#mmts

「Zipper」 2010

Hi everyone!

As you may know, I've been working on creating a literary-inspired webseries based on the Iliad for about three years now, and it's finally airing on YouTube! The first three episodes are out now, and Episode 4 premiers this Friday!

Ilium is a modernized adaptation of the Iliad by @songsofantiquity airing Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays on YouTube at 5 PM Central/6 PM Eastern.

Here are some things you should know about the show:

1) The story. Ilium has transplanted the characters and story of the Iliad into spring 2021, where two friend groups spread across the country are embroiled in a year-long feud that extends beyond petty interpersonal issues into rivalries, relationship troubles, and some real lasting consequences for some of the characters.

2) The characters. Ilium's cast consists of fourteen characters played by a wide variety of actors. Watch for the modern version of Achilles, Patroclus, Agamemnon, Helen, Hector, Andromache, Cassandra, Odysseus, Diomedes, Nestor, Ajax, Paris, Sarpedon, and Aeneas.

3) The format. Ilium is told through a variety of in-universe videos, including vlogs by Odessia and Cassandra (and their guests), Zoom and FaceTime calls, and maybe the occasional Instagram live (but no spoilers!).

4) The soundtrack. Ilium has several original songs, many of them composed and performed by the actors. In the first episodes, you can hear the main theme, Cassandra's Soundscape, and Ody's Theme (which is technically a sea shanty!). Stick around for more original music including an Achilles/Patrick love theme and maybe one or two renditions of My Heart Will Go On.

5) The diversity. Out of Ilium's fourteen characters, only one is definitely cishet, and as of Episode 3, every one of the eight characters we've met is canonically LGBTQ+. Specifically, there are several lesbians, a gay man, multiple bi and pan characters (including Achilles, Helen, and Odessia), and multiple nonbinary characters (including Angela and Nestor). Additionally, only half of the cast is white, and there are several Jewish characters (and one Hellenic pagan). The queer characters are played by queer actors, and the creative team is also diverse in terms of gender, sexuality, and race. There's also neurodivergent rep! So if you want to support diverse media, this is a great show for you!

6) The similar media. Watch Ilium if you enjoyed:

Eddy Rex (modernized Greek mythology!)

Middlemarch: The Series (ensemble cast of queer characters)

Away From It All (experimental/mixed video format)

The Best Wishes (Sarah Gruber, who played Millie Wishfort, plays Anya in Ilium)

Project Green Gables (introspective, character-focused episodes)

Nothing Much To Do and Lovely Little Losers (comedy, romantic/sexual tension, and original music)

7) The content warnings. Please be aware that Ilium contains the following:

Swearing

Sex jokes and innuendos

Frequent mentions of the pandemic and quarantine

Threats of violence

Depictions of toxic romantic relationships and toxic/manipulative friendships

Mentions of medical emergencies and hospitalizations

Specific content warnings are posted in the description of every episode!

8) Some other things you'll get from Ilium, in no particular order:

Jokes about Tinder

Modern Odysseus and Diomedes as roommates

Modern Achilles and Patroclus as a canon couple

A cowboy outfit or two

A baking episode

Plenty of flannel

The phrase "girls, gays, and pagan babes"

ORBS!

MMTS 7th anniversary bandana featuring voice actress and musician Shoko Nakagawa (best known for her role as presenter of Pokémon Sunday), illustrated by Junji Ito.

For buyers at a first-come-first-serve basis, the bandana, which is also autographed by Nakagawa, will be included with purchase of an applicable product available through Beams. The special offer concludes when all stock is sold.

For some reason, I am just incapable of watching a webseries when it’s actually airing I guess? Like, the only liw I ever watched in real time was emma approved. So anyway, I just finished middlemarch and here are my Thoughts TM

Subjectively, it was not my favorite, there are other series that I have greater emotional attachments to, but OBJECTIVELY? the best I’ve seen in a long time

It was so realistic. I really did feel like this was just us watching some kids live their lives

On that same note, one of my issues with webseries is when they make it TOO realistic, meaning the words they say are like, completely un-eloquent with a billion “um”s tossed in. The dialogue becomes halting and obnoxious (for me). These people still talked normally, but there wasn’t that weird amount of too much authenticity. It just made everything flow nicely

Rosamond Vincy was my favorite character and my favorite dynamic was the sibling-ness of her and Fred.

It was very much an ensemble series where I didn’t feel like TOO many characters were neglected.

At the same time, I wish Celia had been in it more??? I really liked her but felt like she was missing a lot, and like I didn’t get enough time to get to know her

A+ representation though

I don’t really know the plot of middlemarch the book but this whole thing was very character driven, without a overarching plot (as many older books are), but the characters were all so interesting and had such good dynamics that it didn’t bug me

I also liked the part where you could tell there was a bit of the source material shining through like when Fred was sick and bemoaning being on his deathbed

THAT ONE PART WHERE JAIME WAS LIKE “OH NO, I’M FRIENDS WITH LYDGATE?!” hilarious