Stories by @optimistic_writer

A History of Violence (1974)

When a pair of petty criminals attempt to rob his small-town diner, Tom Stallquickly and easily kills them both. In the flush of news coverage of Tom's seemingly heroic actions, a threatening stranger named Carl Fogarty comes to town, fingering the unassuming family man as long-missing Philadelphia mobster Joey Cusack. To the horror of his wife, Edie, and teenage son, Jack, Tom finds he must confront his violent past.

A Fish Called Wanda (1957)

British gangster George Thomason and his hapless aide, Ken Pile (Michael Palin), draft a pair of arrogant Americans, grifter Wanda Gerschwitz and weapons expert Otto West, for a massive diamond heist. When the job goes badly, Wanda attempts to seduce George's stuffy lawyer, Archie Leach, to find out where George hid the diamonds. Meanwhile, Ken repeatedly attempts to kill an elderly woman who witnessed the robbery.

A Dangerous Method (1969)

In 1904 a Russian woman named Sabina Spielrein arrives at Carl Jung's clinic, seeking treatment for hysteria. Jung is eager to test Sigmund Freud's theories on Sabina and, in fact, successfully treats her. Two years later Jung and Sabina meet Freud in person, and Jung takes over the treatment of Otto Gross, whose influence leads Jung to begin an affair with Sabina, contributing to a rift with Freud.

A Dame to Kill For (1945)

The damaged denizens of Sin City return for another round of stories. Run-ins with n'er-do-wells, a femme fatale made of dreams and nightmares, and a sweetheart who wants revenge for her lost love. All within the sweeping city of sin...

2001: A Space Odyssey (1928)

An imposing black structure provides a connection between the past and the future in this enigmatic film by Austrian director Fritz Lang. When astronauts are sent on a mysterious mission, their ship's computer system, HAL, begins to display increasingly strange behavior, leading up to a tense showdown between man and machine that results in a mind-bending trek through space and time.

12 Monkeys (1978)

Traveling back in time isn't simple, as James Cole learns the hard way. Imprisoned in the 2020s, James is recruited for a mission that will send him back to the 1980s. Once there, he's supposed to gather information about a nascent plague that's about to exterminate the vast majority of the world's population. But, aside from the manic Jeffrey, he gets little in the way of cooperation, not least from medical gatekeepers like Dr. Kathryn Railly.

A Circle of Friends (2003)

What if The Room was actually a good, well-written, and well acted drama? Johnny is living his best life with his fiancée, Lisa, whom he loves deeply. He has a steady job, great friends, and is very happy. However, for Lisa, the spark is gone. She simply doesn't love him anymore. So, she tries to sleep with Johnny's best friend, Mark. This small tight knit group of friends begins to fall apart.

What If Doctor Who Wasn't Axed? - Doctor Who: Adventures (2021)

Doctor Who: Adventures was greenlit for two series and the second series went straight into production after the first finished. Not much has changed, with the exception of the logo being the franchise unifying font that was introduced last year. The episodes featured this series are: The Smuggler of Doom, Earth Defense Force, The Infinite Quest, The Stone Age, Eye of the Gorgon, The Sale of the Century, Public Enemy One, Rest & Recreation, Fear Her (not the one you're thinking of), and The Prisoner.

George A. Romero's The Mummy (1996)

Set in modern-day America, archaeologist Helen Grover discovers and accidentally awakes the mummy Imhotep, who, after regaining his youthful appearance, struggles to adapt to modern life. He starts a relationship with Helen, herself a priestess of Isis in a previous life, and reincarnates another mummy, Karis, who goes on a rampage across the city.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The adventures of Percy Jackson after he discovers he's a demi-god, and his father is God of the Sea: Poseidon.

What If Doctor Who Wasn't Axed? - The Sixteenth Doctor (2020)

The first season of the Sixteenth Doctor's tenure. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production eventually had to be shut down and only 8 episodes (4 serials) of the 13 episode (6 serials) season could be produced. This led to the two final serials, Lost and Forgotten and For All Their Wisdom, being cut and the second episode of the final serial being rewritten to have it end the season's ongoing arc. Also, the logo of the series would change, to accompany the remerging of Viacom and CBS, and the changes they made to the series to better fit its role as a franchise better. The serials this seasons are: The Screams of Terror, Vajahnari's Curse, The Age of Discovery, and No Good Deed. [Author's Note: Usually I have this in order from the starting point it came out, and since this came out on January 1, this would've been before Adventures and TNR but due to the weird timing and when it was completed, I made it after.]

Telltale's The Wolf Among Us

Nearly 20 years before the events of the comic series, there's someone killing Fables. The Fables escaped the wrath of the Adversary who took over the Homelands, the world of fairy tales. Now, someone has been killing them off one by one in the enclave they set aside for themselves. Bigby Wolf... the big bad wolf... has to find whoever they are and stop the grip they have on Fabletown and its residents.

What If Doctor Who Wasn't Axed? - Doctor Who: Adventures (2020)

Franchise Executive Jane Espenson realized that in later years, the children's demographic for Doctor Who had dropped off, dealing with much darker themes in the show's recent history. With this, she wanted to create a child-friendly version of the show with a recent Doctor, with the Fourteenth eventually being chosen. Phil Ford was chosen to helm the series and he had distinct rules to make sure the show stayed child friendly, like no deaths on screen or mention of sex and things like that. The show was created with a hybrid of 2D and 3D animation with characters being 2D while backgrounds and exteriors were 3D. The episodes would only be 25 minutes long as well. The episodes this series are: The Dalek Invasion of Sussex, The Black Death, Starship Harmony, Dreamland, Something Borrowed, The Coronation, Orphan 55, Mona Lisa's Revenge, Halley: 2062, and The Green Terror.

What If Doctor Who Wasn't Axed? - Doctor Who: The New Renegade (2020)

In the rivalry between CBS and Paramount, this was meant to compete with Doctor Who: Until the World Ends with bringing back a former Doctor, this time with The Eleventh played by Anthony Head. However, due to studio politics and many things shuffling around, CBS and Paramount's parent company Viacom, re-merge. This resulted in a show meant to be everything Paramount hated, yet was being distributed by them. All that aside, the show was helmed by Chris Carter, famous for helming The X-Files, and eventually the Doctor Who spin-off, Cold Front. He requested the show be rated TV-MA, to go for a more adult audience. As well as doing a serialized season, which Jane Espensen was heavily against due to serialized nature of Eleven's original run on the character, but was overruled by CBS producers. The main synopsis of the show is The Eleventh Doctor having adventures in the TARDIS, which eventually resulted in Eleven and his companions Major Dustin Barnett (from the episode Chain Reaction) and a woman named Emma, trying to find the existence of God itself, or at least a similar like power. It takes place in between the season finale of Season 43 and Doctor Who: Revelation. The episodes this season include: The Reckoning [Parts I and II], Refuge, The Monastery, Time Syndicate, The Silent Years, The Keeper's Knife, Widow's Feast, and Faith of the Doctor [Parts I and II].

What If Doctor Who Wasn't Axed? - Dokter Wie (2019)

The second season of the first foreign adaptation of Doctor Who. There is more of a mix of stories this season, including some from Chapter Two, Chapter Three, and even Chapter Four. As well as a different foreign adaptation! The episodes this season include: De Thuisplaneet (The Home Planet, adaptation of The Deadly Assassin), De Samenzwering (The Conspiracy, adaptation of Kerblam!), De Millenniumvloed (adaptation of Flood of the Millennium), Het Zwarte Gat [Parts I and II] (The Black Hole, adaptation of The Impossible Planet), Gestolen Paradijs (adaptation of Paradise Lost), Het Verhaal van Evert en Berendjen (The Story of Evert and Berendjen, a loose adaptation of The Conspiracy of PriceMart and Their Story), Spelletjes van Marteling (Games of Torture, adaptation of Vengeance on Varos), and Invasie van de Tijd [Parts I and II] (Invasion of Time, adaptation of The Battle of the Strong).

What If Doctor Who Wasn't Axed? - The Elysium (2019)

It was eventually decided by Jane Espensen that this would be the final season of The Elysium. Many loose ends would be tied up as well as having broad and large scale sci-fi concepts introduced during this season, while also dealing with lower stakes character development and stories. Due to this being the final season, the episode count goes from 12 to 16. The season opens four months after the Treaty of Taoter, and President Baker-Mitchell couldn't be having a worse day. With her support reaching breaking point, and both the Cizzaurans and the Rhaighrs thrown into crisis over the after effects of the Treaty, the President could not be in a worse position. The episodes this season are: Not My President, Real Might, The Price of Lies, The Lonely, The Dream of Demons, The Wake of the Gods, To The Neon God They Made, You're With Us You're Against Us, The Winner Takes It All, With Thunderous Applause, And the Walls Grew, Peasants - You Had the Golden Horn, His Story, Gohiyudihno Utugi, The Forfeits of Fortune, and Lulli Lai Lae.

Doctor Who: Multiverse

The Doctor, in his 14th incarnation, realizes that the universe is at its greatest peril. Its entire existence is threatened by an unknown being beyond space and time, who believes that its time should finally come to an end. He sees this universe, and many others, as a mistake and believes it should be undone. The Doctor, along with other Doctors from different universes, must come together to convince or stop this being from taking out the entire multiverse, and existence as we know it.

Telltale's The Walking Dead: Finality

After years on the road facing threats both living and dead, a secluded school might finally be Clementine and AJ’s chance for a home. But protecting it will mean sacrifice...

Telltale's The Walking Dead: A New Frontier

Javi is a young man living with his brother, David, sister in law, Kate, and nephews, Gabe and Mariana. Their father dies of cancer, and he eventually reanimates as a living corpse. During a scuffle with their undead father, their mother gets bitten, and she is taken to the hospital by David, who never returns. Four years later, Javi is with Kate, Gabe, and Mariana scavenging the wasteland looking for a new home, food, and whatever else they can find to give them hope in this brave new world. In the mean time, Clementine is fighting her own battles while trying to keep AJ safe.

Telltale's The Walking Dead: Clementine's Journey

Eight months after Clementine shot Lee to prevent him from turning into a walker, she meets up with Christa and Omid, the former of which is pregnant. After a run in with a panicked stranger, Omid is shot and killed. Sixteen months after that, Christa (who lost the baby) and Clementine are on their own and trying to survive the best they can. While trying to tend to food they found, Christa is found by bandits, who eventually try to attack Clementine, but she escapes. Now with no one, Clementine must fend for herself in the apocalyptic wasteland.