Star Trek Prodigy "Dream Catcher"

Doctor Who 5x01 - The Eleventh Hour

Starburst issue 483

Cover by Paul Loudon

It's 2023 and Beep the Meep is on the cover of a magazine! Love seeing handmade cover art instead of the usual photoshop.

Also: a Sontaran, Prisoner Zero, an Ood, Omega, a Sea Devil, the Kandyman (!), a Weeping Angel, a Cyberman, a Kaldor android, a Zygon, a Dalek, and an Ice Warrior.

I love getting into things so niche or underrated that not even Tumblr has many posts about it

A friend took this shot of lightning over Brighton last night in the storm, and now I'm checking for extra doors in my house.

Frog update number 2: “Prisoner Zero”, as I’ve named him, will be staying the night. I couldn’t get him out of the house and I need to rest. Hopefully by tomorrow he’ll be relocated outside where he belongs. Please send positive vibes in hopes the little guy will be returned home soon. 😂

A blue-skinned wizard and the library on the bowels of a spaceship

The Librarian worrying about his library in episode 11, "Ragnabook: Part One"

In the past, I reviewed the Australian animated series, Prisoner Zero, mentioning an old, frail character, named the librarian (voiced by Gary Martin) has a library buried deep inside of a spaceship called the Rogue, how he has magical powers, and his interactions with the story's protagonists, even though his appearance fulfills usual librarian stereotypes, although he once was younger. I am glad to report that apart from his appearance in the episode "Librarian" (the show's sixth episode) the library first appears as a flashback in the episode "Schism" (episode 8) and there are two other episodes specifically focused on the library: "Ragnabook: Part One" and "Ragnabook: Part Two." Unfortunately, while the Librarian becomes a main character, the library does not appear in episode 9, nor in episodes 12-26, almost half the show! So, that's a damn shame. Anyway, I'd still like to highlight the three episodes I didn't focus on in my last post and talk about the value of libraries, and librarians, which are emphasized in the episodes.

Let's start with the episode "Schism." Tag and Prisoner Zero go through the library on the ship in hopes of changing time back to its usual course. The librarian helps him (Prisoner Zero) regain his memory. There is then a final scene in the library at the end of the episode. This serves as a major part of the episode. I would include the images in this post from that episode, but I don't want to make this post too image-heavy, as I used to do in some of my early posts on this blog, so I'm trying to be mindful of that. Instead, I'll probably add the images to my newsletter. With that, I'd like to focus on the episodes "Ragnabook: Part One" and "Ragnabook: Part Two." The thing that made me so sad about this was the piles of books we see here (and in other episodes in the series). Those books should be properly organized, rather than just be in piles. How can anyone find the books or access them when they are in these piles? That is never answered, of course.

We then get to the episode "Ragnabook: Part One." A monster escapes from the "forbidden section" of the library; they (Zero, Tag, and Jem) all go down to the library and find it in a bad shape, with every room a dangerous place with the monster on the loose; the librarian tells Tag that libraries aren't just for storing books but for retaining information in all its forms (artifacts, public records, images, living creatures). The monster attacks them all and only has one purpose: to rewrite history and to know all knowledge; Tag and Jem travel into the forbidden section to help defeat the monster. Zero fights off books with a book insider the monster which wants to destroy the universe. It turns out that the monster is a living, thinking book from the "dark times" which documented the achievements of victors. The librarian is exhausted by caring for his library for thousands of years, fighting off people/intruders in the process. Later, the books try to attack Tag and Jem and eat them, like cookbooks. The fact that the Librarian is exhausted by his duties (as he says explicitly) is the first time I've seen librarian burnout in a show, whether live-action or animation. As Jade Geary and Brittany Hickey wrote, in the publication In The Library with the Lead Pipe, "librarians need to be able to openly discuss burnout and know that they are not alone in dealing with it" and noted that even with the "overwhelming number of librarians who have experienced burnout, it is not a topic...mentioned in lectures or assigned readings in library school" even though the profession is "rife with burnout."

Jem in the library in the episode "Ragnabook: Part One," worrying about the monster. Tag, Zero, and the Librarian are in the background. This is NOT a way to organize books. Librarians are bound to organize books correctly and in an accessible way, not in literal book piles. Lazy choice by animators here.

In the episode "Ragnabook: Part Two," the Librarian continues to fight the monster with Zero, while Tag and Jem try another way, going through different rooms of the library. The Librarian says there is power in knowledge and that it should not be destroyed. He also tells how he became the librarian, started his life, and wanted to make his "mark on history." He built the library from his mind, apparently. Zero says that the library was even more incredible back in its heyday but the Librarian got old. Zero notes that a library is not redundant with all these stories, plays, and so on. Zero says that he just needs new visitors, noting that members of his crew are patrons who go to the library to explore "endless possibilities" in the books. Zero later pleads with the librarian to remember his past, who recorded the truth in his books; he shared stories of the library across the cosmos, leaving it open to everyone! Jenn says the best thing in libraries is books, although this implies that libraries are only books, which is wrong. Sadly, the whole library is destroyed so the librarian has to start over. That sucks. For some reason, the producers of this show never feature an episode where he rebuilds the library. BOO!

Let's analyze this librarian. He is definitely providing "the highest level of service" to library users, along with  "appropriate and usefully organized resources," as mentioned in the ALA Code of Ethics. He is also providing access to information, supporting people in their information sharing (by making the library open to everyone in the cosmos) per the short version of the IFLA Code of Ethics. This is despite the fact that he considered ownership over the library, which is why I called it a personal library. He, and Zero, make clear what Moya M. Mason pointed out in a 1990s article: "Libraries are repositories for humanity's knowledge; they are our past, our present, and our future. They are much more than storehouses for books, and include many other forms of data." That is something that animation should make more clear in the future. I'm not sure he has to endure any ethical dilemmas, however. Even so, the library is shown as an important institution and its value is emphasized.

In 2017, Sadie Trombetta, a freelance writer and book reviewer, of Bustle listed seven reasons why she believed that libraries are essential:

They offer free educational resources to everyone.

Libraries are safe refuges for the homeless and underserved populations.

They help boost local economies

They play an important role in English language learning.

Libraries make communities healthier.

They preserve history, and more importantly, truth.

Libraries help connect communities.

In this animation, since the library is on I'd say that #1, #6, and #7 are most relevant, but so is, perhaps, #5. I'd like to end this post with one of my favorite parts, from the episode "Ragnabook: Part Two" which shows patrons from the cosmos in the library on the Rogue:

With that, this post comes to a close.

© 2021 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Library Review and Wayback Machine.

So I'm watching Prisoner Zero, its an Australian animated series that came out in 2016 for those who don't know the show.

I remembered the whole red character x blue character (aka: Klance, etc) because of these twos colour at the moment. I will also point out that its not their normal colour schemes but it still fits lol.

And yes to clarify it is a kind of ship post.

[ cw: ptsd / ]

The boys (and April!) would have loved to have their own Space Arc like the other iterations. Being such avid fans of Jupiter Jim, I think they’d have a blast just taking in the fact that they’re in space.

Imagine them gravity being turned off while they’re in space, and they’re floating and having fun in the spaceship and they look out into the darkness of space and-

And…

Leo’s floating, staring out into grey blankness, and everything hurts and he’s alone and this was his choice but he’s scared-

Things get less fun after they realize they already had a small taste of what space had to offer.

Star Trek Prodigy "Terror Firma"

2023 Otome game progress

100% completed:

Shuuen no Virche -ErroR:Salvation-

Shuuen no Virche -EpiC:lycoris-

Bustafellows

Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan

70-80% completed:

Cupid Parasite (only Allan and secret route to go)

Spade no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful White World~ (only Lewis route left to go)

Taisho x Alice (half of Snow White/Wizard/Epilogue route still to do)

Collar x Malice: Unlimited (half of Yanagi's route and Adonis route to finish)

One to two routes completed:

Bustafellows Seasons 2 (finished my faves Crow and Helvetica but got stuck on Mozu's route which I was really not feeling...I'll get back to it...eventually...)

Kamigami no Asobi (Baldr's route completed, would love to do Hades' next when I get back to this one)

Cendrillon palikA (finished blonde Sasazuka Klone Spinel's route, would like to do Ela's route next)

Clock Zero (finished Riichirou and Shuuya, Toranosuke up next)

9R.I.P. (finished Hibiki's route, Kureha's up next)

Piofiore (only finished Nicola's route, might do Dante or Orlok's next)

Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Kuroyuri Enyoutan (finished Hisui's route only, haven't really decided who to do after yet but following my original order, Shizuru I guess?)

Started:

Steam Prison (did the common route and fell in love with Fin only to read spoilers about what happens with him later and yeah...I would like to finish eventually though, especially with the news about there being a sequel)

Birushana (started Shungen's route bc Souma Saitou and did like it although ended up getting distracted, will definitely finish when I have the time)

been a little obsessed with mira lately

END OF THE COW PFP ERA I AM NOW IN THE NICHE SHOW MY GF GOTME INTO ERA

on Discord we were exploring the concept of “Horizon is a Muppet movie; who’s the token human” and while we didn’t coalesce around any single choice on that base prompt... @finrays stuck this mental image of Kermit Avad making the Scrunch Face so violently into my brain that I had to draw it.

Immortal being the Doctor entering a night club in London so he can pick up another human teenager to emotionally traumatise for life