Strowlers is a multimedia universe created by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, more precisely Ben Dobyns, the mastermind behind it. Stories in this universe tell of a world where magic is real. In addition to the pilot episode – also known as just „Strowlers“ – that takes place in Seattle, the episodes „Strowlers: Amaaji“ (Mongolia) and „Strowlers: Pepper“ (Ireland) were completed alongside it. All three released in August at Gen Con 2018. Each episode tells a different part of the story of the Strowlers from a different angle and of a different way of dealing with magic.
“The right story can change the world.”
At the same time, it plays with the concept that the right story can change the world. Because magic in the „Strowlerverse“ is partly done by telling stories with the help of a special deck of cards.
But what are Strowlers?
“Strowlers” is the name given to those who use magic freely. They are unattached people who move from place to place and work small and large miracles in secret. But that is just one way of defining them. In their essence they are free spirited, creative people, be they writers, musicians, artists or whatever they want to be.
Opposite them are the Arcanologists, who try to tame any free magic and make it controllable and usable for their purposes.
What is the Pilot about?
The pilot tells the story of Whit, a librarian, and her girlfriend Amanda, an Arcanologist who tries to help young magic-talented children while creating a technology that could be dangerous for all magic-talented people.
One day Whit reads the children a story about a goldfinch that lures a young girl deeper and deeper into the forest as around them the forest comes to life. Leaves sweep across the floor of the library and branches stretch towards the children. But the spell doesn’t last long, because the task force of the arcanologists destroys it and suppresses the magic of a little boy, whom they suspect as the source, with a collar made for this purpose.
But soon Whit finds out that another child, Nikki, was behind it and tries to protect her from Amanda’s colleagues who want to burn the magic out of her…
The watching experience
I mainly know ZOE’s web series The Gamers and JourneyQuest, but the quality of this pilot episode is on a whole new level.
Not only is the narrative technique fascinating as it jumps between narrator and narration, but the visual effects are also breathtaking. The play of light adapts to the tone of the story and changes from threateningly dark to hopefully radiant, depending on how it is needed.
Added to this are the strong messages, not only about magic and fear of the uncontrollable, but also about storytelling itself. Especially as an author*ess a fascinating aspect.
“Every story is a labyrinth. You begin a journey to the center, then wind your way out again and end up somewhere new, but while you’re in the center you have chance to change things.”
The Characters
The three main characters are plausibly depicted and all follow their characteristics. Whit, the idealist, who fights for what she thinks is right. Amanda, the remorseful one, who tries to save others from her own fate, at all costs. And Nikki, the frightened one, who still can’t really understand what might happen to her and what has already happened to so many others.
The side characters are only touched on, but you still get a feeling for them. Especially Nikki’s „burned“ father and the Strowler Josiah leave a lasting impression.
General Opinion
As a pilot for a much bigger world, it definitely makes you want more and lets you see beyond the limited development of the side characters, whose story may be continued later.
Visually, this episode simply captivated me, together with the story and the storytelling it is simply a wonderful interplay.
“The best fictions are the ones surrounded by truths.”
How true this statement can be, can be seen when you look at the dystopian elements that the Arcanologists introduce into history and see how quickly something like this could happen in our world.
You too can become a part of the Strowlerverse
With the release of the pilot episode, this world is made accessible to all, so that everyone can contribute a part to it. Be it in the form of new stories, films, poems or other creative ideas. It is licensed under a special Creative Commons license, which allows you to be creative by stating the source. And with a little aptitude, this contribution can also become official canon.
If this piqued your curiosity you can find the Trailer – an later the episodes – here: Trailer.
Contrary to what I told you last week do you get a different post than you might have expected, I just needed to get this out of my system after watching the new Ghostbusters movie yesterday evening – there will be Spoilers.
But before we start into the movie review let’s take a look at the Ghostbusters in my past: When I grew up I loved the Real Ghostbusters cartoon series (never quite got into Extreme Ghostbusters though) and I don’t know how many times I watched the re-runs of the original Ghostbusters movie(s). It was quirky, it was fun and it had really cool characters – and lots of ghosts.
So you can probably imagine my scepticism when I heard they wanted to reboot it with a gender-swapped cast. At first I thought it would be just a fan-cast or a joke but when the first Trailers were released it felt more like it was actually going to happen, though it still left me sceptic about it and worried they’d turn it into a fully-fledged gag reel instead of a proper movie.
But what is it about?
Physics Professor Erin Gilbert tries her hardest to get a permanent job at the university she works at, but a book (Ghosts from our Past) she wrote with her high school friend Abby Yates about their scientific theories about ghosts comes round and bites her in the butt when the curator of a supposedly haunted museum turns to her for help.
Furious to find out the book is being sold without her permission she confronts Abby, who is by now working with engineer Jillian Holtzmann on realising their theories. When Erin mentions the curator the three of them (reluctantly in Erin’s case) run off to investigate, but what they find is more than they had ever wished for when they come face to face with a real ghost – and its slime/ectoplasm.
Thanks to the witness account and help of Patty Tolan they soon discover that this and other sightings were not just a coincidence and the aptly called „Ghostbusters“, who everyone things are frauds, have to save New York from a hoard of ghosts, when overlooked hotel staff member Rowan decides to break the barrier between this world and the ghost realm.
The watching experience
Originally I wanted to watch this with Schmusi and Anna but as it was only available in 3D they had to opt out and I went to see it on my own. When I entered the cinema I was surprised to find so many people from all kinds of different age groups already sitting there (Okay, the schools have summer holidays, it was cinema day and the movie was thediscount feature film, but it was still more than I expected). As it turned out most of them were just casually watching as I barely heard any reactions to cameos and inside jokes.
Anyway, as soon as the first ghost was shown and the theme tune started playing I was hooked and I think I had the silliest of grins on my face throughout the whole movie. While the story wasn’t the most innovative one and not all the jokes worked (the soup one did get a bit boring the third time around, but the final iteration was still fun), was it still full of the charm I had loved about the original. This combined with pretty cool visual effects and a great usage of 3D made for a really enjoyable time. The ghost hoard was amazing and the jump scare of the first ghost really got me. And even if the fight scenes felt a bit over the top (like in pretty much every super hero movie) – and lacked the explanation of how they could destroy the ghosts with the proton containment laser when previously they could only contain it – they were still really amazing and fun to watch. It was also interesting to see that they used more than the actual screen for the effects when slime and Patty’s necklace went across the border of the movies‘ frame.
There were a few scenes were I wasn’t sure what to think about them at first but they turned out great. One of them was the haunted Metal concert and, as a Metalhead myself, I feared they would go for the stereotypes of drunk, satanic Metalheads, but they didn’t. They showed us like we are: A chill bunch of people wishing each other a good time and enjoying the music we love. The only thing weird about it was the singers reaction, but I guess it was better than admitting that there was a freaking ghost in the concert hall. 😀
The other scene was were Rowan possessed Abby. I had seen it in the previews and already considered it weird, but seeing how Rowan interacted later on it wasn’t that strange any more.
And now for the best part of the watching experience: The glorious cameos – even if for a long time it sounded like none of the original cast members wanted to participate in this.
Whether it was Bill Murray’s (Peter Venkman) sceptical Debunker, Dan Aykroyd’s (Raymond „Ray“ Stantz) cabbie with a remark to the ghosts around him just being „minor level five apparitions“ and that „he ain’t afraid of no ghost„, Ernie Hudson’s (Winston Zeddemore) funeral home owner – and involuntary provider of Ecto 1 – or Annie Potts (JanineMelnitz) as hotel clerk and Sigourney Weaver (Dana Barrett) as Holtzmann’s mentor. And of course Slimer and the Stay Puft Marschmallow Man. I think I made a funny noise at every last one of them. Though it is unfortunate that Harold Ramis (Egon Spengler) couldn’t participate – though having one of the (more relaxed) ghosts look like him would have been a pretty neat tribute, but the bust was cool too – and Rick Moranis (Louis Tully) declined too so. The other thing I was kind of waiting for was the „crossing of the streams“ that saved the day in the original, but wasn’t necessary here. Though somehow it felt as if none of the people around me reacted in the slightest to any of the cameos, which I found pretty weird.
What I didn’t get either was that they also left the cinema as soon as the credits started. By now it’s more common than not that outtakes, additional scenes or other things are shown in them and this movie did not disappoint in that respect either. It had a dance off between Rowan-possessed Kevin and the police force, three or four more scenes, including one leading to a possible sequel with another reference to the original and a karaoke version of the theme song, with videos of tons of Ghostbuster fans singing along (I was very close to singing along in the cinema as well…). And at the very end a personal greeting/thank you by the leading ladies. 😉
The characters
Movies like this stand and fall with their actors and with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones they provided a cast with both comedic talent/timing and the ability to portray more serious elements – even if there weren’t that many.
The Ghostbuster-girls are quirky, smart and different, flawed even, but in my book that’s a good thing. We learn a little about the back stories of Abby and Erin, that they were bullied and excluded because of what they liked. We see how rudely Patty is treated in her MTA booth and can imagine peoples reaction to Holtzmann’s creepy genius. Some of it was over the top, but it still felt natural for the character to be like that, eccentric and cartoonish, if you will. It just fit the theme. They weren’t just the super smart ghost hunting physicists, no, they complained about soup-content, acted awkwardly around other people, were boisterous and flirty and all in all just really enthusiastic about what they did and that made them just so much more human.
I was a bit annoyed at Erin’s fawning over Kevin, but it was still adorable in a way – and true to the origin if you see this has homage to Venkman’s flirtations. Speaking of Kevin, well, he was far more useless than Janine ever was. Janine was awesome, Janine had snark, he was just the perfect mixture of incompetency and (male) arrogance combined with a pretty face – the sandwich discussion at the end did not improve his role to me. I really don’t understand why/how the girls can put up with him… I would have kicked him out on the first day, though I probably wouldn’t even have hired him… What I found funny was the comment about him being a possible „Superhero“ and I couldn’t stop myself from comparing one of his fight scenes to what I’ve seen of Thor. Probably only funny for me, was the fact that – at least in the German version – they keep referring to him as their „Empfangsdame“ (literally: reception lady; otherwise: receptionist).
If you know the original characters you start comparing the new ones to them at some point, but even if all of the scientists have something from Egon, that is pretty much where that comparison ends. You have little things that remind you of them, like I mentioned before, but you can’t say: Erin is the new Egon, Abby is Ray, Patty is Winston, because that would leave Holtzmann for Venkman and that wouldn’t work, she’s too eccentric and committed. Neither would it work to put her in Egon’s shoes and Erin in Venkman’s. Likewise would the comparison with Abby and Patty only go as far as their compassion (and background in Patty’s case). I do believe this is the most difficult thing about a reboot like this: Seeing the new guys as their own characters and not as knock-offs of the originals. And I think they did a pretty good job at that. They don’t feel like Ghostbusters 2.0, they are the Ghostbusters, even if they are the new guys in town. 😉
The bad guy, Rowan, was in his essence quite lame, but he posed an interesting alternative to the heroines journey. He complained about being bullied and misunderstood and therefore wanting to bring about the 4th cataclysm, but as Abby points out herself: They went through the same things (and became kick-ass Ghostbusters). But instead of pulling through like the girls, he became a deranged and strange man, that isolated himself even more from society. I didn’t feel any kind of pity for him or otherwise thought his motives to be anything more than a sorry excuse to wreak havoc. Interestingly did he make a much more interesting ghost than human, suddenly he dared to do things – even if that meant toying with an assembled police force while possessing an Empfangsdame.
After all those I’m still not entirely sure what to make of the Mayor, his assistant and the Homeland Security guys – or what they were good for. The only thing I know is that the latter felt useless, the assistant annoyed me incredibly and the Mayor seemed quite stupid. It showed well how politics are willing (and capable) to cover stuff up and declare it fake, but you could have done that with less frustrating characters.
Interesting though was the comment that
„someone let the cat out of the bag before and the people forgot“
Was this just another nod to the originals or a big hint that they have really happened and people just forgot? Would this mean that the cameos weren’t that, but that these people were the original Ghostbusters (and why did they not acknowledge their successors)? Was this the reason the media was so fast on calling them „Ghostbusters“? Questions upon questions…
Even if non of these musing are correct, it certainly fits into the nowadays mentality that things are forgotten as soon as no media stations report about any more.
General Opinion
Short and brief: I loved it. More please. 😀
Long version:
There certainly are things it could improve on, e.g. a more fluid story telling (it dragged on a bit during the middle), less caricatures in the characters and less bland and annoying side characters, but all in all was it an enjoyable watch from start to the final greeting. I’d really like to see more of the modernized franchise, we certainly have the technology for it now. Though I’m not entirely sure a new version of the Zuul story line would sit well with the fans, even if it’d be interesting to see how they’d pull it off. I’m no longer sceptic, I’m hooked and curious how and if this’ll continue. 😀
Stuff I’d like to add
This movie – and especially its actors – received a lot of backlash for daring to reboot such a classic with a gender-swapped cast and that mostly before the movie even started to film. I honestly don’t understand such sentiments, but I don’t understand a lot of stuff happening in different Fandoms, because I would never even think of doing such a thing… I’m of the opinion everyone should figure out things for themselves and not complain about something they haven’t even seen yet.
I said I was sceptical about the whole project, but that didn’t keep me from watching and, as I told you above, enjoying it; the grin I mentioned still returning whenever I think about it. That’s why I really don’t understand how people can say this movie ruined their childhood, I most certainly believe it enhanced mine. They took something I loved as a kid and turned it into something just as incredible. It’s simply brilliant. 😀
And here you have it the one hundredth instalment of the Weekend Guess!
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles. Before we do that here is the
DarkFairy and fruehstuecksflocke guessed it correctly, so congratulations!
And now, let’s have a look at the one hundredth question
Who would have thought I’d manage to reach a hundred posts with this? o.O
Obviously this is more of a rhetorical question than an actual guess (which doesn’t mean you can’t still write an obligatory „I did“ in the comments 😉 ), but it leads me to the following announcement:
This instalment is the LAST Weekend Guess.
Yes, you read that correctly. Starting next week there won’t be any new guesses.
For quite some time now I’ve been bored by it and never really knew what I should ask for (hence the late posts) and the lack of participation didn’t improve my motivation to continue. So I decided to fill up the big 100 and be done with it.
I still had fun thinking up all these weird questions and I was always excited to find my usual suspects answering my silly wordplays and riddles, so thanks to everyone who participated!
The Weekend Guess was never a competition, but I took the liberty to count the participations, to see who was able to give the most correct answers, who had the most consecutive correct answers, where the longest streak of answers was and which was the question with the most answers.
Question #97 was answered 4 times. Fairy, Evanesca, Nazgul and fruehstuecksflocke all knew who The court sorcerer of a legendary king was. 😉 (The questions for: #28, #38,#39, #40, #56, #68, #69, #92, #99 all got two answers) I guess now you’ve seen enough numbers. 😉
What now?
Honestly? I don’t know. We’ll see. What I do know, is that I’d like to award my participants with a little present as a thank you for sticking with this thingy. So, Evanesca, fruehstuecksflocke, Nazgul and Fairy (re)send me your address information, so I can send you a little something as soon as I figure out what it is! 🙂
And for everyone still yearning to answer more questions:
I created a quiz on Poll-Maker for the second category (movies: #25-49) and try to get the other two (books: #50-74 and random: #75-99) on there as well (possibly music: #1-24 too, but we’ll see). So have fun checking out: Poisonpainter’s Weekend Guess (Movies) and let me know how well you score 😉
[Edit: Poll-Maker is no longer free, so I took down the Quiz. Maybe one day I’ll do a proper Quiz again.]
One guess left until we reach the 100, so I present to you the ninety ninth instalment of the Weekend Guess.
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles.
Let’s start with the ninety ninth set of questions
I am looking for the name of this movie:
Out of Earth Marmelade*
Leave your guesses in the comments below and I can see if my questions are too easy or to hard to figure out. I will give the correct answer with the next instalment. Have fun figuring it out! 🙂
As we’re closing in on the 100, I present to you the ninety eighth instalment of the Weekend Guess.
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles.
Let’s start with the ninety eighth set of questions
I am looking for the name of this movie:
The complicated love of a bookshop owner and a film star
Leave your guesses in the comments below and I can see if my questions are too easy or to hard to figure out. I will give the correct answer with the next instalment. Have fun figuring it out! 🙂
I present to you the ninety third instalment of the Weekend Guess.
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles.
Let’s start with the ninety third set of questions
I am looking for the name of these characters/movies:
Danish (Bank) robbers and their „unfailing“ plans*
Leave your guesses in the comments below and I can see if my questions are too easy or to hard to figure out. I will give the correct answer with the next instalment. Have fun figuring it out! 🙂
I present to you the ninety second instalment of the Weekend Guess and if you solve it, you’ll know where I’ll be in the evening. 😉
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles.
Let’s start with the ninety second set of questions
I am looking for the name of this character/movie:
Unalive Basin
Leave your guesses in the comments below and I can see if my questions are too easy or to hard to figure out. I will give the correct answer with the next instalment. Have fun figuring it out! 🙂
I present to you the ninetieth instalment of the Weekend Guess.
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles.
Let’s start with the ninetieth set of questions
I am looking for the name of this movie:
A reluctant medic struggling with his new animalistic patients
Leave your guesses in the comments below and I can see if my questions are too easy or to hard to figure out. I will give the correct answer with the next instalment. Have fun figuring it out! 🙂
I present to you the eighty ninth instalment of the Weekend Guess.
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles.
Let’s start with the eighty ninth set of questions
I am looking for the name of this movie:
Not thawed
Leave your guesses in the comments below and I can see if my questions are too easy or to hard to figure out. I will give the correct answer with the next instalment. Have fun figuring it out! 🙂
I present to you the eighty eighth instalment of the Weekend Guess.
What is the Weekend Guess?
Up to three riddles formulated by me that are puns and wordplays on the answer itself I put on here for my readers to answer.
Why am I doing this?
For no apparent reason, just because I consider the idea to be funny.
What are the questions about?
Everything I can think of I guess, so far the things you had to figure out were song titles and bands, movies and books. Currently it’s random topics ranging from the stuff before and whatever I feel like asking about.
What is your part in this?
You can try to figure out my riddles and see if you can manage to get behind them and understand what I am describing.
What is in it for you?
So far: Nothing, but the knowledge that you managed to unlock one of my silly riddles.
Let’s start with the eighty eighth set of questions
I am looking for the name of this movie:
Two fallen Angels trying to get back to Heaven by using a loophole, but are stopped by an unlikely descendant and her side-kicks.
Leave your guesses in the comments below and I can see if my questions are too easy or to hard to figure out. I will give the correct answer with the next instalment. Have fun figuring it out! 🙂
fruehstuecksflocke guessed it correctly, so congratulations and thanks for the introduction to the Birdplane (Go check out his comment on the previous Weekend Guess to find out more!)!