There are many areas where the “rule of three” comes into play. There are plenty of them in storytelling.

Fairy Tales and Fables are full of threes, of course, with Three Little Pigs, Three Bears, Three Wishes, and on and on - the first unit sets things up, the second reinforces ...

Photo: “Submission No. 2” by stinger9. 04 June 2023.

Hello all, this is a major announcement for the Drunk Duck Awards contest that has been underway for the last ten days on the Comic Talk and General Discussion forums. Original Trophy Design entries will be accepted until Wednesday, June 7 ...

I could've saved this one for Halloween -

When I was a kid, my aunt (only a few years older than me) sent me up to the attic to get a boardgame. When I opened the attic door, a plastic doll that was taller than I was fell forward on ...

It never really occurred to me how many of our heroes are orphans.

Superman was the last survivor of a planet that perished. He was adopted by loving Earth parents, but he's one of the iconic orphans in fiction.

His counterpart Batman, of course, lost his parents at an ...

We talk a lot about Franchises here because those have been the big, widely known movies/stories in the culture in recent years.

But it's not all about Franchises - one thing that a standalone story can do, and occasionally does, is have an ending that changes the world forever ...

I watched an interview with Ira Behr, the writer and showrunner on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. He talked about his days in the DS9 writer's room. It was the 90's, and the early days of the Internet. Even in those days, Star Trek discussion was flourishing online ...

In rewatching some 1990's movies, I saw quite a few of these Protagonists show up - they're these disaffected types, usually quite intelligent or at least verbose, who are wrapped up in their emotions and sort of spinning their wheels in life as they analyze their problems and face ...

Picard Season Three hit the fan service HARD. I absolutely loved it.


The final season of Star Trek Picard is winning very good reviews from fans and critics.

Of course, in some corners there is criticism of fan service, nostalgia and ‘member berries’ being the driving force behind the season ...

Jon Favreau played Maz Kanada. Or Pablo Hidalgo. Or something like that

There are Easter Eggs hidden in media that might be spottable by viewers/readers, and others that the audience would never know unless they got the inside scoop from somewhere.

It's one reason I like commentaries and ...

my webcomic, Typical Strange, uses many fake films in its video store setting

A few years ago I spotted a book in the second hand store - one I'd read as a kid. I bought it and reread it. It was definitely more suited to the younger me - it was ...