Of endings in many a universe
Jun. 2nd, 2025 10:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThis in fannish and rl political matters was not a good past week, but what is anymore, one is tempted to ask. But it wasn't universally bleak, either.
Wheel of Time cancelled: a pity. I was only so so about it in the first season, grew to like it in the second, and was impressed by the third. Where it had felt like starting out on a generic fantasy pattern (heroes called to quest, evil dark overlords and minions wrecking the land), it had truly become its own unique thing. Yes, I could still read the books, but I osmosed that many of the things I liked best about the tv version are in fact different to the books (for example, unless I osmosed wrongly, Rand is the clear main character in the books, while if there is any lead on tv, it's Moraine, Liandrin is a simple Evil McEvil villainess in the book where in the tv version she has backstory and complicated feelings, and "more complicated" is true for other villains as well, Moraine's sister Alvaere (spelling?), wonderfully played by Lindsay Duncan, only exists as a name in the books and her relationship with Moraine not at all, and the books have only same sex subtext where the show has main text, etc.). I wanted to follow this specific version of the tale, and now I won't be able to.
(Also, I'm reminded of how annoying I always found back in the day and sometimes years later when B5 and DS9 were played out against each other; I loved both, and refused to play that game, and interaction with other fans was tricky if you wanted discussions of one only to to come across rants about the other. It's not that I love Rings of Power, but I do like it, and if it was difficult already to come across interesting meta, now there will be additional bile blaming it on a note of "why wasn't this cancelled instead".)
The Mouse channel put up Captain America: Brave New World on its streaming service. I hadn't bothered to see it in the cinema after getting only discouraging noises, and while sometimes I come across media loathed by most which I love or at least like, this wasn't the case here. It had some elements I liked, but simply wasn't very good. I do wonder whether Captain America: The Winter Soldier is for the MCU what Star Trek: Wrath of Khan was for decades for the ST franchise - to wit, the movie most of fandom adores and loves best and which subsequently gets imitated over and over to the detriment of the results because they don't succeed in creating something of equal value and the repeated tropes get less convincing the more they're repeated. In the MCU case, subsequent attempts to combine 70s style political thriller with the superhero formula included the dreadful Secret Invasion which everyone seems to silently agree never to have happened since it's been ignored by the rest of the franchise, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which was decidedly mixed in quality and result (though definitely better than Secret Invasion). Some short observations why despite having good actors and some good ideas, Brave New World just didn't stick the landing (imo, as always) in its attempt to recreate Winter Soldier: WS had two antagonists, one with whom the hero realizes he has an intense past personal relationship with and who is eventually reached emotionally, and one, the true Big Bad, partially responsible for the former's condition, who gets defeated. BNW repeated this by casting Thaddeus Ross in the former role and the newly introduced Sterns in the later. Now, they did their best to flesh out Ross beyond the unsympathetic figure from previous MCU movies, and Sam fulfilling the part of the Captain America role that's not punching villains but being a good person inspiring people by believing that Ross actually and sincerely wants to change and has some good in him isn't a bad idea on paper, but it still lacked the emotional weight it would have had if Sam and Ross had had any kind of positive interaction before this movie. WS also and very importantly was criticial of the home team beyond the part that was infiltrated by Hydra by having Steve object to Nick Fury's surveillance and target ability idea early on and followed this up with the insistence that SHIELD as a whole, not simply the "bad apples" had to be dissolved, and the entire surveillance/target scheme had to go at the end of the movie. (Only for SHIELD to be resurrected in future installments, but within that movie alone, there were consequences.) This is actually a political statement. Whereas BNW, like "Falcon and Winter Soldier" wanted to do a political thriller without actual politics, let alone those resonating with contemporary politics. Thus we get Sam and Ross early talking about how divided everyone is and the need to bring people together again, but there are no MCUverse circumstances/factors/ideas given that divide the people, and while the current JJ Jameson from the Spider-man movies clearly is modelled on current day right wing populists, he doesn't exist or is referred to in other installments, let alone this one. If "we're divided" refers not to the US but to the world as a whole, well, various nations competing for the Adamatium inherent in the remains of the calcified Celestial and the whole thing being resolved after a big action scene and the Big Bad's schemes being discovered that feels touchingly old fashioned but hardly equates "yes, this thing is also rotten when the good guys do it, which is why we won't do it again" from WS. (Oh, and btw, I can't help but notice that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in its UN scene and the conference where Ross tries to talk the Indians and the French down both cast the representative of France entirely in the negative. Guys, you really need to get over the Francophobia.) And again, it's not that competing about natural resources is ever not happening in the real world, but the entire scenario is so simplified (the calcified Celestial isn't a country with inhabitants that could object to whoever is claiming the Adamantium, for starters) that there's just no resonance for this viewer. (Both Wakanda movies did it better.) (Not to mention: watching this movie in the era where the Orange Menace was democratically voted into office for the second time and promptly is busy dismantling democracy at home and abroad makes even a US ruled by Thaddeus Ross look ridiculously Utopian.)
Then there are the personal relationships in general. Sam and Joaquin have a nice hero/sidekick, mentor/protegé relationship, and Sam and Isiah probably have the most successful and touching relationship with the movie; Sam's motivation to clear Isiah's name and get him out of prison is also the one I was most invested in. But by necessity of being locked up after the staged assasssination attempt, Isiah isn't in most of the movie. Also, both relationships are static. By contrast, WS let the relationships between Steve and Natasha, as well as Steve and Sam develop and/or change on screen during the course of the movie. And speaking of Natasha: evidently the scriptwriters concluded she was a part of what made WS successful, so in BNW, we get Ruth. Who we're told in dialogue is a former Black Widow (never mind how she then got the clearance to work for the paranoid about superheroes he doesn't control Thaddeus Ross' administration), not that this informs her characterisation in a noticable way beyond "female action hero, can fight". Natasha has an actual arc in WS; going from believing any type of ruthless action is okay if sanctioned by the good guys (and that this is how she can make up for the past) to concluding no, it is not, and changing authorities to believe in isn't enough. She bonds with Steve as a friend, yes, but she also goes through a big mental shift in her self perception and goals. Ruth, by contrast, abandons her hostility to our heroes as soon as she realises who the real Big Bad is, which is nice, but does not equate emotional growith or an inner life of any type. In conclusion: this is a film that deserved to flop. And I am very glad I watched Thunderbolts* first, because that was ever so much better and gives me confiidence in the movie future of the MCU.
Doctor Who ?.08: Reality War: Which felt at times like RTD throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks, at times like (great) trolling, and at times was surprisingly touching giving everything else. . Omega briefly returns as Saturn, eating Time Lords: a bit on the nose, and underlining RTD wasn't really interested in Omega, I guess, he just needed a menace to defeat and to get rid of one of the Ranis. Speaking of whom: her ultimate plan being reconstructing not just Gallifrey but the Time Lords as a species but based on Eugenics is entirely ic from what I recall of the Old Who episodes. I wasn't clear whether the whole "genetics explosion/sterilisation" thing was RTD attempting to retcon what Chibnall had Dwahan!Master do (that being more of a plain old Cyberfication), but for now, I'll guess so. Dobson!Rani being the one to remain alive and escape after being humiliated by Panjabi!Rani the last two episodes was a good twist. I did love the return of Anita, by far the most memorable part of the most recent Christmas Special. And Ruby's appearances after her stint as Companion continue to be A plus; I also loved her continued ability to notice the glitches in shifting realities as when Poppy vanished out of existence for a while, and her emotional reaction while observing the Doctor and Belinda going from cheerfully planning a life of exploration with Poppy to cheerfully planning without recalling Poppy ever existed made the whole sequence disturbing and chilling in the best way. It also surprised me in how it turned out, i.e. I was reasonably sure the Doctor and Belinda would not travel with a kid (both the BBC and Disney would cry bloody murder, given all the difficulties in filming with regular child actors as opposed to one episode stints), so it was clear that something would happen, but I assumed Ruby would remain the only one remembering and that would be that. Instead, her insistence actually got through and it did connect with the earlier precedent of both her and Bel being removed from existence and brought back by the Doctor thematically. Since back in the 11th Doctor day I was annoyed by Moffat on the one hand going on repeatedly about Eleven being a friend of children especially and being unable to see a child suffer but otoh not doing anything to search for the child who would later turn out to be River Song, the Doctor then (once he's come to believe Ruby is right about Poppy) immediately acting isn't something I can complain about, and him using regeneration energy for one last reality shift so that Poppy lives is as good and ic a plot device as any to bring that about. (Poppy in this last reality not being a human/Time Lord hybrid but purely human, the daughter of Belinda and someone else, also upon reflection works better than otherwise, especially if WE FINALLY DO GET A SUSAN REUNION after yet again being teased about it in vain, RTD.)
But. But. Belinda returning to her family (which in the retconned reality now includes Poppy) from her pov makes for an angst free Companion departure and is what she wanted all along; Belinda not getting that much to do in her one season as companion and in the finale nothing but look after the kid is just frustrating. Now as Ruby herself proves, that doesn't mean we couldn't see Bel in future episodes and future seasons with lots to do, but for now, I feel frustrated and annoyed on her behalf.
Surprisingly touching and unexpected: how the show dealt with Conrad. Especially in a season where the Doctor broke his "be kind, not cruel" resolution in a big way two episodes earlier, and in a time where factually or symbolically punching villains is the standard resolution. The show here walked the walk instead of just talking the talk by letting Ruby provide Conrad with a fate that was, well, kind instead of wishing eternal imprisonment on him or, well, punching him. You start out the scene expecting her appeals to be pure tactic and a strategy to distract him, and they were that, but they were also not lies, and what Ruby finally chose for him did point out the difference between a hero(ine) and a villain in a far more effective way than any pummelling (symbolically or real) would have done. (And was also unexpected because RTD can be awfully cynical about human nature, see a lot of previous endeavours. Here, a happy Conrad isn't living an incel fantasy or is happy at the expense of someone else but actually is doing something good. If even guys like Conrad, provided their circumstances change, are able to do good instead of damage, there is hope for humanity yet.)
Surprisingly touching, the sequel: Thirteen showing up! I loved that. Not least because it's a good symmetry to how this version of the Doctor enters and exits, in both cases with previous regenerations nearby. But also because the Thirteenth Doctor is another DW character who I feel was never used to her full potential in her own era, and this cameo not only worked within the story but was a good reminder that due to the show's timey wimeyness, there is plenty of opportunity to bring her back for encores, and not all in Big Finish. (Oh, and then there's the RTD troll element, because I bet bringing back the first onscreen female Doctor - onscreen because Jo Martin, who existed before but was introduced later - was also making a point to certain parts of the fandom and preparing the conclusion of this finale at the same time.)
Leading up to... Fifteen regenerating in Surprise!Billy Piper. Troll level: Master.
At a Doylist guess, I'm withandraste: while there's no way the BBC will let its most famous IP rest, the co-financing with Disney is still in negotiations (especially gven the Orange Menace is targetting overseas productions of US firms, which btw is presumably also affecting Amazon Prime's Wheel of Time decision, given that one was produced entirely not in the US), Ncuti Gatwa is literally a hot item at the moment, and you can't expect him not to accept any other jobs for a year or so while negiations are still going on and no one knows whether or not Disney will remain on board. And the brief Tennant return as the Fourteenth Doctor has established the precedent for an "intermediar, only in the easier to finance specials" Regeneration while a proper season with a regular Doctor is being prepared. If, that is, Billy Piper will play the Doctor; I noticed she was not credited as such in the final credits (as opposed to Gatwa and Whittaker). But assuming she is, I look forward to it - she was superb as the Moment last time we saw her in DW, and she also impressed me in Penny Dreadful, playing not one but two very different chaqracters. Also: between Peter Capaldi and indeed Colin Baker and Lalla Ward in Old Who, there is certainy precedent for actors showing first up in other roles in DW and then becoming a Time Lord.
***
Peter David the writer died. Back in the 1990s, I loved reading most of his Star Trek novels, especially but by no means exclusively Imzadi and Q-Squared. (I haven't reread them in decades by now, and have no idea whether they would still hold up, but I remember the reading pleasure they gave me, and how they long before the internet provided me with online fanfic showed how a story can enhance and deepen characterisation as given by a tv show.) On the B5 side of things, he contributed two episodes, including Soul Mates in season 2, which is still one of my all time favourites, and in it he created who is definitely my favourite one episode only on Babylon 5 character, Timov. (His B5 books were more of a mixed affair, but this is not the place to repeat my problems with the Centauri trilogy and its (lack of) worldbuilding.) If a writer is able to gift you with characters that remain with you for the rest of your life, that is more than many of us will ever achieve, so, hail and farewell, Peter David.
Wheel of Time cancelled: a pity. I was only so so about it in the first season, grew to like it in the second, and was impressed by the third. Where it had felt like starting out on a generic fantasy pattern (heroes called to quest, evil dark overlords and minions wrecking the land), it had truly become its own unique thing. Yes, I could still read the books, but I osmosed that many of the things I liked best about the tv version are in fact different to the books (for example, unless I osmosed wrongly, Rand is the clear main character in the books, while if there is any lead on tv, it's Moraine, Liandrin is a simple Evil McEvil villainess in the book where in the tv version she has backstory and complicated feelings, and "more complicated" is true for other villains as well, Moraine's sister Alvaere (spelling?), wonderfully played by Lindsay Duncan, only exists as a name in the books and her relationship with Moraine not at all, and the books have only same sex subtext where the show has main text, etc.). I wanted to follow this specific version of the tale, and now I won't be able to.
(Also, I'm reminded of how annoying I always found back in the day and sometimes years later when B5 and DS9 were played out against each other; I loved both, and refused to play that game, and interaction with other fans was tricky if you wanted discussions of one only to to come across rants about the other. It's not that I love Rings of Power, but I do like it, and if it was difficult already to come across interesting meta, now there will be additional bile blaming it on a note of "why wasn't this cancelled instead".)
The Mouse channel put up Captain America: Brave New World on its streaming service. I hadn't bothered to see it in the cinema after getting only discouraging noises, and while sometimes I come across media loathed by most which I love or at least like, this wasn't the case here. It had some elements I liked, but simply wasn't very good. I do wonder whether Captain America: The Winter Soldier is for the MCU what Star Trek: Wrath of Khan was for decades for the ST franchise - to wit, the movie most of fandom adores and loves best and which subsequently gets imitated over and over to the detriment of the results because they don't succeed in creating something of equal value and the repeated tropes get less convincing the more they're repeated. In the MCU case, subsequent attempts to combine 70s style political thriller with the superhero formula included the dreadful Secret Invasion which everyone seems to silently agree never to have happened since it's been ignored by the rest of the franchise, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which was decidedly mixed in quality and result (though definitely better than Secret Invasion). Some short observations why despite having good actors and some good ideas, Brave New World just didn't stick the landing (imo, as always) in its attempt to recreate Winter Soldier: WS had two antagonists, one with whom the hero realizes he has an intense past personal relationship with and who is eventually reached emotionally, and one, the true Big Bad, partially responsible for the former's condition, who gets defeated. BNW repeated this by casting Thaddeus Ross in the former role and the newly introduced Sterns in the later. Now, they did their best to flesh out Ross beyond the unsympathetic figure from previous MCU movies, and Sam fulfilling the part of the Captain America role that's not punching villains but being a good person inspiring people by believing that Ross actually and sincerely wants to change and has some good in him isn't a bad idea on paper, but it still lacked the emotional weight it would have had if Sam and Ross had had any kind of positive interaction before this movie. WS also and very importantly was criticial of the home team beyond the part that was infiltrated by Hydra by having Steve object to Nick Fury's surveillance and target ability idea early on and followed this up with the insistence that SHIELD as a whole, not simply the "bad apples" had to be dissolved, and the entire surveillance/target scheme had to go at the end of the movie. (Only for SHIELD to be resurrected in future installments, but within that movie alone, there were consequences.) This is actually a political statement. Whereas BNW, like "Falcon and Winter Soldier" wanted to do a political thriller without actual politics, let alone those resonating with contemporary politics. Thus we get Sam and Ross early talking about how divided everyone is and the need to bring people together again, but there are no MCUverse circumstances/factors/ideas given that divide the people, and while the current JJ Jameson from the Spider-man movies clearly is modelled on current day right wing populists, he doesn't exist or is referred to in other installments, let alone this one. If "we're divided" refers not to the US but to the world as a whole, well, various nations competing for the Adamatium inherent in the remains of the calcified Celestial and the whole thing being resolved after a big action scene and the Big Bad's schemes being discovered that feels touchingly old fashioned but hardly equates "yes, this thing is also rotten when the good guys do it, which is why we won't do it again" from WS. (Oh, and btw, I can't help but notice that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in its UN scene and the conference where Ross tries to talk the Indians and the French down both cast the representative of France entirely in the negative. Guys, you really need to get over the Francophobia.) And again, it's not that competing about natural resources is ever not happening in the real world, but the entire scenario is so simplified (the calcified Celestial isn't a country with inhabitants that could object to whoever is claiming the Adamantium, for starters) that there's just no resonance for this viewer. (Both Wakanda movies did it better.) (Not to mention: watching this movie in the era where the Orange Menace was democratically voted into office for the second time and promptly is busy dismantling democracy at home and abroad makes even a US ruled by Thaddeus Ross look ridiculously Utopian.)
Then there are the personal relationships in general. Sam and Joaquin have a nice hero/sidekick, mentor/protegé relationship, and Sam and Isiah probably have the most successful and touching relationship with the movie; Sam's motivation to clear Isiah's name and get him out of prison is also the one I was most invested in. But by necessity of being locked up after the staged assasssination attempt, Isiah isn't in most of the movie. Also, both relationships are static. By contrast, WS let the relationships between Steve and Natasha, as well as Steve and Sam develop and/or change on screen during the course of the movie. And speaking of Natasha: evidently the scriptwriters concluded she was a part of what made WS successful, so in BNW, we get Ruth. Who we're told in dialogue is a former Black Widow (never mind how she then got the clearance to work for the paranoid about superheroes he doesn't control Thaddeus Ross' administration), not that this informs her characterisation in a noticable way beyond "female action hero, can fight". Natasha has an actual arc in WS; going from believing any type of ruthless action is okay if sanctioned by the good guys (and that this is how she can make up for the past) to concluding no, it is not, and changing authorities to believe in isn't enough. She bonds with Steve as a friend, yes, but she also goes through a big mental shift in her self perception and goals. Ruth, by contrast, abandons her hostility to our heroes as soon as she realises who the real Big Bad is, which is nice, but does not equate emotional growith or an inner life of any type. In conclusion: this is a film that deserved to flop. And I am very glad I watched Thunderbolts* first, because that was ever so much better and gives me confiidence in the movie future of the MCU.
Doctor Who ?.08: Reality War: Which felt at times like RTD throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks, at times like (great) trolling, and at times was surprisingly touching giving everything else. . Omega briefly returns as Saturn, eating Time Lords: a bit on the nose, and underlining RTD wasn't really interested in Omega, I guess, he just needed a menace to defeat and to get rid of one of the Ranis. Speaking of whom: her ultimate plan being reconstructing not just Gallifrey but the Time Lords as a species but based on Eugenics is entirely ic from what I recall of the Old Who episodes. I wasn't clear whether the whole "genetics explosion/sterilisation" thing was RTD attempting to retcon what Chibnall had Dwahan!Master do (that being more of a plain old Cyberfication), but for now, I'll guess so. Dobson!Rani being the one to remain alive and escape after being humiliated by Panjabi!Rani the last two episodes was a good twist. I did love the return of Anita, by far the most memorable part of the most recent Christmas Special. And Ruby's appearances after her stint as Companion continue to be A plus; I also loved her continued ability to notice the glitches in shifting realities as when Poppy vanished out of existence for a while, and her emotional reaction while observing the Doctor and Belinda going from cheerfully planning a life of exploration with Poppy to cheerfully planning without recalling Poppy ever existed made the whole sequence disturbing and chilling in the best way. It also surprised me in how it turned out, i.e. I was reasonably sure the Doctor and Belinda would not travel with a kid (both the BBC and Disney would cry bloody murder, given all the difficulties in filming with regular child actors as opposed to one episode stints), so it was clear that something would happen, but I assumed Ruby would remain the only one remembering and that would be that. Instead, her insistence actually got through and it did connect with the earlier precedent of both her and Bel being removed from existence and brought back by the Doctor thematically. Since back in the 11th Doctor day I was annoyed by Moffat on the one hand going on repeatedly about Eleven being a friend of children especially and being unable to see a child suffer but otoh not doing anything to search for the child who would later turn out to be River Song, the Doctor then (once he's come to believe Ruby is right about Poppy) immediately acting isn't something I can complain about, and him using regeneration energy for one last reality shift so that Poppy lives is as good and ic a plot device as any to bring that about. (Poppy in this last reality not being a human/Time Lord hybrid but purely human, the daughter of Belinda and someone else, also upon reflection works better than otherwise, especially if WE FINALLY DO GET A SUSAN REUNION after yet again being teased about it in vain, RTD.)
But. But. Belinda returning to her family (which in the retconned reality now includes Poppy) from her pov makes for an angst free Companion departure and is what she wanted all along; Belinda not getting that much to do in her one season as companion and in the finale nothing but look after the kid is just frustrating. Now as Ruby herself proves, that doesn't mean we couldn't see Bel in future episodes and future seasons with lots to do, but for now, I feel frustrated and annoyed on her behalf.
Surprisingly touching and unexpected: how the show dealt with Conrad. Especially in a season where the Doctor broke his "be kind, not cruel" resolution in a big way two episodes earlier, and in a time where factually or symbolically punching villains is the standard resolution. The show here walked the walk instead of just talking the talk by letting Ruby provide Conrad with a fate that was, well, kind instead of wishing eternal imprisonment on him or, well, punching him. You start out the scene expecting her appeals to be pure tactic and a strategy to distract him, and they were that, but they were also not lies, and what Ruby finally chose for him did point out the difference between a hero(ine) and a villain in a far more effective way than any pummelling (symbolically or real) would have done. (And was also unexpected because RTD can be awfully cynical about human nature, see a lot of previous endeavours. Here, a happy Conrad isn't living an incel fantasy or is happy at the expense of someone else but actually is doing something good. If even guys like Conrad, provided their circumstances change, are able to do good instead of damage, there is hope for humanity yet.)
Surprisingly touching, the sequel: Thirteen showing up! I loved that. Not least because it's a good symmetry to how this version of the Doctor enters and exits, in both cases with previous regenerations nearby. But also because the Thirteenth Doctor is another DW character who I feel was never used to her full potential in her own era, and this cameo not only worked within the story but was a good reminder that due to the show's timey wimeyness, there is plenty of opportunity to bring her back for encores, and not all in Big Finish. (Oh, and then there's the RTD troll element, because I bet bringing back the first onscreen female Doctor - onscreen because Jo Martin, who existed before but was introduced later - was also making a point to certain parts of the fandom and preparing the conclusion of this finale at the same time.)
Leading up to... Fifteen regenerating in Surprise!Billy Piper. Troll level: Master.
At a Doylist guess, I'm with
andraste: while there's no way the BBC will let its most famous IP rest, the co-financing with Disney is still in negotiations (especially gven the Orange Menace is targetting overseas productions of US firms, which btw is presumably also affecting Amazon Prime's Wheel of Time decision, given that one was produced entirely not in the US), Ncuti Gatwa is literally a hot item at the moment, and you can't expect him not to accept any other jobs for a year or so while negiations are still going on and no one knows whether or not Disney will remain on board. And the brief Tennant return as the Fourteenth Doctor has established the precedent for an "intermediar, only in the easier to finance specials" Regeneration while a proper season with a regular Doctor is being prepared. If, that is, Billy Piper will play the Doctor; I noticed she was not credited as such in the final credits (as opposed to Gatwa and Whittaker). But assuming she is, I look forward to it - she was superb as the Moment last time we saw her in DW, and she also impressed me in Penny Dreadful, playing not one but two very different chaqracters. Also: between Peter Capaldi and indeed Colin Baker and Lalla Ward in Old Who, there is certainy precedent for actors showing first up in other roles in DW and then becoming a Time Lord. ***
Peter David the writer died. Back in the 1990s, I loved reading most of his Star Trek novels, especially but by no means exclusively Imzadi and Q-Squared. (I haven't reread them in decades by now, and have no idea whether they would still hold up, but I remember the reading pleasure they gave me, and how they long before the internet provided me with online fanfic showed how a story can enhance and deepen characterisation as given by a tv show.) On the B5 side of things, he contributed two episodes, including Soul Mates in season 2, which is still one of my all time favourites, and in it he created who is definitely my favourite one episode only on Babylon 5 character, Timov. (His B5 books were more of a mixed affair, but this is not the place to repeat my problems with the Centauri trilogy and its (lack of) worldbuilding.) If a writer is able to gift you with characters that remain with you for the rest of your life, that is more than many of us will ever achieve, so, hail and farewell, Peter David.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 11:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 01:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 11:59 am (UTC)Or I'm completely wrong, of course...
Fun episode anyway, I'll give it 7 or 8 out of 10.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 01:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 12:15 pm (UTC)-
As to Doctor Who, Gatwa's era has come to an end before I got around watching it! What do you think of this theory that since Piper's credit is different from past times, there's something else at work?
It's happened before but for no-one who had a big/iconic role as Piper's Rose. I'm sure she could be great it at but it also feels like a gimmick but again this is all second hand impressions.
eta: Oh I just saw your BNW bit here as well. Oof. I would like to but can't really argue with the points. I was much more excited for BNW and I'm a bit baffled why Thunderbolts is so well received when it ultimately ends on them all selling out to Val.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 01:33 pm (UTC)What do you think of this theory that since Piper's credit is different from past times, there's something else at work?
As I said, I did notice she is not credited as the Doctor; I could see either
I'm a bit baffled why Thunderbolts is so well received when it ultimately ends on them all selling out to Val.
Not speaking for anyone else, here's why it works so well for me, personally: it did a good job making me interested in this specific combination of characters and the relationships they develop/have with each other. I went in only really caring for Yelena, and a bit for Alexei. I came out caring for the entire lot, including even John Walker and Val (in the sense of now seeing her as an interesting villain which I did not before). Any combination of these characters interacting with each other, be it only two of them or them as a group, I am now curious to see. BNW did not manage that for me with any combination beyond Sam & Isiah (in the sense of feeling "I want to see more of these two, or these many, together").
As for "selling out to Val": given the dirt they have on her (as Yelena points out to her), I thought it makes for an interesting power balance that , very different from previous examples and one of the reasons why I'm now curious about Val & any of them in a way I wasn't about Val before. Again, these are just my personal emotions.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 03:31 pm (UTC)I couldn't describe exactly why the team dynamics didn't click for me, I was interested in Yelena and Ghost, but I was interested in their existing connections to Hawkeyes and Ants more than the Thunderbolts. I was also hoping they'd do something with Taskmaster, they could have gone any direction with her but they didn't attempt it.
Yelena says they now "own" Val but to expose Val they expose their own complicity and the longer they stay as "Avengers" the more complicit they are and they've already proven they'll go along with Val for their own benefit. (possibly Bob's benefit but the film doesn't actually say this) The other thing is it may be an interesting power balance but when are we going to see it? We may not see this team again in a story focused on them because next is Doomsday and Secret Wars which are team ups with everyone.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 10:55 pm (UTC)Apparently she and Ghost had a substantial plotline together and she lived to the end of the story, which was then chopped out to make room for Sentry (and then Bucky) instead, which I sure have done feelings about. Amazingly, Sentry wasn't even in the first drafts (sounds like the antihero they fought to save was Walker instead. Ugh).
no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 05:48 pm (UTC)I think Olga Kurylenko's credit was probably in her contact so they didn't change it? I got this sinking feeling when she wasn't really in the trailers tho. I hope she at least got some of that MCU money.
I _know_ I read early on that Rachel Weisz would return too. Her absence was really baffling since they'd had that big family reunion in BW and she called herself Mama. Like, maybe she's fine back with her pigs, but one reason i didn't like this movie was how completely it wiped out what actually happened in BW/Hawkeye. Just get some new characters! (Like....the actual Thunderbolts even!) But Pugh was the big draw all along and they weren't going to let her go.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 10:50 pm (UTC)Apparently Thunderbolts and BNW were being written at around the same time so some plotlines shifted, like the original TB writer had Walker going Red Hulk, and BNW had more about supersoldiers and experimentation. BNW seemed exactly like a Hulk movie with Sam swapped in for Bruce which did him a terrible disservice. Just depressing all around.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 05:56 am (UTC)