marycrawford | Entries tagged with screencaps

This is an Entirely Gratuitous Post of Zhu Yilong looking lovely and defiant and sleeveless - I couldn't find any caps for this specific moment in Lost Tomb ep 26 so I made some. No spoilers at all, just hotness.

( Wu Xie has no fucks to give, and also no sleeves )

LOOK LOOK

naye made more caps and they are spectacular!

And how do the cap and goggles look so good on him?

Lost Tomb is really fun - I see ppl are racing through it but I am plodding behind, and I just watched ep 5 and just enough of ep 6 to see the cliffhanger resolved. Sometimes it feels a lot like watching someone play Skyrim for the first time, very badly:

( some spoilers )

ETA some spoiler-free screencaps from ep 6 just For Reasons:

( the camera loves Wu Xie )

So, I don't know the show Once Upon a Time at all, because I seriously suck at watching things with a plot these days.

But: it's about fairytale people who live in the modern world, in a town called Storybrooke. I know that much because of this fabulous vid that

arduinna and

therienne made.

And I am fascinated by the picspams

arduinna is now putting up:

OUaT picspam the first

OUaT picspam the second

They are not hugely spoilery, I think, because they deal with scenery and background things, not so much the plot.

And it turns out that the OUaT crew have been doing amazing things with scenery.

The kind of things that you don't even notice, until you are vidding the show, and pausing endlessly, and running clips at low speeds, and rewatching clips 100 times. Which...normal viewers probably don't do, and yet the showmakers put this coherent, subtle, beautiful motif of trees and flowers and forests in the background of the modern town, in ways that make particular sense for each character. It's stunning when you see it all together like this.

Another favorite fannish analysis of mine is Tom & Lorenzo's thoughts about the period wardrobe in Mad Men, and how it ties in to the character arcs, starting with season two. I haven't been reading that recently, as, guess what, I'm not caught up to Mad Men's current season at all, but I loved their posts on earlier seasons.

(Side note re not being caught up: I am still debating whether to ask for Burn Notice fic for Yuletide or not. I love the show just as much as I did last year. I just, um, haven't caught up at all, as far as I can remember, since last year, which means I'm somewhere in season...three? That might make things awkward for my writer, I fear.)

I wish more shows were this careful and thoughtful about their entire background, wardrobe and styling choices. It's like they are giving the viewer presents to reward them for investing time in the show.

It's a huge contrast to the more usual elements you pick up as a vidder -- shows reusing footage, for example (Granada Sherlock Holmes, as lovely as your street scenery shots are, I'm looking at you).

Or the stunt guys who are so very obviously not the hero, once you pause them.

Or that really very charming shot I found in ST:TOS, I can't remember the episode, but it was one with explosions in it -- and at one point you can see Kirk come in running, sort of come to a stop and then deliberately throw himself on the ground, with the explosion happening just a tad later.

Or shows that reuse scenery elements in ways that are incredibly distracting once you notice them. (Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, not having a huge budget, did this all the damn time, to the point where I started greeting a certain stretch of beach like an old friend. Probably worst of all was the decision to reuse the Sumerian tomb Iolaus was buried in as set dressing for the catwalk in a Widow Twanky episode. Well, worst or most audacious, I'm not sure.)

So,

dorinda told me about this 1956 Hollywood movie I should see called "Trapeze", and I did, and loved it -- I am adding it to my Yuletide list, in fact, because this is a movie that simply cries out for fanfic. It almost, almost gets to the point where a slash fanfic ending would not even have been necessary, and then stops. Seriously, it's like the last reel has just gone missing somewhere.

"Trapeze" stars a young, gorgeous Tony Curtis as the up-and-coming talented acrobat who wants to learn the triple salto and a somewhat older, still gorgeous Burt Lancaster as the crippled, experienced ex-acrobat who winces every time he sees so much as a dangling rope, and the equally gorgeous Gina Lollobrigida as the Italian intrigante who aims to become the star of the circus and tries to break up their partnership.

The boys wear tights. And arm wraps. And...not really much else? I think some pants and shirts are involved when they're not in the circus, but they look very good in those, too. Gina wears breathtaking gold spangled outfits. Did I mention this movie is in Technicolor, and filmed in an actual circus?

The boys gaze at each other with (on Tony Curtis' part) industrial amounts of joyful flirtiness and wide-open longing and (on Burt Lancaster's part) dizzying amounts of inner pain and nobility and secret yearning, and then they hold discussions about the catcher/flyer relationships, and about their hearts beating in time, and they train and try for the triple salto mortale together, and then there is the actual flying, and the intense emotional entanglements that should revolve around Gina and yet always, always come back to just the two of them.

Screencaps and discussion and movie download links over at

dorinda's place! Bring potluck!

Meme, from

flambeau:

1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite food. Or a quote from what you are reading. Something random. Whatever you like.

2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.

5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

So, comment away and I will ask you questions!

( Answers to torch's questions )

How to Dress for Success in New Greeceland, part 1 featured teenage Hercules, Iolaus and Jason - now here's the adult version. So to speak.

Let's start with Amazon Women, the first of the TV movies:

( Manly hugging and other fashions - image heavy )

thefourthvine has posted a hilarious Fandoms I Have Loved overview of Stargate SG-1, with links to recs and resources, and one of them was

niamaea's SG-1 photo essays about Jack and Daniel's outfits throughout the seasons. I've just spent way, way too much time reading every single one of them and laughing my head off. (The first one is here: Everybody's Crazy 'Bout A Sharp-Dressed Man, pt 1.)

Of course, being the kind of fan I am, I immediately wanted to do a similar fashion post for Hercules: the Legendary Journeys. There is just one problem with this, and that's the horrendous failure on the part of TPTB to come up with more costumes for Hercules and Iolaus. Xena and Gabrielle got a costume makeover every other episode, including fetching samurai and hindu idol outfits, whereas Herc and Iolaus spent six seasons tooling around in the same clothes, and yes, I am still ridiculously bitter about this.

However, from the essays it's clear that HtLJ is much better at nudity than SG-1, where you apparently only see nudity if someone's just descended from being ascended, or whatever the hell you call that. And HtLJ did have its fair share of entertaining outfits, especially when you factor in the evil twins, lookalikes, demonic possession and amnesia. Also, and most importantly, looking at HtLJ screencaps just never fails to cheer me up, especially from any episode that has the Widow Twanky in it.

So, here we go! How to Dress for Success in New Greeceland, part 1, featuring young Hercules and Iolaus and whoever else we meet on the way.

( Image heavy, of course. Not to mention leather pants heavy. )

To be continued in >How to Dress for Success in New Greeceland, part 2, or: Why Does Iolaus Not Wear Pants?

This weekend will be the Weekend of Taxes - not just this year's, I might actually ask for an extension on those so I can get the ones from the past three years done. (Yeah, just don't ask. Being an adult is hard sometimes.) I've got all the preliminary work done, I just need to fill out the electronic forms and cross my fingers a lot.

Also, my brain is slightly frazzled and full of scary-beautiful-omgscaryhelp images left by mainlining all 12 episodes of Dexter in about a week - I'm pretty sure this is all

therienne's fault, as usual, and holy wow. What a show. I recommend the books too, though I think the show improves on the plotting by about 200% - I just really like the voice of the books, and the audacity of a story told in first-person present POV, a serial killer POV, yet, in a way that works. And, um, both the show and the books leave me rooting for the serial killer, yes. (But he only kills bad guys! And he tries so hard, in his own completely fucked-up way! Snf.)

So to unfrazzle my brain, I watched a favorite Hercules episode, King For A Day.

I love how much this episode is a 'make Iolaus fans happy' bonanza. There's Iolaus' doppelgänger Orestes providing twice the usual amount of eyecandy, there's the silky robes and the sleeping with nothing on, there's the waking up with nothing on and then wrestling a potential assassin, there is the swordfight with the sneering villain who uses foils, historical accuracy be damned, yay swordfight! -- damn. I need screencaps here.

( Wrestling )

( Closeup of hotness )

( Swordfight! )

( Swordfights are hard on mortals )

I love how Iolaus does a doubletake when he picks up the foil, a 'wtf is this?' and then moments later he's dueling the bad guy in true Elizabethan style. *g*

And then there's the aborted romance with Niobe. I like Niobe, though not quite as much as I adore Nebula or Dirce or Lydia - Iolaus does have amazing girlfriends - but most of all, I admit, I like the doomed part of their romance, especially in the ending of King For A Day, because. Snf. Look!

( *snf* )

( Leaving ohnoes )

My screencaps are bit crap here, but that red-eyed look to Iolaus is real. He has to go and leave his Niobe behind, woe. Not to mention his henchmen and his kingdom. Well, not really his, but you know he could have taken it over in a heartbeat, and Hector and Linus wouldn't have minded in the least.

And after Orestes asks Iolaus if there's nothing they can do to make him stay, he says, "No. I've got a friend waiting at the Delphi crossroads."

That friend being Hercules, of course, and aw. Also, I grinned a lot at this because when I named the Delphi Archive, I couldn't remember if they'd ever used the location in the series or not. Now, at least, I know that the Delphi crossroads is where Hercules waited for Iolaus to rescue him from a lovesick maiden.

( Rescue meee )

More screencaps for King For A Day here.

(Hey, if you're not doing taxes this weekend, please go upload some of your Hercules: the Legendary Journeys fanfic at the Delphi Archive? Pleease?)

I've updated my site with new screencaps for the fifth season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes Let There Be Light and Redemption.

I got a request for screencaps of the first episode, and then I had to do 'Redemption' as well so I could get to the hug at the end. I hadn't seen the bit with Dahak-in-Hercules'-shape torturing/seducing Iolaus for a long time, and it just gutted me.

Now we ignore the rest of the plot completely (exorcism of Dahak!Iolaus, Zarathustra, the Light, and other WTF-ery) in favor of

( Nebula and Ares being astoundingly hot together )

( Hercules and Iolaus giving each other manly hugs )

Ahoy, me fine wenches! Today we splice the main brace, for today be Talk Like A Pirate Day.

If ye feel yer pirate lingo needs improvin', ye can run yer text through a landlubber-to-pirate translatin' machine, and all ye swabs can get a proper Pirate Name here, if ye can't think o' one yerselves. Arrr!

They call me Meatcleaver Mary, an' I aims to know who yer favorite pirate may be. Fer me, while I had thoughts o' t' Dread Pirate Roberts an' Granuaille an' Captain Jack Sparrow, thar's one pirate that has t' come first:

( Nebula the Pirate Queen )

( Armwrestlin' the lads )

( In action )

( Lookin' for booty )

( With her cabin boy )

(These pictures ta'en from the Hercules episodes Faith and Web o' Desire.)

Now tell me, who be yer favorite pirate, an' what be yer pirate name?

devinharris watched my Holding Out For A Hero vid and asked,

Which episode did the clip of Herc on his knees, with his hands tied behind
him, come from? I want an icon of that pose, because guh is it hot, but I'm
currently connecting to the 'net at 19.2 kbps and there's no way I can
browse all your screen caps to see if you have that shot capped already.

It's from Hercules and the Amazon Women, that fabulously deranged episode where the Amazons strip Hercules half naked, bind and gag him and then drag him through town on a cart to deliver him to their Queen. Clearly they know a good thing when they see one. (There are several clips from that episode in the vid, because how could there not be? And I didn't even include the one where Hercules is lying on the floor naked.)

Oddly, even though I have tons of screencaps for the episode, I failed to cap the falling-to-his-knees moment. So I had another try, and here are three caps of Bound!Gagged!Defiant!Hercules, especially for

devinharris, who patiently waited for months until I remembered. *g*

( Hercules on his knees )

( Hercules on his knees, looking up )

( Defiant closeup )

Here are some screencaps and comments for the second season Hercules: the Legendary Journey ep "Mother of All Monsters"; the rest of them are up at my site. It's very hot and I think my brains have melted, so this will be rambly.

( Arrows and tentacles )

Oh, and this episode inspired The Price, an Iolaus/Ares story by Valentin which is hot like a very hot thing and manages to fix a plot problem at the same time. An old favorite that still holds up.

Someone running a website for Jacinda Barrett asked me to make a few screencaps of the Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episode 'Medea Culpa', and of Medea in particular. (This is one of the flashback to Young Hercules episodes, and Barrett, a young Australian actress, plays Medea.)

So I did. Except when I say a few, I mean fourteen pages. Oops.

But young Hercules, Iolaus and Jason are really very cute together, and I like the framing scenes with grown-up Hercules, Iolaus and Jason fishing together and teasing each other.

( A few screencaps and comments )

The rest of the screencaps for this episode are here.

I've updated my website with a bunch of screencaps for the sixth season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episode Darkness Visible. This is the episode where they are asked for help by their old friend, Vlad.

Yes. That Vlad. Needless to say, things are not quite what they seem.

( Screencaps and comments )

Screencaps up at my site for the Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes Twilight, Top God and Reunions. These are the three episodes dealing with Alcmene's death and Zeus' manipulative attempt to turn Hercules into a god and establish him on Olympus.

About half these episodes are flashbacks, introducing young Iolaus, Jason and Hercules (Ian Bohen, the guy who actually looks and acts like a young Hercules, to my mind, not his later incarnation Ryan Gosling), and the Young Hercules storyline doesn't always mesh with the adult one, but there are some powerful moments in the adult half.

( A few favorite moments )

Thanks to

therienne I just watched The Tower, and

( here are spoilers and also, screencaps )

I've put up screencaps on my website for the Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes Descent and Mummy Dearest.

These are rather different episodes. Descent is the second season five episode, very bleak, continuing the theme of Iolaus' death and Hercules' descent into nightmare and madness. Mummy Dearest features Salmoneus' House of Horrors and the Egyptian princess Anuket who wants her Mummy back. But hey, one is set in Sumeria and the other in Egypt, it's a theme, right? *cough*

( Some screencaps for Descent )

How sad is it that by now I'm making mental things-to-pack lists for Vividcon when I'm not even going?

Don't answer that.

In other news, I put up screencaps on my site of Full Circle, the very last Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episode, before I went off to Glasgow, but I didn't have time to do a post about it. Here are some highlights, with assorted comments, as always.

( A few Full Circle screencaps and comments )

I've updated my site with new screencaps for the second season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes The Apple and Protean Challenge, and a new short story: Prey, written for the Unlikely Alliances

hxyh_challenge.

The Apple is one of my favorite Hercules episodes. It's hilariously over the top, it's a great Iolaus episode and it just makes me smile whenever I see it. I used quite a few images from it in my Live Till I Die vid - Iolaus surfing, Aphrodite offering him the golden apple, Athena shaking out her hair as she vamps Iolaus, the princess throwing Iolaus to the ground in order to ravish him, Iolaus fishing and doing calisthenics on the beach. Can you see why I like this episode yet? *g*

( The Apple - screencaps and comments )

ltlj mentioned on

herc_iolaus, Mike's Images has been updated with new H:tLJ screencaps, yay! And I have to point you to this image.

I love The Apple, and I love my crackbrained show. Tell me: is that not Fanfic!Iolaus at his very worst! It's the Golden Hunter in all his overwritten glory. With a hint of Stallone. *eg*

"Atlantis" is a third season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episode that I hadn't rewatched in ages, probably because Iolaus isn't in it, and it was a pleasant surprise. It also set my brain spinning, because ... Well. Let me explain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up.

- Atlantis is, of course, Atlantis. An island city of tall spires and advanced technology, whose citizens do not believe in the gods. They have airships and doomsday weapons. In fact, they have staff weapons that shoot lightning and stun you. And thanks to

therienne I have been watching Stargate: Atlantis, and doesn't this just beg for a crossover? Preferably with McKay in it, because I highly approve of him. Even if nobody will believe me that he is Andrew from Buffy, grown up. (Of course he has a bigger ego! He grew up! Ahem.)

- The main character, Cassandra, is played by Claudia Black of Farscape fame (and apparently also SG1?). She's gorgeous, and she has an instant rapport with Hercules that really works - they're just comfortable with each other, this quirky woman who lives alone in the woods and has visions and doesn't believe in the gods, and the demigod who washes ashore. Not really flirting, even though Hercules takes his shirt off and she does the comfort thing. Just friendly. 's Nice.

- I would not let Hercules on my ship ever. EVER. The ship he's on in Web of Desire gets blown away by a storm, while the crew gets eaten by a giant spider. Nebula's ship, he tries to kill himself with, but instead he just destroys the ship. The ship he's on in this episode gets fried by Atlantean lightning. And I bet there's more. The man is worse than Odysseus.

- Hercules wears an actual Greek chiton in this episode. No, really. He doesn't appear to like it much, though. One gets the feeling he's quite glad that Iolaus isn't there to see it. *eg*

- And to top it all off, Hercules flies a glider to escape from the Doomed City. Wheeeeee! Demigods in airplanes! Also, my fandom is on crack.

( A few "Atlantis" screencaps and comments )

Here's the rest of the Atlantis screencaps.

Screencaps for "Revelations", the fifth season ender for Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, are up on my site. Also for the third season episode "Atlantis", but I think I'll do a separate post about those and talk about the fannish collision the ep caused.

I asked for fifth season screencap requests earlier, and they all seemed to be concentrated on "Revelations", heh. Unfortunately the visual quality of this episode is way below par - I'm still not sure if it's lower production values or just a bad DVD or what, but about every still is fuzzy, distorted or blurry. I am annoyed that I couldn't get better caps of the wonderful leaping hug where Iolaus jumps into Hercules' arms, for example. You should maybe look at the lovely closeup on Less Than Legendary Journeys instead. (Last row to the right, fifth picture down.)

This was, of course, the episode where Iolaus comes back. At last. For real. Hercules has some trouble believing it, and who can blame him - and then Iolaus drops the bomb and tells him that he's not so much returned but escaped from the Light and will have to go back. I'm so glad I was already thoroughly spoiled by the time I saw this episode, or I would have spent the whole time biting my nails and fearing that there would be another goodbye scene at the end.

It's also the episode with, well, the Four Horsemen (but not Methos or Really Cool People, alas) and the Archangel Michael. Which, well, I would frankly prefer to forget about, but if anyone needs evidence that my fandom is on crack, here it is. *g*

( A few 'Revelations' screencaps )

I finally made screencaps for 'Faith', the fifth season opener for Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, which kicks off the whole Dahak arc, and also for 'Revelations', the ending episode - because hey, after the heartbreak I needed the hug at the end *g* - but for some reason, the 'Revelations' screencaps look like crap. I don't know if it's a bad DVD transfer or my computer or what, but they look bleached and grainy and fuzzy and...crappy. So I might try to do another take of those.

In the meanwhile, the 'Faith' screencaps are here, all twenty pages of them. :cough:

( 'Faith' screencap highlights and ramblings - spoilers, of course! )

This will be short and scatterbrained - like me, really. I walked 17 km today (about 10.5 miles, I think), and while it was lovely - such gorgeous weather right now, nearly 20 degrees C, and everything in bud or in bloom - I'm pretty zonked right now. *g*

erinslashslut has been screencapping and commenting on the Xena ep The Key to the Kingdom, featuring Autolycus and Joxer.

I discovered a Hercules/Xena crossover fanfic over on fanfiction.net. It's called Heavy Lifting, it's by Sirabella (a new name, for me), and it's looking pretty good - snappy dialogue and convincing characterization:

The King of Thieves grinned cockily. “How ‘bout that, huh? Bet I’ve got some moves you’ve never seen before.” He furrowed his brow in thought. “That didn’t come out quite like I planned.”

Iolaus rubbed a hand over his face to hide his smile. “Autolycus, just give me my bag.”

It's also not finished yet, so let's hope it will be. Rated PG, or K+ as they now call it.

To make up for my April 1st evilness, not to mention continue the Autolycus theme, I put up screencaps for Porkules and My Fair Cupcake.

Should you look at these caps, you might get the impression that I am very, very fond of the scenes in both of these episodes where Iolaus gets pissed off at Autolycus and starts manhandling him, and of the princely outfit Iolaus wears in My Fair Cupcake. You would not be wrong. But in the interests of giving everybody equal time (or pretending to *eg*):

( Ares, Discord, Autolycus and Iolaus teaser screencaps )

I've been watching more of the Hercules DVD season sets, and today I found a new extra! Wheee!
If you put disc 6 of the season 4 set into your DVD player, wait for the main menu to appear, hit enter, then hit the > or forward button three times and press play, you will see what I mean.

These are scenes from a missing Hercules episode, wherein Hercules is imprisoned and nearly executed in a case of mistaken identity. The scenes are a bit muddy in places and difficult to screencap, but Hercules looks edible and Iolaus is particularly gorgeous in some of these shots, as he risks life and limb for Hercules, going up against a flying monstrosity and several of the gods to save his friend. What's more, I haven't seen this much hurt/comfort in any later episode - any episode not from the Dahak arc, that is. I love the moments where Iolaus cradles Hercules in his arms and makes impassioned speeches about how much Hercules means to him. Woof.

( Hercules in Iolaus' arms )

( Flying monster )

( Hercules awaiting execution )

( Iolaus looking particularly gorgeous )

Thanks to my SO, I can now upload to Mary Crawford's Vices in minutes instead of hours - he found a clever utility, rsync, that only uploads the bits of data that have changed, rather than the whole thing. Whee!

To celebrate, I put up a whole bunch of LJ icons - most of them not new, but I hope there'll be a couple you might want. *g* Free to share and customize, credit appreciated but not obligatory.

( Five Teaser Icons )

I've also changed my mind about putting up actor screencaps as opposed to character screencaps. (Does that distinction even make sense to anyone but me? *g*) I've put up a Behind The Scenes section for the blooper reel screencaps, the Hurst & Sorbo interview caps I made a while ago, and a new set of caps from the Kevin Sorbo and Anthony Quinn on set bit on the Hercules season five DVDs.

It makes no sense whatever to put that last extra on the season five discs, as it was filmed during the making of one of the first TV movies, before the first season, and Anthony Quinn wasn't even in H:tLJ by the fifth season, but I'm not complaining - I'll take all the extras I can get. It's not a very revealing segment, but Kevin Sorbo looks gorgeous in it. He gets asked how it feels to be a sex symbol, and gets adorably embarrassed and mutters that that's a premature question. Aw. He was right, of course - for all he knew, the movies could've tanked and he would have gone back to Jim Beam commercials.

( Tell me you don't want to bite him. )

( Michael Hurst. Earrings. Wstfgl. )

( Hurst & Sorbo being adorable )

I've just put up screencaps on my site for the fifth season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes Stranger and Stranger, Just Passing Through and Greece Is Burning. Yeah, I picked all the lighthearted eps to watch first, but rest assured, all your requests are coming up. *g*

Squidge is acting strange and I had some trouble uploading - if you find missing files anywhere, please let me know.

( A few teaser screencaps. Well, quite a lot, really. Whoops. )

I do hope I'm not spamming you all with screencap posts. I'm a bit under the weather (this is a genteel way of saying that I feel like a stuffed hedgehog), writing isn't going so well, and nothing could be more soothing than watching Hercules episodes and making screencaps.

I've uploaded screencaps for the fourth season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes Hercules On Trial and Men In Pink to my site.

I agree with

elke_tanzer's delight in the more outrageous H:tLJ episodes - I utterly adore Men In Pink. Yes, the plot is lifted almost scene for scene from Some Like It Hot, but I don't mind - that's one of my best-beloved movies, and I love this goofy, affectionate homage to it.

In brief, the plot is that Autolycus and Salmoneus are caught red-handed at a murder scene. In order to stay out of trouble for a while they decide to join the Widow Twanky's dance troupe, and before you know it 'Autolyca' and 'Salmonella' are dancing the 'hootchie-cootchie jiggle-wiggle' dressed in playboy bunny costumes, Autolycus romances a girl called Cupcake with the aid of a poodle and a strategic doughnut, Salmoneus discovers his inner femme fatale and gets hold of a man's family jewels, and there is more innuendo than in the previous two Twanky eps combined.

( A few Men In Pink screencaps )

Hercules On Trial is a genuine courtroom drama, and it works quite well, I think. Lots of guest stars show up, including Lisa Chappell as both Dirce and queen Melissa, and the prosecutor is very convincing as he makes mincemeat of all the witnesses and tries to convince the jury that Hercules should be sentenced for encouraging rebellion, sedition and generally being too hunky too live. But my favorite bits, predictably, are the moments where Hercules is languishing in jail and Iolaus and Ares come to visit him - Iolaus supports him, of course, even though he thinks Hercules should stop being so noble and just break out, and complains about the prison food even as he's scarfing it down, while Ares comes to offer his half-brother an alliance. You could strike sparks off the delicious tension between Ares and Hercules in this episode, and I love the golden lighting of the prison scenes. :basks:

( A few Hercules On Trial screencaps )

I was making screencaps for Stranger In A Strange World, the fourth season Hercules episode with the crossover into doppelgänger world, and then

elke_tanzer posted this lovely bit of squeeing and plotnoodling about that very episode.

So, there are now 26 pages of screencaps for Stranger In A Strange World. :whistles innocently:

Well, I mean. I have some problems with the Jester, mostly because of what happened later, but as Elke reminded me, this episode has it all in terms of mirror doubles - there's not only Iolaus and the Jester, but there's the delectable Ares, God of Love (Kevin Smith started out as an Elvis impersonator. Hee.), there's Aphrodite in a snit and a high-necked dress, there's Joxer, steely leader of the rebellion, there's madcap femme fatale Xena, there's Gabrielle the executioner...and there's the Sovereign in his leather harness. *g* Plus, yes, Hercules and Ares beating the crap out of each other.

dbw has been making stunning icons with earlier screencaps, btw. Go check them out.

( A few highlights from Stranger In A Strange World )

Sorry to be spamming LJ tonight, but my upload finally succeeded, and now there are screencaps on my site for the fourth season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episode Web Of Desire.

This is a fun episode, which uses a bit of classic mythology (Arachne, the woman who was turned into a spider by Athena for daring to boast of her weaving) and puts a typical pulpy H:tLJ spin on it. We have caves, we have people being eaten, we have a spiderwoman laying eggs in her victims' bodies, but most of all, we have Nebula, as played by Gina Torres.

Ah, Nebula. I have a total thing for her - she's drop dead gorgeous, she has a great line in snark, she kicks ass, she's a pirate and she has no compunctions about groping Iolaus practically from the moment she meets him. What's not to love?

And, well, I know I've quoted this exchange before, but she just has such a fannish appreciation of the whole Hercules/Iolaus relationship:

Iolaus: “Yeah. Be safe.”
Hercules: “You too. Good luck.”

They clasp arms, look into each other's eyes meaningfully, and finally part ways. Nebula observes this and laughs.

Iolaus: “What?”
Nebula: “Nothing. Quite a firm handshake between you two.”
Iolaus: “Yeah, so?”
Nebula: “So, I think it’s great.”
Iolaus: “Well, I’m glad you approve.”
Nebula: “Yeah? So? How long you two been together?”
Iolaus: “We’ve been partners since we were kids.”
Nebula: “Oh, ‘partners’.”

I still have to work on the Nebula/Iolaus/Hercules ideas

falzalot keeps giving me. Yum.

( A few Web Of Desire screencaps )

I've put up screencaps for the Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes A Star To Guide Them (3rd season) and Two Men And A Baby (4th season) on my site.

Both are Hercules & Iolaus episodes, the latter also features Ares and Discord. They aren't in my top favorite episodes list - the plots are pretty dumb, even for H:tLJ, and A Star To Guide Them is an Xmas episode with a Christian element that makes me grind my teeth - but there are lots of great moments between the guys, and I admit I went a little nuts screencapping those. Hercules & Iolaus bickering about fishing or why they're going north, having earnest conversations around the campfire, fighting bad guys while floating in the air, I love stuff like that. *g* And Ares and Discord have some great moments in the latter ep, too.

(Screencap note: I don't change the color/brightness/contrast of the caps I make off the DVDs. The reason I don't 'clean up' the caps is that no two monitors are the same - they may look washed out on a Mac, or too saturated on another type of monitor. But on my monitor, the Ares & Discord scenes, for example, look pretty dark, and I'm sorry about that.)

( A selection of caps - Hercules, Iolaus, Ares and Discord. May take a while to load, be warned. )

I've put up a ton of screencaps for the third season Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episode Prince Hercules.

This is the ep where Hercules loses his memory and nearly swears himself to Hera, while Iolaus spends the entire episode purple. (Everybody: "Why are you purple?" Iolaus, exasperated: "Because I like it.")

It's also the episode I'm rewriting for the Real Legendary Journeys project.

( Five 'Prince Hercules' thumbnails )

I'm not allowed to talk about what I'm going to change in Prince Hercules for the rewrite, but suggestions for improving the episode and beefing up Iolaus' part in the story (which are the elements required by the RLJ) are very welcome.

My main beef with the RLJ episodes so far is that I feel they're often not being told as stories - the POV shifts all over the place or it's camera-eye, and what's on screen in the episode is what the reader gets to see. Plus there are very few original scenes being added. Which...really isn't the point of the exercise, if you ask me. In a story, you have the huge advantage of being able to show someone's emotions, thoughts, flashbacks, reactions, ideas - all without having to rely on actors, or lighting, or expository dialogue. And there are no limits on special effects, scenery, costumes, or bad guys. (A quote from

ltlj which I have by heart: "It's not as if you have to pay them scale." *g*)

I also feel that some of the rewrites lean too heavily on the 'making right what once went wrong' aspect, which can turn into Apology!Fic ("Iolaus, I am sorry for not wanting you to go with me on my dangerous mission even though you just woke up from a coma, and I don't appreciate you enough, and did I mention that I'm sorry?") and Sappy!Fic ("See? Nice guy X died and that was sad, so we brought him back to life and never mind that this wrecks both the story and continuity").

Of course, now I have to put my money where my mouth is.

After Yuletide...

I've posted screencaps for three Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episodes over at Mary Crawford's Vices: War Bride, A Rock And A Hard Place (both 3rd season) and War Wounds (4th season).

As well as the usual thumbnail pages linking to larger images, I've also put up .zip files of all the large screencaps for these three episodes. I've had a couple of requests for that, and I'd like to know if you find this useful.

Please click on the thumbnail to go directly to the 720x480 image.

( War Bride )

( A Rock And A Hard Place )

( War Wounds )

Ages and ages ago, I promised

barbaraa to make some screencaps of Michael Hurst and Kevin Sorbo from the interviews on the Hercules: the Legendary Journeys fourth season DVD set. I intended to make two or three, but I never know when to stop when making screencaps, so there are fourteen. *g*

The guys seem a bit uncomfortable, stuck there behind that little table, and Kevin Sorbo never really stops looking tired, but in the last few caps Michael Hurst is acting out what it was like to both act in and direct One Fowl Day while wearing big teeth, big flappy shoes, sacks and a whole lot of mud, not to mention being shackled to Autolycus. The whole bit makes me laugh much more than that terrible episode ever did, and you can see Kevin Sorbo cracking up too.

I'm not linking to them from my site, BTW, so grab 'em from here if you want them. (I just feel weird and uncomfortable about putting up screencaps of the actors on a site devoted to the fictional characters they're portraying.)

( 14 large Hurst & Sorbo screencaps ahead )

Look at my new icon, then guess which Hercules: the Legendary Journeys episode I chose to screencap today.

That's right. Maze of the Minotaur. The 'Mommy, what's Daddy doing to uncle Iolaus?" one. Just the thing in the middle of an exhausting, meeting-filled week.

If you haven't seen it before, I urge you to have a look at Ryp's hilarious Abridged Version of the episode with added viewer commentary, or Melisande's fictional version for the Real Legendary Journeys, which is much more sensible than the real episode. (Unlike the original writers of this ep, she doesn't let Iolaus reminisce happily about an event which canonically he cannot possibly remember and which ends in his own death.)

Note: I experimented, and this time I made fullscreen caps and then saved them in 1024x768. I'd really like to know whether you think this is a good idea for upcoming caps, provided I have space to host them. (The resolution of the original DVD's is only 720x480, so that's what earlier screencaps were made in. I hope that makes sense.)

Because the files are so large I'm not posting full caps in my LJ this time, just a few tantalizing thumbnails.

The caps are on my site, here.

( Maze of the Minotaur thumbnails )

I posted the H:tLJ blooper reel caps at last! Lots of silliness and gratuitous nudity! (Any objections? Thought not...)

( Blooper reel screencaps )

Now that my yuletide story is finished I'm free to indulge myself, at least today (ROTK tomorow! Again! Whee!), so I watched Highway to Hades and made screencaps.

( Highway to Hades, the photostrip! Several caps, may load slowly )

So. My voice is returning, I have done with NaNoWriMo ('done with' as in written 33.000 words, closed the file and put it in a battered tin dispatch-box), and I have a somewhat scary Yuletide challenge lying in wait for me as well as a H:tLJ story to work on. What do you think I did last night?

That's right. I started overhauling my website, Mary Crawford's Vices.
Just now my computer finally finished uploading a gazillion Hercules screencaps from some of those great Season Two episodes: All That Glitters, Heedless Hearts, Enforcer, Cast A Giant Shadow, The King of Thieves, The Sword of Veracity and What's In A Name.

When I procrastinate, I procrastinate.

To top it all off I'm posting a few favorites here once more, one from each episode.

( Warning: men in leather pants ahead. Oh, yeah, and large pics. Or pecs. Or both. )

Current Mood: manic

roo2 asked for Iphicles screencaps, from the H:tLJ episode "What's In A Name" where Hercules' half-brother first makes his appearance. Here are a few, with more on the way when I update my site.

roo2, I hope they'll prove inspiring for the much-anticipated Egyptian story. :-)

Ah, Kevin Smith, how we miss you. I admit I like him better as Ares, but Iphicles has his moments. It must be so aggravating to have a half-brother who's got a divine gift of always being right.
Iolaus is great in this episode, too. "Next time I ask to be fed - feed me!" he growls at a guard before decking him. I was trying to work out how long he's actually held prisoner. It can't be that long, can it? Less than a day? And already Iolaus is considering rat au naturel. I never realized how canon Iolaus' insatiable appetite really is.

( Iphicles caps. Warning: may load slowly. )

For

halimede, and anyone else, of course. :-)
I feel sort of embarrassed doing this, because what do I know? But I hope it's helpful, all the same.

( How I Make Caps )

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

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