Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase 4 & Beyond (and a chance to change your vote)

Definitely that but relatedly some serious Douglas Adams vibes too, it wasn’t called an ark for nothing. Best episode yet, especially for being essentially a bottle episode at that.

Oh yeah, definitely caught some Hitchhiker vibes, too

There is a cast of dozens, almost none of the regulars appear, and all but one (used for thirty seconds) of the sets was new to this ep iirc - that's the opposite of a money-saving bottle episode!



Seems likely that Adams' Ark was inspired by Who, fwiw: he'd already been mailing pitches in when Doctor Who's serial The Ark In Space ran in 1975, and got a meeting & pitched a story called The Krikkitmen in 1976, directly to the author of Ark In Space, who was also the equivalent of a head writer/showrunner at the time*. Adams got his first freelance commission as a writer for the show by pitching with the pilot script of Hitchhikers in 1977, and had to get John Lloyd to write the later eps of the first series with/for him bcz he was busy with that Who four-parter.

Having gotten hired as a BBC radio producer after that first HHTTG series was produced, he became Who's "~showrunner~" six months later in October 1978, while his first serial as writer was going to air (his first obvious rewriting is on the final ep of Season 16). It took six months of rescheduled studio bookings to get the five episodes of Hitchhiker's second series - including the Golgafrincham B-Ark plotline - done, as Adams repeatedly failed to complete the scripts, due to simultaneously working on the HHTTG novel, stage play, LP and having a full-time day job on Who.

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish is basically the first** piece of Hitchhikers after the pilot episode that wasn't bashed out in a panic as a side-project from, or reworking of, Doctor Who!

* (Adams later rewrote the pitch as a Doctor Who And The Krikkitmen feature film in 1980, and re-rewrote as the third HHTTG novel when that went nowhere.) ((The first Dirk Gently novel is also a reworking of two of his Who serials, down to still including a TARDIS, dematerialising so the sofa gets stuck.))

** or only, if your headcanon rightly doesn't include Mostly Harmless.

Well, conceptual bottle if you like, didn’t expect most of the episode to be the two of them just talking!

the sicbot will not tolerate your puny human asides

<3

Both the first two episodes also (seemed to me to be saving money by) having half the running time be two ppl in a room talking - either Wilson and Loki, or Wilson and boss. Though the sets look to be almost entirely digital, and I wonder if that's because it's cheaper, or just safer in covid times, and actually more expensive.

(This interview with the bloke who novelised Krikkitmen in 2018 claims that the Golgafrincham plot was actually reworked from a Who pitch that was rejected because he'd clearly been too closely inspired by Ark In Space! Which I've never heard before, but since this guy had access to Adams' archives in order to write these and other novelisations...)

I appreciate all of Loki's confusing and elaborate metaphors.

This show looks really good for an MCU thingy - loved the purple skyline with the asteroids falling all around a dying planet

Wasn't sure at first how I felt at first about the abrupt, Owen-free segue this episode but it won me over. Long unbroken action shots are turning out to be my crack, it seems, so I was a big fan of the end sequence.

Can we get the Loki show runner to take over Doctor Who and commission a Snowpiercer episode?

Yes please - I still can’t get through the Chibnall era and it bums me out so much cause I love Jodie Whittaker.

Kate Herron is a director on Sex Education too, she seems pretty fantastic so far.

The director of all the Capaldi Who two-part season finales is watching Loki:

Loki ep 3 (spoiler, opinion) -- first third pure Doctor Who, a really beautifully choreographed fight, 2nd third a lot of talking that's like, um, wha?, last third amazing action putting Who budget to bed in the first three shots. I found the action particularly engaging.

— Rachel Talalay (@rtalalay) June 24, 2021

From the moment I joined @LokiOfficial it was very important to me, and my goal, to acknowledge Loki was bisexual. It is a part of who he is and who I am too. I know this is a small step but I’m happy, and heart is so full, to say that this is now Canon in #mcu #Loki 💗💜💙 pic.twitter.com/lz3KJbewx8

— Kate Herron (@iamkateherron) June 23, 2021

Which is awesome though I did wonder if there are parts of the community who will be unhappy at the higher percentage of bi visibility that are now trickster gods of lies.

The FX and direction are *really• impressive. And somehow manages to be flamboyant without being Fukunaga-ishly "look at me!!!"

"my sole personal intent in taking this job was to represent bisexuality by making it clear that the most self-interested and mendacious people in the world will take advantage of either binary gender if it suits their own nefarious purposes 🌈"

it worked for John Constantine though, so

Meantime in movie world

Watch the brand-new trailer for Marvel Studios’ #ShangChi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and experience it only in theaters September 3. pic.twitter.com/JMypllwDK9

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) June 25, 2021

Finally caught up with last week's "Loki," which was fun, but ... I can't tell if some of the scenes, particularly the action scenes, were clunky because of Covid, or clunky just because they're clunky. Same thing with a bunch of Falcon and the Winter Snowman. Like the instructions were something like, "ok, stay six feet apart but pretend you're punching people, which we'll add later, along with the set and the FX. And then we'll use more FX to move you and your sparring partners closer together." Which can't be that different from how these things often are, so maybe it's just because I'm paying closer attention the seams seem to be a little less seamless.

Anyway, this episode also felt very much like a "Mandalorian" episode.

Ha I very much said that last point at a couple of times.

Falcon and the Winter Snowman

i'm assuming the "winter snowman" eventually becomes captain canada

Post-credits scene this week, and more timey wimey shenanigans

I was going to say, THAT was a final shot cameo.

no idea what that final shot was all about or who but it was a v enjoyable episode

Does explain all the random “RICHARD GRANT!” posts on my Twitter timeline. I just thought people were celebrating him for being him, which is always a good idea.

I am extremely happy about the show’s wholesale embrace of peak nu-Who and would gladly watch any sort of crossover as long as it wasn’t run by Chibnall

Haha I didnt even realise it was REG til the credit came up afterward I went WHAAAAAT and had to rewind it. Whats with his absurd undies-on-outside and handbag lol.

They were more Lokis werent they? Did one have Thor's hammer??

Also, Alligator Loki?

there was a frog thor for a while, why not a gator loki

Frog Thor was anthropomorphized, wasn't he? I like the idea of Loki as an alligator full-stop, no opposable thumbs and all. Like, how would you even know if it was a Loki if it couldn't talk? And wouldn't someone have to stick the crown on it? I find that really funny. Like, "we're not sure this alligator is even a Loki, but we crowned it, just in case. Helps us keep it apart from the other alligators."

Haha I didnt even realise it was REG til the credit came up afterward I went WHAAAAAT and had to rewind it

A little more about all them new variants

https://gizmodo.com/how-lokis-mid-credits-revealed-the-most-promising-part-1847205559

watched all four of these today. owen wilson is really good! the fight scenes are whatevs

needs more pillboi tho

lol the existence of pillboi's character should've had the tva question whether they were products of divine creation far earlier on

*questioning

From the Giz story comments:

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_1165/3c6b151641a989023543f8d0eb5e0b3d.jpg

lol!

I'm hoping that in his past life Mobius was Owen Wilson.

Who is really enjoyable in this, absolutely lovely to see new acting multiverses opening up to him.

"Maybe I rode a jetski". I hope he is somewhere else after his pruning.

...sorry, how spoilery are we allowed to be here doh.

Though the sets look to be almost entirely digital

the hand-to-hand combat in this covid-safe filming looked pretty dire BUT at least 100x better than the big fights in Endgame

(forgot that Eugene Cordero played Pillboi, was confused by this thread briefly)

can't believe i out-pillboied sic

what a moment

he's still Tito Ben to me

I'm only on episode 2 of Loki but this show is VERY MUCH MY SHIT. I thought WandaVision was going to be the whole reason I caught up with the MCU but how wrong I was.

lol @ Loki using classical Latin pronunciation at [scene of historical disaster]. Also I love the design of everything so much. Love the orange, love the midcentury vibe that somehow looks both futuristic and regrettably dated at the same time.

please tell me you watched Legion, in orbit.

Never even heard of it! I’ve been catching up via Disney+ (for my sins)—I’ll see if Legion is available.

i think it’s on hulu (perhaps)

It's on Hulu. Check it out, and report back (if you feel like it)!

https://i1.wp.com/www.lacasadeel.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/kirby-loki.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/a7/d4/2ea7d4b01b120d973189390896b43821.jpg

Most inspired casting ever.

Give him credit just for being willing to wear the classic costume alone!

he clearly had a whale of a time

man that was a great episode
theyve all been great obv but this felt like a full-on adventure