I just finished watching Stranger Things last night, I really liked it cause I've been a big fan of 80s movies since I was a kid, would have watched it earlier but had no netflix.
A lot of unsolved stuff though that I'm hoping will get some action in S2.
major and ending spoilers for Little Witch Academia, as well as major spoilers for Doctor Who series 10 and season finale spoilers for series 3
tl;dr: LWA's ending emerged from themes the show had been foregrounding from the beginning, was clearly foreshadowed and felt consistent with the world and genre of the show up to that point; i don't feel any of this is true of DW.
i'll elaborate, but i'm just gonna ramble a bit because that's how my brain works
so first i'm gonna say i really loved the ending of the LWA anime. i think they did a fantastic job, i think it was the perfect, satisfying conclusion to the story.
to recap for anyone who hasn't seen it (but if you haven't i advise not reading anymore and instead go watch the show, i can't recommend it enough): the main characters of LWA are a group of witches studying at a witch school, called Luna Nova. In the season finale they have to stop a magical missile-monster powered by negative emotions. Their attempt is broadcast live around the world and people everywhere believe they will be able to stop it, which powers them up and enables them to stop the missile. It wasn't a surprising ending but it was a satisfying one.
Then i realized i'd seen a similar ending twice before on Doctor Who which is another show i generally like. There had been "The Lie of the Land", earlier that month, in which the day was saved by a psychic broadcast of a character's love for her dead mother. At the time, *that* story had reminded me strongly of the series 3 finale "The Last of the Time Lords". "Time Lords" was a lot better than "Lie" imo but on both occasions it *really* hadn't worked for me, so that got me thinking about what LWA did differently, and why it felt so right when they did it but was so disappointing when DW did it.
now i was gonna write an organized little essay about this but actually when i stopped and thought about it the difference was really a question of thematic consistency, genre, foreshadowing and worldbuilding. so writing 101 stuff, really, this isn't some deep insight. but, i'll be specific
In LWA Akko never gives up on her dream, and constantly works hard to realize it; that's a huge part of her character. Magic can inspire people, it has an emotional effect. It's gradually revealed over time that emotions can be used to actually power magic, and the missile-monster in the finale is itself created out of negative emotions. So it not only makes perfect sense within the logic of the world and the plot for it to be defeated by positive emotions, but this also ties in very closely with the themes of the show, which are very optimistic about the power of belief and the value of good intentions when put into practice. Akko's willingness to see the best in people and determination to achieve what seems impossible for her, and Chariot's desire to put on a show that will make people happy - these are all portrayed as admirable qualities.
DW is a much longer-running show and has been written by so many different people that it's hard to pick out consistent themes, but certainly both the story arcs that culminate in "Time Lords" and "Lie" contain some pretty cynical aspects. In "Time Lords", the monsters summoned by the Master to slaughter the human race turn out to be humans, from the far future, and they're murdering their own ancestors "because it's fun". In "The Pyramid at the End of the World", which immediately precedes "Lie", humanity is brought to the brink of extinction by simple incompetence in a laboratory, and Bill sacrifices the freedom of the human race to restore her friend's eyesight. Now some pretty dark things can happen in the LWA world; the Dream Fuel Spirit stuff is grimly ironic and stands as a case in point. But that happened as a result of Croix's flawed methods and cynical intentions; she's smart but her understanding of magic is imperfect precisely because it lacks warmth and humanity. Tinkering with human emotions like they're just components in a machine predictably has bad consequences.
Genre is also a part of it. Obviously LWA is a fantasy about magic, it also revisits some of the themes of Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill in which cynical motives can be overcome by sheer willpower and guts and optimistic sincerity. DW is also a fantasy of sorts, but it's one that wraps itself in the language and references of science fiction and frequently delves into horror. It has to work a lot harder to sell a "Clap Your Hands If You Believe" Tinkerbell ending imo.
i mean i don't see any reason why a woman shouldn't play the doctor, i think it's silly that some people reacted so badly to that, given what we know about time lords and gender
like i remember the bbc posted a tweet by this one woman who said she'd stuck with the show over 4 decades but this change had prompted her to quit, i think that's sad but it really doesn't make any sense to me
also that was pretty well-foreshadowed in the series 10 finale, "The Doctor Falls" (which i liked a lot, in fact despite what a said about "The Lie of the Land" for the most part i think series 10 was really strong)
more generally i guess i feel like the revived DW has often approached gender and sexuality as fluid and treated traditional markers of identity as flexible. The Doctor approaches the various people he meets with an open mind and a willingness to see past superficial differences. So kicking up a fuss about this really doesn't feel consistent with the message of the show
i mean Ten changed his species at one point, surely compared to that a sex change is quite minor
also i feel i should clarify that LWA and "The Last of the Time Lords" had "belief in the heroes saves the day" endings, "The Lie of the Land" didn't but it did use the power of emotions to save the day and as a 3-part story it had a lot in common with "Time Lords" in terms of plot events and structure
otoh as a consequence we're in a very unstable position for entering into the brexit negotiations so idk how much of a good thing it is, although it was heartening to see Labour get more support than anticipated and funny how badly the Tories embarrassed themselves
@Tachyon Oh, if there's stuff for the latest season in there I'm going to have to wait until I've watched the last couple episodes. >_>
if it's only the last couple episodes you haven't seen, there are no spoilers
the only series 10 episodes i talked about in that post were "Extremis", "The Pyramid at the End of the World" and "The Lie of the Land".
Oh okay cool.
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Alright I read it. Yeah, the specific comparison didn't occur to me when I watched them but it makes sense. I might try to say more about it when I'm not on a phone, but I basically agree with your conclusion.
sometimes this computer just stops communicating with the monitor and the only way i've figured to get it to work again is to open it up and wiggle the graphics card which seems not a good solution but i'm not smart enough to fix things in a more satisfactory way
@Tachyon Oh, if there's stuff for the latest season in there I'm going to have to wait until I've watched the last couple episodes. >_>
if it's only the last couple episodes you haven't seen, there are no spoilers
the only series 10 episodes i talked about in that post were "Extremis", "The Pyramid at the End of the World" and "The Lie of the Land".
Oh okay cool.
...
Alright I read it. Yeah, the specific comparison didn't occur to me when I watched them but it makes sense. I might try to say more about it when I'm not on a phone, but I basically agree with your conclusion.
i think part of the reason i'm so slow to write is mechanical (dyspraxia) and partly it's cuz i take ages to put my words together and even more to edit them into a shape that makes sense and says what i want it to say, and i keep having to go back and reread stuff
the main reason i'm not often on HH is i'm working like 45+ hours a week and if i went on HH regularly i wouldn't have time to eat and sleep
See I watched up to six or seven while it was airing, and then onto seven and eight after it'd finished, but I'm deciding to start from the beginning and semi-marathon it when I do. I pretty much love(d) it.
i think part of the reason i'm so slow to write is mechanical (dyspraxia) and partly it's cuz i take ages to put my words together and even more to edit them into a shape that makes sense and says what i want it to say, and i keep having to go back and reread stuff
the main reason i'm not often on HH is i'm working like 45+ hours a week and if i went on HH regularly i wouldn't have time to eat and sleep
See, what you gotta do is use the eating time for HH stuff. Stuff food in your mouth with one hand, surf the web with the other.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
sometimes this computer just stops communicating with the monitor and the only way i've figured to get it to work again is to open it up and wiggle the graphics card which seems not a good solution but i'm not smart enough to fix things in a more satisfactory way
Not to point out the obvious, but if it seems like the graphics card isn't making a good connection, you could always power down the computer, remove the card entirely, and reseat it. Sometimes that's enough to "fix" things permanently.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
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when no one listens anymore
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Alright I read it. Yeah, the specific comparison didn't occur to me when I watched them but it makes sense. I might try to say more about it when I'm not on a phone, but I basically agree with your conclusion.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Eating by itself is boring.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead