Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

 
Originally written in IMs:

a thought I had while pupperwrangling was that another way to have done this would be a Marvel limited series as done by the Wachowskis
like a PG-rated Sense8
And then have each ep be from the point of view of a different character, starting with a flashback and then going to present

penultimate ep opens with Ikaris's flasback to being told about the real mission and dumping Sersi

Ep 5 or 6 is Thastos and Hiroshima and then a chunk of his ep is learning to love humanity again and then how PISSED he is to be drawn into ths nonsense
he yells "what in the white nonsense" at Ikaris
which is a thing you could do on the tv version

But this way with more time and all the povs you see how everyone has a different perspective on humans so when Arshem is like "I'm gonna examine your memories" you know he is REALLY gonna get some contrasting views

they could have done some EDGY yet still PG shit
like they flirted with going places with Hiroshima but just didn't quite get there


Kingjo's ep, Karoun is in 3/4 of it but at different ages
anyway tons of his memories to judge humanity are Karoun because Kingjo Loves him but not in a gay way
Kingjo loves him as the best dog ever.
the joke Ikaris would 100% say: you can go to the shelter and just adopt another one what's the big deal
which would be a hint that maaaaaaybe mysteriously Ikaris isn't a great leader



"We thought you were boring and emotionally stunted, turns out you were just Lawful Neutral




oh for the tv show credits they should use the movie endcredit sequence

I was also kinda waiting for some kinda scene where they decided to ally with the new deviant
MAYBE the way to deal with millennia of colonial abuse is to say fuck the oppressors together
and have Ikaris flip his fucking shit
because he can't deal with a changed status quo
and Ikaris is like "I don't see race. That's a human problem."

also that there was an undercurrent of Sersi's Will To Power ala Captain Marvel

SO MANY!!!!!!! 

( Spoilers )Nitpick: I remain sad that Redwing is a drone and not a bird with a psionic link to Sam.

I had high hopes to start but wow. Wow!! Can't wait for the fics to start dropping!

 It took two months to get through 13 episodes. A lot of the writing is repetitive and sloppy, like they knew they didn't have enough actual plot and so decided to make up for it with lots of characters repeating conversations to other characters, or having flashbacks to scenes we already knew about. That said, the final two episodes did a lot of work and were well done, esp. in terms of what they did for various characters. Some cinematographic shots were straight up fucking incredible.

What particularly struck me as the season wore on though is how I became much more invested in minor characters. The relationship between Shades and Comanche was really interesting and had a lot of reverberations throughout the season. (I'm tempted to go look for fic.) D.W. spends an inordinate amount of time being comic relief and then speaks literal truth to power at the end. 

I'm more frustrated in what we didn't get with Luke though. Like, every character is bent on telling him who he is--or isn't--and by the time he "decides" in the final minutes it isn't altogether convincing. The scenes that felt most like development doubled as appreciation for the NYC skyline; in ep 8 (?) Iron Fist visits and takes him by Columbia to see the city from above to see the bigger picture, so Luke starts periodically going back there to think. It's pretty but it didn't quite work with the rest of the writing.

...That said, Luke's real superpower is making me not want to punch Danny Rand on sight. This is no mean feat.

Anyways, they left things in a really interesting place, and I hope S3 pays off on that. 

It's bad enough to have a kung fu show with a superwhite white boy, but the level of BORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING is inexcusable. At this point I bring something to read and make fun of it while Scott watches it. (Scott has patience. And is maybe a masochist.) 

So Marvel has an anti-bullying campaign and as such is creating variant covers for the cause.

This one is my favorite:



Aww, man. How much comfort would twelve year old me have taken from this image? A lot.

Okay, so I was one of the people deeply dubious of James Gunn directing because of his problematic history with women characters. I sort of imagined that Joss Whedon had a sit down with him beforehand and was like, "Strong women or bust, minion!" and Gunn was all "Aye aye, sir!" In short, you know how women in the Marvel!verse tend to be awesome? YES! So I'm going to focus on that for this review, because the film itself is unapologetic cheeseball space opera. I'm not complaining about that, btw--space opera is something we have needed for a LONG time. (Especially underscored by the tediously long snorefest trailer for Interstellar that proceeded this movie. Oy. If it spends more than twenty minutes in space I'll be surprised. Anyhow. Here, have my feels:

*Gamora

Okay, so I unabashedly love Zoe Saldana, and while she wasn't given a whole lot to work with here, let me tell you what sets her apart. She's set up for the villain to become a good guy trope, and you know what? She does that all on her own. SELF-RESCUING PRINCESS YOU GUYS. Starlord doesn't awaken nascent feelings of good in her, she doesn't become a good guy because of the love of a good man, she is ALREADY A GOOD GUY who finds the crushing Terran bewildering and annoying and, eventually, cute, because he IS a good guy and she hasn't seen one of those before. Also, the shirtless scene from the promos? Totally not in this film.

*Nebula

We see very little of her, and though the adverts set up her and Gamora against each other, it's not...actually a huge thing. And actually, she herself is characterized similarly to Gamora, in that she too is making her decisions based on her desire for vengeance etc. and not because of daddy issues and whatnot. The fight between them is brief and nonsexualized, and they absolutely set it up for her to come back later.

*Nova Prime

Glen Close has a very small role here, but still bigger than Benicio del Toro's. She's in charge of the Nova Corps, and briefly: She always makes the right decisions and all of the men under her command (and its overwhelmingly men under her command, esp. with the pilots) follow her orders without question and to the end. Which, on the one hand, this is a small thing, on the other--how often do we really see women in power like that in films? Or hell, on tv? Not that often.

*Rocket

Congratulations, Bradley Cooper, you took a talking raccoon and made him hilarious and surprisingly affecting. Seriously, Rocket has more emotional moments in this film than anyone else, and they are all the better for coming from the comic relief. There's also a great, small scene where Rocket breaks a bit when drunk because he can't deal with people mocking him anymore. "I never asked for this, to be experimented on and torn apart and unmade over and over and over!" he says, voice breaking, and congrats, that's how the RACCOON joins the ranks of Clint and Natasha and Bucky in terms of horrible things happening to good people who then have to deal with it after. And while the epic friendship/bromance of Rocket and Groot is funny, its also very real. Rocket's the only one who can translate the different iterations of I am Groot, and it also says a lot about this hilarious, foul-mouthed character that the one he loves and who loves him is a gentle talking tree.

*Groot

So many small, beautiful moments. Quill calls him "the giving tree" and he's not even really joking. This is a character that could have been awkward and isn't and it's so great when something comes together like that.

*Drax

He is fucking hilarious. That is all.

*Starlord/Peter Quill

Congratulations, Chris Pratt, you have made it to my Chris List with this film. Starlord is the Mal from Firefly, the man of honor in the den of thieves.

Of all things, the Guardians together *really* remind me of Firefly in a good way, because they are a found family, and they are kind of dysfunctional, but they are also just *so great* together. There's a key scene towards the end where they come together and it reminds me a bit of The Avengers, only they come together not because of a devastating loss or to save the world (although that's certainly there) but because at the end of all things, sometimes what you have to do is trust in each other. (Okay, that line is from Pacific Rim but it utterly illustrates the sequence in question.)

Some other notes:

*I love how the "Awesome Mix" soundtrack is used throughout the film in a surprisingly organic way. All of the 80s jokes are surprisingly affectionate, and it's one of those cases where nostalgia just really, really works.

*Nathan Fillion's cameo is the blue dude in the prison. He has like three lines. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been listening for him like the little nerd-bat I am.

*I really, really hope the presence of the Kree are helping to set things up for Captain Marvel.

*The post-credits scene is the most meta and pure fucking gold thing I've seen in cinema outside of a Mel Brooks film.

In short: This movie is absolutely worth checking out, and likely has a fine future ahead in Saturday afternoon fodder. I am deeply happy.

ETA: One last thing: Sean Gunn--Kirk from Gilmore Girls has a small role in this film. Watching it drove me nuts to figure out who he was, and low and behold, he's James Gunn's brother. Also, apparently Gunn from Angel was named after the Gunn boys, whom Joss had worked with previously. How about a small world?