Terror Camp V: Day 3 Recap ✨
To quote Frodo Baggins: "It's done!"
Here it is, my final recap for Terror Camp V! Wow, this took me a while to complete. Nevertheless, thank you so much to everyone who reblogged and liked my previous recaps! I am so, so blown away by the response these recaps have had, since I only decided to share them for funsies. But that just goes to show the beauty of fandoms, and especially the Terror fandom. ❤️
And in case you missed my previous recaps, you can find Day 1 here, and Day 2 here.
With that said, here are the highlights I took from the Sunday presentations!
From Panel 4: Non-Human Life and the Arctic
First up, we learned about ice core samples with Olivia Williams. Specifically, we learned about paleoclimatology, with studies geological materials that record the Earth's climate processes. Climate models can be built from these studies, and ice cores in particular have been used to study past climate change.
Besides ice cores, other objects with layers have been used to calculate ancient climates, including tree rings, ocean and lake sediments, and cave deposits. As you can imagine, there were many Shrek and "onions have layers" jokes in the Discord chat.
Ice cores are typically drilled in Greenland or Antarctica, and can be two miles in length and drilled in 1-meter segments.
How do ice cores form, you may ask? Basically, snow compresses over time, becomes dense as it keeps falling, and accumulates layers like a tightly packed snowball. And because air bubbles get trapped between the snow, this essentially gives scientists direct measurements of past and ancient atmospheres.
Thanks to ice cores and similar samples, scientists have an 800,000 (!!!) year-range of past climates, and it's been found that there's a repeated pattern, of a 100,000-year cycle of warm and cold periods. As you can imagine, this is important for looking at contemporary climate change. As for CO2 levels, because of the obvious amounts of human-caused pollution, their levels have been skyrocketing.
The Arctic acts as an archive for the planet's climate, and what's crazy to me is that there have been ice core samples found that are anywhere between 1.2 million to 6 million years old! It's yet another reason why the poles are such extraordinary places.
And then, since this has been on my mind for a few days now, to borrow something from McNulty and the gang: "Don't you want some ice cores? Don't you want them now?" 🎵
Or, alternatively: "What do we do with an ice core sample? What do we do with an ice core sample? What do we do with an ice core sample, early in the morning?" 🎶
And then, ship cats and dogs with Millie! The pictures of her cat, Sugar, were absolutely adorable, and she was dressed in not only a cute sailor outfit, but also in epaulettes with a rear admiral's hat!
Cats may have been domesticated by Ancient Egyptians, potentially as far back as the 20the century BCE. There were also African wild cats buried alongside people who traveled to ancient Cyprus, which has led archeologists to believe that these wild cats were domesticated and brought along with these ancient settlers.
It also wasn't just the animals who changed due to domestication. As for humans, our brains also evolved differently.
Moving forward in time, animal mascots were common on ships and considered good luck (and good PR and marketing strategies, let's be honest).
Did YOUR ship's cat fall overboard? Were they spotted licking grain? You've got a storm forecasted! According to sailor's superstitions, that is
Although apparently there is some science behind these superstitions, because cats can sense low pressure, and if they do get nervous enough, then there probably was choppy weather on the way.
Some notable cats of polar expeditions include: Nansen of the Belgica expedition who died of the cold in the Antarctic; Mrs. Chippy of the Endurance expedition who survived jumping overboard, weight gain, only to get killed along with three dogs. And then there was Peter and Lummo of the Penola. Poor Peter the Tabby Cat didn't care much for the cold and would later die from it, and Lummo was described as "discerning and inquisitive," and was photographed laying on the snow. This snow kitty would survive the expedition.
There is something to be said about the perceived utility of these cats and dogs on polar expeditions, but also how (in many cases) they would be bluntly butchered and/or named after slurs.
Connecting to our favorite ships, Terror and Erebus, during the 1839 Antarctic Expedition, Erebus's ship cat apparently snatched up and ate a new flying fish as the naturalists were trying to sketch up and record it. Cat's gotta do what a cat's gotta do.
Also (and this was news to many of us already somewhat familiar with the Ross Antarctic Expedition) two of the newborn cats on the expedition were killed by the crew members! JCR what the hell???
On a brighter note, dogaloos (igloos for dogs) were a thing and they were delightful.
There were also references to Ripley and Data with their cats, which just goes to show that humans (and androids) will bring their cats everywhere, be it the icy poles of Earth or the farthest reaches of space.
If there was one thing everyone took away from Emily Burt's presentation on ornithology and naming birds, is that the American Ornithological Society needs some common sense and decency whacked into them. Let me explain.
Many birds have been named via eponyms, or after specific people. But who gets to name these birds, let alone having the right to name them, especially if they already have names given to them by Indigenous peoples?
If a bird has an English name, it was likely "found" by Westerners and collected. Some of these English-named birds include Franklin's gull, named after Sir John Franklin by Doctor Joh Richardson during the Coppermine Expedition. Yes, the same expedition where Franklin ate his own boots.
And then, there was Ross's Gull, which was "found" during William Parry's second expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Admittedly, it does have very pretty pink plumage, and there were many jokes about it being the prettiest gull of the Navy. Also, fun fact, James Clark Ross and Crozier at the time were wee midshipmen.
And then, there was the Stellar's Jay, named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, who was part of the Second Kamchatka Expedition in the 1730s. The reason why it was named after a jay, was because they reminded Steller of the American blue jay, which led him to believe that the expedition was in the Americas. Sure enough, he would be correct. Steller was also one of those guys who somehow "forgot his wife" and fell in love with nature instead. Which...okay yes, nature is amazing and all but my guy, you left your wife behind!
On a serious note, the problem with eponyms and classifications can sometimes perpetuate colonialism and the idea of "ownership" over nature. It also undermines Indigenous cultures and histories, and sometimes, different animal or bug species end up being named after horrible people.
Someone also noted that in other non-English speaking countries, when it comes to naming various species, honorifics aren't commonly used. And if they are used, it's usually borrowed from English. Unsurprisingly, Anglophones seem to be awfully obsessed with themselves.
There have been efforts in renaming species that pay respect to Indigenous culture. One such example was the efforts to rename the Maui Parrotbill to the Kiwikiu. Unfortunately, the American Ornithological Society rejected these measures. Many tomatoes were thrown in the Discord chat.
On a lighter note though, there was also some chatter about the Indigenous names for birds, and how many bird species are often named for the sounds they make. One such name that I managed to catch was the "cococohao(?)," which if I'm not mistaken, translates to "grandmother owl." Isn't that such a lovely name for an owl?
From Panel 5: Indigenous Knowledge, Artifacts, and Exploitation in Polar Exploration
After Franklin and his men went missing in the Arctic, Lady Jane Franklin and Sophia Cracroft, besides amassing support for rescue efforts, also traveled frequently, which was the focus of Ashley Smith's presentation.
Lady Jane in particular would go on to travel to the United States, Canada, China, and India. Because apparently you could go on a grief vacation if you were wealthy enough.
Lady Jane and Sophia went on tour in the Pacific Northwest in 1861 and 1870, where they would go on to "acquire" a big collection of Indigenous items. Sophia's letters were considered one of the earliest records of women touring in the region. And by the two women touring about, their presence was meant to reinforce the colonial ties between Canada and Britain. Besides visiting a Captain George Richards, who took part in a rescue mission for the Franklin expedition, Lady Jane in particular was to bring news to a Bishop George Hills about the progress of the Church of England in the colony of Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Talk about doing a colonialism by shooting several birds with one tour.
Sophia often wrote about her experiences, and also began to take up drawing. In particular, she would sketch out and draw the art forms of pieces made by the Haida, Tlingit, and Sitka peoples.
In terms of provenance, this collection of items passed from Lady Jane, to Sophia Cracroft, and then on to Sophia's nieces. Then, one of Sophia's nieces would sell it to William Ockleford Oldman, a collector and dealer of Indigenous belongings. Finally, in 1913, these objects would be purchased from Oldman by George Gustav Heye, whose collection of Indigenous objects would make up the core of the National Museum of the American Indian in 1989. Unfortunately, due to the latest U.S. government shutdown, this museum was closed at the time of the presenter's research.
There is much to be said about the provenance and "acquisition" of these items to our modern museums. Because more often than not, these items were brought in through dubious means. In recent years, many efforts have been made to do repatriation, or rather rematriation, because why stop at challenging colonial language? Why not go further and challenge patriarchal language too? Some of these efforts have included the practice of spiritual care of sacred belongings and human remains, the return of knowledge to its original communities, as well as traditional knowledge labels and the implementation of cultural protocols. Much work, as one can imagine, has to be done.
Next up was Sadie MacDonald's presentation on Ada Blackjack. Personally, I've only heard anecdotal things about Ada, but WOW was Ada a remarkable woman. An Inupik woman born in Alaska, Ada Blackjack became part of an expedition to Wrangel Island, to get the necessary funds to bring her son, Bennett, to Seattle for specialized medical care. Unfortunately, the expedition to Wrangel Island was led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who not only changed his name to deliberately sound more Scandinavian, but he was also considered to be "one of the biggest humbugs alive" by Amundsen. Yeah. You know you suck when even Amundsen disapproves of you.
So, Mr. Stefansson the Humbug thought it would be a great idea to try and send an expedition to Wrangel Island to prove that it could be habitable, and Ada Blackjack was hired to sew and cook for the expedition. As you can imagine, sewing was especially important for the inclement weather. However, by 1923 after the expedition began, things were going poorly (and the men were apparently frustrated with Ada for whatever contrived [aka racist] reason), and the expedition's men set out for Siberia to try and find aid or a rescue. Ada would be left behind, along with Crawford Knight, a Canadian who was too ill to travel. Ada did the best she could to care for Knight, along with performing literally all the other non-domestic tasks, literally learning how to hunt and trap on the job. Unfortunately, despite Ada's best efforts, Knight would eventually die on June twenty-third. None of the other men of the expedition would be seen or heard from again, and they never reached the mainland.
Afterwards, Ada would survive on her own with the expedition's cat, Vic, hunting and surviving, and even shooting off polar bears. She would eventually be rescued on August twentieth, reunited with her son, Bennett, was able to take him to Seattle to get specialized medical treatment, and even had another son, Billy.
It's remarkable, and yet horrifying to think of what Ada must have went through on the expedition, especially in those final months while fending for herself. It was also poignant to learn of how thinking of her family and returning to them contributed to her survival, especially with the unconditional love she had for her son. For example, on the expedition, she made slippers for Bennett and a cap for her mother. And while Ada never considered herself a hero, and Stefansson had the nerve to not give her proper financial compensation, I'm glad that she's finally getting the recognition she deserves.
For one, I am definitely going to be checking out Jennifer Niven's book on Ada Blackjack, as well as going through Dartmouth's collection that I believe features Ada's diary and account of the expedition.
Then, there was Tatiana and Joe Starwalker's fascinating presentation on shamanic masks from Siberia, the Far East, and the Russian North. The masks that were mentioned included greasepaint masks (which mostly amounted to facial motifs greased onto one's skin), costume masks (which included whole animal pelts and represented animalistic spirits), guise masks (often facial masks with zoomorphic/anthropomorphic patterns), crown masks, and hat masks.
It was so interesting to see the diversity of craftsmanship of these masks, as well as the stylistic differences that varied between various Indigenous peoples.
And interestingly, in connecting shamanistic masks to The Terror, the mask that Silna's father wore in Episode 1 may have been inspired by Yup'ik face masks, as they stylistically look very similar.
Then, we all had our minds collectively blown by Kaitlyn Gorsalitz's presentation on the genealogy of the Franklin expedition.
First up was none other than our favorite steward, Thomas Jopson! Unlike the book, which I believe set his birthday sometime in August, the historical Jopson was born on November 14th, 1816 in Marylebone. Apparently, our boy was a Scorpio and had a ton of siblings, mostly sisters.
John Bridgens was a huge surprise. Historical Bridgens was not the DILFY book club president we all love. Instead, he was 26 when he volunteered for the Franklin expedition, but he may have been illegitimate, was illiterate, may have lied on his resume, and was possibly a deserter at one point! Oh, and then his real name was actually "Henry James Bridgens," and "John" was an alias....Seriously. E.C. did not have to do the real Hickey in like that. He literally could have just joined up.
Meanwhile, historical David Young, not unlike the show, was practically a baby compared to the rest of the men. He was only 17 when he volunteered for the Franklin expedition. Just 17! And while he did have a sister, she died in 1844, a year before the expedition set out. And get this. David was ALSO born John Young. Seriously, what is with nearly every other 19th century woman naming their boy John?
Apparently there was a Dane aboard the ship, as referenced by Harry Goodsir. This turned out to be Henry Lloyd, whose real name was William Clossan.
Edwin J.H. Helpman, the clerk on Terror also had a surname so unique that it's completely gone from England. Also, to my surprise, one of Edwin Helpman's descendants is none other than Max Helpmann, the guy who played the Child Catcher in the movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Yes, that guy.
Then, historical Charles Best was one of the few men not born in England, and was actually born in Rawdon, Nova Scotia. He was also born a "John" too, because apparently you can never have enough Johns.
And then to top it off, Thomas Armitage may have also had an alias, "Thomas Harmitage." Someone in the Discord chat noted that some British dialects tend to add an "h" sound before a vowel, so this may have been a case of a local dialect showing up writing. However you gotta admit, considering Armitage's many more-than-dubious actions in the series, "Harmitage" as his surname is quite fitting.
Seriously, so many of these men were doing a Hickey. You literally could have just joined up!
From Panel 6: Polar Utopias
I was SO excited to see Seth Stein LeJacq again at Terror Camp, since he presented last year! This time around, he presented the subject of liberation and queer utopias in Age of Sail fiction.
Seth's main focus was on Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series, which depicted queer liberation and utopias in the 1960s, before the Stonewall Riots in the United States. Spanning 20 novels, the Master and Commander books were pointedly liberal, tolerant, and of course had deep historical research. And in many cases, O'Brien literally lifted and reused the texts of actual complaints and letters from the Navy and used them for his novels. Besides pioneering queer naval history, the Master and Commander books are more homophilic, and were even described as "male friendship pornography."
And for those of you who are Herman Melville and Hornblower fans, both got honorable mentions.
Meanwhile, as time went on, more writers would come to be inspired by O'Brien's work, but politically take their novels in the opposite direction. Especially during the AIDS crisis, there were many novels with Reaganite fantasies of punishment, with a gleeful regard and approval to lashings and homophobic language. Seriously, some of the examples shared were stomach-churning.
Fast forwarding again, Dan Simmons's The Terror turned out to be more similar to the Reagan-era Age of Sail Fiction, in that it also rejected O'Brien's liberalism. There were many Chad v.s Incel jokes in the Discord chat, some of which included Chad O'Brien v.s. Incel DSimmons.
On a final note from Seth's presentation, was from José Esteban Muñoz's ideas of "queer futurity," discussed in his book, Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. Muñoz proposes that by turning to the past, we do so "for the purpose of critiquing the present...propelled by a desire for futurity." As many of us know, when writing historical fiction, we also write about the present moment, and the present's anxieties. However, that hasn't stopped those of us from marginalized communities from dreaming of better futures.
Next up was Frontier Masculinities by Shelley Yang, which linked polar exploration to techno-liberalism. I admit that at first I didn't see the link between polar explorers and modern tech bros, but after Shelley's presentation, I was literally sitting there like Danny DeVito going: "Oh...I get it now."
As it turns out, the language used by polar explorers is quite similar to that of tech bros. There's a heavy emphasis on "embarking on a final frontier," grind sets, and a very, very masculine gendering on polar exploration. Because harsh environments and working your tail off make you a real man! For the economy!
There's also the emphasis on calling for a complete remake of the current political order, emphasizing the apparent "brokenness" of democracy because it impedes on free capitalism.
ALSO! Exit fantasies are very much a thing, because why bother helping to make meaningful change in society when you can just go off into the distance and remake it yourself?
This means that Hickey absolutely would have been an exit theorist and a tech bro in the modern era. And he totally would have run a shitty startup that scammed people. While doing identity fraud.
In the last presentation by Eavan O'Dochartaigh, she examined "Badly Behaved Polar Explorers." It would be remiss to not acknowledge the very real harm polar explorers and their expeditions committed to both the Indigenous peoples and the environment. Some of the offenders listed included Elisha Kent Kane, William Bradford, George Rice, and Robert Peary. Many photographs and some extracts of the journals from their expedition were shown, and it's truly horrifying to think about what the Indigenous women and girls went through because of these men. And because of the photographs the expedition members took, their discomfort and fear is forever immortalized. These men were truly despicable.
On some final notes taken from the Q&A and the Discord chat, Hickey as an exit theorist makes more sense when you consider that he still embodies the British Empire's worst and blatant impulses despite trying so hard to escape from it. Not only does Hickey actively harm Silna and the other Inuit, but he makes himself as the head of a new system, and is arguably even more tyrannical than Crozier/Fitzjames/Franklin. Someone in the Discord chat brought up the fact that often the worst perpetrators of imperial violence are often themselves marginalized at home. Which then leads to Crozier punching down, and having a parallel with Hickey.
On a final note, Seth brought up the fact that the idea of a utopia is predicated on care! Being able to leave a harmful environment is predicated on knowing that there is another community that can feed and care for you. Because in the end, who are we without care? We are at our best when we care for one another, especially in an ever-turbulent world.
Sunday Keynote: A conversation with Edward Berger and Florian Hoffmeister
And last but least, was the conversation with Edward and Florian! As someone who dabbles in writing, it was so rewarding and fascinating to learn about their experiences and the filming techniques they used for The Terror. Also, they're doing another collaboration together!
While working on The Terror, they both concluded that collaborations often depend on the project and its personality, as well as familiarizing oneself with the grammar and language of said project. There also seemed to be an importance of having elements of naivety and play, needing someone to make the unreal real, and having a strong foundational text.
They only filmed for 8 weeks(!!!) and Edward in particular praised Dave K. and Soo Hugh as phenomenal writers. As he should, because it's true. He also frequently used storyboarding, and along with Florian, they had to utilize the most out of a small studio space, even with the ships built to scale. Edward also stated that he had many a crisis of faith, and thought that he was dying of authenticity. Someone noted that this was the average Terror fanfic writer experience, and I wholeheartedly agree.
On the cinematography side, Florian said that they did plenty of testing, especially for the snow and atmosphere. Something called bleach bypass was used, and the movie Lincoln was interestingly a focal point of inspiration.
A project having a visual identity was important, which would be informed by the story and the script, and the subjectiveness of the crew. Dave and Soo were once again praised for being very precise yet atmospheric, which then transformed the visual language of The Terror into being metaphysical, moody with the light (or lack thereof) of the Arctic. Someone noted that The Terror is a period drama that happens to be horrifying.
There was a precise, almost static camera language that was compositionally trapped, much like how the men were trapped in the ice. And despite having a relatively small stage and studio, everything was made in situ. They even had a blacksmith school on site! And also, this was apparently Edward's first time using a green screen.
And considering that this show has an ensemble cast, it would make sense to have group shots! Not only do they add to the cinematic experience, but it also served to illustrate how truly cramped the ships were. Think of the scene in Episode 1 with Sir John, Crozier, Fitzjames, the lieutenants and the ice masters.
In one of several truly touching moments, Edward was called warm by Florian, and Edward considered himself more of a collaborator than a leader. I honestly feel that this, coupled with Dave and Soo's writing and guidance really helped with the production and the final product.
Interestingly, the end montage of Episode 1 was meticulously mapped out from script, to storyboard, to the screen. And according to Edward and Florian, this transition was very close to the finished piece.
Which then leads me to say this: Release the storyboards!
Also, I don't know how Florian was able to do this on Zoom, but somehow he very artistically kept zooming in and out on himself at an angle. There are clearly many benefits to being a cinematographer.
There was also some overlap with Conclave! Edward said that he was drawn to Ray and Crozier's underdog mentalities, and how both of them had their respective crises of faith. Conclave also had a similar film language to The Terror, in terms of having precise/mathematical architecture of the camera.
Seriously, can I just take a moment to mention how beautifully Edward and Florian described the language of filmmaking?
PLUS! There were also mentions of the painterly quality of the imagery of The Terror. Edward and Florian also seemed to be impressed that the fans mentioned that the imagery of The Terror reminded them of Baroque art, specifically of Caravaggio's art. There was also a Caspar David Friedrich mention.
And then, Dave K. showed up again at the tail end of Terror Camp. Fork found in the kitchen.
Apparently, Dave is collaborating with Edward and Florian again, and mentioned that they are working with old friends?? Hello??? Mini Terror cast/crew reunion, maybe???
Pivoting back to The Terror, the dinner scene in Episode 1 was a pre-shoot! Not only was it the only shot Edward and Florian had of the dinner scene, but they basically poked and prodded AMC to approve it. And to think, it was almost sold as a test, one of the best introductory scenes for several characters in the show!
And then, in the spirit of experimentation, different colors of light were used to create a gray coloring for the cameras to pick up, and a purple, or specifically a lavender light helped achieve this. Dave very funnily added that when he first saw the lavender light, he half-expected disco music to start playing.
Dave also mentioned how everyone put the characters on top, or rather to emphasize the importance of the characters, rather than the plot moments. This thought was expanded on by Edward, who mentioned that simplicity in a scene was sometimes enough. By trusting the austerity and relative simplicity of a scene's settings, the heightened focus of the characters would be more interesting to the audience. And boy, do we have plenty of examples for that.
Edward also mentioned that everyone on set wanted to do their best work, and emphasized that creatives ought to choose projects that motivate you to do the same!
Overall, Dave, Edward, and Florian in particular, were very overwhelmed and gratified for the reception and engagement The Terror has received over the years. It was also mentioned that integrity and vigor can help to ensure a work of art's survivability. Considering the massive amount of thought and care the cast and crew put in the show, I truly believe this.
And on a final note, I'll leave this little screenshot of one of the things Dave said about media, integrity, and its longevity:
That's what happens when you make something true and beautiful.
Here's to another successful Terror Camp, and may Terror Camp 2026 be just as poignant, thought-provoking, and delightful.
