Tag: spoilers

To Spoil, or not to Spoil… That is the Question

I owe you a photo post from the Narc Twain show I went to and an introduction to the record label I’m working with now, but I just got into two conversations about spoilers (mostly regarding Star Wars but it’s a hot topic in general) and I want to get this rage post out of my system so I can enjoy the rest of my day.

This all started with a friend on Facebook announcing he was planning on seeing Star Wars on opening night and THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. He suggested that if people don’t like it they can just stay off the internet. I pointed out how unrealistic this was in today’s society, and his friend proceeded to rage at me all the reasons I was WRONG. We went back and forth for a bit before I finally accepted the fact he would never see my viewpoint and quietly backed down. I then had almost the same exact conversation with a group of friends on another Facebook thread, but way more civil and less RAGEY. Which is good because I was ready to ragequit the internet for the next two weeks in an effort to avoid both spoilers and the assholes who post them. Of course one of my most awesome friends sent me a link to simply block all the spoilers if you use Google Chrome.  It got me thinking, however, about the unwritten rules when it comes to spoilers and how we consume media nowadays and internet etiquette and such. And that is what this post is really about…

First I’ll give you the argument that was given to me about why it’s ok for someone to post spoilers. Basically it boils down to the fact that the person’s Facebook page is theirs to do with as they please, and if they are excited about a thing then they are going to talk about it and you can’t stop them. This is all fine and good, but there’s also my mantra to consider: DON’T BE A DICK. I’m not saying don’t post spoilers at all. Just have some self-control and if you just can’t help yourself then please for the love of god warn a person before you ruin it for them. Yes, I get you’re a fan that’s excited about a thing. I am too, which is why I would like you to respect that not everyone can see a movie opening weekend. Hell, you’re lucky I’m seeing it a week later. The last James Bond movie I just saw last week and it had been out for a month at that point. I did not see a single spoiler for that movie though and had to go through very little effort to avoid them. But for some reason Star Wars has its own special rules where if I don’t see the movie opening night then it’s my own damn fault if I get spoiled. Which is unrealistic and somewhat childish IMO.

Now let’s look at the other side of things. In one of the discussions I had it was suggested the appropriate time to wait before one can no longer complain about spoilers is a year for movies and a month for TV shows. I, for one, do not watch TV the night it airs. I usually 1) work nights, and 2) wait until the next day when I can watch it online. I also have a life outside of consuming media and have seen almost none of the fall finales of my favorite shows because of this. I am very grateful to the corners of the internet I tend to frequent that they make it fairly obvious what posts to avoid if I don’t want to be spoiled on a thing.

Movies are a bit different. I rarely go to the theater unless it’s something I think the big screen and such will contribute to the experience (or I just can’t wait for the DVD). This usually means I only really see big ticket items like the Marvel franchise, and I wait for everything else. I pay for the Netflix DVD account, which is way cheaper than going to see all these movies when they premiere. Obviously I’m going to see Star Wars. I’m waiting a week though, so I can watch when visiting my family for Christmas weekend. I get that a lot of people will have already seen the movie by then, but I don’t think it’s fair to tell me I need to avoid the internet or have no right to complain when I get spoiled on things. We live in an age where that is unrealistic. For example, the record label I mentioned at the top of the page? It currently has a crowdfunding campaign going that I need to be able to promote ON THE INTERNET. I need to plaster it on Facebook and Twitter and send email blasts, otherwise how do people know I’m doing this awesome thing? And there are plenty of other nerds where it’s THEIR JOB to be on the internet. It is unrealistic and unfair to expect them to stay offline till they watch a movie just because you can’t put a simple “spoiler warning” on something you post.

That’s the thing that gets me the most… I’m not asking people to refrain from talking about it until I’ve seen it. I realize the world does not revolve around me, and you’re excited about this thing just as much as I am, but don’t be a dick about it. Give me a warning so I know to avoid that post and I can still get the same experience you got when you saw that thing for the first time. I’m sure when I finally see the movie I will want to post about it too. Might even write something up on this ol’ blog here. But rest assured I will either choose my words carefully and/or warn people about spoilers beforehand. It’s the little things like respect that make the internet big enough for all of us.

That’s all I have to say on the matter. Feel free to RESPECTFULLY share your opinion in the comments.

Doctor Who 6×7 – A Good Man Goes To War

As River would say: Spoilers!

Demon’s run… when a good man goes to war.

The Doctor is a legend that is known throughout time and space. All who know of him, know what he is capable of. Now one of his best friends is in trouble, and he is determined to do everything in his power to save her and her newborn child, Melody.

We find out a lot of things in the midseason finale of Doctor Who. First, we learn that the baby shows traces of Time Lord DNA, even though the father is Rory. This is explained as being due to the fact that she was exposed to energy from the time vortex while on the TARDIS.

The other big reveal comes at the end when we finally learn that River Song is really Amy’s daughter. I had heard this theory before, but I never gave it much credence. I guess this just goes to show that no theory is too crazy when dealing with Doctor Who and their madly brilliant writing team.

When I did my review of the first two episodes I had a bit of a mad theory myself. I believed that River was the one who killed the Doctor. When we saw that it was the girl in the spacesuit, however, it seemed to end that as a plausible idea. I am now resurrecting it based on the new evidence we have collected tonight. Assuming that the girl in the spacesuit is Amy’s daughter (which we seem to be), and knowing that River is the adult version of the child, I now feel I can confidently say that River does indeed kill the Doctor on that lakeshore. She said once that she killed “a very good man,” and I would argue that it doesn’t get much better than the Doctor.

That’s it for all the major reveals. The only thing you really need to know about the episode itself is that the Doctor and Rory gather an army to rescue Amy and her child, which partially succeeds. At the end of the episode, Amy is safe but the baby has been taken. We know everything will be alright because of River’s existence. We just don’t know how it all plays out. The next new episode is scheduled for September, so we’re going to have to keep busy this summer by watching the new season of Torchwood, which begins July 8th on Starz.

Doctor Who – Vincent and the Doctor

As usually is the case when doing a review/recap of a thing, SPOILERS HAPPEN HERE. So you should probably go watch the episode being reviewed before reading any further. Just saying…

This week’s episode features one of my favorite artists: Vincent van Gogh (played brilliantly by Tony Curran). Anyone who thought they recognized the actor might remember him from Underworld: Evolution (he played Marcus) or any number of guest appearances on various shows (The Mentalist, 24, and Numb3rs being among them). Full list of credits can be found here.

Van Gogh may be one of the most famous painters today, but back in his day he was not so fortunate. It’s a shame really, because his work is actually quite good. One of my favorite paintings of all time is his Starry Night. (For those who care, my other favorite is Portrait of a German Officer by Marsden Hartley). But that really has nothing to do with van Gogh or Doctor Who, so I should probably move along to something more relevant…

Van Gogh suffered from mental illness, something I am quite interested in as a Psychology student. Even without that psychological background though, you could still tell it was going to be interesting to see how crazy old van Gogh would interact with The Doctor. I definitely was not disappointed. Especially not with invisible creatures that only the crazy painter can see running around. (Sidebar: loved The Doctor’s gadget that made it so he could see the beast-y as well). Armed with “overconfidence, this [referring to a briefcase holding gadget-of-the-day] and a small screwdriver” he finds said beast-y inside the church that van Gogh is painting and goes after it.

A word to The Doctor – you should know that when you tell Amy to wait somewhere, she is NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU. So really you should just stop trying and let her do her own thing.

Because she’s going to anyway.

Whether you like it or not.

So there.

Moving right along then…

Beast-y bites the dust thanks to a lethal case of the stabs brought on by Vincent, and thus ends that part of the story. Favorite moment for me came right after when we saw through van Gogh’s eyes and into the heart and soul of previously mentioned favorite painting, Starry Night. Yes, I am an art geek (among other things). No, I am not ashamed of this. In fact, I hope this inspires others to go check out an art museum sometime and experience some of his work (and others) for themselves.

Second favorite moment was van Gogh getting a peek inside the TARDIS. I love everyone’s usual reaction of “OMG it’s bigger on the inside” but his was especially good – “How is it I’m the crazy one and you’ve remained sane”. And thank you very very much to The Doctor for showing Vincent van Gogh how important his work is going to become to future generations. He may be about ready to die in his time, but now he knows that his work will live forever. It reminded me of when he did a similar thing for Charles Dickens in letting him know his books would be timeless. I only can wish that someone like The Doctor really comes around and lets these greats know how truly special they were.

Doctor Who – The Time Of Angels

As River Song would say… Spoilers!

OK, two really big milestones in this episode: the return of the Weeping Angels and River Song. Two of Steven Moffat’s greatest creations in one fantastic adventure.

Right off the bat we see River being her awesome self. It’s cool watching her do her thing as The Doctor discovers her message. Also cool: watching her school The Doctor in how to drive his TARDIS. Why does she seem to know more about this than he does? Unless she was just around when he made all these discoveries for himself the first time. Regardless, watching these two match wits is priceless. At the same time, it’s weird how their timelines keep crossing over in the wrong order and watching them navigate this problem. But more about the mysterious Dr. Song later.

The Weeping Angels are possibly the creepiest monsters The Doctor has ever faced. They were bad enough when there were just a few of them trying to survive. Now we learn all new things about them that make them even worse. At first we just get a four second clip of one on a loop. Then Amy discovers that the Angel in the recording moves. This just as The Doctor and River make their own discovery – “That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel”. The recording comes to life with Amy locked inside with it. She manages to freeze the recording in just the right spot to stop it, but this is only the beginning.

The other thing we find out about the Angels is that you are not supposed to look the Angels in the eye. This comes into play later in the episode. At this point I realized – this might be an old monster but we are putting a fresh spin on it here.

Our V-8 moment for the evening comes in the last 15 minutes or so. If the statues in the cave were made by a species with two heads, then why don’t the statues have two heads? Answer: because they are all Weeping Angels. They have been slowly dying in the caves for years. The ship crashing down on the planet was a rescue mission to save an army of them. But why are they killing people off instead of displacing them in time like they normally do? Oh, and remember Amy looking into the eye of the one Angel? Now would be the time for this to come into play. The gang is all ready to run, but Amy says her hand has turned to stone and she can’t move. The Doctor tells her it is all in her mind and she is really not turning into stone. She doesn’t believe him so he bites her hand to prove it. “Ow, you bit me!” she exclaims. “And you’re alive. Did I mention…?” he replies. Even in the darkest of moments, he is still able to bring some light to the situation.

We leave things with everyone seemingly very much trapped by the army of Angels. “No way back, no way up no way out.” Ah, but this is The Doctor we are talking about here, River. “There’s always a way out.” Cue inspirational speech by The Doctor that gets everyone to trust him and follow whatever crazy plan he comes up with next.

The Doctor: Big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn’t anyone ever tell you? There’s one thing you never put in a trap. If you’re smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap.
Bob: And what would that be, sir?
The Doctor: Me

Our final scene is him shooting a gun up into the air after this moment of pure awesome.

Questions that still need answering:
Why are the Weeping Angels killing people?
What was up with the convo between River and Father Octavian where he asks her “He doesn’t know yet? who and what you are?” And she says something about having “no intention of going back to prison”…say what?! Prison?! We knew there was a huge mystery surrounding this character but this takes it to a whole new level. She also said something to Amy about things not being as simple as they seem and wouldn’t confirm that she and The Doctor were married even though he seems to think this is the case… or will be eventually. He also doesn’t seem too sure how he feels about this. Notice how he was ready to just leave her on the planet to fend for herself?

I think that is quite enough questioning for this episode. Next week we get the conclusion, and based on previews it looks like we may be connecting this to the cracks in time that keep appearing everywhere. You’re not gonna want to miss a single second of the adventure that awaits. (No fair downloading it online though. River would not be pleased with the Spoilers.)