a bullet in the barrel of your best guy's gun
I finished Batman Beyond and now i'm sad. To be honest i was really super bummed when i started it, partly because every time i finish a series in the DCAU and start a new one there's a really jarring adjustment period, but mostly this time it was because EVERYTHING WAS SAD AT FIRST. Seriously, having to accept a huge time jump, the mortality of an aging hero, Bruce being old and forever alone and everyone he was ever close to is either dead or gone... uggghhhh it just felt very lonely to be in the same universe as TAS but with nothing familiar to latch onto. I mean i know it's BRUCE we're talking about here, who is, of all people, destined to be a miserable old codger, but still, given the character relationships in TAS... it... really... sucks. And seeing Barbara was so exciting but it's hard to adjust to seeing one of your favorite characters suddenly old, and then of course there was my utterly horrified reaction to a certain shipping revelation, which, you know, i tried to accept it, but it turns out i really cannot curb the impulse to be completely revolted every time i think of it.
But then i ended up really loving Terry, and crotchety old Bruce is pretty okay, and of course there is Max Gibson *____* WHO THERE WASN'T ENOUGH OF, NOT EVEN TO MENTION THE LACK OF MAX/TERRY KISSING UGH FOREVER DISAPPOINTED. Anyway, even though the show didn't have much in the way of really remarkable, stand-out episodes the way Batman: TAS and Superman: TAS did, it was consistently entertaining and delightful and i miss it already. Its lack of a true finale was annoying, but i guess there's a wrap-up episode in Justice League, so i at least have that to look forward to. I did LOVE the Return of the Joker movie, as that didn't feel as far removed from the series as the other movies have, it felt more like a really excellent multi-part episode (and actually more like a finale), plus it had the bonus of the New Batman Adventures era flashback sequence (best of both worlds!), and HOLY SHIT THE MOST TRAGIC STORY WHAT THE FUCK. I was even spoiled for it and it was still a punch in the gut. But really, really well-done and really nicely animated. The only thing it lacked was Max. :(
I watched Under the Red Hood recently as well, and that was just waaaayyyyyyyyy too grimdark for me. Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker have some surprisingly bleak shit, but they don't push it too far. Under the Red Hood was just... gah. ~SUPER EDGY~ :/ The amount of violence was so jarring in terms of the rest of the DCAU (it was weird enough to finally see people die in Mask of the Phantasm! B:TAS has zero deaths ever!). I mean i know it wasn't actually the Timmverse, so it's not like it was trying to fit in, but just being an animated Batman movie made it seem like it should have dovetailed with the rest. I guess. Plus it is really, really hard to watch animated Batman without Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill voicing Batman and Joker. THE MOST PERFECT OF ALL BATMANS AND JOKERS, FOREVER AND EVER AMEN. (part of why Arkham Asylum feels like ~true~ Batman! THE BESSSSST) Annnnnnd just for the sake of rounding out my recently-watched animated batmovie thoughts: Sub-Zero was super excellent for Babs and Dick/Babs but not amazing as an overall movie; Mystery of the Batwoman had some really good lady business but was even more bleh overall (i would have cared more if it had been a story about Kate Kane and Renee Montoya, just sayin'). BUT IT CAME WITH THE "CHASE ME" SHORT WHICH IS THE GREATEST BAT/CAT EVER, SOOOOO. I guess it evens out.
HEY REMEMBER THAT TIME LAST WEEK WHEN AN ACTUAL FOR REALLY REAL LEGEND OF KORRA TRAILER HAPPENED AND ALL MY AVATAR FEELINGS CAME FLOODING BACK?! It's so weird how different my initial reaction to this is as opposed to other properties that involve a huge time jump away from the characters you're familiar with, and in this instance i am thinking specifically of two recent things i've watched: Harry Potter and Batman Beyond. The HP epilogue is -- i think most of us can agree -- awful and maddeningly trite, and i think part of the reason Legend of Korra feels different even though it involves the aftermath of Avatar being: they grew up and had kids! is that THAT'S NOT THE ONLY THING THAT HAPPENED. The HP epilogue feels like literally the only aftermath of HP is marriage and babymaking, whereas Legend of Korra is an entirely new world, where struggle didn't simply cease to exist after the first story ended. Avatar had a happy ending that was earned in keeping with the rest of the story, but there was evolution beyond that and not simply "all was well." The similarities between HP and Avatar are something i used to think about a lot, too, so i think the comparison is apt. (my opinion could also be affected by the fact that HP ended without a single ship i shipped actually happening, whereas i support all the canon Avatar ships BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE PROPER NARRATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND ARE GREAT.)
And while Batman Beyond made me sad at first, the thought of re-entering the Avatar universe at a point when the original characters are all either old or dead doesn't hurt as much because PROGENY! and i know they all would have led fulfilling lives of badassery and it's just not as bleak, i guess. Which is not to say i'm not sad about Aang being dead ;_________; but given the spirituality of the Avatar world, even that isn't as sad as it could be. Maybe i'll be singing a different tune once i actually see the show, WHO KNOWS, but for now i just feel warm and fuzzy and brimming with happy tears about AVATAAAAAAAAAAR
:*)
Things i am watching right now: Babylon 5! I wonder if this is a totally obvious extension of my Tron obsession! Here's a hint: it is! I just really like Bruce Boxleitner's face. :( BUT OH MY GOSH THOUGH: NOT ONLY IS SHERIDAN/DELENN THE ADORABLEST (TRON AND ROUSSEAU ARE GOING TO GET MARRIED ONE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) ALSO THERE ARE LESBIANS IN SPACE AHGDJFGJ SUSAN/TALIA SUSAN/TALIA SUSAN/TALIA. The funny thing is, in literally the very first episode of the series when they first met (when Susan hated Talia's guts and everything she stood for!), my only thought was "they are going to fall in love and become girlfriends." Like, my ONLY reaction was LESBIANS. THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY GOING TO BE IN LESBIANS WITH EACH OTHER. But i also thought "...it's possible i'm reading too much into this." So i wikipedia-spoiled myself to be sure, and while it is ultimately only "strongly implied" or whatever blah blah blah no actual kissing... IT'S STILL LEGIT. LESBIANS IN SPACE!!! :D :D :D :D :D
Anyway though, yeah. I was kind of trucking through s1 because argh just wanted to get to Sheridan (i'm currently about a third of the way through s2), but the characters still grew on me. DELENN IS MY FAVORITE. AND SUSAN. AND LONDO! It's so '90s cheesy and not always great, but at the same time marathoning anything gets me invested. And it's about space. So yeah. Ask me again why i still haven't watched any full series of Star Trek. The answer is: i don't know. :(
Things i saw AGAIN this weekend:
Captain America
I... just... ugh Chris Evans, YOUR FACE. I have a lot a lot a lot of feelings about the way Steve and Peggy look at each other throughout the entire movie and how much i want them to bone, especially in the scene in the bar when she's wearing the red dress and ignoring Bucky entirely, oh my god. And the fact that Peggy obviously falls in love with Steve BEFORE he becomes superpowered. "You're late." CAN WE JUST HAVE SOME TIME TRAVEL UP IN HERE SO STEVE CAN GO BACK AND THEY CAN HAVE THEIR DATE BUT HE'S LIKE FIVE MINUTES LATE INSTEAD OF SEVENTY YEARS? And also the way that dancing is a family-friendly placeholder for talkin' 'bout sex, much like "The Doctor Dances" (an episode of Doctor Who which is incidentally set during WWII!) (THE DOCTOR COULD BRING STEVE BACK IN TIME TO DANCE WITH PEGGY, YAYYYYY)
I seriously don't know what it was about seeing this a second time but oh jesus their combined attractiveness has become physically gutwrenching to me. I CAN'T
ALL THE FEELINGS
SITTING HERE CONSUMED WITH LUST FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING
PEGGY CARTER IS PERFECT
And Steve's heroism and kind heart and HE JUST DOESN'T LIKE BULLIES. UGH MOST HEARTWARMING HERO EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ;_______;
If i weren't so into Steve and Peggy i'd also be super ultra fixated on how attractive Sebastian Stan is (oh my gosh remember that time i watched Kings when it first started and his face was the best face ;____;) and how sad i was when Bucky died. But apparently he can and probably will come back soooo, all is not lost! I guess! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS, thanks wikipedia!
Since this movie actually crossed ITSELF over with Indiana Jones, i have been thinking about Peggy meeting Marion. Because that would be amazing.
At this point i'd say this is probably my favorite Marvel movie since Iron Man! Like i really enjoyed Thor a lot but idk, the style of this one just really hit the sweet spot. SO ENTERTAINING AND WONDERFUL. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH HOW MUCH I ENJOYED EVERYONE'S FACES.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
So, funny thing, the first time around i did not actually hear Neville say that he's in love with Luna when he's trying to find her during the battle! I just thought that final scene of them sitting next to each other was adorable! THAT KIND OF CHANGES THE CONTEXT CONSIDERABLY. Like, i saw people commenting on how the Neville/Luna was fanservice and i was like "but they just sat next to each other!" so uh, haha. OH. That is pretty shoehorned in, but at the same time, Neville and Luna! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.
I actually didn't like the movie as much upon rewatch, but the part that still got me really emotional was surprisingly McGonagall telling Flitwick to call You-Know-Who Voldemort because "he's going to try to kill you either way" and then bringing the statues to life. Such excellent stuff. "The Forest Again" also made me a little more emotional compared to the first time, although it's still nothing compared to how i felt about that chapter in the book. I've seen people complain about how much James is ignored, which i can understand, but at the same time, how fucking many times in fiction is the mom ignored in favor of the dad? It just seems like that's far more common, so i can't really feel too bad that for once a dead dad was ignored instead of DADDY ISSUES AGAIN SOME MORE.
I kind of wish my HP feelings from this movie had lasted a little longer, but man i have got a lot of other fictional feelings on my plate right now! SIGH.
But then i ended up really loving Terry, and crotchety old Bruce is pretty okay, and of course there is Max Gibson *____* WHO THERE WASN'T ENOUGH OF, NOT EVEN TO MENTION THE LACK OF MAX/TERRY KISSING UGH FOREVER DISAPPOINTED. Anyway, even though the show didn't have much in the way of really remarkable, stand-out episodes the way Batman: TAS and Superman: TAS did, it was consistently entertaining and delightful and i miss it already. Its lack of a true finale was annoying, but i guess there's a wrap-up episode in Justice League, so i at least have that to look forward to. I did LOVE the Return of the Joker movie, as that didn't feel as far removed from the series as the other movies have, it felt more like a really excellent multi-part episode (and actually more like a finale), plus it had the bonus of the New Batman Adventures era flashback sequence (best of both worlds!), and HOLY SHIT THE MOST TRAGIC STORY WHAT THE FUCK. I was even spoiled for it and it was still a punch in the gut. But really, really well-done and really nicely animated. The only thing it lacked was Max. :(
I watched Under the Red Hood recently as well, and that was just waaaayyyyyyyyy too grimdark for me. Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker have some surprisingly bleak shit, but they don't push it too far. Under the Red Hood was just... gah. ~SUPER EDGY~ :/ The amount of violence was so jarring in terms of the rest of the DCAU (it was weird enough to finally see people die in Mask of the Phantasm! B:TAS has zero deaths ever!). I mean i know it wasn't actually the Timmverse, so it's not like it was trying to fit in, but just being an animated Batman movie made it seem like it should have dovetailed with the rest. I guess. Plus it is really, really hard to watch animated Batman without Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill voicing Batman and Joker. THE MOST PERFECT OF ALL BATMANS AND JOKERS, FOREVER AND EVER AMEN. (part of why Arkham Asylum feels like ~true~ Batman! THE BESSSSST) Annnnnnd just for the sake of rounding out my recently-watched animated batmovie thoughts: Sub-Zero was super excellent for Babs and Dick/Babs but not amazing as an overall movie; Mystery of the Batwoman had some really good lady business but was even more bleh overall (i would have cared more if it had been a story about Kate Kane and Renee Montoya, just sayin'). BUT IT CAME WITH THE "CHASE ME" SHORT WHICH IS THE GREATEST BAT/CAT EVER, SOOOOO. I guess it evens out.
HEY REMEMBER THAT TIME LAST WEEK WHEN AN ACTUAL FOR REALLY REAL LEGEND OF KORRA TRAILER HAPPENED AND ALL MY AVATAR FEELINGS CAME FLOODING BACK?! It's so weird how different my initial reaction to this is as opposed to other properties that involve a huge time jump away from the characters you're familiar with, and in this instance i am thinking specifically of two recent things i've watched: Harry Potter and Batman Beyond. The HP epilogue is -- i think most of us can agree -- awful and maddeningly trite, and i think part of the reason Legend of Korra feels different even though it involves the aftermath of Avatar being: they grew up and had kids! is that THAT'S NOT THE ONLY THING THAT HAPPENED. The HP epilogue feels like literally the only aftermath of HP is marriage and babymaking, whereas Legend of Korra is an entirely new world, where struggle didn't simply cease to exist after the first story ended. Avatar had a happy ending that was earned in keeping with the rest of the story, but there was evolution beyond that and not simply "all was well." The similarities between HP and Avatar are something i used to think about a lot, too, so i think the comparison is apt. (my opinion could also be affected by the fact that HP ended without a single ship i shipped actually happening, whereas i support all the canon Avatar ships BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE PROPER NARRATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND ARE GREAT.)
And while Batman Beyond made me sad at first, the thought of re-entering the Avatar universe at a point when the original characters are all either old or dead doesn't hurt as much because PROGENY! and i know they all would have led fulfilling lives of badassery and it's just not as bleak, i guess. Which is not to say i'm not sad about Aang being dead ;_________; but given the spirituality of the Avatar world, even that isn't as sad as it could be. Maybe i'll be singing a different tune once i actually see the show, WHO KNOWS, but for now i just feel warm and fuzzy and brimming with happy tears about AVATAAAAAAAAAAR
:*)
Things i am watching right now: Babylon 5! I wonder if this is a totally obvious extension of my Tron obsession! Here's a hint: it is! I just really like Bruce Boxleitner's face. :( BUT OH MY GOSH THOUGH: NOT ONLY IS SHERIDAN/DELENN THE ADORABLEST (TRON AND ROUSSEAU ARE GOING TO GET MARRIED ONE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) ALSO THERE ARE LESBIANS IN SPACE AHGDJFGJ SUSAN/TALIA SUSAN/TALIA SUSAN/TALIA. The funny thing is, in literally the very first episode of the series when they first met (when Susan hated Talia's guts and everything she stood for!), my only thought was "they are going to fall in love and become girlfriends." Like, my ONLY reaction was LESBIANS. THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY GOING TO BE IN LESBIANS WITH EACH OTHER. But i also thought "...it's possible i'm reading too much into this." So i wikipedia-spoiled myself to be sure, and while it is ultimately only "strongly implied" or whatever blah blah blah no actual kissing... IT'S STILL LEGIT. LESBIANS IN SPACE!!! :D :D :D :D :D
Anyway though, yeah. I was kind of trucking through s1 because argh just wanted to get to Sheridan (i'm currently about a third of the way through s2), but the characters still grew on me. DELENN IS MY FAVORITE. AND SUSAN. AND LONDO! It's so '90s cheesy and not always great, but at the same time marathoning anything gets me invested. And it's about space. So yeah. Ask me again why i still haven't watched any full series of Star Trek. The answer is: i don't know. :(
Things i saw AGAIN this weekend:
Captain America
I... just... ugh Chris Evans, YOUR FACE. I have a lot a lot a lot of feelings about the way Steve and Peggy look at each other throughout the entire movie and how much i want them to bone, especially in the scene in the bar when she's wearing the red dress and ignoring Bucky entirely, oh my god. And the fact that Peggy obviously falls in love with Steve BEFORE he becomes superpowered. "You're late." CAN WE JUST HAVE SOME TIME TRAVEL UP IN HERE SO STEVE CAN GO BACK AND THEY CAN HAVE THEIR DATE BUT HE'S LIKE FIVE MINUTES LATE INSTEAD OF SEVENTY YEARS? And also the way that dancing is a family-friendly placeholder for talkin' 'bout sex, much like "The Doctor Dances" (an episode of Doctor Who which is incidentally set during WWII!) (THE DOCTOR COULD BRING STEVE BACK IN TIME TO DANCE WITH PEGGY, YAYYYYY)
I seriously don't know what it was about seeing this a second time but oh jesus their combined attractiveness has become physically gutwrenching to me. I CAN'T
ALL THE FEELINGS
SITTING HERE CONSUMED WITH LUST FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING
PEGGY CARTER IS PERFECT
And Steve's heroism and kind heart and HE JUST DOESN'T LIKE BULLIES. UGH MOST HEARTWARMING HERO EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ;_______;
If i weren't so into Steve and Peggy i'd also be super ultra fixated on how attractive Sebastian Stan is (oh my gosh remember that time i watched Kings when it first started and his face was the best face ;____;) and how sad i was when Bucky died. But apparently he can and probably will come back soooo, all is not lost! I guess! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS, thanks wikipedia!
Since this movie actually crossed ITSELF over with Indiana Jones, i have been thinking about Peggy meeting Marion. Because that would be amazing.
At this point i'd say this is probably my favorite Marvel movie since Iron Man! Like i really enjoyed Thor a lot but idk, the style of this one just really hit the sweet spot. SO ENTERTAINING AND WONDERFUL. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH HOW MUCH I ENJOYED EVERYONE'S FACES.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
So, funny thing, the first time around i did not actually hear Neville say that he's in love with Luna when he's trying to find her during the battle! I just thought that final scene of them sitting next to each other was adorable! THAT KIND OF CHANGES THE CONTEXT CONSIDERABLY. Like, i saw people commenting on how the Neville/Luna was fanservice and i was like "but they just sat next to each other!" so uh, haha. OH. That is pretty shoehorned in, but at the same time, Neville and Luna! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.
I actually didn't like the movie as much upon rewatch, but the part that still got me really emotional was surprisingly McGonagall telling Flitwick to call You-Know-Who Voldemort because "he's going to try to kill you either way" and then bringing the statues to life. Such excellent stuff. "The Forest Again" also made me a little more emotional compared to the first time, although it's still nothing compared to how i felt about that chapter in the book. I've seen people complain about how much James is ignored, which i can understand, but at the same time, how fucking many times in fiction is the mom ignored in favor of the dad? It just seems like that's far more common, so i can't really feel too bad that for once a dead dad was ignored instead of DADDY ISSUES AGAIN SOME MORE.
I kind of wish my HP feelings from this movie had lasted a little longer, but man i have got a lot of other fictional feelings on my plate right now! SIGH.