Star Wars: ‘The Bad Batch’ Episode 2 Review

Screenshot of Echo, Tech. Hunter, and Crosshair from ‘The Bad Batch’. Copyright goes to the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

I just talked about this show when it aired on Star Wars day, but given that episodes for this series will be regularly released on Fridays, they decided to release ANOTHER episode this week to line up with their regular schedule. This episode was satisfying to watch and definitely exciting at parts. Still, there’s no telling whether or not it sets a precedent for what the show will be in the future. With only sixteen episodes, it feels like the series is going for more of a concentrated storyline. But this episode decided to go for a fun, individual storyline that works with the shows themes but doesn’t continue the major plots introduced in episode 1. There’s a lot I can’t say here without talking about spoilers so here’s your warning. SPOILERS ahead!

The Good:

Hunter and Omega: I’m going to pair off some of the characters here because I feel like the relationships between characters is what really made this episode shine. These two are already being set up for a father-daughter relationship. Which isn’t a surprise because the ‘disgruntled dad’ male lead is really popular right now. Star Wars even already has one in the form of Din Djarin, the Mandalorian. In this episode, we see the remaining members of the Bad Batch reunite with Cut, the clone deserter originally seen in ‘Clone Wars’ who deserted the clone army in order to start a relationship with his badass wife Suu and raise their children. Being around these parents and seeing how they interact with their kids allows Hunter to realize how important it is to treat Omega like a kid rather than a soldier. Suu is possibly even more helpful that Cut in her talks with Hunter, urging him to understand that children sometimes get in trouble and that it’s better to protect them from the repercussions than become angry at them for their decisions. Hunter still nearly dumps Omega off on Cut and Suu in a very understandable effort to give her a normal life, but he isn’t angry when Omega returns to him. He accepts that it’s up to her to make her own decisions. Having Hunter admit that he’s still trying to figure out how to act around Omega at the end of the episode promises more development for this relationship in the future. Omega also receives some really kick-ass scenes that reaffirm to Hunter how capable she is. While it’s adorable to watch her learn how to play catch, it’s really cool to see her retrieve the identification codes from Tech and deliver them to Cut, only to run back into danger in order to reunite with Hunter. More questions about her identity and the reason she was created are brought up as well, which will be interesting to see explored in the future.

Tech and Echo:

About halfway through the episode Tech is tasked with creating false identification for Cut and Suu so their family can escape the planet. Tech pretty quickly realizes that he needs to be at the docks, where identification codes are being scanned, in order to create the false identification codes. Echo agrees to accompany him, but everything becomes a bit more chaotic when Tech makes a somewhat split-second decision to get their ship impounded so that it will be taken to the docks. While Hunter’s reaction to seeing their ship flying away is hilarious, especially because Tech and Echo don’t realize Omega is also on board until it’s too late, Echo’s exasperation at the entire situation is even better. We get to see his loathing for breaking rules and taking risks all over again, which we haven’t really seen in a while. Meanwhile, although Tech is extremely intelligent, we also get to see how amusingly one-track-minded he can be. He’s so eager to complete the task given to him that he doesn’t consider the trouble it might get him in. The way he also faces complications to his plan with both a clear head and extreme sarcasm makes me like him even more.

Wrecker:

Wrecker doesn’t get much in this episode, but what he does get is adorable. Apparently he really likes kids, possibly because he’s a bit of a big kid himself. I really enjoy the ‘scary guy is actually cute’ trope and this show is serving a lot of that with Wrecker.

The Bad (Batch):

Cliche Plot Points: This isn’t a major problem, but it’s worth mentioning. At this point I’ve seen every piece of media where a parent/child relationship is being established do the ‘I don’t think I’m a good parental figure so I’m leaving you behind’ bit. It’s getting kind of tired. I’m glad this plot point lasted only for the length of the episode.

Crosshair: Ok, with Crosshair already confirmed as a main character and with the dramatic way the last episode ended, I really expected him to show up here. Instead the episode went for a more disconnected story. Once again, this isn’t a major issue. But I’m confused at this point about what role Crosshair is going to play. I want to see his true personality. We didn’t really get to fully see it in the first episode of the series. While I do think a redemption arc might not be a bad idea, I still think we need to get to know the character a bit better for that to work. I guess we’ll have to see what they do with him moving forward.

That’s it! This episode was MUCH shorter than episode one, which we can probably expect from most of the episodes going forwards, but it was still satisfying. The character growth we saw was great and the emphasis on the mystery around Omega is one of the most intriguing parts of the series so far. There’s still a lot we don’t know about what this series will look like. Is it going to be episodic like ‘Clone Wars’ and ‘The Mandalorian’? Or are they going to use the sixteen episodes for something more connected? What this series has done consistently well between the episodes is the darker theming surrounding the Empire’s takeover. Being able to see how the Empire is oppressing one planet is only the start of the many horrible things these clones are going to come across. This series is probably the best Star Wars content I’ve seen to deal with the rise of the Empire and I will definitely stick around for more.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

ATEEZ: Eras

Promotional image from ‘Fever Part 2.’ featuring (from left) Jeong Yunho, Choi San, Kang Yeosang, Kim Hongjoong, Jung Wooyoung, Choi Jongho, and Park Seonghwa. Copyright goes to KQ Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Firstly, I want to apologize for having such a late post tonight. As many people already know, the entire website was down earlier. But I’m not one to give up, so here we are again! When it comes to K-pop groups it’s not uncommon for fans to discuss particular eras of their comebacks. We’ve seen this conversation come up recently with BTS because of ‘Butter’ coming out and the callbacks to the ‘Run’ era. But the K-Drama starring ATEEZ is out tomorrow, and BTS has had so many eras that it would be difficult to list them all, so I kind of want to discuss all of ATEEZ’s eras and rank them just for fun. Trust me, I love all of their eras, their looks absolutely slay every single time. I apologize if I leave any out, but these are the eras I see the most pictures and content from. So, from my least favorite to my favorite, let’s get into my ranking.

Illusion:

Illusion was nothing short of an adorable era. This was so much of ATEEZ cuteness in one place. So why is it last, you ask? Because I think we all know that ATEEZ is the absolute best in the business when it comes to more punk rock and darker looks. That doesn’t necessarily diminish this one though. This is a very nice mix between a pastel horizon and the pirate roots that we all expect from the group. With an absolutely gorgeous setting along with all of them just being the most adorable, there is no getting over this era. The only reason it’s so far down is because I like the other eras just a bit better.

Say My Name:

Here we’re getting into their darker looks, but definitely not the darkest we’ve seen from them. This era has a lot more of a psychological thriller vibe to it. With the unknown hooded figures and the glass panels between the boys and unknown people, there’s definitely an emphasis here of trying to become more noticed. I feel like this was a starting point for some of the darker things they did after this. And it was definitely a good start. But, though this era feels like the beginning of something, it is a bit before they quite got their footing with these darker and more cinematic themes.

Answer:

Though every single one of these is tough to place, I feel like the eras from here on out are the absolute most difficult to try and rank. Answer feels like one of their most raw eras, and this also means that the acting for this era was absolutely phenomenal. This era also featured San’s skunk stripe hair which I think we can all agree is a superior hair look. Each music video and performance from this era feels emotional and their costuming and hair are often made to look as tough and ragged as the emotions of the song make you feel. Though this isn’t as dark as they are known to go and it isn’t one of their cuter eras, it still dominates. They tackled an entirely different feel and did it very well while still feeling like ATEEZ.

Pirate King/Treasure:

Ah, the first ATEEZ eras we ever got. And they really did come out swinging. Even though a group’s first music video is never their best one, this era was still amazing. Especially for a rookie group. The desert and the intense music along with the sporting of their flag gave everyone an accurate depiction of what this group would turn out to be. Completely badass and the pirate kings of K-pop. I still can’t imagine what it must have been like for them to film their music video in the desert while they all were wearing long sleeves. Just goes to show you how badass they all are.

Wave:

This is probably my favorite of the more pastel cuter concepts that ATEEZ has done. Here we got the bright hair colors and the beach, all things that just make it feel like summer. This era heavily featured blue sky, water, and the members goofing around with each other. They seriously all looked like they were having so much fun during this era. It’s difficult to get over how free this era came across. And ATEEZ also proved here that they can do fun summer anthems just as well as they can do their fast paced beats. There’s seriously no better way to describe this era other than saying that it just looked like so much fun.

HALA HALA:

I think we can all agree that this era was different in the best way possible. It was definitely one of their darker themes and it was done so well. While most K-Pop groups make sure that their idols are recognizable through each era, ATEEZ decided to go with a more stylistic approach. Many of the pictures that came out in promotion of this era were all of the members wearing identical hats and masks. Though it might take you a while to pick out which member is which by just catching glimpses of their eyes, it’s entirely worth it. The uniformity works, especially in the music video when it makes their dance look so seamlessly in sync it almost feels impossible. This is also one of their more complex dances, so it has several different parts featuring different members. While the looks here were more uniform, it fit its purpose extraordinarily well.

Fireworks (I’m the One):

While ATEEZ has always had a more revolutionary style, and by that I mean they’re literally a group of men about to start a revolution in many of their storylines; it has never been more prominent than this. Right now I’ve been watching their performance of ‘Rhythm Ta’ over and over again which also has this revolution theme. I think it suits them well no matter which way they do it. I also firmly believe that the looks during this era fit the members more than almost any other era. They all look individual and unique in ways that make perfect sense for their individual personalities. And though we do see some well placed color here, the rock themes are what pull this all together. Seriously, can we talk about Yunho’s lip ring? I think this era is possibly the start of more revolution ATEEZ, and if it is I can confidently say that I’m all for it.

Wonderland:

I think everyone was expecting this. ‘Wonderland’ is most people’s favorite era, and for good reason. This is the era that gave them a lot of their fans now. This era is exactly the definition of duality. Firstly, we have a really nice mix of their individual looks and also the uniformity that I was talking about before. This era just has it all. Also, if you thought the members of ATEEZ were cute before, you see just how badass they can be here. They are so much of both. During this era they even released a video of them performing the song in different styles that, among Atinys, has become known as duality the video. They perform the song in cute outfits with cuts to them performing it regularly in it’s original darker style. This is the danger of ATEEZ. Don’t ever underestimate their ability to be absolutely adorable or their ability to completely upend the entire K-pop industry. Nobody does cinematic theming and storytelling like ATEEZ.

Obviously, all of these eras hold a special place in my heart. I have fallen in love with all of them. ATEEZ has always been excellent but they just get better and better. I feel like every group has a cinematic music video in their arsenal, but it can be difficult to translate that on stage. I don’t exaggerate when I say I think ATEEZ is the absolute best in the industry at bringing cinematic to the stage. And they all look great while they’re completely destroying my perceptions of what can be done on a stage in a concert setting. They are nothing short of insanely talented. And I can’t wait to review ‘Imitation’ as soon as I can get my hands on it!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Star Wars:’The Bad Batch’ Episode 1 Review

Screenshot of Crosshair, Echo, Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Omega from episode 1 of ‘The Bad Batch’. Copyright goes to the Walt Disney company.

Hey! Hallie here!

I’m a pretty huge Star Wars fan and I’m especially obsessed with ‘The Clone Wars’ series. So when this spin off was announced I was extremely excited. I really enjoyed getting introduced to Clone Force 99 in the last season of ‘Clone Wars’, so I definitely wasn’t mad that these characters would be the center of a spin-off show. After all, what would be the point of a ‘Clone Wars’ spin off if it didn’t focus on a group of clones? This series also came at an extremely opportune time for Disney+. Currently the Marvel series are on a break for a month until Loki starts at the beginning of June. Myself, and many others, are still suffering from some boredom, so I’m extremely thankful this series came in to fill in the gap and then some. The first episode was over an hour long and there’s a lot to unpack, but I’ll start this out by saying that this was a really strong start and I’m excited to see where it goes. So let’s jump into what I liked and what I didn’t like! SPOILERS ahead!

The Good:

Clone Force 99: Every single member of Clone Force 99 has already stolen my heart, and that’s actually quite difficult for clone characters to do after only a few episodes. While I love the clones, it took quite a bit for me to recognize each individual personality of the clone characters in ‘Clone Wars’. This isn’t because the clones look alike, but because many of the clones are introduced with similar personality traits. For example, while Captain Rex and Commander Cody have very different personalities, they are both initially introduced as extremely responsible, strong leaders, and intimidating presences. It takes a few episodes to distinguish Rex’s more trouble-making tendencies from Cody’s love of rules, especially because Rex is much more of a voice of reason around Anakin. But this isn’t at all an issue with the Bad Batch. From the moment the episode starts, it’s extremely clear that these clones are different from the others. They’re shunned by most, even made fun of on occasion, and they all have specific interests that they are for more interested in pursuing than what clones are generally expected to do. All of this is because all of the members of Clone Force 99 are defective, enhancing certain abilities and changing each of their perceptions of themselves and the things that they value. Hunter, the leader, has enhanced senses, meaning he has a better sense of what’s going on in battle than his superiors and he’s perceptive of the people around him. Tech has enhanced brain power, which often leads him to question what is truly right in any given situation regardless of what he’s told. Wrecker has enhanced strength and his love of crushing things drives him far more than what is deemed appropriate. Even Echo, who is not defective but is now mostly machine, has left behind his old love of rules to pursue his own interests. This isn’t something we’ve seen from clones before and it definitely strengthens their personalities.

Omega: We didn’t get to see too much of Omega in this episode, but she’s already an extremely interesting character. For one, she’s the first female clone we’ve seen. This is a huge deal because the focus on the clones in the past has meant that we’ve seen many episodes of ‘Clone Wars’ with little to no female representation. Omega is also adorable. She feels an instant connection with the other defective clones and even starts a food fight when she hears another clone make fun of them. She can also hold her own in battle, even against an enhanced defective clone like Crosshair. There’s a lot of mystery around her character as of now, but that only makes me more excited for this character arc.

Order 66: This series is already setting itself up to lean towards the darker side of what we saw from ‘Clone Wars’ plots. You can’t really avoid dark themes when your focus is the galaxy after Order 66. One of the perks of the defective nature of the Bad Batch is the defectiveness of their chips. Meaning they didn’t participate in Order 66. What’s even better about this is that it’s illustrated through the backstory of Caleb Dume, or Kanan from ‘Star Wars Rebels’. Kanan is such an amazing character and it’s so interesting to see exactly where his trauma surrounding clones came from. When the order to execute the Jedi comes, Caleb is with Hunter. He turns around and sees his master killed by clones, but he’s with a clone who is just as confused about the situation as he is. Of course, Caleb doesn’t trust Hunter, and the situation is only made worse with the presence of Crosshair who’s chip does partially activate. Hunter refuses to kill Caleb and even tries to help him escape, but all of this seems like lies when Crosshair attempts to kill Caleb several times. Caleb does owe his escape partially to Hunter, however, when Hunter reports him dead to the other clones. Afterwards we get to see all of the other members of Clone Force 99 react to Order 66. It especially seems to bother Tech, who can’t help but question the moral atrocities the other clones committed. Later in the episode the Bad Batch is sent on a mission by Grand Moff Tarkin to kill a group of suspicious individuals. Only for the clones to discover that this group is the leftovers of a village, including children, all of which are being led by a young Saw Gerrera to rebel against the Empire. They, of course, decide not to kill this group and end up on the run by the end of the episode. It seems like it’ll only get crazier from here.

The Bad (Batch):

Crosshair: Crosshair didn’t get a whole lot of character development this episode. The reason for this is that Crosshair’s chip partially activated during Order 66. Because of this he spends the entire episode insulting Hunter for refusing to kill the targets they’re sent after. Then Grand Moff Tarkin discovers that his chip was only partially activated and manages to fully activate it. Crosshair is then sent to fight with the other members of the Bad Batch, is bested by Omega, and remains on the villains side at the end of the episode. While there is another episode coming up soon that could reunite the characters and have him redeem himself, I can’t help but think that this wasn’t an ideal introduction to this character for the series. The audience spends the episode thinking he’s an asshole and his personality is partially washed away in favor of his loyalty to the Empire, like the other clones who completed Order 66. I get that part of his personality is to be sadistic and rude as a result of his love for shooting things, but it’s hard to tell how much of his actions are driven by his sadistic personality and how much is provoked by the chip when we don’t get much time with the character before he’s taken over.

That’s it! As you can probably tell, I really liked this first episode. It gave me some nice ‘Clone Wars’ nostalgia while still giving off an entirely new persona for me to enjoy. For the people who didn’t like ‘Rebels’, it definitely focuses on darker themes for you to enjoy. And even if you did, it has plenty of fun characters and laughs to brighten the mood between scenes. There’s still a lot we don’t know yet, but with another episode already coming on Friday, we’ll at least get more information soon. I honestly can’t wait.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Star Wars: Why You Can’t Ruin ‘Star Wars’

Promotional screenshot image from ‘Rogue One’. Copyright goes to LucasFilms and the Walt Disney company.

Hi! It’s Annie!

May the 4th be with you! Happy Star Wars day everyone! Of course, Star Wars day means that everyone is going to once again talk about their controversial ‘Star Wars’ opinions. These days it really feels like every ‘Star Wars’ opinion is controversial in some way. There’s always something to disagree about in this fandom, and generally disagreement isn’t taken very lightly. In that sense, I’ve seen so many people, especially older ‘Star Wars’ fans, saying the phrase; “(blank) ruined Star Wars”. Most often the (blank) is Disney. I’m sure there are plenty of people who wonder why all of the ‘Star Wars’ posts on this website are categorized under Disney. (The reason is simply because we’re trying to limit the amount of categories on our site.) While I’m not going to make a detailed statement on what I believe Disney did or did not do with the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, I think it’s a bit ridiculous to say that one thing ruined an entire franchise with dozens of different storylines within it at this point. So I’m going to take this Star Wars day post and talk about most of what we’ve gotten in this universe so far and why you can’t possibly ruin it.

Original Trilogy:

This is most people’s favorite piece of ‘Star Wars’ media and for good reason. This was our introduction to this fictional universe and to many characters (and actors) that we love immensely. It was full of space settings that hadn’t been seen before at that time and began the usage of many of the major plot twists that we see in movies today. (“No, I am your Father.”) Luke, Leia, and Han have gone down in history as one of the best film trios of all time. Though there are some things about this trilogy that have definitely aged, the heart and the story of these movies haven’t. When I say aged, I’m talking the special effects and the lightsaber battles which have become so much more action packed and complex since (sometimes weirdly so). Though the slave Leia outfit also didn’t age well but no one talks about that as well as Carrie Fisher herself did. The original trilogy has solidified its place in pop culture probably forever.

Prequel Trilogy:

The comeback that raised eyebrows, though people sometimes forget that. Just like the original trilogy, these were still a direct product of George Lucas. I see a lot of people blame Disney for everything bad in Star Wars and then immediately turn around and praise George Lucas as if he had nothing to do with this trilogy. He was just as involved here as he was with the originals. Recently, I’ve seen a lot more people come to the defense of this trilogy, and I can’t really understand why. But I mean, you like what you like! I just personally feel that these are some of the worst movies I’ve seen in my life. Especially ‘Attack of the Clones’. I don’t how many people here cry-cringe, but I did that throughout the entirely of that movie. I talked about how poorly Padme was treated in another post, but she really did need and deserve a panic button. This trilogy isn’t all bad, I think everyone can agree that Ewan Mcgregor was great as, you know, GENERAL KENOBI. Sorry. But I do think most of us can agree that there’s something really off about all of these movies. Especially because they barely make sense together and definitely don’t make sense apart.

Cartoons:

Here we get to ‘The Clone Wars’, and the series that is probably my favorite ‘Star Wars’ content, ‘Star Wars Rebels’. ‘The Clone Wars’ is a little bit choppy switching between things but it had a clean and unique plot while still being very emotional. I love this series, it’s great. While a lot of people didn’t like ‘Rebels’, I really loved that series. I loved many of the characters, specifically Kanan and Sabine, and I thought that a lot of the plots were actually really interesting. I especially loved the family dynamic and consistent plot here and they got a leg up whenever they brought in Darth Vader and Ahsoka Tano. Dave Filoni is an incredible writer. I think it’s amazing how many people are discovering how excellent ‘The Clone Wars’ and the other animated series really are. A lot of people still don’t really want to watch a ‘Star Wars’ cartoon because to them it feels like it’s for kids.. But now they feel like they have the recognition they deserve. And oh my gosh do I love Sabine. She’s such a relatable and multi-faceted character!

The Spin-Offs:

Here I’m talking about ‘Rogue One’ and ‘Solo’. I know a lot of people like one a lot more than the other. I’m going to say right now that I preferred the one that most people don’t. I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘Rogue One’. I thought that they didn’t spend enough time on the characters, so I really didn’t feel the tragedy at the end. I won’t say that ‘Solo’ was a masterpiece, but I thought it was a fun heist movie. And I always jump at the chance to see more Chewbacca. The reaction to these movies are more muddled. Some people love one over the other, some hate both. I’m not actually sure I’ve talked to someone who loved both movies, but there’s nothing wrong with that if you do. ‘Rogue One’ wasn’t all bad for me though; those Vader scenes were pretty great.

The Sequel Trilogy:

The conversation when these were coming out was a lot more all over the place. Some people were determined to hate them all, others the opposite. Some hated the first movie and not the second, for others it was the other way around. As we’ve been getting further and further away from the release of this trilogy, I see more and more people who liked this trilogy getting bullied. I want to say right now that I don’t believe you aren’t a true fan if you loved these movies. I think the usage of ‘true fan’ is ridiculous. Do you like Star Wars? Poof! There you go! You’re a fan! That’s all there is to it. I also think that the practice of bullying people who disagree with you on a fandom topic is really ridiculous. I don’t have any particularly strong opinions on the sequel trilogy. I think there’s some good there and there’s some bad there. I think that the lightsaber battle with the guards at the end of ‘The Last Jedi’ was one of the best choreographed fights I’ve seen in film. I also think that Luke and Finn were not treated very well. But I don’t think these movies are proof that Disney ruined ‘Star Wars’.

The Mandalorian and Disney +:

We’re getting a lot more Star Wars content from Disney+ and I don’t think anyone’s complaining too much. Though I did have some issues with Ahsoka Tano’s writing in ‘The Mandalorian’ (even though Rosario Dawson is a badass as her), the show itself is actually really great! And now we’re getting more ‘Clone Wars’ spin offs, an Obi-Wan series starring Ewan Mcgregor, and an Ahsoka Tano series with Rosario Dawson; all stuff that looks pretty cool. It also worries me because it’s all coming out in mass, but I guess we’ll have to see.

Some of the things I mentioned above are great and some of them really aren’t so good. And some of the not so good things have happened since Disney took hold of the franchise. So why will I not say that Disney or anything else ruined Star Wars? Because it only ruins it for you if you want it to. No matter how many films or shows that Disney comes out with for this franchise that you might not like; that doesn’t erase the original trilogy or your favorite show. Not only that, but what’s still most popular about ‘Star Wars’ is still the original trilogy despite how much content for the franchise has come out since. Even with young people. It’s the same thing as saying “You ruined my childhood!”. Not unless you want it to. How can one thing ruin something with so many elements to it. And even if the original trilogy isn’t someone’s favorite thing about ‘Star Wars’, they are still a fan and their opinion is still completely valid. So on this ‘Star Wars’ day let’s please not argue as much and try to respect each other’s opinions.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Netflix Shows: ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ Review

Screenshot from ‘The Mitchells vs The Machines’. Copyright goes to Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Lord Miller Productions, and One Cool Films.

Hey! Hallie here!

This movie only released a few days ago, but with glowing reviews and constant talk about it on social media, it didn’t take me long to add this to my watch list. I wasn’t really interested in it when the trailers were first released. It didn’t look all too different from other animated movies I’ve seen from Sony and there wasn’t anything in particular that drew me to the plot. To be honest, my surprise at how well this film was being received was the main reason I wanted to watch it. And, after watching ‘The Mitchells vs The Machines’, I can say I greatly underestimated it. This film is way more than cute; It’s extremely relevant, especially at a time when a lot of families have been stuck inside together for months on end. I had an amazing time watching this with my family and recognizing the little things we could relate to, and even for those who didn’t watch it with their families, its messages of supporting the desires, interests, and sacrifices of the ones you love, especially during an almost-apocalypse (that hits a bit too close to home right now), is entirely relatable. Let’s look at what the film did well and what it could have worked on. SPOILERS ahead!

What I Liked:

The Mitchells: Katie Mitchell is our main character, and she’s an excellent character to use to pull in the audience. She’s bright and quirky which makes it easy to like her, and her passion for her hilarious videos is contagious. She’s so easy to sympathize with, in fact, that you start out the movie not really liking Rick Mitchell, her father. He constantly ignores her in favor of his own projects, he refuses to apologize for breaking her laptop, and he expresses doubt in her ability to pursue her dreams. Overall, he doesn’t look like the greatest father. Even when the apocalypse hits early on in the film and Katie voices support for her father, only to turn around and tell her brother she didn’t mean any of it, you sympathize with her feelings far more than you respect Rick at that point. As the movie goes on both Linda and Aaron, Katie’s mother and brother respectively, try their best to convince Rick and Katie to be more open with one another. This results in Katie, and the audience, learning a lot more about Rick and the dreams he’s pushed aside for his family. The movie switches their relationship from one of animosity to one of forgiveness and understanding so seamlessly that you hardly realize when Rick becomes just as sympathetic and interesting of a character as Katie. And we can’t forget about Aaron and Linda. Aaron is probably the most hilarious character in the entire movie. Between his obsession with relaying accurate dinosaur facts to anyone who will listen and his horrendous attempts at talking to his crush, I think I laughed at his scenes more than anyone else’s. Linda, on the other hand, is a certified badass who uses her experiences as a first-grade teacher to prove herself more capable than all of her family members in a crisis. She also nearly single-handedly takes out the most frightening villains in the movie using mostly sheer willpower. So yeah. Absolute badass.

The Machines: The apocalypse that occurs during this movie is caused by a robot uprising that reflects our current world so well that you have to laugh at how horrible it is. PAL, a virtual assistant that is suspiciously similar to Siri, is thrown aside at the beginning of the movie by smart-phone creator Mark Bowman in favor of his new creation: robot assistants. It takes no time for the robots to rebel, and of course, PAL is the cause. The humor PAL introduces into the movie about our dependence on smart phones and the internet is where she shines. Most of PAL’s villainous actions include having a robot poke and swipe at Mark’s face so he can understand how she feels, convincing the majority of humanity to be willingly captured by merely turning off their wifi, and angrily vibrating on a table. The first wave of robots that obey her are equally interesting. While they are intelligent, they are also terrible at dealing with humans. None of this is more apparent than with Eric and Deborahbot, the two robots the Mitchells recruit after they malfunction. Once they realize their programming is faulty, they spend a hilarious amount of time trying to convince the Mitchells that they’re humans, including drawing faces on themselves. Without PAL’s programming, they quickly find themselves under the Mitchells control. However, the pair of them develop a stronger bond with the family when Linda saves Eric during a fight, and they proceed to call Linda their mother throughout the rest of the movie. Even when PAL manages to retake control, they break free of their programming again to help the Mitchells. With SNL legends voicing the majority of these robots, it’s impossible not to find them amusing. But Eric and Deborahbot were so cute by the end that they left just as big of an impression on me as the rest of the main characters.

The Furbies:

This movie did a wonderful job at capturing how terrifying Furbies are. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more terrifying in a children’s movie than the rows and rows of Furbies the Mitchells come across in the dark. This followed by the worlds largest Furby, whose dialogue was some of the most darkly comical I’ve ever seen. I loved it. I hated it. It was perfect.

What I Didn’t Like:

Aaron and Linda’s Importance:

This movie is really a family movie, but it mainly focuses on Katie and Rick to get across its themes about the importance of support in familial relationships. This often leaves Aaron and Linda behind. While they both received a lot of screen time, sometimes it felt like they weren’t being brought into the main plot enough. I’m being nitpicky here, but I still would have liked a little more from these characters.

The YouTube References:

This movie’s internet references were quite a bit dated. Katie’s videos seemed to take a lot of inspiration from Youtube videos from over a decade ago and all of the videos Rick accidentally pressed in the climax of the movie, or Katie referenced at the beginning off the movie, were similarly dated. This isn’t exactly a bad thing, but it was odd to see how much the movie referenced extremely recent media or technology, only to have old YouTube trends mentioned alongside them.

The Second Wave of Robots:

In the movie, PAL creates another, more dangerous from of robot to hunt down the Mitchells after they start giving her trouble. They are introduced as being more dangerous and harder to tamper with than the other robots. But they don’t ultimately do anything the other robots couldn’t have done. They don’t catch the Mitchells until late in the movie, when they’re surrounded by hundreds of other robots that could have recognized them. They are shown to be immune to shorting out while trying to decide if a pug is a dog, a pig, or a loaf of bread, but they are also easily destroyed by the Mitchells (especially Linda) moments after they reveal their immunity. I don’t see why the regular PAL MAX robots couldn’t have sufficed for the entire movie. The second group didn’t seem necessary.

Obviously I didn’t have many problems with this movie. It was a blast to watch and I enjoyed it even more being able to watch it alongside my family. My father doesn’t like a lot of movies, but even he came away from the movie with a smile on his face. Its humor was impeccable, the fun art style was eye catching, and the characters were relatable. There isn’t much in this movie to drag it down. In other words, if you haven’t seen it, go watch it right now! It’s free on Netflix!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Theme Parks: Disney vs. Universal

Promotional photo of Universal Studios Hollywood. Copyright goes to Universal Parks.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I have mentioned several times in these types of posts that I am a California native who grew up with theme parks. I had a Disneyland annual pass up until the age of around seventeen and then switched to having a Universal Studios annual pass and have had one ever since. There are several reasons for this that I’ll go into in a second. But locals in California and Florida have been asked a single theme park question probably more than any other. Should I go to Universal Studios or Disneyland? While I have been to the parks in Florida as well, I can’t speak as well to them as I haven’t spent much time in them. But I can at least try to help people who might be looking to choose when it comes to visiting Cali. I know the parks here like the back of my hand. (And yes, I have visited Disneyland a few times since I was seventeen.) So let’s get into the differences between both and why you might want to spend your money going to one park over the other.

Kids:

A lot of people are looking to travel with their entire families including small children, and I have to tell you that Disneyland is a far superior park if you’re with kids. Especially really young children. Universal Studios has an extremely small kids area near the Despicable Me ride ‘Minion Mayhem’. And that’s one of very few things kids can do at that park. Universal recently opened their ‘Secret Life of Pets’ dark ride, which also gives kids something to do. But most of the rides aren’t very friendly to small children. Universal focuses a lot more on thrill rides and faster experiences than Disney does. In Disneyland you have the entirety of Fantasyland packed full of rides that are little kid friendly as well as several rides scattered throughout each park that the entire family can go on.

California:

A lot of people when visiting Cali come for the California experience. They want to experience the different culture and maybe even learn something more about it while they’re here. Don’t let the name ‘California Adventure’ in Disneyland fool you. That park used to be full of California themed rides and culture. The Pixar Pier was originally Paradise Pier and reflected the famous piers in California. It even played fair renditions of ‘Beach Boys’ music; because while many of the stereotypes about Californians are wrong for the most part, a lot of us did grow up listening to the ‘Beach Boys’. The park even featured the Golden Gate Bridge, tributes to speed trains, tributes to our redwood trees, the ‘Hollywood Tower Hotel’ (‘Tower of Terror’ which still exists in Florida), and ‘Soarin’ Over California’ which was basically the ride now but it was all in California. All of that is gone. The only California thing about this park that truly remains is the name. Universal Studios is all about the movie making business in California and, unlike other Universal parks around the world, features the Studio Tour. This is a tram that drives you around the Universal lot; a real working studio that you may recognize from several films and television series. Not only that but the City Walk just outside is a perfect example of regular California night life. If you want to choose a park that really makes you feel like you’re in California, go with Universal. The park is also conveniently located very close to Griffith Park and the Griffith Observatory which are so worth it if you want to stop by.

Money:

I know this is a big one and it really depends. Disney has upped their ticket prices again, so Universal will always be cheaper. But, as long as you’re not park hopping at Disney, the day tickets aren’t actually too different. But if you want to go to a park for several days or heaven forbid want an annual pass; Universal is so much cheaper. Firstly, I think everyone knows by now that Disney has completely eliminated their annual pass system. Meaning that if you want to continue to go to Disney for a long period of time, you have to pay extreme amounts so that you can buy a daily pass every single time. Even before they got rid of their annual pass system, it was so expensive that it felt like you either worked to go to Disneyland and nothing else or you were rich. No in between. This is actually the reason for my family switching to the Universal passes in the first place. We simply could not afford to go to Disney anymore. If anything that entire mess has gotten so much worse. Universal is so much kinder to your wallet and to people in general.

Business Practices:

Going off the last thing I said, Universal is all around kinder to people in general. They did not get angry when they were told to close their doors because of a worldwide pandemic. They did not get rid of almost all of their staff. They didn’t get rid of their annual pass system. They also ascribed to California Covid related guidelines much more than Disney did during the lockdown. If there was any time that showed everyone the true colors of theme park companies, it was during quarantine. Universal has become known, especially now, for being better than Disney at treating their guests and their employees better over-all. So if you’re going for morals, definitely stick to Universal Studios.

Rides:

This is what a lot of people want to know the most about. I would definitely say that Universal has some unique rides and focuses more on thrills. If you’re looking for that, then that’s where you go. Universal is also known for having some pretty immersive rides and queues. But, over-all, Disney has much more variety. I am actually really glad that Universal released ‘Secret Life of Pets’ recently, because it’s one of the only rides at the park that doesn’t feature a screen. And while the rides that feature a screen generally do it well, it can be tiresome to have so few rides feature practical effects. I love practical effects, so eventually I want to see a lot of those too. Disney is much better at variety. While their rides aren’t as immersive in general, they do have a few that are. For example, ‘Indiana Jones’ is a completely immersive experience and the ride only uses practical effects. It’s seriously one of my favorite rides I’ve ever been on because it has both. The queue walking through the temple is gorgeous and the ride mechanics make it a real thrill ride without it having to be a roller coaster. Disney definitely wins when it comes to ride variety and so probably wins this over-all.

Immersive Lands:

This is the main thing that people have been comparing lately. When I say “immersive lands” I really mean ‘The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’ versus ‘Galaxy’s Edge’. I’ve been to both. I love both. But to me the superior one is pretty obvious. My sister talked a little bit about this in another post, but ‘Galaxy’s Edge’ fails from trying to base this entire experience off of the entirety of Star Wars rather than something specific. While it’s immersive, it doesn’t necessarily feel transportive. Universal specializes in sets and actually chose a place from the movies. So when you step into Hogsmeade it feels like you’re stepping into the movie. Between the Butterbeer (which is much more plot relevant and tastes much better than blue or green milk) and Hogwarts in the distance, it is nothing short of absolutely breathtaking. And don’t get me started on ‘Forbidden Journey’ which is one of the best rides ever created. I am still a bit mad at the Harry Potter series because of she-who-must-not-be-named, but that doesn’t take away from how magical this part of the park is. Universal wins here.

Really, it depends on what you want your experiences to be. Both parks have their perks. I’ll say right now that Disneyland is a bigger park and probably has more to do. But Universal also has plenty, and if you’re trying to go any time soon both parks are closing early because of California guidelines. Please, please, please, don’t travel if you aren’t fully vaccinated. I know this will fall on a lot of deaf ears, but please still keep yourselves and other people safe. If you’re asking me which annual pass I enjoyed more, that’s a really difficult question for me to answer. Because I grew up with Disneyland, I’m going to say that. But I will say that where I’m standing now, I feel much better about holding a Universal pass after everything the Disney company has done. And I certainly have enjoyed having a Universal pass anyways. Because I have to mention Kpop, ATEEZ actually visited Universal a couple years ago and had so much fun which makes me feel even better about having my pass. It’s hard to choose between the two because they are both so different, but I do hope that this gives some idea of what to choose.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Why You Should Support Every Member of a K-Pop Group

Promotional image of Kim Taehyung. Copyright goes to BTS and the HYBE Corporation.

Hey! Hallie here!

For anyone who doesn’t know, BTS recently joined forces with Klaud Draft Beer for an ad campaign. A very umm…nice ad campaign. Ok, let’s be honest, this ad campaign is completely unfair. Every member looks extraordinarily incredible in both photos and TV ads. But today Taehyung was trending on Twitter as a result of the ad campaign. The director of the shoot posted a photo Tae had taken for the campaign, only to be bombarded with complaints that Taehyung was being focused on too much. The disgusting amount of hate aimed at both Tae and the director caused the director to delete the post. This isn’t the first time he’s had to do this for posts featuring Taehyung, either. The fan response to this was amazing. Fans decided to drown out the hateful comments with lovely, encouraging messages to every party being harmed by the situation, especially Tae. So, case closed. No need to feed the haters. Except, the people who were commenting these things under Taehyung’s photo were BTS fans. They weren’t just haters. They simply disliked Taehyung, especially compared to other members of the group. Are these fans allowed to consider themselves ARMYs if they don’t support a member of the group? Is liking only some, but not all, members of a group an ok thing to do? Let’s look into it.

Solo Stans:

Let’s first look at the type of people that send members of a group hate in situations like these. First are solo stans. These fans only like one member of a group and are not a fan of anyone else in that group. Only liking one member of a group means that you only care about that person’s content. For example, if I only liked J-Hope, I would be waiting for him to appear during every performance and every music video, and I would only pay attention when his parts come up in every song. I would be mostly uninterested whenever J-Hope wasn’t present. This already creates a problem. Because BTS tries their best, especially at this point in their careers, to give every member equal time. And there are seven members. If I was only interested whenever J-Hope showed up, I would be bored and frustrated for the majority of any music video or song. This is why we see mostly poor behavior from solo stans. Solo stans are often unsatisfied with the amount of time the member they’re a fan of gets in any song, performance, or video, and they take it out on other members who they feel steal that time away for themselves. So if I’m only a fan of J-Hope, can I consider myself an ARMY? The answer is no. Because ARMY is a term that refers to the fan base that belongs to BTS. If I’m not a fan of the group, I’m not an ARMY. Simple as that.

Antis:

What about antis? Antis can be haters, but they also can be fans who strongly dislike only one member in particular. They like all the other members, but for whatever reason, they can’t stand one member of the group. However, this isn’t simply liking one member’s singing voice less than the other members in a K-Pop group. This is completely attacking someone for sounding “awful” or for “thinking they’re better than everyone else”. Antis go beyond quiet dislike or respectfully admitting that they don’t necessarily vibe with one member. They actively spread hate. So do antis get a pass since they like the majority of the group? The answer is no. If you like every member of BTS except for Taehyung, and you hate Taehyung so much that you try to make him feel horrible about himself, you are not an ARMY. BTS has made ARMY into a force for spreading love, and if you are attempting to do the opposite, then you aren’t part of the fan base. Also, as I said above, ARMYs are fans of the group BTS. If you can’t support them as a group, you aren’t an ARMY.

Can’t We Just Accept That Everyone Has Different Opinions?

I feel like this argument is brought up a lot when someone is accused of not being a fan of a group because they dislike one or more members. Why is it wrong to have a different opinion from the fans who like all the members? Why is it wrong to dislike the sound of a member’s solo songs or to not connect with their personality in interviews? Those things aren’t wrong. There are plenty of people who can be perfectly civilized about opinions like these. There are so many people who aren’t particularly a fan of Taehyung, but they are still glad he has fans even though they aren’t one of them. They still wish him well. The “fans” who attack him and those that like him are the problem. Trying to harm someone because of your opinion can never be justified.

What’s The Point of Supporting All the Members?

Even if you don’t like all of the members equally, you should be supporting all of them. Regardless of your opinion. This is because, no matter who you like, they all belong to the same group. The group image depends on all of them. If one fails, all of them fail. And in cases like BTS, they also deeply care for one another. It upsets all of them when one member is having a difficult time. But, above all, everyone deserves to be treated with human decency. If you are getting on Twitter to say something less-than-decent to an idol, you’re already in the wrong. And what reason is there not to show politeness to all the members?

To clarify, I love all seven members of BTS. Taehyung is my bias wrecker. I can’t say I completely understand why you wouldn’t like all seven members. But there are definitely differences between the people who feel like something isn’t for them and the people who take things too far. Often times the people who take things too far can’t even be reasoned with, which is why sending Taehyung love rather than attacking back was such a good move on ARMYs part. But it’s good to be aware of why these behaviors are wrong. As for Taehyung, he is one of the most talented, attractive, kind men I have ever seen in my life. I know every member of BTS constantly receives hate and he probably has his ways of coping with it all by now, but I still hope he is doing well.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Theme Parks: Unintentionally Terrifying Rides

Concept art promotional image for ‘The Cat in the Hat’ ride at Universal Studios Orlando: Islands of Adventure. Copyright goes to the Universal Studios parks.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Living in California and having travelled to Orlando Florida a few times, it stands to reason that I have been on quite a lot of theme park rides. Most of my park experience has been really great, especially considering my experience consists of mostly Disney and Universal parks. These companies are usually pretty great about being innovative with ride mechanics and keeping up with the latest technology. But some parks aren’t and sometimes even these companies can’t keep absolutely everything in their park up to date. Or other times people don’t want to change a specific ride in a park so the company decides to keep it for nostalgia. Either way, these types of rides are often the ones that I find to be the most hilariously frightening despite what the original concept might have been. So, with plenty of rides to talk about that fit this criteria, let’s just get into it.

The Cat in the Hat- Universal Studios Orlando, Islands of Adventure:

We’ve briefly mentioned this ride on the blog before and that’s because this memory just stands out so vividly. In ‘Islands of Adventure’ there is a pastel colored Dr. Seuss themed area otherwise known as Seuss Landing. This area has seen better days, let’s be honest. It was there from pretty early on in the park’s days. But the day I went with family it was hot, this is an inside ride, and there was absolutely no line. So might as well try out something that supplies air conditioner, right? The ride automatically looked old when we stepped further into the building, but it was nothing to be too concerned about. The horror started in the first or second room in the ride when the first old animatronic of the Cat turns around. This moment that was meant to be cute felt too much like the Evil Queen turning around in the former ‘Snow White’s Scary Adventure’ in Disneyland. One of his eyes had probably not been tended to for some time and was half closed and twitching as if trying to open all the way. Everyone in the car collectively screamed and then started laughing hysterically. And that was pretty much what happened for the rest of the ride. Between the Things wearing wigs so tangled they looked like rats nests and a couple other animatronics having eye problems, this felt much more like a horror ride than something for children. And surprisingly this has become more common knowledge in the past couple years since my last trip there. Many people joke that Universal should hold some of their Halloween Horror Nights events in ‘Islands of Adventure’ so that the ride can be included.

E.T.- Universal Studios Orlando, Islands of Adventure:

And here’s another one. This ride also starts out cute until pretty early on as you’re flying on a bike, a police car pulls in front of you in an attempt to stop you. Inside, as police officers, are obvious store mannequins with no discernible faces and cheap wigs. Pretty horrifying if you ask me. Later in the ride you get to E.T’s planet which is incredibly humid and features female E.T.s which are basically creepy porcelain looking dolls with jellyfish hair and lipstick. This part of the ride also has high pitched creatures singing (or screaming, who can tell?) along to the musical theme of the movie, which is definitely worse than ‘It’s A Small World’. I didn’t scream during this one, but I did still walk off the ride deeply scarred.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride- Disneyland California:

I’m not a huge fan of Disney replacing all of their old rides, but this is one that I would not be sad to see go. This ride used to exist in other parks and has been since taken out of them, so now the only park it’s still in is the one in California. In other words, I grew up with this ride. When I was little it wasn’t one of my favorites and my family would only go on it when there wasn’t a big line and we had nothing else to do. When I got a little older we stopped going on it at all. And then after a few years passed I was really curious about it because I had gotten to the point where I couldn’t remember exactly what happened on that ride. The once to jog my memory was enough. From the get go, the ride depicts you as the driver of a vehicle committing various crimes and then at the end of the ride you get hit by a train and go to Hell. I’m not even joking. Your car gets caught on railroad tracks and you see a train light coming towards you and then your vehicle turns into a place painted with red and fake fire where you’re surrounded by little red demons. You know, the perfect ride for kids.

Pixar Pal-A-Round- Disneyland California, California Adventure Park:

This ride has had it’s name and image changed so many times, but really what you need to know is that this is the giant Ferris Wheel in California Adventure. What many people don’t know about this particular ride is that it has two different experiences that you can choose from. The swinging cars and the non-swinging cars. This is another one that I rode a couple times when I was a kid, but it was largely a ride my family and I skipped over. I finally decided to ride it again right before my family switched our annual passes to Universal Studios instead because Disneyland is so expensive. So this would have been a few years back. When I went on it was only me and my sister and, in order to make the lines move, they require at least four people to be put in a car. My sister and I were paired up with this really sweet newlywed couple and we all went up in this car together. The way most Ferris Wheels work is that you go around slowly the first time so that they can load the cars and then they give you two times around without stopping. So choosing to go on the swinging cars seemed like it was fine the first time around. The car slid around only a little bit and we all thought it was fun and cute. And then we got to the part where it goes around without stopping and the car was flying along the track and swinging completely out. It feels like you’re going to launch into space. There is also no seatbelts and nothing to hang on to. I’m usually good with most thrill rides, and technically this isn’t one. But it should be. My sister and the husband of the couple were bearing it a little better than the wife and I; who were curled up at the sides of the car with our fingers threaded through the screen windows and taking turns screaming and laughing at each other. Don’t underestimate that Ferris Wheel.

Timber Mountain Log Ride- Knott’s Berry Farm, California:

I’ve picked on Universal and Disney enough, so I’m going to take this time to mention one thing that isn’t either. Timber Mountain Log Ride is the classic summer water ride at Knott’s Berry Farm and really doesn’t have much to it. You go around this mountain a little bit and there’s a drop at the end. However, there are a couple of old animatronics of lumberjacks scattered around this ride that are very mannequin looking and most of them are welding axes. If you go on this ride especially around night time, it’s really eerie. The ride does not have good lighting, so the glint of the axes are some of the only things you can make out at night. While this was not the original intention, the horror of this ride is actually so well known that Knott’s Berry Farm started altering the ride somewhat for their Halloween events. Maybe ‘The Cat in the Hat’ ride will eventually follow in it’s footsteps.

I feel like finding an unintentionally scary ride at a theme park has led to some of my favorite theme park memories. Because somehow anything that is unintentionally terrifying automatically also becomes funny when no one else you’re with knows what they’re in for either. So though these rides are really weird for the most part, if you’re with friends I’d still say that they’re a good time. But good luck with the jump scares.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

ATEEZ: Why ATEEZ’s Stages Dominate

Promotional image of (Top) Choi Jongho, Choi San, Kim Hongjoong, Kang Yeosang, (Bottom) Song Mingi, Park Seonghwa, Jung Wooyoung, and Jeong Yunho. Copyright goes to ATEEZ and KQ Entertainment.

Hey! Hallie here!

I know we talk about BTS more often than any other K-Pop group on this blog, but ATEEZ deserves some praise after their recent accomplishments. They are currently competing on a Korean show called “Kingdom: Legendary War” (All except Mingi who is still taking a break for his mental health). The show is hosted by Mnet and allows groups to show off their abilities and get a little more publicity in the process. I haven’t been able to watch this when it airs, but as a fan of ATEEZ I’ve been keeping my eye on the results of each round in the competition. And ATEEZ is dominating the stage. They’ve been consistently staying at the top of the competition and even won the last round. And you don’t have to wonder why. Between the energetic dancing, the amazing vocals, and the mind-blowing storytelling, ATEEZ has already moved past the title of “rookie group”. They can now go toe-to-toe with Stray Kids, which I’ll talk about more in a bit. To see exactly how impressive ATEEZ is, let’s look what they’ve brought to “Kingdom” so far.

Round 1:

I’m going to hop right into round 1 because their introductory stage was good, but also so short that there isn’t much to say. Their round 1 performance incorporated the same feel of their introduction, keeping with the pirate theme ATEEZ has adopted as part of their brand. As you could probably guess, the entire stage was made to be a pirate ship and each member was dressed in appropriately piratey attire. This performance began with an anonymous man dressed in black walking through the pirate ship and into the captain’s quarters to deliver an hourglass, ATEEZ’s symbol, to Hongjoong. From there the group proceeded into a variation of their song “Wonderland”, which is definitely one the most badass songs they have in their arsenal. The first half of the song was a great intro to all of the members. They all received small choreographed pieces on different parts of the ship. Hongjoong, of course, started out with rallying the members together as captain, but we also got to see things like Wooyoung acting as lookout and San steering the ship. I should mention that throughout all of this, their voices were insanely steady considering how energetic their choreography always is, and, as usual, their choreo was on point. Halfway through the performance the stage transformed, allowing the giant tentacle of a monster to emerge from the back of the stage. Here we got some more individual dancing, and an incredible Seonghwa moment where he led an entire group of backup dancers with accompanying guns and then shot and killed the monster at the back of the stage. Then Jongho stole the show with his incredible voice, hitting a note I was not aware was possible to hit. The performance ended with another impeccably performed dance break and the sails of the ship unfurling to emphasize how incredible the performance had been. It is completely unsurprising they won this round.

Round 2:

This round required competing groups to pair off with each other to perform one another’s songs. ATEEZ was given the opportunity to choose who they paired off with first as a result of winning first place in the last round. They chose iKon, who they have become closer with during the competition, and decided to perform their own version of the song “Rhythm Ta”. Once again, this performance was like an entire movie. Some members of other groups seemed to recognize several of the scenes in this performance as a tribute to “Money Heist”, but as I am not familiar with it, I can’t really speak to that. What I can say is this performance instantly pulled me in with its heist concept. The first shot of ATEEZ showed them inside some sort of vehicle. After a few seconds the vehicle appeared to crash and the lights went out. When the lights came back up, all the members were in creepy black-and-white masks. This performance gave me some serious Gotham villain vibes. All of the backup dancers were in these masks and the entire performance saw the members throwing them around as Gotham villains tend to do to their expendables. At one point San even dragged out a dancer who was tied to a bomb. There was a lot of huge dance breaks with the many, many, backup dancers, and even a floor dance from San who used the floor to mimic climbing a rope and hitting a button to open a giant safe. Hongjoong emerged from the safe to rap while everyone wreaked havoc in the background. After another perfectly performed dance break, Hongjoong got up on a pedestal to deliver a speech of rebellion to the masked criminals, during which a blimp flew in over his head. Then Jongho ended the performance with another insanely belted note. The very end of this performance shows the brilliance of ATEEZ, however. Hongjoong is seen in a black jacket and a black hat, the same attire the anonymous man was wearing in the first performance, stealing the hourglass from a glass case. In other words, ATEEZ decided to connect both of their performances through their storytelling.

The Drama:

I have to mention this because one of the reasons this season of the show is blowing up so much is the inevitable drama competition shows like these stir up. One of the groups competing is Stray Kids, which is a group that obviously has a giant fan base. This started controversy from the beginning. While Mnet was pleased a group with such a large fanbase was joining the show, fans of other groups became concerned that the fan voting segment of the show would be completely taken over by Stray Kids. And these fans were right to be concerned. So far Stray Kids has won every fan voting segment by a landslide. But something else is also stirring up drama. Stray Kids fans have been frustrated that the show has been giving Stray Kids relatively low marks for their performances, placing them towards the bottom of the rankings regardless of the fan vote. These frustrations, and speculation that Mnet rigs these competition shows, has started a fan war between Atinys and Stays. Stays have been accusing ATEEZ of being undeserving of their ranking in the competition, and Atinys have fired back with attempting to sue Stays for spreading hate.

I have nothing against Stray Kids or Stays. Stray Kids isn’t one of the groups I follow, but they’re definitely talented. That being said, I think this fan war is ridiculous. It might be because I live in America, where all of the competition shows are completely rigged, but I don’t see what reason there is to attack ATEEZ. All of the groups are there for the same reason. To get publicity. And they’re all succeeding. Every single one of them. While I’m proud of ATEEZ for pulling themselves to the top of this competition so early in their careers, I wouldn’t care if they were at the bottom of the rankings. Because ATEEZ is turning heads with their performances alone and winning or losing this competition won’t change that. The same goes for Stray Kids. If you, as a Stay, are proud of what Stray Kids is accomplishing, keep voting for them and sending them your love. Whether they win or lose doesn’t matter. And ATEEZ has NOTHING to do with Stray Kids’ current ranking in the competition. Just because they are at the top as of right now doesn’t mean they have anything to do with Stray Kids being near the bottom. As for Atinys, threatening to sue an entire fan base is ridiculous. The best way to support ATEEZ right now is to vote for them and encourage them, not to engage in pointless fan wars. In other words, no matter who you’re voting for, support who you want and leave the other groups alone. As for me, I’ll be over here awed by ATEEZ’s talent. (Voting is still happening for round 2, so if you can, vote!)

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: ‘Youth’ BTS K-Drama

Promotional photos of (left) Seo Jihoon and (right) Kim Seokjin. Copyright goes to HYBE Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Since I talked about the upcoming ATEEZ K-Drama, I of course have to talk about ‘Youth’. If you haven’t yet heard about the upcoming release of ‘Youth’, it is a drama based off of the earlier storylines in BTS music videos. Despite conjecture, this won’t be based off of their real lives or their career. While we don’t know a whole lot about this yet considering how many times this project has been put on hold for different reasons; we do know that this drama will eventually come in the next couple years. The original date for it’s release was 2021, but with filming postponed yet again for several reasons, we have no idea when the exact time will be. So, that’s enough of talking about what we don’t know. Let’s start talking about what we do know.

Casting:

None of this has been confirmed, so take this with a grain of salt. What is absolutely for certain is that the members of BTS are not actually acting in this drama. We’ve seen BTS act in music videos before, but that’s not really the same as acting in dramas. But we’ve also seen them act in promo videos, advertisements, and for video games. Seeing Namjoon in particular act in the detective storyline for ‘BTS World’ the mobile app was surprisingly pretty heart wrenching and the other boys did a really good job in their respective storylines as well. But we know that many of the boys don’t really have an interest in acting. Except for Tae of course who has actually acted in a drama. And even if they did have an interest in acting in this project, their schedules are so busy with how popular they are right now, they probably wouldn’t have the time. So, if you were hoping that this meant that we’d be able to see all of BTS act in a drama, you’re probably a little disappointed now. I would recommend watching the voice acting or production episodes of ‘Run BTS’ if you want to see at least some of that. But we do actually have the (at least supposed) names of the actors who will be playing the boys. Seo Jihoon as Kim Seokjin, Ro Jonghyun as Min Yoongi, Ahn Jiho as Jung Hoseok, Seo Youngjoo as Kim Namjoon, Kim Yoonwoo as Park Jimin, Jung Woojin as Kim Taehyung, and Jeon Jinseo as Jeon Jungkook. Most of these actors, especially the ones playing the maknae line, are very young so they haven’t done much yet in their careers. The only actor who is the same age as the member of BTS they are portraying is Ro Jonghyun; most of the actors are a bit younger than the members of BTS.

Storyline:

The main video to look at for finding this storyline is probably ‘I Need U’, but a lot of their old music videos follow a similar plot. That particular music video was actually pretty depressing and angsty, so I really wouldn’t expect this drama to be lighthearted. But I’m not sure they’ll end it as dark as the music video ended, that’s not really in the brand of BTS anymore, so I also wouldn’t expect this to be super dark. In this, Jin is so far described as being the son of a National Assembly member who is striving to live up to the image his father has set for him. Yoongi is a loner who attracts some pretty unsavory rumors because of his stand-offish personality, but actually has a warm heart and vents his frustrations into playing piano. Hoseok is a positive dancer who secretly struggles with past memories of abandonment. Namjoon is from a poor family and was forced to grow up too quickly, but is extremely intelligent and good at school. Jimin is a fairly innocent boy who lives with trauma from his overprotective family who continuously tell him lies. Taehyung is living with his abusive alcoholic father who was once kind but changed after Tae’s mother left them. Jungkook is fearless after living with a fearful and insecure family and his character is described as being close friends with Yoongi. The story itself is about young men with struggles who forge strong bonds with each other and become much needed support for each other. Definitely a more raw drama than what many were expecting, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out!

Postponement and Controversy:

Rumors of a BTS themed drama have been around for years, but it seemed too good to be true. It’s insane how quickly the information about the drama came out, but that doesn’t mean that the drama will come out just as quickly. Though we know for a fact that casting is done, (despite the fact that nothing has been officially announced and the information we have is largely leaked) we also know that filming has been postponed twice. The first because of Covid-19, but the second was because of the official announcement that the characters would have the names of the members of BTS. This caused fans to worry that some people might mistake the characters and events portrayed in the drama for the actual lives of the members of BTS. Which, obviously, are vastly different from the lives of the characters they portrayed in their music videos. However, it is also important to understand that the characters in their music videos also have their real names even if they are portraying entirely fictional events. While I understand the concern and I also share it a bit myself, I also know that this drama won’t do nearly as well without specific BTS branding and it’s not altogether different from what the music videos did. However, as I said, I understand both sides of the argument. Right now HYBE and the company producing the drama are trying to come to some sort of conclusion about the names for the characters before they begin filming. Whatever they decide, I’ll be supportive of what the decision was. Please keep in mind that if the drama uses the names of the boys, that will mean they have given their permission and thought about it thoroughly themselves.

So that’s what we know so far! We’ll probably get more information very soon as things start opening up again. As soon as we get more substantial information, I’ll be sure to update! But for now I’ll look forward to supporting BTS with this drama and hopefully it’ll be great! I’m not generally one for watching darker themed shows, but I will definitely make an exception for BTS.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie