Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

Turns out my script was already here when I was typing yesterday's post. I didn't learn all I'd hoped to, but it provided enough interesting tidbits that I made a new blog post out of it: http://thepathofthestars.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-script-of-riptides-pirate-and.html

I also watched two of Don Knight's Bonanza episodes. He played good guys in both and it was quite delightful. The first episode reminded me of The Big Valley's episode Earthquake!, and I had to suspend disbelief over why anyone would build a courthouse over a MINE, but the plot of Ben and four other people being trapped in the basement of a collapsing building was so intense. And everybody got out of there alive! I was really afraid someone would die, probably Don's character. But he didn't. And he was exonerated for a crime he didn't commit!

I wondered how I'd feel about the second episode I watched, since it was from the final season and Dan Blocker and Hoss were both dead. Gah. Hoss is my favorite Cartwright, so that was definitely a dread. But I liked Jamie, so it was okay viewing. It kind of felt like a cross between Bonanza and Little House, though. I wonder if that's how the final season was in general. But there were cute dogs, which is always a plus even though I don't agree with hunting for sport by any stretch of the imagination.

I hear Don plays the bad guy in the other Bonanza episode. I couldn't catch it on MeTV today and wasn't sure I'd go out of my way to do so anyway, but maybe I'll try looking it up now too.

I also saw the first of his Charlie's Angels episodes. He was a bad guy in that, although he didn't reveal just how bad he was until he discovered Kelly was a private eye. Then he pulled a gun on her, threatened to kill her, and made her drive away in his van. Kelly deliberately pulled a dangerous traffic stunt to get a nearby policeman to come after them, whereupon Don's character threw his gun out the window. Bosley, who was following, picked it up and brought it over to the van after the officer stopped them. Don's character's expression when Bosley said, "Excuse me, Sir, you dropped your gun out the window," was priceless. LOL. He started to sink down in the seat.

(Bosley, by the way, is still awesome. I love him and I love all the girls. I think there's two basic ways to look at a show like Charlie's Angels. One is that it's filled with threadbare plots, beautiful women, and exists pretty much only so that men can ogle said women. The other way is that it's about strong female characters fighting crime, and in spite of the sometimes silly plots, that's the way I look at it. Every one of the girls seems to be a good role model (except I definitely wouldn't recommend dressing the way Kris sometimes does ... yikes). They're all good people determined to not let the bad guys win, resourceful, intelligent, and very human. I have trouble picking a favorite. Usually it's either Sabrina or Kelly, but I love them all. Interesting that when I first saw the show, I wasn't sure what to make of Sabrina or whether she was as smart as the others; in the episodes I saw at first, I got the impression more of her maybe not being as all there. But as I watched more, I realized I must have just been seeing some of her undercover personas. She is very smart and on top of things, and her actress Kate Jackson seems to be generally hailed as the best actress of the bunch. Out of all the girls, Sabrina also seems the most like she really wants a romantic relationship, so I was happy for her that when Kate left, they wrote in the show that Sabrina was going to get married and have a baby.)

Before any of that, several days ago I saw Don Knight's first Big Valley episode. It was the really creepy one where Adam West was a psycho. Don's character was a twisted mix of selfishness, greed, and some genuine remaining goodness. Even though he had agreed to keep quiet about the first murder in exchange for sharing in Adam's character's high living, he didn't want any other murders to happen and tried to prevent them. Adam's character eventually killed him, which I figured would probably happen. I got plunnied and wrote a fic, but it keeps feeling like it's not complete and I'm not sure what to do with it.

(I actually feel a little like I've been in a fanfiction slump the last couple of weeks. It's just been crazy here and there hasn't been much time for writing, and it seems like when I do, I can't advance very much on the stories. I don't know whether this Big Valley one is holding things up and I feel I can't concentrate until it's done or if it's a slump in general. I feel more like I want to write Ginger and Lou fics for a while instead of continuing the fics I've been actively working on at FF.net. But I feel like I can't fully devote myself to Ginger and Lou fics when people are waiting on those others, or at least on the WWW one. I really wish I could get some input from Riptide fans on the Riptide one; the only person even reviewing it isn't even a fan of the show, so I'm pretty honored that he likes my writing enough to read it. I certainly didn't ask him to. But while I'm thrilled that he's reading, he of course can't provide much advice on the characters and such. There are silent readers, but the only Riptide person who actually said something only commented on the first chapter and expressed her dissatisfaction with the thought of there being real ghosts. I don't know if she even read on enough to see that things are still up in the air regarding the ghost angle, which is just like the season 2 episode that dealt with ghosts was like. I don't think they fully eliminated the idea of ghosts until towards the end. But so yeah. It seems like lately, my only real writing interests have been work, Ginger and Lou fics, The Big Valley fic, and non-fiction blog posts. I don't imagine it will last long, but it is frustrating when I gravitate to the non-fiction rambling posts here instead of working on stories.)

I feel the urge to watch Julie London's Big Valley episode again sometime soon. Her character was also a curious mixture of selfishness, greed, and some remaining goodness. She was a traitor to the North during the Civil War, but not because of changing ideologies; she wanted higher living and she was promised that if she turned. At least that's how I remember it. She showed up after the war and was understandably shunned by the town, but as I also recall, they took it way too far and actually tried to harm her and her old friend in the Barkley family tried to help her. I can't remember now whether it was Jarrod or Nick. He couldn't come to terms with what she'd done either, and it seems like even though she was sadder and wiser, she wasn't terribly apologetic or sorry for her actions, which only made things worse. I remember it ended with her leaving town. I wonder what kinds of interesting interaction might happen between her and Don's character were they to ever meet. I revived his character in my fic, naturally. Hmm, future plunnie.

I often think of The Big Valley as the poor man's Bonanza and/or an inversion of Bonanza, since The Big Valley has a woman at the head of the wealthiest family in town and some of the concepts and set-ups seem similar to Bonanza (and since the show only lasted four seasons as opposed to Bonanza's fourteen). But one interesting difference is that while the Cartwrights seem to be respected and well-liked, the Barkleys seem to be looked down on because of their wealth. Usually shows do the cliche of arrogant rich people so much that it's really a drag. The Big Valley has the flip-side of arrogant poor people, which isn't seen as often but is just as hurtful and damaging. And while I enjoy both shows, sometimes I feel like The Big Valley has a lot more heart than Bonanza. Maybe that's at least partially because there are women in the main cast and they bring something to the show that Bonanza lacks. On the other hand, I'm not saying I think Bonanza should have had a female lead. Each show is what it is and is enjoyed for what it is. I think a female lead probably would have ruined Bonanza, because that was not the angle it was going for. On the other hand, remove the women from The Big Valley and something is very missing.

I find it intriguing how quickly Don Knight proved himself a capable and awesome character actor. He just showed up to start acting in 1965, and it was only like three-ish years later when they were starting to bill him as "Special Guest Star" and/or list him at the top of the guest cast list. It's like what happened with Luke Andreas and Christopher Cary. With all of them, they were sometimes given small parts, but the show's crews quickly realized their talents and that having them around was a feather in the cap. They'd then be given meatier parts sometimes, or else even if they didn't appear much, they were still credited very high on the list. And as frustrating as it is when they're not in something much, like Christopher in that 1970s Captain America movie, it's still extremely exciting when they're given such high billing.

And I'm sure there was something else I wanted to talk about, but I don't remember what it was.

Oh, I just remembered. Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out on DVD today. I'm still undecided whether I'll buy it. I just can't bring myself to consider it absolute canon, even though yes, I know that as far as Disney is concerned, it is. And I can't see myself re-watching it much. But I love Rey and Finn and BB-8, so I figured I'd probably buy it for them, at least. I can't get it this week, though, since my account is cleaned until the weekend. And then I need to think about still getting to Build-a-Bear to get an article of clothing for the Lalaloopsy plush, since I wasn't able to include that in the order. I also need to think about getting the big Rey figure, because Wal-Mart finally got a huge shipment in (probably in anticipation of today). I just hope they'll still have some when I have money....

( Some spoilers, just in case someone still hasn't seen the film but wants to )

So I learned a few interesting things today.

I already knew this is YGO's 20th anniversary. I found out now that it shares its anniversary with Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?; the manga was first printed on September 30th. (The anime, which I love much more, celebrates its 16th anniversary on April 18th.)

The 20th anniversary celebration movie releases in April. I thought it wasn't coming until July, for some reason. But it's saying that the movie takes place six months after the end of the original manga. For some reason I had thought it took place in anime-verse, but it kind of sounds like it doesn't. If it takes place in manga-verse, then I probably won't consider it canon unless it's really amazing; the anime is my preferred YGO canon, with only the substitution of Duke's manga introduction instead of the anime one. And the more detailed manga conversations between Atem and Thief King Bakura from the Memory World stuff.

And then this summary that Shounen Jump released has me puzzled to the extreme:

In the past Yūgi Yami and Kaiba have clashed many times!! Yami Yūgi, who resides in Yūgi Mutō's body, and Kaiba will have a duel that bets their prides and accepts each other's mutual experience.

Ummmm.... So it takes place after the end of the manga, when Yami Yugi had gone on to the afterlife, but they're still talking about him like he's there? What?

I know it seems strange to think of a YGO anything in the original verse without Yami Yugi around, but he's kind of not supposed to be there now. The whole point of the finale was to show that Yugi can stand on his own and Yami Yugi's destiny lay in finally being able to rest in peace. So right now I am left seriously scratching my head and wondering if something was mistranslated in that summary.

I look forward to April 23rd with great interest. And a bit of trepidation. I don't mind Yami Yugi being back, if there's a logical explanation for it, but I'm not too thrilled at the thought of the film being manga-based. And I wonder what will happen with Duke and Bakura, who have been my favorite YGO characters and story subjects for several years now. (Ironic, since in the past I used to struggle with writing for both of them....)

Also, I finally finished chapter 5 of my Riptide fic. I am thrilled. I think it may be starting to take better shape now; it's leaning towards a combination of The Hardy Boys and The Saint in plot structure, with a dabbling of old adventure quest movies like Mara Maru. Which makes total sense since the Riptide episode that inspired the fic made me think of The Hardy Boys and since there are some really fun Saint episodes set in tropical areas. And since movies like Mara Maru also have some similar plot elements with what I'm doing: ship settings, smuggling, maybe a crook in a white suit....

I finished that Saint book, too, and thoroughly loved it. The TV adaptation of it was kind of a mess; probably not one of the better episodes. It changed drug smuggling to art smuggling, which just wasn't as intense, and it had a bizarre subplot of an old girlfriend of Simon's being manipulated by a hypnotist who was obsessed with her. She couldn't make herself break free of his control, no matter how Simon pleaded, but at the climax she sees the hypnotist about to shoot him and she runs out to try to save him and gets shot herself. The episode ends with Simon holding her as she apparently dies. It was heartbreaking. Even moreso since the girl really was innocent and hadn't ever willingly participated in the hypnotist's crimes.

I'm torn between writing a fic of Simon at her grave after the funeral or saving her life instead. Apparently Simon didn't break it off with her; she left him three years ago. Simon still cared about her, and she him, although I think Simon had really accepted that it was over between them. If I save her, which I certainly lean towards doing because it was just too sad, I'd still have to have them decide not to renew their romance, at least not at that time. But Simon would say he would always be there for her if she needed him. Only that all opens another can of worms in that she would likely be suffering a lot from trauma after finally breaking free of the hypnotist's control, and the road to recovery would be long and I don't think I'd be able to write that kind of fic; I stalled on more than one about recovery from trauma (including the Detective Conan fic Breakdown). I guess I could still just make it a oneshot and have Simon planning to stick around during her recovery and let it end there. Either that or timeskip to when she's better and they talk then and decide at that point not to renew their romance. They really have to decide that, as the episode aired at the end of the second season and even if she didn't die in canon as she seemed to, she certainly isn't around for any of the remaining four seasons.

Anyway, of The Saint episodes I've seen that were based on stories I've read, I wasn't so keen on this one or on the adaptation of The Gentle Ladies, but I like the book version of The Gentle Ladies even less. By contrast, I absolutely loved the adaptation of The Ever-Loving Spouse, in contrast to my thorough dislike of the book version. I believe I squeed over it here around the time I first saw it. Most episodes I have not read the book version of, and in general I imagine I would prefer the TV episode, if I liked either one. And then there's episodes that have no book counterparts, particularly a lot of the color ones. I kind of really love those, as they get into espionage and other exciting spy things like that. Many of the book-based ones are more about running cons, and while it is delicious to see con artists get some of their own medicine back at them, I love spy episodes the best.

I added another wartime-era Saint novel to my Amazon wishlist. I really wouldn't be surprised in the least if that ends up my favorite Saint era. I just love the idea of The Saint as an undercover government agent, especially if he tends to behave as he did in the novel I just finished. In any case, I'm just thrilled to have read a Saint book I really enjoy and that didn't make me uncomfortable in any way, as several of the short stories in The Saint to the Rescue did. I'm glad I didn't give up completely after being disappointed by the short stories. I was certainly tempted to. But I kept wanting to read that one particular book regardless and now I finally have.

And speaking of writing character death fix-it fics, ugh, I also must write one for a Charlie's Angels episode. I was so bummed by the episode in general, as Dan Tanna from Vega$ was in it and I got it in my head that it was a full-blown crossover. So I immediately sent for the disc, as I like Vega$ and I adore Dan Tanna; it's so intriguing that instead of a Las Vegas private eye being a really wild sort, Dan is very morally upright. (Maybe that was to try to make Las Vegas more appealing to conservative 1970s TV viewers?) But then he only has a tiny cameo appearance at the very end of part 2. It was so lame. I wanted to see him and the Angels solve a case together! I suppose the shows airing on different networks was what prevented a real crossover, even though they were both Aaron Spelling shows, but it was still disappointing.

Making it worse, there was an adorable character in the episode played by Scatman Crothers who had a pet cat that he carried everywhere with him. He was the best friend of a character played by Dean Martin and the villain was trying to take away everything that Dean's character loved. That included running down Scatman's character. Gah, it was heartbreaking. The cat jumped out of the way, thank goodness, but then it ran over to him and got on his chest, so worried. And then he survived the car crash, but the crummy villain came in through the window of the hospital that night and gave him a drug that killed him for real. I just hate when a character survives something horrible and you're so happy and relieved, and then they throw in the twist of them dying anyway. That is also lame. And sadistic.

But so anyway, I must figure out some way to save that character, because him dying is just unacceptable. I hate when one half of a great friendship (or for that matter, an enduring romance) is killed off, and it's so sad thinking about not only Dean's character being so sad, but the cat. Gah.

So apparently all I have to do is accidentally see Once DVDs at eBay for good prices to end up dreaming about Once and Rumbelle. I think that show and that pairing mean more to me than I'm even fully aware of, and the way the show has let me down since season 3B has disappointed me even more than I realize. I've dreamed about it several times lately.

Yesterday I finally got up a Mannix season 1 post here: http://thepathofthestars.blogspot.com I'd meant to do a Lew Wickersham-centric post, but it turned into season 1/Lew and Joe's friendship, instead. Of course, you can't really discuss Lew for long without getting into the friendship, but now I'm wondering whether to write a post to say some of the things about Lew that didn't quite fit into this post or whether I should not post any more about season 1 and save it for the book about season 1 I want to write.

I also finally got another webcomic page done. http://thesecretlifeofexcons.tumblr.com I'm hoping to get page 2 done soon, too. I posted 1 by itself because posts have been so scarce lately.

And I am so restless and nervous about a lot of things today, for some reason. I had a horrible time going to sleep for a while, I was so edgy, and the edginess continues after sleep. I'm not even fully sure why I'm so wound up. Among other things, I'm worried about whether I'll have all the content desired in order to open my website next month, and how I'll get said content, and whether a reviewer familiar with Riptide will keep reading and commenting on my multi-chapter fic or if she'll bug out because she doesn't want it to be supernatural and is afraid it will be.... Also wondering if people will get mad at me for toying with a May-December romance between Giovanna and Scofield or if they won't care since a large portion of the fanbase prefers slash and would probably rather Cody didn't have Giovanna.

I'm really nervous about planning the next activity for the girls at church, since I'm pretty much on my own due to a decision that each of us will be in charge of an activity and we'll keep going the rounds like that. I kind of liked when we all planned the specific activities together instead, so that the whole burden for the lesson wasn't on one person. Especially since while kids like me for some reason, I'm really not a good teacher and often get tongue-tied and don't explain things well, so I'd kind of like help. But I wouldn't like to ask and make it look like I can't handle putting it together on my own, since the others can manage fine doing that.

I'm a little sad and disappointed about a couple of things, nothing major, but still, it contributes to the overall feeling of being on edge. I wonder if the activity is the main source of stress, though. I only have a week to prepare it. And I'm pretty worried about the website, too, since things just aren't going the way I hoped in regards to it.

HELP I WANT GIOVANNA AND SCOFIELD TO BECOME ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED.

Of course, the main reason for that would be so I could live vicariously through Giovanna. **headdesk.** But I wouldn't write it unless I fully thought I could make it believable.

Yesterday I watched the other episode with Giovanna and I came away feeling like she wouldn't have a problem with May-December romance. She seems like an intelligent girl who wouldn't let a little thing like age stand in the way if she found an honestly great guy and they came to love each other.

I may not ever actually write a multi-chapter epic with a blossoming relationship between them as a subplot, but I definitely think I'll try a blurb or two. She didn't like Scofield in the episode, but half the cast was unfairly suspicious of the poor man. I think that, with the truth revealed, it is conceivable that she could come to like him. And if she was around him a lot afterwards, as in the situation in my oneshot where he's going to help Giovanna's father with an expedition in the area, they could become quite close.

**cuddles Scofield and squees happily.** Fun times.

So Livejournal has been a pain for the last 24 hours or so. They're not delivering some of the notifications they should be delivering, and many of the pictures on the Friends page will not load. UGH!

And on to more pleasant matters. **cuddles Captain Scofield.** 56 and still perfectly adorable. And I love how the hair curls up below the hat. It's so thick and gorgeous....

I also love how well Chrissy aged. He was always recognizable. And his voice was always beautiful. Oh wow, I was just amazed at the strength and depth of his voice in the very last project he did. He was sick from cancer when he did that, but you'd never know it to hear that voice.

Another reason why I especially find Scofield a memorable Chrissy character: the episode came out the year I was born. Although it may have been filmed before the turn of the year, not sure on that.

I'm really enjoying the Riptide DVD set. I've been watching some of the other episodes and loving them all. There is great camaraderie between the three detectives. I wrote a oneshot fic to wrap up loose ends in Chrissy's episode; it probably won't be long and I'll start a multi-chapter sequel to the episode. More on that in a bit.

So I mentioned recently wanting more of the boy Ponies to represent darlings. Well, of course, right after I posted that, I discovered Captain Scofield. So the Pony named Salty, a ship's captain, must of course represent him/Chrissy. I've been trying to get one for the last several days, but the boy Ponies always have flaws and it's a debate between which flaws are the least troubling. Plus, it's a struggle getting a decent price and pouncing before someone else does. The boy Ponies are popular.

I thought maybe the pirate Pony could represent Grey Holden/Darren, since pirates have ships too (and that Pony has red hair, like Darren), but I'm iffy on a pirate Pony representing any of the darlings. I assume a pirate Pony is probably more of an adventurer that doesn't steal from people, along the lines of One Piece's crew or Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but since that is completely opposite to what a real pirate does and I'd always be thinking about real pirates and wondering what the pirate Pony is considered to be "up to" in canon, I just don't know.

It's difficult figuring out Ponies to represent the darlings, since they must somehow relate to a darling by occupation/interest. 4-Speed, the truck driver, will represent Luke due to Luke playing a trucker at least once. (I want him right after I get Salty. Although I might have to try to get him first, if I can't find a decent Salty soon. I know where there's a 4-Speed or two that's pretty good.) There's a train engineer Pony too, but I'm not sure who he'd represent. I think Jim West is the only character of interest associated with trains, but I could just get the actual Jim West figure to represent him. (Something I still want to do sometime.) Artemus Gordon is honestly not one of my "darlings" on any tier (and Jim is actually only a casual crush, not a dead serious one like Chrissy), although I do like and respect Ross Martin's acting talents and think he has a lovely smile.

Oh, wait a minute! Squeeee, the train Pony will represent Simon, because I remember Simon played a railroad detective on The Virginian! Yay! I'm so happy there will be a Simon Pony. I was wondering who could represent him. I was previously thinking Salty would have to represent Simon as well as Chrissy, as Simon played some wonderful sailors too. But I'd much rather have each Pony represent one single darling.

The two sports-related Ponies, for baseball and football, I'm at a loss about. I don't think any of my darlings have played sports figures. I do know that Wesley played football in real-life, so I thought possibly the football Pony could represent him in a pinch.

Then there's the Mountain Boys, Ponies representing various weather phenomenon. I don't know what darlings they could represent, but a bigger problem is that they're U.K. releases only and very rare and expensive. I'd be lucky just to get the U.S. boy Ponies I want!

I want Chief, the fireman Pony, to represent William Boyett and also be the husband for my Pony Bride. Unfortunately, of the U.S. Ponies, he's one of the most difficult to get in decent condition and at a decent price. But the other U.S. boy Ponies I either planned to keep single or else are otherwise not what I wanted as a match for Pony Bride. Maybe the train/Simon Pony could be the husband, if I can get him easier than Chief.

Then I learned of a girl Pony with a boat theme: Mainsail. She's a beautiful blue and has sailboat symbols all over her. I immediately fell in love with her and she is a big want too. I also decided I wanted her to be connected with Salty, but not by marriage, so either a sister or a daughter. (Or a friend.) That then developed into an idea of considering giving Captain Scofield a daughter in a fic, since Salty is to represent him.

I've been toying with assorted backstories; it would make Scofield another of the few characters I write who had a failed marriage. But since I really don't like the tired cliche of inventing family members for canon characters (other than a mother and a father, which of course they'd have to have), I don't know whether I really want to go through with the idea of a daughter. She could be a liar, someone just pretending to be a daughter, but that would be sad and I wouldn't want the Mainsail Pony to represent a crook just out to get Salty's/Scofield's money (or whatever she'd want from him).

However, the daughter idea was the only idea I had for a Riptide multi-chapter. Maybe, since I want to write more for Scofield, I'll try writing a Sea Hunt story with him in it while I try to figure out the daughter problem for a Riptide fic. I realized Scofield would fit perfectly into a Sea Hunt fic. And I'd love to write Mike Nelson being suspicious of him at first and then realizing, as did the Riptide crew, that he is an honorable man.

But regardless of what I decide story-wise, I want the Mainsail Pony just because she's gorgeous. I'm debating whether to get a really nice one that's available now or if I should keep trying to get Salty first, since he is my first want at the moment. Since it could be a while before I find a Salty that's just right for me, I don't know if I should let the Mainsail sail by in the meantime. I rarely ever see her at the Arena, where I buy most of my Ponies, so I figured I'd just be getting the one I see on eBay. It's possible she's on eBay a lot, though, even if she's not generally on the Arena. Since I just became aware of her, I just started doing eBay searches for her the other day. And now that I want the train Pony to represent Simon, I'd better go back and see the prices for him.

Decisions, decisions....

So tomorrow I get paid and could get the Riptide set I want. It's still available.

Only now, one just popped up on eBay for a much nicer price, albeit it's not quite new, as the other copy is. Problem is, it's an auction and won't end until Monday morning.

So now I have a dilemma. Should I grab the new set tomorrow morning, or should I wait and see if I could get the cheaper, not-new set on Monday, hoping that in the meantime the new set won't get sold just in case I fail to snag the auction copy?

If I can't get either of these copies, all the other copies of season 3 are a lot more expensive. I'd really hate to focus all my attention on the eBay auction and then miss out on the new one if it sells over the weekend. And there's always the chance that a bunch of people will jump on the eBay auction and try to get it, since season 3 is hard to come by at a decent price. The eBay price looks so appealing right now, but it could always shoot sky-high by Monday.

If I could get the eBay one, the price is definitely more preferable. But when I don't know if I can get it, it seems like it might be too much of a risk to pass up the other one.