#ram singh

"I think he was stabbed to death, Sahib."

Class: Detained - Spin-off 

Poor old Class, not quite SJA and not quite Torchwood, Class has always been the red-headed stepchild of the official New Who spin-off series. Now this is my first time watching the show, and it's a bottle episode, so it's perhaps not the best reflection of the series as a whole, but my overall impression is that Class is a sci-fi version of those edgy supernatural teen dramas that were all the rage just a few years ago, like the Sabrina reboot or First Kill.  

Let's get the good things out of the way first. The plot is a clever take on a bottle episode. The mains get trapped in an inter-dimensional prison where the prisoner is a sentient rock that forces people to tell their most uncomfortable truths, the things that they don't even want to admit to themselves. Yeah, the dialogue for these confessions may seem a little unnatural but there's a story reason for it. 

The second good thing is that the actors are strong enough to make the unnatural sounding dialogue work and believable enough that I never questioned the various interpersonal conflicts happening despite not being familiar with the characters. Also bonus points for having the lead protag be in a gay relationship. 

What's less impressive, besides the dialogue, is the flat orange/teal saturated color filter that's over the entire episode. Am I just supposed to believe that seven people all just randomly decided to wear blue grays and blacks to school on the same day? Also, there's only so many angles to film a singular room from.   

So, I waited a day here cuz there wasn't much on the 28th and one of 'em was, I think a mistake meant for the next day, so I'm gonna do it then

28-Ram Singh/Servant of Justice. One entry:

-@themailedfist-blog went Character with Ram Singh

29-The Punisher/Justice At Gunpoint. Four entries!

-@themailedfist-blog went Theme with The Spider.

-@oldtvandcomics went Character with The Punisher

-@skjam went Theme with Nick Carter in his "Killmaster" phase.

It was so blisteringly difficult to find art of Richard Wentworth's redoubtable Sikh manservant that I had to borrow a piece of an old Spiderpost from the very well-read @maxwell-grant (who is owed some credit for taking me from a casually interested Spider enthusiast to damn near obsessed, and who I beg a smidge of forgiveness from for shameless post plundering.) It's a shame Singh doesn't make the cover art of the books more, he's a great element to the stories and almost as bloodthirsty as the Spider himself.

Descriptions of the Fears from the Magnus Archives Wiki:

The Buried-

“The fear of small spaces, suffocating, drowning, being buried alive. Fear of everything crashing down around/on oneself. Fear of being trapped without enough space. Manifests as caves, dirt, financial issues, heavy rain, underground transport, tight spaces such as coffins.”

The Corruption-

“The fear of corruption, disease, filth. Fear of the feelings of disgust, revulsion and the things or beings that might evoke such feelings. Manifests as mould, bugs, rot, decay, infection, the feeling of one's skin crawling. Can also manifest as unhealthy love and companionship.”

The Dark-

“The primal fear of the dark, of the unseen, and the creatures hiding from our view... Manifests as creatures hidden in the dark, shadow figures and monsters, blindness, coldness, dark water.”

The Desolation-

“The fear of pain, loss, burning, and destruction, especially with a senseless cause. Followers are enriched by destroying the lives of people who had things to live for, and destroying things before their potential is realised. Manifests as fire, wax, heat, burns, destruction of potential.”

The End-

“The fear of death itself—⁠uncaring and unstoppable, the fear that everything ends eventually. Manifests as bones, various forms of the dead (skeletons, mummies, zombies, etc.). Also has close ties to dreams and can manifest through them.”

The Eye-

“The fear of being watched, exposed, followed, having secrets exposed. Can also pertain to the drive to know and understand, even if your discoveries might destroy you. Manifests as eyes, security cameras, a creature or figure that keeps constant watch. Often manifests in libraries and books.”

The Flesh-

“Born from the fear held by animals bred for meat, and in the human realisation that we are just animated meat and bones. Manifests as meat, corpses, blood, bones, butchers, meat-related industry. Often manifests as strange bodies—bodies being unnaturally twisted, reshaped, and butchered.”

The Hunt-

“The animalistic fear of being chased or hunted; the primal fear of being prey. Manifests as predators, predatory monsters, animal instincts, animalistic traits. Takes hold of apparently "normal" people after they are exposed to the need for The Hunt. Self-proclaimed monster hunters might become 'Hunters' and proceed to develop a need to hunt and kill monsters.”

The Lonely-

“The fear of isolation, of being completely cut off and alone or disconnected from the rest of society. Manifests as fog, large rooms, silence, suburbs, empty rooms, crowds of faceless people.”

The Slaughter-

“The fear of pure, unpredictable, unmotivated violence. The fear of pain coming at sudden, random moments. Manifests as people driven "mad with Slaughter," soldiers, music that either induces Slaughter or warns that Slaughter is coming. Often manifests in imagery of war or murder, and can appear wild like a frenzied killer or calm and regimented like soldiers firing on the battlefield.”

The Spiral-

“The fear of madness, that the world you know is wrong, that your mind is lying to you. Fear of deception, lying, deceiving of the mind and senses. The Spiral appears with imagery of spirals, patterns and fractals, and often manifests as hallucinations or illusions.”

The Stranger-

“The fear of the unknown, the uncanny, the unfamiliar. The creeping sense that something is not right. Manifests as beings and aspects of beings that provoke an "uncanny valley" response: human and other being-adjacent forms, such as mannequins, wax figures, masks, and taxidermy. Often manifests in theatres and performances.”

The Vast-

“The fear of heights, falling, and large open spaces including sky, space, and deep water. More broadly: the human fear of insignificance and meaninglessness, of losing oneself in too much space. Manifests as void, wide-open spaces, vertigo, falling, the transformation of something that should have a limit into something infinite.”

The Web-