OKAY SO . i started this back in december in the midst of the history contingency tapes debut hype , but procrastinated like crazy and didn’t end up finishing it for . . a while 💀
but in light of recent events , i thought it might be time to post it . . i have a lot of professor / substitute thoughts , but it’s almost entirely incomprehensible rambling in my head , so i made this to kind of demonstrate what i can !!!! poor explanation , but y’know . . i was supposed to post this in december AKSJDHD
The day has finally come…. the hour has finally struck…… the time has, at last, arrived. In light of @moth-yknowtheartist’s recent post, I will finally make the post I’ve been meaning to make ever since the idea first sprouted in my mind back in July, the post I’ve been scared of making in fear of embarrassing myself… but have now overcome that fear.
So, without further ado, here is:
WHY I BELIEVE THAT THERE WILL BE A SECOND HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR
As mentioned before, I first thought of the idea of a second Holiday Spectacular back in July, and nearly all of the reasons/evidence I will bring up in this post revolve around this general idea, or thesis, if you will:
There are a significant number of similarities between the conditions of Puppet History season 4 that led to the original 2021 Holiday Spectacular and the conditions of season 7 that leads me to believe that there will be a sequel.
With that in mind, onto the evidence:
1. THE DEATH OF THE PROFESSOR
Now, this is probably the most obvious of reasons. Besides, the main gist of the Holiday Spectacular was that it was a funeral held for the Professor after his death in the season 4 finale, right? Even so, let’s review:
Season 4 began at an interesting time, picking up at a time where the cast could finally meet and film the show in person, following 2 seasons of the good ol’ P. (H.O.) U., or Puppet History Online University. In addition to the change of setting, season 4 marked the beginning of what I like to call “when the show suddenly locked in with lore.” Of course, there had been sprinkles of genie lore and Ryan and Professor beef (ha) throughout the online seasons, but nothing more.
That is, until season 4 began, with Ryan suddenly appearing to have gained a much more positive outlook of the show, trying harder to learn and most notably, being kinder to the Professor. As anyone who has watched the show knows, all of that was bullshit, as Ryan made a deal with the Devil, the demon Asmodeous, and the Genie to get the coveted cup and send the Professor back to the Cretaceous, where he ended up meeting his end.
It was that Christmas Eve when the Holiday Spectacular dropped, which brings me back to season 7.
When season 7 was airing, much of the focus in regards to comparison at the time was on season 5, and understandably so. However, there are notable similarities between the ongoing plot of season 7 and that of season 4.
For this first point, I will mostly be focusing on the finale, when the whole “big reveal” went down. In the Puppet History season 7 finale, it was revealed that Dr. Sprat, who had previously introduced himself as a representative of the Department of Puppet Safety, was the Big Bad of the season. He, under the guise of Elmer Walter Williams, was the one who had killed Estranged Producer Shane Madej, and at the end of the “big reveal,” he did the same to Ryan and the Professor.
Now, with the obvious evidence of “hey, the Professor is dead again, which warrants a funeral [wink wink]” and the manner of which he was killed being similar to the betrayal of season 4 out of the way, this brings me to my next point:
2. RETIREMENT AND PURGATORY
To take a look back at the original Holiday Spectacular, the funeral took place in the Wondrium Arena, which was revealed to actually be a sort of holding-tank purgatory until God and the Devil “figured out what to do with all [those] knuckleheads (puppets)” towards the end of the episode.
Returning to season 7, this becomes rather significant when you consider the reality of retirement, as mentioned many times throughout the season via Dr. Sprat. When Dr. Sprat “retires” a puppet at the end of an episode, he leads them to a distant room where he, as mentioned, “retires” them, which is really just executing them and sending them to purgatory.
By the end of the season, it is either directly stated or implied that Dr. Sprat retired all of the song puppets introduced that season, along with the beloved Dino parents in a devastating scene at the end of ‘How a Concubine Captured a King & Founded a Dynasty’.
But hold on… how did Dr. Sprat kill Ryan and the Professor again? Oh, yeah…. HE FUCKING RETIRED THEIR ASSES!!!! HE MURKED THEM VIA SENDING THEM TO PURGATORY!!!!
Now, that in itself is already a lot. However, it only raises more questions, questions that could only be answered in a second Holiday Spectacular. For example, I’ll name a few:
— Back when the Professor died, they didn’t actually have his body there given the whole Cretaceous thing. This would be the first time the Professor himself had ever set foot in purgatory.
— Ryan was retired as well!!! Can a human even GO to puppet purgatory? Even so, the first Holiday Spectacular established that the puppets there do NOTTT fucking like him and want to jump his ass. There’s even a whole scene of them collectively booing whenever it cuts to Ryan.
— Speaking of the Wondrium Arena puppets wanting to jump someone… that whole segment of the Professor’s funeral song where they’re talking about how they’d brutally kill/torture the “dino who dined on [their] buddy”… DINOSARA WAS RETIRED!!! THAT DINO IS THERE NOW, AND NOT JUST THAT, SHE GOT THERE BEFORE RYAN AND THE PROFESSOR!!!!! IS SHE OKAY? DID THEY RECOGNIZE HER? THERE’S GENUINELY SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT HERE.
— But wait.. didn’t they also hope Ryan would “save the day somehow”? Do they still want to jump him, or did they change their mind? Still, they don’t trust him entirely, with the oars being all like “yeah, probably not though,” after that part of the song. SO WHAT’S GOING ON HERE!!!!
Now, there is another question that this raises, a rather significant question, but that just leads me to my next point:
3. THE SUBSTITUTE
To address the major elephant in the room, one of the most notable things about the Holiday Spectacular was that it introduced the Substitute, albeit in “strictly hologram” form, also known as before he got the whole idea of becoming corporeal in his head and came up with his “murder and skin beef boy” scheme.
Additionally, as I mentioned before, the Professor’s body wasn’t actually there at his funeral back in 2021. The Substitute was there instead. So, what does that mean? Well, there’s several things to think about there, but I’ll focus on two:
First and foremost, how much access do the Wondrium Arena puppets actually have to the outside world? We know that they have their own shows, but that’s mostly just entertainment for themselves in the arena, not so much for YouTube viewers like Puppet History is. Do they know about the whole season 5 plot line with the Substitute? I mean, how did they even discover that the Professor was dead? Weren’t they killed first? How is that giant projector screen used when God isn’t present?
Secondly, to address the other big ass elephant in the room… that whole scene at the end of the season 7 finale, like the very end? The Substitute being powered on again? So.. what’s the whole deal with that? While I primarily suspect his revival to be a whole season 8 plot point, I still find it significant to think about considering his origin and everything, especially with the way he insulted the Wondrium Arena puppets during HIS big reveal to Ryan???
(Also, it’s literally impossible to try to predict what goes on in the abnormally large head of Shane Madej…. back while season 7 was airing, yours truly never thought he’d have a Puppet History character be like a real life person, but, uhm… [glances at Dr. Sprat] yeah.)
This brings me to one of my final points, or at least one of the final points I had thought of prior to writing this:
4. GOD
Now, I don’t know about anyone else… but I REALLY wanted and thought God would appear in this most recent season of Puppet History. There are so, SO many times I mentioned God, my magenta cyclops king, throughout my various live-reaction threads on my privtwt during the airing of season 7.
All this to say… God was mentioned a LOT throughout season 7, like so much so that I was genuinely shocked that he never ended up making an appearance. Now, I won’t go and gather every single instance he was brought up, frankly because it was rarely talking about him The Character and most instances were sprinkled in a couple times throughout the story but not in a way like Pythagoras was with the whole “they tried to kill Pythagoras but it was all for naught” thing that led people to making the connection between him and Dr. Sprat (and also I just don’t want to). Still, the repeated mention of God and/or religion is interesting to me.
While I recognize that so far, this whole part about God is rather weak considering my previous points, however, there is one thing about God that I find most notable and significant towards the concept of a second Holiday Spectacular.
As of season 6, specifically the episode “How a Pope’s Nepobaby Became One of the Worst Tyrants in History,” it is established that God has woken up from his nap, a nap that while technically revealed in “The Bloody Life of England’s Fastest Surgeon,” was actually mentioned in-universe during the time of the Holiday Spectacular.
While God has yet to make a proper appearance since season 6, I still find it significant that the Guy With Strong Relations/Ties To The Wondrium Arena is back in the picture. Shouldn’t he check on them again? Or did he and the Devil finally figure out what the hell to do with them now that he’s awake? Who knows really?
Now, I’m not going to group this with the rest of my reasons frankly because it is all merely speculation and if you’re a WatcherTV member, please correct me, but when I saw this little promo back in November, I personally thought it looked a lot like a higher-quality version of the intro to the original 2021 Holiday Spectacular.
In conclusion, I find the plot of season 7 (particularly the retirement aspect), along with the fact that everyone either present or mentioned in the Holiday Spectacular is back in the picture, to be a perfect setup for a second Holiday Spectacular, especially considering how it’s a purely lore episode, and frankly, we’re in yet another state where we have no clue how the next season will go, much like we did after the Professor died in season 4.
So, in other words, Shane Madej…. You know what you must do.
( @crispycreambacon tagging you too because I saw you also losing it in the replies of the post I mentioned here… )
There are a lot of things I find interesting about Dr. Sprat, but one of the biggest things that I can never help but notice every time I rewatch a scene he’s in is the fact that..
HIS RIGHT HAND IS NEVER IN FRAME.
At times, it can be a little hard to tell, based off the camera angle, but if you were to imagine yourself as Dr. Sprat, or if you were to flip the image, every single time, his right hand is not shown. It always just.. dangles there — for the most part — conveniently out of sight.
I’ve seen people wonder how Dr. Sprat and Elmer Walter Williams have been in the same scene, being that Elmer isn’t… real/living, per se, and the simple answer is that not only is his right hand out of frame, but so is his arm.
For further explanation, here is how I view/interpret the scenes with Dr. Sprat and Elmer, with a side-by-side of the original and my own edited version showing where his arm would be in each scene, represented by a red line.
Remember, this is based on Dr. Sprat’s angle, not the camera’s angle.
Admittedly, this second example kind of contradicts the whole “right-hand man” thing, given that it would actually be Dr. Sprat’s left hand this time. However, I do think it’s worth noting that shortly after this scene, we’re introduced to the idea that Dr. Sprat may not actually be the one in charge, serving more as Elmer’s right-hand man than vice versa. Still, his arm is out of frame.
There are so many things I love about this show, but little details like this just makes me love it even more. Hell, they even kept it up in promotional pictures before the season even came out (at least on YouTube).
I was never planning on making a post about this, but I found myself thinking about it and I fear that it’ll bother me until I say something about it.
Something I’ve been seeing every now and then ever since the Puppet History season 7 finale came out are takes like “what if Elmer is more real than we thought” or “things that were unaddressed in season 7 of PH” and then including that scene in the final confrontation where Elmer talks.
I guess the main thing confusing me about all this is like…. I always interpreted that scene as very much driving home the idea that Elmer Is Not Real. Dr. Sprat Is Elmer.
I understand that Elmer “talking” when Dr. Sprat isn’t “controlling him” is where this idea comes from, but what I think some people fail to realize is that Elmer never actually.. talked. And this is something that becomes especially obvious when you look at other clips of Elmer in the season, or even other seasons, because the main difference between those scenes and the one in the finale is this: his mouth never moves when he “speaks” in the finale, when he’s lying “lifeless”.
For example, here are 3 clips of Elmer. One from the ad read in season 6’s ‘How a Pope’s Nepobaby Became One of the Worst Tyrants in History,’ another from season 7’s ‘Violent Riots Over a Hat?’ (I chose not to include ‘Clip-Clop Out of my Life’, just in case Dorothy Ruth singing at the same time as him caused any confusion), and finally, the season 7 finale.
(While I was transferring this from Google Docs to Tumblr, I only just then learned that you can only include ONE video in post, so… the timestamps for the other clips I’m referring to are 4:38 for ‘How a Pope’s Nepobaby Became One of the Worst Tyrants in History’, and 40:54 for the s7 finale)
As you can see, there’s a sharp contrast between how Elmer has been shown to speak before versus how he “spoke” during the confrontation. Another thing that I feel is worth mentioning is what that scene actually meant. By that, I mean why Dr. Sprat actually decided to reveal that he and Elmer Walter Williams were one and the same.
The creation and existence of Elmer Walter Williams was crucial to Dr. Sprat’s plan to take over Puppet History, and this is seen not only in what he reveals of his plan in the finale, but also throughout the season. In Dr. Sprat’s own words, everything he did was “under the guise of Elmer Walter Williams,” and even emphasized that point by repeatedly referring to Elmer’s actions in first person. Here are some examples from that same scene:
“I murdered estranged producer Shane Madej in the streets, like a dog”
“I hooked you buffoons and much of the rest of the crew on drugs”
“… and moved on to the most delicate part of my plan, marrying Dorothy Ruth”
All of those things he mentioned were the same exact things we saw Elmer do on-screen, with the exception of that one time Dr. Sprat distributed the Phorgedytol himself. Even so, there’s a significant transition in speech that I find important to keep note of, which ties back to what I was saying about Elmer being crucial to Dr. Sprat’s plan throughout the season.
Before the finale, starting right from the first episode of the season, Dr. Sprat refers to Elmer as his “right-hand man,” but despite immediately introducing the idea that Elmer works for him, he consistently tries to subvert the notion. When he first meets the Professor and introduces himself, Dr. Sprat goes on to try to install some suspicion about Elmer into the Professor, saying that Elmer’s eagerness for work was “borderline suspicious” and moving the conversation away from him and more towards Elmer.
This continues in ‘Violent Riots Over a Hat,’ where Elmer complains about Dr. Sprat to Dorothy Ruth, saying that “he was just venting to me about how hard his job is,” and giving the impression that Dr. Sprat actually felt concern about the impact of retirement on the puppets, and the fact that y’know, the retirement room fucking executes them pretty much.
There’s some smaller instances such as in ‘How a Concubine Captured a King & Founded a Dynasty’ where Dr. Sprat’s consistent distribution of Phorgedytol as Elmer causes Ryan and the Professor to only associate the drug with Elmer (“where is that clip-clopper?” / “why am I so eager for that horse to show up?”), but what I find more notable is in ‘A Pianist So Hot He Drove People Crazy’ where Dr. Sprat distributes the Phorgedytol himself for the first time, and does so in a way as though he doesn’t really know what he’s doing and is only doing what Elmer asked, and then takes advantage of his time in their presence to further establish the idea that Dr. Sprat does NOT like retiring the puppets (his “Oh, GOD!” exclamation and the “it never gets easier”).
I find this instance in the 4th episode to be one of the most significant because as I said, this has been season-long behavior that Dr. Sprat has consistently been displaying throughout the episodes, but this episode is the first time we see the direct impact it has on who Ryan and the Professor choose to blame. Rather than blaming Dr. Sprat, who literally said that Elmer was his right-hand man during his introduction, they choose to blame Elmer, because to them, he’s the face of Phorgedytol.
All of this is fundamentally what allows Dr. Sprat to be successful. None of this would have worked if he distributed the Phorgedytol himself, none of this would have worked if he wasn’t able to manipulate Dorothy Ruth and coerce her into marrying a fellow horse, and none of this would have worked if he hadn’t purchased Elmer at a store for children.
This brings me to the final point in my argument, which is this line:
If Elmer had actually spoken here, there would be no reason for Ryan to say that Dr. Sprat was “off his rocker,” ESPECIALLY because the reality of Dr. Sprat’s plan hadn’t set in to them yet, he still had to spell out “hey, the Department of Puppet Safety is fucking made up, dipshit,” but because of how Ryan went out of his way to call Dr. Sprat insane, it is far more likely that Dr. Sprat spoke for Elmer in his head, and then yelled at him verbally.
(This also makes more sense to me considering how Elmer’s doubts would have been things like Dorothy Ruth nearly breaking up with him, which again brings me back to Dr. Sprat describing his plan in first person; Dr. Sprat’s doubts and Elmer’s doubts are one and the same, just as they are.)
HEY SO . How long was the Professor actually IN Boston , and at what time did he travel to ? Because I was just chilling and all of a sudden realized— Stanley Melvin advertised and hyped up his song all through season 3 , right ? But in his actual episode , he died mid-performance .
. . But he WAS a puppet , and in the montage showing the Professor’s little dance through time resulting in the puppetification of animals and inanimate objects , Stanley Melvin was in a stable and was so as an Actual Horse before Connie McNasty came along .
So like . . WHEN DID THE PROFESSOR ACTUALLY ARRIVE IN BOSTON????? DID HE PURPOSELY ARRIVE BEFORE THE FLOOD?.?.?. PROF WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN 😭😭😭😭 I’M SO.
⿻﹒🪦⌇MICHAEL / SIRESS ( pronounced like “cyrus” )﹒ᵔᴗᵔ
╰﹒ AUTISTIC + AROACE LESBIAN W / A BIG FAT SPINTEREST IN LONELY-MAN’S LAZARUS ! !
<< I AM A MINOR !!!! PLEASE BE NORMAL !!!!!!! >>
╰﹒i am not very used to posting on tumblr , so there may be weird formatting errors sometimes on my posts !! if anything looks off , PLEASE feel free to let me know !!!
‿୨♡୧‿
⿻﹒🎙️⌇AS OF NOW , I PLAN ON PRIMARILY POSTING:
- Lonely-Man’s Lazarus
- Puppet History
( and maybe wwdits and / or batman as a treat . . i get nervous though 💔 )
‿୨♡୧‿
⿻﹒❔⌇PERSONAL TAG MEANINGS / KEY !
# SIRESS SCRIBBLES — ART POSTS ( likely rare )
# SIRESS STUDIES — ANALYSES & THEORIES
# ONE FROM THE VAULTS — REPOSTS FROM MY OTHER SOCIALS , MOST LIKELY MY MAIN / PRIV TWT ACCS ! ( depends )
So, I watched Phantom of the Paradise for the first time today and was just now looking at some fan-content, thinking about the faustian bargain between Winslow & Swan and particularly the aspect of Winslow’s wound reopening if Swan were to be terminated.
The aspect of which — since I’ve been thinking about it on-and-off lately — got me thinking about LML and Lazarus Troths . . . which made me realize:
If the goal of a Lazarus Troth is not completed, or rather, is unsuccessful….
WOULD BOTH PARTICIPANTS, TROTHEE AND LUMINARY, GO BACK TO BEING DEAD?????
It’s something I’ve never thought of until now, but it’s something I’ve always wondered. It really does make sense, and I honestly can’t think of anything else now.
There was a line in the original LML webtoon where, following the establishment of their troth, Grim implied that there had been other, previous trothees through which he had tried to accomplish his goal. He calls Audric “the easiest one yet” in this regard, and refers to him truly as his “last hope.”
This is a line that I’ve always been curious about ever since I first read the comic in 2022, but I was never able to make sense of it. It was always more of a “this-is-something-really-interesting-that-I-hope-gets-brought-up-again-in-the-reboot” kinda thing to me, but now that I have this idea of a Winslow/Swan-esque bargain in mind, it only makes more and more sense.
For instance, it would explain Grim’s being in the weird limbo-type place Audric finds himself in after his death, because in all content made taking place post-troth, Grim has been shown to be in a wide range of locations, whether it be the living quarters of various luminaries, in the woods, in the city, and so on.
If Grim was unsuccessful, it would make sense for him to wind up back in that weird limbo location, especially considering that Lazarus Troths themselves are inherently givers of life. They allow the mortal to live again in the real world and the luminary to live in the shadows.
For a luminary both deceased and outside a troth? Where else is there to be but this weird place of limbo? Assuming that Grim was continuously unsuccessful too, his indifferent demeanor in stark contrast to Audric’s stun makes perfect sense if he had been there time and time again.
It would also explain his eagerness to pursue his goal, and maybe even the intensity of it.
ANYHOW, TLDR: Phantom of the Paradise unintentionally caused me to have the most INSANE paradigm shift ever when it comes to my LML thinkings, and I will never say anything bad about that movie again. I’m going to be thinking about this a lot now.
