There will be no Friday roundup today in solidarity with today’s general strike against ICE, which is being observed by many businesses in Minnesota, here in the Los Angeles area, and across the country. This week in books will run tomorrow.
Here are some ways you can contribute to protecting our neighbors and taking back our democracy from authoritarian goons:
Publishing for Minnesota is an auction full of services and items donated by authors and publishing professionals, including editors at the Big 5. Proceeds will go to a range of organizations supporting Minnesota and defense for immigrants. It closes tonight, so hurry up and bid!
We Need Diverse Books recently launched a program combatting censorship and remains a crucial organization supporting an inclusive publishing industry.
LA Taco has gone from covering, well, LA tacos to being a crucial local journalism operation monitoring ICE raids (yes, really).
Immigrant Defense Project – An organization that provides advocacy, litigation, and community defense.
Here in the Los Angeles area, bookstores supporting the strike include Octavia’s Bookshelf (closed), Vroman’s (staying open as community space with free refreshments), and Skylight Books (closed).
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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Emmet Asher-Perrin</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/bridgerton-season-4-gives-class-struggle-a-cinderella-sheen/">https://reactormag.com/bridgerton-season-4-gives-class-struggle-a-cinderella-sheen/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837828">https://reactormag.com/?p=837828</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal">
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<h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><i>Bridgerton</i> Season 4 Gives Class Struggle a Cinderella Sheen</h2>
<div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">It’s still Bridgerton, but questions of class division power its fourth season</div>
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Published on January 29, 2026
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<div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&_a]:link"><p>Image credit: Liam Daniel/Netflix</p>
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<p>Four seasons in, Netflix’s <em>Bridgerton</em> has a formula that works. Known for its steamy romances, candy-colored costumes, and effortlessly diverse Regency setting that’s anything but traditional, it’s a historical drama with a thoroughly contemporary feel. This isn’t a criticism, by the way—the show is delightfully fun escapism that manages to remain true to the swoony spirit of its source material even as it updates the saga of the sprawling family at its center for a modern audience. And in season four, the show pulls off its greatest trick yet, reimagining one of its most problematic stories in a way that often feels richer and more engaging than the original. </p>
<p>Based on the third book in Julia Quinn’s megapopular romance series, season four backtracks to tell the story of Benedict (Luke Thompson), the Bridgerton family’s artistic and free-spirited second son, who has not always fit in with his more marriage and family-minded siblings. Previous seasons of the show have touched on his frequently Bohemian lifestyle, his love of painting, and his hedonistic sexual pursuits with both women and men. Perhaps it was always inevitable that Benedict’s story—and the romance at its center—would not follow a conventional path. </p>
<p>Rather than a simple friends-to-lovers romance or a fake relationship that turns real, Benedict’s story takes many of its narrative cues from <em>Cinderella</em>, featuring everything from a glamorous transformation and a hidden identity to a wicked stepmother and a misplaced (and personally identifying) fashion item left behind at a party. The season begins with a masquerade ball, and much of that fairytale feel lingers throughout the four episodes of Volume 1 (all of which were available for review). But underneath the masks and mistaken identities, <em>Bridgerton </em>season four is really a story about class. And it is through the introduction of Benedict’s love interest Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) that the show is forced to confront, in some small ways at least, some of the most uncomfortable elements of its own premise. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, this is still <em>Bridgerton</em>. The housemaids and shopgirls who quietly make the town run don’t suddenly unionize. The upper-class elites aren’t miraculously agitating for a minimum wage or fair housing laws. There are still lines the show won’t cross. And maybe this means the bar is in Hell, but it still feels important that the show is at long last acknowledging the stories of those who live outside the privileged world that the Bridgertons and their friends inhabit. Sophie, you see, is a maid. She’s not genteely impoverished or down on her luck; she’s a servant who performs manual labor, precisely the kind of character who has haunted the edges of <em>Bridgerton</em>’s<em> </em>previous seasons but never really directly taken part. And, not to put too fine a point on it, but Sophie is <em>great</em>.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-4-1100x733.jpeg" alt="Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek looking at herself in a mirror in episode 403 of Bridgerton" class="wp-image-837201" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-4-1100x733.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-4-740x493.jpeg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-4-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-4-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-4-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Image: Liam Daniel/Netflix</figcaption></figure>
<p>Resourceful, intelligent, and kind, she never lets her difficult personal situation—an orphan with a stepmother who resents her and no future to speak of—make her cruel, cynical, or incapable of embracing joy. Her unabashed delight at simply being allowed to attend the Bridgerton masquerade is infectious, her honesty and complete lack of guile refreshing in a world where performance and presentation often carry more weight than truth. She’s a heroine whose happiness is easy to root for, so much so that no matter how you may feel about Benedict as a potential life partner, you’ll find yourself hoping these crazy kids can work it out, if only because <em>Sophie</em> wants it to so badly. It’s easy to see why this character has long been such a fan favorite, even if the book in which she is introduced is… <a href="https://reactormag.com/how-bridgerton-season-4-can-improve-on-its-source-material/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">well, let’s just call it problematic at best.</a> </p>
<p><em>Bridgerton </em>has always played a bit fast and loose with its source material. The show has both race and genderbent major characters (including Sophie herself). It’s moved the order of various narrative events around to suit its own purpose. And sometimes, it’s even made them up out of whole cloth. That season two love triangle between Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), her sister Edwina (Charithra Chandran), and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey)? Doesn’t happen in the books. The revelation that Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) is actually Lady Whistledown? Happens much earlier in the show than on the page. Your mileage may, and likely will, vary on how well all of these changes, reorderings, replacements, and expansions have played out onscreen. Sometimes it turned out really well. And sometimes… not so much. </p>
<p>In the case of Benedict, the show has genuinely put in the work to make the shifts in his character feel earned. The early episodes of season four lean into the idea of Benedict as a rake, highlighting his multiple sexual partners, disdain for the rules of polite society, and resentment toward the man-of-the-family role he’s being forced to assume while Anthony is in India. But he’s also portrayed as someone who is deeply lonely and unsure, convinced that he’ll never find a woman who can accept all the disparate and frequently conflicting identities that make him who he is. He’s been uniquely positioned to both find—and accept—a love that colors outside the boundaries established by aristocratic society and to appreciate Sopie’s particular brand of authenticity. Yes, it helps that their initial meeting essentially occurs <em>Love is Blind</em>-style, when neither really knows who the other is, but the masquerade also gives them both the freedom to be their truest selves—that is, after all, the whole point of a disguise.</p>
<p>Thompson and Ha have a warm, genuine chemistry together, and their banter is easy and fun. This first half of the season definitely prioritizes yearning over sexual tension, as Benedict works to track down his mysterious masquerade dance partner and grows closer to Sophie-as-herself after rescuing her from a dangerous situation at a country party without realizing that the two are the same person. But this season largely belongs to Ha, who steals almost every scene she is in from her first moments onscreen—even when we as the audience don’t know who she is. Deftly shifting between determined grit, wistful joy, and desperate yearning, her Sophie is a woman made of many layers, and who has seen more than her fair share of struggle without allowing it to make her cynical or cruel. </p>
<p>But Sophie and Benedict are not season four’s only story. Much like last season, this outing has a much more deliberate ensemble feel, with multiple secondary plots and supporting characters getting considerable screentime in ways. Penelope and Eloise are drawn into Benedict’s hunt for the mysterious Lady in Silver, and his purported willingness to (maybe?) finally marry puts him at the center of the ton’s social season (and Queen Charlotte’s interest). We also get to see the early days of John and Francesca’s marriage, witness Hyacinth chomp at the bit for her own debut, and watch as Violet and Lady Danbury take tentative steps into chasing dreams tied to their own futures rather than that of their loved ones. In many ways, though Netflix split the show’s fourth outing into two volumes for some inscrutable reason, it still feels like the series’s most complete and well-balanced. Yes, its primary story is still Benedict’s, but his emotional journey is just one piece of a larger narrative whole. With half the season to go, it’s impossible to tell how <em>Bridgerton’s</em> decision to acknowledge that class exists in their candy-coated fairytale world will ultimately play out. But Sophie’s story offers a perspective we haven’t really seen before, and helps open up a corner of the <em>Bridgerton</em> universe that feels altogether new.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-6-1100x733.jpeg" alt="Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek, Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton meeting at a masquerade in episode 401 of Bridgerton" class="wp-image-837203" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-6-1100x733.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-6-740x493.jpeg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-6-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-6-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bridgerton-s4-6-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Image: Liam Daniel/Netflix</figcaption></figure>
<p>The Mondriches, after all, were business owners before their son inherited a title, and regularly hobnobbed with various members of the aristocratic elite. Sophie, for her part, is threatened with violence, penury, and homelessness over the course of these initial episodes as she loses her job, is forced to sell her belongings to survive, and endures sexual harassment in the name of keeping a roof over her head. While <em>Bridgerton </em>certainly has a… let’s just call it an idealistic view of the camaraderie amongst the downstairs employees of Grosvenor Square, the show doesn’t shy away from acknowledging how hard they work or how central the roles they play are when it comes to facilitating the lives of leisure the Bridgertons and others like them enjoy. It’s a new sort of self-awareness for this show, but one it deserves no small amount of credit for.</p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, the season makes a valiant effort to explore questions of class outside of Sophie’s storyline. We meet more downstairs workers than ever before in the space of these episodes, and a major subplot involves many of the ton’s most popular household servants and ladies’ maids advocating for better working conditions and higher pay. It’s far from perfect—no matter how much we love it, a show like <em>Bridgerton </em>is never going to have the capacity to do the complexities of these issues justice—but the fact that it’s at least taking the issue seriously (something we can’t really say for the book this season is based on) is worth a great deal. Here’s hoping season four can stick the landing in its back half.[end-mark]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/bridgerton-season-4-gives-class-struggle-a-cinderella-sheen/"><i>Bridgerton</i> Season 4 Gives Class Struggle a Cinderella Sheen</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/bridgerton-season-4-gives-class-struggle-a-cinderella-sheen/">https://reactormag.com/bridgerton-season-4-gives-class-struggle-a-cinderella-sheen/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837828">https://reactormag.com/?p=837828</a></p>
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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-vox-in-excelso/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-vox-in-excelso/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838045">https://reactormag.com/?p=838045</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal">
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<h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Qapla’! — <i>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</i>’s “Vox in Excelso”</h2>
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<p>Well, it’s about damn time.</p>
<p>While the Klingon Empire played a big role in <em>Discovery</em>’s first two seasons, when it was taking place in the twenty-third century, they were never even mentioned after they vaulted forward into the thirty-second at the top of the third season. Over the course of the final three seasons of <em>Discovery</em>, we learned the far-future fates of so many of <em>Trek</em>’s various alien species—Vulcans, Romulans, Trill, Andorians, Tellarites, Orions, and others in less detail, but at least knew they were still around—but nothing about the Klingons at all.</p>
<p>The characters of Lura and Jay-Den in <em>Starfleet Academy</em> are the first we’ve heard of any Klingons in the thirty-second century, and we still didn’t get any notion of the status of the Klingon Empire.</p>
<p>In “Vox in Excelso,” we finally get some information, and it’s heartbreaking. The Burn apparently completely destroyed the Klingon homeworld of Kronos. The Klingon Empire, which has been a superpower in the galaxy ever since we first saw them in the original series’ “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-errand-of-mercy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Errand of Mercy</a>” in 1967, is now a nomadic, broken people, refugees stumbling through the galaxy trying to survive.</p>
<p>Jay-Den, we learn, lived on Krios (established as a Klingon colony in <em>TNG</em>’s “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-the-minds-eye/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Mind’s Eye</a>”) with his parents and brother. In these days of the Klingon Diaspora, Klingons have clung even more firmly to their warrior ethos, and the importance of learning to hunt. The latter is particularly worth noting. Klingon proclivity for hunting was established in <em>TNG</em>’s “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-rewatch-birthright-part-ii/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Birthright, Part II</a>” (one of your humble reviewer’s favorite episodes), but as we saw it with the empire at its height, it was an indulgence, a sport. But for Jay-Den and his family, it’s a necessity to survive.</p>
<p>The Klingons of the thirty-second century are also completely uninterested in accepting charity. Since the Burn was reversed, the Federation is finally in a position to help them, and at the top of this episode, a ship carrying a bunch of Klingon refugees has suffered catastrophic mechanical failure. But the Klingons aren’t interested in help. They want to fend for themselves. Back in <em>DS9</em>’s “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-the-way-of-the-warrior/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Way of the Warrior</a>,” Sisko quoted Curzon Dax as saying that the only people who can handle Klingons are Klingons, and this episode embodies that observation. (Your humble reviewer established that Curzon said that after living through the Betreka Nebula Incident, an event referenced in that same <em>DS9</em> episode, and which I explored in the novel <a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Impossible" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>The Art of the Impossible</em></a>.)</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-03-1100x733.jpg" alt="Gina Yashere as Lura Thok and Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" class="wp-image-838046" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-03-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-03-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-03-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-03.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Paramount+</figcaption></figure>
<p>In fact, Ake employs that truism, as she reaches out to Obel, a now-very-old Klingon diplomat she has a pre-Burn history with, played with gusto by David Keeley, whose scenes with Holly Hunter are magnificent. The pair of them have an obvious and fond history, which appears to be at least partly sexual. It’s especially entertaining to watch them together, as Keeley has a foot of height on Hunter and that’s before you realize that Keeley is wearing big stompy Klingon boots and Hunter is, as it the character’s wont, barefoot in most of their scenes together.</p>
<p>Obel, however, is unwilling to accept the Federation’s charity. There’s a world very much like Kronos called Faan Alpha that the Federation is willing to give to the Klingons, but they won’t accept it. Obel does, however, offer to find out if Jay-Den’s family was among those who died in the refugee ship disaster.</p>
<p>(Why nobody ever brings up the Federation’s aid to the Klingon Empire after Praxis’ destruction in <a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>The Undiscovered Country</em></a>, which is what led to the Federation-Klingon alliance, is left as an exercise for the viewer.)</p>
<p>Because this is the series at a school, we have to have the cadets learning stuff, and the focus this time around is on a debating competition, run by the EMH. This causes two separate problems for Jay-Den. One is that he absolutely detests public speaking and tends to freeze up. The other is that he wishes his debate topic to be the Klingon Diaspora. The EMH is reluctant at first, but eventually agrees that the topicality of the subject because of the loss of the refugee ship is exactly why it should be discussed.</p>
<p>We learn this week that Caleb is an expert debater, which, honestly, isn’t <em>that</em> much of a surprise, as being a fast talker would be a requirement for living on your own on the run from the age of six onward. At first he offers to partner with Jay-Den, but the Klingon views that charity with the same disdain that Obel does. Instead, Jay-Den winds up debating the point against Caleb.</p>
<p>We also see Darem learning how to be a team player by aiding Jay-Den—though, of course, his primary goal is to assist in his hated roommate Caleb losing—by showing him some Khionian meditation techniques.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-02-1100x733.jpg" alt="Bella Shepard as Genesis, Karim Diane as Jay-Den Kraag, Sandro Rosta as Caleb, and Kerrice Brooks as Sam in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" class="wp-image-838047" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-02-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-02-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-02-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/star-trek-starfleet-academy-104-02.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Paramount+</figcaption></figure>
<p>Indeed, the notion of people helping each other while saving face is all over this episode. It’s writ small in Darem using sticking it to Caleb as an excuse for why he helps Jay-Den. It’s writ larger in Jay-Den’s backstory. Jay-Den’s desire to become a physician is at least in part due to watching his brother die from wounds that could be healed with Federation medicine. Or, indeed, any medicine better than what Klingons can provide for each other in the state they’re in. That same brother also wanted Jay-Den to pursue his dream—unlike their parents.</p>
<p>When he goes on his first hunt, Jay-Den refuses to kill the bird he’s is chasing, as he does not wish to become a warrior. His father angrily grabs the bow and arrow and shoots at the bird in a rage, missing it by a mile. His parents then abandon him on Krios, leaving him to go to Starfleet Academy on his own.</p>
<p>It takes a come-to-Kahless conversation between Jay-Den and Lura to make Jay-Den realize the truth there. Klingons in a rage don’t get careless—it focuses them. Klingons are used to rage, so if his father missed the bird, it means he did it on purpose. Again: charity through deceptive means that allows the person providing the charity to save face while still doing the service. Jay-Den’s father missed on purpose, under the cover of rage, and then departed, which not only respected Jay-Den’s wishes that the animal not be harmed, but also gave him the impetus to follow his dream and go to Starfleet Academy. But it also allowed his father to maintain his honor as a warrior.</p>
<p>That scene also gives a bit of Lura’s backstory. Her parents were part of a group of free Jem’Hadar and Klingon warriors, who apparently wandered the galaxy beating each other up or something. I’m really hoping we learn more about that group, because it sounds like a fun bunch…</p>
<p>In the end, Jay-Den is able to win the debate by passionately arguing that Klingons need to be allowed to be Klingons. That when they’ve lost everything, it’s even more important to hold onto what they can hold onto, in this case, their honor, and their spirit.</p>
<p>And in the end, Ake and Vance are able to work out a way to show charity without forcing the Klingons to accept it as such. They summon Obel to Faan Alpha and declare the refugees to be trespassing in Federation space. Vance, in essence, declares war on the empire.</p>
<p>What follows is a hilariously and deliberately lame-ass space battle in which weapons fire bounces off shields with no physical damage to the ships (at one point, a damage report is given as “shields at 95%,” which I’m fairly certain is the highest that number has ever been in a line of dialogue describing shield damage), in which no one is killed, and for which the awesome Klingon leitmotif from <a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-star-trek-the-motion-picture/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>The Motion Picture</em></a> is played on the soundtrack. After only a few minutes, Starfleet surrenders. Obel declares Faan Alpha to be the Klingons’ as spoils of war.</p>
<p>Charity given. Face saved.</p>
<p>As someone who has adored the Klingons since being blown away by <a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-day-of-the-dove/">Michael Ansara’s Kang</a> and <a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-errand-of-mercy/">John Colicos’ Kor</a> on the original series, and who has written a significant amount of Klingon fiction over the decades, I absolutely loved this episode. Writing the Klingons as a broken power and reduced to being refugees is a good choice, as it shows the negative consequences of the Burn to a people we’re invested in as viewers. And it also reminds us that just reversing the Burn isn’t the complete solution for everyone.</p>
<p>One of the hallmarks of <em>Star Trek</em> has always been that the compassionate solution is preferred to the violent one. This is a lovely example of a solution that is both violent <em>and</em> compassionate—fitting for a story about Klingons, truly—and still embodying the hope for a better future that has been baked into <em>Star Trek</em> since the beginning.[end-mark]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-vox-in-excelso/">Qapla’! — <i>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</i>’s “Vox in Excelso”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-vox-in-excelso/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-vox-in-excelso/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=838045">https://reactormag.com/?p=838045</a></p>
The day before I sat down to write this, an earthquake struck Tottori, in the region I called home for three years. At a magnitude of 6.2, it was large, but by no means devastating by Japanese standards. I messaged my friends in Yonago, and they sent reassurances alongside photos of broken dishes. “We are okay. It was very scary.”
Somewhere down the line, I chose a life that chases earthquakes. I lived in Taiwan, then California, and now Japan. However, I remain ill-prepared. I grew up in Michigan where tornado, fire, severe storm, and even shooting drills were commonplace, but I was in my mid-twenties putting on cosplay makeup for an anime convention in a Los Angeles apartment when a San Diegan friend told me that what I should be doing during an earthquake was not saying, “Oh my gosh, it’s still going?” but rather finding a sturdy doorframe to brace myself against. “Doorframes are the sturdiest places in most houses,” she told me, while the tremors rattled mascara tubes and wigs on a glass coffee table. “They taught us that in school.”
Of course, students today are taught differently, as the doorframe theory has since been widely debunked. But at least she had some inkling of what to do. It occurred to me then that while I was well-versed in the myriad ways to get a car unstuck from snow or how to manage when an inevitable snow-effect blizzard knocked out our power and toilets and faucets stopped working, I would flail helplessly during a Big One.
But truly, how much of disaster preparation is a delusion? I admire the cult classic film The Iron Giant for many reasons, including the film’s depiction of students watching a disaster prevention film about nuclear warfare. It’s a cutting satire of actual Duck and Cover videos released in the 1950s. A student is shown hiding under his desk when the bombs fall, and though the classroom is burned to a radioactive sizzle, his desk is unharmed! While this is useless advice when it comes to surviving a nuclear holocaust, friend, geophysicist, and fellow Reactor columnist Kali Wallace assures me that ducking and covering during earthquakes is sound advice, as most people are harmed due to falling objects.
While a nuclear holocaust is arguably much more challenging catastrophe to contend with than an earthquake, even in the face of death, decisive action is preferable to panic. The only thing more reassuring than taking action is, perhaps, blaming something for the disasters.
Scientific explanations aside, credit for disasters has long been given to gods or devils or the sins of many or karma. For my part, I believe the science, but enjoy the folklore, especially when it gets weird.
On this front, unsurprisingly, Japan does not disappoint. A persistent folktale originating in the 17th century claims that earthquakes are not entirely natural disasters, but rather preternatural ones caused by the wriggling of Namazu, an enormous catfish who dwells beneath the earth. According to legend, Namazu has been held captive beneath a foundation stone at Kashima shrine in Ibaraki prefecture for centuries. Namazu becomes ornery sometimes and, if not properly guarded by the enshrined god Takemikazuchi, the big fish flings himself about and the earth trembles. (No tea, no shade, but Takemikazuchi must really be sleeping on the job, given that Japan’s Meteorological Society clocks in around 1,500 earthquakes annually.)
Japan, which has one of the world’s most advanced earthquake detection systems, known globally as the EEW (Earthquake Early Warning), has toughened its responses after centuries of earthquakes wreaking havoc—but there are no preventative measures to be taken against the human imagination.
Today, I am writing about a little anime girl who, since the ‘80s, has sometimes been blamed for earthquakes.
Birth of a Mythology: The Ballad of Minky Momo
Credit: Ashi Productions
Magical Princess Minky Momo, in many ways, was a pioneer in the mahou shoujo (magical girl) subgenre. Beginning in March of 1982, the series aired on TV Tokyo on Thursdays at 5:55 pm, an ideal timeslot to snag the attention of kids after school. Magical Princess Minky Momo is credited with being the first magical girl anime to incorporate animal mascots, which have since become a genre staple. Her transformation sequence, which paired music to her movements, was also groundbreaking, and the series is said to have directly inspired Creamy Mami (I know, I know, these names are… something), which maintains a devoted fanbase even today.
Minky Momo is undeniably cute, if generic in appearance—pink hair, yellow ribbon, blue dress. She is not of Earth, but hails from a sky-kingdom known as Fenarinarsa; writer Takeshi Shuto adapted the mouthful of a place name from a musical he wrote in high school called The Man from Finalinasa, after realizing “Finalinasa” would be difficult for Japanese speakers to pronounce. Fenarinarsa is home to countless copyright-free fairy tale characters, and Momo and her three animal companions are directly inspired by Momotaro. Fenarinarsa is in danger because it can only remain in Earths’ orbit if people on Earth have hopes and dreams, which, erm, was surprisingly tough during the ‘80s bubble economy. So Minky Momo goes to Earth and, like Superman, moves in with a childless couple. From then on, she uses her magic powers to transform into a teenage version of herself that, à la Barbie, takes on different roles in order to solve life’s problems and bring happiness to human beings. She’ll be your vet, your hairdresser, your police officer, whatever you like!
Schmaltzy? Yes. Typical of the subgenre? Yes, at that point in time. Harmless? Probably, and I am not one to disdain programming intended to motivate children to do good deeds. It is all too easy for the world to dismiss the things girls like as empty and worthless, and I do not doubt that its target audience found much to love about the anime, which had high-quality animation and a heroine worth admiring. Kids are not cynical, jaded old weebs like yours truly.
Of course, inspiring little kids was not the real intention of the people paying for the show, and when Minky Momo merchandise failed to meet market goals, toy company Popy pulled sponsorship. When that happened, the show was destined for cancellation.
The creative team behind Minky Momo accepted this defeat with a decided lack of grace. No, Minky Momo did not go quietly into that soft night. Instead, in a clear act of vengeance as petty as it is iconic, the show’s creators decided to murder Minky Momo. Her cause of death? An early, unforgettable example of Truck-kun. Minky Momo saves a child in the road, only for a truck full of toys to barrel right through her. Cut to a shot of her gravestone, complete with a funeral portrait.
Credit: Ashi Productions
In short? A lighthearted children’s TV program ran over its young protagonist and cut straight to the graveyard way back in 1983. Eat your heart out, Game of Thrones.
Now, Shuto claims this gruesome ending was always on the table just in case funding was pulled, but come on. The murderous truck was full of toys. A statement was being made.
…And then immediately retconned, because Popy reinstated funding to Minky Momo in order to sell a dragon-themed pair of scissors that they already had in production. Ashi Productions agreed to shoehorn a dragon character into the show. And so, within minutes of her death scene, Minky Momo was reincarnated as a human baby.
Ashi must have been a real rollercoaster of an office environment in this era. The dragon character, called Kajira, was beloved by no one involved in production. His role was to bite and eat everything and repeatedly say only his own name, but mostly to sell those damn scissors.
All of this makes for an amusing romp through weird ‘80s anime lore, and it isn’t hard to see the animators as punchy rebels in this scenario—at least until they doubled back. Animators are often overworked and unappreciated and have every right to protest. However, writing this piece has made me consider another perspective (I am a sentimental creature, and I will not apologize)…
The scenario becomes much less funny when you consider the little girls at home who probably loved Minky Momo and her adventures and watched her death unfold onscreen in abject horror. The resentment animators rightfully felt (and still feel) toward their officious overlords aside, growing up is tough, man. I wonder if Minky Momo was to some Japanese kids what Artax from The NeverEnding Story was to so many Americans. Her death may have been a formative experience.
I have written before about anime’s treatment of girls, both the good and the bad, but truck-kun doesn’t get the final word this time. Nor does the toy company, or the production company, or the show’s disturbing and unintended popularity among the burgeoning lolicon subculture at the time. Minky Momo’s legacy would continue on, albeit in odd and unexpected ways.
Perhaps it was the weird dichotomy between innocence and adulthood that motivated audiences to see further darkness in the series. A show that ended so violently is probably more sinister than it appears, they reckoned… whatever the reasoning, someone, somewhere, observed a bizarre connection between episode 46, “The Day the Magic Died,” and the trembling of the earth, and a legend was born.
The Curse of Minky Momo
Credit: Ashi Productions
Centuries after stories of catfish causing earthquakes became commonplace in Japan, the would-be final episode of Minky Momo aired, accompanied by a superimposed onscreen alert that an earthquake had struck the Kanto region. Viewers at the time joked that Minky Momo had used her magic to take revenge for her unjust demise.
Once is a joke, but when the same coincidence happens twice, things start getting weird. Later that year, on May 26th, the 1983 Sea of Japan Earthquake devastated the Tohoku region when the resulting tsunami caused 104 deaths. This earthquake occurred within hours of the broadcast of “Don’t Say Goodbye,” the final episode of Minky Momo. It is probably here that the urban legend really began taking root.
And the coincidences continued. During a rebroadcast of the series in 1989, an earthquake struck Aomori the day episode 46 aired. And then, in 1995, the Kobe earthquake, a truly catastrophic disaster, coincided with another rebroadcast of Minky Momo’s death. At least 5,000 people died, and the city of Kobe still bears the marks of its impact. I have met people who remember the quake and still shudder when recalling it.
I wonder if it was at this juncture that the discourse changed from, “Minky Momo is cursing us!” to “Minky Momo is trying to warn us!” Because all these curse allegations haven’t led to depictions of Minky Momo as a villain—if anything, she is seen as a girl fighting to defend the earth, even as her murder is seen as the cause of so much destruction.
Japan is a nation that experiences multiple earthquakes a day, and I am not a superstitious person. But I am fascinated by the stories that shape our world, like so many horror and fantasy fans. The supernatural is compelling regardless of your belief in it—while I think the obvious answer to the Minky Momo/earthquake question is that correlation is not causation, at the same time, I love this legend for all kinds of reasons, not least of which is this: the senseless death of a little girl at the hands of her creator should not go unnoticed.
What does it mean to mythologize a fictional character?
The curse of Minky Momo reminds me of other modern characters that have been linked with tragedy. In 2014, two fourteen-year-old girls attempted to murder a friend as a sacrifice to the creepypasta character Slender Man. The man who murdered John Lennon cited The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caulfield as an inspiration, the first of several instances in which the book was reportedly carried by disturbed individuals who committed acts of violence.
I am never one to blame entertainment media for violence, to be clear—it’s much too slippery a slope, and far too big of a discussion to begin unpacking here. But the sway a fictional character can have on the human psyche is fascinating. I would argue that far more characters have provided positive inspiration throughout history. This is never as newsworthy as specific instances of violence or tragedy, of course, and feels like a more amorphous catch-all: Yes, kids are inspired by Peter Parker and Sailor Moon and Luffy, and we do not question that. We rarely seek reasons for goodness, but we always seek reasons for evil.
But earthquakes and human beings are not the same. An earthquake’s tremors, even if caused by a grumpy catfish, are not selfish actions, but mindless seismic activity. It is fascinating that we continue to anthropomorphize forces of nature to this day, but pairing up the violent, uncontrollable shaking of the earth with an anime girl somehow feels especially human of us. I don’t believe in the curse, but I do admire its tenacity, and what it says about the power that stories have over our world.
On this front, I want to end this with one more fact about Namazu. Despite the chaos he inflicts on Japan, the giant catfish is not actually seen as a villainous monster. In fact, he is viewed a little bit fondly by the public, and not only because he has cute whiskers.
In the years before billionaires could flee on their private jets, earthquakes were a unique equalizer. Earthquakes were as devastating to the wealthy as they were for the poor; the wealthy, of course, had far more land and assets to lose. In the wake of a disaster, their wealth might be redistributed among the poor. This giant catfish has something in common with Robin Hood: Just as the tides of public opinion turned Minky Momo into a harbinger of a coming disaster rather than the cause, in the Edo period Namazu gradually came to be credited with decimating the ill-gotten gains of overbearing feudal lords.
For all that the world is unfair to creatures both real and fictional, I find this tendency—to shift our perspective from fearing a curse to embracing a gift—a hopeful aspect of being human. Life is very unfair right now, and likely to remain that way. So I’ll cling to whatever peculiar justice stories have to offer for as long as the world allows art to exist.
Time of the Great Freeze cover art by Brinton Turkle
Speculative fiction writers have imagined countless different ways that the world could end—from fairly realistic options (such as nuclear war or a super flu) to rather more implausible scenarios (like zombies). But we’re in the depths of winter right now, here in the north, so I’ve been feeling drawn to stories set during a frozen apocalypse.
Below are a couple of books, a short story, a movie, and a TV series which explore the possibility of a frozen Earth. The cause of the planet’s deep freeze is different in each of the stories—and one is an apocalyptic tale that is simply set during the winter months—but they all result in a stark, dangerously chilly landscape.
The 10-year-old narrator of “A Pail of Air” lives a very sheltered life—literally. Along with his Pa, Ma, and younger Sis, he lives in a small shelter (essentially a glorified blanket fort) that they call the Nest. A few years earlier, the Earth was ripped out of its orbit and as it careened away from the heat of sun, the gasses in the atmosphere froze and fell to the ground in snowy layers.
Every so often, one of the family members has to venture outside in protective gear to gather a bucket of oxygen to replenish the Nest’s air supply. It’s during one of these excursions that the boy sees a woman in a nearby building—something that surely isn’t possible, given that everyone on Earth is dead aside from his family.
Despite the story’s short length, Fritz Leiber manages to craft a detailed picture of how such a catastrophic event could impact life on Earth—not only that, but he also manages to make a compelling philosophical case for why survival on such a cold and dead planet is worth fighting for.
Time of the Great Freeze is set in 2650, which is a few hundred years after the Earth entered an ice age due to cosmic dust blocking out the sun. Millions of people sought refuge in purpose-built underground tunnels across the world, with the plan being to (hopefully) wait out the cold.
But the passing centuries have led to these subterranean cities becoming increasingly insular, so when a group of New Yorkers detect that the temperature has risen slightly and suggest exploring the surface, they’re cast out as traitors. With far less preparation than expected, the group strikes out across the ice in the hope of making it to a similar city near London with which they’ve made radio contact.
This is a pulpy and plot-driven adventure story at heart. The characters admittedly aren’t all that well differentiated or developed, but the real draw is the exploration of the frozen landscape itself and the encounters with people and animals that have managed to eke out an existence there.
The cause of the apocalypse isn’t known in Moon of the Crusted Snow, but whatever it was results in a power blackout. Although this apocalypse doesn’t lead to the planet freezing over, the story is set during the winter months in an Anishinaabe community in northern Canada, so there’s plenty of snow and ice.
The First Nations community already lives at a distance from mainstream society so they’re shielded from some of the chaos that erupts down south—a glimpse of which the reader sees when two college students manage to return home. Although the community is in for a rough winter, they’re used to being intermittently cut off due to bad weather so they have some food and fuel stores. But that preparedness—paired with their remote location—makes them a target for outsiders.
Moon of the Crusted Snow is a slow and contemplative read. But although the end of the world might not seem as imminent here as in other stories, there’s still plenty of tension to be found.
Snowpiercer currently exists in three formats: There’s the 1982 graphic novel written by Jacques Lob and illustrated by Jean-Marc Rochette, a 2013 film directed by Bong Joon Ho, and a TV series that ran from 2020 to 2024. My favorite version of this story is the movie, so that’s the one I’m going to focus on.
The world is plunged into an ice age after an attempt to reverse climate change backfires. The only people left alive are on the Snowpiercer—a self-sustaining train that has been looping the globe for almost two decades. Although the train provides safety from the bitter cold outside, conditions onboard are far from perfect. While the wealthy passengers in the front carriages live a life of luxury, those in the back are forced to endure terrible conditions. This unfair system leads to a group of tail section passengers instigating a rebellion.
Bong Joon Ho manages to pull off a genre juggling act with all of his films, and Snowpiercer is no exception. It’s full of thrilling post-apocalyptic action scenes, but it’s also a thoughtful examination of class politics. It features a deeply moving and horrifying monologue from revolt leader Curtis (Chris Evans), but there’s also weird humor thanks to Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton).
Spanish-language TV series The Eternaut starts with a group of old friends playing cards and being interrupted by the sound of cars crashing outside. Not only has every car in sight come to a stop with their drivers dead at the wheel, but snow is falling—which isn’t at all common in Buenos Aires, in summer. Something is clearly going on, but anyone who steps outside to investigate keels over dead.
After sheltering in place for a short time, main character Juan (Ricardo Darín) decides to risk the weird weather in a homemade protective suit in an attempt to rescue his daughter, Clara (Mora Fisz). But while venturing through the eerie city, Juan discovers that the snow is only half of the apocalyptic problem.
The Eternaut is based on a comic book series from the ’50s that was written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and illustrated by Francisco Solano López. I haven’t read the comics so I can’t speak to how the show fares as an adaptation, but I found both the setting and story compelling and plan to check out season 2 when it airs.
I’m always on the lookout for frozen apocalypse stories, so if I’ve missed any of your favorites, please feel free to mention them in the comments. I’d love to add further recommendations to my to-be-read and to-be-watched lists![end-mark]
Welcome back to Reading the Weird, in which we get girl cooties all over weird fiction, cosmic horror, and Lovecraftiana—from its historical roots through its most recent branches. This week, we cover K.M. Tonso’s “Last Rites,” first published in 2014 in S.T. Joshi’s The Madness of Cthulhu anthology. Spoilers ahead!
Paul Dyer, chairman of the Geology Department at Miskatonic University, is “something of an outsider” among the faculty. Most professors have transitioned into the digital age; a stoop-shouldered “pipe-smoking dinosaur of tweed suits and bow ties,” Dyer’s more likely to be found among books, papers and pens than screens. Alf Marsh meets Dyer as a (pre-digital) undergraduate, and comes to appreciate the professor’s kindness when Dyer accepts a hand-written paper after Marsh’s typewriter breaks. What’s more, Dyer gives the paper an A.
Dyer shares Marsh’s interest in abyssal-zone hydrothermal vents that mysteriously occur away from subduction zones or magma plumes. He becomes Marsh’s mentor, but when Marsh decides to pursue geology, Dyer warns him that it’s “perilous work.” Consider Dyer’s father.
Paul Dyer’s father was William Dyer, who led Miskatonic’s ill-fated 1930 Antarctic expedition. Marsh finds little information until, with Paul’s permission, he gains access to the MU Library’s Special Collection. The first expedition report describes the plan to obtain geological specimens buried under deep ice, via engineer Frank Pabodie’s then-revolutionary drilling rig. Peculiar Comanchean Era fossils sent biologist Lake into unexplored territory, dominated by mountains higher than Everest. Terrific windstorms wiped out Lake’s party, along with Pabodie’s rig, and the expedition was terminated. So far sad but ordinary – why is this information restricted?
A second report, though, contains William’s account of the party he led to Lake’s camp. There rescuers found not only the mutilated bodies of men and dogs, but incredibly well-preserved specimens of giant radiates: barrel-shaped, starfish-headed creatures with many eyes and mouths, and limbs arranged in fives. William called the creatures “Old Ones” and claimed they “filtered down” from space to a lifeless primordial earth. Indeed, the Old Ones’ biological experiments started the evolution of all Terran organisms. William and a colleague explored Old One ruins beyond the new-discovered mountain range and gleaned their history from carven wall murals. But what inspired William to warn against future Antarctic exploration was a survival of the Old Ones’ servants, “half-sentient conglomerations of hypnotically controlled cells.” These “shoggoths” had destroyed their masters, and could destroy humanity if roused.
Ironically, the Starkweather-Moore expedition that William tried to stop would refute his claims. At the charted location of the super-Himalayan peaks, they found no mountains, no ruined city or Old Ones, just wind-swept ice and snow. William’s tenure was revoked. His reports were placed among “the equally hysterical delusions of d’Erlette and Prinn” in Special Collections.
Marsh is torn between William Dyer’s compelling narrative and the evidence against him. After a rough break-up with his fiancée, he takes refuge in Paul’s house, an inherited edifice that he rattles around in alone. The two live together as “congenial colleagues” for years, comfortable and celibate (as Marsh stresses). Aware that Paul’s “ensnared” in the same “moebius” of credulity and doubt as himself regarding William, he digs deeper into the enigma. He learns that a Kalpaxia Mining Company ventured to Lake’s mountains in 1933; no luckier than Lake, it lost all its equipment and thousands of workers. Only a dozen men escaped, half-mad. The last survivor is fully mad and institutionalized outside of Arkham; Marsh interviews the man. He reveals that the reason the later Starkweather-Moore expedition found no mountains was that Kalpaxia accidentally leveled the vulnerable Archean slate peaks, trying to uncover their mineral wealth. The mountains slid into the valley behind, burying the ruined city but releasing amorphous monsters, which in turn destroyed Kalpaxia’s venture.
Soon after, Dyer learns that core samples from an abyssal “smoker” contain cryptically marked soapstones like those his father found—perhaps it’s an enclave of surviving Old Ones, and vindication for William! He and Marsh plan an expedition to the ten-thousand-meters deep smoker, made possible by the engineer grandson of Frank Pabodie, who’s developed a submersible super-resistant to pressure, and bathysuits designed around breathing liquid oxygenated perfluorocarbons. Dyer and Marsh make the first dive. Halfway down, they spot a dim glow emanating from a sea-mount cave. They exit the submersible in bathysuits and enter a vast grotto of stalagmite pillars lit by bioluminescent algae-animal growths. More disturbing is a “subliminal current… of pure thought” both pick up, repeating “You shall not come.”
Deeper in, they find barrel-shaped bodies—Old Ones!—four dead, one dying. The thought-current comes from this survivor, beside which the compassionate Dyer kneels to clasp one of its “manual” stalks. Marsh explores ahead. He’s stopped by a massive rock-and-debris wall, behind which a “hot-wave of stubborn hate” glows like a “half-sentient furnace.” He fears that the Old One’s telepathic “You shall not come” is all that keeps shoggoths from breaking through this last barrier between their Antarctic prison and the world. He retreats to find Dyer whispering “a final parting grace” to the Old One. It dies. The barrier groans under the shoggoths’ assault.
Dyer and Marsh rush back to their submersible, but Dyer doesn’t enter. He releases two explosive devices he’d attached to the hull, in case what Marsh learned about Kalpaxia’s destruction was true. He’ll set them off manually while Dyer heads home. Having vindicated William to himself, Paul’s work is done.
Marsh survives. He doctors the dive records to suggest that Dyer’s bathysuit failed. Miskatonic, loath to deal with another uncanny failure, accepts the story. Back in Arkham, the grieving Marsh learns that he’s Paul’s sole heir. He goes on living in their house. Often he worries that Paul’s sacrifice might not be enough. What about new deep drilling studies? What about other Kalpaxias? When cynical, he figures humanity will “manage to hold on to our comparatively wretched lives.” When less despairing, he remembers Paul’s “final valediction,” mouthed to the Old One in hope it would telepathically understand.
It was a “message of profound peace and reconciliation. Simply: “I forgive you.”
The Degenerate Dutch: Amid his tale of lost expeditions and ancient aliens, Alf takes time to “no homo” his decades-long bachelor residence with his mentor. He certainly wouldn’t want the local Gay and Lesbian Coalition to profit from their “celibate Castalia.”
Libronomicon: Dyer Senior was shortsighted in naming his discoveries using terms from the Necronomicon. Miskatonic keeps that tome, and others, in “the Vault” where access requires either professorial permission… or a bribe.
Weirdbuilding: We’re in full-on mythos mode, with a Dyer and a Marsh (plus a Pabodie) working at Miskatonic and tracking down sequalae to the Dyer Antarctica Expedition, with Old Ones and Shoggothim waiting in the wings.
Madness Takes Its Toll: The last survivor of the Kalpaxia mining expedition just happens to be in a badly-run asylum outside Arkham. He dies in response to Alf’s questioning; Alf seems weirdly un-bothered.
Anne’s Commentary
It’s been a long time since Ruthanna and I went back to our Lovecraft Reread roots and considered a story that not only riffs on the Cthulhu Mythos but that also employs HPL’s structural modus operandi, milieu, and even style without the writer’s tongue obviously planted in cheek. K. M. Tonso is a nom-de-plume of Gael Baudino, who has written novels and short stories across multiple genres. With “Last Rites,” she nails the sub-sub-subgenre of Mythos (core Lovecraft) — “At the Mountains of Madness” inspired — Canon-friendly sequel.
That sub-sub-subgenre’s an official thing, right? In my office, anyhow, where it disappears as quickly as doughnuts.
It seems like Miskatonic University had a strong legacy admissions program, not that I mean to imply that William Dyer’s son and Frank Pabodie’s grandson were not amply qualified to succeed their relations all the way to tenure level. Alf Marsh doesn’t mention any particular predecessor at MU, but surely the Marshes of Innsmouth were always welcome there. From Paul Dyer’s jest that Alf would do fine with breathing liquids given his hometown, I take it that at least some of the university community has gotten over stigmatizing those blessed with amphibious genes. The university community with access to the SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, you know.
I wonder if having breathed liquid perfluorocarbons might trigger Alf’s dormant genes to produce water-breathing modifications. Then he wouldn’t need any bathysuit to explore the ocean depths. That’s assuming he could get over the traumatic stress of nearly meeting some very, very angry shoggoths. On the other hand, Deep Ones do get along with shoggoths, even at times employing them as servants—servants, one hopes, with better pay and benefits than those the Old Ones provided.
Which brings us to the aeons-old ethical problem of Old One/Shoggoth relations. Does the creator of a life form have the right to control (exploit, enslave) that creature? What if the creature is sentient, and does the degree to which it is sentient or sapient matter? In At the Mountains of Madness, Dyer and Danforth finally accept that the barrel-shaped beings from the ruined city’s murals aren’t some sort of totemic metaphor for a lost race of humans, but a truly alien race. At this point, Lovecraft’s sympathies encompass the Old Ones. Star-headed radiates though they are, they are men, damn it. It was chancy for them to make a subordinate species as physically malleable and powerful as shoggoths. It was a fatal miscalculation to control them telepathically, so that the hyperimitative beasts developed rudimentary intelligence, self-awareness and will. So, yeah, the Old Ones made a mistake, but they didn’t commit a crime or sin. They were not “evil things of their kind.” At worst, they were tragic victims of hubris.
But, come on, it’s easy to be over-confident when you’re interstellar travelers and founders of a great civilization! Whereas shoggoths are just jumped-up blobs who graffiti poor imitations over the art of their betters and otherwise just suck the heads off penguins, gross. They are always going to be the bad guys.
“Last Rites” basically reiterates this dichotomy between the Old Ones and the shoggoths, with the former being flawed but capable of heroism, and worthy of human compassion like that of both Dyers. Whereas the latter are treacherous servants and merciless killers, “hot [waves] of stubborn hate” and “huge, half-sentient [furnaces].”
Not that shoggoths are that much worse than the humans Alf Marsh deprecates as wagers of “useless wars” and indulgers in “petty hate and bigotry.” Humanity might deserve to one day unleash the shoggoths upon itself. Except—
Except that humanity includes a human like Paul Dyer, who clasps appendages with the dying Old One defender of whatever remains worth fighting for. It’s a genuinely moving scene, as are Dyer’s final words to this fellow creature: “I forgive you.”
Exactly what he forgives is up to each reader. The very act of forgiveness, I think, is where the deep benediction lies.
Ruthanna’s Commentary
My wife likes to describe Rodrigo Borgia as “the guy who literally gave nepotism a bad name.” That was in 1492, but word clearly hasn’t reached Miskatonic University, where the best way to get a professorship is to be descended from a previous professor, and the second-best way is to be a student-turned-grad-student-turned-teacher with an old-money name. This is a striking contrast to most Ivy Leagues—what I always heard was that you get tenure at Harvard not by going there, nor by taking a tenure-track job there, but by becoming a rock star somewhere else at which point they will lure you away with scads of money (on the academic scale).
But poor Miskatonic doesn’t get its pick of rock stars, perhaps because of the ding to its scientific reputation from the old Dyer Expedition, now firmly considered a hoax. So they’re stuck offering jobs to Dyer Junior and Pabodie Junior and a wayward, non-water-breathing Marsh. And both Dyer and Marsh have very specific research interests: they are absolutely obsessed with uncovering the truth about Dyer Senior.
Here’s where things get dicey. I am totally willing to believe in an ancient star-headed civilization, and their collapse in the Great Shoggoth Revolt. I’m happy to imagine that remnant Old Ones have held out for aeons, with shoggothim still going strong in the 21st Century, and that the last Old One conveniently draws their last breath just as the last Dyer happens by. But one wayward blast of TNT taking down two Everest-high mountain ranges? In a way that leaves absolutely no trace discernible by PhD geologists a couple years later? A mining disaster in the exact location of a controversial Miskatonic expedition that somehow never comes to the attention of Miskatonic? Hell, the mining company not bothering to consult with Miskatonic – perhaps to poach a consultant about their promising geological findings—prior to haring off? This makes no bloody sense.
I also strongly advise not getting into a submersible that your local oceanographers won’t touch. But that, at least, is realistic. If you want effective amateur deep-ocean expeditions, consult with your local James Cameron.
Alf isn’t persuaded of the Old Ones’ reality by photos, but recognizes something ineluctably inhuman in their art. “Regardless of deformity, futurism, style, or evidence of mental instability, a work of art made by a human being demonstrates by its very nature the axiomatic groundwork of our consciousness and psychology.” This is a fascinating claim, and absolutely the sort of thing a geologist would believe with great confidence. It makes me want to run a psychological experiment presenting people with a full range of human and Old One art, and asking them to judge which is which. What does it take for art to be non-human, and yet recognizable to humans as art? There’s a whole untapped field of inquiry here.
The scene with Dyer holding the dying Old One’s tentacle is sweet, even moving. They were men, after all, and recognize us as such when they aren’t dissecting us. I would like to know what Dyer thinks he’s forgiving the Old One for, though. Failing to leave a resilient enough record to preserve the Dyer reputation? (Not the Old Ones’ fault.) Dying, and thus unleashing angry shoggothim on an unsuspecting world? (Also not the Old Ones’ fault.) Creating shoggothim in the first place, enslaving them, and refusing to recognize their personhood? (Actually the Old Ones’ fault, and really not Dyer’s place to forgive.)
Finding evidence of still-surviving-until-yesterday Old Ones, and then blowing it up without giving your surviving student a sample corpse to carry away for further research? Not forgivable at all.
Next week, we wrap up Sister, Maiden, Monster—and perhaps the lifespan of the human species—with Chapters 29-30.[end-mark]
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films has announced the nominees for the 53rd Saturn Awards, which recognize the year’s outstanding science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, and action/adventure entertainment in movies and on TV. That is a lot of categories, and a lot of nominations, some of which are slightly baffling (how is Dust Bunny star Mads Mikkelsen in the supporting actor category?)! But there’s certainly something for every fan of these genres in the nominees below.
This year’s awards will be presented on March 8th; Joel McHale hosts the ceremony.
Here’s the complete list of nominees:
Best Science Fiction Film
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Bugonia
Jurassic World: Rebirth
Predator: Badlands
The Running Man
Tron: Ares
Best Fantasy Film
Freakier Friday
Hamnet
How to Train Your Dragon
The Life of Chuck
Lilo & Stitch
Wicked: For Good
Best Horror Film
28 Years Later
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Final Destination: Bloodlines
Frankenstein
The Monkey
Weapons
Best Cinematic Adaptation Film
Black Phone 2
Captain America: Brave New World
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
A Minecraft Movie
Superman
Thunderbolts
Best Thriller Film
Highest 2 Lowest
The Housemaid
The Long Walk
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Best Action / Adventure Film
Ballerina
F1: The Movie
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Novocaine
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
One Battle After Another
Best Actor in a Film
David Corenswet (Superman)
Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning)
Tom Hiddleston (The Life of Chuck)
Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein)
Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)
Pedro Pascal (The Fantastic Four: First Steps)
Sam Worthington (Avatar: Fire and Ash)
Best Actress in a Film
Rachel Brosnahan (Superman)
Cynthia Erivo ( Wicked: For Good)
Elle Fanning (Predator: Badlands)
Julia Garner (Weapons)
Vanessa Kirby (The Fantastic Four: First Steps)
Zoe Saldana (Avatar: Fire and Ash)
Emma Stone (Bugonia)
Best Supporting Actor in a Film
Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
Edi Gathegi (Superman)
Jeff Goldblum (Wicked: For Good)
Stephan Lang (Avatar: Fire and Ash)
Delroy Lindo (Sinners)
Mads Mikkelsen (Dust Bunny)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Fantastic Four: First Steps)
Best Supporting Actress in a Film
Oona Chaplin (Avatar: Fire and Ash)
Mia Goth (Frankenstein)
Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good)
Amy Madigan (Weapons)
Florence Pugh (Thunderbolts)
Hailee Steinfeld (Sinners)
Sigourney Weaver (Dust Bunny)
Best Younger Performer in a Film
Miles Caton (Sinners)
Jack Champion (Avatar: Fire and Ash)
Maia Kealoha (Lilo & Stitch)
Madeleine McGraw (Black Phone 2)
Sophie Sloan (Dust Bunny)
Mason Thames (How to Train Your Dragon)
Best Film Direction
James Cameron (Avatar: Fire and Ash)
Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein)
James Gunn (Superman)
Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning)
Matt Shakman (The Fantastic Four: First Steps)
Dan Trachtenberg (Predator: Badlands)
Best Film Screenwriting
Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver; Story by: Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno)
Dust Bunny (Bryan Fuller)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer)
Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro )
Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen)
Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
Weapons (Zach Cregger)
Best Film Visual / Special Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
How to Train Your Dragon
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Superman
Wicked: For Good
Best Film Music
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Simon Franglen)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino)
Frankenstein (Alexandre Desplat)
Sinners (Ludwig Göransson)
Tron: Ares (Nine Inch Nails: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)
Wicked: For Good (John Powell & Stephen Schwartz)
Best Film Production Design
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Frankenstein
Sinners
Superman
Wicked: For Good
Best Film Make Up
28 Years Later
Frankenstein
Sinners
Tron: Ares
Weapons
Wicked: For Good
Best Film Editing
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Frankenstein
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Predator: Badlands
Sinners
Best Film Costume Design
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Frankenstein
Predator: Badlands
Sinners
Superman
Wicked: For Good
Best Independent Film
Adulthood
Eden
Dust Bunny
Good Boy
The Rule of Jenny Pen
The Plague
The Toxic Avenger
Best International Film
40 Acres
Bring Her Back
Dead of Winter
Night Call
The Ugly Stepsister
Sisu 2: Road to Revenge
Best Animated Film
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
The Bad Guys 2
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants
Zootopia 2
Best International Animated Film (New Category)
Attack on Titan the Movie: The Last Attack
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
The Colors Within
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
Ne Zha 2
Stitch Head
Best Science Fiction Television Series
Andor
The Ark
Foundation
Severance
Silo
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Best Fantasy Television Series
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches
Ghosts
The Librarians: The Next Chapter
Outlander
Stranger Things
Wednesday
Best Horror Television Series
Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order
The Institute
It: Welcome to Derry
The Last of Us
The Walking Dead: Dead City
Yellowjackets
Best New Genre Series
Alien: Earth
Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Pluribus
Robin Hood
Spartacus: House of Ashur
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
Best Action/Adventure Television Series
Cobra Kai
Duster
Paradise
Reacher
Squid Game
Twisted Metal
Best Thriller Television Series
Dark Winds
Dexter: Resurrection
The Lowdown
MobLand
The Rainmaker
Your Friends and Neighbors
Best Superhero Television Series
Daredevil: Born Again
Gen V
Invincible
Iron Heart
Peacemaker
The Sandman
Best Television Presentation
The Beast in Me
Black Mirror
Murderbot
Nautilus
The Pitt
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
Best Animated Television Series or Special
Creature Commandos
Harley Quinn
Marvel Zombies
Predator: Killer of Killers
Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Solo Leveling Season 2 – Arise from the Shadow
Best Actor in a Television Series
Sterling K. Brown (Paradise)
John Cena (Peacemaker)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter: Resurrection)
Sam Heughan (Outlander)
Diego Luna (Andor)
Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon)
Adam Scott (Severance)
Best Actress in a Television Series
Caitriona Balfe (Outlander)
Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things)
Sydney Chandler (Alien: Earth)
Britt Lower (Severance)
Melissa McBride (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon)
Jenna Ortega (Wednesday)
Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus)
Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series
Jack Alcott (Dexter: Resurrection)
William Fichtner (Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order)
Jude Law (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew)
James Marsden (Paradise)
Babou Ceesay (Alien: Earth)
Ethan Peck (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
Stellan Skarsgard (Andor)
Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series
Christina Chong (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
Denise Gough (Andor)
Julianne Nicholson (Paradise)
Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker)
Genevieve O’Reilly (Andor)
Uma Thurman (Dexter: Resurrection)
Karolina Wydra (Pluribus)
Best Guest Star in a Television Series
Dave Dastmalchian (Dexter: Resurrection)
Peter Dinklage (Dexter: Resurrection)
Linda Hamilton (Stranger Things)
James Remar (It: Welcome to Derry)
Bill Skarsgard (It: Welcome to Derry)
Samba Schutte (Pluribus)
Paul Wesley (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
Best Young Performer in a Television Series
Ravi Cabot-Conyers (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew)
Arian S. Cartaya (It: Welcome to Derry)
Joe Freeman (The Institute)
Noah Schnapp (Stranger Things)
Jaz Sinclair (Gen V)
Sadie Sink (Stranger Things)
Clara Stack (It: Welcome to Derry)
Best 4K Home Media Release
Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning (Paramount)
Nightmare Alley (Criterion)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Disney/Marvel)
Thunderbolts (Disney/Marvel)
When Evil Lurks (Second Sight Films)
Wicked (Universal)
Best Classic Film Home Media Release
Dead of Night (Kino Lorber)
Frailty (Lionsgate Home Video)
Kingdom of Heaven (Director’s Cut) (20th Century/Disney)
Night of the Juggler (Kino Lorber)
Night of the Living Dead 1990 (Sony)
The Re-Animator 40th Anniversary (Ignite Films)
Tombstone (Disney)
Best Film Home Media Collection
007: James Bond – Sean Connery 6 Film Collection (Warner Bros.)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 7 Film Collection (Warner Bros.)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy (Arrow)
Terror in the Fog: The Wallace Krimi at CCC (Eureka)
The Abbott and Costello Horror Film Collection (Kino Lorber)
The Pink Panther Peter Sellers Comedy Collection (Kino Lorber)
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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/robocop-a-glorious-scathing-satire-of-america/">https://reactormag.com/robocop-a-glorious-scathing-satire-of-america/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837808">https://reactormag.com/?p=837808</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal">
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<h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><i>RoboCop</i>: A Glorious, Scathing Satire of America</h2>
<div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">“Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law.”</div>
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<p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/kali-wallace/" title="Posts by Kali Wallace" class="author url fn" rel="author">Kali Wallace</a></p>
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Published on January 28, 2026
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<div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&_a]:link"><p>Credit: Orion Pictures / MGM Studios</p>
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="423" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/robocop-convenience-store-740x423.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Peter Weller in RoboCop (1987)" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/robocop-convenience-store-740x423.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/robocop-convenience-store-1100x629.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/robocop-convenience-store-768x439.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/robocop-convenience-store.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure>
<div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&_a]:link"><p>Credit: Orion Pictures / MGM Studios</p>
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<p><em>RoboCop</em> (1987) Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox, Miguel Ferrer, and Kurtwood Smith.</p>
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<p>Let me start with my favorite story about the making of <em>RoboCop</em>.</p>
<p>In the middle of the 1980s, film producer Jon Davison, then working at Orion Studios, picked up a screenplay by two young screenwriters. Davison is the man who produced the films <em>Airplane! </em>(1980) and <em>Top Secret! </em>(1984), those gleefully over-the-top parodies that people of a certain generation (i.e., me and my siblings) still reference incessantly. Davison liked the satirical nature of this script that was titled <em>RoboCop: The Future of Law Enforcement</em>. At first, he and the studio intended Jonathan Kaplan to direct it. When the director he had in mind left to work on a different movie, Davison had to find another.</p>
<p>That proved to be rather difficult. The studio approached David Cronenberg (who, as far as I can tell, was offered every sci fi movie produced in the ’80s) and Alex Cox (director of <a href="https://reactormag.com/repo-man-a-brash-indelible-outrageous-look-at-1980s-america/"><em>Repo Man</em></a><em> </em>[1984]), but they both turned it down, and nobody else the studio considered was able to sign on. They started to think the movie would never get made.</p>
<p>Finally, one of the people at Orion, Barbara Boyle, suggested they send the script to Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, with whom the studio had recently worked with on his first English-language film. The grim, gory historical <em>Flesh and Blood </em>(1985) had been a resolute failure, the kind of box-office bomb that makes a movie vanish from theaters almost as soon as it arrives. Screenwriter Michael Miner <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a27322/robocop-oral-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">would later say</a>, “[Edward Neumeier] and I were two of only a handful of people in the theater when we went to see it.” They, and everybody else, were more impressed by Verhoeven’s 1977 war film <em>Soldier of Orange</em>. The studio sent Neumeier and Miner’s screenplay to Verhoeven to see if he was interested.</p>
<p>Verhoeven read maybe one page of the script and threw it away. “I thought it was a piece of shit,” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200930003130/https:/uproxx.com/filmdrunk/robocop-retrospective-30/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">he would later say</a>.</p>
<p>It was his wife, Martine Tours, who read through the script and persuaded him to reconsider. He listened to her, but he’s always been very frank about the fact that he didn’t get it at first. He didn’t understand the humor. He didn’t understand the satire. The title was too cheesy. The story was too American.</p>
<p>I love this bit of backstory for a couple of reasons. One small reason is that it’s hilarious to imagine Verhoeven chucking the screenplay away in disgust, not knowing that <em>RoboCop</em> would one day become his career-defining magnum opus.</p>
<p>The larger reason is about what happened next, which is that Verhoeven actually read the screenplay to figure out what he was missing. He looked for the character hooks his wife had seen. He asked Neumeier and Miner to explain the politics, the satire, the humor. He didn’t understand why they wanted the movie to be darkly funny instead of serious, so <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112043452/http:/thedissolve.com/features/interview/415-robocop-writer-ed-neumeier-discusses-the-films-ori/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neumeier gave him a pile of comic books, including <em>Judge Dredd</em></a>; Verhoeven dutifully read through them to understand out what tone the screenwriters were going for.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200930003130/https:/uproxx.com/filmdrunk/robocop-retrospective-30/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a 2017 interview</a>, Miner said, “Ed and I were the luckiest screenwriters in the decade of the ’80s.”</p>
<p>He’s got a point. It’s more or less taken as fact in the film industry that the screenwriter stops mattering once a director signs on to a project, and the film that gets made will be a reflection of the director’s vision. It’s vanishingly rare to hear about a director putting so much effort into crafting a film that is exactly what the screenwriters want it to be.</p>
<p>I also feel like if we surveyed people, just in general, and asked them to name movies that are screenwriter-driven rather than director-driven, most would probably come up with serious, dialogue-heavy dramas. Most would probably not name an ultraviolent ’80s sci fi satire that features a man’s skin gruesomely melting off after he crashes into a giant tank helpfully labeled “TOXIC WASTE.”</p>
<p>So let’s go back to the beginning: <em>RoboCop</em> was born because Neumeier and Miner loved robots and really fucking hated Ronald Reagan.</p>
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<p>In the early ’80s Neumeier was a film school graduate <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/the-making-of-robocop-extended-cut/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">working as a story analyst at Columbia Pictures</a>, reading scripts in a trailer on the lot Columbia shared with Warner Brothers. He was captivated by what was going on outside his window. “…Next door was this giant street they built, suddenly, which is a lovely thing to behold in and of itself,” he said <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112043452/http:/thedissolve.com/features/interview/415-robocop-writer-ed-neumeier-discusses-the-films-ori/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a 2014 interview</a>. “It was for a big science-fiction movie called <em>Blade Runner</em>, and I never had seen anything like it.”</p>
<p>Neumeier marched over to the <a href="https://reactormag.com/blade-runner-a-future-more-human-than-human/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Blade Runner</em></a> set to do some work on the film during the night shift, and it was <em>Blade Runner’s</em> replicants that gave him the idea for a robot policeman. The corporate side of the story came from his experience of working at MCA and watching studio execs interact with legendary media mogul Lew Wasserman; Wasserman was the blueprint for “The Old Man” (Daniel O’Herlihy), the chief executive of Omni Consumer Products in <em>RoboCop</em>. Neumeier wanted to skewer the macho, worshipful culture of corporate America in the ’80s. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200930003130/https:/uproxx.com/filmdrunk/robocop-retrospective-30/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">He later said</a>, “Everybody was walking around in the ’80s talking about ‘corporate raiders’ and ‘killers’ and how business was for tough guys. I just thought that was absurd.”</p>
<p>Around the same time, Neumeier made the acquaintance of Miner, who was working as a cinematographer and directing music videos for Bay Area metal bands. They began talking about their projects and discovered that they both loved robot stories as much as they both hated Ronald Reagan. In <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a27322/robocop-oral-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the 2014 oral history published in <em>Esquire</em></a>, Miner makes the film’s political and economic intent about as clear as can be: “Because we were in the midst of the Reagan era, I always characterize <em>RoboCop</em> as comic relief for a cynical time. Milton Friedman and the Chicago boys ransacked the world, enabled by Reagan and the CIA.”</p>
<p>Both of them were absolutely determined to keep the movie set in Detroit, because Detroit was the city that best exemplified the politics of the story. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112043452/http:/thedissolve.com/features/interview/415-robocop-writer-ed-neumeier-discusses-the-films-ori/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neumeier specifically cites Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam’s 1986 book <em>The Reckoning</em></a>, which details the decline of the American auto industry, as one of his inspirations while writing. The characterization of Detroit as a crime-ridden hellscape is deliberately mocking the so-called “law and order” politics of the era.<em> </em><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200930003130/https:/uproxx.com/filmdrunk/robocop-retrospective-30/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">As Miner explained it</a><em>, </em>“That is a cop trope, right? ‘Crime was out of control, blah, blah, blah.’ It’s a very Republican idea.” (The film might be set in Detroit, but it was mostly filmed in Dallas, with a few scenes serving as notable exceptions. Such are the whims of the movie business.)</p>
<p>With that’s ’80s context in mind, <em>RoboCop</em> takes us to a science fictional near future. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112043452/http:/thedissolve.com/features/interview/415-robocop-writer-ed-neumeier-discusses-the-films-ori/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">According to Neumeier</a>, Verhoeven wanted the future to look more like <em>Blade Runner</em>, but producer Jon Davison basically said, ha, no, we can’t afford that. So it’s an unspecified future in which “Old Detroit” is overrun with crime and drugs, and the city’s police department has been privatized and is now run by a mega-corporation called Omni Consumer Products. As the company’s Senior Vice President Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) observes at one of the most iconic board meetings ever put to film, “You see that we’ve gambled in markets traditionally regarded as non-profit. Hospitals. Prisons. Space exploration.”</p>
<p>Jones delivers this line just before introducing his newest innovation: the ED-209, a police robot that he wants to deploy to clean up Old Detroit. Of course, nobody in that boardroom actually cares about crime. They want to empty the city so they can embark on a massive (and massively profitable) real estate development project.</p>
<p>The ED-209 was designed by Phil Tippett, the man behind the AT-AT Imperial Walkers in <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em> (1980), and built by Craig Hayes (credited as Craig Davies). <a href="https://archive.org/details/cinefantastique_1970-2002/Cinefantastique%20Vol%2018%20No%201%20%28Dec%201987%29/page/n23/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Due to budget limitations</a>, Tippett went completely old school in animating the robot’s motion; he used Ray Harryhausen’s Dynamation technique and filmed it using the older widescreen <a href="https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-vistavision/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VistaVision</a> film format. That’s why ED-209 has that halting, janky movement that makes it look so unsettling when it’s first introduced.</p>
<p>Jones instructs doomed junior executive Kinney (Kevin Page) to take a gun and threaten ED-209. We know the demonstration is going to go badly, and it does, in an outrageously over-the-top way. The scene is pure, bloody, pitch-black comedy, with the culminating moment being somebody shouting for a paramedic and the ambitious Bob Morton (played by the wonderful Miguel Ferrer) seizing the moment to pitch his own pet project to the company head.</p>
<p>Morton’s project is RoboCop: an experimental cyborg police officer. First, Morton needs a dead human cop, however—so he has helpfully transferred some officers from less dangerous parts of the city into the worst neighborhood in hopes of getting a fresh donor body. One of those unlucky transfers is Officer Murphy (Peter Weller), an ordinary cop with a wife and kid who just wants to do his job. Murphy and his new partner, Officer Lewis (Nancy Allen), are out on patrol when they get a call about an armed robbery. They chase a group of criminals led by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) to an abandoned steel mill. The criminal gang captures Murphy and tortures him to death in a scene so gruesome <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-18-ca-660-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the MPAA gave the first several cuts of the film an X rating</a><em>.</em></p>
<p><em>(</em>Those parts, and the climactic scene, were filmed in a<em> </em>defunct Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill in Monessen, Pennsylvania, which has since been demolished. I’ve never watched <em>RoboCop</em> with my dad, who worked for Wheeling Steel at a different mill when he was young, but if I ever do, I’m sure he’ll helpfully identify every part of the mill that he can.)</p>
<p>But Omni Consumer Products isn’t done with Murphy, so he’s brought back to life with his memory wiped and his body replaced by a machine. We see this resurrection from his point of view, with confusing glimpses of memories for which he has no context. There’s a grimly funny moment when the scientists and doctors say they can save his remaining arm, but Morton berates them for caring about preserving the human when they can replace every part with machines.</p>
<p>The RoboCop suit was built by special effects artist Rob Bottin. We’ve talked about his work before in this column; he’s the one who got his start working on the cantina clientele in <em>Star Wars</em> (1977), then went on to craft The Thing in <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-thing-have-a-shot-of-whisky-with-your-existential-terror/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>The Thing</em></a><em> </em>(1982) and the mutant make-up in <a href="https://reactormag.com/total-recall-extreme-escapism-for-fun-and-profit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Total Recall</em></a><em> </em>(1990). That suit was apparently something of a problem for everybody. <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a27322/robocop-oral-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Verhoeven and Neumeier wanted something more “sensational,”</a><em> </em>Bottin had to try to make their impossible ideas work, and <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/the-making-of-robocop-extended-cut/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Weller was miserable the whole time he was wearing the contraption</a>, because it took six and a half hours to put on the face and head prosthetic, and another hour and a half to put on the suit. By all accounts, including their own, Verhoeven and Weller came very close to strangling each other on set, but they also say they made up before it was over.</p>
<p>(Note: There is a lot of information out there about the making of RoboCop, because it was a film that attracted industry interest even while it was in production. The <a href="https://archive.org/details/cinefantastique_1970-2002/Cinefantastique%20Vol%2018%20No%201%20%28Dec%201987%29/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Cinefantastique</em> article from December 1987</a><em> </em>is a very detailed contemporary account. As a bonus, that same issue contains a piece wondering if the brand-new show <em>Star Trek: The Next Generation</em> could possibly be any good.)</p>
<p>When Omni Consumer Products debuts its cyborg cop, RoboCop is at first a success for the company, as he struts around the city stopping assaults and robberies. This sequence is punctuated by one of the film’s amazing interludes of evening news clips; news broadcaster Mario Machado and <em>Entertainment Tonight</em> host Leeza Gibbons play the anchors. The news is a litany of apocalyptic horrors, delivered in chipper evening news style, complete with a commercial that shows a family playing the fun new boardgame “Nukem,” in which they try to defeat each other in nuclear warfare.</p>
<p>But RoboCop’s successful patrols don’t last. One of Boddicker’s henchmen (played by Paul McCrane) and Officer Lewis both recognize Murphy, and their recognition triggers confusing memories that send him looking for who he used to be. That leads him to the old Murphy home, now unoccupied and up for sale. He remembers a little about his wife and son as he’s walking around the detritus of their life together, but it’s a distant recognition, the kind of disconnected memories that frustrate him and provide no catharsis.</p>
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<p>That’s the scene that convinced Verhoeven to make the movie, even when he was skeptical about the rest of it. It’s <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a27322/robocop-oral-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the scene he paid attention to</a> when his wife told him he was focusing too much on the outward trappings of the film and not enough on the soul.</p>
<p>I can see why that would draw him in, but I think what’s really interesting about that scene is that it does not lead to Murphy regaining his memories or reuniting with his family or reconciling his past life with his current existence. It doesn’t fix anything. There’s no catharsis. When he talks to Lewis about it later, he says that he can feel the loss of his family, but he can’t actually remember them.</p>
<p>The rest of the movie is a flurry of action: RoboCop discovers that Boddicker is working for Jones, because of course he is; Jones has Boddicker blow up Morton as part of their corporate dick-measuring contest. RoboCop apprehends Boddicker, but he can’t do the same with Jones because he is programmed to keep his hands off the company executives. (That is a very on-the-nose metaphor for law enforcement working to protect wealthy criminals at the expense of everybody else, but it’s one that has only become more relevant over time.)</p>
<p>Jones sends ED-209 and a bunch of cops to kill RoboCop, but he escapes with the help of Officer Lewis. Boddicker and his henchmen track Murphy and Lewis to the abandoned steel mill and there is a big, messy fight. None of the criminals survive that encounter.</p>
<p>And, yes, Rob Bottin also did the toxic waste/melting face special effects on actor Paul McCrane—do you even need to ask? If we all take nothing else away from this film club, let us all cherish our hard-earned ability to recognize Rob Bottin’s special effects when they explode all over the front of cars in a gory mess of fake blood and chicken soup.</p>
<p>From that point onward, it’s relatively straightforward to dispatch Jones. Murphy’s final act in the film is to reclaim his name. Does that make it a happy ending? Not exactly. The world hasn’t changed. The corporation is still in control. The city is still in chaos, violence is still the norm, and rich men are still profiting from it. The company still owns RoboCop. His family is still gone. His tragedy is not undone.</p>
<p>Much like<em> Total Recall</em>, it’s only a happy ending if you don’t think about it. Once you start thinking about it, all the <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeHorror" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fridge horror</a> returns and you can’t escape how incredibly bleak it is.</p>
<p>Only onscreen, though. Off screen, for the people who made the movie, it was very much a happy ending, because the movie was a wild success. It made a ton of money at the American box office and even more money when it was released internationally on VHS. The character of RoboCop became an indelible part of American pop culture. There are sequels and remakes (I’ve never seen them) and video games (never played them) and comic book appearances (never read them). RoboCop has never gone away.</p>
<p>As for the screenwriters: Neumeier went on to make <em>Starship Troopers</em> (1997) with Verhoeven. Miner also did more screenwriting after <em>RoboCop</em>, but he is now a <a href="https://michaelminerphotography.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">landscape photographer</a><em> </em>and writing teacher.</p>
<p>We can’t separate <em>RoboCop</em> from its politics, although people have certainly tried, many in ways that will make you admire their mental gymnastics. A fun and edifying thing to do is to search for what self-proclaimed <em>RoboCop</em> fans say about the movie on Reddit. You may encounter some of the wildest media interpretation known to humankind!</p>
<p>It’s not quite the same situation as <em>They Live </em>(1988), where there is a critical effort to repurpose the film for politics completely counter to the movie itself. It’s more that a great many people who still love <em>RoboCop</em> today saw it when they were quite young, and naturally didn’t pick up on the satire, and aren’t quite sure what to make of the film now.</p>
<p>It’s been thirty-nine years and we live in a world in which all the things <em>RoboCop</em> is commenting on are now depressingly normalized: The militarization of police and justification of extrajudicial police violence. The privatization of public services into for-profit industries. The idea that any public-serving part of society should ever be run by people who want to be rich. The fundamental sociopathy of corporate America. The histrionic fear regularly drummed up about crime-ridden urban centers. Rich old men ranting about sending armies into cities to clean them up. None of that ever went anywhere. We don’t need movies to show us government agents shooting people in the streets. It’s on the news right now.</p>
<p>I don’t have a pithy conclusion to this article. I read it over, trying to think of a way to end it, then went up to change the headline. It used to specify “1980s America.” But that’s letting us off the hook too easily.</p>
<p><em>RoboCop</em> is a great movie. It’s smart and vicious and funny in the darkest, bleakest way. I love it. I’m glad I’ve rewatched it and researched its origins as an adult, with a lot more knowledge and perspective than I ever had as a kid.</p>
<p>But I also wish it hadn’t remained so relevant.</p>
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<p>What do you think of <em>RoboCop</em> and its place among the great sci fi political satires to come out of the ’80s? What about the sequels and the more recent remake? There is so more lore about this film… it could fill an entire book, and there is no way I could write about all of it, so I’m sure I’ve left out some interesting tidbits.[end-mark]</p>
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<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center"><strong>You’re Not From Around Here, Are You?</strong></h3>
<p>We’ve <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/science-fiction-film-club/science-fiction-film-club-april-2024/">watched a number</a> of <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/science-fiction-film-club/science-fiction-film-club-november-december-2024/">movies about alien invasions</a>, both successful and failed, but what happens when it’s not an invasion? What happens when it’s just an individual or a small group who finds themselves on Earth and now must figure out how to survive? That’s the theme of the films we’re watching in February.</p>
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<p class="has-h-5-font-size"><strong>February 4 — <em>Man Facing Southeast </em>(1987), directed by Eliseo Subiela</strong></p>
<p>A man appears in a psychiatric hospital and claims to be from outer space.</p>
<p>Watch: This one isn’t online in many places, but you can watch it for free with English subtitles on <a href="https://fawesome.tv/movies/10419316/man-facing-southeast" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fawesome.tv</a>, and if you do a good old fashioned “full movie” search you’ll find complete uploads around the internet.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc7ENNlaDwQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">View the trailer</a>.</p>
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<p class="has-h-5-font-size"><strong>February 11 — <em>The Man Who Fell to Earth </em>(1976), directed by Nicolas Roeg</strong></p>
<p>In which an alien played by David Bowie comes to Earth looking for help for his home planet.</p>
<p>Watch: Find links <a href="https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-man-who-fell-to-earth">here</a>, including free versions through public libraries on Kanopy and Hoopla.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KarWCgIw3Wk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">View the trailer</a>.</p>
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<p class="has-h-5-font-size"><strong>February 18 — <em>Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel </em>(1979), directed by Grigori Kromanov</strong></p>
<p>A Soviet-era Estonian film about a police inspector encountering some strange guests at a remote hotel.</p>
<p>Watch: You can find it on <a href="https://www.cultpix.com/movie/hukkunud-alpinisti-hotell/1416">Cultpix</a>, <a href="https://films.klassiki.online/dead-mountaineers-hotel">Klassiki</a> (which offers a free trial), and once again I encourage a “full movie” search of the usual upload sites.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlQCVh_HSzM" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">View the trailer</a>.</p>
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<p class="has-h-5-font-size"><strong>February 25 — <em>Under the Skin </em>(2013), directed by Jonathan Glazer</strong></p>
<p>Either a beautiful alien is hunting men or that’s just what Glasgow nightlife is like sometimes.</p>
<p>Watch: <a href="https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/under-the-skin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">This one is available in a few places online</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7bAZCOk0Sc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">View the trailer</a>.</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/robocop-a-glorious-scathing-satire-of-america/"><i>RoboCop</i>: A Glorious, Scathing Satire of America</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/robocop-a-glorious-scathing-satire-of-america/">https://reactormag.com/robocop-a-glorious-scathing-satire-of-america/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837808">https://reactormag.com/?p=837808</a></p>
Nothing says Valentine’s Day like… a lot of new horror releases, apparently! From beloved franchise sequels and reimaginings of classic Gothic tales to adaptations of indie video games and Creepypasta stories, February is full of scary stories to watch in the dark. But if you’re looking for something less spooky, there are a few quirky sci-fi flicks, including a new anime movie from the director of Mirai.
Fiona, an ambitious archaeologist, treks to a remote Irish Island, where she unearths a burial casket containing a mummified figure. Unfortunately, digging up the casket unleashes an ancient evil in the form of the Morrigan, a vengeful Irish war goddess. The Morrigan possesses Fiona’s daughter Lily, and begins a bloody rampage. Fiona must stop the powerful goddess and save her daughter.
The third film in the most recent installment of The Strangers film franchise, Chapter Three sees sole survivor Maya (Madeline Petsch) going against the mysterious killers one last time. She even dons one of their masks as she gives into her primal instincts and seeks revenge. She’s also seen cozying up to Gregory (Gabriel Basso), one of the local townspeople who is mystified by her survival.
The newest adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel comes from French director Luc Besson, known for sci-fi epics The Fifth Element and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Caleb Landry Jones stars as Count Dracula, with Zoë Bleu as Mina Murray and Ewens Abid as Jonathan Harker. Like in many adaptations, this version of Mina is a reincarnation of Dracula’s lost wife Elisabeta.
An arborist named Ellie and her teenage son Wyatt arrive on the vast property of a wealthy and mysterious recluse, who has hired them to cut down some trees. But strange things begin to happen and Wyatt starts to behave erratically and see eerie hallucinations. Ellie soon stumbles upon the estate’s tragic past and must work to save her son before a strange haunting consumes them all.
In the distant future, everyone wants “the sphere”—a quantum-energy producing orb that can open portals to the afterlife within the mind. A traumatized mercenary is hired to steal it. Megacorporate rivals go head-to-head in order to claim it. An investment analyst gets caught up in technological espionage and must flee from a military contractor.
Two young con artists run scams by renting out New York apartments that they don’t actually own. But one of the apartment owners they run into (Djimon Hounsou) kidnaps them to run twisted medical experiments on. Twisted comes from Darren Lynn Bousman, who directed four films in the Saw franchise.
A misfit teenage girl (played by His Dark Materials’ Dafne Keen) finds an ancient Aztec whistle. At a party, one of her new classmates blows into it. Soon, everyone involved begins to be hunted by their future death, which takes the form of eerie dopplegangers.
From legendary anime director Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Mirai), Scarlet follows the titular medieval-era, sword-fighting princess on her quest to avenge the death of her father. She sets off on a quest through time and space—eventually finding herself in a surreal world, where she meets a young man from the modern day. Scarlet must decide if her revenge is worth it, or if she can break the cycle of hatred.
An alien is sent to occupy the body of a young woman (played by Peace Ikediuba)—and to this extraterrestrial being, that feels like a prison. The alien’s mission is to spy on one of her own kind, who had been exiled to Earth. She’s supposed to find out the secret behind his dangerous research and if she fails, she can never return to her home planet.
Time Hoppers: The Silk Road — in select theaters February 7
In this family-friendly edutainment movie, four gifted children travel through time and find themselves on an adventure along the Silk Road. They must save great historical Muslim pioneers, like Al-Khwarizimi and Mansa Musa, from the machinations of an evil alchemist.
Gale: Yellow Brick Road— in theaters for a one-day event February 11
This indie horror film asks: what if The Wizard of Oz was actually a dark, psychological horror movie? (Editor’s note: But it’s not Return to Oz, somehow.) Decades after the events of The Wizard of Oz, an elderly Dorothy Gale continues to be tormented by nightmares of Oz. She warns her granddaughter Emily about the curse that ties their family name to this dark land. Emily finds herself pulled into Oz and runs into familiar characters, now twisted beyond recognition.
Think Zootopia, but for professional sports. A small goat named Will gets a chance to play roarball—a basketball-like sport that’s usually played by fast, fierce animals. Will’s new teammates doubt that he can keep up with them, but he wants to prove that everyone deserves a chance at greatness.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die — in theaters February 13
Sam Rockwell plays a time traveler from the future who travels back to present-day Los Angeles. He ends up in a diner, trying to convince the patrons to help him combat a rogue artificial intelligence. He recruits a plucky bunch of misfits and they team up to save the world from a terrible future.
The Mortuary Assistant — in select theaters February 13
A young woman named Rebecca begins a job at a mortuary and begins to experience eerie occurrences. She soon learns that the owner of the mortuary is hiding a dark secret—a demon in the building has targeted Rebecca and she must return every night to work at the mortuary in order to fend it off. The Mortuary Assistant is based on an indie horror game of the same name.
Cold Storage — in select theaters and on VOD February 13
Stranger Things’ Joe Keery and Barbarian’s Georgina Campbell star in this horror comedy about two unsuspecting employees at a self-storage facility built on a former military base. Things take a dark turn one night shift, when a parasitic fungus escapes from the deep underground levels. The fungus is able to control minds and burst bodies, so the two employees must team up with a bioterror operative (Liam Neeson) in order to contain the threat.
A struggling Reno impressionist makes a pact with a Fergus, a mysterious ventriloquist dummy with a rough-and-gruff voice. Fergus promises to ignite Sam’s career—but there might be some strings attached to this wicked deal.
Sybil is a lonely woman who works as an undertaker, who finds more solace with the dead than with the living. She enjoys taxidermy, poetry, and extravagant daydreams. After starting a job at a new funeral parlor, she develops a dark obsession with a local man, which takes a sinister turn.
A woman journeys to an experimental trauma rehabilitation center in the middle of nowhere with her husband… yet she can’t remember exactly why. The longer she stays, though, the more her fragmented memories begin to return and she slowly realizes that there might be a dark secret to her marriage.
A police officer embarks on a quest to track down the person who killed her late husband. But she soon realizes that this murderer isn’t just a murderer: he’s a sadistic serial killer with a twisted, Satanic agenda. Psycho Killer was penned by screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, who also wrote Se7en and Sleepy Hollow.
Out of desperation, Elise, a young woman experiencing strange and unsettling blackouts, returns to her old Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community to undergo a healing ritual. But they accidentally awaken the spirit of a vengeful witch, who has decided to make Elise her new target. Elise must escape the witch’s curse, while confronting disturbing memories from her past.
The Dreadful — in select theaters and VOD February 20
Set in the 15th century, during the War of the Roses, Anne (Sophie Turner) lives an isolated existence with her domineering mother-in-law Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden), while her husband is off at war. But when Jago (Kit Harrington), one of Anne’s husband’s friends, returns with tragic news, a curse in the form of a mysterious knight begins to pursue the three of them.
This Is Not a Test — in select theaters February 20
Based on the 2012 YA novel of the same name, This Is Not a Test follows a group of six high school students trapped inside their school as a zombie apocalypse rages on. The main character, Sloane, is initially jaded about survival, but eventually she bands with her fellow students to strike out against the zombies.
A new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney Prescott has attempted to rebuild her life—and this time, it’s targeting her daughter Tatum. Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox reprise their roles as Sidney and reporter Gale Weathers. Additionally Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley, who previously played two of the Ghostface killers, have also been cast, though it’s unclear what their roles will be.
Pedro is asked by his ex-girlfriend to briefly check on her aging mother, Alicia. He thinks it’ll be a simple wellness check, but he realizes that things are amiss when Alicia doesn’t recognize him. Instead, she mistakes him for a mysterious man named Cesar—a former lover with whom she shared a terrible secret. Alicia traps him in the house, determined to make “Cesar” pay for what he’s done to her.
Matter of Time — in select theaters February 27
Charlie, a video game designer, receives a magical time-stopping device from an eccentric toy store owner (played by Sean Astin). But even though it seems like the chance of a lifetime, Charlie runs into challenges as he tries to use this new device to pursue his dreams.[end-mark]
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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Stefan Raets</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-vanishing-cherry-blossom-bookshop-by-takuya-asakura/">https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-vanishing-cherry-blossom-bookshop-by-takuya-asakura/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837500">https://reactormag.com/?p=837500</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-vertical">
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<h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Read an Excerpt From <i>The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop</i> by Takuya Asakura</h2>
<div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Welcome to The Cherry Blossom Bookshop, a haven for book lovers that only appears during the fleeting cherry blossom season.</div>
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<p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/takuya-asakura/" title="Posts by Takuya Asakura" class="author url fn" rel="author">Takuya Asakura</a></p>
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Published on January 27, 2026
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<p>We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from <em><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-vanishing-cherry-blossom-bookshop-takuya-asakura?variant=43731569082402" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop</strong></a></em> by Takuya Asakura, out from HarperCollins on February 3.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>Welcome to The Cherry Blossom Bookshop, a haven for book lovers that only appears during the fleeting cherry blossom season. Nestled amidst the bloom of delicate petals, you’ll find a sanctuary for those burdened by regrets and past sorrows. Here, Sakura, the mysterious young owner, and her wise calico cat, Kobako, patiently await the arrival of souls in need of solace and healing.<br><br>Told over four seasons, each visitor to the bookshop holds a book that bridges their past and present, guiding them towards understanding and acceptance. Within the antique charm of the shop and the soothing aroma of freshly brewed coffee, Sakura and Kobako help their guests confront their lingering sadness through the power of stories, enabling them to move forward with renewed hope.</p></blockquote></figure>
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<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">INTERLUDE</h3>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">THE NEXT CUSTOMER</h3>
<p>The coffee brewed, its billows of steam swaying to the triplet-infused rhythm in three-four time.</p>
<p>As though guided by the beat of the music, the girl spun around floatily with <em>The</em> <em>Little</em> <em>Prince</em> clutched in her hands and turned away from the cat sitting on the table.</p>
<p>‘Hey, Kobako—’</p>
<p>Now standing in front of the bookcase, the girl began to speak as she slid the book back into its original spot. She handled it with the utmost care, apparently determined to keep its corners unscathed.</p>
<p>‘You know, every time I read this book, I always wonder—did I tame you, or did you tame me?’</p>
<p>The cat, sitting in a loaf pose, didn’t bother to respond, not even offering a yawn.</p>
<p>‘Not that it matters.’</p>
<p>Having replaced the book, the girl pointed her index finger towards the spines of the books, again taking care not to touch them. But just as she was about to run her finger across, the cat gave a cry. This time, it was a long, protesting meow.</p>
<p>‘What?’</p>
<p>Putting one hand on her hip, the girl twisted around. Then, stepping closer to the table, she leaned forward, bringing her face near the cat. In response, the cat raised its nose.</p>
<p>‘Huh? You want me to move the table first?’</p>
<p>The cat gave a short, approving meow as if to say: <em>Exactly</em>.</p>
<p>‘Are you saying that we need to make space in the middle of the shop? That’s going to take some effort, you know.’</p>
<p>Letting out a half-sigh, the girl set to work on the task that the cat had assigned her. As she shuffled the chairs aside and moved the tables, the cherry blossom branches decorating the shop swayed in their vases.</p>
<p>Soon, an empty space the size of a small stage emerged in front of the kitchen counter. Petals were scattered across the now spacious floor.</p>
<p>‘Must be nice to be you,’ the girl grumbled as she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. ‘All you ever do is give out instructions.’</p>
<p>By now, the cat had tucked its head back into its body, forming a perfectly shaped loaf. Its eyes were firmly closed.</p>
<p>‘I guess I’m the one who’s been tamed.’</p>
<p>The girl made this remark, which was neither a complaint nor self-mockery, before finally going back to her book-picking ritual.</p>
<p>Her finger hovered just in front of the bookshelf where <em>The</em> <em>Little</em> <em>Prince</em> sat. She moved her finger across, gliding from top to bottom, transitioning from one shelf to the next. From time to time, a book would catch her attention, and she would pause momentarily, casting a hopeful glance at her companion. But Kobako the calico cat wasn’t so easily satisfied.</p>
<p>The ritual eventually progressed to the large-format books held between bookends on the four-seater table. Just when the girl’s fingertip was about to move past a certain book, the cat gave a sharp meow. Though the book was large in dimension, it wasn’t particularly thick.</p>
<p>The girl turned around to find the cat sitting up, its gleaming eyes wide open. A satisfied grin rose to the girl’s lips.</p>
<p>‘Right. Is this is going to be our next read, then? I like this one, too.’</p>
<p>Pulling the book off the shelf, the girl held it out with both her hands, then drew it towards her face. The cover read <em>Ten</em> <em>Nights</em> <em>of</em> <em>Dreams</em>. It was also marked with the words ‘Large Print’. Switching the book to one hand, the girl let out her usual <em>ahem</em> before opening it in a reverent manner.</p>
<p>‘“The sun will rise, and the sun will set. It will rise again, and it will set again. As the red sun moves from east to west, then slips away from west to east—will you have the patience to wait for me?”’</p>
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<h3 class="shop-the-book-title text-h3">The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop</h3>
<p class="shop-the-book-author">Takuya Asakura</p>
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<p class="shop-the-book-modal-author">Takuya Asakura</p>
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</section>
<p>All around the shop, the cherry-blossom branches dangled from the vases, their delicate limbs swaying softly as they listened to the girl’s voice. Every so often, the petals left the branches, one by one, spiralling through the air as they slowly descended to the floor. Out of nowhere, a flickering shadow filled the seat at the rear of the room. It was almost as though the shadow was indecisive about fully appearing. Nevertheless, it did seem to be enjoying the girl’s reading, as it alternated between expanding its body and narrowing it again, keeping time with the rhythm of her voice.</p>
<p>The calico cat kept its eyes shut. <em>Boléro</em> played on.</p>
<p>The air was still, and the gentle spring sunshine was quite pleasant indeed. The sensation of being transported without physical effort filled him with a strange nostalgia. As they moved along the stone-paved path, the cherry-blossoms in full bloom soon came into view. The pink of the flowers was much deeper than that of the somei-yoshino trees. ‘Look,’ he heard, and nodded in reply.</p>
<p><em>‘I’ve</em> <em>been</em> <em>assigned</em> <em>to</em> <em>a</em> <em>line</em> <em>that</em> <em>goes</em> <em>through</em> <em>a</em> <em>station</em> <em>where</em> <em>there’s</em> <em>a</em> <em>cluster</em> <em>of</em> <em>Yamazakura</em> <em>cherry</em> <em>trees.</em> <em>You</em> <em>can</em> <em>see</em> <em>them</em> <em>right</em> <em>across</em> <em>from</em> <em>the</em> <em>station</em> <em>building.</em> <em>The</em> <em>view</em> <em>is</em> <em>a</em> <em>real</em> <em>feast</em> <em>for</em> <em>the</em> <em>eyes</em> <em>when</em> <em>they’re</em> <em>in</em> <em>full</em> <em>bloom.’</em><em></em></p>
<p><em>‘Is</em> <em>that</em> <em>so?</em> <em>I’d</em> <em>love</em> <em>it</em> <em>if</em> <em>you’d</em> <em>take</em> <em>me</em> <em>some</em> <em>time,</em> <em>when</em> <em>you’re</em> <em>not</em> <em>working.’</em><em></em></p>
<p><em>‘Well,</em> <em>that’s</em> <em>a</em> <em>pretty</em> <em>big</em> <em>request.’</em><em></em></p>
<p><em>‘Oh,</em> <em>why</em> <em>not?</em> <em>Who</em> <em>knows</em> <em>how</em> <em>many</em> <em>more</em> <em>times</em> <em>we’d</em> <em>be</em> <em>able</em> <em>to</em> <em>see</em> <em>the</em> <em>cherry</em> <em>blossoms</em> <em>together?’</em><em></em></p>
<p>Shingo was quite certain that he had exchanged those words with Yuriko. Just as he was having this recollection, his daughter placed something on his lap. It was the book from earlier. She must have brought it along with her.</p>
<p>‘If you ever feel like it, please try giving it a read. I went through the trouble of bringing it to you, after all.’</p>
<p>As before, Shingo nodded without saying anything. Just then, that male worker from the canteen kitchen came out to the courtyard. Taking his hat off, he bowed to Shingo’s daughter.</p>
<p>‘We’ll be right back, Dad. We’re just going to go and say hello.’</p>
<p>Shingo watched as his daughter and granddaughter headed towards the man.</p>
<p>Then, he glanced up at the cherry blossoms once more before dropping his eyes to his knees. He scanned the words printed on the cover of the book again: <em>Ten</em> <em>Nights</em> <em>of</em> <em>Dreams.</em> For some reason, a sense of deep affection started to well up inside of him. Turning the pages, he followed the text with his eyes. The print was large indeed. He would be able to read it with ease, and this realisation put him in a great mood.</p>
<p>‘Let’s see,’ he found himself saying. Although his intention was to simply skim over the book, he found himself reading out loud.</p>
<p>‘“This is the dream I dreamt. As I sat by her bed with my arms folded, a woman lying on her back said in a quiet voice that she was about to die.”’</p>
<p><em>This</em> <em>is</em> <em>a</em> <em>rather</em> <em>ominous</em> <em>way</em> <em>to</em> <em>start</em> <em>a</em> <em>story,</em> <em>isn’t</em> <em>it?</em> <em>And</em> <em>maybe</em> <em>this</em> <em>writing</em> <em>is</em> <em>supposed</em> <em>to</em> <em>be</em> <em>beautiful,</em> <em>but</em> <em>it’s</em> <em>a</em> <em>bit</em> <em>formal</em> <em>and</em> <em>hard</em> <em>to</em> <em>get</em> <em>into.</em> <em>This</em> <em>is</em> <em>why</em> <em>I’ve</em> <em>never</em> <em>understood</em> <em>the</em> <em>appeal</em> <em>of</em> <em>novels.</em> <em>Yuriko</em> <em>seemed</em> <em>to</em> <em>be</em> <em>fond</em> <em>of</em> <em>them,</em> <em>though.</em><em></em></p>
<p>‘“Her long hair spread over her pillow and all around the soft contours of her—” ‘Huh? What does that say?’</p>
<p>He couldn’t work out the next word. There were annotations beside the kanji characters indicating their pronunciation, but they were too small for his eyes. Pulling his head away from the page, he finally managed to make out the letters.</p>
<p>‘“M-Melon”? Ah, that’s right— “… the soft contours of her melonseed face.”’</p>
<p>Exactly what kind of face is that? Based on what he had read, he somehow put together the scene in his mind, picturing the oval-faced woman lying down on her back with her head resting on a pillow. But before he knew it, that face had turned into that of his wife. <em>Am</em> <em>I</em> <em>remembering</em> <em>something</em> <em>from</em> <em>my</em> <em>own</em> <em>past?</em> he began to wonder, <em>or</em> <em>is</em> <em>this</em> <em>something</em> <em>that</em> <em>this</em> <em>writing</em> <em>has</em> <em>awakened</em> <em>in</em> <em>me?</em> <em>If</em> <em>I</em> <em>am</em> <em>reminiscing,</em> <em>does</em> <em>that</em> <em>mean</em> <em>I</em> <em>stayed</em> <em>by</em> <em>Yuriko’s</em> <em>side</em> <em>as</em> <em>she</em> <em>passed</em> <em>away?</em></p>
<p><em>Yuriko.</em> <em>Yuriko’s</em> <em>words</em>—<em>that</em> <em>was</em> <em>what</em> <em>I’ve</em> <em>been</em> <em>trying</em> <em>to</em> <em>remember.</em> <em>I</em> <em>had</em> <em>made</em> <em>her</em> <em>a</em> <em>promise.</em> <em>One</em> <em>that</em> <em>I</em> <em>must</em> <em>never</em> <em>forget.</em> <em>Is</em> <em>that</em> <em>right?</em> <em>Why</em> <em>can’t</em> <em>I</em> <em>recall</em> <em>something</em> <em>so</em> <em>important?</em></p>
<p><em>Just</em> <em>after</em> <em>I</em> <em>proposed</em> <em>to</em> <em>her,</em> <em>Yuriko</em> <em>said</em> <em>something</em> <em>to</em> <em>me.</em><em></em></p>
<p><em>What</em> <em>was</em> <em>the</em> <em>promise</em> <em>that</em> <em>we—</em><em></em></p>
<p>Meow.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, Shingo felt like he heard something. When he looked up, he was instantly mesmerised by the view before him.</p>
<p>Right where the vibrant pink of the Kawazu cherry blossoms had once been, a single weeping cherry tree now stood. And it was no ordinary tree. Its flowers were coloured in every imaginable shade of red and white.</p>
<p>Behind the tree was a two-storey building. At the top of its green roof, he saw a bronze weathercock crowing silently to the heavens. He was sure that there was no such thing on the premises of the care home. Yet something told him that he was not witnessing it for the first time. In fact, he felt like he’d seen it just recently. And he remembered thinking the same thing at that time: that there was no way that this building existed here. But he didn’t have the slightest idea when or where that was.</p>
<p>Shingo was now on his feet. His entire body had moved so effortlessly, he didn’t even notice himself standing up. The numbness in the left side of his lower body, which had persisted since the first time he had a stroke, had completely gone away. As though he was being pulled by an invisible force, he walked to the entrance of the building and gently opened the door. Classical music played faintly from within, and the pleasant aroma of coffee crept out through the gap.</p>
<p>Tentatively, he first poked his head in, then slipped the rest of his body inside. A young lady in a burgundy pinafore dress stood directly opposite him. She held an open book to her face with one hand. Stretching her other arm out theatrically, she spoke in a dignified voice. It was as though she was an actor practising her lines.</p>
<p>‘“When I die, please bury me. Dig me a grave with a large pearl oyster shell. Take a fragment of a star that had fallen from the heavens and mark my grave with it. Then, wait for me beside my grave. I will come and see you again.”’</p>
<p>With that, the girl lifted her gaze. Gracefully closing the book with one hand, she beamed at Shingo.</p>
<p>‘Welcome, Mr Shingo Kikukawa. Please take a seat here.’</p>
<p>She gestured to a table that had a ‘Reserved’ sign on it. Examining his surroundings, Shingo noticed that there were cherry blossom branches arranged in vases all around the shop. Their flowers brightened up the atmosphere with their impressive variation of colours. But what really caught his attention were the shelves packed full with books. They easily outnumbered the vases. On the tables by the walls and along the counter, rows of books stood neatly between bookends. Shingo couldn’t figure out if this place was primarily a bookshop or a coffee shop.</p>
<p>Just then, Shingo realised that the large-print edition of <em>Ten</em> <em>Nights</em> <em>of</em> <em>Dreams</em> was still in his hand. His copy seemed to be identical to the girl’s. As his eyes darted back and forth between the two books in an attempt to confirm this, she watched him contentedly.</p>
<p>‘As you might have guessed, that book has opened up the passage. It’s not every day that we have such fortunate encounters, so, please, do take a seat.’</p>
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<p class="has-sm-font-size">Adapted excerpt from <em>The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop</em> by Takuya Asakura, Translated from Japanese by Yuka Maeno, copyright 2025. Reprinted with permission by HarperCollins.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-vanishing-cherry-blossom-bookshop-by-takuya-asakura/">Read an Excerpt From <i>The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop</i> by Takuya Asakura</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-vanishing-cherry-blossom-bookshop-by-takuya-asakura/">https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-vanishing-cherry-blossom-bookshop-by-takuya-asakura/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837500">https://reactormag.com/?p=837500</a></p>
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