to new towns or even new dungeons at times. For added stupidity, all of the quest characters who joined you and all people related to their quests were character shifted to a variety of other RPGs (several Breath of Fire games due to the many demi-humans, Tales of Destiny because I needed feuding siblings, Arcana because I was self indulging my Muse, Lufia for the elf siblings by giving Jerin a twin). It had some fun gags with food, Lina teaching her young apprentice to Fireball anything that annoyed him with every Wisdom they visited, Gourry being way too good hearted, treasure hunting with Lina...and of course Lina finding a curse lifting charm but losing it before she can give it to Zelgadis after getting home because Xellos is an ass! It definitely is not half as good as the later attempt at novelizing LoM with Touhou, but it was hella fun to write!

Sometime later, after watching all of Slayers and having a grasp of all characters, I wrote a parody of Grandia with the cast. This started my joke of having an “introduction” that is Teefa bantering with Sky and the cast with a cast list describing each role and then saying who is playing it. With the cast lists, she usually had to post them in a rush after SOMEONE (usually Xellos) caused trouble and she had to intervene (like the time he got Lina riled up enough that she burned down the trees near the atelier, brought her lamp to life to terrorize everyone...or outright started a war with Filia).

My excuse for using Grandia was actually due to the second game! Millennia had reminded me of an unholy cross between Lina, Naga, and Xellos, but the characters didn’t work for a parody using that one. It had the hilarity of having TWO Nagas running around because only she and Eris made sense to be the Three Witches and Naga did get cloned TEN times (not counting the one with opposite personality). Also, Amelia re-named Puffy to Justice because...Amelia! This was also the first time I made Zelgadis from a race of people with Chimeric powers like his, due to the sheer number of demi-human races in Grandia (don’t ask why he played Rapp...but character importance, relations, and themes are more important than personalities since I can change anything). It also was the advent of the “anti-magic collars,” as I had to keep finding reasons for Lina to get kidnapped as she played Feena (the first time, Amelia was taken instead as bait...second time, “that time of the month” but since the show didn’t abuse it I couldn’t...third, a special device Mazoku use to seal a more dangerous sorcerer they need kept alive). It also started the tradition of Phibrizzo just offing Gaav like in canon (Valgaav wouldn’t betray his master upon hearing his true motives like Mullen did, thus Phibrizzo causes him to make a truce with Gourry and the others). The fic also had the most uncreative name in “The Many Adventures of Gourry Gabriev,” (MAGG for short), and was so long I put each disk of the game in its own folder!

Next up was “Sword of Light,” aka a parody of Vandal~Hearts! Featuring a lot of gender swapping (too many male roles vs. a show with a large cast of females and less males), having to BS a large cast (I even had to use minor characters and some non-Mazoku antagonists like Rezo and Eris as heroes to fill out roles), and Lina nuking a prison and just missing killing off several main antagonists by a few hours! I also have fun with the fact that Eleni’s past self is also named “Leena” by making the name change just the fact that the outlying village and the main part of the country spelled the name differently. And as the cast stayed together instead of rotated, there were a lot more comedic moments between more characters...notably when Xellos wins them a fight by purposefully antagonizing Filia in the right way!

It was not long after that when I decided that it would be cool to do Seiken Densetsu 3 (remember...worked on in 2006, no English name yet). Why? I’m not sure! Might have been I was just playing it at the time. Might have been after finding the LP archives and finally reading an LP to find out what happened after I failed to kill Zable Fahr on my own file. I actually began it in 2006, according to some old journal entries from back then, however I know the initial idea was from my senior year in High School because I remember writing about it in a journal we had to keep for a class and write a page a day about whatever the hell we wanted. But I don’t think I’d written either of the other two parodies at that time (due to some dated humor in my Intro for the first), so it was probably me just taking an old concept and renewing it it. I mean...a mage, a swordsman, a cleric, a demi-human of sorts, a blonde girl associated with dragons, a sly violet haired guy. Which cast am I talking about? Trials of Mana? Or Slayers TRY? I chose to name it “Hikari no Ken Densetsu” in honor of the fact that this game was only released in Japan and most fans called it by its Japanese name. “Hikari no Ken” is the Japanese name for Gourry’s Sword of Light, so it also fits in the way using the English name worked for the previous game!

I’m still not sure why I stopped writing at Elmekia(Valsena)...only there was reference to an interesting idea I wanted to look into. And I never picked it back up! Until now, when the Remake has gotten my interest in the game and its characters up to the highest level it’s ever been! Even if I know I’ll probably go off and write a Hawkeye/Riesz shipping fic in between sessions at some point! Especially if writing goes on long enough that I’m back to the Stupid Sexy Hawkeye run...because Fenrir Knight gives me LOADS of really dumb ideas for fanfic fodder! Both ones I’d share and ones I’d keep to myself!

#hikari no ken densetsu

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hawkeyedflame · 7 years

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tag, i’m it!

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

I got tagged for a fullmetally thing by @ladywiltshire ~ thanks!!

[readmore because this got really long .-. ]

Do you remember your first time watching or reading Fullmetal Alchemist? What was your first impression? I watched it just this past December (i know, i know) and the second episode made me cry. I proceeded to scream about it to Robyn for the next week and a half. At first I was like “this is kinda weird but it’s cool,” and then by episode 19 I was like “this is the best thing I’ve ever watched and I can’t believe I didn’t listen when my ex tried to make me watch it three years ago.”

Tell us about The Fave™. Do you mean my queen Riza Hawkeye? *deep breath* I...I just...I love her so much. Her strength of character, her commitment to making the world a better place, her realistic attitude, her motherly attitude towards the kids. She’s such a good goddamn person and it physically pains me to know how much blood she has on her hands and how it eats away at her soul. She is so kind and gentle in spite of all the things she’s been through, all the unforeseen and unintended consequences of her choices. Christ, this girl permanently wore one of the most dangerous secrets in the world on her back by the time she was ~16/17. She grew up lonely and estranged from her relatives, had to care for a rapidly deteriorating father, had to find her own path after he died, entrusted her tattoo to Roy in hopes of helping him achieve his dreams (an incredibly serious decision for someone so young), joined the military hoping to make a positive difference, was sent to the front lines of a war by the time she was ~20 to participate in a mass genocide, had to live with the fact that she killed hundreds with her sniper rifle and thousands more indirectly because she gave the deadliest alchemy in the world to a dog of the military. She had to live with all of this pain and suffering that the world forced upon her and she still chose to be by Roy’s side as he made the climb to the top, protecting his back and ensuring that he remained virtuous. She still chose to work every day to make the world a better place. When everything she went through showed her that the world was an ugly, unforgiving place, she chose to make it better instead of laying down and accepting the abuse. I cannot find words to express how much I love and respect Riza Hawkeye. She’s honestly such an inspiring person and if I could have an ounce of the backbone that she possesses, I would feel accomplished.

Do you have a favorite fan work? Fanfics? Comics? Oh god fucking Here Dead We Lie by mebh will haunt me for the rest of my life and probably beyond the grave too. No other work of fiction I’ve read has come close to how badly that fanfic fucked me up. I love anything super angsty, especially with Royai. God I have way too many fics I loved to even begin to list them. I also love literally everything that the artists on here draw.. Everyone is so talented and I am so thankful and inspired. I don’t want to call out specific people because I don’t want anyone I forgot to mention feel bad so suffice to say I LOVE ALL OF THE ART AND FICS.

Hit me with an analysis/opinion you have on the series or characters! Ooh I have one criticism that still irks me! I love volume 15 of the manga, okay? Love it. I wish more than anything that Brotherhood had focused more on Ishval because holy shit that volume made me cry so many times. But Brotherhood did do something I like better than what Arakawa did in the manga, and that’s scattering a few of the scenes from V15 into other episodes of the anime. The scene that really sticks out to me is the one where Riza asks Roy to burn her back. It’s in Volume 15 of the manga but episode 54 of Brotherhood. The reason I prefer Brotherhood’s version is implied audience. Volume 15 is a flashback to Ishval as told by Riza, to Edward. That means that everything we read in that volume is assumed to have also been told to Edward. And I simply cannot believe, not even for a second, that Riza would have told Ed about her tattoo. She may be a realistic and honest person (ex. she told Ed and Al straight up about Shou/Nina Tucker being murdered, while Roy and Armstrong lied about Hughes), but the flame alchemy secret is highly confidential for many reasons, not the least of which it suggests a potential for fraternization. I just really cannot see a situation in which Riza would willingly tell anyone, most especially a volatile teenager, about the array on her back. Brotherhood excised that scene (where she asks Roy to burn her) and transplanted it into episode 54, where there is nobody else around except the viewer to bear witness to that intimate (and frankly, chilling) moment. Placing the scene there, right before That One Big Scene between her and Roy really drives home how deep and complicated their past together is and puts all these emotions fresh in the viewer’s mind, and if you ask me it made That One Big Scene all the more raw and devastatingly powerful.

Tell us about a project you have going on! Or if you don’t have one, maybe something you’ve always wanted to write or draw? Oh god. Well I’m trying to teach myself how to draw and it’s...well it’s stop and go, mostly. As far as writing goes, I have a few one-shots kicking around and I’m now playing with the idea of an AU where Envy impersonated Riza instead of Maria Ross when he murdered Hughes. I don’t know if I can commit to that, but talking with a few friends has really opened up some crazy possibilities. I’d certainly like to write a longfic for FMA but my life is kind of hectic right now.

Favorite opening/ending number and why? My favorite opener is easily Rain (season 5). Even before I knew the English translation, the colors and imagery of it coupled with the singing successfully made me feel unsettled and nervous. SID is an incredibly talented singer and the lyrics, even in Japanese, just give me chills every time. I remember saying to Robyn the first time I saw this opener that the little snippet of Roy spiraling down/Riza hugging Hayate and crying made me feel this overwhelming surge of dread. It’s a very visceral opener and sometimes I watch it on its own because I just like it so much.

Tell me about a scene that really touched you or made you realize something about yourself. One of the scenes that still gets me every time is in episode 5 when Al punches Ed and then grabs him by his shirtfront and gives him that speech: “Survival is the only way, Ed. Live on, learn more about alchemy. You can find a way to get our bodies back and help people like Nina. You can’t do that by dying! I won’t allow you to abandon the possibility of hope and choose a meaningless death!” It chokes me up every single time. I mean there are a bunch of scenes that make me feel things but I’ve talked so much about Roy and Riza that I thought I should give Ed and Al a chance. ;)

OTPs! Who are they? Why are you WEAK FOR THEM?? ROYAI FUCKING RUINED ALL OTHER PAIRINGS FOR ME. I am so weak for how much they love and support one another and god the tragedy of their circumstances. It’s just devastating and it makes me feel so many things. I am so weak. I honest to god don’t have any other OTPs in FMA that I care about as much as Royai. I’m not even joking when I say they r u i n e d other pairings for me.

Funniest headcanon you’ve ever seen. Go! I rarely have the privilege of seeing a lighthearted FMA headcanon but if anyone has some I’d love to hear ‘em!!!

What spurred you to join the fandom? My friend Maddy finally convinced me to watch the show (she was the fifth person to insist that I needed to see it and I finally caved) and then Robyn found out I had started watching it and asked me to talk to her about it as I watched and I sorta ended up in the fandom through her, which is honestly one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me. This fandom is absolutely incredible and I am very happy with the friends I’ve made in my short time here.

Definitely the same question… have a fandom meltdown here and tell me why you love your fandom or show/comic so much! I pretty much had like four meltdowns already in this post so I feel like anything more is like...really extra lmao. Although I noticed I baaarely talked about Roy in this and I just want to make it clear that I love Roy just as much as Riza. It was impossible for me to decide which of them to talk about for question number 2 and I ended up flipping a coin.

I don’t know who to tag because pretty much everyone has already been tagged! But if anyone reading this wants to do it too then feel free to recycle these questions (which are honestly really good ones and I definitely couldn’t come up with any this good) and consider yourself tagged.

#ask tag #fma talk #thank you for tagging me you lovely bean!

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mlcsped · 7 years

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USA Heartland Fans Celebrates Our Groupies With An Interview Our next featured Groupie is Les Cline! Les, as you will all discover, is a huge Heartland fan, and joined the Group on Feb. 26th, 2015. We got so much great information in this interview and we had a great time with it, as you’ll see why. Meet Les: ________ USA Heartland Fans: How long have you been a fan of Heartland? Les: I stared watching Heartland four years ago. Almost to the date. Found it on Netflix during a snow storm and became hooked. Nothing like binge watching for four straight days. USA Heartland Fans: Why do you like Heartland? Les: I grew up in Nebraska around farms and ranches. I was the town kid that had grandparent who were farmers. I really related to the characters of the show. Even though I am almost the same age as Jack he reminds me of my grandfather. His wisdom and his guidance. I started to call some of what Jack says as “Jack-isms”. USA Heartland Fans: We agree, the story lines are so relate-able to almost everyone. And YES about those “Jack-isms”. Who else watches Heartland with you? Les: My wife, she actually found it on Netflix thinking it was a movie. She was so angry when episode one ended: “How could they end a movie that way?” Then I told her that she just started to watch a series. She was relieved. She was a farm girl from Nebraska too. Later we found out that one of our nieces also loved watching Heartland. USA Heartland Fans: Aww, wow. We love how Heartland brings our families together. Okay, Les, who shouts louder at the TV, or the most during an episode: You or your wife? Les: Me! My wife will make some comments about certain things, but my voice seems louder when things happen that surprise us or that we want to go differently. For example, Season 8 Episode 6, Ty and Amy meet on the road. Amy says: “I miss you.” And Ty responds: “Take care of yourself.” Me: WHAT! TY, YOU IDIOT! YOU JERK! One of many reactions; some bad, but most good, and some with tears in the eyes. USA Heartland Fans: Hahahaha, LOL. You shouting at the TV. I love it.What are 3 of your top/fav story lines in the past 9 Seasons? Les: I think it is easier to look at seasons versus story lines, but when you think of it, each season is a story line. #1 would be Season 8—from the uncomfortable reunion; (Ty) punching Prince Ahmed; Pike River; Jack and Ty in the barn loft—to the ending with the wedding (with Amy saying) “I married the boy in the loft.” {USA Heartland Fans: Aw, yes what a great moment}. Les: #2 would be the bonding of Jack and Ty in season 5 when Ty takes his dad's ashes to the lake. Then the hunter tells Jack that he thought Ty was his son. {USA Heartland Fans: Huh, OMG Les, YES! That whole episode}. Les: So many and they are all so good. #3 would be the moment that Ty tells Amy in Season 2, Episode 16—‘Ties that Bind’— when trying to rescue Spartan: Amy: I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you (...) I'm so stupid sometimes.” Ty: No you’re not; you’re just passionate. I'd do it again in a second. I'd to anything for you”.” USA Heartland Fans: Les, those are truly some amazing moments! When was the last time you watched an episode with your wife, and what episode was it? Les: Unfortunately, we do not get Heartland like those select few in the Northern areas. The last episode we have had the chance to watch together was Season 9, Episode 18. My wife does not like watching things on computers and is more patient than I am, so she wants to wait for Season 10 to be on TV. I am so hooked that I have to have my Heartland fix. I read social media, follow the productions, follow the stars, and watch whatever I can. And if there is a long break, I get into my DVDs (Seasons 1-9) and re-watch everything. Yes, I have watched from the beginning of Heartland about four times. It is such a great show. USA Heartland Fans: Okay, now *IF* you had creative control over the show, what would you do with the characters? Les: Amy and Ty will finally open their own clinic in the barn like they always planned and expand the ranch. With the baby on the way they will eventually have a small house built on the ranch. We then can watch their little "nugget" grow up for more seasons to come. This way we can relive Amy and her mom's relationship through Amy and her daughter. Maybe a son, but I think it needs to be a daughter for that reason. Tim and Casey get married, Georgie graduates and goes to college, Lou marries [redacted]. The directions are limitless, but exciting to think about. USA Heartland Fans: Hahaha; OMG! I love your [redacted]. That is so awesome. We have wanted that too… and seeing ‘Nugget Borden’ with mom and flashing back to Marion and Amy... PRICELESS! Okay, so *WHO* is your fav character and why? Les: My favorite character is Jack Bartlett. He is so laid back, except when it comes to Tim. He is such a grandfather; has the answers even when it is something you don't want to hear. Or he makes you come up with your own answer instead of telling you. He is also stern, but fair with discipline. Yet is a cream-puff when it comes to emotions and living in a house of estrogen. Thank god for Ty being close by. Lisa is the perfect wife for him. I have to add this as one of the best scenes: Jack owing Lisa $20 because Remi got back on his good side. USA Heartland Fans: Hehehe. We love that scene, too!. Dare we ask who your fav couple is? Though we think we know. Les: That is the hardest question, so many perfect ones. Has to be Jack and Lisa. USA Heartland Fans: YESSS! GO, "JISA"! Why are they your fav couple? Les: They are the couple that just clicks together. They get on each other’s nerves, yet adore one another. They are not afraid to talk about difficult things even though sometimes it takes them extra time to bring it up. Lisa wanting Jack to meet with the lawyers; wearing a ring; taking a name. Just a great relationship, just wish Lisa would move into Heartland. USA Heartland Fans: Yes, we totally agree with that. Jack is your fav character but, who is your least fav and why? Les: Where do we begin? Season 2: Caleb; Season 4: Chase; Season 6: Jeremy, Season 7-8: Prince Ahmed, and then there was Dan Hartfield. Of course, I was not a big fan of Cassandra in the beginning until Amy needed a girlfriend, now I like her. But the winners are Chase and Prince Ahmed. Oh, wait. I forgot one. Jesse Stanton, he wins. Jesse Stanton: the spoiled rich kid that attacks Amy through Ty, Ty through Amy and tries to manipulate things so he can steal Heartland. Yes, has to be Jesse.(Tim was a jerk but I don't consider him as a least favorite. He was lost but now he's found. (And Casey is great for him.) USA Heartland Fans: All great choices. Okay, bonus question: You’ve mentioned “Jack-isms”, so we must ask: Which Jack-ism is your favorite? Les: My favorite Jack-ism was in Season 8, Episode 17—All I Need is You. Jack to Ty. Not really a Jack-ism, but… "Watching you grow up over these past eight years confirmed something that I’ve always believed. That the goodness in a man runs much deeper than one moment in time. You’re a good man, Ty Borden. I don't judge a man for his mistakes; it's what he does to repair those mistakes that count.” Runner-up: “For a bronc riders, Caleb, we think that eight seconds makes the man. Because that eight seconds feels like a lifetime. In a funny way marriage is like riding a bronc. There are twists and turns and the odd headache. But if you both ride it like there is no tomorrow, that lifetime together will feel like eight seconds.” Too bad it was wasted on the Caleb and Ashley’s wedding. USA Heartland Fans: Those are both excellent quotes from Jack. Thank you, Les, for your incredibly detailed answers. Is there anything you want to add? Les: Thank you; it was fun thinking back into episodes. I have followed this show more than any show ever. I was a true M*A*S*H fan with Alan Alda and Harry Morgan. Heartland bumped them to #2 all- time favorite. I have created notes on every episode of every season of Heartland, Titles, Songs, and highlights with some quotes. I would not say that I am obsessed but I am a very big fan of the show. And if they do not get renewed for a season 11 I will go into a mild depression just like I did when Hawkeye got on that chopper and watched Trapper drive away on his motorcycle (on M*A*S*H). Heartland has also introduced me to singers and songwriters that I may have never heard of or even listened to. Now I have collected not only the songs they sung for Heartland but other they have produced. Just another great benefit that Heartland has done not only for their fans but those that contributed to the shows success. Look at the actors that have had brief appearances on Heartland and then moved one to other ventures that have great success. One is Kit (Tatiana Maslany) Orphan Black. Another is Miranda Frigon who has been in many Hallmark movies and produced her first music album. USA Heartland Fans: All great points, Les! You provided us with so much amazing info about your likes and dislikes. You are definitely a true Heartland fan, and we're so pleased to have you on board here with the Group! Thanks for sharing your passion with us! ________ Stay tuned for our next "Celebrating Our Groupies".

#usaheartlandfans #celebratingourgroupies #weloveheartland #iloveheartland

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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 3 years

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M*A*S*H: The Characters, Part 2: Trapper McIntyre, Henry Blake, and Margaret Houlihan

Trapper (Wayne Rogers) was a similar type of character to Hawkeye: a trickster Deadpan Snarker who had had his fill of the war by the time the show started. Originally beginning the show as Hawkeye’s equal, he unfortunately fell to the position of ‘sidekick’ more often than not, a natural side-effect of Alan Alda’s magnetic performance and Hawkeye’s overpowering personality. But where Hawkeye was unattached and had more potential for sincerity, Trapper was married, (but still playing a Casanova) and tended to be more lighthearted.

Trapper started out as ‘The Lancer’, a supporting role that got plenty of screentime and action, and despite only being on the show for three seasons, a fair amount of character development. While he was never as depressed a character as Hawkeye, Trapper did have his moments of darkness, such as being tempted to kill a North Korean POW(who had unintentionally cost the life of one of Trapper’s patients) or punching out Hawkeye in an attempt to rush home. Episodes like “Kim” and “Check Up” do give Trapper a spot in the limelight, but in the end, over the grand scheme of the show, Trapper’s chief influence came after he’d left.

Between seasons three and four, Trapper acquired enough points to get sent home, which he did while Hawkeye was on R&R. This event signaled the second gut punch of the show, as Trapper’s departure occurred directly after Colonel Henry Blake left the show the episode prior. But while Blake had a send-off (a heartbreaking one that we’ll come back to in a minute), Trapper…didn’t. He just left. No note, no message, nothing but a peck on the cheek for Hawkeye, his best friend.

Unlike most sitcoms on at the time, where Trapper’s departure would have been largely overlooked for the rest of the show, the hole that Trapper left in the camp, and notably in Hawkeye, was felt for the remainder of the series. He is often mentioned in episodes after he’s gone, and the impact of his exit (and the lack of goodbye) is felt even by characters who never met him, such as his replacement, B.J. (more on him later). Trapper was an early staple, who, despite his short time with the series, made a difference, just like real people do, and in the end, he was one of the lucky ones: he got to go home. Trapper returned to his wife and kids, and left Korea behind, and left the 4077th a little emptier as a result.

And he wasn’t the only one.

For the first three seasons, the 4077th was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, (McLean Stevenson) hailing from Bloomington, Illinois. Henry was a skilled, caring doctor…and a terrible colonel.

Very much ‘The Alleged Boss’, Henry freely admitted that he wasn’t an army man. He was a surgeon, with a practice at home. Extremely Mildly Military, (frequently out of uniform and sporting a fishing hat) Henry left the running of the camp to Radar O’Reilly, the company clerk, and tended to try as hard as he could to not make command decisions.

With that said, Henry was a very kind man, understandably frustrated with his situation and missing his own wife and family back in the states (though, like Trapper, he did cheat on his wife a few times during the course of the show, with little remorse. He was a Father to His Men, (especially Radar), and despite his typically goofy, down-to-earth nature, he had his moments of wisdom.

Hawkeye: “I haven’t cried once since I came to this crummy place. Why am I crying for him? Why not any of these other kids?”

Henry: “If I had the answer to that, I’d be at the Mayo Clinic. Does this look like the Mayo Clinic to you? All I know is what they taught me in command school. There are certain rules about a war. Rule number one is young men die. And rule number two is doctors can’t change rule number one.”

He was well-liked among the camp (except by Frank Burns and Margaret Houlihan), and in the end, his departure was a celebrated event…at first.

We can’t discuss Henry Blake without talking about “Abysinnia, Henry”.

The season 3 finale, “Abysinnia Henry”, was television history, for one major reason (at first): Henry Blake was going home.

By season 3, M*A*S*H mattered to people. It was doing well in the ratings, many people were watching it, so when season 3 rolled around and the news hit that Henry Blake was going to go home, many people were, just as they are in the episode, elated for him. The episode is a funny, heartfelt goodbye to the commanding officer, complete with a touching goodbye from each character. Henry gets on the chopper, takes off…and the war goes on.

Until the final scene.

Radar O’Reilly, company clerk and son-figure to Henry Blake, barges into surgery in a state of dazed distress, reading off a note:

“I have a message… Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors.”

That was a gut punch, and audiences, as well as the characters, felt it keenly.

To quote the video essay: “Lightning in a Bottle – a M*A*S*H* Video Essay” by Ladyknightthebrave:

“Before this, characters did not die on half-hour situational comedies. Not main characters anyway, and certainly not like this. This moment changed television.”

It’s true. In the 1970s, main characters did not die on sitcoms, and they certainly didn’t die on the way home from a war to be reunited with their families. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Henry was almost home…and in the end, it didn’t matter.

While we often point to the episode “Sometimes You Hear the Bullet” as the moment M*A*S*H’s Cerberus Syndrome kicked in, there is an undeniable level of gravity that entered the scene the moment the news of Henry’s death entered the world of the 4077th. All of a sudden, M*A*S*H went from ‘zany military hospital sitcom’ to coming face-to-face with the horrible reality that not everyone gets to go home at the end.

And like with Trapper, Henry’s shadow hung over the rest of the show.

“They’ll never stop coming, you know. Trapper left, and they’re still coming. Henry got killed, and they’re still coming. Wherever they come from, they’ll never run out.”

At the end of season three, M*A*S*H lost both of these major players, and the loss was keenly felt, by the characters as much as by the audience. Again, in the early 1970s, sitcom characters didn’t just leave, much less die, especially like that. But the show had to go on, much as the war would, and instead of leaving two gaping holes in the command structure, replacements were sent in for the missing crew:

“Trapper John goes. No problem, there’s plenty more where he came from. B.J. Hunnicutt. Same size, same shape. Frank Burns out, Winchester in. Only a hair’s difference. Henry Blake… Rest in peace, Henry. Incoming, Sherman Potter.”

But we’ll get to that later. You see, while these characters would fade out and bring replacements in their wake, other characters, besides Hawkeye, remained staples of the show from beginning to end.

Characters like Margaret Houlihan.

While Hawkeye, Trapper, and Henry got by through Mildly Military antics and a blatant disregard or incompetence when it came to the army way of doing things, Major Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit) was a born soldier and head-nurse. A strict, by-the-book Battleaxe Nurse and an ex-Military Brat, Margaret Houlihan was the definitive Defrosting Ice Queen, matching Hawkeye, and even outpassing him in terms of character development.

Margaret started the show as a one-note, one-joke caricature, much like most characters did. Originally wholly unlikeable and serving as an antagonist to the rest of the main cast, Margaret was a Gung Holier Than Thou exaggeration of a character…early on, anyway. Beginning the show as an entirely unsympathetic person, partner to Frank Burns (romantically involved with him, despite the fact that he was a married man), Margaret’s early personality left few positives to be seen…at first, anyway.

“I don’t fall over, captain. Everything around here will be just fine if there’s a little less leaning and a lot more leadership. We need obedience. We need discipline, not this chaos. Doctors like you constantly out of uniform. Nurses who don’t belong in uniform. Dogs running around loose in camp…they’re getting run over by jeeps.”

While there were glimmers of character development early on, as seasons went by, slowly, Margaret started to change, for the better.

Starting in season 5, with her engagement to Lt. Col. Donald Penobscott and dumping of Major Frank Burns, Margaret began to lose a number of her sharp, hard edges, becoming a warmer person, proving herself Not So Above it All, with plenty of Pet the Dog moments becoming more and more prominent as the show continued. Slowly, she began to demonstrate real humanity, and a desire to be accepted.

“Did you ever show me any kind of friendship? Ask my help with a personal problem? Include me in one of your little bull sessions? Can you imagine what it feels like to walk by this tent and hear you laughing and know I’m not welcome? Did you ever once ever offer me a lousy cup of coffee?”

Despite this growth coinciding with her marriage, things were to change yet again for Margaret in season seven.

After a tumultuous marriage to her high-ranking husband, (a type she has demonstrated an attraction to in the past) a frustrated, exhausted, and cheated-on Margaret makes the decision to divorce her husband, a decision that would stick through to the end of the show. Margaret remained single to the end, growing out of her role as stickler and love-interest, and becoming a full-fledged, strong character in her own right, as a Vitriolic Best-Bud to Hawkeye and B.J., and a compassionate, kind, strong, woman who learns to define herself, not only by the army, but by her own terms as a person.

Easily one of the most dynamic characters of the show, arguably the most dynamic, Margaret managed to become one of the most human characters on the show, without becoming perfect. Her edges were smoothed somewhat, but never taken away, and she ended the show a deeper, richer person than she had been at the start.

Which is more than we can say for Major Frank Burns.

(Join us next time for Part 3: Frank Burns, Radar O’Reilly, Maxwell Klinger, and more!)

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