sorry if this is insensitive to ask, but how do you feel about the commune sedition tape? do you like the route they took or are you indifferent to it?
I assume you mean the recent “converse” tape, as they’ve called it for some reason.
It’s different to what I would have done, and it’s difficult to answer without being somewhat biased. I’ll try to keep it as impersonal as I can, whilst also acknowledging the changes and alterations made from the original plan and how that has impacted the overall flow and narrative of the story/characters.
I will start by stating that I find it incredibly confusing for them (The Tats Team) to go from two long compilation videos of multiple SCPs onto another long video featuring multiple SCPs we’ve already interviewed. In my opinion, it seem like key-jingling; like they knew these four were really popular (both in Sedition and generally) and created a reason to have all four in the same room (which I’ll touch on later). If they had wanted to build up a little better, it would have been wiser to have some more personal interviews rather than go for the fireworks but, again, I’m not on the team anymore.
The reason they cooked up to feature 035, 049, 079, and 343 in the same video sound illogical on several fronts. If you wanted a philosophical, logical, spiritual, and mechanical conversation amongst SCPs, you have picked the worst group to do it with. The Foundation would know this, and certainly would never have okayed this sort of experiment (except maybe in the annals of fanfiction). Sure, it’s entertaining if you’re a fan of Jerry Springer, but despite advertising itself as a depth-filled discussion that will deepen out perception of these characters and our lives, all you really get is what we’ve heard before served up in bare-bones re-treads and weird metaphors. You achieve nothing by holding this interview, both as a writer and as an in-universe researcher.
In order to accommodate not four, but **five** protagonists (including Watch), each one has had to be watered down to their bare components. In this case, it’s “what would the audience love to see them as”. According to the video Watch has no personality anymore, 035 is an agent of pure evil with no nuance or manipulation, 049 is a victim who simply has the best intentions despite committing horrific atrocities, 079 is an incredibly emotional computer crying for his crocodile, and 343 creates fireworks and **attempts** to sound deep but…burgers? Add on top of it the unnecessary memes and slang (only used prior as emphasis on certain attributes, effects, and traits of these characters [i.e. the meme question for 079 being taken literally, the “slim shady” quote showing 035 can be influenced a little by its hosts]), and you have yourself a series of what feels like very staged interactions. It felt akin to watching The Big Bang Theory (clue: Watch was Penny in this analogy).
Jolanda’s story is something brought up a tonne in reviews, and I agree even without considering others’ feedback on this. Her story was to highlight 049’s depth of conviction and potential self-righteousness and assurance in killing even the one and only human he ever had some semblance of a connection to just because she dared disagree with him. This reflected on Jacobs’ own story at the time, struggling between his learned experiences and isolating himself from help in his ruthless pursuit of Foundation change vs. being a good friend to Watch and working together to make that change happen. Of course, now that Jacobs is no longer there, it probably doesn’t matter to the current team what Jolanda’s story means, but it served as a cornerstone to 049’s darker side, which shouldn’t be ignored for brownie points. To pin it all on 035 to do this shallows both their characters. 049 is now guilt-free, and 035 is just a murderer driven by no other ambition but to be a prick specifically to 049. All nuance is lost by this one implication, and since there’s no other real personal touch to any of these characters to be found in this whole video, that’s all people who have only watch this one have.
343 and 079 just generally are a bit of a waste of time to feature, and nothing interesting was made of them. 343 produced light shows and 079 (say the line, Bart) asked for 682. What can you get out of that? Nothing. It’s disappointing because of where this series dared to tread before, but nothing was established of them here. They could have easily at least broached the idea that 343 having not taken any action against these SCPs (i.e. snapping them out of existence) means that they are approved of by the self-proclaimed God. And that taking any action against them (especially with bullying 035 as much as 343 does in this very video) means that 343 wields his power like a petulant child. But in order to do that, you’d need to have what’s in my next point—
There’s no self-awareness when it comes to this episode. I always wrote Sedition like it was a glimpse into the Foundation, a day in the life with a few interesting bits and pieces happening and character arcs/plots to follow. Now, it truly does feel like an episodic slideshow of greatest hits structured like a show to kick those endorphins into gear. Look at the room. Look at Watch’s utter lack of character. Look at the SCPs chosen and why. Does this scream self-aware, or just shits and giggles? Either they didn’t really care, or there were so many ways that they wanted to take it that cohesion flew the coop. As much as a collaborative effort is interesting for this kind of project, not funnelling it through someone or something with a distinct vision for this series will keep it from achieving the numbers it got in its heyday.
As for its future with 001 coming up next, I don’t see it appealing to more than the lowest common denominator. I don’t see what 001 has to say at this point in the series that will be of some fantastic revelation or personal insight, but I’ll leave that up to the writing team who may very well surprise me. It’s possible, but I won’t be holding my breath given their recent outings. I do wonder if they’ll borrow any of what was established by 343 in his solo interview about the fallen angel story, since the connotations of him having lied about that would be intriguing…if they bother to address it at all. They may not, but they still might given how much they leaned heavily on prior established Sedition canon for the SCPs in the Converse (why would you call it that?).
Still, it is promised to be an emotion-filled episode with a really sad “thing” happening, but…they’ve not really built up to it. My prediction is a little different to others: yes, I acknowledge that human extinction may play a part in the plot and be potentially the ultimate fate, but I reckon they may pull a little resurrection of Watch’s sister Evelyn at some point. He’ll get to say goodbye, or he’ll join her, or maybe she’ll be back for good? And either way, it’s possible they’ll end Sedition or keep it going in yet another form. But it’ll be hollow earnings. They’ve hardly mentioned Evelyn for the last three videos, clearly they want to move on, and it’s the last bit of character to Watch they have left. Once it’s gone, he’s just a voice.
On an actual personal note, I was primarily removed from my position as Head Writer of Sedition because I “wrote the episodes to be too long” and “made large demands of Tats in terms of animations”. Not including the fact they have erased any story and character from Sedition (except what they elect to keep on a whim), these two hurt most because the last 3 videos have been the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th longest Sedition videos, and on top of that have been two First Person Perspective videos and one with five simultaneous characters present at the same time, with a lot more animations and effects present. Make of that what you will.
Thanks for asking, and I hope this wasn’t too long.
