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Tag Archives: Dracula
Avengers Assemble – A Long Way from Home
Ahoy, readers! Ar ye ready to sail in uncharted waters? Avast! It is time we be spinning tales of those famed heroes from Earth, the Mightiest of Champions – the Avengers!
You will see why I played around with the pirate lingo when we reach the end of the post. 😉 Normally, piratical speech is not my thing. It is used way too much these days for effect – or as a form of mockery for pirate tales – which means it tends to irritate me. So when one of Avengers Assemble's episodes played around with the vernacular, I had to grit my teeth from time to time. It was either that or cover my ears, and since I wanted to keep track of the story, I put up with it.
The first episode we will discuss aired before Christmas of 2017. Titled "New Year's Resolutions," it starred Tony, Cap, Howard Stark and – at long last – Peggy Carter, voiced by Haley Atwell herself. Yay…!
Mostly. Sorta. Kind of.
Okay, okay, I had major problems with Peggy's portrayal in the cartoon. The writers had her showing Steve up too much and generally did not let her be the Peggy I saw and enjoyed in Captain America: The First Avenger. I am guessing this has something to do with her depiction in her own series, Agent Carter, which leaned heavy on the Femi-Nazi and light on the story/character.
From what little I know of the series Agent Carter, Peggy came across as an angry, "let-me-prove-I'm-just-as-good-as-the-men" character, something which was certainly not the case in The First Avenger. It was more than a little sad to see her get short shrift in this episode, which I had been looking forward to viewing for some time. Peggy had her moments here, but they were few and far between.
Thankfully, "New Year's Resolutions" was not all bad news. The interplay between Tony and Howard in this episode almost made up for Peggy's disappointing deportment. We actually got to see the younger Stark bond with his father WITHOUT being a total brat or jerk about it. It was an unexpectedly sweet touch to what otherwise would have been a depressing, watered-down show.
Speaking of pluses, watching the four beat Kang was pure fun. And Arno Stark got to show up as Tony's descendant rather than his hidden, younger brother. There was no Arno-should-have-been-Iron-Man stupidity here, for which I am very thankful. Although I must admit, I would have liked to have heard the thirtieth century Stark toss out a zinger or two, just to show the genes had not faded over the millennium between him and Tony.
All of this is to say that "New Year's Resolutions" is an episode worth watching, despite its substandard treatment of Peggy Carter. Now if Marvel would just do what I asked and give the Avengers an adventure that took place on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, showing the team celebrating the holiday, I would know we were making some progress here. (No, I am not holding my breath while waiting for them to do that.)
Next we come to "The Eye of Agamotto, Parts 1 & 2." By a stroke of good fortune, I got to see Doctor Strange before these episodes came out. Strange has never been anywhere near my Favorite Marvel Characters' list, so the film and his appearance in the shows served more as filler material than anything else for me. But the fact that I got to see the movie meant I was prepared for Strange's changed look; prior to the movie, he had long hair in Assemble. It is now shorter and much more practical.
Part 1 one of "The Eye of Agamotto" showed the Avengers – Cap, Hawkeye, Falcon, Black Panther, and Carol Danvers – defending a SHIELD storehouse from HYDRA agents. Well, mostly defending it. The bad guys got away with whatever magical doohicky they wanted, but Cap and Panther succeed in tracking it down.
Unfortunately, said gem is already in the hands of Strange's arch nemesis, Baron Mordo. (The artists did a good job making him look like his film counterpart.) This is Panther's first encounter with a bonafide sorcerer, but he handles himself pretty well here. We also see him getting calls from his little sister, Shuri, who has to ring him up for Wakandan business at the most inopportune times. It gets so bad that he shunts her calls to voicemail.
So when she shows up on his and Cap's six unannounced, it nearly ends in disaster. Declaring that "no one puts [her] on voicemail," Shuri insists on tagging along for the adventure, triggering the traps Mordo set up with a bracelet gizmo she designed herself. She has to help T'Challa and Steve best Mordo after the latter uses a spell to steal Cap's powers.
T'Challa does well in this episode and so does Steve – for the most part. While I enjoyed seeing Shuri at long last, the writers could not resist plugging the "girl power" motif during this adventure. It was not simply annoying, it was Matronizing, and obviously so. I can handle Shuri having a list of degrees which nearly circles the world, but that should not be what makes her interesting. She comes from a culture of warriors, people! For Pete's sake, her brother's personal bodyguard corps is made up entirely of women so that peace can be maintained among Wakanda's tribes. I do not think they have any of our "problems" with "women's representation."
In this episode, Shuri is used to pantomime the idea that "brains beat brawn" – especially if they are female brains to men's brawn. No, Marvel writers. No, no, no, and no. Women are not physically strong enough, as a general rule, to overpower men, yes. Having Shuri outsmart Mordo was great, yes. But if you want her to be T'Challa and Cap's equal, show her not as a snobby, easily offended young woman looking down her nose at them, but as a young woman who can roll with the punches when she cannot dodge 'em. The writers did not do that properly here, which rankled. Badly.
Other than this irksome theme, we got a good show which demonstrated the strength of Cap and Panther's friendship, and which showed Steve being his usual, gracious self. It also put the spotlight, however briefly and dimly, on Shuri, which is great. All in all it was not a bad romp. It could have been better, but it was not bad.
Part 2 of "The Eye of Agamotto" was very entertaining, and it made up for the lousy element in Part 1. Following their previous adventure, Cap and Panther bring an odd sorcerer back to Avengers' Compound after he tells them he needs to see Stephen Strange. We only see them doing this after a cute exchange between Hawkeye and the Hulk, as the archer is busy going through receipts for the damage Big Green dealt out – accidentally or on purpose – while doing his job. (I am surprised the piles of receipts were not bigger and taller.)
Strange arrives at the Compound while this is going on, launching an attack against Cap and Panther while they are trying to land. It takes him awhile, but he eventually manages to explain that he was not shooting at them per se. Whatever or whoever is with them has some bad magic which is making the Eye of Agamotto that Strange wears go bonkers.
Turns out, the man Cap and Panther met at the end of the last episode is Agamotto himself. He's come back to get his eye (guess what the Eye of Agamotto is in Assemble, readers), and casts a spell which knocks down Cap, Panther, Hawkeye, and Kamala Khan. At the same time they get knocked out, evil shadow duplicates of them appear to attack Strange and the Avenger who depowered to avoid getting magicked – Hulk/Bruce Banner.
You will want to see this episode for the ending alone, readers. It is a hoot, a scream. About halfway through I was laughing so hard that it is amazing I could keep up with the dialogue for this show. I mean it – this episode was pure, undiluted fun! Strange and Hulk even became friends by the end of the show. Bonus points!
After these episodes came the first four "Secret Wars" installments which gave the season its name. The first episode here was "Beyond." At the start of the show, the Avengers arrive in Central Park when a glowing crack appears in the ground. Then they try to fall back as it widens and white light erupts from it. Seconds later (as far as anyone can tell), the team wakes up in a desert at night. Right on cue, Avengers Tower rises out of the sand next to them. Naturally, they go inside to see if this is really their old home, finding it is and that everything inside is in perfect working order.
During their investigation, they also find an uninvited guest. Having spread a feast on the table for them, he invites them to sit and chow down while he explains everything. No one sits down, of course, or starts eating. They just demand to know who this guy is and what the Sam Hill he has done to them.
For those new to the Marvel universe(s), this unwelcome guest is the Beyonder. He is far different from the Beyonder I met in the 1990s. That Beyonder was not a sick, twisted megalomaniac – at least, I did not think he was. I do not know what he is/was like in the comics, so I cannot say how true his appearance in either series is to the original material, but the Beyonder in the '90s was a sight nicer than this guy. Another difference here, aside from his personality, is that this version of the Beyonder uses advanced technology for his little experiment. In the '90s he was some cosmic magician who could snap his fingers and do almost anything he wanted.
You are probably getting the idea that I was expecting to see the Beyonder this season. I certainly had a suspicion he would appear; the '90s "Secret Wars" arc of the Spider-Man TV series was one of my favorites. Like the original Star Trek episode The Savage Curtain, the animated '90s "Secret Wars" saw the Beyonder send Spider-Man to an alien world that had never known evil. The Beyonder introduced some of the worst villains from Earth to this world, then dispatched Spidey to choose a team of superheroes to stop the bad guys, proving once and for all whether good was really stronger than evil.
Secret Wars – '90s Style!
Spidey and his team won, of course, but it was this storyline which made me expect to see the Beyonder in Assemble. I was looking forward to seeing him again, though in light of the 2015 sham "Secret Wars," I was worried about what would become of our heroes in the cartoon. Now I see that I should have been worried about the Beyonder, too. But maybe he was originally an evil super genius bent on satisfying his curiosity at all costs, making this portrayal of him a return to the norm. I don't know which it is, though, so I will leave this subject alone now.
Anyway, after pinning our heroes to the walls with his tech, the Beyonder explains that he has taken pieces from different worlds and dimensions to create a new planet he calls Battleworld. (Battleworld comes from the 2015 "Secret Wars" and, from what little I know of that travesty to comicdom, Beyonder's description here sounds about right for that Battleworld as well.) Like in the '90s, he is apparently trying to determine here whether good or evil is stronger.
The big problem with his plan in Assemble – aside from the fact that he took everyone from Earth, Asgard, and every where else without a by-your-leave – is that the longer the separated chunks are away from their homeworlds/dimensions/what-have-you, the more unstable those realms become. So, if the pieces are not returned to their proper places (and fast), the whole universe/multi-verse is going to explode and die. Not a pretty picture for our heroes, to be sure.
"Beyond" sees the team spread out to learn the layout of Battleworld and begin finding a way to put everything back together again. The particular part of Battleworld where Avengers' Tower is situated is called Egyptia. Why it is called this I do not know, unless there is another realm/dimension/thing out there called Egypt. So far, Egyptia just seems to be a distorted Egypt from Earth.
Back to the show; Cap and Widow are the ones reconnoitering Egyptia. Finding a pyramid in the middle of the dunes, they go to investigate and run into a bunch of sand mummies/zombies. Things look grim for the home team but, luckily, the wandering super genius known as Iron Man drops in to save the day. The Beyonder took part of the dimension he was trapped in for his Battleworld. That part of the "planet" is called No-Tech Land, presumably because most modern machinery does not work there. This allows Tony to reunite with his friends, and the high jinks and battles ensue before he, Cap, and Widow rejoin the rest of the team at the Tower.
"Underworld" is the follow-up episode, and it begins with Loki raining on the reunion by declaring he wants to join the Avengers because the Beyonder wrecked Asgard for his little experiment. Predictably, the answer to Loki's request is a lot of lightning bolts, repulsor blasts, arrows, and punches – none of which land, sadly. "Capturing" him, Thor, Tony, and Hulk learn that Loki is the one who told the Beyonder Earth's location, giving them more reason to be angry at him. But since parts of Asgard are now mushed into Battleworld, and because Loki has personal knowledge of the Beyonder, Tony states that they need him and the four head out to New York City.
The reason this episode is called "Underworld" is because NYC is under a rock – literally. When Beyonder ripped it off of Earth, he put the city underground. And beneath New York, he put a bunch of Asgardian rock trolls. So when the Avengers show up, they have to defend the New Yorkers who were transported along with their city from the rock giants.
Loki does his whining "why-do-we-have-to-save-the-humans" routine, but turns into a big help when the Enchantress shows up. He almost sacrifices himself to fix the Bifrost, which is underground with New York, but Thor stops him and they escape. Then the Beyonder shows up and Hulk jumps at him to do his smashing gig –
…Only for the Beyonder to split the Hulk and Banner personalities into two people with his tech. Did not see that coming, and I have to say, it worries me. Bruce came out the worse for wear either before or after 2015's "Secret Wars." I am pretty sure he went nuts, and I know who "killed" him (you are in so much trouble for that, by the way, Marvel writers), so I worry that we will see something similar in Assemble. If what I think may happen does occur, then the "writers" running Marvel are in even BIGGER trouble with me.
Aside from this one worrying point, this show was a hoot. Hulk had the most fun here at Loki's expense, and the only thing I want more than to see Hawkeye finally give the Trickster what he deserves is to watch Hulk pick on him. As for Loki turning "hero," I predict that that will not last long. There may be a little good in Loki, but the problem with that is it is too darn small a piece of good. The bad outweighs the good, and while the Trickster of Asgard may be an open and shut case of "hope over experience," I believe the Avengers should temper hope with sense by keeping their hands close to their weapons.
Next we have "The Immortal Weapon." This episode was good, clean fun, and it actually gave me something I have been begging the writers for since the series started: a new hero. Iron Fist at last makes his debut in Avengers Assemble here. Though he is voiced by the same actor from Ultimate Spider-Man, Iron Fist is unquestionably an adult in Assemble. It was nice to see him again; he got short shrift from season three of Ultimate Spider-Man onward, and it is good to have him back in the spotlight no matter how briefly he appears.
Anyway, among the many things the Beyonder stole from Earth was K'un-Lun. But unlike New York, K'un-Lun is above ground and it is peaceful. Everyone is going about their daily business as if nothing has changed, puzzling Falcon and Black Panther, who have been sent here to pick up an item to repair the destroyed Bifrost. Things get even more confusing when the two explain to Iron Fist that they need Heimdall's sword to help rebuild the Bifrost and set everything right. For no apparent reason, Danny attacks the two, stating emphatically that they cannot take the sword.
Neither Avenger listens when Iron Fist repeatedly states that taking the sword will unleash a great evil. So both are surprised when Falcon retrieves the weapon and Dracula pops out of the stone where it was embedded. (Nice sword in the stone reference, Marvel jerkfaces.) Turns out, Danny could not explain why the sword had to stay put because Dracula cursed him so that he could not say his name, period, in relation to anything. If anyone had asked Iron Fist about Bram Stoker's novel, it is likely that Danny would not have been able to name the book because of the curse.
But Falcon and Panther, who have been having the "I'm-not-a-kid-anymore/I'm-a-king" argument from the start of the show, did not stop to put two and two together. Danny gets a really good scene when this argument starts back up again, putting one hand to his face and shaking his head, before telling the two to knock it off and get their act together. Tension is added to the show when the three learn of a familiar alien substance that has bonded to Dracula to make him immune to sunlight. The vampire king plans to find more of these familiar substances to make an army of daywalker vampires, but our heroes put the kibosh on the plan.
Really, this episode was nigh flawless. I had no real reservations while watching it or after it ended. It was a fun caper with no dark portents for the future of the series, and it gave all three heroes a chance to shine brightly for a change. This one earns a big, wholehearted "YAY!" from this viewer.
Finally, we have "The Vibranium Coast." This is the show which gave vent to the piratical turns of phrase you encountered at the beginning of this post, readers. Ant-Man and Kamala Khan are headed to the Vibranium Coast – the one part of Battleworld, so far, which does not appear to be related to Earth at all – to pick up the Vibranium Tony and Loki need to rebuild the Bifrost and fix everything.
Scott is nervous about the job, feeling the pressure of not messing the mission up royally, while Khan continues to be her annoying, useless self. She misidentifies a pirate ship as Atlantis or another place, and the first misidentification should not have popped out of her mouth. For Pete's sake, even on Battleworld, Atlantis would have to be under water. Most Atlanteans cannot breathe air or stay on land for long periods of time, and so far, the Beyonder has not demonstrated a desire to wipe out the populations of the places he steals all in one go. If they die over time, he will shrug it off, but the fact that NYC and K'un-Lun still have inhabitants shows he wants live specimens for his "experiment," not cities full of dead bodies.
But we digress. Scott and Khan's jet is shot out of the sky by the ship and the two are picked up by Typhoid Mary, who lays on the pirate act and lingo real thick. I have to say, my first introduction to Typhoid Mary did not make me like her. She reminds me too much of Harley Quinn, the Joker's sidekick from DC Comics. Whether that is the intention of the writers or not, the fact is that her resemblance to the Joker's apprentice wins her no favors with me.
Despite this, Typhoid Mary actually made this zany episode palatable for me. Having Red Skull and Crossbones playing pirates makes them seem silly, until you are faced with the even crazier Typhoid Mary. After her, anything else out of the ordinary looks mild. Her part in the story took the edge off the foolishness of seeing Red Skull be called "Dred Skull," the master of the "Dred Skull Sea." 😉
Ant-Man did not do badly in this show, which was a real improvement over his first four episodes this season. He got to be smart, manly, and funny without compromising his character or his masculinity. That alone would make this episode worth watching, but with Typhoid Mary's craziness thrown in the mix, I suggest you check out the show for the laughs, too. There is also a GREAT scene at the end which had me in fits because it was so perfect. You should definitely watch this episode, readers. It is FUN!
However, despite this glowing review, I must admit that I had my usual problems with Khan here. The writers are working overtime to make her appeal to viewers, and it is not helping. Aside from a few verbal mistakes, Khan does not trip or fall flat on her face the way a normal rookie would in this show. Scott's and the other Avengers' care for and kindness to her are great for them, but it does nothing to make Khan more appealing or enhance her part in the series.
If you put Inferno or Firestar or Spectrum in her place in "The Vibranium Coast" as the new rookie on the team (no matter their age), it would work better because the writers would not be bending over backwards to make the audience love them the way they are for Khan. Seriously, everything they do for Khan is pure political pandering, and it shows. Somehow, in this episode, she is the only Avenger present who knows how to use swords, all because her parents let her take fencing lessons?!?
That does not fit with what little I remember reading about the concept behind Khan's creation. There it was stated that her parents are terrified of letting her anywhere near a boy her own age, forget an adult man. So why would they suddenly let her take fencing lessons? In fact, why is she even allowed out of the house in normal clothes? Shouldn't she be wearing something more traditional? And why not let her use her powers or natural skills to duck and dodge swordstrokes? If she is so great, then why do the writers have to give her the simple, Feminista out of, "And she can fence, too!"?
The more the writers set her up to be an uber woman settling into her place in the Avengers, the less interesting she becomes, just like her namesake. Khan adds nothing to the Marvel universe(s) or Assemble.
Dust was more interesting because she was actually allowed to make mistakes, worry about her traditional upbringing and her career as an X-Man, and learn to stretch her wings. Khan is not allowed to even voice such fears or problems in the show; she has no vulnerabilities – other than a penchant for geeking out when she meets a famous hero/villain – and it makes her dull as dishwater. She is useless, plain and simple, and she is getting on my nerves.
I do not expect the Marvel writers to change Khan and make her more interesting, readers. I expect them to double down on her portrayal with a vengeance. They cannot be wrong, while we peons are always wrong and should hate ourselves for it. (Bah.) If they want to think that way and try to financially survive while they are doing it, then they can knock themselves out. Nothing anyone says to the contrary will stop them.
This leads to my final points. For the most part, as is obvious from this article, I enjoyed these episodes. However, the higher you fly, the farther you can fall. It is quite possible that whatever comes next will be an absolute disaster for fans of the true, the good, and the beautiful who love not only Assemble, but Marvel in general. We could end up with a serious mess on ours hands when the next installment of Avengers Assemble: Secret Wars rolls around.
We could just as easily rise to new heights with only little pinpricks of annoyance (and irritating, politically correct sham characters) to bother us from here on out. While I hope for that, I intend to try and follow my own advice to the Avengers about Loki: be prepared for experience to trump hope again. When it comes to mortal man, experience is something to be remembered, even when hope begs for "just one more chance" to get things right.
I have my keyboard ready, Marvel. I am still watching you. Mess up, and expect to see me say something about it. Because if you play "the heroes and heroines are actually villains and the villains are heroes" card too much more, you will go out of business. I do not want that for you, but you are sure acting like that is what you want. Do not think I will avoid speaking my piece about it. You should know me better than that by now. 😉
'Til next time, readers – Avengers Assemble!!!
This entry was posted in Marvel Comics' Characters and Stories, TV Shows and tagged 1990s, Agamotto, Agent Carter, Ant-Man/Scott Lang, Arno Stark, Atlantis, Avengers Assemble, Baron Mordo, Battleworld, Beyonder, Black Panther/King T'Challa, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, children's animated tv shows, Christmas, Crossbones/Brock Rumlow, Dracula, Falcon/Sam Wilson, Haley Atwell, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Hope Van Dyne, Howard Stark, Hulk/Bruce Banner, Iron Fist/Daniel Rand, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Kamala Khan, Kang the Conqueror, Loki, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Marvel Comics' Characters and Stories, marvel tv shows, New Year, Peggy Carter, pirates, Red Skull, Shuri, Spider-Man, Stephen Strange/Dr. Strange, superheroes, superpowers, supervillains, The Wasp, Thor, Thor Odinson, TV series, TV Shows, Typhoid Mary, Vision on February 23, 2018 by The Mithril Guardian.
Why I Hate Halloween – Or, My Hallowe'en Candy Came Early
Normally, I would wait to review the Avengers Assemble episode "Why I Hate Halloween" until more of season four had aired. But given how good an episode it was, and how often I rant and rave against Marvel's PC posturing, I figure they deserve to know when I think they have done something right.
And I have to tell you, readers, they did "Why I Hate Halloween" just right!!! 😀
For one thing, this episode was entirely lacking in PC appeasement. For another, neither Captain nor Miss Marvel was present. When I saw the title for this show listed on Wikipedia, I thought for sure I would have to sit through another episode featuring Khan and Danvers trotting across the screen, belting out the lyrics to "I am Woman, hear me roar!" for half an hour. I was not looking forward to this episode.
When it started, though, I realized my old friends were back on screen. And it was Hawkeye, one of my top two favorite Avengers, rattling off the introductory details through a series of hilarious zingers.
On top of this, Hulk was smashing down doors and HYDRA goons; Cap was slinging his shield while Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, and Falcon attacked the bad guys as well. I began to smile, feeling my tense anticipation of a lecture dissolve as I did. Far from finding an episode I would hate, a treasure had been dropped in my lap. So I did not look said gift horse in the mouth but accepted the original Avengers' reappearance with happy eagerness.
I have to tell you, readers, this show delivered. Bonus points, it is almost entirely centered on Hawkeye, who is tasked with protecting HYDRA scientist Whitney Frost (a.k.a. Madame Masque) from King Dracula and his vampire hordes.
According to Assemble, this is not the first time Drac has had issues with HYDRA. Back in World War II, he formed an alliance with Cap and the West to protect his home turf, Transylvania, from a HYDRA invasion. And no, Cap was not exactly happy to be working side-by-side with the vampire-in-chief. But at the time HYDRA was a bigger threat, so he did his duty and protected Transylvania, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the leader of vampires everywhere while he did it.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" only goes so far, though. In the present day Cap and Drac are far from allies or friends.
And on this particular day – Halloween – things really are not going the Avengers' way. Having just mopped up Frost's HYDRA base, they find the genius scientist has been trying to augment HYDRA soldiers using vampire DNA.
Yeah, I know. This is a stupendously brilliant idea. Use vampire DNA to make an army of keen-sighted, super strong, super fast soldiers. On paper, it sounds great and nothing could possibly go wrong with it.
But anyone with a lick of sense knows better than to tick off one vampire, let alone the vampire king. This brainless HYDRA woman has just bought herself a mess of trouble, which she does not realize until vamps start popping up in the HYDRA base to get her. Dead vampires are a whole lot less scary than the ones that can jump on you and turn you into a vamp, readers. Just ask Harry Dresden.
Well, the Avengers being the heroes they are, they defend Frost from this first wave of attacking monsters. But they cannot keep her among them and prevent the vampires from getting to her, or her from running away when their backs are turned. So Cap orders Hawkeye to take Frost to one of the team's hidden bunkers called "the Beach House."
What is Hawkeye's immediate reaction? "What?! No way! C'mon, you know I hate the Beach House!"
I nearly laughed out loud. As it is, I was smiling so hard I'm lucky my face did not crack.
Despite his protest, Hawkeye does as he is told. Using a HYDRA sky cycle, he takes Frost to the Beach House, which is actually in the mountains in Vermont. He sets up the defenses for the place and brings Frost inside to wait out the night.
But things get complicated when HYDRA tries to spring his charge from house arrest. They send Crossbones and Crimson Widow (Yelena Belova) to evac Frost, but the two only succeed in getting caught inside the house when Drac and an army of vamps show up.
The king of the vampires tells them to hand over Frost and he will let them all live. (Yeah, sure…) Again, Hawkeye has the perfect comeback, "Not gonna happen, Tooth Boy!"
Again, I nearly laughed out loud.
Hawkeye points out that vampires cannot enter houses unless invited in, stating he knows the rules about how they operate. Since they need an invitation, Hawkeye can keep them out simply by telling them to take a hike. Drac admits he has a point, but then asks what good that will do if there's no house in which he and the others can stand. He subsequently orders his minions to start tearing the Beach House down, leaving Hawkeye to take charge of the three HYDRA villains in order to fulfill his duty to protect Frost.
I will do my best to avoid spoiling the rest of the story, readers. If I have succeeded in whetting your appetite, please take the time to find this show and watch it. It is worth the almost thirty minutes of your time that it will take up.
But, you ask, why do I like this show so much – other than the obvious reason that it stars one of my favorite characters? It is not just the fact that "Why I Hate Halloween" focuses on Hawkeye. It is how Hawkeye behaves in this episode which made me like it so much.
Going back in Thoughts on the Edge of Forever's archives, you will find a number of posts about Avengers Assemble's first and second seasons. In most of them, you will find I have a big bone to pick with Marvel's writers. During the show's first two seasons, they portrayed all the Avengers – but especially Hawkeye – in varying stereotypical, liberal ways. Of the seven, Hawkeye got the shortest end of the stick, and I was NOT pleased with that. (See previous posts to learn why.)
Season three of the series changed tack, allowing the heroes to act more like themselves than they had in the prior arcs. This gave Hawkeye a chance to shine, and I duly admitted my contentment with this change. Accordingly, I also expressed my displeasure with the first few episodes of season four when he and the others were forcibly removed and replaced with two PC characters (Danvers and Khan) and one with a liberal chip on her shoulder (Wasp).
This episode showed the World's Greatest Marksman doing everything I had ever wanted the writers to allow him to do in one half hour package. During this installment Clint got to show his resourcefulness, his compassion, his skills, his sense of humor, and his confidence to the utmost. The writers finally let him prove that he is very intelligent, not to mention quite capable of thinking on his feet when others could be or are panicking. From start to finish, the writers let Clint Barton be Clint Barton. They let him be the mature, confident marksman with the snappy patter and heart of gold which he has been for years in the comics. (High falutin' time they did this, too!)
They also let the HYDRA jerks pick on him and call him the weakest Avenger, an old jibe which has never failed to get under his skin and make him wonder whether or not he actually belongs on the team comprised of "Earth's Mitghtiest Heroes." Hearing it delivered in varying ways throughout the show would have made me angry if Clint had not managed to hide how much the taunts actually bothered him. Only at the end did he admit that the sneers had started to undermine his confidence. Seeing him vulnerable, for just a minute there, made up for the mistreatment the writers heaped on him in the first two seasons.
In turn, the writers also let him teach Frost a lesson or three. A proud woman who is supposedly a genius, I have to say, she came off as dense for most of the episode. Which, actually, is true to life; joining the Dark Side does not make you smarter, readers. If anything, it makes you stupid. Case in point would be this dame's decision to subject vampires to scientific tests to augment living humans' natural abilities. Vampires – seriously?! How harebrained is that?! Do you WANT to die?!?
But the most important point here is that the writers for this chapter at long last did justice to their character and his environment. They made a compelling standalone show of great value which restores Clint's dignity as a character, a superhero, and an Avenger. I am not kidding when I say my Hallowe'en candy came early with this episode. It did, and it was long overdue, readers!
By this I mean that I finally got to see one of my favorite Marvel heroes being everything I knew he was and could be. At the end of this show, I was cheering with delight – even when the writers resorted to the old gag of getting Clint in trouble with the Hulk. Since this time it was the result of an honest mistake on his and Big Green's part, I can let this one joke slide. It seemed to round out the episode nicely – although why Hulk would think to wear that particular costume after a night fighting vampires is beyond me!
Speaking of the not-so-jolly Green Giant, Hulk came through this show with flying colors, too. So did Cap. Neither of them had huge amounts of screen time, for transparent reasons, but what time they did have was used well and artistically. They also behaved according to pattern, and Cap actually got to tell a joke without looking stiff or uncomfortable doing it. I mean, the only thing the writers did not do with this episode was gift wrap it. It was practically a present to Marvel fans – and Cap, Hawkeye, and Hulk fans in particular. It was almost like a thank-you letter straight from the writers' desk to the fans.
Of course, some may wonder if this is a sign that things are looking up in the Marvel Universe(s). I rather doubt that. This episode was wonderful, stupendous, and utterly amazing – and it could very well have been a one off. Marvel has a new series of "Legacy" comics out now which I do not like the look of at all. Sam is still using Cap's suit and shield (and still spewing anti-American claptrap); Jane Foster is still prancing around as Thor, and Ironheart has replaced Tony, who has somehow vanished. This is after he had been in a coma since Civil War II. Apparently, they had him using a holographic interface to communicate with the outside world before he pulled a Houdini (putting the lie to the myth that comas equal permanent vegetative states or brain death when they did this).
It also turns out that HYDRA Cap was some kind of clone or something, not the real Steve Rogers. This means that the Real Cap is dealing with the fallout his dopplegänger caused while he was elsewhere. It seems that HYDRA Cap took over half the world and put a lot of people in front of firing squads or some such thing. Naturally, this totally ruined Real Cap's reputation now that he has returned from the Nevernever – or whatever Marvel equivalent there might be – to clean up the mess.
You know, maybe they should rename it "Awful Comics" instead of Marvel Comics. There is not much marvelous in these new stories; just a lot of depressing horse pills which leave a lousy taste in readers' brains.
So no, I do not think "Why I Hate Halloween" marks the beginning of a trend. At least, I do not believe that right now. Considering the pleasant surprise the writers handed me this week, I could be in for more. While such a hope is faint, "hope springs eternal in the human breast," and I am not going to lose hope that Marvel can right their ship. I am just not going to hold my breath while I hope for it to happen. I like living too much to try the opposite.
Anyway, readers, take the time to look up "Why I Hate Halloween." This is good Marvel fare, believe me. If you are a Hawkeye hater, you can at least enjoy it for Cap and Hulk. Or the explosions. Or the vampires. And if none of that will win you over… (Author shrugs.) Oh, well. I tried.
Avengers assemble!
This entry was posted in Marvel Comics' Characters and Stories, TV Shows and tagged Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Disney XD, Dracula, Falcon/Sam Wilson, Fred Tatasciore, Hallowe'en, Harry Dresden, Hawkeye, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, hulk, Hulk/Bruce Banner, HYDRA, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Jim Butcher, Madame Masque/Whitney Frost, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Marvel Comics' Characters and Stories, Marvel Legacy, Marvel's hierarchy, Roger Craig Smith, superheroes, Thor, Thor Odinson, Troy Baker, TV Shows, vampires, Why I Hate Halloween on October 10, 2017 by The Mithril Guardian.
Season 3 of Avengers Assemble Review
Last year I did a post called "Avengers Assemble Season Three – How Is It So Far?" That post covered the first eight episodes of the third season. Reading it, you will find that I was most pleased with what I had seen at the time.
Now that the "Ultron Revolution" has run its course and "Secret Wars" – hopefully no relation to the lousy 2015 comic book event – are in our viewing future, you might be asking yourselves: what did I think of the rest of season three?
Let's find out.
Since I wrote individual posts on the episodes "Inhumans Among Us" and "Captain Marvel," these stories will not be discussed at length herein. If you wish to know what this writer thought of those episodes, use the search engine to find the posts about "Inhumans Among Us" and "Captain Marvel," readers.
"The Inhuman Condition" was much better than its predecessor, "Inhumans Among Us," in my book. There was no angst, no fuss, no muss, just cooperation between the Avengers and Black Bolt. Lockjaw giving Cap a few licks was good, too, since it showed that even a dog can recognize how great Steve is. It was wonderful to watch Hawkeye being his usual confident self instead of a doofus. It was also nice to hear Tony actually ask for help for a change, and watching Thor smash Ultron is always fun. Ah, I love the sound of Mjolnir hitting maniacal robots in the morning, don't you?
Now "The Kids Are Alright" I had some problems with, and there are friends of mine who have issues with it as well. One, for instance, hated that Khan interrupted Cap when he gave the kids a tour of the Tower. Another friend considers Khan to be nothing more than an annoyance during the episode's run, since she has no purpose in the narrative of the show. She did not demonstrate any depth of character, either; she is just a fangirl who got lucky and ended up with superpowers.
What is this author's opinion? I am no fan of Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. To me, she is no more entertaining than her namesake. Also, Khan was not allowed by the writers to make any mistakes in combat during this show. She and Inferno had been using their powers for all of, what, a week? And yet she is a better fighter than he is? I am sorry but no, no, no, and no. Rookies do not do that well on the job in their first weeks; it does not happen unless they are extremely talented and/or lucky. Luck I will admit Khan has, but as for talent, it does not take much to imitate Mr. Fantastic – who should at least be mentioned in this series, by the way!
I thought that Inferno got short shrift here, too, being portrayed as the cocky kid who runs into a situation without thinking. I can handle a callow youth or a hothead, but the fact is that these often unwelcome traits do not necessarily add up to stupidity, which is the direction the Marvel writers appeared to be heading with the character in "The Kids Are All Right." Inferno can do much better, but it does not seem that the writers want him to do better. They ought to bring Dante into "Secret Wars" as part of the Earth-bound Avengers just to give him a better showing than the one he got in season three.
On the bright side, Cap and Hawkeye did well in this show. Cap was his usual charming and encouraging self while Hawkeye got to prove (again) that although he may not be a super genius, this does not mean he is stupid. The sad thing is that they are the only saving graces in an otherwise politically correct, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, feel-good episode. You can tell I was not "feeling the love" from this show, can't you, readers?
In contrast, I thought that "The Conqueror" and "Into the Future" were much better installments in the series. Bringing Kang into the story sets up a primary villain for season four, and no one can say that Kang is a fifth rate villain. He is no Dr. Doom (despite his mysterious relation to him), nor is he Magneto, but he probably ranks third behind those two masterminds of evil. Having Tony tweak him and get him angry was a good trick for the first episode, and showing Cap best him in the Jurassic period was the highlight of "Into the Future."
My one problem with "Into the Future" is that none of the male rebels, aside from Thor, got a speaking part. Layla was a good character, and the hint that the red-headed girl who had tried to improve Tony's Omega suit could be his great-great-great-great-great granddaughter was nice. The nod to Kate Bishop also did not go unnoticed by yours truly. In fact, the whole idea of a rebellion against Kang's rule was genius, in my opinion. I wish someone had thought of it years ago! (For all I know they did, but if so, I never heard about it.)
But the fact remains that some of the guys in Thor's rebellion should have been allowed to say at least one word. Having Thor as their leader and letting him give the speeches was good; along with the rebellion twist, it made a lot of sense. He is Asgardian and immortal – practically speaking, anyway. Of course he would live into the thirtieth century, where he would start a rebellion against Kang's tyranny, and of course he would end up bald as Odin. But at least ONE of the male rebels in Thor's band should have been allowed to talk instead of being used as scenery filler.
This is a minor quibble with an otherwise excellent episode, but it is an important one to make. Marvel is trying to feminize its franchise, from Iron Man to Thor to Hawkeye and beyond. I am tired of it. The company already has great female leads; they do not need a bunch of milksop fems strutting across the screen, attempting to be something they are not. If they want to add new characters to help tell new stories, that is fine. But trying to replace the originals with newbies like Khan does not work; to the best of my knowledge, it never has. And when they try to make all their heroes female, the writers make matters worse. Remember, I like Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, Bruce Banner, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Vision, Quicksilver, and many of the other male leads in Marvel because they are male. And I am not the only one. I wish that Marvel would get this fact through its thick, corporate head already and let me save my breath on this issue.
Now we will go back to business. In "Seeing Double" we watch as Natasha faces off against Black Widow wannabe Yelena Belova. I have read about the character but never seen her, and this episode is a very impressive introduction for her. It fleshed out Natasha's character in the bargain, and the hint that maybe she did not throw away the thumb drive said to contain her real memories was an unexpected twist. Making the Hulk into a large, green version of the Winter Soldier was something that I did not see coming. My only disappointment is that we never got to see Bucky here or during season three.
Then we have "A Friend in Need," where Vision is introduced to the team. It was a nice installment, from Thor's taking him to Asgard and teaching him about friendship to Vision's nearly permanent sacrifice to save his friends. The three-way training session with Cap, Widow, and Hawkeye was a good bonus point, as was Vision playing video games with Hulk and Thor at the end. Very cute scene!
After this we had "Panther's Rage," an episode that presented T'Challa/Black Panther, Wakanda, and the Dora Milaje in an interesting way. Hawkeye's flirting with Aneka was somewhat irritating, but their resultant friendship had a much better vibe to it. Cap and Thor's ability to understand Panther and their subsequent friendships with him were believable and fun as well. And watching the pack of them kick Klaue's fanny was great, as usual. But I am kind of getting tired of T'Challa always showing up on the Avengers' doorstep angry. How about a little variety next time, Marvel writers?
"Ant-Man Makes It Big" was a fun episode in which Marvel proved that, despite many changes over the years, they still like to poke fun at themselves from time to time. Thor teaching a snobby actor the reality of life was a plus, as was Hawkeye's easy acceptance of Scott and his new job. Having Widow angry at Scott for leaving the Avengers was an interesting and compelling development. It is nice to see that they have completely separated her from their original Amazonian stereotype and allowed her to be the character she always has been.
After this came "House of Zemo." This show is one of my favorites and it had many good points, one of these being the redemption of Cap's father after the debacle where Marvel tried to make the First Avenger a secret operative of HYDRA in the comics last year. In search of a photo he can use to draw a picture of his father, Cap leaves Avengers Tower on his birthday (July 4th), in order to clear his head and jog his memory. Hawkeye, who actually had a lousy father in the comics and apparently in Assemble as well, still palpably empathizes with Cap's desire to remember and draw his father's face. The rapport between the two is handled with an artist's touch here and makes this episode an adventure worth remembering. 😉
There was one thing about "House of Zemo," however, that felt off to me: Helmut Zemo's "redemption" at the end of the show. It felt forced and tacked on. I agree that he can reform; that is not what bothered me. It is that the writers brought about his change of heart too fast to be believable and satisfactory. They jammed it into an otherwise moving story, as though they thought no one would like an episode where Hawkeye, the fatherless, anchorless Avenger, helped the most grounded member of the team reconnect with his own father.
Maybe they were right, but I doubt it seriously. Of course, perhaps they thought Helmut Zemo could make the leap with ease, since in this series he is in fact a very old man, but he looks and acts young thanks to taking his father's variant of the Super Soldier Serum. It still feels cheap to me, though, and that is why I make such a fuss about it.
The episodes "U-Foes," "Building the Perfect Weapon," and "World War Hulk" were great installments. The U-Foes, I think, would make viable fifth-rate villains in season four, but I do not like Widow's taking offense when Red Hulk labeled everyone on the team "men" at the end of "World War Hulk." No, she is not a man, but his use of the term is normal and hardly material for an affront, unless he is addressing a room full of women. This he definitely did not do within the show. I would think any female Avenger would ignore this unimportant phrase and deal with the bigger issue – the fact that Red Hulk thought he was the team's leader. Who died and made him king?
Another thing which irritated me in these shows was how Cap acquiesced to Hulk wearing the inhibitor collar. His unabashed appreciation of Red Hulk's military analysis of situations was equally bothersome. Just because Ross was once a U.S. general with a modicum of talent, it does not make him a great guy. I found it irksome that the writers thought Cap should appreciate Red's ability to tactically assess a base –especially since he showed that this skill did not stretch nearly far enough. Cap is better than that, people. Stop treating him like a cookie-cutter tin soldier. He is no such thing!
One of the things I did enjoy here is that Hulk got to stay on Earth, instead of being tossed off-world and ending up in a gladiatorial arena. Another beautiful touch to the "World War Hulk" episode was the hint of romance between Big Green and Black Widow. Though they have done it before, in this Hulk-centered episode, it had more than its usual impact for viewers.
The romance the writers have developed between Natasha and Hulk in Avengers Assemble is something I have come to like quite a bit. It fits the narrative and it gives me hope that, should the writers bring Mockingbird and/or Sharon Carter on the scene, they will be able to handle a Romance Reel with them and their guys as well as they have managed Natasha and the Hulk's duet. It also lets me hope that when Cap and Tony meet Peggy Carter in season four, the writers will be able to portray that romance with the same adroit touch they have used for Natasha and Hulk.
The "Civil War" story arc was truly impressive. For one thing, it was really, really, REALLY nice not to have Tony and Cap trying to kill each other here. The pluses continued to mount when the Mighty Avengers were formed as the antagonistic team, with Princess Sparkle Fists (a.k.a. Captain Marvel) at the head of the group. My only regret is that the writers did not hand her off to the Hulk during the battle. At least he would have actually hit her.
The moment when Hawkeye convinced Songbird to leave the Mighty Avengers for the Avengers was superb. I had hoped to see Songbird before season three's conclusion as part of the Avengers or as the leader of the Thunderbolts. The writers surpassed my wildest dreams in this regard for her, and they outdid themselves on Hawkeye's characterization in this moment. His general deportment throughout the "Civil War" conflict was perfect. I am really happy with the fact that they have stopped using him as the team pratfall in every episode. 😀
Ant-Man and Falcon fighting while flying was a great nod to the film franchise, as was Vision's accidentally injuring Cap with Mjolnir. It was also highly satisfying to watch Little Miss Stretch pull one of Iron Man's moves from Age of Ultron, hitting Hulk when he was not expecting it. Rookie though he is, even Inferno would have known better than to do that.
But the most surprising moment in the season finale came when Ultron hacked Tony's suit and arc reactor, thereby taking control of both his mind and body. It was the biggest shock of the event. I did not see that coming, which was the entire point. The Marvel writers truly pulled a rabbit out of their hat when they did it. I only hope the team can purge Ultron from Tony's system during season four's "Secret Wars." Otherwise, I am not going to be a happy camper.
To sum up, there are only a few things I have left to say, and they are about the next season of Avengers Assemble. Season three broke new ground for the team by bringing in new players such as Songbird and the Thunderbolts, along with Inferno, Vision, and Black Panther.
The additions of villains such as Yalena Belova, Kang the Conqueror, the U-Foes, Egghead, and others expanded Assemble's villain cadre nicely. Not every season has to revolve around Ultron, Thanos, and Red Skull, after all. And the Avengers do not have to fight Dracula or MODOK every day, either. It is nice to see old enemies with new schemes fighting our heroes. They should get to fight some B, C, and D rated villains like Egghead every now and then. Save a city instead of the planet – piece of cake. Although I do miss watching the team as they tangle with Dr. Doom and Magneto. Doom has disappeared from Assemble and since Marvel is not interested in mixing mutants into its Avengers cartoons anymore, any chance to see how the team would slap down the Master of Magnetism has evaporated. Rats. I would have liked to view that.
The upgraded characterizations of our favorite heroes righted the problems I noted in posts about the first and second seasons of the show. They were overdue, but better late than never. These changes have made Assemble much stronger as a series than when it began. I hope that, when it comes time to replace Assemble, I will not have to lecture the writers again on the issues which I pointed out in those prior posts. I will not, however, be holding my breath on that hope.
With regard to the original seven Avengers on the team, I would like to ask the Marvel writers to keep up the good work. Leave the stereotypes in the trash, where they belong, and run the characters according to the tried and true formula which you know actually works.
Secondly, I would like to ask the writers to please, please drop Jane Foster/"Thorette" from the line-up for season four!! She will be a DISASTER, people! Do not shoot yourselves in the foot here!
Three, let Inferno grow and learn from the Avengers. And while I applaud the addition of Black Panther, Songbird, Vision, and soon the Wasp to the series, do not stop there. We want Mockingbird, Spectrum, War Machine, the Winter Soldier, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Power Man, and many of the other heroes from the comics to at least get a mention in season four. If we are going to have more than the four seasons, then by all means, add them to the cast list. Just because they are not part of the films and live action TV shows, this should not prevent the writers from adding them to the cartoon series. And Scarlet Witch is, in fact, part of the film franchise. So why have she and Quicksilver been left out of Assemble?!?!? It makes no sense to leave the twins out, Marvel writers!
Last but most important, I wish to remind the writers that we watch the Avengers because we like good stories with great characters, not because we are looking for a lecture on social justice or the latest cause celeb. If we want any of that junk, we will turn on the news or go to a tabloid stand. Since we are coming to you, it means we want to get away from those things for a little while.
Just tell us some good stories, okay? That is all any of us want out of fiction writers. Good stories, well told, with enduring characters. All right?
Avengers – ASSEMBLE!!!
This entry was posted in Marvel Comics' Characters and Stories, TV Shows and tagged Ant-Man/Scott Lang, archers, archery, arrows, Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Black Bolt, Black Panther/King T'Challa, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, cartoons, children's animated tv shows, Civil War, Disney TV Shows, Dr. Doom, Dracula, Egghead, Falcon/Sam Wilson, General Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, hulk, Hulk/Bruce Banner, HYDRA, Inferno/Dante Pertuz, Inhuman Among Us, Inhumans, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Jane Foster/Thor, Kamala Khan, Kang the Conqueror, Layla, Lockjaw, Marvel Comics' Characters and Stories, marvel tv shows, Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars, Mjolnir, Mr. Fantastic, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Ms. Marvel, Odin, political correctness, Princess Sparkle Fists, Red Hulk, Rocket Raccoon, Secret Wars, SHIELD, Songbird/Melissa Gold, Songbird/Screaming Mimi, superheroes, superpowers, supervillains, The Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, The Inhuman Condition, The Kids Are All Right, Thor, Thor Odinson, Thor/Jane Foster, Thorette, Tony Stark, TV series, TV Shows, ultron, Vision, Yelena Belova on May 12, 2017 by The Mithril Guardian.


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The Sartorial Nightmare of Kick-Ass Female Characters
A couple years ago I finally got around to picking up a collection of Robert Lynn Asprin short stories as a taster (long overdue for a fantasy scholar, I know). Unfortunately, by page 2 I was wondering what the hype was about. Or, more accurately, whether the hype wasn't fueled by the nostalgia factor. You know, a time where we didn't (overly) concern ourselves with sexist racism (or sexism and racism).
"Myth-Adventurers" (2007), the first story in Myth-Interpretations (2010), starts off normally enough: two female characters chatting; one human ("a Klahd, actually", p. 7; whatever that means), the other reptilian (something called "a Pervert… or Pervect if they knew what was good for them", p. 7). A nod to interspecies racism, but still within the realms of the standard Fantastika set-up.
The first descriptive paragraph alludes to the idea that the two are killers with the "lithe, athletic, graceful look that put one in mind of a pair of lionesses discussing a kill" (7). Lovely metaphor. Paints a pretty picture of two kick-ass ladies and I'm settling in to enjoy their adventure. (Although I'm wondering whether lions are treated as animals or people in this narrative, but that's just a stray thought.)
Then we flow into the next paragraph: "If their builds and manner weren't enough of a giveaway, their outfits completed the picture. The Pervect, Pookie, was wearing one of her favourite" (7) -> here is where I turned the page and immediately regretted it:
action leather jumpsuits with multiple zippers which both issued a skin tight fit and held the tools of her trade. The Klahd, Spyder, was still working on her look, but today had settled for calf-high boots with fishnet stockings, a dark plaid mini-skirt, and a sleeve-less black leather halter top which left considerable portions of her midriff bare.
Asprin, p. 8
Here, I paused. Now I'm all for female empowerment and a woman's right to choose what she wants to wear. If you want to wear calf-high boots with fishnets and a miniskirt, by all means, go ahead. I have nothing against a "sleeveless black leather halter top" except for the redundancy of the description (halter tops are, by definition, sleeveless). But I'm questioning how any real "killer" is going to be fighting in these outfits. Have you ever tried moving in a skintight leather outfit? Let alone one that "both insured a skin tight fit and held the tools of her trade"? How? How does it do both? Does her skin have any circulation?? But maybe as a reptilian species, she moves differently….
The description continues:
All in all, she looked like a parochial schoolgirl gone Goth gone biker slut.
Yeah. No.
No woman looks in a mirror and describes herself like that. Maybe a school-girl gone bad. maybe a goth girl. Maybe a biker-chick. But not a combination of the three, and definitely no woman aims for a "slut" look. The idea just seems to scream the whole "she was asking for it" mentality. You know. "What was she wearing when she got raped?" "Maybe she wanted to get raped."
And then the description continues with this bit of ridiculousness:
Throwing stars and knife hilts jutted from their sleeves and belts, along with various mysterious instrument….
At this point, I was completely unable to continue reading. As Eddie Robson pointed out when I posted the excerpt on twitter, it's nearly impossible to tuck knives into the sleeves of a sleeveless halter top.
Here's my own artistic rendition of this outfit:
But now that I've made the sketch, I've realized it's not tooooo far out from other kick-ass Fantastika females. I'm sure one of the first kick-ass female killers that pops into people's minds is Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2001), who regularly fights in leather and heels. And when I think kick-ass females, I will always think of Lucy Lawless as Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001). I mean, it's in the title. If you haven't seen Xena's iconic, um.. armouring, then please do google it now.
Of course, it's not just females that are made to be ridiculously overly-sexualized in books or in film/tv. Who can forget the show that launched the Xena spin-off, Hercules (1995-1999) with Kevin Sorbo's deep-v sleeveless tunic? And really, any action adventure sword and sorcery-type film from the '80s have plenty of bare-chested muscly men (I'm looking at you Schwarzenegger/Conan the Barbarian, 1982).
Given the context and history, Asprin's description of his characters isn't surprising. But I suppose my disgruntlement with Asprin's work is two-fold. One, the posthumous collection published in 2010 would benefit from an introduction that glorifies the works a bit less. (I'd like to say that about ALL of the "classic SF" writers, actually. I'd like to see an introduction in classical-reprints that gives a small nod to the racism and sexism that many of these writers actively peddled). Perhaps I shouldn't except the 2007 Myth-Adventures to be "woke" or sensitive, but, there is always a part of me that argues that, regardless of "the times", writers and artists should do better.
But the second reason the passage aroused my pique only became obvious when I attempted to re-read the collection again, this time alongside Kurtis J. Wiebe's Rat Queens (2013-). Rat Queens, if you haven't read it, is…. how to describe it…? like a car-accident that you can't look away from, but one involving a clown car crashing into a trailer full of dragons. At times violent, humorous, incredibly gory, and extremely touching. Now, I can easily see one of the characters (Betty, in particular) describe themselves as a "schoolgirl gone Goth gone biker slut". BUT, and here's the distinction for me, there is one thing to have a character describe themselves as such, and another thing entirely for an omniscient narrator to make the comment. And, right from the first two pages, it's clear that the narrator has a voice, has thoughts and ideas about the look and carriage of these characters. It may be due to the difference in medium (narrative voice versus graphic art), but Wiebe's graphic medium doesn't have the same level of authorial commentary as Asprin's narrative descriptions.
So I end this post with a plea. If you're a writer, please, PLEASE think about how your narrative voice might unintentionally be peddling the male (or female) gaze. And if you can't do that, at the very least think about if the outfit you described would be functional in an actual fight. Thank you.
Posted on February 21, 2020 September 1, 2021 Categories #amwriting, collection, Fantastika, fantasy fiction, feminism, films and television, graphic novel, opening scenes, re-read, short stories, technical dissection, The Nitty Gritty, voiceTags Arnold Schwarzenegger, Asprin, Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Conan the Barbarian, craftsmenship, fantasy, feminism, graphic novel, Hercules, Kevin Sorbo, kick-ass females, Kurtis J Wiebe, Lucy Lawless, male gaze, misogyny, narrative voice, opening scenes, Rat Queens, re-read, Robert Lynn Asprin, Sarah Michelle Gellar, writing practices, Xena

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Admiralty in charge of the US Southern Command to visit Guyana next week
The U.S. Southern Command Commander, Navy Admiral Craig Faller, will visit Guyana from January 11-13.
During his stay, he will meet with Government and defense leaders to discuss the bilateral security partnership between the United States and Guyana.
Admiral Faller is also expected to meet with President and Commander in Chief of Armed Forces Irfaan Ali and Chief of Staff of Guyana Defense Force, Brigadier Godfrey Bess.
Southern United States Command, Navy Admiral Craig Faller
It will also participate in the signing of a Procurement and Cross-Service Agreement between the militaries of the two countries, which will pave the way for the exchange of goods or services of equal value to support future bilateral defense cooperation.
The United States and Guyana have a long-standing history of security cooperation. The defense partnership between the two countries includes cooperation against regional threats and challenges, capacity building commitments, bilateral training, exchange of expertise, exercises, and participation in military education programs.
During a US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit in September 2020, the two countries signed a Shiprider agreement that allows maritime cooperation between the two countries.
The US military chief of Southern Command last visited the country in 2017, when Guyana became the first South American nation to host the Caribbean Nations Security Conference.
The order is one of six unified US Department of Defense geographically focused command with responsibility for US military operations in the Caribbean, Central America and South America, as well as security cooperation with defense and public security forces in the region.
The GDF Coastguard and the US Coastguard are expected to begin the first of a series of joint exercises as part of the implementation of the two countries ratified Seaman Agreement in 2020.
This exercise will take place off the coast of Guyana and will focus primarily on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
US Coastguard STONE Cutter Vessel
It will be conducted in conjunction with the US Coast Guard Cutter STONE ship, which is currently in the region for a multi-country tour.
USCGC Stone is a Legend class cutter, considered one of the most technologically advanced ships in the US Coastguard fleet with a range of 12,000 nautical miles. They typically measure 127 meters, have a 54-foot beam (width at the widest point of the ship) and can reach a top speed of over 28 knots.
The ship will be on a multi-month location to the South Atlantic Ocean and will be tasked with counteracting illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, while also strengthening relationships for maritime sovereignty and security throughout the region.
This is the "first patrol of the service to South America in recent memory, and is carried out with the support of Guyana, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Portugal.


Hi.... Just bought GTL and upon opening the app I get the message that 48k not supported and after that it reports being unable to set the sample rate to 44.1k. I'm using an ipad 4 with ios 10. Also, per the message, no other audio apps ( or regular apps) are running and I've tried restarting the pad.
Hey @willg, sorry about this. Are you plugged into an external audio interface? GTL does not currently support 48kHz and some interfaces force the iPad into particular sample rates.
Someone else has mentioned this recently and i've been working hard on supporting 48kHz so hopefully an update will be out soon.
If you'd like to fix this issue quickly then drop me your email and i'll get you a beta version over asap.
Willg - are you by chance using a Line Pod HD or HELIX ?
I am using the Helix, and have the same issue. iPad Mini 2/Retina w/ latest iOS10.
+1, same issue with Helix, iPad Pro & latest iOS 10.


text:
Last date to submit EOI for HMT unit extended to Aug 11: Report
THE last date to submit expression of interest (EOI) for lease of tractor unit at Pinjore's Hindustan Machine Tool (HMT) has been extended from July 28 to August 11.
"More submissions have come to us and some big entrepreneurs are expected. Keeping in mind more entrepreneurs, the date of opening of EOI has been extended," General manager, HMT Tractor, Bangalore C Patnaik told a national daily.
As per the official website of HMT, it was...
published that they are inviting expression of interest for licensing/leasing out of facilities available at HMT Pinjore for manufacture/assembly/testing of tractors and R&D infrastructure on medium/long term tenure. HMT officials also informed that the invitation for EOI has been issued after the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises ordered department of heavy industries (DHI), Delhi to invite EOI.
Apart from the mentioned facilities, the officials in the EOI also demarcated 50 acres of land including 10 acres covered area of the factory and administration building of four floors to be leased out for office. Patnaik told the daily the last date for submission and opening of the tender was July 15 at first, which was extended to the July 28 later on. However, now it has been extended to to August 11 by 3 pm.
He said, the DHI took the decision to lease out the shut plant in Pinjore and it will take some time to handover the factory to the other party after the opening of the tender as verification of documents and further documentation takes time.
HMT Pinjore comprises a tractor plant and a machine tool unit. Last year, the Central Government had decided to close three unviable units of HMT including the once popular HMT Watches, along with HMT Chinar Watches and HMT Bearings, by offering an "attractive" VRS to the employees as per 2007 pay scales.
Earlier, Haryana Government had asked the Centre to transfer surplus land of the tractor-manufacturing unit's 837 acres to the state for creation of an industrial estate. Centre asked Haryana to take over the entire land in lieu of settling dues related to voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) of its employees and other liabilities.
The PSU had manufactured successful tractors like HMT Zetor, HMT 3511 and HMT 5911 suitable for all farmers. For nearly two decades, the unit's manufacturing capacity had gone down drastically with private players capturing the tractor market, directly impacting around 2,000 employees. HMT had its golden days till 1999 when it reached the highest output figure of 19,500 tractors in a year and manufactured the highest number of machine tools. Its downfall began from 2000 following the surge in private players in tractor making, especially foreign companies. HMT's failure in keeping pace with the changing trends played its part as well. In April 2013, the Center approved Rs 1,083 crore for the revival ailing HMT, Pinjore. The package included salary and arrears of employees, repayment of loans taken by HMT from public sector banks and a working capital of Rs 100 crore to be released in three installments.
Labels: EoI, HMT Tractors, Loss Making PSUs, VRS


text:
Q: SQL Order By in and varchar I want to order a column of type nvarchar that contains integers and strings. I want to order first the integers ASC then the strings.
This is my SQL statement:
SELECT DISTINCT [Password]
FROM OCPR
WHERE [Password] IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY Password

The result is 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, K1, K2, N.
I want 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, K1, K2, N.

A: ISNUMERIC doesn't answer the question you think it does. For instance, ISNUMERIC('£') will return 1, but you'll get an error trying to convert that to int. – Damien_The_Unbeliever
Create this function in your database which is better than the in-built ISNUMERIC(), and always exact!
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.IsAllDigits (@MyString VARCHAR(8000))
RETURNS TABLE AS
RETURN (
         SELECT CASE
                WHEN @MyString NOT LIKE '%[^0-9]%'
                THEN 1
                ELSE 0
                END AS IsAllDigits
        )

Then use this code for example:
SELECT DISTINCT [Password]
FROM OCPR
WHERE [Password] IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY
    CASE WHEN IsAllDigits([Password]) = 1 THEN 0 ELSE 1 END,
    CASE WHEN IsAllDigits([Password]) = 1 THEN CAST([Password] AS INT) ELSE 0 END,
    [Password]

A: SELECT DISTINCT [Password]
FROM OCPR
WHERE [Password] IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY
    CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(Password) = 1 THEN 0 ELSE 1 END,
    CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(Password) = 1 THEN CAST(Password AS INT) ELSE 0 END,
    Password

plz try this.

A: You can use Patindex for this
Declare @Tasks table(id [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL)

insert into @tasks values ('1'),('7'),('2'), ('12'),('23'),('10'),('K1'), ('K2'), ('P'), ('N')

SELECT * FROM @tasks
ORDER BY
CASE
  WHEN ISNUMERIC(id)=1
  THEN CAST(id as int)

  WHEN PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%',id) > 1
  THEN CAST(
    LEFT(
      id,
      PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%',id) - 1
    ) as int)

  ELSE 2147483648
END,

CASE
  WHEN ISNUMERIC(id)=1
  THEN NULL

  WHEN PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%',id) > 1
  THEN SUBSTRING(
      id,
      PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%',id) ,
      50
    )

  ELSE id
END

A: SELECT DISTINCT [Password]
FROM OCPR
WHERE [Password] IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY Password ASC

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
SELECT column_name, column_name
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name ASC|DESC, column_name ASC|DESC;

$query_test = "SELECT DISTINCT OCPR.password
                FROM OCPR
                WHERE OCPR.password IS NOT NULL
                ORDER BY OCPR.password";

A: you could do it using the ISNUMERIC function.
Your query would look like this:
SELECT DISTINCT [Password]
FROM OCPR
WHERE [Password] IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY
CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC([Password])=1 THEN CONVERT(int,[Password]) ELSE 99999999 END,
[Password]

Hope this helped ;)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
package redis.clients.redisson;

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

import org.junit.Assert;
import org.junit.Test;
import redis.clients.redisson.api.RFuture;
import redis.clients.redisson.api.RScript;
import redis.clients.redisson.api.RScript.Mode;
import redis.clients.redisson.client.RedisException;

public class RedissonScriptTest extends BaseTest {

    @Test
    public void testEval() {
        RScript script = redisson.getScript();
        List<Object> res = script.eval(RScript.Mode.READ_ONLY, "return {1,2,3.3333,'\"foo\"',nil,'bar'}", RScript.ReturnType.MULTI, Collections.emptyList());
        assertThat(res).containsExactly(1L, 2L, 3L, "foo");
    }

    @Test
    public void testEvalAsync() {
        RScript script = redisson.getScript();
        RFuture<List<Object>> res = script.evalAsync(RScript.Mode.READ_ONLY, "return {1,2,3.3333,'\"foo\"',nil,'bar'}", RScript.ReturnType.MULTI, Collections.emptyList());
        assertThat(res.awaitUninterruptibly().getNow()).containsExactly(1L, 2L, 3L, "foo");
    }

    @Test
    public void testScriptExists() {
        RScript s = redisson.getScript();
        String r = s.scriptLoad("return redis.call('get', 'foo')");
        Assert.assertEquals("282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", r);

        List<Boolean> r1 = s.scriptExists(r);
        Assert.assertEquals(1, r1.size());
        Assert.assertTrue(r1.get(0));

        s.scriptFlush();

        List<Boolean> r2 = s.scriptExists(r);
        Assert.assertEquals(1, r2.size());
        Assert.assertFalse(r2.get(0));
    }

    @Test
    public void testScriptFlush() {
        redisson.getBucket("foo").set("bar");
        String r = redisson.getScript().scriptLoad("return redis.call('get', 'foo')");
        Assert.assertEquals("282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", r);
        String r1 = redisson.getScript().evalSha(Mode.READ_ONLY, "282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", RScript.ReturnType.VALUE, Collections.emptyList());
        Assert.assertEquals("bar", r1);
        redisson.getScript().scriptFlush();

        try {
            redisson.getScript().evalSha(Mode.READ_ONLY, "282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", RScript.ReturnType.VALUE, Collections.emptyList());
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Assert.assertEquals(RedisException.class, e.getClass());
        }
    }

    @Test
    public void testScriptLoad() {
        redisson.getBucket("foo").set("bar");
        String r = redisson.getScript().scriptLoad("return redis.call('get', 'foo')");
        Assert.assertEquals("282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", r);
        String r1 = redisson.getScript().evalSha(Mode.READ_ONLY, "282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", RScript.ReturnType.VALUE, Collections.emptyList());
        Assert.assertEquals("bar", r1);
    }

    @Test
    public void testScriptLoadAsync() {
        redisson.getBucket("foo").set("bar");
        RFuture<String> r = redisson.getScript().scriptLoadAsync("return redis.call('get', 'foo')");
        Assert.assertEquals("282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", r.awaitUninterruptibly().getNow());
        String r1 = redisson.getScript().evalSha(Mode.READ_ONLY, "282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", RScript.ReturnType.VALUE, Collections.emptyList());
        Assert.assertEquals("bar", r1);
    }

    @Test
    public void testEvalSha() {
        RScript s = redisson.getScript();
        String res = s.scriptLoad("return redis.call('get', 'foo')");
        Assert.assertEquals("282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", res);

        redisson.getBucket("foo").set("bar");
        String r1 = s.evalSha(Mode.READ_ONLY, "282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", RScript.ReturnType.VALUE, Collections.emptyList());
        Assert.assertEquals("bar", r1);
    }

    @Test
    public void testEvalshaAsync() {
        RScript s = redisson.getScript();
        String res = s.scriptLoad("return redis.call('get', 'foo')");
        Assert.assertEquals("282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", res);

        redisson.getBucket("foo").set("bar");
        String r = redisson.getScript().eval(Mode.READ_ONLY, "return redis.call('get', 'foo')", RScript.ReturnType.VALUE);
        Assert.assertEquals("bar", r);
        RFuture<Object> r1 = redisson.getScript().evalShaAsync(Mode.READ_ONLY, "282297a0228f48cd3fc6a55de6316f31422f5d17", RScript.ReturnType.VALUE, Collections.emptyList());
        Assert.assertEquals("bar", r1.awaitUninterruptibly().getNow());
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
AAPL, MSFT Stocks Down 10%, Sell-Off Threatens Apple and Microsoft Trillion-Dollar Values
Mar 13 2020 · 07:05 UTC by Bhushan Akolkar · 3 min read
Apple and Microsoft have lost around $400 billion each during the latest market sell-off over the last month. Analysts weigh in suggesting Microsoft a better buy over Apple at this stage.
There's bloodbath on Wall Street this week with almost all indices crashing to the tune of 5% and above every single day. While the Dow Jones crashed 10% on Thursday, bluechip company stocks also came tumbling down. Tech giants like Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) have also taken a massive beating on Thursday.
The Apple (APPL) stock crashed 10% slipping below $250 levels. Similarly, the Microsoft (MSFT) stock also crashed 10% slipping below $140 levels. In less than a month's time, both Apple and Microsoft have eroded $00 billion of its market cap individually.
On Thursday closing, Apple (APPL) was trading at a price of $248 with a market cap of $1.09 trillion. Similarly, Microsoft was trading at $139 with a market cap of $1.06 trillion. This market mayhem has brought the two companies on the edge of their trillion-dollar valuations. One more bad trading session and we could possibly both these companies below $1 trillion.
The concerns with coronavirus spread have been aggravating every single day leaving world leaders clueless. Other trillion-dollar companies who are now out of this bracket include Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Google-parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL).
Analysts Bullish on Microsoft over Apple
Analysts are saying that it won't be a great time to buy Apple at this time concerning the future scenarios. Piper Sandler's technical research analyst Craig Johnson said that Apple might be a "good company" but not a "great stock" at this time. Over the last year, APPL stock has shown a "parabolic" movement on the north side.
Besides, historical trends suggest that when charts are up at a "steep ascent" the reversal can end "badly". Johnson suggests that Apple's next support is at 10% to 20% down from these levels. That would be a good point of entry as per him.
Laffer Tengler Investments CIO Nancy Tengler said that she has been selling Apple stock when the market was ultra bullish last year. "I think the company has a lot of levers to pull," she said. "I would wait for the stock to pull back a little bit and then I'd be stepping back in and expect a big dividend increase next quarter."
On the other hand, Apple has already cautioned investors of not meeting its next quarter targets due to disruption in its supply chain. This could be another reason to hold-your-horses before jumping in at this point.
Microsoft looks a better buy at this stage with its cloud computing division likely to continue growing further and with little impact of Coronavirus. This means that Microsoft's bottom-line could possibly be better off at this stage in comparison to Apple.
next Business News, Market News, News, Stocks
Author Bhushan Akolkar
Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
Business News, Editor's Choice, Market News, Mobile, News Samsung Responds to Apple's iPhone 12, Unveils Its Galaxy S21 Series
The Samsung Galaxy series has a rich history dating back to 2010 and has ushered in an impressive technological evolution through which the S21 series is born.
Editor's Choice, News, Social Media, Technology News Google's Subsidiary YouTube Suspends Channel of Trump for a Week
The move to suspend Trump's YouTube channel ostensibly came after civil rights groups threatened to organize an ad boycott against the firm.
Business News, Editor's Choice, Market News, News, Stocks FAANG Stocks in 2021: Which Stock to Buy and Which to Offload
Despite the economic hardship brought about by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, FAANG stocks outperformed in comparison to the broader S&P 500 Index which grew by 16% in the past year.
Chainlink LINK $22.61 11.50%
XRP XRP $0.28 0.04%
Nov 28th, 2021 — Nov 30th, 2021
Finance Magnates London Summit 2021
Aug 16th, 2021 — Aug 18th, 2021
Guangzhou, People's Republic of China


text:
Articles needing additional citations, 2011 television stories, Stories set entirely in the TARDIS,
Doctor Who mini-episodes
Series 6 (Doctor Who) stories
Space (TV story)
Comic Relief 2011, Episode 1
Doctor:
Companion(s):
Amy, Rory
Main setting:
The Doctor's TARDIS
Key crew
Richard Senior
Annabella Hurst-Brown
Premiere broadcast:
Premiere network:
1 x 4 minute episode
Confidential:
The Night's Tale
Full video
Comic Relief specials
From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love Time
You may be looking for the general concept of space.
Space was a Doctor Who television story written by Steven Moffat for Comic Relief 2011. It was the first part of a two-part story.
Synopsis Edit
The Eleventh Doctor is doing repairs on the TARDIS with Rory Williams' help, but thanks to Amy Pond they make a mistake that could leave them trapped in the TARDIS forever.
Plot Edit
Amy Pond tries to get the Eleventh Doctor's attention while he fixes the TARDIS. She fails, but finds Rory is helping the Doctor with his routine maintenance by installing thermocouplings. However, Amy thinks that he is helping the Doctor fly the TARDIS and they start to quarrel about Amy cheating on her driving test by wearing a short skirt to distract her examiner. The lights go out with a thudding noise. The Doctor asks Rory if he dropped a thermocoupling, which he apologises for doing. The Doctor groans in annoyance, yelling that he specifically told him not to drop the thermocouplings.
Amy also apologises. Confused, the Doctor asks why she's apologising when it was Rory's fault. Amy points out that Rory was looking up her skirt through the TARDIS' glass floor. The Doctor can only respond, "Oh....Rory!"
The Doctor turns on the emergency materialisation to land the TARDIS in the nearest safe place. The lights come back on to reveal the TARDIS has materialised inside itself. As a test to see if things are as bad as he believes, the Doctor walks through the doors of the inside TARDIS, stepping in through the outside doors. Rory says that is cool. The Doctor tells Rory it's a good thing he finds it amusing because they have caused a space loop that has now trapped them inside the TARDIS forever. Another Amy walks through the TARDIS doors, telling them things are going to get complicated.
The Doctor - Matt Smith
Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
Crew Edit
Writer - Steven Moffat
Producer - Annabella Hurst-Brown
Director - Richard Senior
The Doctor, when asked by Amy what he and Rory are doing, says they're entering "conceptual space", and then proceeds to compare it to a banana since they're both curved - and then says it's not like that at all.
The Doctor is using a garage creeper to work on the TARDIS console.
Rory is handling thermocouplings.
Story notes Edit
This minisode, along with Time, was written especially for Comic Relief 2011.
This story was the first multi-part charity story since Dimensions in Time.
What question Amy wanted to ask the Doctor is not revealed in this episode, but Steven Moffat stated it would be addressed in the future. It was not addressed during the season proper, but was finally addressed in HOMEVID: Good Night, a part of the Night and the Doctor series of mini-episodes produced for the 2011 DVD/Blu-ray release of Series 6. Amy's question involves why she remembers and accepts the two separate timelines that were created for her as a result of the Doctor rebooting the universe in TV: The Big Bang.
In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Moffat confirmed that, just like recent Children in Need specials, the two-part mini-serial was produced as "canonical" Who.[additional sources needed]
The opening credits of both this episode and Time are extended, the opening featuring a black void, slowly descending toward a light that leads into the time vortex.
This is the fifth TV story to be set entirely within the Doctor's TARDIS. The first was The Edge of Destruction, while the most recent, Amy's Choice, takes place entirely within the TARDIS, but has settings outside of the TARDIS (although the Doctor, Amy and Rory stay within it). In between, the Children in Need Special mini-episode was set entirely in the TARDIS, though there were re-cap scenes at the beginning which take place outside the TARDIS. Time Crash featured the TARDIS intersecting with its own timestream, causing the Fifth and Tenth Doctors to meet. Music of the Spheres also takes place entirely inside the TARDIS, though it was designed for and originally aired during Doctor Who at the Proms and therefore could be contested as a TV story.
Ratings Edit
10.26 million (BARB)
Filming locations Edit
Production errors Edit
When the Doctor steps "out" of the TARDIS, from the interior he closes it with his left hand pulling the door shut, but when we see him exit, he uses his right hand to pull the door handle.
Continuity Edit
A similar space loop occurred in TV: The Time Monster, when the Doctor's TARDIS was inside the Master's TARDIS, and the Master's TARDIS was inside the Doctor's TARDIS. In TV: Logopolis, the Master's TARDIS materialised within the Doctor's.
Amy says "OK, kids. This is where it gets complicated." She told her child self the same line when she was released from the Pandorica in TV: The Big Bang.
This story is the third TV story to feature only the main cast. The others are TV: The Edge of Destruction and Children in Need Special.
Rory asks the Doctor if he's ever seen Amy drive, to which the Doctor replies in the negative. The Doctor actually did briefly see Amy drive, albeit in a dream, in TV: Amy's Choice. In that episode, Amy drove herself and the Doctor into a house. Rory states that Amy did the same thing when he let her drive his car once.
A TARDIS within a TARDIS happens as well in Logopolis, and the Doctor theorises that other space time anomalies could cause the TARDIS to appear within the TARDIS, though within the context of that story it was the Master's TARDIS within the Doctor's.
Home video releases Edit
Although not available by itself, Space, along with Time was released on DVD and Blu Ray in the complete series 6 boxset on the 21 November 2011.
v • e
Doctor Who television stories
Seasons 1-4: William Hartnell
Season 1: 1963-1964
An Unearthly Child • The Daleks • The Edge of Destruction • Marco Polo • The Keys of Marinus • The Aztecs • The Sensorites • The Reign of Terror
Planet of the Giants • The Dalek Invasion of Earth • The Rescue • The Romans • The Web Planet • The Crusade • The Space Museum • The Chase • The Time Meddler
Galaxy 4 • Mission to the Unknown • The Myth Makers • The Daleks' Master Plan • The Massacre • The Ark • The Celestial Toymaker • The Gunfighters • The Savages • The War Machines
Season 4: 1966
The Smugglers • The Tenth Planet
Seasons 4-6: Patrick Troughton
The Power of the Daleks • The Highlanders • The Underwater Menace • The Moonbase • The Macra Terror • The Faceless Ones • The Evil of the Daleks
The Tomb of the Cybermen • The Abominable Snowmen • The Ice Warriors • The Enemy of the World • The Web of Fear • Fury from the Deep • The Wheel in Space
The Dominators • The Mind Robber • The Invasion • The Krotons • The Seeds of Death • The Space Pirates • The War Games
Seasons 7-11: Jon Pertwee
Spearhead from Space • Doctor Who and the Silurians • The Ambassadors of Death • Inferno
Terror of the Autons • The Mind of Evil • The Claws of Axos • Colony in Space • The Dæmons
Day of the Daleks • The Curse of Peladon • The Sea Devils • The Mutants • The Time Monster
Season 10: 1972-1973
The Three Doctors • Carnival of Monsters • Frontier in Space • Planet of the Daleks • The Green Death
The Time Warrior • Invasion of the Dinosaurs • Death to the Daleks • The Monster of Peladon • Planet of the Spiders
Contrary to common belief, season 10 kicked off in the last week of December 1972 — not in 1973, as would be expected. Season 10 actually began nine years after season 1 started. In fact, The Three Doctors began nine years to the week after The Daleks first aired.
Seasons 12-18: Tom Baker
Robot • The Ark in Space • The Sontaran Experiment • Genesis of the Daleks • Revenge of the Cybermen
Terror of the Zygons • Planet of Evil • Pyramids of Mars • The Android Invasion • The Brain of Morbius • The Seeds of Doom
The Masque of Mandragora • The Hand of Fear • The Deadly Assassin • The Face of Evil • The Robots of Death • The Talons of Weng-Chiang
Horror of Fang Rock • The Invisible Enemy • Image of the Fendahl • The Sun Makers • Underworld • The Invasion of Time
The Key to Time: The Ribos Operation • The Pirate Planet • The Stones of Blood • The Androids of Tara • The Power of Kroll • The Armageddon Factor
Destiny of the Daleks • City of Death • The Creature from the Pit • Nightmare of Eden • The Horns of Nimon • Shada (unfinished)
The Leisure Hive • Meglos • Full Circle • State of Decay • Warriors' Gate • The Keeper of Traken • Logopolis
Seasons 19-21: Peter Davison
Season 19: 1982
Castrovalva • Four to Doomsday • Kinda • The Visitation • Black Orchid • Earthshock • Time-Flight
Arc of Infinity • Snakedance • Mawdryn Undead • Terminus • Enlightenment • The King's Demons
The Five Doctors
Warriors of the Deep • The Awakening • Frontios • Resurrection of the Daleks • Planet of Fire • The Caves of Androzani
Seasons 21-23: Colin Baker
The Twin Dilemma
Attack of the Cybermen • Vengeance on Varos • The Mark of the Rani • The Two Doctors • Timelash • Revelation of the Daleks
The Trial of a Time Lord (The Mysterious Planet • Mindwarp • Terror of the Vervoids • The Ultimate Foe)
Seasons 24-26: Sylvester McCoy
Time and the Rani • Paradise Towers • Delta and the Bannermen • Dragonfire
Remembrance of the Daleks • The Happiness Patrol • Silver Nemesis • The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Battlefield • Ghost Light • The Curse of Fenric • Survival
TV Movie: Paul McGann
TV Movie: 1996
In 2013, McGann reappeared as the lead in the mini-episode The Night of the Doctor.
Series 1: Christopher Eccleston
Series 1: 2005
Rose • The End of the World • The Unquiet Dead • Aliens of London / World War Three • Dalek • The Long Game • Father's Day • The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances • Boom Town • Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways
Series 2-4: David Tennant
Series 2: 2005-2006
Mini-episode
Children in Need Special (Born Again)
The Christmas Invasion
New Earth • Tooth and Claw • School Reunion • The Girl in the Fireplace • Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel • The Idiot's Lantern • The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit • Love & Monsters • Fear Her • Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
The Runaway Bride
Smith and Jones • The Shakespeare Code • Gridlock • Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks • The Lazarus Experiment • 42 • Human Nature / The Family of Blood • Blink • Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords
Animated special
The Infinite Quest
Time Crash
Voyage of the Damned
Partners in Crime • The Fires of Pompeii • Planet of the Ood • The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky • The Doctor's Daughter • The Unicorn and the Wasp • Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead • Midnight • Turn Left • The Stolen Earth / Journey's End
The Next Doctor • Planet of the Dead • The Waters of Mars • The End of Time
For the purposes of this list, "Series 4" is considered to be the production series 4, which ran all the way from Time Crash to The End of Time.
The years seen in this section may seem decidedly "off". Remember, however, that this list only gives the first year in which an episode from a series was broadcast. David Tennant, unusual amongst other Doctors, began and ended on special episodes, not regular ones. Thus, his series actually begin in 2005, 2006 and 2007 — not 2006, 2007 and 2008 as is commonly thought.
Series 5-2013 Specials: Matt Smith
The Eleventh Hour • The Beast Below • Victory of the Daleks • The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone • The Vampires of Venice • Amy's Choice • The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood • Vincent and the Doctor • The Lodger • The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang
Mini-episodes
Space / Time
Regular episodes April 2011
The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon • The Curse of the Black Spot • The Doctor's Wife • The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People • A Good Man Goes to War
Regular episodes August 2011
Let's Kill Hitler • Night Terrors • The Girl Who Waited • The God Complex • Closing Time • The Wedding of River Song
Death Is the Only Answer
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Good as Gold • Pond Life
Regular episodes 2012
Asylum of the Daleks • Dinosaurs on a Spaceship • A Town Called Mercy • The Power of Three • The Angels Take Manhattan
The Great Detective
The Snowmen
The Bells of Saint John • The Rings of Akhaten • Cold War • Hide • Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS • The Crimson Horror • Nightmare in Silver • The Name of the Doctor
Specials: 2013
The Day of the Doctor • The Time of the Doctor
Series 8-10: Peter Capaldi
Deep Breath • Into the Dalek • Robot of Sherwood • Listen • Time Heist • The Caretaker • Kill the Moon • Mummy on the Orient Express • Flatline • In the Forest of the Night • Dark Water / Death in Heaven
The Doctor's Meditation
The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar • Under the Lake / Before the Flood • The Girl Who Died • The Woman Who Lived • The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion • Sleep No More • Face the Raven • Heaven Sent • Hell Bent
The Husbands of River Song
Series 10: 2016-2017
The Return of Doctor Mysterio
The Pilot • Smile • Thin Ice • Knock Knock • Oxygen • Extremis • The Pyramid at the End of the World • The Lie of the Land • Empress of Mars • The Eaters of Light • World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls
Twice Upon a Time
Series 11-present: Jodie Whittaker
The Woman Who Fell to Earth • The Ghost Monument • Rosa • Arachnids in the UK • The Tsuranga Conundrum • Demons of the Punjab • Kerblam! • The Witchfinders • It Takes You Away • The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
Retrieved from "https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Space_(TV_story)?oldid=2745460"
Articles needing additional citations
Doctor Who (2005) television stories
2011 television stories
Stories set entirely in the TARDIS


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Q: Machine not communicating to gateway which is a layer 3 switch I have created VLAN 400 in a switch, added ports to that VLAN.Connected one interface of that VLAN to a L3 switch and given IP(10.210.2.1/23) to that interface of the L3 switch. Now my problem is that hosts connected to the interface of VLAN 400 cannot communicate to 10.210.2.1(Destination unreachable), however they can communicate with each other. Hosts IP 10.210.2.8/23 and 10.210.2.10/23.Even 10.210.2.1 cannot ping to the hosts.

A: As I can understand, you have such scheme: PCs -> L3 Switch > Core Switch(GW for PCs). PCs could communicate between each other, that mean, there is no problem with L3 Switch. Looks like you have problem on connection between Switch and Core Switch or problems with Core Switch configuration.
Please check connectivity, you could add IP on L3 Switch and try to ping Core Switch from L3 Switch.
Also, you configured on Core Switch IP on interface VLAN 400? If you configure it on line interface, it will not work.