Choice In TMP

Choice in TMP

Since it's going on hiatus, I relistened to (nearly) all of Protocol yesterday (still have ep 10 to go). And I was thinking about a lot of people saying things like, "They're Desires now, not Fears!" And I don't think that's quite it. What I noticed is that in nearly every case, there is a voluntary act, a choice, that allows the horrors in. And since actions generally follow from desires, it feels like desire is playing a stronger roll in this show.

I've been prepping to run a Mothership campaign for my friends, and the Warden's Guide talks about the TOMBS system of understanding horror: Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, Slumber. In TMA, the Transgression was often just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in TMP, it seems like there also has to be a choice made, almost an invitation, for the horrors to Manifest. In TMA, a choice was required to become an Avatar, but not just to run into the Fears. Perhaps something about how the Fears entered this world changed this? Maybe Archivist-Jon had enough influence to create some new rules, or Martin's choice that brought them through echoed into the manifestation?

Anyway, I could be entirely wrong, but I'm going to go through the episodes pointing out the Choice (and where it doesn't quite fit).

Episode 1: Arthur's wife reached out to a mysterious company (we don't know why, but it seems likely it was claiming it could put her in contact with her dead husband) Red Canary chose to visit the Magnus Institute Ruins

Episode 2: Daria chose to get the tattoo.

Episode 3: The Doctor chose to follow the smell of jasmine.

Episode 4: The narrator chose to take the violin (but I am less clear on how choice impacted what happened to Oliver Bardwell; that's a bit that doesn't quite fit)

Episode 5: The blogger chose to enter the contest and to attend once he'd "won".

Episode 6: The mugger chose to attack Needles. (And I find myself wondering what Choice Needles made to became as he is)

Episode 7: DMargolis chose to advertise for assistants AND chose to accept the first rather questionable applicant.

Episode 8: Here, the weirdness started before he made the Choice, but he did Choose to enter the elevator to (attempt to) escape. Another that doesn't quite fit, but still has a Choice.

Episode 9: He chose to take the dice (though it does feel like rolling them may be compulsory in certain instances).

Episode 10: There was definitely a Choice made to create Bonzo the character, but I'm not sure we have enough context to figure out more than that yet.

Beautiful.

Hello Jon. Apologies for the deception but MR. BONZO’S ON HIS WAY

Mothership Movie: Event Horizon

I've been watching movies recommended in the Warden's Operations Manual for Mothership, and figured this was as good a place as any to record my thoughts on them. Most recent: Event Horizon

Acting: Awesome. The only thing holding the movie together, tbh.

Visual Effects: Very good. There was a bit in the opening sequence that screamed "CG", but overall it was quite well done. Though… I do have to wonder about the design of the titular ship: It looks like it was intentionally made for the horror genre? Why are there spikes on everything, for instance? Looking for the Watsonian explanation, as the Doylist one is obvious.

Writing & Editing: So, apparently the original cut was 40 or 50 minutes longer, and they cut out a lot of gorn (new-to-me portmanteau of "gore" and "porn"). There are several places in the cut version where it feels like there's an unexplained jump in logic, time, character progression, and so forth. I don't know that the longer version works better, but it is plausible that it would? [And, no, I have no interest in seeing a version with more gorn in it, whether or not it fixes some of the holes.]

One thing that a longer cut is not going to fix is the illogic of making a decoupling system that relies on explosives. I mean, seriously. Train cars can connect and disconnect without resorting to explosives. This is existing technology. Sure, sealing against the vacuum of space makes it trickier, but, it's also REVERSIBLE. So go and find some other less nonsensical reason for there to be a bunch of explosives on board, mmmkay?

Mothership Themes: Haunted derelict Came back wrong Space Madness

Magnus Fears: You can argue for most of them, so I decided to go with the top three. I suspect "Flesh" would be in there for the full cut. The Vast - Space The Spiral - Hallucinations and general Space Madness The Desolation - Wanting to burn everything and everyone

I love seeing how practical effects can work!

Montage de photos

Love this.

Latest report on what it sounds like down in the woods right now. Sadly did not pick up the Swainson’s thrush or the yellow-billed cuckoo among others who were singing earlier.

Black locusts are blooming so the cedar waxwings are busy nipping the backs of the flowers for nectar. In places the path was littered with blossoms. It was lovely.

Experience the Dracula season with Re: Dracula, a bite-sized audio adaptation of the horror classic. We're on most podcast apps, and will be posting entries to Dracula on the days they happen!