[ SECRET POST #3400 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3400 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[The Secret of Crickley Hall]


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03.
[Longmire]


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04.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiKj0Z_Xnjc]


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05.
[Great British Bake Off]


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06.
[The West Wing]


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07.
[Kim Possible]


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08.
(Free! Iwabi Swim Club)


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09.
[Hyper Light Drifter]


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10.
[Sword of Truth]


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11.
[Count Cain/Godchild and Kuroshitsji]


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12.
[Discworld]


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13.
[assassination classroom]


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14.
[Monster Pop!]


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15.
["Magical Diary: Horse Hall" and "Harry Potter”]


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16.
[Silmarillion]


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17.
[Once Upon a Time]








Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 084 secrets from Secret Submission Post #486.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

Got a favorite episode, book, game, whatever that everybody else seems to hate for reasons that don't wash with you? Talk about it here!

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

I liked the video game "Too Human"

Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

I pretty much can only talk about it here , because it's an episode that's 24 years old, and I'm six months behind the daily rewatch group I was following.

So, I fucking love this episode. To recap: Star Trek creates an agender race and uses feelings of gender as a metaphor for homosexuality and the bigotry/homophobia people who are "different" face. And in that regard it's beautiful (and haunting). It would be more beautiful still if Jonathan Frakes had gotten his way and the main guest character - who falls for Riker and vice versa -- were played by a man. But the very fact that that wasn't allowed by producers speaks even more to the necessity of the episode.

And sure, viewed by 2016 eyes, the message gets kind of jumbled as we're smack in the middle of a trans rights movement.

But apparently EVERYBODY HATES THIS EPISODE. They hate it because it's not trans enough. Because it's a "reverse oppression story, where marginalized people are made into villains!!". And the one that really gets my goat is "because when the Enterprise crew are talking about gender and attraction, they never mention other sexualities! There aren't any gay people, but it steals gay people's struggles!"

And I just want to say "HELLO!! You're banging on the door of the point and missing it entirely!!" There weren't any gay people there because it's a show created in 1992, bound by the standards of 1992 television. And it was wrong. HENCE THE MOTHERFUCKING METAPHOR.

But oh, no, no. the writers were cowardly who just shouldn't have told the story if they weren't going to put actual gay people in it.

Ugh. It just makes me angry.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

It's not terrible but it isn't all that good, even by ST:TNG standards.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

I mean, I don't know

I think it's a fair point to say that it was a good idea that was sabotaged by the shittiness of the producers / Rodenberry's lawyer or whatever. The fact that they were handcuffed by those things doesn't intrinsically mean that the resulting episode was good. Just that it was a noble attempt.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

Because it's a "reverse oppression story, where marginalized people are made into villains!!"

Anyone who says this like it's a bad thing is an idiot. The oppression reversal is a classic and effective storytelling method when it's done well. I haven't seen the episode in years so I couldn't say for myself if this one was done well, but that reason alone isn't a good dismissal of it.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

Add another mark to the wall of why, apparently, privileged people should never try to concern themselves with the stories of the marginalized. They'll just "do it wrong" and shouldn't even try.

I hate "my" people sometimes. Making progress by ourselves is the slow-assed, idiot's way. We need to embrace allies and their efforts, wherever they come from, not demonize them for not doing enough.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

and I'm six months behind the daily rewatch group I was following.

Markwatches?

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

To me, it's not just that it's awkwardly shunting around the issues that they really want to discuss instead-- that's fairly typical Trek. It's the execution of it, with an uninspired performance from Melinda Culea as Soren and a frustrated Frakes trying to sell it but failing. And the one-note authority figures... ugh.

But it's just a particularly stupid allegory, in the end. Perhaps not as cringeworthy as certain progressive stands on TOS look now, but also without the fun/camp factor. "The Outcasts" will never be fun.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

That's the feeling I get when people complain about a lot of Star Trek. Yeah, by today's standards it's not very progressive, but at the time it was made...At least they tried, when few other shows/movies thought to. They did their best even if it didn't always work out very well.

Plus, I remember watching that episode for the first time when I was a small girl. I just got swept up by the story, the way I always did. And I was appalled when they brainwashed Riker's love interest at the end. Because why couldn't they just let them be in love? And that's the point of the episode and of ST in general. And yeah, maybe the point would have been made even clearer if the actor had been a man, but the fact I remember so much about an episode I haven't seen in over 20 years means the point stuck anyway.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

I fucking hate when people jump straight to blaming the writers in cases like this. Especially when they're self-righteous about it. It really just betrays how little the actually know about how TV shows get made.

Re: Star Trek TNG: The Outcast

[(Anonymous)]

no one's brought up what I thought was the obvious problem, that the ending could be interpreted as sanctioning Soren being brainwashed. :(

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[morieris]

I saw BvS finally yesterday, and while I can see how people dislike it (I'm a little torn but leaning more towards 'I liked it.'), I'm not quite sure how people found it SO confusing to follow. What confused you, anyone out there.

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

I'm one of the ones who saw it and disliked it...

I wasn't so much confused, as bored out of my skill. I had so few fucks to give about the characters that I couldn't find it in me to pay attention to every little detail. I literally almost fell asleep during the action scenes and kept checking the time.

If I had to pick a specific scene, I'd say the dream sequences were the most confusing. Why were they there? Why were they relevant? What were they talking about?

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[sparrow_lately]

I will defend the poor maligned Book of Job with my dying breath.

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[cloud_riven]

That one makes me want to punch God in the face, but's that not really a criticism so much as an emotional response that got evoked (good job, Job).

So, uh, I would have liked more elaboration on Satan waltzing up to heavenly court and why anyone listens to him? There. GO. DEFEND YOUR BOOK.

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like people ime are very much pro-Book of Job, but that might just be the particular circles I hang out with

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

I would be interested in subscribing to your newsletter.

Age of Ultron and Godzilla are way better...

[kaijinscendre]

Than most people remember. I was disappointed by both when I first saw them. I attribute this 100% to hype. On rewatches, they are both solid movies that I quite enjoy.

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

It's not necessarily unwarranted, but I do not understand the "DC adaptations are so dumb because they're dark, look how fun Marvel is!" thing. Like, I understand the genesis of the argument, but Winter Soldier was pretty grim, not to mention all of the Marvel/Netflix shows. I just don't get the superiority when it comes to tone.

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

It's not my favorite episode, but it drives me crazy when people say the FiM episode "Feeling Pinkie Keen" is pushing a religious agenda. It's saying it's better to believe in things that are proven to be true even if you don't understand them. Religion is about believing despite having no proof. The episode's message is the opposite of a religious agenda. For example, if most high-ranking Christians in America took that damn episode's moral and applied it, we wouldn't need to have any more debates over climate change, because everyone would agree that "not believing" in it doesn't stop it from being real.

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[skeletal_history]

I loved the Battlestar Galactica episode "The Woman King", which most people rank among the very worst episodes of the show. IDGI. I loved it because it was Helo-centric (heh), and (another unpopular opinion) Helo was my favorite character. AND he was my favorite character BECAUSE he was a straight-up Lawful Good "good guy" in a show full of shades of grey, and because he was a sweetheart. And because he was hot.

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[sarillia]

I've mentioned this before but it still bugs me.

I don't understand when people say that Lord of the Rings is full of wordy descriptions about mountains and things. I've asked people to point me to one of these descriptions so I can at least get a sense of where their frame of reference for concise vs wordy is but no one has ever done it.

I understand every other criticism of the books, even if I may still argue with some. But this one just confuses me. To the point where I actually checked to make sure that I hadn't accidentally read an abridged edition of the book. I've gone looking for the kinds of descriptions that people complain about and I end up going "oh here's something, maybe this is--, oh wait, it's just one sentence" over and over.

In defense of Helix

[ginainthekingsroad]

I loved Syfy's "Helix" FOR WHAT IT WAS and not FOR WHAT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.

This is the biggest problem with the viewership's rejection of Helix. Some of it has to do with marketing being inconsistent with the reality of the show; most of it has to do with people not accepting what really was the main arc all along. Hint: a good tv show is always going to be about people at the core, not microbes.

•Although "Helix" very obviously takes a lot of inspiration from John Carpenter's "The Thing" and uses a lot of horror tropes, I find that the show I find myself drawing the most thematic parallels with is... "Orphan Black." To the point where I can very easily imagine crossovers. Characters who have been living experiments their entire lives without knowing it. Mysterious fate-controlling corporations with a dubious military connection; and an underground network devoted to fighting against them. Personal genetic modification. An off-shoot from a scientific body twisting his knowledge into a religious cult. Women who experience having their own fertility used as leverage against them (!).

•Contrary to the marketing, the main character of "Helix" isn't Alan Faragut. It's Julia Walker's story and it always was. Everything in Julia's life is significant.

•A majority of the most powerful characters in this series are female (beyond core characters Julia and Sarah), and they're all unique and memorable. Season 1's Anana is an Inuit sheriff tracking a local mystery that goes back decades. Jeri Ryan turns up as corporate bitch Constance Sutton. Season 2's women of the St. Germaine cult might be even more interesting, with manipulative Sister Amy. I was perhaps most fascinated by Sister Anne's development, although to say more is a spoiler.

•Don't be afraid of change. Yes, there's a reboot and location change between seasons. The tease at the end of S2 was clearly setting up an even stranger development, although cancellation means it never will be. And I really like that-- they weren't afraid to try new things in combination with their established arc. While I agree S1's story is better, it's mostly because Dr. Hatake made such a strong impression that Michael DuBois can't live up to him.

•It kept me guessing. I never got bored with "Helix," because I was never clear exactly where it was going. Its influences were clear, but the story was its own. I hate feeling like I know what's developing two episodes before the characters get around to figuring it out. It filled the "mad science/body horror + tangled mythic arc" void on tv that was left after "Fringe" ended. There is also a reasonable parallel to be made between Olivia and Julia.

•The soundtrack. "Helix's" signature is what tvtropes would call "Soundtrack Dissonance." It's one of the most memorable features of the show, and the creators clearly had a lot of fun and effort pairing some of the goriest scenes with light pop ("Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" is a repeated theme); and my favorite, a particularly surreal scene, gets The Nutcracker. "Please pass the cranberry sauce."

Re: Unwarranted criticism

[(Anonymous)]

GoT The Episode with Cerseis "rape" and the one with Sansa's "wedding night".