I’ll be honest, I haven’t had the best year. It wasn’t a disastrous year, but it wasn’t great, either. I’m all for gratitude, but unfortunately, too many people in Christian circles seem to equate gratitude with complacency. Wanting more is seen as problematic. Or rather, improving one’s place is seen as unholy.
Regardless, I will do my best to list as many of the things I’m thankful for this year as I can. That is the point of Thanksgiving, isn’t it?
God the Father.
Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit.
The Bible.
My church.
My church’s pastors.
My apartment.
The Fort Wayne Ballroom Company.
My substitute teaching job (as much as I hate it).
My recent dental work.
Dental insurance.
My college friends circle.
My fandom/podcast friends circle.
My parents.
My siblings.
My laptop.
My iPhone.
The data the data recovery service was able to find (even though it wasn’t nearly as much as they said they could).
The Monster Island Film Vault (my flagship podcast)
Henshin Power V3 (my other podcast)
My co-hosts and guest hosts on said podcasts.
The Kaiju Lovers (MIFV fans)
Henshin Power V3 listeners.
My readers.
The rest of my fans.
G-Fest.
Gen-Con.
The other cons I attended.
Kaiju United.
TokUSA.
My other publishers.
My physical media collection.
My book/comic library.
My toy collection.
That I live in America.
That I live in Indiana.
That I live in Fort Wayne.
That I was able to produce my first full-length audiodrama episode, “Origins: Rito Bandora” for Scyther Inc.
That I’m a member of Scyther’s actor stable.
That I play Rito for Scyther.
That I play Deadpool for Scyther.
That I play Johnny Storm for Scyther.
That I get asked to play those characters for other people.
That I’m a published author.
My author website.
My MIFV website.
My board games collection.
My video game collection.
My car.
All the artists I know, especially if we’ve collaborated.
The Constitution.
The comic shops I frequent.
My Patreon supporters.
Electricity.
Running water.
Internet service.
My bookshelves.
The family pets.
Tax refunds.
Music.
Dance.
Bicycles.
Roller rinks.
Bookstores.
Coffee shops.
Laser tag.
Arcades.
The police.
Military members.
Veterans.
The gym.
My degrees.
Indoor plumbing.
That I can read.
My past podcasts (Henshin Men and The Power Trip).
Groceries.
Pretzels.
Pizza.
Spaghetti.
Protein shakes.
Energy drinks (especially Ghost).
My nephews and niece.
Camping.
C.S. Lewis.
J.R.R. Tolkien.
Stan Lee.
My other favorite authors.
Canva.
Audacity.
MS Word.
Birthday gifts.
Christmas.
Hosting Scyther’s Power Rangers aftershows.
Being part of Scyther’s Ranger Reviews.
Podcasts.
Audiobooks.
My published books.
Being part of Wild Hunt Press.
Shameless self-promotion.
GODZILLA MINUS ONE!
What are you thankful for this year? Comment below.
In case you didn’t know, I’ve been part of Scyther Podcasts’ stable of actors for a few years now. This is a group run by Karl Dutton that makes fan-produced audiodramas, most notably for X-Men and Power Rangers. While I’ve played (of all people) Deadpool on X-Men: The Audiodrama and as Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) on its spin-off Avengers: The Audiodrama (which is run by Mitch McFarland), my first claim to fame at Scyther was playing the darkly funny supervillain Rito Bandora (aka Rito Revolto in his original incranation) on Power Rangers: The Audiodrama (see image to the right). Unbeknownst to me, Scyther’s Rito became a fan-favorite.
Because of this and some…spoiler-ific events in PRAD, I pitched an idea to Karl to write and produce a bonus episode that expands on the background for Rito that’s briefly discussed in a few episodes of the main show. He approved the outline, and after a few months of drafting the script, I went into production for my first full-lnegth audiodrama. I say, “full-length,” because I’ve produced shorter drama segments on my flagship podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault, but the longest any of those got was about 20 minutes. This special clocks in at 55 minutes. I Mel Gibson’d the snot out of this; writing, directing, editing, producing, and starring in it. I even commissioned my friend Rebecca Hudgens to do the cover art and purchased the rights to a metal song to use as the episode’s theme song. I’ve joked that the episode should be retitled, “Nate’s Vanity Project.”
So, sit back and enjoy this dark science fantasy comedy!
You can also listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to watch me be interviewed about the background of this special on The Power Chamber Podcast.
I’ll be part of a livestream this Friday at 7pm EST on the Omni Viewer’s YouTube channel where he, myself, and several other writers shoot the breeze about the art and craft of writing and take questions from the chat. Come be entertained and enlightened!
From July 11-14, I attended one of my favorite conventions, G-Fest, in Rosemont, Illinois. Godzilla and kaiju fans from all over the world converge here for three (well, technically four) days of monster-sized fun. As usual, I was a panelist, including serving as a co-moderator for the Kaiju Writers Panel with Daniel DiManna of the Godzilla Novelization Project. While I discussed the convention on a livestream with Ryan “The Omni Viewer” Collins July 20 and will do so at least a bit on my podcasts, The Monster Island Film Vault and Henshin Power V3, in the coming weeks, here’s a rundown on what went down at that con.
Day “Minus One”
The lead up to the con was a bit stressful. I wasn’t able to save up as much money for it as I wanted, and my attempts to get a fourth roommate for me, my brother Jarod, and my friend/HPV3 co-host, Jake Hambrick, fell through—until my friend/MIFV patron Matt Walsh (no, not that Matt Walsh) called me a few days beforehand to say his friends had booked different rooms without him, and he needed a new place to stay. So, he joined us. That made the math easy: we’d each pay for a night at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, where the con was held.
After an early morning plasma donation for some extra cash and a quick trip to the bank, Jarod and I piled into my car and made the three-and-a-half hour drive from Fort Wayne to Rosemont. We had only one minor snag, which was that I put “Hyatt Rosemont” and not “Hyatt Regency” into my phone’s GPS, so we were slightly delayed arriving. After meeting up with a few friends like Elijah Thomas (Kaiju Conversation), Kaiju Kim, Daniel DiManna, and others, we rushed to the Pickwick Theater for the first of G-Fest’s trademark double features: Mothra vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). Thankfully, unlike years past, there wasn’t an event happening at the local park, so finding parking was easy. Afterward, we went to Giordanno’s for some true Chicago-style pizza. It’s a little less special because there’s a Giordanno’s in Fort Wayne now, but it’s my G-Fest tradition. We had a charismatic waiter (whose name I wish I could remember, because he was my favorite in my years at G-Fest), which made it an even better experience. Then we rushed back to the Pickwick to see the second double feature, albeit late, which included The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. I won’t get into much here, but SpaceGodzilla is a lesser entry in the franchise, to say the least, but I did gain a little more appreciation seeing it on the big screen. I’d forgotten the blu-ray, which is what was used to screen it, had dreaded “dubtitles,” though. I and a couple friends kept correcting the subtitles as we watched.
Then we checked in at the hotel, unloaded my car, and turned in for the night.
Day 1
With maybe six hours of sleep and 200 milligrams of caffeine to fuel me, I got up bright and early, ate breakfast, and then Jake and I jumped into the kaiju-sized snake of a line for registration. Seriously, it went all the way down the hallway into the main lobby and around this huge dining room. Thankfully, it moved fast, and we got our badges and programs inside of 15 minutes. Sadly, it was while standing in line that we learned how terrible the Hyatt’s wifi was. I know, “first world problems,” but it hindered some communication. It’s the main reason, aside from sheer busyness, why I didn’t post much on social media about the event.
At 10AM, I helped kick off the convention with one of its first two panels: The 40th Anniversary of Return of Godzilla. This was organized by Autistic Lizard Pro and included several great friends. It, like most of my panels, was stacked. Here’s the video:
The MIFV upload of the panel video.
Autistic Lizard Productions’ upload of the panel video.
I attempted to enter the dealer hall afterward. Keyword: attempted. The dealer hall is one of the con’s biggest attractions since it always has exclusive merchandise. It was so crowded, it needed “bouncers” to monitor how many could enter. I just did a quick survey to locate my favorite vendors, which included Seismic Toys, Beast from the East, and Toku Toy Town, with the latter two being next to each other, which was great.
Speaking of Seismic, Alex Rushdy, who helps run the shop, gave a panel at noon about every Godzilla video game ever. I love his video game panels, because he knows more about kaiju video games than anyone else.
I then returned to the dealer hall to actually talk with some people, like Jay Key from Toku Toy Town, and do some networking. I say that because I met Jeff Gomez from Ultraman Connection. I’ve had him on MIFV a couple times, and he’s a big fan of my podcasts. I got some inside info from him about a “lost” American-made Ultraman movie from the 1980s that was being screen as part of the film festival at the con as well as learn that his website is looking for writers, so hopefully I’ll have a freelance gig with him.
I then hit up a couple panels that featured some friends: namely 50 Years of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Godzilla Minus One. I’d have loved to be a part of either, but it was great being there and seeing the love the fandom has for Minus One.
Next up, I and a few friends, including Ryan Collins, got an early dinner at the hotel restaurant, the Red Bar, so we could go downstairs and watch the premiere of crowdfunded indie film Kaiju Glam Metal Shark Attack. Yes, that’s a real movie made by SRS Cinema. It was…something. If and when it gets released on blu-ray, it may end up on MIFV.
Following this, we all gathered in three ballrooms for the customary opening ceremony, which introduced the special guests, among other things. What surprised me was I bumped into none other than Linda Jo Miller, one of the stars of King Kong Escapes! She was there “secretly” as an attendee and not a guest! We had a nice chat about the article I published in Kaiju United and Kaiju Ramen about her and the other leading ladies in Kong films, and I confirmed I could interview her for the show. (Score!) Anyway, the opening ceremonies were shorter than I expected. I chitchatted with one of the other guests, Dr. Jeffrey Angles, who translated the first two Godzilla novelizations by Shigeru Kayama into English. We’d been corresponding for a bit, but I was able to solidify an interview with him for MIFV. I could talk to him for hours about literature, teaching, and Godzilla.
The day concluded with an epic screening of Godzilla: Final Wars. I’ve never seen the Pickwick so full before. They had to usher people in to find seats. There were rumors that the screening would sell out. I don’t know if it did, but it was so crowded that it started 30 minutes late. (I got tired of seeing the same trailers for Twisters and Deadpool and Wolverine all weekend). If ever there was a Godzilla film where the crowd could get rowdy, it was this one. And they certainly did! I’ve always unabashedly loved that film, and seeing it on the big screen was one of the highlights of all my G-Fests. I hope someone sends a photo and/or video of that crowd to the film’s director, Ryuhei Kitamura, for some validation, since it was popular to hate Final Wars for a while.
Day 2
Saturday, like with any multi-day con, was the biggest and busiest day. I went downstairs to the Film Festival room to at least watch the first 30 minutes or so of Ultraman: The Adventure Begins with its “new dub.” All I’ll say for now is these actors do work hard to sound “of the era.” I wish I could’ve stayed longer, but I had a panel at 11AM, and I always work hard to keep my commitments.
The Kaiju Writers panel was great, as always. We had a bit of a snag because the previous panel went over, and one of our panelists was a bit late, which seems to be tradition. It was the first year where Daniel DiManna and I were the official co-moderators. The original moderator, Neil Riebe, was still on it, though. This year we included poet Donny Winter and Goryo author Dane Kroll. You can watch the video taken by my brother Jarod below.
Most of my afternoon was spent attending panels. First was the Rie Ota interview. She famously played Baragon in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. She’s a rare female kaiju suit actor. Sadly, the panel was a bit of a mess. Only one interviewer asked decent questions, and the interpreter struggled a bit. I’ll leave it at that. Next, I went to the Creating Original Kaiju panel. It was okay. I didn’t get as much out of it as I expected. But I wanted to support Dane. I missed out on Jeffrey Anglers’ interview and him reading a passage from his translation of Luminous Fairies and Motha (the source material for the 1961 film). Darn. After a stint in the dealer room, I went to Allan Henry’s interview panel. He’s a mocap actor who, among other things, played Kong in the last two MonsterVerse movies. This interview was much better than Ota’s. It helped he didn’t need an interpreter despite his Kiwi accent. 😛
After this, I started organizing a big get-together for dinner at Caddyshack, a restaurant at the Crowne Plaza hotel down the street, where G-Fest took place before outgrowing it in 2020. There was a bit of a misunderstanding, which hurt someone’s feelings, but thankfully it was resolved by the next day.
Following this was the traditional award ceremony and always-popular costume parade. The fabled Mangled Skyscraper Award went to Toshio Miike, a designer on many tokusatsu projects, who was a guest at the show. If you’d like to see the costume parade, which includes one of the best Mechagodzilla cosplays I’ve ever seen, watch this video:
Jarod and I then went to the final Pickwick screening of the weekend: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which is the latest MonsterVerse flick. Jarod hadn’t seen it and told me he wanted to see it at G-Fest, so I made sure to go for him. I was a little hesitant because the last time I saw a MonsterVerse movie at the Pickwick, Godzilla vs. Kong, it was a bad experience thanks to an obnoxious crowd. I’m happy to say this was better. Yes, the crowd was largely teenage boys, so while it was slightly smaller than the Final Wars screening, it was louder. However, they didn’t just cheer for the monsters: they cheered for the human characters and their sentimental moments. This along with Allan Henry, who introduced the movie, being at the con and several cosplayers wearing costumes of the movie’s villain, Skar King, showed me how popular certain monsters were. It got my English major brain going. I’m mulling over a potential think piece for Kaiju United based on this experience.
Day 3
I was surprised to see that G-pardy, G-Fest’s trademark quiz show, was moved from Saturday night as the warm-up to the costume parade to its own event on Sunday morning. It was also under new management from Skip Peel, who wasn’t in attendance. The program said to come 30 minutes early for qualifying questions, so I and many other people did. Unfortunately, the host didn’t show up until the scheduled start time of 10AM. While I appreciated that his prelim questions were easier and more reasonable than Skip’s (i.e. they were softballs by comparison), I still missed one question and blanked on another. So, my dream of competing was dashed again. But the game itself was rushed, and I still don’t know who won because I had to leave early.
I made another trip into the dealer hall and, more importantly, downstairs to Film Festival room for the premiere of Elijah Thomas’s new short film, Edo Kami No Gyuakushu. Lucky for me, it was the first of the short films to be shown for the video contest, which gave me just enough time to rush back upstairs to the main ballroom for the Kenpachiro Satsuma Tribute panel. (Watch my interview of Elijah about his short film here). Anyway, I was joined by Nick Huber for it for the Satsuma panel. Satsuma was a suit actor who, among other things, played Godzilla in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I met him at G-Fest in 2018. Sadly, he died some months ago. We all shared some experiences we’d had with Satsuma and discussed his work. About halfway in, I opened it to the audience to share. It made the somber panel more meaningful. Sadly, this panel wasn’t recorded, as far as I know. If it was, I’ll update this blog.
I ran to autograph room after that to get a picture with Allan Henry, who chatted with me a little bit and agreed to be interviewed on MIFV. (Score!) He’s a great guy to talk to and a huge nerd, himself.
Finally, we got to the stacked panel that I expected to be one of the biggest of the weekend: Godzilla Turns 70. To discuss that iconic film, there was myself, Daniel DiManna, Elijah Thomas, Kevin Horn, and Dr. Jeffrey Angles. It was wonderful. Watch the video of the whole thing below:
I hung out with my friends for a bit after that, but I did take Jake to see the end of Kaiju Konfessions, a sing-along event hosted by Stan Hyde, because it was worth seeing once, and it’s always felt like the right way to end the con.
We all then walked to the Crown Plaza for one more dinner at Caddyshack, but it was closed for the “official” afterparty, so we returned to the Hyatt for dinner at the Red Bar. A surprising moment for me was a tall black man walked up behind me as I entered, grabbed my arm, and told me how much he appreciated my panels that weekend. (I say it was “surprising” because he grabbed me from behind). We then had our own “wholesome” afterparty by hiding in a room and playing board games like Horrified and Transformers Uno Flip.
Jarod and I left bright and early the next day to get him home for work.
Conclusion
While this wasn’t my overall favorite G-Fest, it still had plenty of highlights. The con is still having growing pains as the new generation of management continues to modernize the show. They’re also dealing with space issues. Rumor has it attendance doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 this year, which is insane. They’ll either have to move to the convention center next door to the Convention Center or take over more of the hotel going forward. I also think they should go back to three panels at a time. Regardless, the show remains the premiere con for kaiju and tokusatsu fans, especially now that more things Kamen Rider are finding their way into the con.
I look forward to next year. I already have at least six panel ideas. Haha!
At least for me, it isn’t. I have two irons on every burner on the stove. But I like it that way. What am I working on? Let me tell you.
“But I Digress…” Returns (Again)
I recently did a livestream with fellow author and content creator Ryan “The Omni Viewer” Collins, and it got a surprising amount of traction. I even garnered a few more subscribers. I heard from someone last year who wanted “the show “But I Digress…” to come back with more topics. So, I’m going to give that a try because I have to take my writing career as seriously as I do my podcasts (more on those later). My goal is to have a monthly livstream on the channel that discusses a topic and gives updates on projects, among other things. The first one will be titled, “The Importance of Escapism.”
A Regular Contributor to Kaiju United
I’ve been sending articles to the website Kaiju United, and now I’ll be a regular contributor to them. It’s likely I’ll be published there at least once a month.
A New Podcast
My kaiju podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault, will continue, but my other podcasts, Henshin Men and The Power Trip, will fuse into a new podcast later this summer. It will pick up where the other shows left off. Stay tuned for more details.
My First Audiodrama – “Origins: Rito Bandora”
I’ve been part of Karl Dutton’s stable of actors for Scyther Podcasts. While I’ve played Deadpool and soon the Human Torch in his fan-made Marvel productions, I’ve most popularly played Rito on Power Rangers: The Audio Drama. While (SPOILER WARNING!) the character was killed off recently, I’m producing a one-shot episode that chronicles his darkly funny origin. The script is finished and production has started. I hope to release it this summer.
Books, Books, Books
A few months back, I made a ten-year timetable for my writing projects, which included finishing the book series I’ve been working on for far too long. My current one is a standalone urban fantasy romance called There Sleeps Titania. I hope to market that to potential literary agents. Then I want to complete sequels and tie-ins to Pandora’s Box and Ninjas and Talking Trees. Then once I’ve tied up those loose ends, I want to launch the space opera I’ve had in my head for years.
EDIT: I’m editing another collection of unpublished short stories that is tentatively titled The Worlds of Nathan Marchand, Vol. 2: Tales of the Lost and Lonely. More details are forthcoming. In the meantime, check out my finally updated “Books” page.
As you can see, I have more ideas than time. Haha!
It’s been five years (crazy, right?) since I updated my podcast appearances for y’all. Being that I’ve (co-)hosted three in almost five years, there are a lot more to discuss! Before I add some more, be sure to read my previous posts here and here and here for my first lists. I’ll do my best to include every appearance, but I may miss one or two. If I do, let me know.
Strangers and Aliens GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS – SA315 June 7, 2019 Just a few short months before I started my own kaiju podcast (again), I was featured on Strangers and Aliens to discuss the second entry in the MonsterVerse.
STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan and William Shatner Live – SA401 February 21, 2023 Official description: “Recently, Ben joined his friends William and Nathan Marchand to see a theatrical showing of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which also had William Shatner do a live stage performance that was sort of a Q&A session. But it was really just an excuse for Shatner to tell some hysterical stories from his long career. For over an hour.”
X-Men: The Audio Drama Season 3, Episode 10: “The Trial of Magneto” March 23, 2023 After playing Rito Bandora for most of season 3 of Scyther’s Power rangers: The Audio Drama, I make my debut on their X-Men show as, of all people, Deadpool. I’m a post-credit gag.
“Steamboat Willie,” the 1928 Disney short that featured the first appearance of Mickey Mouse, fell into public domain Jan. 1, 2024.
Perhaps I’m a bit late to the whole “public domain” discourse. It’s February, after all, and everyone is over “Steamboat Willie,” the 1928 Disney short that features the first appearance of Mickey Mouse, falling out of copyright protection. But as the first weeks of 2024 have passed and I’ve watched a ton of YouTube videos on physical media (thank you, Almighty Algorithm!), it’s brought to mind a lot of my thoughts on censorship and how it all connects to all of this.
The public domain is a double-edged sword. As a creator, I believe artists are entitled to copyright protection; it allows them to profit from their creations because that’s their trade. It’s no different than a fisherman who needs laws against stealing fish to maintain his livelihood. However, copyright in the United States has been extended to an almost absurd extent, with it now lasting 95 years. That’s well beyond the lifetime of (most) creators. Perhaps it can support his estate after his death, but that’s the most reasonable justification for such a timeframe.
The issue, I argue, is when mega-corporations get involved. They see their IP’s as only a means to make money, and they’ll be damned if they allow anyone but themselves to profit from them without permission. In the “old days,” actual people in these corporations needed to discover these unauthorized uses, but today it’s done through automation. That’s why YouTube bots constantly flag user content for copyright infringement. The problem is it ignores context and/or misidentifies the material in question. I know this firsthand because the remix I use as the theme song for my podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault, is now being flagged on YouTube as a completely different song by a record company I’ve never heard of. The whole system reeks of greed and even a bit of paranoia. In most cases, users are creative fans engaging with the content they love. They shouldn’t be punished for that. If anything, it’s free publicity for the studios.
Falling into public domain allows a piece of media to be used by anyone—which is both good and bad. On one hand, that can break an IP out of restrictive molds that have stagnated it or save it from mismanagement by the powers-that-be. (Just look at what Hollywood and other creative industries have been doing to beloved franchises the last 15 years or so). In some cases, it might be the only option to save something from ruin. I can tell you that I will jump at the opportunity to legally write and publish my own Superman stories in ten years since DC Comics likely won’t hire me. (I’ll leave it at that).
But, as a great man said, with great power comes great responsibility, and some creators have no business mucking around with public domain IPs. A.A. Milne’s beloved Winnie the Pooh books fell into public domain in 2022, and five seconds after that honey-eating bear was released into the wild, the movie Blood and Honey was revealed. Yes, a slasher flick about a guy wearing a Pooh mask. Now, sadly, it seems to have started a trend. On January 1, not one but two horror films “based” on “Steamboat Willie,” were announced: Mickey’s Mouse Trap and an “untitled horror-comedy.” There are also twosurvivalhorror video games in the works! I understand the creative drive to do something completely new with established characters. I can even understand the desire to stick it to Disney. But these? They strike me as uncreative and, at points, repugnant cash-grabs. Slasher movies, especially, are stupid-easy and require little thought. They flooded the market in the ‘80s and, with few exceptions, offered little value. Give someone a mask, a knife, and a bunch of top-heavy co-eds to chase and butcher, and you have instant “movie.” Boring. If a creator must make a horror film, why not lean into the unique features of the IP? For example, make “Steamboat Willie” a ferryman to the underworld. (You can have that one for free, writers!) Instead, they take the easy route. More than anything, though, this just seems corruptive. These are children’s icons, and these creators seem hellbent on destroying their innocence. I daresay it’s evil.
This brings me to the virtues of physical media. I’ll probably end up writing a whole other blog about this, but suffice it to say, in this case, it provides a means of protection and preservation for IPs in these culture war assaults. Unless Fahrenheit 451happens and govern-controlled firemen are sent to people’s houses to collects books, DVD’s, and vinyl records to burn, those stories will remain as originally intended. No amount of censorship can completely destroy them. They can’t be removed or edited with a few keystrokes. Physical media, in a way, is like a halfway house between copyright and public domain. You’re granted a “share” in the ownership of something. Ownership grants you power. The power to control when, where, and how you partake of a story. The studios and publishers can’t decide that for you. It shows that you’re invested in the story, which will motivate you to protect it; it gives you skin in the game.
Is copyright a good thing? Yes. Is the public domain a good thing? Also, yes. But both can be abused. That’s why we must learn to use both wisely—but we’re in short supply of wisdom these days.
Julian Bleach as Davros in 2023 (left) and 2008 (right).
While I still consider myself a Whovian, I haven’t watched “Nu Who” for several years. To put it succinctly, Chris Chibnall was Doctor Who’s worst showrunner ever, and Jodie Whitaker’s 13th Doctor has proven to be as unlucky as her numbering. That’s why I had some hope when Russell T Davies, the man who successfully revived the franchise in 2007, was announced to be returning, although I found the return of David Tennant to be a desperate gimmick to bait the show’s lost audience into coming back. Still, I was willing to give it a chance.
Not anymore.
The 2023 Children in Need special.
Recently, a Children in Need special was published on YouTube that shows an able-bodied and unscarred Davros, the iconic creator of the evil Daleks. While I thought the special’s comedic tone toward the “genesis of the Daleks” undermined the threat of the Doctor’s archenemies (a whole blog unto itself), fans, including myself, assumed Davros looked like this because it was a prequel, but Davies revealed this will be Davros’s look going forward.
We had long conversations about bringing Davros back, because he’s a fantastic character. Time and society and culture and taste have moved on, and there’s a problem with the old Davros: he’s a wheelchair user who is evil. I had problems with that. A lot of us on the production team did too, associating disability with evil. Trust me, there’s a very long tradition of this.
I’m not blaming people in the past at all, but the world changes. And when the world changes, Doctor Who has to change as well. So we made the choice to bring back Davros without the facial scarring and without the wheelchair – or his support unit, which functions as a wheelchair.
I say, this is how we see Davros now. This is what he looks like. This is 2023. This is our lens. This is our eye. Things used to be black and white; they’re not anymore. Davros used to look like that, and now he looks like this. We are absolutely standing by that.
It’s well-documented that the Daleks were inspired by the Nazis. These pseudo-cyborgs were created in the 1960s by filmmakers who still had fresh memories of World War II. Davros first appeared in 1975’s “Genesis of the Daleks,” which was written by Dalek creator Terry Nation. In keeping with the Nazi inspiration, Davros bears mannerisms often associated with Hitler and the SS. (In fact, he reminds me of Peter Sellers’s Dr. Strangelove, only not satirical). He is blind and disabled due to constant eugenic experiments he, in true mad scientist fashion, conducted on himself. This eventually led to the creation of the Daleks. In other words, Davros being confined to a wheelchair is a consequence of his attempts to make a master race.
The problem is Davies is concerned with optics. The image of a villain in a wheelchair, he fears, will make the audience assume all disabled people are evil. This ignores the clear origins of and creator intentions for Davros. His disability was self-inflicted and motivated by racial supremacy. So, by curing Davros to avoid “ableism,” Davies is removing the consequences of a far greater evil and disrespecting the creators who came before him. He has made a Nazi pastiche look more like the so-called “Aryan ideal.” Doesn’t this validate that evil ideology? Isn’t it, in some bizarre way, actually ableism?
If Davros must be able-bodied to avoid portraying disabled people as evil, then other iconic villains must be changed to remain consistent. Villains like:
Doctor Doom, who has a disfigured face.
The Weird Sisters of Macbeth, who are blind.
Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, who is a burn victim.
Baron Harkonnen from Dune, who is morbidly obese.
Darth Vader, who is a burn victim, an amputee, and an asthmatic.
In all of these cases, these disabilities are the consequences of their evil actions and often motivate the evils they are now committing. We fear them because they’re stark representations of the true face of evil and its consequences (and also the fear of the unnatural or abnormal, but that’s a blog for another day). Removing these disabilities fundamentally alters the characters to the point that they are no longer those characters. It also implies that only “perfect” or “able-bodied” people can be evil, trading one prejudice for another.
There are plenty of counterexamples with disabled heroes. Characters like Marvel’s Daredevil (blind), Zatoichi the blind swordsman, Jonah Hex (disfigured face), and even Spawn (burn victim). Characters like them either use or overcome their disabilities; their disabilities motivate them to be heroic. In other words, it boils down to virtue vs. vice. Contrary to popular belief, these are not exclusive to particular groups. As a Christian, I believe “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), which means all people are on equal ground before the Almighty. Sadly, we will in times that deny this reality. Instead of understanding the deeper motivations and philosophies at work in disabled villains (and heroes), creators look only at the surface and/or see them as representative of entire groups of people instead of as representatives of themselves. It’s the definition of “shallow.”
All that to say, I won’t be watching the new Doctor Who anytime soon.
I’m excited to announce that I’m one of the contributors to the upcoming anthology A Time for Everything, a collection of time travel short stories inspired by Ecclesiastes 3. My story involves time travel through ballroom dance!
Artwork by Tyler Sowles. Designed by Nathan Marchand.
I’m “unoffcially” participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year. I say, “unoffcially,” because I haven’t signed up and plan to write 25,00-30,000 words instead of the target 50,000. It’s my first time trying this, so I thought I’d start with a smaller goal. (Plus, who in their right mind thinks November is a great idea for this when Thanksgiving and holiday activities happen during it? There’s a reason some use January as an alternative).
My project for this is the much-demanded sequel to Destroyer, which is currently titled Apollyon: Body and Soul. I’m four chapters and 7,500 words deep into it, but I’m sharing its prologue here for you, True Believer, to read. Forgive me, for it is an unedited first draft. Enjoy!
***
“Come not between the Dragon and his wrath.”
–King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1 (William Shakespeare)
Prologue: Resurrection
Hydraulics growled as the Ilyushin Il-215’s jet engines rotated to VTAL position. Ivanov tapped a few buttons on the aircraft’s dashboard with his calloused fingers, and the words, Autopilot Activated, appeared on the monitor. The dark-haired, hard-faced man stood, reflexively brushing flecks of dried blood from his camouflage fatigues, stepped over the aircraft’s dead pilot on the floor, and walked out the cockpit’s door to the transport’s long main bay. There he saw his lieutenant, Nikitin, also clad in dirty fatigues, standing by a Typhoon Titan armored truck. The vehicle bore several years of rust after years of sitting in storage after the World War. Nikitin was a haggard man with a shaved head and long scars on both cheeks.
“Remember the Coalition!” said Ivanov in Russian.
“It will rise again!” replied Nikitin, also in Russian.
“We’ve reached the coordinates above the Zmei Crater, comrade. We have little time before the VVS realizes we have stolen their aircraft.”
“Do not worry. I have completed the Muromets Cocktail and placed it in the Typhoon. It will provide excellent raw materials for the microbots.”
“We lost a dozen Warriors gathering the alien crystals, dinosaur DNA, and alloys for it. If their sacrifices are wasted, you will pay with your life.”
“I assure you, comrade, we will succeed for the glory of the Coalition!”
Ivanov tapped several buttons on a control panel on the wall. Hydraulics hissed as gray light flooded the tunnel-like bay from the back of the aircraft. The thunderous wind coming from the open hatch was not unlike a roar shooting from a great maw, Ivanov thought. “‘Come not between the dragon, and his wrath,’” he said.
“Indeed,” replied Nikitin.
Ivanov pressed a final button, and the clamps restraining the Typhoon snapped off the vehicle’s wheels, letting it roll back and disappear out the hatch.
***
Darkness. Unending.
Coldness. Smothering.
Silence. Everlasting.
Crash!
Bugs crawling.
Teeth biting.
Eyes…seeing.
Lost limbs regrown.
Open wounds closed.
Severed sinews reconnected.
Skin wraps his body.
He feels the dirt.
Buzzing fills his ears.
Fire burns in his throat.
Heart beats in cold fire.
Blood flows in metal veins.
A voice cries in his brain.
Moaning escapes his throat in response.
His hands claw at the cliff.
***
Ivanov maneuvered the aircraft in a patrol pattern around the Zmei Crater under Russian radar for several hours. Waiting. Waiting for the results of this grandiose and desperate experiment. An experiment to avenge Mother Russia’s disgraceful defeat. What better way to do so than the irony of reviving the enemy’s greatest weapon and unleashing it upon them? Yet still, they wait.
“We must go, comrade,” said Nikitin, who sat in the co-pilot chair, “before the VVS finds us!”
Ivanov shot him a glare. “No, not until we know if the dragon lives again!”
“And join our fellow patriots in Siberia? No!” Nikitin threw his headset on the dashboard and shot to his feet.
But as he stormed off, Ivanov called, “Down there! Something moves!” Nikitin looked out the windshield where his leader pointed.
A few hundred feet below, a huge metal hand half-covered in blood-red flesh rose from the crater. Its claws dug into the ground, anchoring themselves, and with a great heave, a malformed cyber-serpent dragged itself from the hole. Crimson skin seemed to grow on its half-melted endoskeleton. A crown of horns slowly grew on a head that flopped wildly like a suffocating fish. It crawled on the ground like a snake, leaving a trail of dark fluids and dead scales in its wake.
“The dragon lives!” exclaimed Ivanov.
Nikitin pulled a computer tablet from his coat pocket and unfurled it. “I will upload instructions to the microbots to begin Operation: Dragonstrike.”
As if in response, one of the dragon’s red eyes flared, shooting a crimson laser.
A crash. Alarms blared. Red warning lights flashed on every dashboard monitor. The Il-215 spun and lurched and divebombed. Ivanov fought the control stick as his lieutenant screamed behind him. With lightning reflexes, he tapped buttons to lower the landing gear and forced the aircraft level out. But it landed cockeyed and slid across the rugged ground, grinding to a halt several long seconds later. It lay at a 60-degree angle, propped on a broken wing.
Sparks flared from the dashboard, singeing Ivanov’s fatigues, as smoke filled the cockpit. The Russian shook his aching head to regain his bearings, blinking to clear his blurry vision. He felt blood trickle down his left cheek. Cursing, he struggled to free himself from the seatbelt, and a giant hand smashed the ground in front of the downed aircraft, quaking the earth and rattling his teeth. A shadow fell over the cockpit as the rebirthed cyborg dragon slithered by, a low rumble echoing with his every movement.
A rare smile cracked Ivanov’s face.
He finally unbuckled the seatbelt and turned to speak with Nikitin–only to find the man lying dead in a mangled heap with the pilot’s thrashed corpse. The tablet lay shattered next to him.
“May the dragon avenge you, comrade!” whispered Ivanov.
He reached into his pocket and produced a cellular phone and tapped its cracked screen. It rang twice before someone answered. “I require extraction,” Ivanov said.
A voice with an Asian accent replied in English, “Is it done?”
“Yes, Kang, Apollyon lives!”
A Man from Another Time Exploring Another Universe
