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thecriticalbuck · 2 years

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Series Review - The Book of Boba Fett

The Book of Boba Fett is the latest Star Wars series to premiere on Disney+. Starring Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, and Pedro Pascal, this series proceeds the events of the second season of The Mandalorian and follows the titular Boba Fett during his rise to power as the new crime lord of Mos Espa, the territory formerly owned by Jabba the Hutt.

A friend of mine had a worry before The Mandalorian completed its second season that the series would gradually indulge in gratuitous fan-service at the cost of a focused story. He feared that with characters like Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan and Cobb Vanth appearing in The Mandalorian, the show would lose its sight and fail to deliver an interesting story for Din Djarin. Fortunately, both he and I were relieved to find the show managed to balance fan-service and a meaningful story well. Yet, I have to admit that my friend had a far more prophetic outlook than I had imagined, because his fears came to light far more in The Book of Boba Fett.

The start of the series was incredibly promising, particularly with its performances. Temuera Morrison delivers an absolutely powerhouse performance as Boba Fett. He plays the infamous bounty hunter as an enlightened man, someone whose experiences and traumas has shifted his outlook on life. This Boba Fett is wiser and more compassionate, while also exuding the same mystery and intimidation that the character always possessed. It’s a natural evolution of the character after his appearance in The Mandalorian. Ming-Na Wen’s return as Fennec Shand is equally as entertaining and impressive; even in a position of power and with Fett’s development, Shand remains a deadly force with which to be reckoned. Seeing exactly how these two met and began their quest that played through The Mandalorianwas beyond fun to see unfold.

Then there’s Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, the Mandalorian himself. His inclusion was a surprise to be sure, but certainly a welcome one. Pascal continues to prove that Mando is one of the best new characters to come out of Star Wars recently. But his appearance is the first major point of contention for me, because once Mando arrives, he ultimately steals the entire series away from Boba Fett.

We get to see Boba’s life after the events of Return of the Jedi and before his rise to power in Mos Espa, and these flashbacks are honestly the most interesting story moments for Boba in the whole show. However, they end far too soon, and the other story thread is not as focused or interesting. The conspiracy against Boba becoming the new crime lord is fairly plain and left without much deep exploration. Instead, this storyline is the foundation for the appearance of numerous new and returning characters. This includes the aforementioned Mandalorian, as well as characters such as Black Krrsantan, a gang of cyborg teenagers, Cobb Vanth, Ahsoka Tano, Grogu, Cad Bane and Luke Skywalker. And while seeing all of these characters in live action is always a treat, many of their appearances are ultimately hollow cameos. It’s fun fan-service, but not much more beyond that.

This becomes all the clearer by the finale, which, despite the hype moment of seeing Boba Fett and Din Djarin work together in their armors, is fairly anticlimactic. It’s a fine enough ending, but for Star Wars, let alone the return of the beloved Boba Fett, it should have been far more satisfying.

Really, the biggest criticism of the show I can give is that the title should have been “The Mandalorian: The Book of Boba Fett”. Perhaps with a title change and a restructure of the episode order, this show would have worked far better as a continuation of both Din and Boba’s stories in equal strides. Then the character appearances would have been more natural and a different ending could have been crafted. However, for a show focused on the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, The Book of Boba Fettis a bit of a misstep after so much success for Star Wars on Disney+.

7/10

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mischiefiswritten · 4 years

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10 Questions Tag!

Shout out to @awrenthatwrites for keeping me so well-supplied with tag games! I’ve loved having them waiting for me when I get back to my blog.

1. How did you come up with your WIP’s title?

The Calm Before actually went without a title for quite some time, including the entirety of its first iteration (which is quite different from the current version). That was pretty unusual for me because I’m one of those writers that needs things to be named, even just with stand-ins, before I can proceed with it.

And honestly... I can not claim any kind of cleverness when it comes to TCB’s title. With the prevalence of the Stormbringer in the story’s plot, the phrase “the calm before the storm” just popped very quickly into my mind. I chopped off the end of the phrase et voila! A working title. I don’t know if it’s going to stay, but I’ve loved it for what it is.

The story for Here There Be Monsters is much the same. But that one’s staying.

2. Do you title your chapters? If so, what’s your favorite?

Typically I have not, but recently I’ve felt like I wanted to. I don’t think it’s right for TCB, but it does fit nicely into HTBM.

Since HTBM is episodic in structure, I get to title each “episode” as well as its chapters. Potentially, I could even get to title “seasons” or story arcs, if the project continues long enough. This project is still really new, so it’s only got one episode title at the moment:

“A Lost Little Wisp”

3. What’s a recent line you really like?

I have to admit I actually really like the whole opening scene to HTBM. Here’s a tiny bit that I’m proud of...

This takes place during Gael’s desperate and foolish maneuver to escape her pursuers. Essentially a high speed ship chase.

It was not until the ship was tipping nose first into the maelstrom that Gael realized the man in the public house had been lying. The Maw seized the ship like a demonic spirit, threatening to rip the wheel from her hands, or simply her arms from her body. Now it was the dark thing hiding at the bottom of the sea that chanted, “Give it up, give it up.” It wasn’t just hungry; it was possessive. Everything and everyone on its surface belonged to it. There was nothing it would not take for its own in the end.

Something primeval was calling from the murk and the foam. Its voice, sonorous and terrible, slid through Gael’s very blood. It slithered along the planks beneath her feet, caressing everything in its way with oily, formless tentacles.

4. Are there any writing-related quotes you really like?

There are so many good ones! But I feel like no one is more quotable than Tolkien and Lewis. These quotes aren’t so much about the craft, but they do speak to me about the art, passion, and joy of storytelling.

“Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.” (CS Lewis)

“It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.” (JRR Tolkien)

5. Do you have an idea for a cover design for your story?

I don’t! I find this sort of thing so difficult, whether its book covers or faceclaims or castings.

6. What sort of AU can you imagine your story being?

Do you mean, if there could be one AU that would fit best with my characters what would it be? Or what kind of AU trope is my novel? <-- This was Talya’s question, and I have to repeat it! I’m also going to answer the same way.

If I were picking an AU to see my story written as, I think a The Greatest Showman AU would be a fun one for the Here There Be Monsters cast! That iconic scene when Philip and Anne see each other for the first time would be perfect for the primary protagonists.

And if my novel was going to be an AU trope, it’d probably be a Friends-type setup where they all live in the same building and are overly involved in each other’s lives.

7. Which OC would be the most angry with you as the writer?

Are any of them likely to be very happy with me?

8. If you had to tell the story from a different POV, which character would you choose?

This is tough because I gravitate toward 3rd person limited omniscient POV. In TCB I have four proper POV characters (Rys, Hale, Aldrich, and Neja), which I feel like adequately cover all the angles I want covered for that story. If I could add one, however, I think Vidri’s perspective would be a fun one!

In HTBM I don’t use POV characters, but rather choose whose thoughts/knowledge gets shared at any given time. If I were to pick a POV character for the story (beyond the obvious) I would probably go for the Collector. It seems right up his alley to be relating this story!

9. What would be your OC’s taste in music if they lived in our world?

Wow, this is unexpectedly difficult to answer! I’ve got nothing for the characters, but I do have a theme song chosen for HTBM! “Deep Water” by American Authors

10. What’s one personal goal you want to achieve by the end of the story?

My goal for TCB is to complete the project in a way I can feel proud of. In a way this is related to my goal for HTBM (and its very existence) because I’ve never completed a novel. I don’t know that HTBM will ever properly end or what that will look like, but my hope in starting it is that it will teach me to write without fear. One of my biggest hurtles as a writer has been that I’m so often paralyzed by perfectionism, pulled in a hundred directions because I don’t want to make a misstep. HTBM is designed for me to simply write without the fear or expectations that go with a project like TCB that I’ve become so invested in over the years. It’s an exercise in letting go.

Thanks again for the tag! I’m going to tag @pen-of-roses, @coffeescribles, @writing-for-the-stars-and-moon, @inscrutable-shadow, and @thewrittenpost if you want to!

#10 questions tag #tag game for writers #writeblr #writing #mischiefiswritten #tcb #htbm

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expshared · 5 years

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an extremely varied summer 2019 vis a vis annie may. let us reflect:

Dr. Stone has the biggest false start. It’s genuinely hilarious how much of a misstep the first arc is. It ditches 80% of its main cast 5 episodes in and is so, so much better for it. Senku faking his own death and sending his friends away to “spy on Tsukasa” is like sending a dog away to the farm. Anyway this show is ugly and the pacing is bad but you know what, after we arrive on Gilligan’s Island and Senku begins interacting with the people there I became reluctantly invested. The critiques I had at the beginning of the show—that the premise wanted me to believe in the Power of Science above all things and also gave me a Jojo high schooler who punches a lion so hard it dies—fell away after those things became irrelevant and it turned into a quirky little science camp show. It’s fun like that, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to anyone new. A huge spike in my investment came in giving Suika, the little girl with a watermelon on her head, a pair of glasses, so those are the kind of stakes we’re dealing with here in Dr. Stone.

I don’t know how Ohkubo did it the first time. He captured lightning in a bottle with Soul Eater, and a huge part of that is Maka carrying the entire series on her back. Fire Force is bad. Narratively it’s a mess that doesn’t spare a moment for the characters in its story and instead flits from one plot point to the next, and emotionally it’s empty and, to be honest? Unsettling. Studio Shaft’s finger prints are all over this series and even that can’t save it—and in some places it actively hurts it. There’s so much dead space. Also, let’s address the elephant in the room: this show is misogynist. This show delights in making its female characters uncomfortable. Whether it’s Iris getting her clothes burned off or Tamaki’s “oops I’m accidentally sexy!” bit, it’s Bad, Folks. There’s an uncomfortably long moment where we, the audience, watch Tamaki cry, largely naked, after having her face punched in by her former idol. On a smaller note, Shinra just isn’t a strong enough character to carry the plot; his defining character traits are Smiles Weird and Kicks Things, neither of which are a personality.

Vinland Saga thrives almost exclusively on the uniqueness of its setting. It’s a dark historical seinen and I welcome the change of tone from traditional seasonal fare. There’s something to be said about the incidental nature of Thorfinn’s presence—the narrative moves almost without him. It gives the story this larger-than-life historical backdrop. We, like Thorfinn, are just kind of along for the ride. Time marches on with or without us there to participate. Also it’s got a sick OST.

O Maidens in Your Savage Season is a show with an audience that’s hard to pin down. I mean, the audience is me, but outside of that it’s a hard sell. It’s a series penned by the divisive Mari Okada about a handful of high school girls coming to terms with sex, sexuality, and girlhood. If you turn your brain off now and stop listening you’re doing yourself a disservice because this show is bombass. It’s incisive and biting without being lewd or over the top or conservative. It tackles some heavy shit and does so with relative grace. It’s got LGBT rep. In one of its soaring moments, a pedophile is punched in the face. It also features a girl walking in on her crush beating it to train-themed porn. It’s extremely uncomfortable to watch and had my heart rate spiking. It’s anime Eighth Grade and it’s harrowing and relatable and challenging without pitting girls against each other and turning a love triangle into yet another tortured shoujo romance. It deftly handles each character’s agonizing and embarrassing struggle with adolescence. I understand why this one flew under the radar but it shouldn’t. Also, Sonezaki’s boyfriend is the smoothest boy alive and I would like any romantic confession to be at least half of what his was.

There’s a show like Wasteful Days of High School Girls every season. You know the drill—it’s a comedy about some girls in high school. Each one of them is a trope. And yet? The glee this show takes in making its cast deliver stupid punch line after stupid punchline, the surprisingly heartfelt moments that give way to absurd freefall, the single digit collective IQ of the cast? Charming and highly successful. I had a good laugh at least every other scene.

Granbelm is a serviceable magical girl/mecha fusion that treads common ground but manages to have its own voice. In fact, the finale struck me as very engaged in a conversation with Madoka, and the penultimate episode was raw and emotional and even got me a little misty-eyed. Weird flex to say that this is a rare non-Gundam anime to have hand-drawn mecha. If dark magical girl shows are your thing, this is one of the better ones.

The continuing Fruits Basket loses its luster for me the further along I watch. This may change now that we’re getting into all new anime territory, but I couldn’t help but feel as if I just had more fun watching the 2001 anime. I still haven’t come around to Kyo and knowing what’s at the end of this long road just makes it harder. I did enjoy the two episodes each that both Hana and Ou got, and that’s certainly a plus for this new iteration.

Carole and Tuesday petered off a little at the end, but despite the general consensus that it spent too much time on episodic adventures, I quite enjoyed it. Watanabe shows are consistently odd, offbeat passion projects of love and it is clear that C+T wanted to be a showcase of artists and musicians first and a political narrative second. I got what I came for and even if in, say, my most ideal version of this show features a little more character and a little less Mars Got Talent, I still liked what I got. Besides, soaring cast-comes-together-to-sing-the-final-song moments always get me choked up no matter what.

Astra Lost in Space was the surprise of the season. The source material is a little-known cult favorite, but I had heard no real buzz about it at all prior to watching and was all the more impressed for it. Astra is a tight little sci-fi narrative that knows its strengths and saves its twists for when you least expect them. It’s filled with charming characters you root for and is competently directed. I had a lot of fun guessing and shooting wild speculations off while I watched. Perfect for a 12 episode adventure complete with a wholesome and warm ending.

If you haven’t checked out Kimetsu no Yaiba yet, do. Just do it. If you’ve been on the fence, just take the leap. This second cour of Demon Slayer went from “this is an enjoyable show” to “holy shit I wish I could watch every episode again for the first time and all at once”. To speak nothing of Ufotable’s absolute mastery over 3D space and the Action Scene, the source material is no slouch either. There’s such a solid backbone of character and empathy and every story featured in Demon Slayer only furthers its ultimate message of family, found and otherwise. I make no exaggeration: episode 19 is one of the most perfect episodes of anime in recent memory. It hits every beat. I watched it twice, back to back. And then after I was done with the season, I voraciously ate up the source material. If Ufotable adapts all of the manga to the level of care and attention as this first installment, I am very confident in saying that Demon Slayer could be one of the Best.

#animoose and mango #chitchat paddywhack

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benevolenterrancy · 6 years

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Maybe Herawell?

I’ve never written Herawell... or Maxwell at all, so this was a fun challenge (and a good excuse to relisten to season three episodes)! Definitely not a drabble but I had an idea and I wanted to roll with it. I’ve also posted it up on my AO3.

By now, Maxwell knew the Hephaestus like an old friend.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that if she hadold friends, she would know them as well as the Hephaestus.

She sees the blueprints in her head, sees them shift andswim through their three dimensional mapping, the layers of crew pathways andservice corridors overlaid with technical graphs of wiring and pipes andcarefully labelled systems that blurred over top of each other until she, withbarely a thought, dissected them from one another and superimpose them over hersurroundings. She was in engineering,but she wasn’t just inengineering. To her right she passed acomms terminal, and snaking through that wall was a network that connected itto three other engineering terminals to create a subsystem, partitioned off themain systems for safety reasons. Immediately beneath her feet were three different branches of theHephaestus’ heating ducts, and below that was a primary power node. Overhead, she knew there were four differentnetworks of wires, all carrying different information at impossible speeds allover the ship. Interspersed through allof this was the grid of cameras and sensors and auditor inputs used by themother program to supervise the station and its inhabitants. All of this hidden from sight buteffortlessly visible in her mind’s eye.

With ease she moved through the stuffy, complex maze ofengineering, not even looking up from the tablet in her hand and she pushed herway along. She was trying to make senseof an error that had cropped up yesterday in the ventilation system. It had been a strange, brief tick and shemight have overlooked it if it weren’t for the fact that it quite literally should not have happened. As far as she could tell there was no triggerthat should have set it off, it was a completely inscrutable puzzle, and that annoyed Alana Maxwell. So here she was, attempting to hunt it downto its root system.

She may have very well continued on her way, comfortable inthe busy silence of an unsolved dilemma (one that took her blissfully far awayfrom the unmitigated chaos of the rest of the ship since the colonel had betterthings to do than slum in engineering, Lovelace and Minkowski were bothdutifully busy with their own work, and Eiffel wasn’t likely to go somewherethat might require him needing to actually work. Honestly Maxwell was grateful for thattoday. Today wasn’t a day she felt muchlike being around other people. Jacobiby now knew to leave well enough alone; he’d given her shoulder a brief pat inthe morning when they had passed in the kitchen and that had been the extent ofit.

So it was just her and the machines. Really, if you thought about it, that wasn’tso much sad as much as it was… a tradition.

That might actually be more sad, if she let herself think aboutit too much. Which she didn’t.

This peace was broken though, when one of the machines spokeup.

“Doctor Maxwell, stop!”

Hera’s voice was so sudden and so filled with cracklingpanic that Maxwell didn’t even question it. That, and the sharp warning beeps that came half a second after told hervery clearly that she needed to quitmoving now. She scrambled to stop herself as quickly as shecould while gliding in zero-G. Shedidn’t stop a moment too soon; immediately in front her face one of the pressurerelease values on engine systems gave an ear-piercing shriek as it released askin-burning cloud of built-up steam. Even from where she clung to the pipe that had slowed her down, Alanacould feel the sizzle of super-heated water vapour across her cheeks.

The steam died back down as quickly as it had come, leavingthe room silent besides for the plinkplink of cooling metal. Maxwell tooka moment to compose herself and come to terms with her near death experiencebefore speaking.

“Maxwell? Doctor Maxwell? Are you okay? …Alana?”

Maxwell breathed carefully. The air felt all the colder passing into her lungs after that burst ofsteam.

“I am… okay, Hera. Barely, but okay. At least Iwasn’t done up like steamed broccoli so it could have been worse. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, what the hell was that.”

A semi-omniscient artificial intelligence that was fullyintegrated with a space stations couldn’t actually flinch, but Hera definitelytried.

After the uncomfortable static died down, Maxwell asked, asgently as she could, “Hera are youfeeling okay? That was a reallyunexpected pressure build up, and–”

“No no no, I’m fine! I’m fantastic! I am – with allthe work you’ve already done for me, Doctor Maxwell, I’ve honestly never felt better. It was just… I was doing a fewadjustments of our orbit and I guess it just put a bit more strain on theengines than I had calculated. Sillymistake! Must have, um, forgotten tocarry the one?”

Maxwell crossed her arms. She’d gone from being shocked and mildly concerned to down rightsuspicious. “You’ve been spending toomuch time around Eiffel,” she said flatly.

Hera couldn’t really deny that. She swore she used to be a better liar.

“Seriously, Hera, what’s wrong? And can we not do the usual song and dancearound this. Just… let me know whatneeds to be fixed, so I can fix it. Letme help.”

“Nothing needs to be fixed – well, no, that cooling tank bythe starboard thruster is still running at a loss for some reason, and I’m notsure that reroute you patched in last week has fully settled – but what I meanto say is… this was just an accident. Honest. And besides, youshouldn’t be overworking yourself today, right? Right! Right, so let’s forget it.”

Maxwell squinted.

“What’s thatsupposed to mean?”

Hera seemed to realize she’d taken a misstep because shefumbled to self-correct. “What? Mean? Nothing! Just… you’re a…hardworking individual and you shouldn’t work… too… hard.”

“Why is today so special?” she demanded, though she knewwhy. “Look, whatever you think you knowabout me, Hera–”

“Look, I wasn’t snooping just to snoop! Well, not much. Maybe a little. It happened while we were patching code fromthe Urania into my databanks. It’s allbeing shoved into my head, it’s hard notto look and it was just a little date and it wasn’t exactly classified – much –anyway! It’s not really a big deal,right? Except… then you haven’t saidanything about it and no one else has said anything about it and now I’mthinking maybe it is a big deal and,yeah…” she trailed off.

Maxwell just sighed.

“Alright, let’s just… get this out in the open then. Yes, it’s my birthday. I suppose I shouldn’t have really expectedyou not to figure that out.”

“Happy birthday?” Hera offered tentatively.

“Not really,” said Maxwell pointedly. “Look, you know and… honestly, I’msurprisingly okay with you knowing. Because it’s you. But I don’twant to talk about it or acknowledge it or anything. Get it? I don’t exactly have a lot of great memories about birthdays and honest,I’d rather just be busy.”

Math, numbers, machines, those had always been there, thosehad always been constant. Growing up,nothing else really had been. She lookedback on her time in public school mostly with resentment. They hadn’t know what they had had. They had left her alone and bored andstagnating. They had left her with herfather and left her with her inscrutable classmates and left her inmotherfucking Montana. But at the time, as a child, she had likedschool, as much as she’d liked most things. Oh, she had hated her classmates, and hated the lonely boredom of recessand lunch until she had learned to smile and charm and convince her peers totolerate her on a surface level. She hadhated how boring the work had been and how stupid her classmates had seemed. But school at least had been constant. Every weekday, eight to two. And once a year, like every other student intheir small elementary school, the principal would call her name over the morningannouncements to mention to a mostly uncaring student body that it was herbirthday and to invite her to get a birthday pencil from the office. It had been predictable. It had, when she was younger and more naïve,made her feel good. Once a year, atleast one person would wish her a happy birthday. She had heard plenty of stories about whatbirthdays were supposed to be like, heard peers talk, read it in books, seen iton TV. Parents pampering you, presents,parties, praise. Some years her fatherremember. Some years she wished he didn’t. Most it wasn’t an issue, but it wasn’tmentioned.

But she would spend the entire day on edge, wondering if,if, if, if he would remember, and if he did what would happen. It had been an unpredictable, anxious sort ofday. Most years she would drag herbiggest, and most interesting books into her room – whatever she’d been able tocheck out of the school’s little library or borrow from the classroom – andread. She’d look at the grade six mathbook that was theoretically three years too advance for her and let the simpleequations solve themselves before her eyes, she’d read about space and scienceand exploration and imagine the hidden math there. A rocket went up to space. How? The book didn’t tell. She wouldspend the evening on her stomach with paper and pencils in front of her as sheimagined how it worked, why it worked, if she could make it work. The math was constant. It kept her busy. It was a good friend.

And yes, she realized that that sounded sad. Childhood trauma and all that, the plight ofa child genius, everyone had heard the narrative before. She shut it down and locked it up behindfirewalls and deleted the directories that lead back there. It was unnecessary baggage, a glitch in herprograming, an obsolete file that slowed her down. But command_code: “birthday” had a way ofdrawing those memories back up. So shekept busy.

Maxwell spoke first, eager to change the subject. “So how about we figure out what the heck hasbeen causing these weird alarms over the past few days. At this point I’m thinking there might besomething wrong with the alarm trigger itself, with the audio, because–”

“I, uh… I know what’s wrong.”

“…Are you serious? Sowhat, you’ve just been watching me scramble around trying to figure it out? Hera, if this is a prank you have really been spending too much timearound Eiffel.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Hera…”

“I’m serious! Well, Imean technically there were thingsthat were wrong for a very, very briefamount of time. I was trying to surpriseyou and so I was… practicing.”

“By… breaking the ship? I mean, I would have beensurprised if we’d suddenly dropped into the star but I think everyone elsewould have been too.”

“Oh, so I need to keep you updated about every time I adjustany system, but you don’t even have to tell me that it’s your birthday!” snapped Hera, clearly riled.

“What does that have to do with anything?” demanded Maxwell,feeling just as frustrated.

“Because it’s your birthday!”

“So what? Kepler’s isnext month, do you give a shit about that?”

“No! Because that’s Kepler, and this is you. I care because it’s yourbirthday! This is the day you started existing. And I thought that we… I thought…” The glitch was thick in her voice. “I thought you would c-care if I knew.”

The action was immediately, without any sort of thought; Maxwellreached out and put a hand on the nearest pipe. It was an absolutely insane, nonsensical thing to do. To say that Hera was the Hephaestus was agross over-simplification to begin with, but even if you did make that leap itwasn’t like there was any sensation for Hera to experience by Maxwell touchingsome arbitrary part of the station. Shecouldn’t tell that Maxwell’s hand was soft. Apologetic. Shocked and sincereand overwhelmed but not knowing how to feel any of that let alone voice it.

“I don’t really dobirthdays. Not a lot of great memoriesfor me.” Please understand.

“I get that, I just…” said Hera, with stops and starts. “I’m sorry, I’m going to mess all this up. I just, I wanted you to know that I’m g-gladyou exist. And I get not liking whereyou c-came from, but I don’t care aboutthat. Who cares if the person who madeyou was a b-bad person? I’m glad youexist, like this, now.”

Maxwell could feel her hand tighten its grip on the pipe asher throat tightened around a lump of emotions rising up from her chest. She didn’t know what to say, so she saidnothing.

For a moment it was silent, or as silent as engineering evergot. Just the sound of a single humanand thousands of pounds of complex machinery co-existing. And a single AI thinking carefully before shespoke.

Finally, Hera said, with great tentativeness, “Can I giveyou my gift now? I… I was still working itout but I think it should be ready.”

That startled Maxwell. “Alright, Hera, you’re pretty amazing but – no, you are possibly the most amazing person I know – butthere are limits. You don’t have hands, Hera. We’re stuck in a tin can eight lightyearsaway from earth.” Laughter was breakinginto her voice, a disbelieving, amazed, intrigued laughter. She was curious. Not just curious, but completelystumped. You couldn’t just get someonesomething when you had next to no resources to begin with and were existing ina tiny bubble in the middle of space. And yet she was supposed to believe Hera had somehow managed it? Just because it was Maxwell’s birthday?

Honestly, if anyone could manage it, she supposed the factthat Hera had surprised her the least. No matter what that little voice in her head might insist, Hera wascapable of so much. Maxwell had builther life around artificial intelligence, and yet Hera was constantly,endlessly, relentlessly amazing her. Notbecause she was a great AI, but because Hera was, unerringly, a greatperson. A great, shocking, frustrating,wonderful person.

“I have my ways,” said Hera, with a smug pride in her voicethat was so far removed from the helplessness that she was still workingthrough that Maxwell couldn’t help but smile. ”So… do you want it?”

“Yes, I’m too curious now.”

“I know all your weaknesses,” teased Hera. “You’re going to have to wait for just onesecond. It’s a little tricky to getgoing.”

Maxwell floated in the middle of engineering, waiting.

Then a warning buzzer went off somewhere below her. Maxwell was in the middle of doing afull-body twist – immediately looking for what was going wrong was such aningrained instinct at this point that she didn’t even think about it – when thebuzz cut off. And then another alarmbeeped, its lights flashing. Andbeeped. Stopped. A higher pinging, a warning bell, and soonMaxwell was listening to a choir of notification pings and alarm buzzes andalert beeps play out in what, she realized with delighted awe, was asurprisingly recognizable rendition of HappyBirthday. And this wasn’t just Herapiping music or even noise through her speakers. No, Maxwell realized as she floated amid a rainbowsky of flashing lights, somehow Hera was managing to choreograph an array ofsystem failures with the sole purpose of making the machines around them sing.

That should have been more terrifying than it was. Mostly Maxwell just wanted to figure out away to hug an entire space station, because an entire space station beingsystematically broken and rebuilt in the span of microseconds that was possiblythe coolest gift she had ever been given.

When the last warning hum died down, and the bright lightswere flashing and twinkling like party poppers, Maxwell applauded.

“D-did you like it?”

“Hera, that was amazing. How did you even manage that?”

Hera was flustered, delightfully so. “Oh, you know. Practice. Which, um, sorry about that. Butit was really just like knocking over a line of dominoes. …Dominoes that you also need to make sure youprogram to immediately rebuild themselves after they get knocked over soeveryone doesn’t die a horrible, painful death.” Hera laughed uncertainly. “But everything was fine, so – yay.”

Maxwell was turning on the spot, mentally trying tocalculate how many different systems had played into that, how that many couldeven be altered or tricked in such a way. “There must have been a hundred different failsafes to work around topull that off.”

“Oh, believe me, there are and none of them are happy withme right now. But… I did it. I really didn’t think I could but, well, thenI figured who says I can’t. So I just,did.”

Maxwell had her face in her hands.

“Doctor Maxwell?”

Her shoulders shook.

“Alana?” called Hera, more alarmed. “I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have doneanything; Eiffel doesn’t like his birthday either, but I’d thought–”

Finally, Maxwell laughed. Deep, gasping laughs that were almost tears, probably were tears, butwere wrapped up enough in humour and joythat they could be safely ignored.

“I can’t believe you just completely kicked down everywarning sign built into your head that you could find. You just… stomped right over every stopperGoddard made because you wanted to. Because you thought it would make me happy. I can’t… I…” Her breathing steadied alittle, and suddenly the weight of it, the weight of twenty seconds and a sillychildish song hit her fully. “Thank you,Hera.”

“You’re welcome, Alana.” A beat, and then, as if thinking better of herself even as she said it,Hera said, “I understand why you wouldn’t like your birthday, and I definitelyget having memories you don’t want to think about, but someone really, reallywise told me that memories are what make us people. So I was thinking, maybe, we could make somenew memories? Together?”

Maxwell didn’t know what to say. Her mind whizzed with every reason this was abad idea. Birthday’s were inherentlyunreliable, so she filled them with reliability: numbers, math, work, a few ofthe constants in her life. Thetemptation to stick with what she knew, to avoid the thoughts, to avoidconfrontation was great. Sheoverthought, and she knew it. So shestopped, and said the only thing that she could possibly say.

“I imagine everyone can keep us from dropping into the starwithout me there to hold their hands for a few hours, right?”

“I don’t know about that,” said Hera, fondly. “But I’d be willing to test that hypothesisout.”

“Sounds like a date.”

#wolf 359 #herawell #hera #alana maxwell #fanfiction #bene speaks #anon #hopefully their voices worked alright #thanks for the prompt!#and if anyone else feels like dropping a prompt for something into my askbox feel free #i'm collecting them so i have inspiration to write over the holidays #though no promises about if or when i write 'em #it's all just for fun :P

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aion-rsa · 5 years

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Power Rangers Comics Are About to Enter a Golden Age

http://bit.ly/2U3hFaI

The talent set to take the reigns on the next run of Power Rangers comics is extraordinary.

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News Shamus Kelley

power rangers

Feb 18, 2019

boom! studios

If you’ve somehow missed the last few years, Power Rangers comics are now pretty damn incredible. After previous publishers such as Papercutz and even Marvel way back in the day never seemed to quite get the franchise quite right, Boom! Studios exploded onto the scene in 2016 and nailed it from the jump.

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers title rebooted the franchise into modern day and added all kinds of new elements to the much beloved series. The biggest one was Drakkon, an evil version of Tommy, but we also got a new team of Rangers from the '60s, a government group working with the Rangers, and the Sheeple monster. Yes, they had a monster named Sheeple and he spouted various conspiracy theories. It was the funniest thing Power Rangers has ever done.

Along the way various annuals were released which added important back story to various characters (the stories by Trey Moore especially are universally excellent). The biggest addition to the comic line however came when Boom released a second monthly Power Rangers title, Go Go Power Rangers.

read more: Power Rangers: Ranking the Red Rangers

Written by Ryan Parrott, Go Go instantly became a fan favorite. While not quite as flashy as the main MMPR title with all its big events, Go Go’s focus on the original five Rangers was a real winner. Here was finally something fans had wanted to see for a long time, a story set in the original season that wasn’t completely focused on Tommy.

The comic takes place before Tommy even joined the team, focusing more on the personal lives of Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly than the giant battles. Kim struggles with her parents divorce, Billy and Skull were revealed to be childhood friends, Trini tries to stay close to her mom despite the challenges of being a Ranger, and much more. Along the way Parrott fleshed out the villains and just recently revealed an important connection between Zordon and Rita you have to read to believe.

It also took many unexpected turns, like the slow build of a relationship between Jason and Trini that was never seen in the TV series. It’s incredibly sweet, especially since much of the focus of is on Trini who always needs more focus (both in the comics and the show.)

read more: Power Rangers: The Lost Era Details Surface

Boom has only had a few missteps in their run of Power Rangers comics and have on the whole been excellent. So believe me when I say that starting with issue 40 of the main MMPR comic? Things are about to get better. A lot better. Not only is Ryan Parrott continuing to write Go Go Power Rangers he’ll also be taking over Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as well in June 2019. Issue 40 will not only bring back the main MMPR team of characters (after another group of Rangers has been starring in the main comic) but also bring in the White Ranger.

Not seen before in the comics, he brings with him a ton of questions all wrapped up in what exactly went down at the end of the Shattered Grid event last year where the original Rangers disappeared. It’s especially intriguing because the “good” Tommy had seemingly died so is he back… or is someone else the White Ranger?

Perhaps even more exciting about "Necessary Evil" is the artist that’s coming along for the ride. Daniele Di Nicuolo is returning to be the main artist for the MMPR comic after drawing much of Shattered Grid.

Di Nicuolo’s art always captured every aspect of the franchise remarkably and to have him back teamed up with Ryan is a perfect match. Not only that but Elenora Carlini is continuing on Go Go. Carlini has only recently joined the Power Rangers comics but their work stands out, especially with the expressive faces needed for Go Go’s emotional scenes.

read more: Power Rangers: The Unproduced Episodes

With Parrott’s promise that Necessary Evil will “connect MMPR and GGPR like never before” we’re in for the kinds of stories Power Rangers fans have dreamed of for decades. The kinds of stories that don’t just play with continuity (as fun as that it is) but interweave it with compelling character drama.

Parrott, Di Nicuolo, and Carlini being at the helm means that these characters will continue to transcend the stereotypes that defined them in the original series. They'll push them in directions that'll cement them as the truly iconic characters they always deserved to be. This creative team will make these Rangers even better than you remembered or could have ever imagined.

It all starts in June 2019.

Keep up with all our Power Rangers Beast Morphers news here!

Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! Read more articles by him here!

from Books http://bit.ly/2BJiCxQ

#aion-rsa #Books

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helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog · 6 years

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7 Things We Learned From Dancing With 'DWTS' Pros Gleb Savchenko, Artem Chigvintsev & Alan Bersten (Exclusive)

Dancing With the Stars' all-athlete season is just weeks away, and ET got a firsthand look at what the intensive training will be like for the next round of celebrities gearing up to vie for the mirrorball trophy.

Gleb Savchenko, Alan Bersten and Artem Chigvintsev exclusively invited us to take part in their first-ever Pro Dance Camp, a three-day dance soirée in Palm Springs, California, where we learned exactly what it's like to dance with the stars pros!

Held inside the stunning Riviera ballroom, 75 aspiring dancers of all different levels -- from beginners to intermediate and advanced -- traveled far and wide, coming in from states like Maine, Minnesota, Washington and North Carolina, to attend what Artem described as a ballroom "crash course," that kicked off just five days after he, Alan and Gleb wrapped their 64-city DWTS: Light Up the Night Live! tour.

"This is the first time anyone has ever done something like this," said Gleb, who started planning Pro Dance Camp with Alan, Artem and his wife, Elena, at the end of last year. "It's for the people who love dancing, for the people who are fans of the show, our fans. It's an opportunity to come and join dance class and get the chance to dance with their favorite pros from their favorite TV show. It's a lot of fun!"

Having such a blast covering @prodancecamp for @entertainmenttonight 💃 Just finished @theartemc’s class 🔥🙌 // #dwts #prodancecamp

A post shared by DESIREE MURPHY (@desireemurphy_) on Mar 24, 2018 at 12:04pm PDT

Artem says creating the event was a collaborative effort. "A lot of people came together and we said, 'Let's do something, because we kind of have a little time off,'" he said of their break between the tour and DWTS. "It was a collaboration of a bunch of people … to create something where kids and adults who want to dance, we can give them a chance. If they are watching us dance on TV, why not experience it for themselves?"

"Elena has this business mind. She always gets questions and emails from people asking, 'Where can we learn how to dance? Not necessarily from Gleb, but we just wanna learn,'" Gleb added of his wife's involvement. "So, she came up with the idea of creating this getaway weekend for everyone, no matter their dance experience. There's no levels, so anyone could come."

First day @prodancecamp went amazing! #family

A post shared by Gleb Savchenko (@glebsavchenkoofficial) on Mar 24, 2018 at 10:40pm PDT

And based on what we experienced from taking part in over six hours of dance classes, Gleb and Artem couldn't have stayed any more true to their word. As promised, the guys' workshops were fun, informative and laid-back. So, whether you've been a dancer your entire life or were just learning your first 8-count, every guest felt at ease as Gleb, Alan and Artem taught Latin, Rumba, Cha-Cha, Salsa, Jive and Paso Doble variations, with a warm-up led by DWTS troupe member Britt Stewart each morning. Additionally, fans were also given the opportunity to take private lessons from their pro dancer of choice, which the majority said was the highlight of their weekend when we chatted with them at the gala dinner.

Of course, DWTS fans on Twitter who were following the event were feeling the "FOMO," with many asking if the guys have any plans to expand the camp to more cities in the future. Alan and Artem both told ET that they'd be down, but ultimately, it's "up to Gleb" to decide.

"So far, it seems like this is a really fun place and weekend. We've met so many fans and there's a great energy about it," Gleb shared. "Personally, I would love to continue it and take it to different places. It's in the future, it's in the plan, and it would be great if we could do something like that."

For now, Gleb confirmed to ET that he's gearing up for the all-athlete season of Dancing With the Stars, which returns to ABC on Monday, April 30 at 8 p.m. ET, as well as Pro Dance LA, a new studio he and Elena are opening up in West Hollywood, California. In anticipation of what's to come on the dance competition show, we're breaking down seven more things we learned from dancing and hanging out with Gleb, Alan and Artem:

1. Focus less on the steps, and more on having fun.

While chatting with ET, Gleb gave some great advice to ballroom beginners, including the 10 athletes who will be competing on DWTS later this month. "Bring yourself, bring the energy, wear something comfortable and be prepared for us to make you sweat, for sure," he said. "Bring lots of energy, have lots of fun … you don't have to be a professional dancer, or have any dance experience, to learn [ballroom]. We always create something that's accommodating and suitable for every individual person."

Added Artem, "I want people to want to come back because they had fun. Fun is always the biggest goal for me."

2. Latin is way harder than it looks on TV…

It’s getting 🔥 in here! @Gleb_Savchenko is such a great teacher, making dancers of all ages and experience feel comfortable with the moves 💃 @ProDanceCampPS#ProDanceCamppic.twitter.com/FmpH8eW5Cp

— Desiree Murphy (@desireemurphy_) March 24, 2018

We were most surprised by the difficulty of Gleb's Latin workshop, which taught us how to use our hips in a way that's much different from other dance styles. Honestly, we now have a newfound appreciation for all the celebrities who have attempted to master this style on the show in the past. It is NOT easy!

3. ...but the Jive is just as enjoyable as you'd expect!

Yaaasss! Jive is next with @Dance10Alan 🤗 // @ProDanceCampPSpic.twitter.com/ZUbkpWg7nK

— Desiree Murphy (@desireemurphy_) March 24, 2018

At the same time, we also understand why so many football players specifically excel so well in this dance genre. The fast footwork keeps you on your toes, and because of its quickness, you find yourself being challenged while still having a lot of fun with the choreography. You really have to pay attention to the counts, as well as your placement on the floor, which NFL stars can relate to when keeping track of their movement on the field.

4. There's a reason why Alan became a pro.

Wouldn’t be @ProDanceCampPS without some SHIMMYING! @Dance10Alanpic.twitter.com/cR5xTcr77n

— Desiree Murphy (@desireemurphy_) March 24, 2018

Alan finally received pro status on DWTS' 25th season (paired with Debbie Gibson), and after taking lessons from him, we totally get it. He makes you laugh, while being just serious enough to make sure you're understanding the content. And if you get the steps wrong, he'll call you out -- but not in a malicious way, whatsoever. He does it in a way that allows you to poke fun at your own missteps, as you prove to him (and yourself) that you can do it. His classes are all about working hard, having a blast and becoming an expert dancer without even realizing you're improving. Truly something magical!

5. Artem brings the heat!

Hands down, covering the first-ever @prodancecamp for @entertainmenttonight was one of my favorite assignments I’ve had this year! I am now a ballroom dancer. Please vote for Desiree & Artem!!! #DWTS Season 27 😂 Swipe 👉 for more

A post shared by DESIREE MURPHY (@desireemurphy_) on Mar 25, 2018 at 6:56pm PDT

DWTS fans and judges typically comment on Artem's chemistry with his partners, and if we learned anything during Pro Dance Camp, it's that he knows how to make everyone feel comfortable… while still looking good!

"I feel like every single person on this earth should experience and be educated in [dance], because the etiquette comes with it," he explained. "Men need to learn how to treat a woman, and I feel like through this dancing, it definitely gives you that exposure."

Out of all the dances we experienced over the weekend, Artem's Salsa class surely brought out the best energy, and plenty of dreamy smiles from the ladies in the workshops. Hey, we don't blame them!

SO IMPRESSED! Everyone is bringing that energy for @artemchigvintse 🙌🙌🙌 #[email protected]/j9S7KQ61g5

— Desiree Murphy (@desireemurphy_) March 24, 2018

6. The guys can describe their personalities using one style of dance.

Alan joked that he's a mix of all the best qualities, and therefore would be the Argentine Tango. "I love the elegance of ballroom, like with the waltz, but the Argentine Tango is a mix of that and Latin passion," he shared. "It has everything, and everyone can see it differently. It can be really fierce, it could be subtle, it could be sometimes controlling, but also soft. It has all the different dynamics."

Artem said he's torn between Argentine Tango and the Paso. "They're both very manly, both very sensual, in a lot of ways, and I feel like I can express myself more in those dances than any others," he explained.

As for Gleb? "I would probably say contemporary and the thing is, I'm not a contemporary dancer. I'm ballroom trained, I've never really trained properly in contemporary, but I kinda picked it up when I started doing the show," he revealed. "I really love it because it's a style where you can actually do anything, and you can really tell a story through dance. You can express yourself more. I'm all about telling a story through dance -- the emotions and feelings and very strong characters of a man and a woman and their connection."

7. They read your tweets.

During breaks from dancing, we caught the guys on their phones, and Alan says a big reason why they created Pro Dance Camp in the first place was because of all the fan suggestions they've recently received. "A lot of the fans want to dance with us," he explained. "We get a lot of tweets that are like, 'I wish there was a Dancing With the Fans season.' So this is really as close as it gets!"