Skywatching

For the actual show itself, go here.

Skywatching

File:ＬＯＣＡＬ５８ － Skywatching
Season	2
Episode	3
Air date	November 1, 2019
Writer	Kris Straub
Director	Kris Straub
Episode guide
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Skywatching is the third uploaded entry in Local 58's second season. The episode takes the form of a late night broadcast that is hijacked by someone's own broadcast.

Synopsis

The episode begins with Local 58's late night schedule, displaying that the next program will be a show called Skywatching. The show then begins as a title card with stylized purple text plays, but the broadcast quickly gets hijacked by a program of someone's amateur camera feed claiming to be the previous show.

During the hijacked broadcast, the camera pans to the asterism named Orion's Belt, located in the constellation of Orion, and the Pleiades, inside the constellation of Taurus, in the sky and displays their names accordingly. Then, the cameraman points the camera to the Moon reading the text "HIS THRONE." The camera operator then removes the lens on the camera and switches to another lens to show a close-up view of the moon.

After that, the camera zooms out of the moon and zooms back in with the brightness on high now. The surface of the moon appears unnaturally veiny with wind blowing across its surface. The lens is switched out again to give the viewers an even closer view of the moon, once again showing that the lunar dust is being sucked into a crater. The lens is switched out once more to display an even closer view of the Moon, revealing a strange pattern in the middle of a crater, and an arrow pointing downward.

The Moon at the end of Skywatching.

The crater fades out, and the camera zooms out to reveal that the moon appears to be gone from the sky. The lens is switched one more time, and as soon it is, the moon suddenly reappears as a strange noise loudly sounds. This time, the moon appears much bigger and brighter in the sky with strange formations along its surface resembling a gigantic creature, while an off-screen tornado siren blares. The camera operator visibly turns down the brightness on his camera to better display the Moon and sets it down before walking in front of the camera and holding his hands up toward the Moon. The cameraman is somehow disappearing until the screen pauses and only one word is displayed: "REJOICE." The video feed then cuts back to the original show as the end credits are rolling.

Trivia

• Local 58 was going to play a recording of a city council meeting from 1991, despite this episode taking place at least in 1994.
• The actual Skywatching show is likely a parody of Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler (later Star Gazer).
• The ending of the actual Skywatching show uses a photograph called Earthrise. The image of the moon’s view of Earth was taken by astronaut William Anders of the Apollo 8 mission.
  • This is the second time a Local 58 episode utilized a photograph from the Apollo missions. The “HAVE A GREAT NIGHT” screen in Contingency uses a photo of astronaut James Irwin of the Apollo 15 mission saluting the American flag on the moon.
• Kris Straub has cited Polish surrealist artist Zdzisław Beksiński's work as an inspiration for his designs of the Moon for this episode.
• Straub clarified that the final close-up shot of the Moon before it disappears into the sky shows a city connected to a triangular sacrificial offering pit.
• Posters for sale on Local 58's online storefront name the final form of the Moon in this episode as "The Child."

Theories

There appears to be a skeletal structure on the dark side of the moon. Here are a few theories of what this could be/mean:

• The Moon was an "egg" and was hatching a skeletal being.
• The Moon could manipulate its surface and created a shape that resembles a human kneeling or praying (demanding to be worshiped).
• The Moon had been taken over by aliens and was being used as a way to communicate/terrorize humanity.
• The Moon is an organic being (the lunar dust being sucked into the crater).
• The hijackers are aliens.
• The Shining One's spirit (debuted in Kris Straub's 2014 story, Shining One From Above The Clouds) is revitalizing itself.

Gallery

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  Unused render of the Moon made for this episode as seen on a Kris Straub Twitch livestream.
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  Close-up view of the Moon as seen on a Kris Straub Twitch livestream.
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  Full view of the city on the Moon as seen on a Kris Straub Twitch livestream.
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  Clearer render of The Child as seen on Kris Straub's Instagram account.
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  Cropped screengrab from the episode as posted on the local58tv Instagram account.