#Fisk tss | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rhythmantics · 2 years

Text

The Secret Saturdays Iceberg

Original iceberg here.

Jay Stephens’ answers on the Toonzone Forums here, his Insta here, blogspot here. List of comics here.

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!

“I watched a couple episodes while it was still airing”

What most people know about Secret Saturdays from having seen it a couple times when it was on. It’s a children’s cartoon.

Doc and Drew have an exchange that goes “when have I ever done anything rash or irresponsible?” “I keep a list. It’s alphabetized,” which has plagued incorrect quotes blogs for years. Many people know the quote without knowing the show it’s from.

“I watched it through to the end”

This tier is about stuff you know about how hard the show goes once you watch it through the first time.

All cryptids in the show are based on real-life cryptids, mythological creatures, or prehistoric animals: true with a single-digit number of exceptions. The TSS wiki has done a really good job of cataloguing them.

Children die on-screen: both Zak Monday AND Zak Saturday die on-screen. It’s great.

Sneople: nagas.

Clone: Francis is a fucking clone! Holy shit!

Fisk has actual dialogue: This one actually belongs in the “I followed Jay Stephens” tier, as he has revealed that Fisk is written actual lines in the script, which are then translated to “Fisk-speak” by the voice actor.

Cheechoo is Inuit / Beeman is autistic / It’s the glasses: Cheechoo wears traditional inuit sunglasses, and also references the far north of Canada as being his “ancestral home” and having grown up there.

Beeman, meanwhile, has a hard time picking up on social cues (”he’s a little rude to everybody,” Jay once said on the Toonzone forums, confirming that Beeman isn’t acting like that because he dislikes Zak or anything -- in fact, he acts the same way even when he’s actively trying to bond with Zak over his fake UFO footage), has a really good time watching hours of (what most consider boring) footage related to his particular interest, and his glasses are probably tinted pink to deal with photosensitivity, a common symptom.

Wadi is Bedouin: The Bedouin are nomadic Arab tribes that live in the desert. So, like. Yeah.

Last will and testament of a guy who drowned: Zak and Doyle find the titular will in the episode where a lake is trying to hunt and kill them, left behind by someone that the lake has previously hunted and killed.

DNA brothers: Do you guys remember the episode where Zak, Fisk, and Komodo all get spliced together? Was that fucked up or what

Forgot to put this one on there but do you guys remember when Argost dressed up in an SS uniform look-alike to taunt the Saturdays in Once More the Nightmare Factory? Incredible.

“I read some character analyses”

This tier is all about realizing the full implications of the stuff they show in this children’s cartoon where they can’t say the word “kill.”

Serial killer that keeps trophies: I think Van Rook literally expresses disgust over how Argost kept trophies during his yeti era. Incidentally, this means Van Rook has ALSO killed multiple people, since at least he doesn’t keep trophies, lol.

Doyle has probably killed people and is definitely a felon: Doyle is cut short before he can elaborate on how many places he has a criminal record; he’s definitely stolen priceless cultural artifacts and other goods well above the felony limit, he has a story he doesn’t give Zak the full details of because “then things get messy. Let’s just say the bird and I took care of it.” Not to mention how many times Zak’s parents stress to him that Doyle has lived a dirty life, and he’s done many bad, bad things. Doyle has killed people you can’t change my mind.

Doc was Drew’s rebound romance: Drew dated Van Rook in college, presumably broke up with him when she realized he was studying archaeology so that he could steal artifacts to sell, and later wound up with Doc. She’s in her 30′s-or-so according to Jay (while Doc is in his 40′s-or-so) and her kid is 11 at the start of the story. She’s a “trained archaeologist,” meaning she’s probably got a PhD after at least 5, 6 years of college (she's a genius, so I wouldn't be surprised if she got it sooner than the usual 8 years We know she's an archaeologist from the Field Guide). So there’s a reasonable buffer of a few years between her dating Van Rook and her meeting Doc while mountain-climbing (Doc mentions this is how they met in the blue tiger episode), so he’s not necessarily her rebound romance exactly, but it’s funnier to word it that way.

Doc really thought Munya killed his family: In Once More the Nightmare Factory, when Doc reaches Munya after being separated by his family, Munya takes the tokens with Doc’s family’s faces on them and throws them in the trash to taunt him. Doc proceeds to go berserk and kick Munya’s ass (and nearly choke that bitch Argost out), while screaming that Argost took “everything” from him. So they can’t, like, have Doc actually SAY “you killed my family, you bitch!” but that is definitely what he was thinking. I also want to note here that part of Doc’s specific baggage throughout the episode is that he blames himself for the 43 secret scientists that died the first time they tried to assault Weird World - people who were his colleagues, if not his friends - so just keep that in mind when Doyle comes in later to rub in Doc’s face how easy it is to break in.

On that note, RIP the 43 secret scientists that died the first time they tried to assault Weird World.

The nagas were really gonna let them die: In the Legion of Garuda, Zak tricks the nagas into letting him into their sanctum by having his parents fight the Secret Scientists above the river, while pretending to the nagas that he’s decided to switch sides because the humans won’t stop coming after him. The nagas let him in and promise to help his family, but once Zak is out of earshot, Rani Nagi tells her guards to leave Zaks’ parents to their fate. “Give the boy a tragedy to avenge.” Bruh.

RIP Von Finster: RIP to the scorpion man, who was definitely killed after Argost caught him to silence him since he knew things about Argost’s past. This is what they meant when they said that people who know things about Argost were “disappearing,” and why Von Finster was so scared.

RIP Mizuki’s body: why does Mizuki in hibagon’s body cry out in rage when he sees his human body crushed under the rubble? Because that body is actually a corpse, man! On that note, RIP Ulraj’s dad, forgot about that one.

RIP xing-xing: so apparently the xing-xing shows up in War of the Cryptids so I messed up on this one. Just replace it with Ulraj’s dad.

RIP Dr. Basil: Yeah Doc’s father figure is dead. Old age probably, but also maybe he was killed as retaliation for scrapping the genetic human/cryptid testing research.

Argost’s body count is so high holy shit: 43 secret scientists, Ulraj’s dad, Von Finster, Drew & Doyle’s parents, Zak Monday, and Zak Saturday - and that’s just the deaths we KNOW ABOUT!

Forgot to put this in there but damn the Legion of Garuda guy was seriously gonna kill Zak, like holy shit. So many people want this 11-12 year old boy dead

“I followed Jay Stephens”

This tier is all fun Word of God stuff if you happened to follow Jay Stephens while he was posting on the Toonzone forums while the show was running, from his old blogspot, or while he’s talking to people on instagram. I have a minor and not exhaustive collection of such postings here.

Smoke mirror is NOT a mirror universe / It’s just a shittier universe: According to Jay himself on the Toonzone forums, and in line with actual Aztec mythology, the Smoke Mirror world is NOT a mirror universe. Aztec cosmology states that the world has ended and been remade 4 times, each stint being represented by a different god as the sun, and we're currently on our fifth sun. "The Smoking Mirror" is an epithet used to refer to Tetzcatlipoca (whose temple the Smoke Mirror was found in), who had the dubious honor of being the first sun, and his sun was black and only shed half as much light as our current one, possibly related to how he was missing a leg. Thus, the Smoke Mirror is not a portal to a mirror dimension - the fandom just kind of assumed it was because that's the common trope, but Jay has explicitly said that it isn't one. Rather, the Smoke Mirror is a portal a world inspired by Tetzcatlipoca's sun, a darker and twisted world where everything is generally much worse. This is further enforced by the fact that the Wii/DS/PS2 game is literally about this myth, as the game is called “Beasts of the Fifth Sun.”

Screwed by the network: The show barely ever had reruns shown and was constantly having its timeslot shafted by sportsball. It was insanely hard to keep up with the show as new episodes came out and even harder to catch up on missed episodes, which was death for a show with such tight continuity. On top of that, season 2 was only ten episodes, which is NOT standard (season 1 had 26 episodes and a half-season would be 13), which means they had to cut more than half of season 2′s contents. You can really feel how rushed it is in the last three episodes.

Dodo???:

The executives at Discovery Kids had spent many hours telling me that my original Tutenstein designs were "too cute" and "too Casper", so, stubborn jerk that I am, I made sure to make this one even cuter. For inspiration, I went over my old Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse comics... particularly the Seven Ghosts and Phantom Blot stuff... excellent, classic work. My idea was to update the 'funny animal mystery trio' by incorporating my love of Cryptozoology into the pitch. It went a little like this:"CRYPTIDS features a crack team of globe trotting cryptozoologists uniquely qualified for the job because they themselves were once cryptids! OKAPI, KOMODO, and MEGAMOUTH, along with their nine-year-old human mascot, FRANCIS, serve as a sort of anti-detective team. Scooting across land, sea, and air in their fantastic CAMPERCOPTER, their never-ending goal is to preserve the mystery of the world’s strangest creatures before they are exposed by humans… or destroyed by the Cryptids' nemesis, MONSIEUR DODO."I pitched it to a bunch of studios and got some interest, but, ultimately this incarnation went nowhere. Nobody 'got' the design, commenting that it looked like a kiddie show but read edgier. When I brought up the classic Floyd Gottfredson Micky Mouse adventure comics, I got blank stares. Not even Walt Disney Television Animation knew who or what I was talking about. Sigh... back to the drawing board.

Doc’s design was based on Harry Belafonte: Said on Jay’s Insta.

Doc and Drew canonically straight but everyone else is open season: Said on Jay’s Insta. FWIW Doyle gives me really strong bisexual energy.

Viral Marketing: The show’s initial ads were found footage-style short videos of horrific puppets of the show’s cryptid protagonists. I think they’re still up on youtube.

List of “hundreds” of creatures compiled for the show: Said on Jay’s Blogspot.

I forgot to mention this one, but Jay Stephens says that in-universe, cryptids aren’t just “creatures unproven to science,” but rather, “creatures that share a common, mystical bond.” It’s never said in-universe but I figured I’d let you guys know that this is what sets cryptids apart from regular animals.

Can’t “stay on the side of good” if show didn’t end how it ended: This is referring to how, according to Jay on the Toonzone forums, Zak losing his powers was the only way for him to firmly stay on the side of good. This is a very contentious opinion in the fanbase, but honestly, I kind of get it. By the end of the show, Zak has enough power to destroy human civilization within a week, anytime he feels like it, just by thinking about it. And he’s 13 years old. Humanity wouldn’t survive if he had, like, an emo phase when he turned 16. As long as he has that kind of unchecked power, there’s ALWAYS going to be doubt as to whether or not it’s safe to let him wander around, there’s ALWAYS going to be people who either want him dead for the good of mankind or want to use and manipulate him to their own ends, and - as we see in Return of Tsul’Kalu - he’s not immune to despair, as he literally says “if even the good cryptids think I’m destined for evil, I don’t know why I should even fight it anymore.” Even assuming Zak is incorruptibly “good” (which, again, we have evidence that he isn’t), at some point he’s going to have to start thinking about whether it’s his responsibility to police humanity. If people are illegally burning down the rainforests, and the government won’t do anything, wouldn’t Zak be morally obligated to do something extrajudicial about that? Where does that slippery slope end? So, like, honestly, I kind of agree. The only way for him to firmly stay on the side of good is for him to lose his incredible power, because you know what they say about absolute power.

“I have done a lot of research into the show”

This tier is about doing a bit of extraneous googling into tidbits that are brought up in the show. The cryptids all being based on real things is pretty common knowledge, but there’s so much more in this show that’s based on real stuff than that.

Drew’s fire sword is Manjushri’s khadga: Drew’s fire sword is based on the blade (khadga is the specific type of sword) that the bodhisattva Manjushri wields. It symbolizes wisdom, which cuts through duality and ignorance. And there are ones from Tibet (where Drew was raised) that look JUST LIKE the one in the show.

Tetzcatlipoca’s epithet was “The Smoking Mirror”: Most of this is covered in the previous section, but did you know that Tetzcatlipoca was considered the rival to Quetzalcoatl? This is especially interesting given that Quetzalcoatl is the feathered serpent, and Kur was believed to be a serpentine dragon (more on that later). I will also mention that Tetzcatlipoca transformed into a jaguar after Quetzalcoatl struck down his stint as sun, by the way. For fanart purposes, you know.

Garuda is a mythological Hindu figure: Garuda is a demigod in Hindu mythology that is depicted either as a giant bird resembling a kite (sea-eagle), or a bird furry. There’s a myth where he eats nagas. This is why the Legion of Garuda is named after him, and why the wizard guy summons a giant eagle illusion to scare off the nagas.

Kumari Kandam, Lemuria, Shangri-La Real: Kumari Kandam and Lemuria are two names for the same proposed (and disproven) sunken land bridge between the Indian subcontinent and Madagascar, which would’ve explained how monkeys got to Madagascar and became lemurs (hence the name). Due to some Hippie New Age Bull Shit, the survivors of Lemuria (often interchangeably used with Atlantis) moved to the Mt. Shasta region of California, where myths and legends of “lemurians” persist to this day. Shangri-La (the Lemurian homeland in the show) is unrelated to the two and is instead a fictional earthly paradise located in the Himalayas.

Dead Sea Scrolls reference: The scroll Wadi finds is definitely a reference to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Related to that,

Methuselah Tree Real: In real life, the methuselah tree is the oldest tree in the world, and - like in the show - its location is a carefully guarded secret. Not because it’s the font of all water in the world (a clear reference to the Norse myth of the World Tree and possibly a reference to the Zamzam Well), but to avoid vandalism, as we all know what people are like.

Inaccessible Island Real: Argost briefly mentions that they’re on Inaccessible Island before he steals Zak Monday’s powers. This is a real, shitty little island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Tomb of Kur Real: The Official Cryptid Field Guide lists the Tomb of Kur as the “Kohker Archaeological Site.” This is a real place, and is a temple dedicated to Shiva.

Library at Alexandria Real: The Library at Alexandria was a massive collection of books - every book brought into port at Alexandria would be copied, the copy stored in the library, and the original returned to its owner. Such a massive collection... all burned down. Tragic.

Naga fireball phenomenon Real: There’s a phenomenon that happens along the Mekong River where fireballs regularly erupt. The family goes looking for the naga using this phenomenon in the season 2 premier.

Mines set on fire that stay on fire for years Real: The mine that’s on fire in the bunyip episode is probably a reference to Burning Mountain, a mountain in Australia that has a fire under it that’s been burning for 6000 years. There’s many other such long-lived fires in the world.

Judaculla Rocks Real: The rock Zak damages in Return of Tsul’Kalu is the Judaculla rock, which is in the show the same as it is in real life - significant to the Cherokee people and associated with Tsul’Kalu, the Master of Game.

“Kur” used to refer to the first mythological dragon: So we now know that “Kur” referred to a TON of different things - the mountains, the lands, the people who came from the mountains, the netherworld, etc. HOWEVER, at the time, the main person writing about Kur attributed the word to a serpentine beast living at the bottom of the Netherworld, which he then called the first dragon ever depicted in human mythology. This has been more or less debunked now, but it’s what the show was using. Serpentine symbolism is used in the show to represent Kur - there’s a set of snakes on some of the doors in Kur’s tomb, and Kur’s most dedicated servants are sneople.

“I have done TOO MUCH research into the show.”

This tier is about my descent into madness. It covers research that wouldn’t normally be performed, supplementary material that very few people know about, etc.

Men of the Saturday family have biblical names: First we have Solomon Saturday and Zak Saturday, with Zak pretty obviously standing in for some variant of Zakariya/Zechariah. The prequel comics also give us an Elijah Saturday and a Samuel Saturday, so this is a very deliberate choice.

Solomon = “peace” but also associated with the Lesser Key of Solomon: The Lesser Key of Solomon is a famous demonology grimoire that lists several demons, their ranks, what they do, and how to summon them. A little bit like a cryptopedia.

Zak = Zakariya = “God Has Remembered”: That’s what his name means. And, like... kind of spooky considering Zak’s the reincarnation of a god. Now, while lots of spellings of this name exist, I prefer Zakariya. I think Doc initially would've wanted Zachariah/Zechariah because it's more biblical, but I also personally believe Drew (who speaks Arabic and is a white mom) would go for something a little more unique, compromising on the Arabic spelling. Plus, it has the K in it. Which I like. Though it would be in character for Zak to be Zachariah and shorten it with a K on purpose himself to look cooler. Either way, Zakariya/Zachariah/any of its variants is almost certainly what Zak is short for. Zechariah is also, famously, the last of the martyrs. And martyr himself Zak did!

Drew and Doyle are Gaelic / Ginger confirmed: Drew is albino so she wouldn’t have them but we were cheated out of Doyle with freckles. This is, incidentally, probably why Zak has freckles in the Ben10 crossover that I don’t like thinking about.

Wadi = riverbed that sometimes dries up: Wadi, noun. A valley, gully, or streambed in northern Africa and southwest Asia that remains dry except during the rainy season. It’s symbolism about the whole Eterno thing.

Short hair Drew: You guys want some concept art?

Zak’s name used to be Francis:

Abbey sold plundered relics to museums for money: Also from the prequel comics; Abbey was Zak’s favorite babysitter because she used to take him on wild wacky adventures... robbing tombs. And then selling the artifacts she’d find there to museums. Van Rook shows up and does a “not so different” on her for this. And he was sooo right!

Divining rod = Shiva’s trident: This fucking thing HAUNTED ME FOR YEARS

Because that’s not any “divining rod” or “dowsing rod” I know about! Well, GUESS WHAT.

It’s Shiva’s fucking trident. It symbolizes many different trinities, like “past/present/future” and “joy/compassion/love” and stuff. YEARS IT TOOK ME.

Kur is associated with the Hindu god Shiva, known as “The Destroyer”: Kur’s tomb is literally a temple dedicated to Shiva, one of Shiva's symbols is a cobra coiled around his neck (and Rani Nagi famously uses cobras to chat), and the divining rod used to find Kur is shaped like Shiva’s trishula. Furthermore, one of Shiva's aspects is the King of Beasts. So, like, yeah. The cobra tends to symbolize how Shiva has tamed the venomous ego, and his dominion over all animals on earth, so... they are making a really obvious parallel here. Rani Nagi even calls Kur “the destroyer” at one point! The clear implication of this association is both to more strongly enforce the idea that Kur is something divine, or seen as divine, and to cast its destruction in a more ambiguous light - Shiva may be the destroyer, but he is also the preserver, and in no iteration of Hinduism is he treated as an evil deity. Creation, preservation, and destruction is merely a natural cycle, one of the trinities represented by Shiva's trident. But it sure sucks for the people who are getting destroyed, so it's natural a creature whose existence IS destroying things would be viewed as "evil" or "bad" by the unfortunate species getting their asses kicked.

“These questions plague me deep into the night”

These are just questions that haunt me. Someone save me from this madness

#the secret saturdays #zak saturday #drew saturday #doc saturday #jay stephens

123 notes · View notes