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kinetic-elaboration · 4 years

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July 9: Star Trek 1x05 The Enemy Within

Today’s ep: The Enemy Within. Overall this is a good ep, but I don’t know that I entirely agree with its thesis, and some parts of it are so uncomfortable that they mess with my general enjoyment.

Kirk, being encouraging of his crew: “That will make a good specimen.” I like how it’s just one line but there’s such confidence about him. They have to remind you of his normal self fast because he’s split for 99% of the episode.

Sulu: “That’s nippy.” I love Sulu.

So they just find an alien dog on the planet and decide to steal it? Lol your fav is problematic Enterprise crew.

(Like how they just never explained why they sent the dog up by itself later lol.)

I forgot that it was the ore that messed with the transporter. That’s a cool idea; makes sense. Alien ore gets in your system now weird stuff happens.

Evil Kirk appears and no one sees him--that’s why you don’t leave the transporter room unattended like Kirk said!!

Honestly imagine how wild seeing this when it first aired and not knowing much about Star Trek would be. Weird new sci fi show’s been on for a month and suddenly there are two Captains!! What!?!?

Even the way Evil!Kirk touches the ship is lascivious.

Bones is a good doctor. He really does have a good bedside manner; I don’t feel like people remember this about him enough.

He also keeps brandy in sickbay lol.

This scene with gratuitously shirtless Kirk and distracted Spock... it doesn’t look anything less like a porno in context honestly. I know Spock is supposed to be distracted because he’s hearing information that doesn’t make sense but Kirk is just so obviously turning on the flirt face (aka his usual face with Spock) and he’s shirtless so... the distraction is real and multi-faceted.

Ooh, Janice is an artist! I love her little rotating mirror thing.

This scene is so terrible. Really upsets me. Surely they could have found some way to portray ‘pure selfish id’ without going immediately to sexual assault.

Evil!Kirk wears so much eye makeup.

It’s interesting to me that Good!Kirk is so obviously not the real Kirk either, right from the moment he steps off the transporter. (Not to be that person again but Shatner is a better actor than people give him credit for being.)

Spock will save the day! I know that Rand calls for him because he’s First Officer but it’s still interesting that she goes for that name over, like, security.

Evil!Kirk is also where Kirk keeps all his dramatic tendencies.

I feel so bad for Janice in this scene. “What was I supposed to do? He’s the Captain.” Anyway this is why this is still a problem.

That dog omg.

“Set phasers to stun.”

“The search party is to capture you.” Yeah, that’s hard to explain. “Hey, crew, we’re going to play a little game of hide and seek. I’ll hide first.”

Man this conversation between Kirk and Spock. Leadership is one of my favorite themes in ST and Kirk is probably my favorite fictional leader of all time okay so this means a lot to me. “You don’t have the right to be vulnerable in the eyes of the crew.”

Spock is honestly just so on Kirk’s side, at every single moment. He believes him, trusts him, knows who he is, is loyal to him, is honest with him, knows how to handle him, how to care for him.

Spock likes the dog. He likes animals, in general.

The phaser vocab is so different this early on. “Base cycle.”

Good thing Kirk has makeup readily available to cover up his scratches.

My mom suggested transporting some blankets to the planet. But what if they split into evil blankets!! (Interesting that inanimate objects DO split too though.)

I feel like Kirk tried to do a Vulcan nerve pinch there lol.

“If I’m to be the Captain, I’ve got to act like one.” Immediately goes to a shot of his evil self climbing on equipment.

Spock: I always have a point.”

Spock listing out Kirk’s good qualities: his intellect, compassion, love, tenderness. Telling, lol. A lot of synonyms for how much he loves and admires Kirk. Kirk appreciation hour.

“If I seem insensitive to what you’re going through, Captain, understand: it’s the way I am.” I love this line, it’s perfect, because it has two meanings: how I am is unemotional, which causes me to seem insensitive; but also: I go through what you’re going through all the time, it’s how I am.

“Lower us down a pot of hot coffee or some rice wine.”

Poor Kirk, so many struggles, not enough snuggles.

There’s no way people could live through those temperatures in those clothes and not die. Sulu calling for room service. I love him. (Why did they drop his sense of humor in the movies???)

“A thoughtless, brutal animal... yet it’s me.”

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the main thesis of this ep. But. I do love that Kirk’s courage is in his good side.

And so much compassion....”Don’t hurt him. Don’t hurt my evil side.”

Poor animal. Goes through such a confusing experience. Then dies.

Second Officer Spock. I’ve seen people make a big deal out of this but it’s pretty obvious to me this is supposed to mean “Second in command.” As in Kirk is the “First Officer” as the Captain and Spock is second. He behaves in all ways as the second in command, right down to making that log entry at all.

The AOS verse should have rebooted this ep instead of Space Seed (I say every single episode). I mean, STID had as a theme “Kirk learning what it means to command.” That could be tied in! Also can you imagine, two CPines? Two??

Half alien Spock.

Jim’s compassion is paralyzing him.

Aaaand we’re back on the creepy train with Evil!Kirk.

Evil!Kirk doesn’t care about the crew at all. He can make decisions fast because he only cares about himself, so there’s always an easy answer.

Of course he and everyone else looks to Spock as the authority on Kirks.

Evil!Kirk knows he’s not the dominant one here, that re-combining with Good!Kirk means a certain ‘death’ or at least... being sent back to the depths.

Spock at the transporter as if this were even his department lol.

“I’ve seen a part of myself no man should ever see.”

That flirty face he gives Spock though oml. Get a room.

Ugh Spock’s last comment was so ragingly inappropriate. Hate it. But also, read it as an expression of his own extreme jealousy because he’s definitely a jealous person. Just put through the ‘sexist 60s man’ dialogue-writer translator.

So again, I like the idea of this ep and a lot of the details but the details I don’t like are......hard to ignore.

I liked that the bad side was dramatic, selfish, confused, entitled, and it made sense that he was violent and even lustful. And I liked that Kirk had such a hard time seeing that part of himself and acknowledging it. And I do think it's a good lesson/message that we need to understand our own worst impulses and that those impulses are part of us and maybe even tied to parts of us that we need. But the implication that everyone's a little rapey and that the events of this episode necessarily mean Janice has to work for someone she knows is inappropriately lustful toward her just... are really hard for me to entirely get over.

Honestly her reaction just really makes me so sad. And it annoys me that no one stands up for her, no one says that the Captain was wrong and she didn’t deserve that treatment, “imposter” or no. I guess that's what bothers me more than that Evil!Kirk went immediately to assault, b/c the idea IS that he is lustful, violent, and completely selfish. He cares about himself, his survival, his ship, what he owns, what he deserves. Maybe it is natural he would let the power go to his head and seek out someone who he knows he could manipulate easily into giving him something he wants. Maybe it's no different in a way from stranding the crew on the planet. But no one says "hey, that's wrong what he did. You're entitled to respect from the Captain." And I wish someone had.

I recognize this was made in 1966 and I do generally give ST credit within the context within which it was made, but I am a 2020 viewer and the ep certainly hits home given, you know, everything, so... just some thoughts.

Anyway, another thing I was thinking about during the ep was that I feel like I forget that Spock has two "warring halves" b/c he's half human. Because before he put it that way, I was thinking about how the war in him is between his natural Vulcan emotions and his Vulcan teachings. But now I wonder if the whole "Vulcans are super emotional" thing might actually be quite late in the canon, and initially they were intended to be naturally "emotionless.” But basically I don’t actually know how I headcanon the human and Vulcan halves of him interacting... You’d think I would lol but my take in haicg was really... pretty focused on the Vulcanness of him. I guess I thought of the human half as more of a cultural thing because physically, emotionally, psychologically, and physiologically he appears to be primarily Vulcan.

Talking about this more with my mom, it’s making more sense to me... it is cultural and it’s about expectations. He wants to “honor his father’s teachings” and be Vulcan. But he has a whole half, a whole side of his family, with different teachings and beliefs--what to do with them? When he’s around Vulcans, they are obsessed with his human side. When he’s around humans, they see him as fully Vulcan--which is much easier for him and why he seeks them out imo--but it also is a constant ignoring of part of him he feels guilty for ignoring. When McCoy tells him to be more emotional, does a part of him wonder if he should? For his mom? But then... Vulcans don’t choose to be logical for fun. It’s for safety, it’s for survival. So how can he do anything else but follow his father? Who he also doesn’t speak to for 20 years and has a super complicated relationship with! So it’s difficult.

Anyway. That was an emotionally intense experience for this human person. The next ep is Mudd’s Women, one of the weaker S1 offerings, but still a classic as per usual.

#the year 2020 #2020: star trek #2020: fandom thoughts #star trek tos

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danseru-kun · 7 years

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FFXV Playthrough Part 8

31 hours in the game, finished the Altissa chapter. The first image I can think of after Leviathan is this William Shatner pic I saved years ago. It was destined to be used for this post.

Because that is the only face that can express my mixed feelings over what happened, and again, a lot of disappointments under the cut:

Okay Altissa. We’re introduced again to this new character. Hey, he owns a bar and he is connected to important people

I went fishing a little, some boat ridin I skipped

Finally talked to the leader, forgot her name. Wow, this reminds me of Bioware games, but is Noctis supposed to be a set character instead of a player avatar? Anyway, my approach is the same as all my avatars: diplomatic but frankly pragmatic. It worked I guess, I wonder if better could be done.

Next section is really ranty:

Luna’s speech! It seems poetic but I still have zero idea on what she is saying. Noctis cried wow.... but there is nothing earned. Because while Luna spoke of suffering, we have barely seen anything at all. We didn’t see Insomia burn, we saw no refugees except Iris, and overall people in Lucis have been thriving. The only death alluded is Talcott’s grandpa whom we don’t care about.

I still don’t get how Luna have gone to Titan and Lestallum and was fine on her own but then the Empire caught up with her in Altissa. Did she use a car? A chocobo? A summon? Who knows? Why didn’t she just arrange a meeting with Noctis in Lucis through Umbra?

Then Leviathan battle. This is the trailer material. Okay, the Leviathan battle was really, really cool with the water effects but boring after like ten minutes of button mashing. I see no point in strategy when you can’t use any spells and Noctis was basically immortal that battle.

And the tragedy happens... I was not expecting it. I thought Luna would last until the end of the story. Moreover, random guy Ardyn shows up again out of nowhere. I hate you.

I want to feel sad but there is barely any emotion I can conjure. More of disappointment. Luna seems precious but I can only understand half of what she says, and most of her interaction with Noctis is helping him reach his incredibly vague destiny instead of something really personal. Nor did she express anything selfish or tell us her wants and needs. She is a walking Tragic Love Interest With Mystical Powers and a plot device for Noctis.

The visuals of her death was pretty cinematic but the emotional weight of the scene is barely existent. The drama was unearned.

While at least Noctis reacted, I was really, really disappointed that they failed to tap the potential of that tragic event.

Next chapter:

Wait what, didn’t Leviathan just wreck Altissa? Why is it totally okay again at this cutscene? Also, where is the Empire now!? They just left Noctis after Luna died!?

OMG Luna just died and Noctis was crying then the chapter finished with Noctis leveling up his fishing skills and a collection of Prompto’s selfies. Way to emphasize the tragedy!

Ignis is blind.... seriously? What is this drama!? I wish we could have seen it, because there has been no build up, no heroism, nothing at stake with his blindness. No scene of helping civilians. It would have been sadder with Prompto because that guy loves photography. Still, I don’t see the purpose of making him blind.

Gladio you dick! No, while I get where he’s coming from [weeks of frustration], it has only been seconds for the player so he’s berating a guy who lost his betrothed because someone else is suffering. Screw you Gladdy boy! You just jumped a few years lower than my age. But seriously, while Noctis does moan about his suffering he’s not really giving up or running away. If I was there, I’d tell Noctis to channel his anger and grief into a drive to... ummm.. what is the goal again?

The goal is the Crystal. And I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT DOES AND WHAT THEY HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH!? What is their end end goal? Who are they trying to defeat?

Three chapters left and more to write about:

#dkun plays #dkun plays ffxv #ffxv criticism #ffxv critical

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spaceorphan18 · 7 years

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Finding Kurt Hummel: Props

Masterpost

3x20: Props

I have such a love-hate relationship with this episode. On the one hand, they did one of the best things the show ever did with the bodyswaping stuff. On the other, we get twenty minutes of Rachel stalking Carmen Tibideaux and Tina bowing down at the alter that is Rachel. And interestingly, this episode really cuts in half, as the first half actually has to do with getting ready for nationals, and the second half is solely about Rachel and Tina, and the Puck/Beiste story lines. The nice part is that Kurt doesn’t have to do much with either of those plot lines, so I can skip a bunch of it. Whoot!

Gender Identity

So -- we open this episode with Sue dragging Kurt and Mercedes in her office to talk about Unique becoming the darling of the show choir world. Sue believes it’s because a gimmicky boy dressing up as a girl thing, and blames Kurtcedes for the idea (even though it was hers). I love the constant confusion on Mercedes’s face during this scene. Kurt follows her a little more, and is a bit more annoyed by the whole thing.

I’d like to take a second and say yay! for the return of Kurtcedes. Not that they really do anything together in this scene, but I always like to point out that their friendship is far from over. :)

Anyway, the crux of Sue’s big idea is that she wants Kurt to dress up like a girl. And Kurt is just not having it.

Kurt: Just because I’m gay does not mean I like to dress up as a woman.

And Kurt getting straight to the point. As stated in Saturday Night Gleever -- there’s a difference between being gay and being transgender, or being transgender and liking to cross dress. I think, also, leading to conversations about the difference between expression and identity. It’s kind of cool that Glee is presented these ideas and having this narrative -- especially since this is before transgender became the forefront of public conversation.

Mercedes points out that Kurt dressed up as a woman for Halloween. And hold on, let’s take a second and talk about this little bit of brilliance. Remember when this came out, and there was a still, and we couldn’t figure out who was standing with Darren for a half second? Lol. I love this little tidbit so much -- I’m sad we never really got a Halloween episode. I’m sad we didn’t get more Klaine couples outfits. I’m sad we didn’t get conversations Klaine had about their couples outfits. Man...

But I digress. Kurt’s argues that Halloween costume is just that -- and he’s not going to go on stage in a dress, because that’s not who he is, no matter how many kilts he owns ;)

As we get into Nationals discussion with the whole group, Sue still insists that Kurt will be featured -- in the Trouble Tones number (!!!) -- as he dresses up as a girl. Kurt’s still not having it. I also love that Blaine is totally WTF, Sue in this scene.

There’s also a beat after this that just cracks me up -- where Sue says something offensive like -- you’ll do as you’re told he-she. Kurt, omg, devil glare if I ever saw one. But it’s Blaine’s reaction that’s priceless. He’s like -- wait, what did you just say? Yeah, no, Kurt is not that.

As Sue calls Kurt a transsexual. OMG, Sue, stop.

Anyway -- we get into the ‘props’ part of the episode, and where this plot line recycles season 1 Hairography. But, I will say, this entire scene has a lot of hilarious little beats in it, and totally worth watch in its entirety.

Also -- we get into Tina ripping down Will, and then ripping down Rachel. I’m so, so sorry we get a complete 180 of her by the end of the episode because this part is so brilliantly done, and so meta on a lot of levels, it’s unbelievable. But GAAAAHHHH the backtracking. Don’t get me started!! (I’ve just noticed this episode was written and directed by Ian Brennan. No wonder I want to throw things at it.)

Body-Swapping

Before we get into the brilliant body swapping stuff, we get this mini-Klaine scene, where Blaine is reiterating Kurt’s earlier point -- being gay does not mean automatic enjoyment of crossdressing, or identifying as another gender. I’m kind of endeared by how indignant Blaine is on Kurt’s behalf. If I had to guess, they’ve been talking about it all day, (week?).

Also -- can we take a second and adore that Kurt and Blaine are sitting in massage chairs in the mall just hanging out. I kind of wish we had gotten to see more of this daily life side of their relationship.

Anyway -- so Tina comes along, and is rightfully pissed off at Mike for defending Rachel. I mean, yeah, dude, have some pride in your girlfriend. And the Tina slips into the water fountain and hits her head, and then we get the brilliant spot in the episode.

Yes -- that’s right -- Finn and Puck are now Kurt and Blaine. America have you shit yourself yet, lol?

Alright, so let’s talk about this a second. I know it’s Tina’s fantasy, but I think there are some interesting things going on here.

First of all, Cory was fantastic as Kurt -- he goes for that high voice and that poised look, and while he’s a little too tall and gangling to pull it off, I love it, it’s awesome. I’m not entirely sure what Mark Salling is doing with Blaine -- is it a William Shatner version of Blaine? Lol -- I think it lends itself more on the parody side of things, but I’m still entertained. I’m a little sad Darren didn’t get to do much as Puck, sadly.

Anyway -- it’s interesting here that they bring up the whole Dance With Somebody scandal. Blaine’s still got issues and Kurt tries to comfort him, yet they’re kind of bickering about it (while being endearing as Finn-Kurt brushes dirt off Puck-Blaine’s shoulder). I know this is Tina’s fantasy -- but it’d be interesting if there was some basis of reality there -- that it’s not all about Blaine the best and dutiful boyfriend, that all wasn’t patched up in Emma’s office. There are little cracks there that are going to lead into season four’s break ups. It’s kind of fascinating. I’m just sorry that the show has to play it off in this way, as comedic, and in someone’s fantasy.

Let’s take a second and talk about Chris playing Finn. And how utterly amazing it is. He just nails the mannerisms and speech pattern. OMG -- I love everything about this little moment. It’s perfect.

I’m not a big fan of this song, but man, it’s worth watching over and over just to see how everyone portrays everyone else. It’s so much fun. And Kudos to Jane and Matt who really outdo themselves in flipping Will and Sue.

So -- we get Finn-Kurt and Puck-Blaine looking all lovey at each other and, gasp, holding hands. Now, I’ve done how many of these now? Do you know how man times the real Kurt and Blaine have held hands during someone’s solo? Zero. In fact, the one time it looks like they do more than look at each other, it was cut.

Aaannd, here’s where you can tell Glee is pushing to see how far they can go. Don’t get me wrong, I love this moment, and giggle every time I see it, because it is a cute/funny moment. But -- I think it’s a statement, too. Because apparently the show can do m/m affection when it’s funny, just not when it’s serious. And, yeah, that is frustrating. And actually, I’d like to point out that Mercedes and Artie and Brittany and Santana are even more all over each other, and kiss at one point during this song. So yes -- this is why I think the censors were all over gay affection in season three. Because they got away with it here, and the show went out of its way to purposely make a joke out if it.

So yeah, after some plot related Tina-Rachelnes, we’re back to reality. As fun as it was, I would not trade in the real Klaine.

Props

All I can think about is controlled danger. That’s not a Kurt look. That’s a Chris look. Lol.

This is also another little scene with a lot of hilarious little bits. I’m so sad the second half of this episode is so awful, because the first half is amazing.

As Will relearns what he was taught in Hairography, Sue insists, again, that Kurt dress up as a girl. Man, this is getting old, tbh. But I’m assuming it’s set up for Puck coming in dressed as a woman? At least Kurt seems to have some kind of idea that doesn’t involve welding.

It actually involves more showchoir spying. Man, this feels almost like a season 1 Kurt throwback, though I suppose season 2 is when Kurt first started his showchoir spying. Lol. At least he seems to be better in his second attempt.

Kurt’s stolen them some footage of Vocal Adrenaline rehearsing. I love that Kurt’s redone the footage in black and white because he worships The Artist. Also -- they do the human centipede that looks suspiciously like a specific sex move, and something Blaine claims looks ‘not that hard’. Fantastic.

Man, how many eye rolls can Kurt give to Sue in this episode. Anyway, this is the scene where Puck comes in dressed up as a girl -- because a real man can wear a dress, or some such nonsense. I kind of wish we saw Kurt’s reaction to the whole thing, but we don’t.

And this is smack dab in the middle of the episode. After this, it all goes down hill as we get Rachel brainwashing Tina, and continuation of the Puck/Beiste story. This episode is so weirdly paced, because it was going so well in the first half, and this second half is just -- not great. The Puck/Beiste stuff works more so, but was barely set up in the first half of the episode. It’s so weird.

The nice thing is that I get to skip all of it, because Kurt (and everyone who is not Rachel, Tina, Puck, and Beiste) is not involved.

Flashdance to Nationals

And now we’re at the end of the episode -- where Kurt’s listening to Sam’s impressions as Rachel spouts off about their different personality aspects are what makes them unique, ya de da. I’m a little preoccupied with Kurt’s hoodie. I think this it’s the most casual thing we’ve seen him wear up to this point, and I’m slightly fascinated by it.

Rachel and Tina flashdacne their way onto the bus to nationals. Kurt doesn’t turn around at any point, but I can recognize that shimmy dance anywhere, lol. Alright guys -- we’re almost at the end of season 3!

#finding kh #kurt hummel

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