tree_and_leaf | Reading

okay, I was not expecting to have quite SO MANY feelings about Operation Mincemeat, the musical, but indeed I do. (I have listened to the cast recording about seventy times and have not been able to see it live, though I, uh. Have now seen it, see end of post.) I don't think I have had so many strong feelings about a musical since Hamilton, only in many ways they are wildly different feelings?? Hamilton is a fancy big-chorus-dancing musical that is concerned predominantly with valorizing a particular hero (Alexander Hamilton) in a eh-mostly-historical way while offering up somewhat revisionist-considerations of some of the other US's famous Founding Fathers, with a major thematic concern of race, but which adheres to pretty standard gender considerations. OM is a budget-vibe musical starring five people who are both the big parts and the chorus, that is concerned predominantly with both rather revisionist-considerations, in a mostly-historical-fiction way, of a particular type of hero (a heavily fictionalized Ewen Montagu) who is known for his part in the WWII shenanigans of Operation Mincemeat, while at the same time offering up larger parts to people who were not at all famous, with a major thematic concern of gender.

( Starting with: There are FIVE people in the cast! )

languagelog_feed

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72747&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-personal-encounter-with-the-submissive-woman-bound-slave-rorschach-test

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72747

[This is a guest post by Michael Broughton.]

I had an interesting Rorschach encounter with the oracle bone graph for woman a couple of years back. Oddly, this experience came in a rather roundabout way through an investigation into the character for interpretation, yi 譯. At the time, I was starting my Chinese translation business and wanted to come up with a meaningful logo for the business. I thought that an investigation into the character yi 譯 might help to inspire some ideas, and so I tried to do a little bit of digging into why it was written the way it was. Of note, the Liji (Book of Rites) has four characters for interpreting officials, as James Legge wrote in his elegant translation:

To make what was in their minds apprehended, and to communicate their likings and desires, (there were officers) – in the east, called transmitters (ji 寄); in the south, representationists (xiang 象); in the west, Di-dis (didi 狄鞮); and in the north, interpreters (yi 譯).

For me, there was something about the yi 譯 character that seemed fundamental to the nature of interpreting/translating. Obviously, the speech radical 言 on the side seemed to suggest that early forms of ‘translation’ were oral interpreting—as would naturally make sense in a predominantly pre-literate Zhou society. But I was more interested in right side of the character, having developed, in my earlier days, a keen interest in what was called youwenshuo 右文說, the idea that a character’s meaning is often conveyed by its phonetic determinative—the part of the character specifying pronunciation.

The right part of the character yi 譯 can be written as its own graph “睪,” and this has quite a few different readings—yi, ze, du and gao. It is used as the phonetic determinative for quite a few characters (the ze in xuanze 選擇 [choose] and Mao Zedong 毛澤東; the shi in jieshi 解釋 [explain]; the yi in yizhan 驛站 [an archaic word for a post station]). In all these words, the character was originally a specifier for pronunciation, and may, for some of them, even be a clue to a possible word family relationship (Axel Schuessler, in the ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese has yi 譯 [interpret] yi 驛 [relay station] and shi 釋 [explain] in a broad word family). In mainland China today, the character 睪 has been simplified in all these characters to , though in Japan, it has, for reasons unknown to me, been simplified into 尺.

Looking up the character 睪 in the Shuowen Jiezi, I was interested to see that Xu Shen had glossed this character as something like “spy on,” with Xu Shen analysing the graph as a huiyi 會意 character made up of two combined semantic derivatives, mu 目 (eye) and nie 㚔 (an instrument used for punishment). Following the trail further, my oracle bone dictionary glossed nie 㚔 as a form of wooden handcuffs and presented some evocative early graphs that wouldn’t be easily interpreted as manacles today.

That the character for nie 㚔 is, in fact, a representation of some form of manacles is much more evident when we see members of the Shang and Zhou times wearing them, as we do in the oracle bone script for zhi 執 (which meant, in pre-Qin times, something along the lines of “to arrest”). Richard Sears’ painstakingly created (but unfortunately named) website, “Chinese Etymology,” has a great many oracle bone examples of the character zhi 執, which I have screenshotted below:

And thus it was, that as I was looking at these unfortunate pre-Qin captives, a strange thought crossed my mind. The position of the captive looked remarkably familiar, it was almost as though I had seen it before…where was it…ah, that’s right, the character for woman!

Could it be…were those tender hands in front originally bound by shackles. Was today’s lady unshackled, but still bound, her hands tied by the binds of the materially intangible but ever present patriarchy! The moment was a see-it-and-you-can’t-unsee-it one. Rorschach successful.

And that would have been the end of it, a moment of striking similarity and crazy coincidence, another exciting day in arduous challenge of learning Chinese. Except that…except that in 1937, a number of ceramic figurines were discovered in the Yinxu excavation site, some of the earliest figurines ever discovered. Figurines with their hands in shackles, some to the front, and some to the back. The Open Museum hosted by the Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures has a great close up of these (link here):

Could it be that the act of distinguishing female slaves from males was determined by the position in which their hands were tied? Perhaps captive ladies may have been seen as less dangerous, less prone to escape—hence the relatively more comfortable shackling position? If such character interpretation revisionism was allowed, imagine the flow-on possibilities.

Thus ends my own Rorschach experience with the lady of the crossed hands. As for the business logo, I took inspiration from the shackles. Perhaps translation and interpretation are, after all, about unlocking confusion and releasing meaning. The manacles alluding not to the binding, but rather the moment of words breaking free. Here is the final logo that came out of it. Thanks go to the captive slaves of the Shang and Zhou who inspired it.

Selected readings

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72747&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-personal-encounter-with-the-submissive-woman-bound-slave-rorschach-test

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72747

languagelog_feed

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72755&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=strange-chinese-on-south-african-album-cover

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72755

From Charles Belov:

YouTube music's algorithm suggested to me an album, 24 Hours in Soweto, in the amapiano genre that I love which mostly comes from the Zulu community in South Africa. I was struck by the album cover, which seems to have some random Chinese characters, some garbled. Wondering if it's AI art. Can you make any sense of it?

If the Chinese on the cover is AI-generated, I'd have to say that the machine did a pretty good job of mimicking what characters look like and how they are constructed.

Although at the opposite extreme of complexity, in terms of conveying meaning, they're not much worse than this:

or these:

Selected readings

"How to generate fake Chinese characters automatically" (12/30/15)
"The unpredictability of Chinese character formation and pronunciation" (2/6/12)
"Chinese characters formed from letters of the alphabet" (8/20/14)
"The infinitude of Chinese characters" (9/9/20) — with a huge bibliography
"AI writes sinoglyphs" (2/25/24)
"Stochastic popinjay and Perso-Arabic art / adab" (1/20/24)
"AI is producing ‘fake’ Indigenous art trained on real artists’ work without permission: One Indigenous artist said the process of using their art to train AI models that competes with them for work is a ‘very colonial mindset’." Cam Wilson, Crikey (Jan 19, 2024). — just to keep up to date on some other aspects of AI
"More AI shenanigans" (10/21/23)
"AI encroachments" (7/21/23)

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72755&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=strange-chinese-on-south-african-album-cover

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72755

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

Some weeks back I saw one of the most fiery color sunsets I've yet seen. It's usually the case that sunsets look even more colorful to the camera, but in this case it was already a strong red, and was widespread.

( Read more... )

nanila

[phone rings in my hotel room]
Me: “Hello?”
Concierge, sounding very uncertain and slightly bemused: “Um, hello, is that Nanila, who just checked in with us today?”
Me: “Yes, that’s correct.”
Concierge: “Um…I have a gentleman on the line who would like to speak to you. I…I think he’s your father? I’m so sorry, I’m really not sure.”
Me, chuckling: “That sounds like him. Did he say his name was [Firstname Lastname]?”
Concierge: “I couldn’t understand him when he said his name. I think it’s my phone line.”
Me, drily: “Please don’t be sorry. That will be one of two things: his accent, or he hasn’t got his teeth in.”
Concierge, now relaxing a bit and giggling: “Would you like me to put him through?”
Me: “Please do, thank you.”

*pause*

Me: “Hi Dad, how are you doing?”
Dad: “I tried to call you but I kept getting the prison! Where are you? Are you in XX hotel?!”
Me, patiently: “Yes, Dad, I’m in the hotel.”
Dad: “What room are you in? I need to write it down. Are you sure? Are you okay?”
Me: “Dad. I’m in Room NN. I am fine. And if this is the prison then it’s had a tremendous facilities upgrade.”
Dad: “Oh, okay. Was the traffic awful? Are you very tired? When do you want to meet for dinner? Should we go to the sushi place? Do you remember the sushi place? I need to put my teeth in!”
Me: “Yes, yes, whenever you want to eat, yes, yes, and yes, you do.”

For anyone who has met me in person and has thought to themselves, “This woman has no idea how to hold a conversation like a normal human being,” this is 100% where I got it from. Thanks, Dad.

marycatelli

There was this story, I had outlined it, and started it, and lost interest. . . .

Out of the blue, it hopped up again and suggested I could work on it and fit it in a collection that is, at the moment, still up in the air.

How silly those plot bunnies get

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6971 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 06 secrets from Secret Submission Post #995.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

marycatelli

Bones rules; or, Skeleton of English grammar by John B. Tabb

Turn-of-the-last-century grammar lessons. Basic, sound grammar, with some additional interest in his choices of sentences to analyze. Many from poems, and with some interesting placing of the parts of a sentence.

He does note that any word can be used as a verb, even then.

marycatelli

kaberett

some washi tape I wanted has restocked at a UK retailer! Possibly a second one also! So as and when the website works out what's going on with Desired Tape #2, it is time to place a stationery order for meeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Progress With Preposterous Puzzle! I now have all the edge assembled (I think I wound up with only one piece having been Actually Wrong) and even I have managed to start filling in very slowly (I am up to... about 5 pieces placed so far? which is a further 1% down!)
I got a hug from the Child while saying goodbye this evening!
I have worked out an acceptable Wagamama order from the current menu and am feeling pretty good about my dinner.
Bread for tomorrow (anise, fig, hazelnut, copied from the local fancy bakery) is looking Extremely Promising.

nineveh_uk

Such as when it is February and seems to have been raining forever.

Watch on YouTube

tordotcom_feed

Posted by Vanessa Armstrong

https://reactormag.com/30-years-the-wizard-of-oz-air-on-broadcast-tv/

https://reactormag.com/?p=838843

News The Wizard of Oz

After Almost 30 Years, The Wizard of Oz Will Once Again Air on Broadcast TV

The movie will air on the classic television channel, MeTV

By Vanessa Armstrong

Published on February 5, 2026

Screenshot: Warner Bros.

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Vanessa Armstrong</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/30-years-the-wizard-of-oz-air-on-broadcast-tv/">https://reactormag.com/30-years-the-wizard-of-oz-air-on-broadcast-tv/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838843">https://reactormag.com/?p=838843</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/the-wizard-of-oz/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag The Wizard of Oz 1"> The Wizard of Oz </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">After Almost 30 Years, <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> Will Once Again Air on Broadcast TV</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">The movie will air on the classic television channel, MeTV</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/vanessa-armstrong/" title="Posts by Vanessa Armstrong" class="author url fn" rel="author">Vanessa Armstrong</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on February 5, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: Warner Bros.</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/30-years-the-wizard-of-oz-air-on-broadcast-tv/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.3 1.3v10.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="740" height="471" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Wizard-of-Oz-740x471.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Dorothy and Toto from The Wizard of Oz" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Wizard-of-Oz-740x471.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Wizard-of-Oz-1100x701.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Wizard-of-Oz-768x489.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Wizard-of-Oz.jpg 1476w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: Warner Bros.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>There’s no place like broadcast television! Starting in 1959, <em>The Wizard of Oz </em>was a broadcast TV staple, airing as a television special once a year (with the exception of 1963, for whatever reason) on CBS. In 1998, however, CBS aired the film for the last time—Ted Turner, who owned the IP, moved the film exclusively over to his Time-Warner cable stations. Since then, it’s aired on TNT and TBS several times (it also, controversially, played at <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-wizard-of-oz-las-vegas-sphere-footage-controversy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Sphere in Las Vegas</a>), but not on a free broadcast network… until now.</p> <p>According to <em><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/the-wizard-of-oz-air-broadcast-television-metv-october-1236496052/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Hollywood Reporter</a></em>, MeTV has purchased the exclusive broadcast rights for <em>The Wizard of Oz. </em>The network, which focuses on classic TV, will air the film several times in October 2026 as part of its <em>Halloween BOO-Nanza </em>campaign, twenty-eight or so years after its last broadcast in 1998.</p> <p>“<em>The Wizard of Oz</em> is more than a movie, it is a shared American experience that was defined by the annual tradition of gathering around the television set,” Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting, which owns MeTV, said in a statement to <em>THR</em>. “We are thrilled to bring the film back to broadcast television this October on MeTV. It will be presented without any edits and will be surrounded by surprises we will announce later….”</p> <p>MeTV is available on broadcast television over the air for most of the U.S. if you want to get out your TV rabbit ears. It’s also available via Frndly TV, Philo, Fubo, DirecTV Stream and Sling TV. [end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/30-years-the-wizard-of-oz-air-on-broadcast-tv/">After Almost 30 Years, <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> Will Once Again Air on Broadcast TV</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/30-years-the-wizard-of-oz-air-on-broadcast-tv/">https://reactormag.com/30-years-the-wizard-of-oz-air-on-broadcast-tv/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838843">https://reactormag.com/?p=838843</a></p>

thebloggess_feed

Posted by thebloggess

https://thebloggess.com/2026/02/05/some-happy-book-news-and-library-love/

https://thebloggess.com/?p=44149

How To Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay got a starred review from Library Journal! (Starred reviews are rare as hen’s teeth and denote a “book of distinction” and I’ve only gotten a few in my life so I am literally am sitting here with the biggest dumb smile on my face and thought IContinue reading

https://thebloggess.com/2026/02/05/some-happy-book-news-and-library-love/

https://thebloggess.com/?p=44149

tordotcom_feed

Posted by Vanessa Armstrong

https://reactormag.com/undertone-trailer-podcasts/

https://reactormag.com/?p=838811

News undertone

Undertone Trailer Proves Even Ghosts Have Podcasts Now

The A24 film delves into the true horrors of podcasting

By Vanessa Armstrong

Published on February 5, 2026

Screenshot: A24

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Vanessa Armstrong</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/undertone-trailer-podcasts/">https://reactormag.com/undertone-trailer-podcasts/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838811">https://reactormag.com/?p=838811</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/undertone/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag undertone 1"> undertone </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><i>Undertone</i> Trailer Proves Even Ghosts Have Podcasts Now</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">The A24 film delves into the true horrors of podcasting</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/vanessa-armstrong/" title="Posts by Vanessa Armstrong" class="author url fn" rel="author">Vanessa Armstrong</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on February 5, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: A24</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] 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id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img decoding="async" width="740" height="493" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/undertone-740x493.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Nina Kiri as Evy in A24's Undertone" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/undertone-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/undertone-1100x734.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/undertone-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/undertone-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/undertone.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: A24</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>Shhh! A24 has a horror film called <em>Undertone</em> coming out next month. It stars the host of a popular paranormal podcast named Evy (Nina Kiri), who becomes haunted by terrifying recordings of an unknown couple who apparently captured supernatural noises coming from their house.</p> <p>The film is the debut of writer-director Ian Tuason, and today’s trailer suggests that the movie is satisfyingly terrifying. We only get snippets of the audio recordings, which are full of ominous whispers and hissing voices, but we also get quick visuals that suggest that Kiri’s Evy is going mad and/or is being targeted by a malevolent, possibly supernatural force. Whatever the case may be, it will certainly make you hesitate to start the next podcast in your queue. </p> <p>In addition to Kiri, <em>Undertone</em> stars Adam DiMarco, who plays Evy’s podcast cohost, Justin, and Michèle Duquet, who plays Evy’s dying mother. You’ll never see DiMarco or Duquet on screen, however; a conceit of the movie is that we only see Evy, playing into the whole aural horror of the film. (It’s almost like the reverse conceit of <em><a href="https://reactormag.com/a-quiet-place-part-1-part-2-review/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A Quiet Place</a></em>, where no one could talk or aliens would eat them. In <em>Undertone</em>, we hear a whole lot, but only see Evy. There also don’t seem to be aliens involved… but who knows!) The happenings of the film all also take place in Evy’s childhood home, which also happens to be Tuason’s real-life childhood home. Synergy!</p> <p><em>Undertone</em> premieres in U.S. theaters on Friday, March 13, 2026.</p> <p>Listen (and watch) the trailer below. [end-mark]</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <site-embed id="18210"/> </div></figure> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/undertone-trailer-podcasts/"><i>Undertone</i> Trailer Proves Even Ghosts Have Podcasts Now</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/undertone-trailer-podcasts/">https://reactormag.com/undertone-trailer-podcasts/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838811">https://reactormag.com/?p=838811</a></p>

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Posted by Vanessa Armstrong

https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer-2/

https://reactormag.com/?p=838801

News Ready or Not 2: Here I come

Sisterly Bonding Gets Bloody in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Trailer

Four families are now hunting down Grace… and her sister!

By Vanessa Armstrong

Published on February 5, 2026

Photo by Searchlight Pictures/Pief Weyman

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Vanessa Armstrong</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer-2/">https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer-2/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838801">https://reactormag.com/?p=838801</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Ready or Not 2: Here I come 1"> Ready or Not 2: Here I come </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Sisterly Bonding Gets Bloody in <i>Ready or Not 2: Here I Come</i> Trailer</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Four families are now hunting down Grace… and her sister!</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/vanessa-armstrong/" title="Posts by Vanessa Armstrong" class="author url fn" rel="author">Vanessa Armstrong</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on February 5, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&_a]:link"><p>Photo by Searchlight Pictures/Pief Weyman</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer-2/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 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6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="493" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RON2_13482_v2-740x493.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton in READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME." srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RON2_13482_v2-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RON2_13482_v2-1100x734.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RON2_13482_v2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RON2_13482_v2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RON2_13482_v2.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&_a]:link"><p>Photo by Searchlight Pictures/Pief Weyman</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>Grace (Samara Weaving) continues to have a not-so-great time in <em><a href="https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ready or Not 2: Here I Come</a></em>. In the 2019 horror comedy <em>Ready or Not</em>, she survived her fiancé’s wealthy family trying to murder her in a twisted game of Hide and Seek.</p> <p>It turns out, however, that rich a-hole family was just the beginning. In the upcoming sequel, four families are now in a game to hunt her down and kill her for sport. And to get her to play, they’ve abducted her sister (Kathryn Newton) and are making them both play along.</p> <p>The comedy in this comedy horror, if today’s trailer is any indication, comes from the actors involved. Weaving and Newton convey an understandable WTF attitude toward being hunted down by billionaires, with the accompanying over-the-top gore giving scenes an additional soupçon of absurdness.</p> <p>And as for the psychopathic billionaires? <a href="https://reactormag.com/two-very-familiar-faces-have-joined-the-game-in-ready-or-not-here-i-come/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Actors Sarah Michelle Gellar</a>, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, and David Cronenberg give them each a special panache, as does Elijah Wood, who plays the lawyer overseeing the proceedings.</p> <p>We’ll get to see what directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (aka Radio Silence) bring us when the movie, written by <em>Ready or Not </em>scribes Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, heads to theaters on March 20, 2026.</p> <p>Check out today’s trailer below. [end-mark]</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <site-embed id="18209"/> </div></figure> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer-2/">Sisterly Bonding Gets Bloody in <i>Ready or Not 2: Here I Come</i> Trailer</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer-2/">https://reactormag.com/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-trailer-2/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838801">https://reactormag.com/?p=838801</a></p>

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Posted by camestrosfelapton

https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/rfph03ch49the-androids-and-otherwise-of-star-trek/

http://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/?p=55258

The history of science fiction is intimately tied to shifts in mass media. By the 1960s, television had become the medium of the moment and in the USA colour television was becoming increasingly popular. Science fiction was already an established genre on US television from the 1950s primarily from shows that replicated the kind of adventure serials from cinema and radio. Anthology shows such as Science Fiction Theatre were aimed at a more adult audience and drew on the short fiction tradition from magazines.

Star Trek was not the first ongoing drama science fiction drama series (we will discuss a slightly earlier example Lost in Space next) but it was easily the most influential. Initially conceived in 1964 the show became a networked show in 1966. I’m not going to delve into the history of how the show came into being because, like Doctor Who’s early history, that has been covered in depth many times. Suffice to say that show drew from a range of sources, including films like Forbidden Planet, TV Westerns as well historical naval dramas such as the Horatio Hornblower book series.

While the show did not originate ideas such as faster than light travel, multi-planetary civilisations, energy weapons or teleportation, the shows use of science fiction tropes helped popularise and familiarise wider audiences with these ideas. The show also blended and overall aesthetic of “hard” science fiction (i.e. the idea that the fantastical technology was rooted in scientific concepts that should be treated as plausible extrapolations from modern technology) with more fantastical ideas such as telepathy and time-travel.

Among those recurring science fiction themes were robots, artificial intelligence and androids.

In this original version of Star Trek there was not a robot/android character as part of the main set of characters (unlike Lost in Space) nor was there an ongoing antagonist in the form of a robot or cyborg species (unlike Doctor Who). However, androids would be a recurring science fiction concept in the show.

In the seventh episode of the first season, What Are Little Girls Made Of?, the USS Enterprise visits a planet to search for a lost scientist (who is also the fiance of Nurse Chapel). Written by Robert Bloch, the episode is one of several with elements reminiscent of Forbidden Planet: a scientist, a lost civilisation and the remnants of alien technology whose use leads to alarming consequences. However, in this story the robots (specifically androids) are the remnant technology. The lost civilisation had machines for creating machine duplicates of people, which including a kind of mental upload process. I don’t think the concept of uploading minds into android bodies was original to this episode but is a notable example and the first instance I’ve mentioned in this project (as opposed to implanting brains in cyborg bodies or an android made to imitate a specific person¹).

The episode leans heavily on the idea of robot/androids as a threat in the form of replacement. The androids are fake people and the plot relies on Science Officer Spock realising that an android version of Captain Kirk is not the real Kirk because the android version is racially verbally abusive towards him². Robots, androids and artificial intelligence in general will have recurring theme of being fake, wrong and at odds with natural humanity.

In the second season, the episode The Ultimate Computer, has the USS Enterprise refitted with an advance computer capable of taking complete command of the ship. This has disastrous consequences as the computer takes a set of war games too seriously, leading to it becoming deadly in a bid to “win” at all costs. While not literally bound by Asimov’s laws of robotics, the eventual resolution of the crisis involves Kirk trapping the computer in a conflict between its actions and its ultimate purpose.

Also in the second season we are treated to more androids in the episode I, Mudd (a title with a little nod to I, Robot). Recurring comedic criminal/conman Harry Mudd has found himself “king” of an android civilisation and is plotting to gain control of the Enterprise. The androids are once again the remnant of an earlier civilisation. The androids have their own agenda which is to serve (but ultimately control) humanity. Key members of the crew who are on the planet discombobulate the androids by acting in bizarre and irrational ways. Kirk ultimately defeats the master android with a version of the liar paradox.

Ultimately, the androids are made benign and left to their own devices which including keeping Mudd as their permanent and unwilling guest.

Also in the second season we meet a more unusual form of artificial intelligence. In the episode The Changeling, the crew encounter a deadly sentient space probe with incredible powers. The probe has a deep hostility to biological units but appears to regard Captain Kirk as its creator and recognises him as an authority figure. Eventually, the crew discover that the probe was a originally a human built autonomous space probe. During its wanderings, it was damaged in an encounter with a different alien probe whose job was to sterilise soil samples for research. The now more powerful and sentient probe ended up with a mission to seek out new life and destroy. Once again, Kirk defeats it by turning its own reasoning against it and persuading the probe to destroy itself because it is imperfect. We will meet this storyline again in a future post on Star Trek.

In the third season’s Requiem for Methuselah the idea of androids as deceptive impersonators of humanity crops up again. In a quest for minerals needed for medical reasons, the crew visit a planet with a population of exactly three: a robot, it’s master Flint and the beautiful young woman Rayna Kapec. Kirk falls in love with Rayna but because he hasn’t read the classics doesn’t notice that her surname is basically a version of Karel Čapek’s. Surprise! She is also a robot.

While we once again have a variant on the Prospero/Miranda/Ariel riff from Forbidden Planet, the ancient civilisation is now Flint. It is eventually revealed that while human, Flint is accidentally immortal and has been alive for much of human history and was actually several notable people in the past. Once again, a dilemma leads to an end for the android but this time an emotional one. Rayna dies due to her conflicted feelings between Kirk and Flint.

And Otherwise…

Yet, I have been avoiding a bigger topic.

Trek’s storylines about androids and computers would mainly (but not always) rest on the idea that their commitment to rigid, logical thinking was at odds with humanity but also limited in comparison to more intuitive thinking. This idea was coupled with the fear of replacement of humans by logical thinking machines and that such machines were deceptive and imitative. Even in the case of the sympathetic Rayna Kapec, Kirk is deceived into falling in love with a being who is not a “real” woman.

There is one character who I have not been discussing in all this: Spock.

The half human, half Vulcan, science officer is arguably the most enduring character of the show. As part of the original pilot for the show, he predates Captain Kirk who was not cast until the second (more successful pilot). While the show’s strength is its use of an ensemble cast, Spock is a signature character. Spock, like the various androids, is presented as being overly logical.

Spock does not technically fit within the very broad range of beings I’m including in this project (which includes puppets, reanimated corpses and brains in boxes). While his humanity and Vulcanity(?) are sometimes questioned, his basic personhood is not. He is a natural person rather than a manufactured one.

Nor is it the case that the writers pulled tropes about robots and simply applied them to an alien. Rather Spock is drawing on a different set of science fiction tropes in which there are people whose innate ability and mental discipline grant them increased intelligence and psychic powers. A particularly notable instance of this was the 1946 book Slan by A.E. van Vogt in which more evolved humans known as Slans are hunted by an authoritarian society that fears and hates them.

The concept of Slans was embraced by American fandom to the extent that a popular slogan “Fans are Slans” was adopted. The idea that fans of science fiction might (because of their interest in science) be smarter than average but also “persecuted” because their interest in apparently corny books was perceived as juvenile and obsessive had an obvious appeal.

In its most toxic form, the idea of people advancing their mental power through some kind of psychological break through underpinned the pseudoscientific book Dianetics, written by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and published promoted by the influential editor John W. Campbell. Dianetics would eventually lead to the dubious religion of Scientology.

Spock draws on those same ideas but in a more benign, even positive way. We go on to learn that Vulcans are not naturally devoid of emotion but rather experience more intense emotions than humans. “Logic” (more a form of stoicism) allows Vulcans to control their emotions and thus stave off catastrophic self-destruction as a species and/or turn into space-fascists³.

Star Trek in its original form places Spock as part of a triad of attitudes. He often faces opposition from the ship’s doctor, Bones, who offers a more humanistic, individualistic and sometimes bigoted view of events. As advisors to Kirk, they present two contrasting perspectives of which we are supposed to see Kirk as the golden mean of the Bones-Spock axis.

There is more to Spock than this.

The term “autism” existed in the 1960s but was still mired in competing conceptions and historically been used for a variety of conditions. It was not until the 1990s that the concept of neurodiversity became popularised, which expressed the idea that human societies contained many people whose cognitive and affective abilities where expressed in ways that fell outside of social norms but which should be seen as a valid way of being a person. Spock was not written as a metaphor for autism but both his role in the crew and indeed the expressed Vulcan philosophy of “infinite diversity in infinite combinations” was very in tune with the later concept of neurodiversity as a net social good.

While the “fans are Slans” slogan had a toxic elitist aspect to it, it is not unreasonable to surmise that science fiction fandom included a higher proportion of people who would fit somewhere on the modern conception of the autism spectrum than average. If we extend the concept of neurodiversity further, fandom had a greater tolerance of what might be seen as unusual or eccentric personalities.

Taking an even broader view, many of the historical characters we have encountered in multiple strands of this project have been people noted at the time for eccentric behaviour that sat outside of established social norms at the time including Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Mary Shelley, Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, John von Neumann⁴ and Alan Turing.

Spock is both a fictional and fantastical character but within Star Trek he was also presented as a person with an unusual mind with an unusual set of emotional responses. Yet he was also presented as vital and widely regarded member of the crew and a man who was brave, heroic and sometimes the focus of the romantic interest of others. He was not a planned or well thought out attempt to represent the concept of neurodiversity but nevertheless, this was part of his appeal despite the term not yet being invented.

Where this brings us back to the topic of robots and science fiction is Spock was a way that people who felt not entirely in tune with social norms to project that experience on to a person who could be understood in science fictional terms. Seeing yourself as a partly alien being for whom humans can feel strange and unpredictable is one route to understanding yourself.

The trope of androids having the appearance of humans but an alternative and more abstract way of thinking could also serve this role. An alternative way of thinking about your own experience using science fictional ideas to capture the sense of separation but also insight from other people. However, that is a story for Spock’s succesor as a character in a version of Star Trek twenty years later.

Next Time: Our last TV show for the time being with Lost in Space.

I considered whether Maria/Futura in Metropolis is an earlier example but while the robot takes on Maria’s appearance, it is not intended to reflect her mind. ︎
A deliberate trick engineered by Kirk during the upload process ︎
I don’t know if it is ever explicitly stated that Romulans are also subject to extreme Vulcan-like emotions but use a version of the Roman Empire to control it. ︎
In what is either the invention of the trope I’m trying to get at or an inversion of it, von Neumman was part of a set of Hungarian Jewish scientists/mathematicians who fled to the US who were collectively referred to as “Martians” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) ︎

https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/rfph03ch49the-androids-and-otherwise-of-star-trek/

http://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/?p=55258

sovay

Saturday's Hero (1951) was already failing to survive contact with the Production Code when the Red Scare stepped in. To give the censors their back-handed due, the results can be mistaken for an ambitiously scabrous exposé of the commercialization of college football whose diffusion into platitudes beyond its immediate social message may be understood as the inevitable Hollywood guardrail against taking its cynicism too thoughtfully to heart. It just happens that any comparison with its source material reveals its intermittently focused anger as a more than routine casualty of that white picket filter: it is an object lesson in the futility of trying to compromise with a moral panic.

Optioned by Columbia before it was even published, Millard Lampell's The Hero (1949) was a mythbuster of a debut novel from an author whose anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, pro-union bona fides went back to his undergraduate days and whose activism had already been artistically front and center in his protest songs for the Almanac Singers and his ballad opera with Earl Robinson. The material was personal, recognizably developed from the combined radicalization of his high school stardom in the silk city of Paterson and his short-lived varsity career at West Virginia University. Structurally, it's as neat and sharp as one of his anti-war lyrics or labor anthems, sighting on the eternally shifting goalposts of the American dream through the sacred pigskin of its gridiron game. Like a campus novel pulled inside out, it does not chronicle the acclaim and acceptance found by a sensitive, impressionable recruit once he's played the game like a Jackson man for his alma mater's honor and the pure love of football, it leaves him out in the cold with a shattered shoulder and ideals, assimilating the hard, crude fact that all the brotherly valorization of this most patriotic, democratic sport was a gimmick to get him to beat his brains out for the prestige and profit of silver-spooned WASPs who would always look down on him as "a Polack from a mill town" even as he advertised the product of their school in the hallowed jersey of their last doomed youth of an All-American. Beneath its heady veneer of laurels and fustian, football itself comes across as a grisly, consuming ritual—Lampell may not have known about CTE, but the novel's most significant games are marked by dirty plays and their gladiatorial weight in stretchers. It goes without saying that team spirit outweighs such selfish considerations as permanent disability. The more jaded or desperate players just try to get out with their payoffs intact. "I was only doing a job out there. I got a wife and kid, I was in the Marines three years. I needed the dough, the one-fifty they offered for getting you out of there." None of these costs and abuses had escaped earlier critiques of amateur athletics, but Lampell explicitly politicized them, anchoring his thesis to the title that can be read satirically, seriously, sadder and more wisely, the secret lesson that marginalized rubes like Steve Novak are never supposed to learn:

"Of all the nations on earth, it seems to me that America is peculiarly a country fed on myths. Work and Win. You Too Can Be President. Bootblack to Banker. The Spirit of the Old School. We've developed a whole culture designed to send young men chasing after a thousand glistening and empty goals. You too, Novak. You believe the legend . . . You've distilled him out of a thousand movies and magazine stories, second-rate novels and photographs in the advertisements. The Hero. The tall, lean, manly, modest, clean-cut, middle-class, Anglo-Saxon All-American Boy, athletic and confident in his perfectly cut tweeds, with his passport from Yale or Princeton or Jackson . . . To be accepted and secure; to be free of the humiliations of adolescence, the embarrassment of being Polish or poor, or Italian, or Jewish, or the son of a weary, bewildered father, a mother who is nervous and shouts, a grandfather who came over from the old country . . . You have to learn to recognize the myth, Novak. You have to learn what is the illusion, and what is the reality. That is when you will cease being hurt, baffled, disillusioned by a place like this. You won't learn it from me. You won't learn it from a lecture, or a conversation over teacups. But you'll have to learn."

Almost none of this mercilessly articulated disenchantment can be found in the finished film. Co-adapted by Lampell with writer-producer Sidney Buchman and chronically criticized by the PCA, Saturday's Hero sticks with melodramatic fidelity to the letter of the novel's action while its spirit is diverted from a devastating indictment of the American bill of goods to the smaller venalities of corruption in sports, the predatory scouts, the parasitic agents, the indifferent greed of presciently corporatized institutions and the self-serving back-slapping of alumni who parade their sacrificially anointed mascots to further their own political goals. It's acrid as far as it goes, but it loses so much of the novel's prickle as well as its bite. Onscreen, old-moneyed, ivy-bricked, athletically unscrupulous Jackson is a Southern university, mostly, it seems, to heighten the culture shock with the Northeastern conurbation that spawned Steve's White Falls. In the novel, its geography is razor-relevant—it decides his choice of college. Academically and financially, he has better offers for his grades and his talent, but its Virginian mystique, aristocratically redolent of Thomas Jefferson and Jeb Stuart, feels so much more authentically American than the immigrant industry of his hardscrabble New Jersey that he clutches for it like a fool's gold ring. The 2026 reader may feel their hackles raise even more than the reader of 1949. The viewer of 1951 would have had to read in the interrogation of what makes a real American for themselves. The question was a sealed record in the McCarthy era; it was un-American even to ask. It was downright Communist to wonder whether what made a real hero was a gentleman's handshake or the guts to hold on like Steve's Poppa with his accent as thick as chleb żytni, who went to jail with a broken head in the 1913 silk strike and never crossed a picket line in his life. For Lampell, the exploitativeness of football could not be separated from the equally stacked decks of race and economics that drove students to seek out their own commodification. "It is a profound social comment that there are so many Polish, Italian, Jewish and Negro athletes. Because athletics offers one of the few ways out of the tenements and the company houses." The Production Code was a past master of compartmentalization, married couples placed decorously in separate beds. The football scenes in Saturday's Hero are shot with bone-crunching adrenaline by God-tier DP Lee Garmes as if he'd tacked an Arriflex to the running back and if the picture had been ideologically that head-on, it might have lived up to the accusations of subversive propaganda which the presence of class consciousness seemed to panic out of the censors. It feels instead so circumscribed in its outrage that it is faintly amazing that it manages the novel's anti-establishment, not anti-intellectual ending in which Steve, proto-New Wave, walks away from the gilded snare of Jackson determined to complete his education on his own terms even if it means putting himself through night school in White Falls or New York. As his Pacific veteran of a brother gently recognizes, in a way that has nothing to do with diplomas, "My little brother is an educated man." It's a hard-won, self-made optimism, surely as all-American as any forward pass. With the vitriolic encouragement of such right-wing organizations and publications as The American Legion Magazine (1919–), its even more expressly anti-Communist spinoff The Firing Line (1952–55), and the anti-union astroturf of the Wage Earners Committee, the movie after all its memos, rewrites, and cuts was picketed and charges of card-carrying Communism levied against writer Lampell, producer Buchman, and supporting player Alexander Knox.

Why pick on him? The blacklist had already won that round. For his prolifically left-wing contributions to the Committee for the First Amendment, Progressive Citizens of America, the Actors' Lab, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Russian Institute, Knox had been named in Myron C. Fagan's Documentations of the Reds and Fellow-Travelers in Hollywood and TV (1950). By the end of that year, he had taken his Canadian passport and his family to the UK and returned to the U.S. only for the production dates required to burn off the remainder of his contract with Columbia. Since witch-hunts have by definition little to do with facts and everything to do with fear, the picketers didn't have to care so long as they could seize on his Red-bait reputation—The Firing Line would cherish a hate-on for him as late as 1954—but it remains absurdly true that at the time when Saturday's Hero premiered, he was living in London. His name had been insinuated before HUAC as far back as the original hearings in 1947. Harry Cohn might as well have rolled his own with those memos and let Knox give that broadside denunciation of the great American myth.

Fortunately, even a truncated version of Professor Megroth of the English Department of Jackson University is an ornament to his picture, no matter how irritably he would wave it off. Plotwise, the character is strictly from cliché, the only adult on campus to bother with an athlete's mind instead of his rushing average and return yards, but Knox makes him believable and even difficult, the kind of burnt-out instructor who makes sour little asides about the tedium of his own courses and plays his disdain for sportsball to the cheap seats of his tonier students as a prelude to putting the blue-collar naïf he resents having been assigned to advise on the spot. Can I find a hint that Knox ever played Andrew Crocker-Harris in his post-American stage career? Can I hell and I'd like to see the manager about it. Like the subtly stratified fraternity houses and dorms, he looks like just another manifestation of the university's double standards until Steve goes for the Romantic broke of quoting all forty-two Spenserian stanzas of "The Eve of St. Agnes" and the professor is ironically too good a sport not to concede the backfire with unimpeachable pedantry. "You don't understand, Novak. You're supposed to stand there like a dumb ox while I make a fool out of you." His mentorship of Steve is mordant, impatient, a little shy of his own enthusiasm, as if he's been recalled to his responsibilities as a teacher by the novelty of a pupil who goes straight off the syllabus of English 1 into Whitman and Balzac and Dostoyevsky as fast as Megroth can pull their titles off the shelves, making time outside his office hours—in a rare note of realism for Hollywood academia, he can be seen grading papers through lunch—in unemphasized alternative to the relentless demands of the team and especially its publicity machine that eat ever further into its star player's studies and, more fragilely, his sense of self. "You know, if you continue in this rather curious manner, I may be forced to give you quite a decent mark. Be a terrible blow to me, wouldn't it?" That it doesn't work is no criticism of Megroth, who is obviously a more than competent advisor once he gets his head out of his own classism. As he would not be permitted to point out on film, it is hideously difficult to deprogram a national freight of false idols, especially after eighteen years of absorbing them as unconsciously as the chemical waste of the dye shops or the ash and asbestos fallout of the silk mills. He can talk about truth, he can talk about self-knowledge; he can watch horrified and impotent from the stands of a brutal debacle as it breaks his student across its bottom line. He would have played beautifully the quiet, clear-eyed conversation that the PCA rejected as "anti-American." Barely a line remains, cut to shreds, perhaps reshot: "The dream, the dream to be accepted and secure . . . Once you know it's a dream, it can't hurt." Professor Megroth says it like the only thing he has left to teach the still-raw Steve, whom even a joke about industrial insurance can't persuade to stay a second longer at Jackson than it takes him to pack. Alex Knox would revisit the U.S. only once more in 1980, thirty years after it had chased him out. When he began to be offered parts in American pictures again, he would take them only if they were internationally shot.

"One way that fascism comes," Millard Lampell wrote as a senior at WVU in 1940, "is by an almost imperceptible system of limitations on public liberty, an accumulation of suppressions. The attack on civil liberties is one invasion the United States army can't stop. The only safeguard of democracy at the polls is the determination of the people to make it work." Boy, would he have had a lousy 2024. He didn't have such a good 1950, when he was named in the notorious Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television and in short order vanished from American screens until the 1960's. Sidney Buchman followed much the same trajectory, starting with his refusal to name names before HUAC the same month that Saturday's Hero opened. Since he was encouraged to write one of those confessional letters clearing himself of all Communist sympathies, I am pleased to report that Alexander Knox completely blew it by digressing to castigate the House Un-American Activities Committee for exactly the kind of lawless groupthink it claimed to have formed to root out, which he was unsurprisingly right damaged far more of America's image on the world stage than a couple of socially progressive pictures. Is there an echo in here? The blacklist passed over the majority of the remaining cast and crew—veteran direction by David Miller, a journeyman score by Elmer Bernstein, and effective to exact performances from John Derek, Donna Reed, Sidney Blackmer, Sandro Giglio, Aldo Ray, and no relation Mickey Knox—but even the topical boost of a series of college athletics scandals couldn't save the film at the box office. It was Red and dead.

"Athletics! No interest whatsoever in football, basketball, tennis, beanbag, darts, or spin-the-bottle." I have about as much feeling for most sports as Professor Megroth, but I learned the rules of American football because my grandfather always watched it, always rooting for the Sooners long after he had retired from the faculty of the University of Oklahoma. I would have loved to ask him about this movie, the sport, the politics; I would have loved to catch it on TCM, for that matter, but instead I had to make do with very blurrily TCM-ripped YouTube. The novel itself took an interlibrary loan to get hold of, never having been reprinted since its abridged and pulp-styled paperback from the Popular Library in 1950. It's such a snapshot, except the more I discovered about it, the less historical it felt. "I console myself," the novel's professor says, unconsoled, as he shakes hands for the last time with Steve, "with the thought that even if I had said all this, you would not have believed me. You would have had to find out." And then, just once, could we remember? This education brought to you by my curious backers at Patreon.

Current Music: The Carolina Chocolate Drops, "Political World"

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News Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders

Michael Shannon Will Star in Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders

The remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari comes from the Dowdle brothers

By Molly Templeton

Published on February 5, 2026

Screenshot: MGM Studios

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Molly Templeton</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/michael-shannon-doctor-caligaris-cabinet-of-wonders/">https://reactormag.com/michael-shannon-doctor-caligaris-cabinet-of-wonders/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838766">https://reactormag.com/?p=838766</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/doctor-caligaris-cabinet-of-wonders/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Doctor Caligari's Cabinet of Wonders 1"> Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Michael Shannon Will Star in <i>Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders</i></h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">The remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari comes from the Dowdle brothers</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/molly-templeton/" title="Posts by Molly Templeton" class="author url fn" rel="author">Molly Templeton</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on February 5, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="494" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/caligari-740x494.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Still from the movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/caligari-740x494.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/caligari-1100x735.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/caligari-768x513.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/caligari.jpg 1497w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: MGM Studios</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>Michael Shannon’s fascinating career arc—from indies to playing General Zod himself—continues. The actor is now set to star in a remake of <em>The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari</em> that comes from the creators of the series <em>Waco</em> (in which Shannon starred).</p> <p>John Erick Dowdle is set to write and direct <em>Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders</em>; his brother Drew Dowdle will produce the film. The brothers have previously collaborated (usually with John Erick directing and both writing) on <em>No Escape</em>; <em>As Above, So Below</em>; and <em>Quarantine</em>. John Erick Dowdle also directed <em>Devil</em>, the film (co-written by M. Night Shyamalan) in which someone in a crowded elevator is the Devil.</p> <p>According to <em><a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/global/michael-shannon-dr-caligaris-cabinet-of-wonders-dowdle-bros-1236653347/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Variety</a></em>, Shannon plays “the titular villain, Doctor Caligari, a traveling mesmerist who journeys from town to town with a sleepwalker under his control, leaving a trail of grisly murders in their wake. When a young woman’s boyfriend disappears mysteriously, she believes that the enigmatic Caligari is somehow responsible. The problem is — nobody believes her.”</p> <p>John Erick Dowdle said, “The idea of seeing him play the horrifying Doctor Caligari became an obsession for us. The trust and creative shorthand we’ve built together will allow us to push deeper and bolder as we reimagine this iconic German Expressionist classic for a modern audience. I couldn’t be more excited to bring this nightmare to life with him.”</p> <p>The original <em>Cabinet of Dr. Caligari</em> (pictured above), released in 1920, was a silent film directed by Robert Wiene. C.A. Lejeune’s 1923 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/03/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-review-archive-1923" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a> in <em>The Guardian</em> is fascinating:</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>But that Robert Wiene, a stage actor of the Sturm group, whose avowed interest was the spreading of the gospel of expressionism through every medium, whether plastic or pictorial, and who cared for the kinema only in so far as it could further his ends more completely than the speaking stage – that this outsider, with no knowledge of studio customs, no reverence for studio traditions, should have turned out <em>The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari</em> seems a thing almost too strange for belief.</p></blockquote></figure> <p>Lejeune goes on to call the original “an almost flawless picture.” The Dowdles clearly have their work cut out for them.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/michael-shannon-doctor-caligaris-cabinet-of-wonders/">Michael Shannon Will Star in <i>Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet of Wonders</i></a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/michael-shannon-doctor-caligaris-cabinet-of-wonders/">https://reactormag.com/michael-shannon-doctor-caligaris-cabinet-of-wonders/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838766">https://reactormag.com/?p=838766</a></p>

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Posted by Leah Schnelbach

https://reactormag.com/r-l-stine-the-dead-girlfriend-and-diane-hoh-guilty-teen-horror-time-machine/

https://reactormag.com/?p=838588

Books Teen Horror Time Machine

Dearly Departed: The Dead Girlfriend and Guilty

By Alissa Burger

Published on February 5, 2026

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Leah Schnelbach</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/r-l-stine-the-dead-girlfriend-and-diane-hoh-guilty-teen-horror-time-machine/">https://reactormag.com/r-l-stine-the-dead-girlfriend-and-diane-hoh-guilty-teen-horror-time-machine/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838588">https://reactormag.com/?p=838588</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-vertical"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/books/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Books 0"> Books </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/teen-horror-time-machine/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Teen Horror Time Machine 1"> Teen Horror Time Machine </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Dearly Departed: <em>The Dead Girlfriend</em> and <em>Guilty</em> </h2> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/alissa-burger/" title="Posts by Alissa Burger" class="author url fn" rel="author">Alissa Burger</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on February 5, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="407" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/teen-horror-dead-girlfriend-740x407.png" class="w-full object-cover" alt="cover of The Dead Girlfriend by RL Stine" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/teen-horror-dead-girlfriend-740x407.png 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/teen-horror-dead-girlfriend-1100x605.png 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/teen-horror-dead-girlfriend-768x422.png 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/teen-horror-dead-girlfriend.png 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>The characters in teen horror novels are constantly breaking up, making up, and swapping partners, with lots of high tension drama, hurt feelings, and elaborate revenge plots. In R.L. Stine’s standalone book <em>The Dead Girlfriend</em> (1993) and Diane Hoh’s Nightmare Hall book <em>Guilty </em>(also 1993), there’s the added complication of death, which presents a dangerous combination of intrigue, suspicion, danger, and grief. </p> <p>In Stine’s <em>The Dead Girlfriend</em>, Annie Kiernan and her family have just relocated to the small town of Shocklin Falls, where her parents have taken jobs at the local community college. They moved in early May, so Annie is stuck finishing out the year in a new school, where she makes friends and enemies alike. But first, while going for a bike ride around her new town up to a cliff overlooking the local falls, she meets Jonathan Morgan. Dark, brooding, and handsome, he stands at the edge of the drop off, staring intently down, and Annie’s first thought is that he plans to jump. She screams, making a memorable first impression, but he makes just as big of an impression on her, with Annie reflecting “I think I fell in love with him then. Or something like that. I’m not sure. It’s impossible to explain” (8-9). Jonathan tells her he had no intention of jumping, laughing off the very suggestion. It appears that he has been stood up by a friend who was supposed to meet him there, but he’s plenty happy to hang out with Annie instead, which promises to be a pleasant adventure … until she goes to grab her bike and finds that someone has slashed both tires in the few minutes she has been talking with Jonathan. He walks her—and her disabled bike—home and asks her to be his date to a party on Friday night, and all seems to be doing pretty well for Annie’s first afternoon in Shocklin Falls, until a mysterious girl named Ruby catches up with them, cryptically tells Annie “Watch out for Jonathan […] Really. He’s dangerous. A real dangerous guy” (21), then pedals away. </p> <p>Annie runs through a series of possible explanations in her mind: maybe Ruby and Jonathan are frenemies, or Ruby is a potential romantic rival for Jonathan’s attention, or the girl just has a weird sense of humor. Whatever it is, Annie shrugs it off, embraces her new life in Shocklin Falls, and heads out on her Friday night date with no serious reservations. At the party, Annie meets lots of new people, including Jonathan’s best friend Caleb, whose idea of a good time is to climb the fence surrounding the local batting cages and pretend he’s a monkey, and Caleb’s horrified and long-suffering girlfriend, Dawn. While Caleb is a bit much and Annie can’t get a read on exactly what Jonathan and Ruby’s relationship is—sometimes they seem to really dislike each other, other times they sneak off into dark corners to have what look like pretty intimate conversations—Dawn really takes Annie under her wing, helping her get acclimated to her new school and their friend group. </p> <p>Dawn’s the one who tells Annie about Jonathan’s former girlfriend, Louisa. There’s a memorial display of Louisa at school, featuring “a photo of a pretty girl. She had all-American good looks. Bright blonde hair. Flashing blue eyes. High cheekbones like a model. A beautiful smile revealing perfect white teeth” (53). Louisa’s death is shrouded in mystery and this uncertainty seems to be at the heart of the warnings Annie has heard about Jonathan: Louisa and Jonathan had gone for a bike ride and were at the falls when she died, and no one knows exactly what happened. Jonathan told people that he thought he saw someone on the path, went to check it out, and when he came back, Louisa was nowhere to be seen. When he looked over the falls, “he saw her bike. Down below. All mangled. It had caught on the rocks […] They dragged her body out downriver […] Two days later” (60). It could have been an accident, foul play, or suicide, and while just about everyone who knew Louisa has pretty strong feelings about what they <em>think </em>happened, no one knows for sure. </p> <p>Tensions build and despite her reservations, Annie finds herself unable to resist Jonathan. But someone else seems to be trying just as hard to keep Annie and Jonathan apart, orchestrating “accidents” to frighten Annie and take her out of the picture. Someone sabotages her research project file, deleting all of her notes and replacing them with a clear warning: “STAY AWAY FROM JONATHAN. IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE” (71). She gets threatening phone calls with similar whispered warnings. The school computer Annie habitually uses is rigged to electrocute her when she touches the keyboard. When Annie has a birthday party at her house, someone horrifically murders her poor cat, who is adorably named Goggles. And Jonathan’s behavior becomes increasingly troubling, including another bike ride to the falls (which you would think he wouldn’t be quite so anxious to return to time and again), where he takes off in a panic, leaving Annie behind. </p> <p>The falls are at the heart of the mystery and are also where the truth is revealed, though it comes out in layers. Annie finally broaches the topic of Louisa’s death with Jonathan, figuring that it can help her solve the mystery of who is trying to scare her away from him. She is sensitive to his silence, assuming that his reluctance to talk about Louisa comes from grief and pain, as she notes that “You’ve never talked about Louisa once […] You have to tell me the whole story about Louisa. I know you cared about her so much” (161). But it turns out this couldn’t be further from the truth and Jonathan explodes, screaming “Are you <em>crazy</em>, Annie? […] I <em>hated </em>Louisa! I hated her so much,<em> I killed her</em>” (161, emphasis original). At first glance, this seems like a pretty straightforward confession, but it’s really just hyperbolic angst and Jonathan quickly goes on to clarify that he didn’t push Louisa, but he blames himself for her death because “If I hadn’t brought Louisa here, she wouldn’t have died” (164), which really isn’t anything close to the same thing. </p> <p>There’s more to his feelings of guilt though, because while he was dating Louisa, Jonathan and Ruby were also seeing each other, and he planned to break up with Louisa so that he and Ruby could be together. While everyone thinks Jonathan and Louisa were alone at the falls on the day Louisa died, Ruby was there too, and Louisa went over the falls when he left the two girls alone together for a couple of minutes. This brings the mysteriously complicated relationship between Jonathan and Ruby into clearer focus, as Jonathan confesses to Annie that “After Ruby killed Louisa, I was sick. I couldn’t stand the sight of Ruby. She kept trying to get me to go out with her. But I felt so guilty. So horribly guilty. I didn’t want to even <em>talk </em>to Ruby again. But she kept following me. She would never leave me alone” (167, emphasis original). Ruby followed Jonathan and Annie to the falls and when he identifies her as the murderer, she emerges from the woods screaming, with her face “twisted in a frightening expression of pure rage” (165), repeatedly calling Jonathan a liar. Jonathan and Ruby’s altercation becomes physical and in the struggle, Ruby falls over the edge of the falls and while Annie had felt brief certainty that Jonathan wasn’t a murderer, it seems like he is now and if he wants to keep that secret, Annie has to go too. </p> <p>When Annie goes to flee, it’s friendly, reliable Dawn to the rescue … except this salvation is just another bait-and-switch. Dawn has been constructing a narrative, positioning herself as beyond suspicion of being interested in Jonathan by dating Caleb, which allows her to be in Jonathan’s orbit without being identifiable as one of the many girls vying for his affections. And she’s figured out the next step of her narrative construction as well, one in which Annie is both murderer and victim, and she and Jonathan can finally be together (whether he likes it or not). As Dawn lays out this sequence of events, “I saw Annie push Ruby over the cliff” (175). After that, she tells Jonathan, “Then […] Annie tried to push <em>you </em>over the side. But Annie slipped, and she accidentally fell herself” (175). Dawn is going to eliminate the competition, cover for Jonathan killing Ruby, and in return, he’ll have to love her. (How Caleb factors into this equation is a bit of a mystery, but Dawn sees him as collateral damage, entirely disposable, whether that means breaking up with him or pushing him over the cliff too). Thankfully, it doesn’t come to that—Ruby DIDN’T fall to her death, she summoned the police, and they come rushing to the rescue. After giving their police statements, Annie and Jonathan are right back to happily dating … actually, even happier, now that no one is receiving death threats. </p> <p>Jonathan’s grief process (or lack thereof) is a point of speculation and misunderstanding in<em> The Dead Girlfriend</em>, but mourning is a central focus of Hoh’s <em>Guilty</em>, in which Kit Sullivan has to figure out how to move on and cope with the tragic death of her boyfriend Robert Brown, who everyone calls Brownie. Kit and Brownie met during freshmen orientation in a very “opposites attract” dynamic: a shy girl meeting a life-of-the-party guy. They have a strong and close-knit friend group, including Brownie’s sister Callie, Kit’s high school friend Allen, and her roommate LuAnn, and Brownie’s new friend Davis. Much like Jonathan and Louisa, no one knows exactly what happened when Brownie died because he and Kit were the only ones who were there: they took a canoe out on the river near campus, but the current was stronger than they were prepared for, the canoe capsized, and while Brownie got Kit to the shore and safety, he was swept back into the current and died. But in this case, no one blames Kit except for Kit herself, who struggles with survivor’s guilt and goes to great lengths to try to outrun her feelings of grief and responsibility. </p> <p>For starters, she changes her name: Kit is short for Katherine and after Brownie’s death, she starts going by Katie instead. This is intended to be a clear and self-defining break between her pre- and post-trauma life, though it is a bit of an uphill battle. Allen, who has been her friend since they were in high school, has always known her as Kit, though he seems to go along with whatever will make her happy. When Katie’s roommate LuAnn slips up and calls Katie by the wrong name, Katie quickly and brusquely corrects her, saying “I told you not to call me that […] I told <em>all </em>of you. If you don’t call me Katie, I’m not going to answer you” (21, emphasis original). What’s more, Katie’s new name comes with some big personality changes as well: while Kit had been reserved and responsible, Katie is much more spontaneous and a bigger risk taker. She dances in the fountain in the quad, blows off homework to go to parties, climbs the rickety fire escape at Nightmare Hall, and breaks into the gym to go swimming in the university pool after hours. Brownie was the life of the party and in some ways, it seems like Katie may be trying to step into his role as a way of keeping him alive and close, but she is also doing all she can to avoid having to cope with her complicated feelings of grief and responsibility. </p> <p>All of Katie’s friends reassure her that Brownie’s death was an accident and that no one blames her, but this comfort is complicated when someone begins harassing and threatening Katie. Things go missing from her room and someone writes “GUILTY” (27) in the dust on the hood of her car when she and her friends are at the movies. After she climbs in the window at the top of Nightmare Hall’s fire escape, she is looking around in a closet when she hits her head on a beam and is knocked unconscious; when she comes to, she has been zipped into an industrial-strength garment bag where she is slowly suffocating and has to fight her way out. While she’s swimming in the empty pool, someone grabs her from under the water and pulls her down, nearly drowning her. She starts hearing Brownie’s voice, first in her dorm room, saying “<em>It’s all your fault</em>” (42, emphasis original) and later, singing “Happy Birthday” in an empty room at Nightmare Hall where the friends have gathered for a birthday party. Katie finds herself fighting for her life while trying to figure out which of her friends might secretly blame her for Brownie’s death. To make matters worse, given her recent erratic behavior, her friends are quick to dismiss Katie’s fears, telling her she’s imagining things, overreacting, or just making things up. Katie struggles with these responses and ultimately blames herself, asking herself “Why couldn’t people take her seriously? Okay, so she hadn’t been <em>acting </em>like the kind of person people took seriously, since … since that day on the river. She’d give them that” (106, emphasis original). </p> <p>Much like in <em>The Dead Girlfriend</em>, there’s a whole lot more going on than meets that eye and the truth must be revealed one layer at a time. Brownie’s sister Callie seems the most likely to be devastated enough to seek revenge for Brownie’s death, and to some degree, she did. Brownie’s ghostly voice came from a tape recorder, with the audio content coming from the family’s home answering machine following an altercation about their parents’ car and a birthday message Brownie had sent Callie the previous year. Callie hid in Katie’s room and in Nightmare Hall with the tape recorder, playing Brownie’s voice to torment Katie. Callie wanted some measure of revenge, telling Katie “It’s your <em>fault </em>my brother’s dead … he’s gone … <em>gone </em>… I’ll never see him again, and it’s your fault. But nothing ever <em>happened </em>to you! You weren’t punished. You just walked away. Somebody had to <em>do </em>something. So I did it, and I’m not sorry. Not sorry at all” (136-7, emphasis original). Callie wanted to make Katie pay and when this truth comes out, Katie is devastated, but also somewhat relieved … until it turns out that Callie was behind <em>some </em>of the terrifying occurrences, but not <em>all </em>of them. She didn’t write “GUILTY” on Katie’s car, she didn’t attack her in the attic in Nightmare Hall, and she didn’t try to drown her, so presumably there are (at least) two people out to get Katie. As Callie explains, “I was trying to punish you, not scare you” (140) and while it takes some time and thought for Katie to come to terms with what Callie’s saying, she ultimately has to accept that Callie is not the attempted murderer.</p> <p>The motivation becomes even more complicated when it turns out that Brownie didn’t drown in the river: his death was the result of a head wound, which everyone thinks he sustained when he crashed into a rock while being swept along by the current. This is a game-changer for Katie and her overwhelming sense of guilt, because her assumption has been that he didn’t have the strength to get back to shore because he spent it all saving her and couldn’t keep afloat. Once she knows he was hit in the head and likely knocked unconscious, she is able to accept that it really was just a terrible accident … except that of course, it wasn’t. There was a collision between Brownie’s head and a rock, but it was the result of someone intentionally hitting him in the head after he had fought his way to shore, then pushing his body back into the fast-moving current. Katie begins to suspect Brownie’s friend Davis when she discovers that Davis has a picture of her and Brownie. As far as Katie knows, there were only two copies of that particular picture: she has one and Brownie had the other in his wallet the day he went in the river, though when his wallet is recovered, the picture is missing. In the aftermath of Brownie’s death, Davis has been supportive, understanding, and as the weeks go by, expressing a romantic interest in Katie, which just might be a motive. </p> <p>But again, this is only part of the story. When Katie goes to Allen’s room to talk to him, she finds the room empty and when she opens her closet door to borrow a sweater, she finds another copy of the picture (which apparently <em>everybody </em>has). But Allen’s copy is a little different: “A giant blowup of the picture of Brownie and Katie, smiling at each other … Katie’s own smiling, happy face, bigger than life, was staring back at her from the closet wall [… but] where Brownie’s dark brown eyes and curly hair and devilish grin should have been, <em>Allen’s </em>thin, serious face had been pasted into place” (160, emphasis original). </p> <p>Apparently, <em>everyone </em>loves Katie, but Allen feels particularly proprietary in his affections, since he’s loved her the longest and he loved her when she was Kit. When Allen discovers Katie in his room, he tells her that Kit “was supposed to be with <em>me </em>when we got to college. Everyone knew that. My parent’s, Kit’s parents, our friends … maybe we were just pals in high school, but I knew it would be different when we got to college […] no more high school stuff … and I was sure she’d see me differently away from home. I figured she’d finally be ready to admit that we belonged together. Forever” (166). Katie flounders for a moment, uncertain “why he was talking about her in the third person. He kept saying, ‘Kit.’ But <em>she </em>was Kit” (166-7, emphasis original). Switching from Kit to Katie may have been her way of claiming ownership and agency of herself and her experience in a traumatic time, redefining herself by changing her name, but for Allen, this renaming has become something more akin to dissociation. As far as he is concerned, Kit and Katie are two different people, with two different personalities, and while he’s not even a bit sad that Brownie is dead, he can’t forgive Katie for killing Kit. <em>That’s </em>the murder for which he has decided Katie is guilty (as he wrote on her car) and that’s why she has to die. </p> <p>When push comes to shove—almost literally, as Allen gets ready to force Katie off an old bridge over the river that nearly killed her once already—Katie saves herself by channeling Kit. She plays up the helpless girl he became obsessed with: “‘I can’t move,’ Katie said breathlessly, changing her voice, returning to Kit’s soft, unsure quality. ‘Allen, I can’t move!” She didn’t have to fake the terror in her words” (183). Hoh highlights the complexity of Katie’s identity negotiation, synthesizing components of these different parts of Katie’s past and present in the way she uses both names, all while keeping Katie firmly in control, foregrounding her strength and ingenuity. Katie plays into Allen’s desire to control and rescue her, drawing on a selective library of their shared memories to position him as her knight in shining armor, which allows her to save herself. When he sees through her performance, he tries to push her in the river, though by then he’s close enough that she can take him down with her. While Katie was terrified of the water the first time she found herself there, relying on Brownie to save her, this second time around, she saves herself. After she hit the water, “she began swimming frantically toward shore. The water was shallower now, quieter than it had been when the canoe had overturned. That seemed a million years ago now, another time, another place. She had been so frightened to find herself in the river. Paralyzed by fear, panicked into helplessness […] Not <em>this </em>time. There was no one here now, no one to help her but herself. Katie had to save Katie” (190, emphasis original). And she does. Davis and Callie are waiting for her on shore and when Katie disappeared, they put the pieces together and called the cops, who are ready to take Allen (who also survived the fall and the water) into custody. But Katie didn’t have to be rescued, she didn’t have to be pulled from the water, and she no longer has to doubt whether or not she has what it takes to fight and survive. </p> <p>In both <em>The Dead Girlfriend </em>and <em>Guilty</em>, the protagonists’ deceased romantic partners are just one piece of the puzzle. Louisa and Brownie’s deaths cast long shadows over Jonathan and Katie, both in how they cope with that loss and in how others see them. But neither of those deaths are what they seem to be, with conflicting motives and narratives going on beneath the surface of which neither protagonist is aware. Dawn is certain that she and Jonathan belong together, while Allen has no doubt that he and Kit are meant to be, but these “love stories” are tales of obsession and fixation, one-way desires that remain invisible and unspoken even as they destroy the lives of those around them. In the end, it’s not so much the dead boyfriends and girlfriends that are the true horrors, but the rivals disguised as friends who made them that way.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/r-l-stine-the-dead-girlfriend-and-diane-hoh-guilty-teen-horror-time-machine/">Dearly Departed: <em>The Dead Girlfriend</em> and <em>Guilty</em> </a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/r-l-stine-the-dead-girlfriend-and-diane-hoh-guilty-teen-horror-time-machine/">https://reactormag.com/r-l-stine-the-dead-girlfriend-and-diane-hoh-guilty-teen-horror-time-machine/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838588">https://reactormag.com/?p=838588</a></p>

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Posted by Sarah

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Movies & TV Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

What Was Left Behind — Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s “Series Acclimation Mil”

“I loved this episode and it made me cry.”

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

Published on February 5, 2026

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-series-acclimation-mil/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-series-acclimation-mil/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838727">https://reactormag.com/?p=838727</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/movies-tv/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Movies & TV 0"> Movies & TV </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/star-trek-starfleet-academy/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1"> Star Trek: Starfleet Academy </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">What Was Left Behind — <i>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</i>’s “Series Acclimation Mil”</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">“I loved this episode and it made me cry.”</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/keith-decandido/" title="Posts by Keith R.A. DeCandido" class="author url fn" rel="author">Keith R.A. DeCandido</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on February 5, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-series-acclimation-mil/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 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11.1704 3.85664 12.7037 5.38931C14.237 6.92264 15.4497 8.72264 16.3417 10.7893C17.2337 12.856 17.6794 15.0643 17.6787 17.4143H14.6787ZM8.67871 17.4143C8.67871 15.1976 7.89971 13.31 6.34171 11.7513C4.78371 10.1926 2.89605 9.41364 0.678713 9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="493" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/starfleet-academy-105-01-740x493.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="The cadets of Starfleet Academy" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/starfleet-academy-105-01-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/starfleet-academy-105-01-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/starfleet-academy-105-01-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/starfleet-academy-105-01.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>In 2005, in advance of the series finale of <em>Enterprise, </em>Rick Berman and Brannon Braga described the episode as a Valentine to the fans. The episode that actually aired was, um, not that, and since then, many <em>Trek</em> viewers have come to view that phrase with understandable cynicism.</p> <p>So let me start by saying that, unlike “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-enterprise-rewatch-these-are-the-voyages/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">These are the Voyages…</a>” the latest episode of <em>Starfleet Academy</em> is a genuine Valentine to the fans in general and to <em>Deep Space Nine</em> in particular.</p> <p>Having said that, the episode put me on a massive roller coaster, and may do the same for you, so let me just tell you to be patient and go all the way through to the end (including the closing credits).</p> <p>To be clear: I loved this episode and it made me cry. Keep that in mind as you read on.</p> <p>The roller coaster started upward when I learned of the episode’s title. Series Acclimation Mil, or SAM, is one of my favorite characters on the show. Magnificently inhabited by Kerrice Brooks, SAM is that quintessential <em>Trek</em> character, the unique outsider who is trying to understand the human condition. It’s the role played by Spock, Data, Odo, the EMH, Seven of Nine, T’Pol, Saru, and T’Lyn. SAM has the added entertainment value of being a teenager who was only created recently by the Kasq, a species of holograms. We learn a lot about the Kasq in this episode, including that they were originally created as a subject species by organics, but at some point the organics went away and the holograms took over. This episode focuses entirely on SAM, showing her attempts to integrate—and also the pressure being put on her by the folks back home (in the form of a non-corporeal and non-hominid hologram voiced by the great Chiwetel Ejiofor).</p> <p>Then the episode started, and we see SAM being pressured by the Kasq to take a class on Confronting the Unexplainable, and one of the unexplainable things is Benjamin Sisko, who has never been seen since he went to the fire caves on Bajor to stop the Pah-Wraiths in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-qwhat-you-leave-behindq/">What You Leave Behind</a>.” Did he die in the caves or did he remain with the Prophets, or what? The image of Sisko on the screen doesn’t show his face. We later find out that the Bajorans forbid images of Sisko’s face for religious reasons.</p> <p>At this point, the roller coaster goes down. Avery Brooks (no relation to the actor who plays SAM) forced the producers of <em>DS9</em> to make it clear that Sisko intended to return, not that he’d remain in the wormhole/Celestial Temple forever, and particularly that the one of <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-greatest-dads-in-science-fiction-fantasy-and-the-universe/">the best fathers in science fiction television</a> wouldn’t abandon his pregnant wife. The image of a Black man abandoning his family is not one that sat well with Brooks, nor should it have. The fact that they didn’t show his face indicated to me the possibility that they were unable to secure Brooks’ cooperation or get his permission to use his likeness. To be fair, it also indicated the possibility that they just didn’t ask.</p> <p>Indeed, in the post-finale <em>DS9 </em>fiction that Simon & Schuster published from 2001-2021, Sisko <em>did</em> return just in time for the birth of his daughter, in the 2003 novel <a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Unity_(novel)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Unity</em></a> by S.D. Perry. (Your humble reviewer contributed several works of fiction to that post-finale <em>DS9</em> slate.)</p> <p>So before the credits rolled, I’m already pissed off. Then we get through the credits, and I see who has written this: Kirsten Beyer and Tawny Newsome.</p> <p>Now the roller coaster’s slowly starting to creep back up. Beyer is a veteran <em>Trek</em> novelist (and also, full disclosure, a friend of your humble reviewer), who was brought into the stable of <em>Trek</em> fictioneers by Marco Palmieri, also the editor of that selfsame post-finale <em>DS9</em> fiction. Newsome is a devoted fan, and also the actor who voiced (and in <a href="https://reactormag.com/sometimes-i-wish-i-couldve-lived-back-then-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-those-old-scientists/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one episode of <em>Strange New Worlds</em></a>, portrayed physically) Beckett Mariner on <em>Lower Decks</em>, and is also a woman of color. So I had hope.</p> <p>SAM feels an immediate affinity for Sisko, because she, too, is an emissary. However, we’re already up to midterms, and joining the Confronting the Unexplainable class would be difficult. In fact, the class’s professor, Isla, who presents as Cardassian (and is played by Newsome), says it’s too late to sign up. But if she can solve the mystery of Sisko, she’ll let SAM teach the class.</p> <p>So SAM digs in. She tries to learn everything she can about Sisko, including visiting the Sisko Museum in Louisiana. This being the thirty-second century, she doesn’t have to go there, because a virtual version of the museum can be set up in a room of the Academy.</p> <p>At one point, she calls up a recording of Sisko’s son Jake giving a talk—and the roller coaster <em>shoots right up</em> because that’s Cirroc Lofton! They actually got Lofton to play Jake once again—and in a lovely touch, he’s wearing a Bajoran earring! He talks about how much he loves his father and what a great father he was and other nifty stuff.</p> <p>SAM also makes some missteps along the way, like going to the Academy’s Bajoran Club and making a pig’s ear out of querying them about a major religious figure.</p> <p>But she also gloms onto one very important part of Sisko: food. Isla pushes her in this direction by talking about tomatoes in gumbo, as opinion is divided on the subject. (It’s traditionally Cajun gumbo versus Creole gumbo, though that isn’t mentioned specifically. On the other hand, that particular distinction may have faded over the course of the next two thousand years. On the third hand, which we’ll borrow from Arex or Kelzing, it is Sisko’s <em>Creole</em> Kitchen, and Creole is the tradition that uses tomatoes, which is what Sisko did.)</p> <p>Since SAM can’t consume food, she instead prepares a mess of food from Sisko’s Creole Kitchen for her fellow cadets—who, of course, love it. Jay-Den’s description is my favorite: “My mouth is on fire—and I <em>never</em> want it to go out,” which is about the highest praise you can give to Creole food.</p> <p>She also wants to go to the Launching Pad—which doesn’t exist anymore centuries later, but there’s another bar on the same location called the Academy. SAM wants to go there because Sisko did, and famously got into a fight with a Vulcan there (as detailed in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-qtake-me-out-to-the-holosuiteq/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Take Me Out to the Holosuite</a>”). Caleb even is able to mess about with her source code so she can be drunk (with the added benefit of allowing her to be “dialed back” to sober afterward). She’s a hilarious drunk, and of course, a bar fight eventually breaks out between the Academy cadets and the War College cadets. (There’s a fabulous cameo by drag queen Jackie Cox as the bartender, and I really hope this isn’t a one-off, as I’d love to see her as a recurring character.)</p> <p>There’s a lovely scene in sickbay after that when SAM asks the EMH if he knew Sisko. He didn’t—which tracks, as <em>Voyager</em> didn’t return home until after Sisko went into the Celestial Temple—but he did meet Jake, and says he was a fabulous author. (Since the EMH is something of an author himself, as seen in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-voyager-rewatch-author-author/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Author, Author</a>” and other places, this is a nice touch.) The EMH also says he’s never read Jake’s most famous work, <em>Anslem</em>, which was apparently never published. (In the alternate future of “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-the-visitor/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Visitor</a>,” the book was published; in the mainline timeline he started it in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-the-muse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Muse</a>.” This episode reveals that <em>anslem</em> is the Bajoran word for <em>father</em>.)</p> <p>Finally, Isla decides to give SAM a gift: a bound copy of <em>Anslem</em> that was apparently entrusted to her. SAM devours it, and then also interacts with a hologram of Jake. It’s not clear whether or not this hologram is an integrated feature of the bound book or SAM hallucinating or what. But it doesn’t matter, as the conversation itself is glorious. Jake talks about how his father did things his own way. The Prophets told him that if he married Kasidy Yates, he’d only know sorrow (as seen in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-penumbra/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Penumbra</a>”), but he went ahead and married her anyhow (in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-qtil-death-do-us-partq/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Til Death Do Us Part</a>”).</p> <p>At this point, the roller coaster shoots upward. Because it’s right there in the prophecy he was given in “Penumbra.” If he never returns from the Celestial Temple, that’s the sorrow he’ll always know, that he abandoned his pregnant wife. Is it a perfect solution? No, but it’s one that works with what’s been established, and at least retroactively justifies the ill-thought-out decision made in 1999.</p> <p>The roller coaster levelled off earlier in the episode when the computer gives Sisko’s background. I was wondering how this episode, written by two women (a gender not at all represented on <em>DS9</em>’s writing staff), would address the fact that Sisko was the product of a rape. As established in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-qimage-in-the-sandq/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Image in the Sand</a>” and “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-qshadows-and-symbolsq/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shadows and Symbols</a>,” the Prophets possessed a woman named Sarah, paired her off with Joseph Sisko, and they had Benjamin. The Prophets stopped possessing her after Sisko turned one, and she left them.</p> <p>The computer presentation here, however, says that Sarah was both human and Prophet, which is <em>not</em> what was established, though it retcons away the rape, kind of. At least they made an effort, but I wish the episode had confronted that head-on, because the difficulties of being an emissary is the heart of the episode. The pressure being put on SAM by the Kasq back home is tremendous, to the point where they want to summon her home and go back to avoiding organics like the plague. It’s very hard for them to even consider trusting organics again. The problematic nature of Sisko’s birth could have been addressed front and center as another issue, especially since SAM was also created by outside forces to fulfill a particular function.</p> <p>SAM feels the pressure of her mission in every photon. She doesn’t want to leave the Academy, as she’s made friends here, and she really feels she can learn what the folks home want, but she needs more time, and she needs to do it her way. Eventually, she tells the Kasq off and tells them to leave her alone and let her do her job.</p> <p>She also realizes something: she found nothing about tomatoes or gumbo in any of her research. So how did Isla know about it? For that matter, how’d this Cardassian woman wind up with a unique book? First Isla brushes her hair back to show the Trill spots that indicate that she’s got at least one other species in her ancestry, then reveals her full name of Isla Dax. “Benjamin would have liked you,” she tells SAM in a vocal intonation that’s <em>right</em> out of Terry Farrell (and the earlier tomato conversation was <em>right</em> out of Nicole deBoer). “He loved people who got in trouble for the <em>right</em> reasons.”</p> <p>Yes, it’s another legacy character. Yes, it’s self-indulgent. Yes, the Dax symbiont should be on its last legs at this point. (Something the writers were fully cognizant of in <em>Discovery</em>’s “<a href="https://reactormag.com/the-game-is-afoot-star-trek-discoverys-jinaal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jinaal</a>.”) But I’m totally willing to forgive it, because I love the idea of Dax still being around and still guarding her friend’s legacy.</p> <p>Every performance in this episode is magnificent, particularly Lofton’s, but it’s Brooks as SAM who owns it. So many wonderful touches, from her learning the theremin (for reasons that are wonderfully multifaceted) to the fact that she has a different greeting for each of her friends among the cadets (my favorite is Ocam’s). Director Larry Teng did a lovely job by showing us SAM’s POV in many scenes, with little drawings and diagrams and notes on her thoughts (starting with her crossing out the “A CBS STUDIOS PRODUCTION” title and replacing it with “A STORY ABOUT ME”) as she provides a voiceover throughout. At the episode’s end, we learn that the voiceover is SAM talking to Sisko, wherever he might be.</p> <p>And then there’s a magnificent voiceover from Avery Brooks, a colloquy on love that is the perfect coda to the episode, and which they absolutely could not have done without his permission. Which shoots the roller coaster straight up into orbit and stays there. (Also: look at the cloud formation over San Francisco at the very end. Trust me.)</p> <p>The closing credits start with “Thank you, Avery,” and then plays, not the theme for this show, but <em>DS9</em>’s theme music.</p> <p>I haven’t said anything about the B-plot, which is another attempt by Ake to get Kelrec to trust her, in this case by assisting him with a diplomatic mission, aided by the EMH and Reno. Mostly, it’s an opportunity for more Felix-and-Oscar scenes with Raoul Bhaneja and Holly Hunter and for Tig Notaro and Robert Picardo to be amusing, both of which are fun things, and which are pretty much just there to justify Hunter’s place at the top of the opening credits (she does have a scene with SAM that mentions her time on Bajor, but that’s it as far as her involvement with the A-plot). It’s harmless fluff.</p> <p>And yes, it’s a Valentine to the fans, and a damn good one. And yes, I cried. Happily.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-series-acclimation-mil/">What Was Left Behind — <i>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</i>’s “Series Acclimation Mil”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-series-acclimation-mil/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-series-acclimation-mil/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838727">https://reactormag.com/?p=838727</a></p>

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What Was Left Behind — Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s “Series Acclimation Mil”

What Was Left Behind — Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s “Series Acclimation Mil”

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