picspam: compare and contrast Mamma Mia and Sanctuary
for picspammy and especially for aletheia08.
Donna Sheridan | Helen Magnus
One a hotel manager, the other a motivated doctor determined to give all abnormals throughout the world a place to call home. With the size of the Sanctuary and the amount of Abnormals that come through the doors and go out, you could almost say that Magnus is like an hotel manager too. Both natural blondes. Both single mothers to a string-willed daughter; Sophie being twenty years old and Ashley being twenty-three years old. Donna and Helen were raised in two completely temporally separate worlds but they have more in common than you would think and it is very hard to just explain all in one paragraph, an essay would be needed. But these two have 'set up shop' away from home and managed to raise a family and create their own lives from apparent nothingness. Additionally, Donna and Helen have both lost their paramour, their one true love. Donna loved Sam so completely and Helen loved John "with her entire being."
Sophie Sheridan | Ashley Magnus
Not quite the two most comparative characters ever but once you get past the inherent innocent girly side of Sophie and the sassy and fiery fighter that is Ashley, they are very similar young women. Okay, Ashley didn't uncover her mother's diary from way back when and sing 'Honey, Honey' with her friends but both have been thrown off kilter by the appearance of their father, or in Sophie's case 'fathers'. Brought up by their mothers in somewhat remote locations, both girls have lived without a father or a father figure and it isn't until their appearances that they begin to realize who they are. Ashley's realization may not have been as rosy as Sophie's but nevertheless, she uncovered her mother's past just like Sophie. Not to mention that both are as cute as buttons and in a fight my money would sooooo be on Ashley.
Sam Carmichael | John Druitt
Okay, forget the fact that Druitt is the most notorious serial killer in British history, just forget about it. Have you forgotten about it? Good. Both are very charismatic men with accents to absolutely swoon over and die for and they both are taller than their counterparts; Sam is taller than Donna and John is taller than Helen. They both belong with their loves and it is the angst about they 'will they - won't they - ugh for God's sake hurry up and realize already' that is the most alluring aspect of the respective shows. Both men were taken from the loves of their lives by irresistible forces; Sam being engaged to another woman and John succumbing to the insanity of his ailment. Poor blokes, yes? In all honesty, I just love looking at both of them, especially with shades. Hmm, I wonder if John has ever serenaded Helen with ABBA songs?
Sky | Will Zimmerman
There is no real intellectual reasoning in this one. Sky is engaged to Sophie but Will, well, didn't even get to first base with Ashley. I think I just put them together because they look good without their shirts on. Yup, sound intellectual reasoning? I think so.
Bill Anderson | James Watson
The parallels of Bill/James and Harry/Nikola are strange because they could go either way. Bill is still an explorer at heart as is, I think, James because you can never learn too much and let's face it, he's the brainy one out of the Five. Bill has his own boat and James runs the United Kingdom branch of the Sanctuary. I really can't explain much about these two except that they look pretty when they smile :)
Harry Bright | Nikola Tesla
Harry 'Head-Banger'. I think that that name could easily been transferred to Tesla because, let's face it, he's nuts. "If you're looking for my professional opinion as ship's counsellor, he's nuts!" Oops, wrong show.
Actually, for all I know Watson and Tesla are the Rosie and Tanya of the comparison. Now that would be hilarious! I can just see Tesla singing 'Does Your (Father) Know' on a beach in red trunks and Watson drunkenly singing 'Take A Chance On Me', stumbling over table-tops and everyone siinging 'take a chance, take a ch-ch-chance chance' in the background LMAO.
Donna & Sophie | Helen & Ashley
Ah the ever awesome mother/daughter dynamic. Single mothers with confident daughters, how could you not already love them? Donna and Helen tend to their daughters boo-boos [which Ashley gets considerably more off, hello stitches and bye-bye rhino-plasters and Princess plasters *Dork - I guess that is only funny to me*]. Sophie and Ashley find out different truths about their mothers; Sophie having three possible dads and Ashley having a psychopath for a father and a mother that has longevity and not an accident of her genetic make-up *puts away the slide-show, diagrams, explanations and projector - guess she won't be needing that anymore* [and how that came about, Helen lied]. And they look cute when they go all 'OMG everything is falling'. Despite screwing up when it comes to explaining to their daughters about their respective fathers, they still remain strong and still love each other so incredibly much.
Sam & Sophie | John & Ashley
Spending time getting to know each other on a boat in a beautiful setting versus being abducted and tied to a chair and then getting to know each other [twice for Ashley: webisodes AND series. Not cool, Druitt!] . . . John isn’t exactly the best at wishing for quality time, is he? But give the guy a break, he only just found his daughter and he's learning the ropes. They spend time together and see aged pictures of their mother and I think Helen’s is the prettiest because it’s in a shiny locket that he has kept ♥
Donna & Sam | Helen & John
‘Paramour’ is, I don't think, a strong enough word to describe these couples. Circumstances got in the way of their futures together; with Sam being betrothed to another woman and John being a psychopathic murderer; the sun wasn't shiny on those days. Donna and Helen's hearts were broken which Donna beautifully sings in 'The Winner Takes It All' and which Helen heart wrenchingly says in Sanctuary’s 'Kush": "You destroyed my heart, John." The angst that follows these characters through their respective fandoms draws you in, although I'd say that Helen and John have the upper hand in the angst factor; I mean, come on! He was Jack the Ripper and she found out all too late. He was dying, she gave him her blood to prolong his life, it went HORRENDOUSLY wrong and she lost him and has spent her entire life blaming herself for losing the love fo her life. Moving on. They also proposed in very different ways too; Sam getting down in the middle of a church after Sophie called off hers and John being incredibly romantic and proposing in a carriage after a night at the theatre. Donna and Sam got married in the end . . . my fingers are crossed for Helen and John. ROFLMAO.
Sophie & Sky | Ashley & Will
A bunch of sexy young ‘uns who just look so good! Sophie and Sky are engaged to be married and naturally would enjoy a make out session, even on the beach whilst singing at the same time ♥ Yet, the only way we got Ashley and Will THIS close to each other was through the lovely little affect that adorable little fluff balls called ‘Nubbins’ had on the pair. In the episode, Will flirted with Helen first and then went to Ashley and hey, he got his shirt off, so not complaining. So the point? They are sexy and hot and damn good looking and horny when the script calls for it.
Shiny locations
Where Mamma Mia! is set there is so much colour and so much beauty that you feel yourself dying to go there, top up a tan and pick yourself up a shirtless hunk and be sung ABBA to. Why go there when you can go to this beautifully majestic building that is full of history. "TRANSLATED: OLD AS SHIT!" [sorry, wrong show again!] Place one foot into the spacious foyer and you will wish that there was organ music to accompany it.
No, but seriously. The main focal points of these fandoms are visually stunning and incredibly beautiful.
Shiny cast
Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth. Amanda Tapping, Emilie Ullerup, Christopher Heyerdahl, Robin Dunne, Peter Wingfield and Jonathon Young. A lot of syllables! But these casts are incredible. Love them. I want miniature versions of them for my pocket.
Please don't take the images and crop them to make other graphics. I wil be happy to do that, just simply comment and ask. I don't bite.