"i was dead before you were born," one of your most important people told you
part of the fun of the original alien is the horror of the nostromo itself imo. it’s a cell of corporate greed ferrying narrowly-trained workers across barren space. it’s huge and yet claustrophobic, cockpits crammed with machinery giving way to yawning berths dripping chains and water. the supercomputer is named mother in a stroke of human anthropomorphization, but instead of providing comfort or protection, it’s only a courier between its creator and its wailing brood. ripley yells “mother! mother!” at a matronly-voiced computer that speaks calmly over her helplessness. the ship is full of endless details and patterns and unlabeled buttons and dials the audience can’t entirely make sense of; to do anything on the ship is a rigorous, technical process, and we must depend on the characters to know it. the internal mechanics of the ship are so alien that a literal alien can hide among the bits and bobs and not be noticed. it’s great.
Wander Over Yonder but I make up the episodes
Hey Squidward, do you still have your clarinet with you? Maybe you can play something to make Spongebob feel better :>
pivotal moment where wander "has to" integrate sylvia into the hivemind and it EATS at him and it's the catalyst for a great deal of his redemption arc
GOOD PROMPT!!!! VERY GOOD PROMPT!!! i'm sorry the captions and timing are a little fuckedup but i could not REST until i finished this. i do recommend pausing to read some of this, and if that ends up being tedious, i'll put the thumbnails with a transcript under the cut!!
TRANSCRIPT:
[interior, planet yonder. wander growls in distress, green lightning sparking around him]
MR. METEOR: peepers, we gotta get outta here! [he grabs peepers by the hand and takes off]
WANDER: N-N-N-NO! YOU WILL NOT UNDO ALL MY HARD WORK!!
[wander growls again. sylvia covers her head to protect from falling objects]
SYLVIA: WANDER! are you okay??
WANDER: I'M FINE!!!
SYLVIA: really?? cuz this place is lookin' like it might not hold up much longer!!
WANDER: NO!!!
[wander rubs his forehead with his fingers, grimacing with effort. the lightning dissipates. cut to mr. meteor and sir peepers, at a crossroads. mr. meteor is looking up and around the ceiling as peepers scampers around him, looking for the way out]
SIR PEEPERS: ohhhh where'd we park?? which way is out??? ohhh grop it all looks the same!!! we're trapped!!!
MR. METEOR: it stopped...
SIR PEEPERS: [glances upward] ...huh.
[cut back to sylvia and wander]
SYLVIA: that's some willpower you got there, buddy...
WANDER: sylvia?
SYLVIA: hm?
WANDER: i want you to go after them. and i want you... to hurt them.
SYLVIA: wh...what...?
WANDER: i believe i've made myself clear.
SYLVIA: [shakes her head] no. i'm not doing that. you don't want me to do that.
WANDER: AND WHO ARE YOU TO ARGUE??? FOR THE GOOD OF THE COLONY, SISTER, I ORDER YOU TO GET THEM!!!
[wander breathes heavily from the effort of screaming. sylvia looks disgusted.]
SYLVIA: [removing her cloak] alright.
WANDER: w-w-wait, what're you doing?
SYLVIA: i'm leaving. [she wads up her cloak into a ball] if this is the kinda operation you're running now, i don't wanna be part of it. have fun spreading kindness across the galaxy.
[wander stares at her, wide-eyed and baring his teeth in an intense frown, as she walks away]
WANDER: [reaching out to grab her with several arms] YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!
[cut to mr. meteor and peepers, who are running down a tunnel]
MR. METEOR: are you sure we're going the right way??
SIR PEEPERS: i have NO IDEA sir
MR. METEOR: it opens up ahead! this might be the way out!
[camera zooms in and focuses on the end of the tunnel. something drops from the ceiling right in front of the exit, unfolding itself to take the form of sylvia. she has two mushroom arms sticking out of the sides of her head, connected to the ceiling, and her cloak is on again.]
MR. METEOR: UH-OH!
SIR PEEPERS: OH GROP
[closeup on sylvia's face. she snorts]
MR. METEOR: she doesn't look too happy, peepers!
SIR PEEPERS: why are you saying that like it's MY fault??
[sylvia mimics rolling up the sleeve she doesn't have and crouches, preparing to leap. peepers reaches for his sword.]
SYLVIA: GRRH!
[sylvia leaps into the air, screaming, aiming for peepers]
SYLVIA: YAAAAAAAAH!!!
SIR PEEPERS: ENGARDE, SHE-BEAST!
[shot changes to a flat shot from the side, and sylvia sails over peeper's head, crash-landing on the floor with a smack. she slides forward until she arrives at mr. meteor's feet.]
MR. METEOR: uhh...?
[sylvia shoots back to her feet, grabbing mr. meteor by the collar and winding back to punch him in the face}
MR. METEOR: WHOAWHOAWHOAWHOA WAIT!! NOOOOOO NOT THE FAAAAAAACE!
[sylvia's fist makes surprisingly gentle contact with hater's jaw. he looks at her in confusion, and sees her crying]
MR. METEOR: uhh. okay. um.
[he begins to scoot past her and away. sylvia crumples to the ground, shaking]
MR. METEOR: seems like you're goin' through a lot right now, and...if you're done, y'know, trying to kill us, or whatever that was...
[he trails off and makes eye contact with Sir Peepers. They dash off down the tunnel and disappear.]
Exploring underlying anxieties around sexual assault, loss of bodily autonomy, and forced impregnation in Alien (1979) - a film where fear of rape and forced birth is applied to every character, not just female characters oversexualised to titillate the viewer.
A facehugger in Alien (1979). Via IMDb.
From Merriam-Webster:
Rape: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against a person’s will or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception
Sexual assault: illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent (as because of age or physical or mental incapacity) or who places the assailant (such as a doctor) in a position of trust or authority
After a short preface, in this piece, I’m going to watch through Alien (1979) and do a close reading of the text, exploring and analysing themes of and including:
Rape and Sexual Assault
Reproductive Coercion
Pregnancy and Reproduction
Loss of Bodily and Personal Autonomy
The Body as a Resource — in regards to Labour and as a Worker, but also as a physical trading resource — in a society that desires profit
If any of these might be upsetting for you or you don’t feel as if you can stomach them at the moment, it might be a good idea to bookmark this piece and come back to it at another time.
This piece is going to go through the film Alien (1979) and talk in-depth about particular scenes in chronological order, with quotes from the script and screencaps throughout, so there will be spoilers for the whole of the film.
Read in full here!
meet the Traveler Gang, since i don't have a more creative name for this:
in a not too far away future, the fish of Bikini Bottom start to slowly move out of town, and day after day, the city becomes more and more abandoned. follow the journey of SpongeBob and friends as they travel around the vast ocean, trying to find a new home. where will they go? why would they ever leave their life behind? what the kelp is going on?
well, if anyone wants to find out, i'll post short comics about their new day-to-day life, mainly in the format of an open ask.
as the "plot" progresses, more characters will become available for asks, so stay tuned for updates.
characters currently available for asks:
- SpongeBob
- Squidward
- Gary
- The French Narrator
- The Flying Dutchman
the replies and comics in general will take a while to be released. frequent posting shouldn't be expected. but i promise that every single ask makes me smile, and love goes into every panel!
replies can be drawn in both traditional or digital sketches. most will be unfinished.
concept artsy stuff: