Kryptonite will destroy him. ibid. Hackman
OK, kids. It’s all right now. ibid. Superman
Lex Luther – the greatest criminal mind of our time. ibid. Lex
Then we will go there too. To rule. Finally to rule. Superman II 1980 starring Maron Brando & Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder & Gene Hackman & Ned Beatty & Jackie Cooper & Susannah York & Terence Stamp & Margot Kidder & Jack O'Halloran & Clifton James et al, directors Richard Lester & Richard Donner, Zod on the moon
Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk. Iron Man 2008 starring Robert Downey junior & Terrence Howard & Jeff Bridges & Shaun Toub & Gwyneth Paltrow & Faran Tahir & Paul bettany & Leslie Bibb & Christine Everhart & Clark Gregg et al, director Jon Favreau, hero clad
We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task of life is to find reality. Iris Murdoch, cited The Times 15th April 1983
What is it about the unreal, almost childish world of magic, swords, and quests that entrances adults too? Could mere escapism capture so much of the reading world? Fantasy is a form of fiction for people who like to see all the ordinary rules smashed. Andrew Marr, Sleuths, Spies & Sourcerers II, BBC 2016
Allowing us to see our own world in a fresh and surprising world through a twisted, Gothic filter. ibid.
A phenomenally successful television series … Game of Thrones started life as a series of fantasy novels by the writer George R R Martin called A Song of Ice and Fire. ibid.
The ultimate world-builder was J R R Tolkien. His Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books are the most famous in all fantasy. He built worlds of enormous scale and complexity but he attacked them in a different way. His approach to world-building revolved around his fascination with languages. ibid.
Rule 2: Draw a Map: the Map drives the whole story. ibid.
The old stories which gave them [C S Lewis & J R R Tolkien] the tools for their own fiction. But the two friends approached Fantasy writing in diverging worlds. ibid.
Rule 3: Step Through a Portal Into a Fantasy Land. ibid.
Fantasy evolved very fast … Le Guin was taking Fantasy her own way. She even did evil differently. ibid.
Rowling’s Harry Potter series are amongst the best selling books of all time. ibid.
[Philip] Pullman’s work is unmistakably a direct counter, a rebuke, to C S Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. ibid.
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods: ‘What it would mean to be a god right now, what it would mean to be driven by belief.’ ibid. interview Gaiman
‘For making metaphors concrete, for making them solid and allowing you to look at the things that are intangible; you’re taking a fantastical idea and you’re taking it seriously, but you’re also allowing it to comment on the world in a way that you can’t.’ ibid. Gaiman
Rule 11: Mirror the Real World. ibid.
In [Pratchett’s] Mort, Death experiences the delights of an employment agency interview. ibid.
A sense of a lost world, that the glory days are over … deep poignant melancholy. ibid.
The strength of a hundred men, the ability to see through solid walls, and read minds, is every kid’s ultimate dream: superhero powers. Michio Kaku, Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible s1e10: How to Become a Superhero, Science 2009
If I spoke about it, if I did, what might I tell you, I wonder. The Shape of Water 2017 starring Sally Hawkins & Michael Shannon & Richard Jenkins & Octavia Spencer & Michael Stuhlbarg & Doug Jones & David Hewlett & Nick Search & Stewart Arnott & Nigel Bennett & Lauren Lee Smith et al, director Guillermo del Toro, opening commentary
This may very well be the most sensitive asset ever to be held in this facility. ibid.
Politicians now promise to protect us from nightmares. They say that they will rescue us from terrible dangers we cannot see and do not understand. And the greatest danger of all is international terrorism ... But much of this threat is a fantasy which has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. Adam Curtis, The Power of Nightmares III: The Shadows in the Cave, BBC 2004
But then the Neo-Conservatives began to reconstruct the Islamists. They created a phantom enemy. And as this nightmare fantasy began to spread, politicians realised the new power it gave them in a deeply disillusioned age. ibid.
Bin Laden had no formal organisation until the Americans invented one for him. ibid.
Bin Laden had given this network a name: Al Qaeda … The focus of a loose association of dissident Muslim militants who were attracted by the new strategy. But there was no organisation … He was not their commander. ibid.
He realised this was the term the Americans gave him. ibid.
Now the Neo-Conservatives were all powerful … At its heart were Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, along with the vice-president Dick Cheney and Richard Perle was a senior adviser to the Pentagon. ibid.
The Neo-Conservatives distorted and exaggerated the Soviet threat. They created the image of a hidden international web of evil run from Moscow that planned to dominate the world. When in reality the Soviet Union was on its last legs, collapsing from within. ibid.
All they [Northern Alliance] found were a few small caves which were either empty or had been used to store ammunition. There was no underground bunker system, no secret tunnels, the fortress didn’t exist. ibid.
Many of the arrests that were dramatically announced as being part of a hidden Al Qaeda network were in reality as absurd as the cases in America. ibid.
A simplistic fantasy of an organised web of uniquely powerful terrorists that might strike anywhere at any moment. But no-one questioned this fantasy. ibid.
The threat of a dirty bomb is yet another illusion. ibid.
The Neo-Conservatives: America had a special destiny to overcome evil in the world. ibid.
Such was the nature of that fantasy that it began to transform the very nature of politics. ibid.
The Paradigm of Prevention: ‘You lock them up based on what you think or speculate they might do in the future.’ ibid.
Of the 664 people arrested under the Terrorism Act since September 11th none of them have been convicted of belonging to Al Qaeda. ibid.
Because in an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power. ibid.
But the fear will not last. And just as the dreams that politicians once promised turned out to be illusions, so too will the nightmares. ibid.
As the first century of Targaryen dynasty came to a close, the health of the old King, Jaehaerys, was failing. In those days House Targaryen stood at the height of its strength with ten adult dragons under its yoke. The House of the Dragon I: The Heirs of the Dragon, opening commentary, Sky 2022
In the year 101, the old King called a great council to choose an heir … 14 succession claims were heard … The only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon was itself. ibid.
It is now the ninth year of King Viserys I Targaryen’s reign. 172 year before the death of the mad king, Aerys, and the birth of his daughter, Princess Daenerys Targaryen. ibid. caption
No queen has ever sat on the iron throne. ibid. King & Council
My family has just been destroyed. But instead of being by my side or near us, you chose to celebrate your own rise, laughing with your whores and your lickspittles. You have no allies at court but me. I have only ever defended you. ibid. King to Daemon
The iron throne is the most dangerous seat in the realm. Iibid. King to daughter
My father should be defended by a man who has seen real combat. House of the Dragon II: The Rogue Prince, Princess
You are the King but I do not envy you. ibid. Councillor
Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the iron throne. ibid. Princess Rhaenys
If you wish to be restored as heir, you need to kill me. So do it. And be done with this bother. ibid. neice to uncle
I intend to marry the Lady Alison Hightower. ibid. King
Two years old and already our boy has kingly presence. House of the Dragon III: Second of His Name, council at party
My father trying to sell me off to Jason Lannister. ibid. Princess
Do you think the realm will ever accept me as their queen? ibid.
I do not seek to replace you, child … What would you have me do? ibid. King to Princess