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Entry tags:
- 1000xresist,
- challenges,
- citizen sleeper,
- earth 2,
- fanvid recs,
- i was a teenage exocolonist,
- loving annabelle,
- mercy point,
- movie recs,
- professor marston and the wonder women,
- recommendations,
- sapphire and steel,
- sir arthur conan doyle's the lost world,
- space island one,
- tv show recs,
- video game recs
Snowflake Challenge #12
Create a Rec Countdown.
I tried to do this entirely with fanvid categories, but over-complicated it so I think I'll save that work for another rec list in the future so I can actually get something finished for this one, lol. Anyway, I've had to edit this a few times due to formatting issues and having lost my progress and remembering things I wanted to re-include, so as usual I am so sorry for my inability to ever just make a post and be done.
I tried to do this entirely with fanvid categories, but over-complicated it so I think I'll save that work for another rec list in the future so I can actually get something finished for this one, lol. Anyway, I've had to edit this a few times due to formatting issues and having lost my progress and remembering things I wanted to re-include, so as usual I am so sorry for my inability to ever just make a post and be done.
5 - Older Niche Sci-Fi TV Shows
Listen, these aren't perfect but there's a reason they've embedded themselves in my memory and personality so hard. If you need more sci-fi to watch, I think they're absolutely worth a go. I tried to list places to watch based on a quick search, but there's probably more places out there to check out some of these and I can absolutely help if you're at a loss. I end each section noting whether there's a cliffhanger or not, so skip the "Warning" part if you don't wanna know.
Earth 2 (1994) - TV Promo - A group looking to colonize an uninhabited planet crash land due to government sabotage and learn the planet isn't as uninhabited as they initially believed. Lots of strong female characters, creative aliens, worldbuilding-based class conflicts and the IRL issues commentary that comes with it, and cool worldbuilding concepts! It's also got Clancy Brown for the whole run, which is typically a selling point for people, and Tim Curry played crazy for a few episodes.
Rotten Tomatoes Description, with a couple wrong details fixed: Two centuries in the future, when pollution has forced humans to abandon Earth in favor of cramped space stations, billionaire Devon Adair sets out with a band of followers in search of another planet that will offer a brighter, more normal future to children like her son, Ulysses, whose terminal illness is caused by the station environment. Joining Devon and Ulysses are mechanic John Danziger and his daughter, True; team physician Julia Heller, who has her own secret agenda; Alonzo Solace, a pilot; Yale, a cyborg; and Morgan, a craven government agent, and his wife, Bess. The voyagers find their planet, but their ship crash-lands on the wrong side of the globe, forcing them to attempt an arduous and dangerous trek to their ultimate destination, New Pacifica.
My favorite components:
NOTE: The episode order is sometimes not listed correctly depending on where you go, so "All About Eve" SHOULD be the one you watch last.
Episodes: 21, 45 minutes each
Availability: It was released on DVD. It has been posted to Youtube a few times over the years, and it was streaming on Netflix forever ago so it's possible another streaming service has taken it on since. If you need a non-DVD source I'm sure can help.
Warning: It was canceled and left off on a cliffhanger.
Mercy Point (1998) - TV Promo - Often described as "ER in space," Mercy Point was a short-lived but very creative look at the medical wing of an interstellar space station full of complex characters (some alien!) with complex drama. They explored some pretty neat speculative fiction concepts within the premise and had strong worldbuilding for what the universe would look like with space travel and interspecies interpersonal conflict.
Rotten Tomatoes Description: Set in the first state-of-the-art hospital in space, an elite team of medics takes care of the human and alien species in the orbital community.
A few things I particularly adore:
Episodes: 7 due to mid-series cancellation, see Warning section for elaboration. 42 minutes each.
Availability: You can typically only find it in lower quality since it was never formally released on DVD, BUT it did get added to the Plex/Crackle streaming service at some point (I think it's since been taken down?) which let me grab subtitle files for anyone who needs! All the episodes are on Youtube as well at varying qualities.
Warning: It only got 7 episodes and was cancelled mid-production. The writers did manage to wrap it all up with an ending, but those components of the last episode were pretty clearly speedran story-wise, so... it's a mixed bag for levels of satisfaction. I just mentally put some space between the "present" plots and the ending and fill in the gaps myself to make it feel more properly developed.
Space Island One (1998) - Genuinely, this is one of the best sci-fi shows I've ever seen and I am devastated it isn't more widely available or known. It's a British/German production taking place on a small international research space station orbiting Earth in the near future, focusing on a small crew of very different people who need to get along amidst their actual sci-fi researching duties and fighting the corporate overtaking of space.
IMDB Description: The series is set aboard the corporate space station Unity and is a character driven drama about the station's crew.
SFX Review: The best science fiction show you've never heard of… The show unflinchingly looks at the implications of for-profit science… and provides the most realistic look ever at life in space, including bone-mass loss. A few episodes are dull, but the show is often surprisingly weird and fun… It also features some of the most complex, believable characters of any television show.
My favorite components:
Episodes: 26 across 2 seasons, 45 minute episodes
Availability: Similar to Mercy Point, the lack of official release does mean the episodes aren't the best quality and captions likely aren't available anywhere. Season 1 is on archive.org and Youtube. Not totally sure about season 2 fully, but let me know if you need help on that front!
Warning: It did get canceled and ended on a cliffhanger. Honestly at this point you can just assume that's the case for all of my faves, huh...
Sapphire & Steel (1979) - TV Promo - Sapphire and Steel are two time traveling human-like entities who track disturbances in the fabric of time. You meet other agents as well on occasion. Sapphire is played by Joanna Lumley, Steel is David McCallum, with occasional guests Silver played by David Collings with Lead played by Val Pringle.
Amazon Description: A special force of interdimensional operatives protect the universe from evil forces trying to gain a foothold by disrupting the timeline. The strange energy beings are assigned to cases, when and where needed, and materialise on Earth as humans, each with specialist abilities to ascertain and then solve the problems.
4 - Creativity Challenges
Femslash Fete
Weekly femslash prompts! It's really nice to see such a supportive place focused on femslash. I haven't finished anything yet, but the prompts have been very good for inspiration so far.
Fandom OC Weekly
Weekly prompts for original characters based in an existing fanon! I believe there are two prompts posted each week, one general and one for relationships, so there's a lot of fun possibilities. I appreciate there being a place for these kinds of OCs specifically since a lot of fandoms still aren't very kind about them.
Three Sentence Ficathon
3 - Narrative Sci-Fi Visual Novel-y Games
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Official Steam Description: Spend your teenage years on an alien planet in this narrative RPG with card-based battles. Explore, grow up, and fall in love. The choices you make and skills you master over ten years will determine the course of your life and the survival of your colony.
That sums it up pretty well, but I'll add you have an insane amount of options for the gendered terms and presentation you want the protag to have, and you can romance any of the love interest options of any gender... including an alien! The art and music are gorgeous and there are a lot of neat themes to explore under the sci-fi civilization umbrella. PLUS loads of replayability that is itself part of the story. I believe my first run took around 10 hours, and replays take me anywhere from 4-8 depending on the settings I have enabled and the goals I have for each. I also personally really love sci-fi colony stories like Earth 2 (1994) and Terra Nova (2011) so getting what is essentially a game version of those worlds and their themes smushed together has been so fulfilling.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Youtube Trailer
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Steam page
1000xRESIST
I talked about this one here in more depth because it is quite hard to explain! But basically, a thousand years in the future you play as a clone diving into the memories of the girl who you and everyone else alive were cloned from. Generational trauma, clone yuri, and a genuinely insane non-linear storytelling experience across lifetimes. (Also: VOICE ACTING!!!). I believe it took me around 10 hours to play the first time, but I'm finding a lot of value in replaying because of how later revelations recontextualize things from earlier chapters.
Official Steam Description: 1000xRESIST is a thrilling sci-fi adventure. The year is unknown, and a disease spread by an alien invasion keeps you underground. You are Watcher. You dutifully fulfill your purpose in serving the ALLMOTHER, until the day you discover a shocking secret that changes everything.
2 - Queer Age Gap Movies
...Just go with it. I will note whether these have happy endings or not since some people find that important, so maybe skip this if you prefer totally spoiler-free experiences. But like... these are both teacher/student I'm now realizing, so have realistic expectations, lol.
Loving Annabelle (2006) - Trailer - Lesbian teacher/student Catholic school film. It's not perfect, but it is really special to me and I think it's worth checking out as long as you're mindful of the time period it came out in! The below description makes it seem like it was entirely focused on sex, but imo the two main characters had a deep emotional connection as well.
Letterboxd Description: Annabelle is the wise-beyond-her-years newcomer to an exclusive Catholic girls school. Having been expelled from her first two schools she’s bound to stir some trouble. Sparks fly though when sexual chemistry appears between her and the Head of her dorm and English teacher, Simone Bradley. Annabelle pursues her relentlessly and until the end the older woman manages to avoid the law.
Ending details: It's... complicated. Technically not a happy ending if you're rooting for them. It ends in angst and there are some pretty sad beats throughout obviously about homophobia. BUT there is an alternative ending on the DVD that is hopeful and I am fairly certain it's still on Youtube.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) - Trailer - The fictionalized story of the man who created Wonder Woman and the women who inspired her: his wife and their female partner. Or: two unethical psychology professors in the 1940's rope their student assistant into a scandalous journey of polyamory and BDSM that makes me completely crazy.
Rotten Tomatoes Description: If behind every great man is a great woman, then Harvard psychologist and inventor Dr. William Moulton Marston has the good fortune of having two -- his wife Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne. In addition to helping him perfect the lie detector test, the two women also inspire him to create one of the greatest female superheroes of all time -- the beloved comic book character Wonder Woman.
Ending details: It's... again complicated. The overall journey is quite bumpy due to their society. The ending is bittersweet, but not entirely devastating and it feels fitting.
1 - Rec Playlist of Favorite Fanvids
I'm cheating astronomically here, but this technically counts as one thing... right? Here's my Youtube playlist of my favorite fanvids. (WARNING: Most of these do have flashing lights or quick cuts, and some have gore or other common triggers.) A lot are there for the technical stuff and styles so if you don't recognize the fandoms you might still glean something from them. Hoping to add more, or at least one day finish the aforementioned rec list attempt that got over-complicated from how I started basically delving into why I love every single one on here.
Coming up with categories was harder than I thought it would be, lol, so this took me a while. But I'm glad I got a chance to articulate everything above! Definitely let me know if you check out anything I've mentioned or if you have your own recs to share based on what I've said.
Listen, these aren't perfect but there's a reason they've embedded themselves in my memory and personality so hard. If you need more sci-fi to watch, I think they're absolutely worth a go. I tried to list places to watch based on a quick search, but there's probably more places out there to check out some of these and I can absolutely help if you're at a loss. I end each section noting whether there's a cliffhanger or not, so skip the "Warning" part if you don't wanna know.
Earth 2 (1994) - TV Promo - A group looking to colonize an uninhabited planet crash land due to government sabotage and learn the planet isn't as uninhabited as they initially believed. Lots of strong female characters, creative aliens, worldbuilding-based class conflicts and the IRL issues commentary that comes with it, and cool worldbuilding concepts! It's also got Clancy Brown for the whole run, which is typically a selling point for people, and Tim Curry played crazy for a few episodes.
Rotten Tomatoes Description, with a couple wrong details fixed: Two centuries in the future, when pollution has forced humans to abandon Earth in favor of cramped space stations, billionaire Devon Adair sets out with a band of followers in search of another planet that will offer a brighter, more normal future to children like her son, Ulysses, whose terminal illness is caused by the station environment. Joining Devon and Ulysses are mechanic John Danziger and his daughter, True; team physician Julia Heller, who has her own secret agenda; Alonzo Solace, a pilot; Yale, a cyborg; and Morgan, a craven government agent, and his wife, Bess. The voyagers find their planet, but their ship crash-lands on the wrong side of the globe, forcing them to attempt an arduous and dangerous trek to their ultimate destination, New Pacifica.
My favorite components:
- Strong female characters in a way that feels natural
- Identity crises and divided loyalties all around!! I wish I could elaborate on this but it is so spoilery.
- REALLY good worldbuilding! Some characters are from the overly polluted Earth, others are from different classes on the station, etc. The planet they land on also has some cool aliens and old government projects they stumble upon. A lot of the speculative fiction concepts are just done really creatively too, from technological advancements to aliens that communicate via weird dreams.
- The socioeconomic clashes and similar diversities mean the characters all have a LOT to learn from one another and they do so with so much delightful difficulty, lol. Forced to found family and I found myself liking characters I did not expect to like by the end.
- Allegories and commentaries for IRL political issues, environmentalism, colonization, etc
- There are a couple of kids whose dynamics with their parents and the overall group are really well written! In particular, Clancy Brown's character has a young daughter who he loves but keeps a level of distance with for reasons, and the ways they become closer and grow makes me cry so much.
- The other kid, Uly, forms a very odd bond with some aliens in a way that heals his illness but makes him a bridge between worlds in a way that raises a Lot of questions and issues
- This show does take itself seriously, but I can't not mention the episode that managed to get two love interests tied up in such a way that when one needs to drink from the other's canteen... it looks like she's blowing him. Just... such a show.
- They managed a handful of filler episodes which is so refreshing given the state of TV today
NOTE: The episode order is sometimes not listed correctly depending on where you go, so "All About Eve" SHOULD be the one you watch last.
Episodes: 21, 45 minutes each
Availability: It was released on DVD. It has been posted to Youtube a few times over the years, and it was streaming on Netflix forever ago so it's possible another streaming service has taken it on since. If you need a non-DVD source I'm sure can help.
Warning: It was canceled and left off on a cliffhanger.
Mercy Point (1998) - TV Promo - Often described as "ER in space," Mercy Point was a short-lived but very creative look at the medical wing of an interstellar space station full of complex characters (some alien!) with complex drama. They explored some pretty neat speculative fiction concepts within the premise and had strong worldbuilding for what the universe would look like with space travel and interspecies interpersonal conflict.
Rotten Tomatoes Description: Set in the first state-of-the-art hospital in space, an elite team of medics takes care of the human and alien species in the orbital community.
A few things I particularly adore:
- There's a slug-like alien in a wheelchair due to gravity differences! His name is Dr. Batung and he's also an asshole, lol, and has to learn to maybe stop having such a superiority complex over other species so he can become a better doctor.
- There's an android named ANI who starts experiencing emotions and has no idea how to handle it
- One doctor's younger sister who she has a troubled relationship with followed in her footsteps and ALSO became a doctor here, so they have to rekindle their past in order to do their jobs properly.
- There is an alien who spends an entire episode very attached to a vintage Earth baseball he found only to eat it at the end like it's a fucking apple. PEAK sci-fi.
Episodes: 7 due to mid-series cancellation, see Warning section for elaboration. 42 minutes each.
Availability: You can typically only find it in lower quality since it was never formally released on DVD, BUT it did get added to the Plex/Crackle streaming service at some point (I think it's since been taken down?) which let me grab subtitle files for anyone who needs! All the episodes are on Youtube as well at varying qualities.
Warning: It only got 7 episodes and was cancelled mid-production. The writers did manage to wrap it all up with an ending, but those components of the last episode were pretty clearly speedran story-wise, so... it's a mixed bag for levels of satisfaction. I just mentally put some space between the "present" plots and the ending and fill in the gaps myself to make it feel more properly developed.
Space Island One (1998) - Genuinely, this is one of the best sci-fi shows I've ever seen and I am devastated it isn't more widely available or known. It's a British/German production taking place on a small international research space station orbiting Earth in the near future, focusing on a small crew of very different people who need to get along amidst their actual sci-fi researching duties and fighting the corporate overtaking of space.
IMDB Description: The series is set aboard the corporate space station Unity and is a character driven drama about the station's crew.
SFX Review: The best science fiction show you've never heard of… The show unflinchingly looks at the implications of for-profit science… and provides the most realistic look ever at life in space, including bone-mass loss. A few episodes are dull, but the show is often surprisingly weird and fun… It also features some of the most complex, believable characters of any television show.
My favorite components:
- Judy Loe as the station commander!
- International space station, so one character is from the US, others are British, German, etc.
- Worldbuilding components that developed alongside getting a space station to that state, such as mining bases on the moon and space-faring expeditioners. This means that you do get a lot of guest characters to add some variety.
- One character has an unexpected pregnancy while in space and has to navigate that, and then of course motherhood difficulties because of not being able to keep her baby on the station with her
- There are a couple of pet-like drones that "patrol" the station and help with science and such!
- The characters are very flawed, lol. Like, you've got basic stuff like characters smuggling cigarettes and alcohol on board, or over-use of a phone sex hotline causing issues, but then it varies to one character essentially sex pollens another IIRC?
- Such a minor thing, but the person on-ground they speak with maintains a professional voice but also has so much sass bubbling beneath the surface that it is worth a mention here
- Lots of commentary on the potential corporate hold over space and all the issues that come with it
Episodes: 26 across 2 seasons, 45 minute episodes
Availability: Similar to Mercy Point, the lack of official release does mean the episodes aren't the best quality and captions likely aren't available anywhere. Season 1 is on archive.org and Youtube. Not totally sure about season 2 fully, but let me know if you need help on that front!
Warning: It did get canceled and ended on a cliffhanger. Honestly at this point you can just assume that's the case for all of my faves, huh...
Sapphire & Steel (1979) - TV Promo - Sapphire and Steel are two time traveling human-like entities who track disturbances in the fabric of time. You meet other agents as well on occasion. Sapphire is played by Joanna Lumley, Steel is David McCallum, with occasional guests Silver played by David Collings with Lead played by Val Pringle.
Amazon Description: A special force of interdimensional operatives protect the universe from evil forces trying to gain a foothold by disrupting the timeline. The strange energy beings are assigned to cases, when and where needed, and materialise on Earth as humans, each with specialist abilities to ascertain and then solve the problems.
Some things I particularly love:
Episodes: 34 across 6 serials, typically 25 minute episodes each
Availability: It was released on DVD a couple times, archive.org currently has it, it looks to be available on some free streaming services like Tubi (and Youtube at least partly?), and Amazon Prime right now depending on region. My brief searching is not an indication of everywhere to find it or others on this list, of course! The particular age of this one means it seems more widely accessible out there.
Warning: Cliffhanger :( But there are audio dramas. I'm not sure if they address the cliffhanger since I haven't yet listened, but they do exist and it's lovely to know there's more out there to dive into!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1999) - TV Promo - Initially based on Conan Doyle's The Lost World book featuring a band of explorers getting lost on a mystical plateau forgotten by time, this show goes entirely off the rails with speculative fiction concepts because dinosaurs and tribal conflicts only get you so far. You have no idea what you're in for. Characters are Challenger (an open-minded scientist), with Summerlee (a scientist who wanted to prove Challenger wrong), Roxton (gunman and adventurer), Veronica (badass girl who grew up on the plateau), Marguerite (helped fund the expedition, extremely selfish with SO much delightful mystery to her background), and Ned (journalist). They go from forced to found family and it makes me insane.
Rotten Tomatoes Description: Early 20th-century adventurers find themselves fighting for survival after their hot-air balloon crashes into a remote part of the Amazon, stranding them on a prehistoric plateau.
My favorite things
Episodes: 66 episodes across 3 seasons, 40-44 minute episodes
Availability: DVDs were released but I will warn that the eBay prices fluctuate a lot. Tubi (and similar free services) and Amazon Prime seem to have it depending on region. I remember watching it all on Dailymotion, honestly, though the quality there was probably worst of all if it's even still there, lol.
Warning: Sigh. Cliffhanger. BUT there is a PDF the showrunners released comprehensively detailing all their plans for what the next season would have been like. If you watch and need that file, let me know!
PS. I'm always looking for recs for more niche sci-fi!
- Sapphire and Steel are contrasts where Sapphire is more emotional and empathetic toward humans while Steel is just there to get the job done.
- BUT his seriousness means that when Sapphire is in trouble, his concern over her hits SO HARD, as does the occasions when he does exhibit more feeling toward a case. Their dynamic is everything to me, as is their dynamics with the other agents.
- Sapphire has some special abilities that come in handy and are just really cool to see her use! Her eyes glow at times which meant her actress had to put her all into both acting AND not moving so these effects could actually be applied back then
- The kind of concept a serial revolves around really does range, lol, but I adore how they handle the concept of time as a living force almost and how that manifests in plots to solve, and how there is always such an eerie undertone
- The agents not quite being human means there is a lot of headcanon potential for things like gender weirdness!!
- The pacing is quite slow which is not everyone's cup of tea, but I honestly really love having that amidst an age of such tightly wound modern shows
Episodes: 34 across 6 serials, typically 25 minute episodes each
Availability: It was released on DVD a couple times, archive.org currently has it, it looks to be available on some free streaming services like Tubi (and Youtube at least partly?), and Amazon Prime right now depending on region. My brief searching is not an indication of everywhere to find it or others on this list, of course! The particular age of this one means it seems more widely accessible out there.
Warning: Cliffhanger :( But there are audio dramas. I'm not sure if they address the cliffhanger since I haven't yet listened, but they do exist and it's lovely to know there's more out there to dive into!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1999) - TV Promo - Initially based on Conan Doyle's The Lost World book featuring a band of explorers getting lost on a mystical plateau forgotten by time, this show goes entirely off the rails with speculative fiction concepts because dinosaurs and tribal conflicts only get you so far. You have no idea what you're in for. Characters are Challenger (an open-minded scientist), with Summerlee (a scientist who wanted to prove Challenger wrong), Roxton (gunman and adventurer), Veronica (badass girl who grew up on the plateau), Marguerite (helped fund the expedition, extremely selfish with SO much delightful mystery to her background), and Ned (journalist). They go from forced to found family and it makes me insane.
Rotten Tomatoes Description: Early 20th-century adventurers find themselves fighting for survival after their hot-air balloon crashes into a remote part of the Amazon, stranding them on a prehistoric plateau.
My favorite things
- They live in a giant treehouse!!! This caught my eye so much it's part of why I started watching. It's just such a cool home base.
- MARGUERITE IS SUCH A CHARACTER. I can't get into much because spoilers, but for one she is SO selfish and it is so nice to see a female character get to do that and cause so many problems because of it. Her backstory is just. Fucking insane. On so many levels.
- Challenger and Summerlee's back and forth on the limits of science. Challenger in particular has a very refreshing view where just because science hasn't yet proven something, it doesn't mean it can't be explained!
- Veronica was a child who came with her parents to the plateau but they and their team went missing, leaving her alone to grow up in the treehouse with the help of a local tribe. She is such a badass.
- There's an episode with a lizard lady who is very skilled with a whip and it lives in my head rent free
- Like I mentioned, the plots just... go off the goddamn rails. Like you have basic episodes where they maybe get trapped in a cave because of a dinosaur and start hallucinating tragic backstory stuff, or conflicts between tribes and civilizations on the plateau, and so on. But then you also have like, Jack the Ripper. Or a gothic haunted mansion. Or... aliens... Honestly it WORKS it is just wild to see how they get to this point.
- The theme of "oh we're trying so hard to get home and get away from each other!!! But... what if... this place we've been trying to escape since we got here has actually become home because of the people and ways we've grown..."
Episodes: 66 episodes across 3 seasons, 40-44 minute episodes
Availability: DVDs were released but I will warn that the eBay prices fluctuate a lot. Tubi (and similar free services) and Amazon Prime seem to have it depending on region. I remember watching it all on Dailymotion, honestly, though the quality there was probably worst of all if it's even still there, lol.
Warning: Sigh. Cliffhanger. BUT there is a PDF the showrunners released comprehensively detailing all their plans for what the next season would have been like. If you watch and need that file, let me know!
PS. I'm always looking for recs for more niche sci-fi!
4 - Creativity Challenges
Femslash Fete
Weekly femslash prompts! It's really nice to see such a supportive place focused on femslash. I haven't finished anything yet, but the prompts have been very good for inspiration so far.
Fandom OC Weekly
Weekly prompts for original characters based in an existing fanon! I believe there are two prompts posted each week, one general and one for relationships, so there's a lot of fun possibilities. I appreciate there being a place for these kinds of OCs specifically since a lot of fandoms still aren't very kind about them.
Three Sentence Ficathon
An open exchange where you answer a prompt with a fic consisting of only three sentences, but I think there is some leniency about length. It's open to all fandoms and you can post and fill as many prompts as you like, as many times as you want. If you're logged in, there is a search function that lets you search comments to see if there are prompts for anything you're interested in! That's especially helpful because it all moves SO fast.
Bad Things Happen Bingo (Tumblr)
A bingo challenge where you get a personalized bingo card based on tropes you've submitted interest in! Officially only writing is accepted into the formal challenge, but they still reblog art and who's to say you can't make other creations in your own space inspired by the prompts. You do need a Tumblr account with your submissions box (different than ask box) enabled so they can send you your card.
I strongly recommend checking out the info pages since there is a lot that can be confusing otherwise, and if you have any questions I can try to help you out! I've done two full bingo cards for it so I really, really love it, haha. Especially on Tumblr there is such a bizarre rise in people who think all fiction must be perfectly pure and wholesome and that if you dare to write darker themes it makes you a bad person, so... this blog is like a beacon through all that.
About, Rules, and FAQ: https://badthingshappenbingo.tumblr.com/about
Honorable Mention to the Snowflake Challenge which is the whole reason I've been able to post so much lately! They post one prompt every 2 days in January to help foster community and creativity on here, but there's no real time limit so you can jump into the prompts whenever!
Bad Things Happen Bingo (Tumblr)
A bingo challenge where you get a personalized bingo card based on tropes you've submitted interest in! Officially only writing is accepted into the formal challenge, but they still reblog art and who's to say you can't make other creations in your own space inspired by the prompts. You do need a Tumblr account with your submissions box (different than ask box) enabled so they can send you your card.
I strongly recommend checking out the info pages since there is a lot that can be confusing otherwise, and if you have any questions I can try to help you out! I've done two full bingo cards for it so I really, really love it, haha. Especially on Tumblr there is such a bizarre rise in people who think all fiction must be perfectly pure and wholesome and that if you dare to write darker themes it makes you a bad person, so... this blog is like a beacon through all that.
About, Rules, and FAQ: https://badthingshappenbingo.tumblr.com/about
Honorable Mention to the Snowflake Challenge which is the whole reason I've been able to post so much lately! They post one prompt every 2 days in January to help foster community and creativity on here, but there's no real time limit so you can jump into the prompts whenever!
3 - Narrative Sci-Fi Visual Novel-y Games
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Official Steam Description: Spend your teenage years on an alien planet in this narrative RPG with card-based battles. Explore, grow up, and fall in love. The choices you make and skills you master over ten years will determine the course of your life and the survival of your colony.
That sums it up pretty well, but I'll add you have an insane amount of options for the gendered terms and presentation you want the protag to have, and you can romance any of the love interest options of any gender... including an alien! The art and music are gorgeous and there are a lot of neat themes to explore under the sci-fi civilization umbrella. PLUS loads of replayability that is itself part of the story. I believe my first run took around 10 hours, and replays take me anywhere from 4-8 depending on the settings I have enabled and the goals I have for each. I also personally really love sci-fi colony stories like Earth 2 (1994) and Terra Nova (2011) so getting what is essentially a game version of those worlds and their themes smushed together has been so fulfilling.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Youtube Trailer
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Steam page
1000xRESIST
I talked about this one here in more depth because it is quite hard to explain! But basically, a thousand years in the future you play as a clone diving into the memories of the girl who you and everyone else alive were cloned from. Generational trauma, clone yuri, and a genuinely insane non-linear storytelling experience across lifetimes. (Also: VOICE ACTING!!!). I believe it took me around 10 hours to play the first time, but I'm finding a lot of value in replaying because of how later revelations recontextualize things from earlier chapters.
Official Steam Description: 1000xRESIST is a thrilling sci-fi adventure. The year is unknown, and a disease spread by an alien invasion keeps you underground. You are Watcher. You dutifully fulfill your purpose in serving the ALLMOTHER, until the day you discover a shocking secret that changes everything.
1000xRESIST Trailer
1000xRESIST 10 Hour No-Commentary Playthrough
1000xRESIST Steam Page
Citizen Sleeper
Official Steam Description: Roleplaying in the ruins of interplanetary capitalism. Live the life of an escaped worker, washed-up on a lawless station at the edge of an interstellar society. Inspired by the flexibility and freedom of TTRPGs, explore the station, choose your friends, escape your past and change your future.
1000xRESIST 10 Hour No-Commentary Playthrough
1000xRESIST Steam Page
Citizen Sleeper
Official Steam Description: Roleplaying in the ruins of interplanetary capitalism. Live the life of an escaped worker, washed-up on a lawless station at the edge of an interstellar society. Inspired by the flexibility and freedom of TTRPGs, explore the station, choose your friends, escape your past and change your future.
I only recently played Citizen Sleeper so I'm not as versed in it as the other two on this list, but I really enjoyed it! Lovely music and art and very enjoyable writing. The gameplay mechanics were simple but fairly balanced. I think something I appreciate about CS a lot is there are REALLY complex characters you meet, but can only spend so much time with so there's a lot that lends itself to transformative works to further explore the ones who have stuck with you. It has made me cry many times.
I think it took me around 7 hours to play in one go, but I've been replaying to try fixing some of my mistakes from the first round, haha.
Also! A sequel is coming out soon, so maybe keep an eye on the first in case there's any promotional sale leading up to it?
Citizen Sleeper Trailer
Citizen Sleeper Steam Page
I think it took me around 7 hours to play in one go, but I've been replaying to try fixing some of my mistakes from the first round, haha.
Also! A sequel is coming out soon, so maybe keep an eye on the first in case there's any promotional sale leading up to it?
Citizen Sleeper Trailer
Citizen Sleeper Steam Page
2 - Queer Age Gap Movies
...Just go with it. I will note whether these have happy endings or not since some people find that important, so maybe skip this if you prefer totally spoiler-free experiences. But like... these are both teacher/student I'm now realizing, so have realistic expectations, lol.
Loving Annabelle (2006) - Trailer - Lesbian teacher/student Catholic school film. It's not perfect, but it is really special to me and I think it's worth checking out as long as you're mindful of the time period it came out in! The below description makes it seem like it was entirely focused on sex, but imo the two main characters had a deep emotional connection as well.
Letterboxd Description: Annabelle is the wise-beyond-her-years newcomer to an exclusive Catholic girls school. Having been expelled from her first two schools she’s bound to stir some trouble. Sparks fly though when sexual chemistry appears between her and the Head of her dorm and English teacher, Simone Bradley. Annabelle pursues her relentlessly and until the end the older woman manages to avoid the law.
Ending details: It's... complicated. Technically not a happy ending if you're rooting for them. It ends in angst and there are some pretty sad beats throughout obviously about homophobia. BUT there is an alternative ending on the DVD that is hopeful and I am fairly certain it's still on Youtube.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) - Trailer - The fictionalized story of the man who created Wonder Woman and the women who inspired her: his wife and their female partner. Or: two unethical psychology professors in the 1940's rope their student assistant into a scandalous journey of polyamory and BDSM that makes me completely crazy.
Rotten Tomatoes Description: If behind every great man is a great woman, then Harvard psychologist and inventor Dr. William Moulton Marston has the good fortune of having two -- his wife Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne. In addition to helping him perfect the lie detector test, the two women also inspire him to create one of the greatest female superheroes of all time -- the beloved comic book character Wonder Woman.
Ending details: It's... again complicated. The overall journey is quite bumpy due to their society. The ending is bittersweet, but not entirely devastating and it feels fitting.
1 - Rec Playlist of Favorite Fanvids
I'm cheating astronomically here, but this technically counts as one thing... right? Here's my Youtube playlist of my favorite fanvids. (WARNING: Most of these do have flashing lights or quick cuts, and some have gore or other common triggers.) A lot are there for the technical stuff and styles so if you don't recognize the fandoms you might still glean something from them. Hoping to add more, or at least one day finish the aforementioned rec list attempt that got over-complicated from how I started basically delving into why I love every single one on here.
Coming up with categories was harder than I thought it would be, lol, so this took me a while. But I'm glad I got a chance to articulate everything above! Definitely let me know if you check out anything I've mentioned or if you have your own recs to share based on what I've said.
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I have got to watch the other shows on the list, given I saw Space Island One and Mercy Point based on your rec. they are now all on The List for when I want to pick something up!
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Given that, I've never heard of Space Island One so am going to have to check that one out.
Adding you to my DW circle as we seem to have old sci-fi and vidding in common.
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Def let me know what you think of Space Island One!! (And if you need a place to watch it.)