Doomed?

So Robert Downey Jr has returned to Marvel to play... Doctor Doom.

Huh. I didn't expect that.

It's an interesting choice, and I'm intrigued to see how it's done. Evil Multiverse Tony Stark is probably the most obvious and least inspiring approach, but we'll see.

If I'm honest, I don't really care who's cast in the role, as long as they don't squader the character. Doom has far too much potential to waste as an end-of-film boss. He can be an intellectual rival and/or annoying estranged "uncle" for the Fantastic Four. He can operate on a political level alongside Wakanda. He can even be a national hero in Captain America stories. I've always enjoyed the weird interactions he's had with Spider-Man in the comics, and wouldn't mind seeing something like that on screen; imagine Peter Parker getting an internship at the New York branch of DoomLabs for example.

I'm a little concerned that RDJ is stunt casting and that he's only going to be around for one or two stories, when there's so much you can do, and so many stories you can tell, with Doom, and not just as an antagonist. Doom is a complex, ambiguous sort-of-villain, like Loki or Magneto, but with even more potential. I hope to see that reflected on screen.

Peter Hook Spambot Carnival EX Plus α

The Acorn Afloats, and so I must answer, albeit a month later.

PETER HOOK, aka PETER THE HOOK, aka HOOKY PETE, aka the SOUL FISHER: Armour 14 (as leather), Move 150’, 2* Hit Dice, 9hp, Big Chuffing Hook 1d10, Morale 6, Number Appearing 1. Immune to non-magical damage and weapons.

PETER HOOK may have been a man once, in the distant past, or perhaps was some sort of pixie or sprite, but is now a cruel and predatory spirit. He sneaks into your home at night and, if you sleep with your mouth open, he reaches in with his big shiny fish hook and snatches out your soul! You live, but as a cold, flat, emotionless robot-shark person, perfect for a job in the financial sector.

PETER HOOK keeps the souls in jars and then trades them for trinkets, the sort of garish junk you find in seaside shops; the tackier, the better for PETER HOOK.

• Very quiet: effective Stealth of 3 in 6 (LotFP rules) and surprises on 1-4.
• Immune to non-magical damage and weapons.
• Sees perfectly well in the dark.
• Can open any door or window using his hook (see below).
• Cannot cross a line of salt.
• Cowardly, and must make a Morale check if discovered sneaking about, or if attacked.
• Knows all the entities that desire souls, and how to contact and find them.

The Soulless: Those with their souls taken by PETER HOOK have Charisma and Wisdom scores of 0, or the lowest possible value, if your game doesn't like 0 statistics. If the soul is recovered, it can be "drunk" to restore the original values. Can you drink someone else's soul and get their statistics? Try it and find out!

Peter's House: A green wooden door you don't notice unless you concentrate. Perhaps it's down an alley, perhaps it's in the corner of a garden wall, perhaps it's in your house! The door leads through interdimensional space to a cramped grotto packed full of soul jars and PETER HOOK's assorted trinkets, few of which have any value; there is a 1 in 12 chance of finding a single normal treasure item, generated as you like.

Peter Hook's Hook: A huge, shiny fish hook. It's an Oversized item, a two-handed weapon, and counts as magical for the purposes of damage immunities. Anyone but PETER HOOK finds it unwieldy and has a -2 penalty to attack rolls, and only PETER HOOK can use it for fishing souls. The hook also picks any door or window, even magical locks.

And for Troika! and similar games of fantasy fighting:

SKILL 8 (10 for sneaking purposes)
STAMINA 8
Initiative 1
Armour 0 (but immune to non-magical damage)
Damage as Greatsword

The Soulless: Victims have a LUCK of 0 and can never regain LUCK by normal means, although a generous Referee may allow magic items to provide a boost.

Peter Hook's Hook: Two-handed; counts as magical for purposes of damage immunities; imposes a -2 Attack Skill penalty to anyone but PETER HOOK; unlocks any door or window, even those sealed with magic.

Gracie Is Pregnant

In Star Trek IV: The One With the Whales -- the best one -- it's suggested that in the Kirk era Starfleet doesn't recognise cetacean intelligence; over the course of the -- best -- film Kirk's crew go on a quest to find whales to solve an extinction-level problem, and along the way discover that they are not simple animals, but sapient beings capable of higher communication.

Given the "new life and new civilisations" thing it's reasonable to assume that the events of the film lead Starfleet and the Federation to formally recognise cetacean intelligence.

In other words, is Star Trek IV the secret origin story of Cetacean Ops?

(Oh, and it's technically 21 years since I started the blog! Crikey! Although the first few posts weren't very meaningful so I'm not sure they count.)

Going Over to Sutekh's House

Oh, I didn't write any more about the 2024 series of Doctor Who after all. Oops.

Oh well. I enjoyed it anyway.

I thought the finale, "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"/"Empire of Death", was very good, and there was lots to love. Bonnie Langford's Mel almost stole the episode, and confirmed how wasted she was in her original episodes. Sutekh himself came across very well and I quite liked the "controversial" cgi jackal form, which did much better "acting" than you tend to get in cgi monsters, even more so at this sort of budget level.

It was a bit disappointing that the Doctor defeated Sutekh in basically the same way he did it in the original story, even though that didn't work, as the episode explains, but I'll probably be long dead and unable to complain the next time the villain appears so I'll allow it. I did chuckle when he was defeated with a lead and a whistle. Jackals aren't quite dogs, but close enough for the pun to work.

It was also a bit naff that Sutekh's attack was more or less the Blip from Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which was not helped by the turning-into-sand visual effect, or by the episodes being broadcast on Disney+, but I can let that pass. Let's call it an homage.

(Although one difference was an almost throwaway line that suggested Sutekh's victims remained conscious after being "dusted" which is nice and creepy... but alas not at all explored.)

I have seen a lot of claims about the Doctor's solution to the not-Blip also undoing the Flux, bringing Gallifrey back, and so on. I don't think there's direct evidence of that, and all that was undone was Sutekh's Sands of Death™ attack, but there's enough ambiguity there that I could see it being used as a mechanic to bring back any dead characters or locations in future stories.

My only real problem with the finale is that everything builds up to the Doctor going to find his granddaughter Susan at long last -- it's even explored in the dialogue! -- and then he... doesn't. It's a very odd creative decision, that.

I do have one final observation. If Sutekh has been hiding inside the TARDIS since 1975, then...

And Relax

I am relieved, but I am not enthused. We've had 14 years of incompetence, cruelty, and corruption from the Tories, and Labour should be better than that, but Labour's official party stance on the EU, immigration, Gaza, unions, and trans rights gives me considerable pause.

Worse, the rise of R*form as a political force, while fatal for the Tories, is terrifying. I hoped that the British weren't that sort of people, but apparently about four million of them are.

I have muted hopes and low expectations, but it could -- and has for 14 long years -- be worse. Fingers crossed for better.