As I again am struggling to work on any of the proper posts I still need to finish, I’d like to get some thoughts/questions out of the way about stuff I recently watched. Needless to say the following contains Spoilers and probably doesn’t make a lot of sense if you haven’t watched the stuff yourself.
Doctor Who – Kill the Moon
For some reason I simply can’t get over this quote from the episode:
„My gran used to put things on tumblr“
(Lundvik)
Let’s look at the facts for this statement:
- As „gran“ means „grandmother“ the astronaut Lundvik is the granddaughter of someone that used tumblr.
- tumblr has currently (in our time line in 2014 or the Whoverse equivalent about 2014ish) a growing number of users.
- The episode is set in 2049 which makes this 35 years from now.
- Lundvik looks like she is in her late thirties/early forties, with a lot of squinting she scratches at the late twenties.
Everyone on tumblr is excited about the mention, but I am wondering if no one has done the Math, because all these information lead me to the following conclusion:
Her grandmother was at least in her late twenties when she used tumblr – assuming the grandmother was 16 years old when having the mother/father, who in turn was 16 years old, when the daughter is now 30 years old. While this would be according to the user statistics, it would make less and less sense if the ages of the generations where to rise. E.g. grandmother: 24; mother: 18; daughter: 42 would mean the grandmother was in her late forties and this would make it highly unlikely that it was the gran who used the platform and not the mother.
If she had said „mum/mother“ I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
Though, I haven’t read from anyone else yet, who was bugged by this, so it’s probably just me anyway…
Other than that is this episode a bit retconning to the events of „The Seeds of Death„, a Second Doctor serial that I’ve actually managed to watch already, that is also set on the moon in a time the humans don’t want to go into space any more. This serial, however, takes place in the late 21st century, a time that according to the Twelfth Doctor is past the moment humanity decides to explore the stars again, which gives the episode a lingering taste of wrongness…
But this is not the only continuity thing that is kind of strange…
Supernatural – The Song Remains the Same
As I have recently caught up with the show and am currently working on a season-summary for The Extremis Review I again came across this conversation:
MICHAEL
You’re my true vessel but not my only one.
DEAN
What is that supposed to mean?
MICHAEL
It’s a bloodline.
DEAN
A bloodline?
MICHAEL
Stretching back to Cain and Abel. It’s in your blood, your father’s blood, your family’s blood.
(The Song Remains the Same)
What we have here is the reference to a bloodline that according to the Archangel Michael goes back to the beginning of humankind.
The bible tells us, that Cain and Abel where the first sons of Adam and Eve and became „The First Human Born“ and „The First Human Murdered“; it also tells us that Cain had tons of kids, while Abel died young. Therefore the bloodline supposedly started from Cain. The Supernatural-Cain we meet in Season Nine, however, doesn’t seem to have any offspring whatsoever, which makes this a bit more complicated.
So, if neither of the brothers had children in the shows history, we have to look at their parents again. Though, as all humans derive from them, it would mean that pretty much every older brother(/brother-pair) on the planet would be suitable as vessel(s) for Michael (and Lucifer)…but hey, the Winchesters are the main characters, so they are the true ones for reasons! (Yes, I know, I have serious problems with main characters and one of these days I will reflect on them…)
But if they are chosen because of said „bloodline“ does that mean the angels are somehow involved in that line as well, to be able to call them their (true) vessels? Would Michael and Lucifer have been able to possess Cain and Abel respectively? (Judging from Cain’s tale in First Born, I guess they would.) And whose bloodline is it really?
Supernatural => Destiel?
When I started to watch the show I was well aware of the Fandoms love for Destiel(, which is the Shipping portmanteau of the pairing Dean/Castiel). I’m generally not the slightest bit interested in fanmade pairings, but this one made me curious enough, to see for myself, if it was really as obvious as the fans claim.
While I can see a deep (or profound as Castiel called it) bond between the two characters – and I kind of feel bad for writing this – can I not see any romantic feelings that would be displayed by them…
Even as a more or less casual viewer I am aware that they would do a lot for each other – especially Castiel, who is sacrificing quite a bit for Dean – as either has become quite important to the other over the seasons. I realize that they deeply (want to) trust each other and feel utterly betrayed when something happens against that trust.
I see two man who have found some kind of soul mate in each other and that don’t want this connection/bond to break and are therefore willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary. Dean is a character that doesn’t trust easily, but if he does it/the person he puts his trust in means everything to him. Castiel is someone who trusts easily, but has found something special and precious in the returned trust from the Winchester that he doesn’t want to lose. I think they’ve done pretty well with the Dean-doesn’t-want-to-be-alone-theme in Season Nine and losing Cas has become nearly as bad a thing for the hunter as losing his brother is.
I can see all that, but I just don’t see any romance involved…
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy their dynamic and the majority of their characterization, I just don’t see that spark we saw with the other couples in the show. The only time I can think of, where there was a minor spark, was when they apologized for disregarding the others trust, but that interaction can just as well be seen as the re-kindling of a deep friendship.
Besides if they where to become officially canon, the only problem I would have with it, would be the fear that the people responsible would make it too cheesy, which is kind of doubtful as they would probably rather over-emphasize it due to Deans brash nature. Guess we’ll see what the new Season has in store for this.
For some odd reason do I feel bad for not being able to see this, as the Fandom eagerly tries to show people the little things pointing at the pairing, but if I watch those scenes in the context of the episodes, all I can see is the deep friendship/familiar relationship between those two…
But maybe I’m just too rational(, maybe even too cold-hearted?) to understand it, as I pretty much have the same problem with a romantic view on JohnLock (Sherlock/John, especially from the BBC Sherlock).
Why can’t two people just share a deep/profound friendship/bond without being romantically or otherwise involved?
Anyway, let’s move on from time line and shipping strangeness to something entirely different.
Jack the Giant Slayer
The movie with X-Men and About a Boy star Nicholas Hoult in the titular role is a fun watch, if you don’t pay too much attention to details that is.
When I first watched it a couple of weeks ago I was already bugged by the far to modern looking leather jacket of the hero, but when I re-watched it yesterday with my mum, I noticed something even more strange:
Jacks shirt has a skull print in the chest area.
I highly doubt something like that would be possible to make in the portrayed time period, let alone affordable for a mere farmer boy. Were they planning on emphasizing the Slayer part or did they not have any grey print-less shirts during production? >_<
It’s not like a golden full plate armour or a seemingly equal human-giant tug-of-war makes more sense, but I’ll just leave it at that until I might write a separate review about it.
Well, now you know what kind of things I ponder while watching/reflecting stuff and hopefully now that this is out of my head I’ll be able to finish my other writings…
PoiSonPaiNter
P.S. If the above portrayed opinion is to induce hate or other kinds of negativity towards myself, I shall release my inner Cyberman and delete the offensive comments without further warning.
© I don’t own the rights to the quotes and am just using them as illustrative material.
