tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770861767173688889.post5921008373368917794..comments2023-04-26T00:55:44.495-07:00Comments on Fantastic Worlds: "Nibiru, My Name Is" (2013)Jordan179http://www.blogger.com/profile/04175992431854812417noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770861767173688889.post-28044125845772913442013-07-03T22:56:29.929-07:002013-07-03T22:56:29.929-07:00Oh, as to the Cosmic Horror of the happy ending? ...Oh, as to the Cosmic Horror of the happy ending? Well, it turned out well for the town, including for the major characters who got killed -- but it did so by <i>changing the whole timeline</i>. And the Scooby Gang <i>knows</i> this happened. This means that they've lost the reality they grew up in forever (though admittedly it was a reality doomed to end in the jaws of the Nibiru Entity and the cataclysm of Nibiru itself) they can't trust <i>reality</i>: even things witnessed and written into history may have really happened because of the machinations of one or another of the Annunaki. Sure, they like Nova (or at least <i>Scooby</i> does), and most of the other Anunaki <i>claim</i> to be benevolent, but ... it implies that humanity has no more real control over its own destiny, or even hold on its accomplishments, than a culture of microbes in a Petri dish. And we're just one change of mind by the Annunaki away from being obliterated, from <i>never having existed</i>.<br /><br />Talk about Cosmic Horror!Jordan179https://www.blogger.com/profile/04175992431854812417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770861767173688889.post-56463775821279398002013-07-03T22:52:16.011-07:002013-07-03T22:52:16.011-07:00Scooby-Doo and the Cthulhu Mythos were always natu...<i>Scooby-Doo</i> and the Cthulhu Mythos were always natural crossovers for the same reason that, when they scripted the <i>Ghostbuster</i> movies, <i>both</i> of them were based on Lovecraft premises (the first one on "The Dunwich Horror" and the second on <i>The Case of Charles Dexter Ward</i>). The premise underlying <i>Scooby-Doo, Mystery Incorporated</i> was basically "The Call of Cthulhu" with the numbers filed off: imprisoned evil god-alien able to communicate with humans through their dreams. What made it <i>really</i> creepy was that its Master Plan involved <i>creating</i> the teams of mystery-solvers, because it knew that they could be drawn to actions which would aid in its own release, which is a nice twist on the more usual role of Lovcraftian Investigators.<br /><br />The reason for combining the two, of course, is that comedy works better against a backdrop of real drama; and drama works better when relieved by comedy. Consider the menaces in both <i>Ghostbuster</i> movies: in both cases, the menaces were real and horrible. The first movie was about a cultist plot to release an Eldritch Abomination into New York City to devastate our civilization; the escond one about an evil sorceror who planned to return from death by possessing a baby. What was funny about both movies was how the <i>characters</i> reacted to this situation.<br /><br />That's why this recent version of Scooby-Doo is so much better than the earlier ones. The threat of the Nibiru Entity is very, very real and apocalyptic. What makes it work as comedy is the reactions of the Scooby Gang. And the drama within the team: the fortunes of the relationships between Fred and Daphne, Shaggy and Velma, and Shaggy and Scooby, and Velma's own secrets, make the characters seem more <i>real</i>, so that their reactions are funnier and we care about them when they're put in danger.<br /><br />The <i>really</i> dark bits -- the deaths of several sympathetic characters -- only made us care more, because the writers were serving notice on us that people could <i>die</i>.<br /><br />Excellent -- and they managed to at one and the same time finish with a happy ending whose very <i>happiness</i> was in itself Cosmic Horror. What's even better is that they took it from an Eddy C. Bertin story, "Darkness, My Name Is," which had one of the <i>nastiest</i> Lovecraftian entities ever (Cyaegha) and one which was <i>deliberately drawing Investigators in to release itself</i> (which means that this is probably where they got much of the story arc for the first two seasons).<br /><br />I keep hearing contradictory stories that <i>Mystery Incorporated</i> has been canceled permanently, and that they're going to do a sequel series set at Miskatonic University. I'm not sure which is the case, but as you can guess, I really hope that they continue the series!Jordan179https://www.blogger.com/profile/04175992431854812417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770861767173688889.post-70196154217346100232013-07-01T11:25:44.230-07:002013-07-01T11:25:44.230-07:00I rubbernecked at a Scooby Cthulhu game once.
Vel...I rubbernecked at a Scooby Cthulhu game once.<br /><br />Velma kept doing okay on SAN points despite her continual reading of tomes, because her glasses fell off at the worst parts. The DM ruled that Scooby Snacks were SAN restoratives for Shaggy and Scooby, so those players unknowingly were helped by their comedy routine. But Fred and Daphne suffered a bit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com