a vintage year for scoundrels

1. I went to see Cursed Child the other week! I had very few expectations going in, other than that the staging would be fantastic (which it was), but friends, I loved it. I mean, I'm sure there are criticisms to be made of it? But I just enjoyed it so much. (Not least because I went to see it with raven, so we got to talk about our reactions and take photos of each other with our respective house banners. ♥) I laughed, I cried, I never knew what was going to happen, it was excellent. I'm torn between "I WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN" and "I don't want to risk diluting this wonderful experience". I do want to read the script, though, which I haven't yet done.

2a. STAR TREK DISCO NEW TRAILER AHHHHH WHAT IF IT'S GOOD

2b. I saw Star Trek Beyond a year ago yesterday, so have now been at Peak Star Trek Joy for a whole year and it's been amazing.

3. THIRTEEN. I didn't really know who Jodie Whittaker was, so it took a moment to sink in, but then I watched the teaser and suddenly had all these emotions in my eyes. And she looks so Doctorish! A little weird and otherworldly and mischievous. I can't wait. It's a shame that we still have a white actor playing the Doctor (my top picks for Fourteen: Meera Syal, Indira Varma, Josette Simon), but this means so much to me even so, not least because I was so sure it was going to be yet another white dude. Also, I watched a few episodes last season for Bill, who is wonderful, and I'm crossing my fingers that she'll be Thirteen's companion, whilst also resigning myself to the likelihood that we'll get a solo boy companion instead.

4. Character announcements for Young Justice season three! I've always found Young Justice a bit hit and miss (I still haven't seen the last three episodes), but with enough hits to keep me more or less on board. ALSO. ( don't think this is really a spoiler, but just to be on the safe side ) I'm also holding out a teeny tiny bit of hope that now they're free of the constraints of whatever network they were on before, they might be able to include queer characters, as originally planned.

I saw Star Trek: Beyond at the weekend and while it wasn't perfect, I enjoyed it a great deal. Here are some of the things I loved about it:

( spoilers! )

And then the SDCC Star Trek panel happened and now there's a BEAUTIFUL TITLE for the new show and a LOGO and also FOOTAGE OF A SPACESHIP and it's set in the Prime universe and right now everything is Star Trek and nothing hurts.

Since it is nearly 2016, here are some things that made me happy in 2015, sorted vaguely by category. There were probably more, but I can't remember what they were right now.

SUPERHEROES
- Peggy Carter, punching people so pleasingly, and realising that trying to win the respect of her male colleagues is trying to win a rigged game. If they don't value her, that's THEIR problem.
- Kara Danvers, dorky ray of sunshine and superpower.
- Jessica Jones, bruised and cynical and fundamentally heroic.
- Kamala Khan, noblest of dorks.
- Carol Danvers, punching the sky. The last issue of her comic made me cry; I am looking forward to seeing her have space adventures with Abigail Brand next year.
- Possibly stretching the definition of "hero" a tiny bit, but Loki: Agent of Asgard was one of my favourite comics of the year, despite the endless crossovers it got tangled up in, and I am sad it's over.
- Age of Ultron gave me NATASHA and WANDA and MARIA and HELEN, and also some boys, some of whom were also quite good, and it was GREAT. And then purplefringe made Wolf Like Me, a beautiful Natasha vid, and everything was excellent.

SPACE DORKS
- I played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and fought a lot of lightsaber battles and lost a lot of money playing Pazaak and it was GREAT. Also this one time I found a gong and I clicked on it and it went bong. (I ask for very little in a computer game.)
- kathkin's lovely Second Doctor era fic made me very happy this year.
- seeing "The Trouble With Tribbles" and "Trials and Tribble-ations" (aka "Kirk Is Super Done With Everything About Today" and "Jadzia has the best day ever") with many excellent humans.
- reading Una McCormack's The Crimson Shadow and still wanting to draw hearts around it months later, for reasons of GARAK, and also ( spoilers )
- my gaming group is slowly starting to work its way through Mass Effect. I AM EXCITE.

BOOOOOOKS
- Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar mysteries, recommended to me by raven, are a gem: witty and delightful.
- I read Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor the other day and, oh, my heart. People trying to be kind and to act rightly in difficult situations. ♥
- I followed Tansy Rayner Roberts's Musketeer Space, a retelling of The Three Musketeers, but with lots of women and queer people and brown people, and also set in space, as it was being serialised, and I loved it SO MUCH. Highly recommended! I want to read a million more things like it.

OTHER
- Hamilton! I feel like I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said at length elsewhere, but I really love it and am so excited about the fact that I'm going to see it next year. :DDDD
- Sense8! I didn't talk about this anywhere, but I really enjoyed it. I loved that it took its time and really immersed us in the characters, and I liked (almost) all the sensates and their associated humans a whole lot.
- Person of Interest's Sameen Shaw. PRECIOUS VIOLENT WEIRDO. <3
- KORRA. The last two seasons were SO GOOD.