Links to all fanfiction I've written in various fandoms. That I'm admitting to.

( Alias )


( Angel the Series )


( Babylon 5 )

( Battlestar Galactica )


( Buffy the Vampire Slayer )


( Doctor Who )

( Farscape )

( Earth: Final Conflict )

( Heroes )

( Highlander: The Series )

( Lost )

( Merlin )

( Mythology )


( Rome )

( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine )

( Star Wars )

( Torchwood )

( X-Men )

( The West Wing )


( Crossovers )

List five characters you'd want on your side in any kind of trouble. Bonus points for assembling an "Action Team" with complementary skills.

Ohhh, unfair requirement. Any kind of trouble? The team for the zombie apocalypse is significantly different from the one for epic showdowns with the taxman is significantly different from the one when I sob my heart out in the hypothetical case of it being broken is different from when my latest working effort is not appreciated. Etc. Take Jack Bristow (Alias), for example. Provided you are on the same side his daughter is on, he's ideal for anything from secret spying missions to zombie apocalypse. Is bound to intimidate accountants, too, and has experience in hiding money. Clever, ruthless, yet not a supervillain. Can even provide babysitters with shooting skills. But you do NOT want Jack Bristow with you if your favourite show just got cancelled and you want to grouse for hours about how unfair this was. Or your beloved character has been given the wrong story arc. And you definitely do not want him with you if you have a moral crisis and wonder what the right thing to do is. No way.

It goes without saying that I would stay the hell awy from a lot of the shady characters I love to bits in fiction even when times are good, let alone in times of trouble. A lot of them would sacrifice me to the trouble without blinking. And then there are some beloved heroes who have a way of getting their entourage killed, so I don't want them around, either.

Looking out for competence in action scenarios, in handholding and in finances, and reliability instead of sacrificing me to the cause, here's the team I came up with:

1.) Martha Jones (Doctor Who). Has proven survival skills in apocalyptic scenarios, is smart and well-read, so there'd be a lot to talk about, has had aftermaths of emotional catastrophes thrown at her and dealt with same, and is a medical doctor, which is always useful. So no matter what kind of trouble I'm in, I want Martha at my side.

2.) Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). Smart, centuries old, great sense of humour, can fight (both old fashioned hand to hand combat or sci fi weapons) if that's required but also provide factual knowledge and/or emotional insight if that is the nature of the trouble. Also, she's great friends with Quark which could be helpful in the catastrophe is financial in nature.

3.) Vir Cotto (Babylon 5). Vir is sweet-natured, loyal to a fault, one of the quiet ones bad guys usually overlook (to their detriment), in possession of both strong ethics and joie de vivre. No one's candidate for a bodyguard, but that's what other team members are for. He's there for moral support and/or reminders of what's really important/ which methods are justifiable and which aren't, and also for the hugs. And he does know how to keep a secret.

4.) Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Lost). Like Vir, a genuinenly kind person, very huggable and good at hugging, with proven survival and team-building skills in apocalyptic situations. Very much a geek, which means he could empathize about characters and storyarcs to complain/praise/sob about like no one's business. Even has experience with money.

5.) Zoe Washburne (Firefly). Great fighting skills, deadpan sense of humour, stoic nature. Can survive anything. Due to her marital history, she would not mind me freaking out about spoilers for a show I'm trying to remain unspoiled for or the latest fannish kerfuffle; she has learned to tolerate such things. But her lethal talent of making a few syllables (or one, like "sir") sound sarcastic as hell would make me reign in my flailing, and get a hold on myself, so if the trouble I'm in isn't apocalyptic but fannish in nature, Zoe would be great to have at my side as well.

Star Trek:

Five Decisions Winona Made For Her Family: in which reboot!verse Winona Kirk is fleshed out magnificently. I love it when fanfiction does that.

Doctor Who:

A lovely Sarah Jane Smith vid, portraying her from her companion days to her SJA glory.

Buffy:

The Last Fingers of Leaf: awesome post-show encounter between Buffy, Illyria and a dragon in Rome.

Merlin:

Stay: a very engaging story about Gwen and Arthur, Gwen pov.

Due to James Cameron's Avatar - which btw I have not watched, and thus do not feel qualified to discuss -, there was a lot of talk about the "White Messiah" motif in both online and newspaper reviews recently. Which among other things made me realise something: DS9 really lucked out with the fact that Sisko is played by a black actor and the Bajorans by white actors, didn't it? (Apologies if I forgot Bajorans played by black or Asian actors, but without checking old episodes, I don't think there were any. As opposed to the Klingons, who were mainly played by black actors, and of course post-TOS we got black Vulcans as well.) Because otherwise, hm. Let's check.

( In a spoilery for all of DS9 fashion. )

Fannish5: Name five characters who should have their own spinoffs.

The interesting thing about this question is that it's not the same as asking for favourite supporting or recurring characters in already existing shows. For example, back in ye olde Highlander days I was among the few who loved Methos as a character but did not root for a Methos spin-off. Why not? Because Methos thrives on being a trickster character, whose loyalties can't be a 100% guaranteed even if he's a friend, and whose background is party a mystery to the other characters and the viewer, revealed only in parts. He also thrives on being played off against a straight lead. If there had been a Methos spin-off, Methos would inevitably have been written more like a conventional hero, would have lost his unpredictability, and thus some of his allure. Which is why I never thought he was suitable for one. He was a born guest character. So, let's see, characters who would and could carry spin-offs of their own without losing the elements that made them attractive in the first place:

1.) Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, in short: the Brig(adier), from Doctor Who. It's impossible now, of course, and I know there were some UNIT audios, but what I'm talking about is a UNIT spin-off from Doctor Who during the later 70s, after Four gallivanted off to tour the cosmos again, with the Brig as the lead. He could have tried to get Liz Shaw back as scientific advisor, and there could have been UST; lingering betrayal issues with Mike Yates; the ever reliable Benton; and some new characters the audience wasn't familiar with. (As much as I've become fond of Torchwood in its second season and love, love, love Children of Earth, I still think it's somehow unfair Jack Harkness got a spin-off and the Brig did not.

2.) Lady Johanna Constantine, originally of Sandman. She actually did get a one-shot spin-off, and I loved it, but I'm talking about a full-fledged comic series here. She's a female adventurer living in the late 18th and through to the mid 19th century - that has so much potential, for so many stories.

3.) Chiana, from Farscape. The Nebari and their completely screwed up political system pretty much were ignored post s2, and the show never could make up its mind on what exactly Chiana's post-s3-accident powers were. And she's a vivid, entertaining character who has grown up through Farscape. In short, there is much story telling potential for a spin-off in which she's the lead and forced to deal with the home she's been running from, and her lost brother.

4.) Alias Linus and Farrad is my Lost spin-off of choice, by which I mean: ( spoilery things for s4 and 5 of Lost ). It's worth at least a miniseries of its own, surely!

5.) Number One and Christopher Pike from Star Trek. This is probably my geekiest choice. They would have been the leads of Star Trek if the original pilot had been accepted. Which it was not, and thus Kirk became Captain of the Enterprise. Now we've got a reboot which is simultanously a legitimate AU, and we've got a new Pike who completely hit my soft spot for smart middle-aged men and must not be allowed to sink into obscurity again. Why not also give us a reboot!Number One, the female first officer audiences weren't ready to accept in the 1960s, and give her and Pike a spin-off of their own while the kids are having the big screen adventures? (Someone suggested Jennifer Garner for Number One - and also for Christine Chapel, should she be used in rebooted Trek, as both roles were originally played by Majel Barret - and I'm so enamored with that idea, I can't tell you.)


Fanfiction and vid recs, all Doctor Who:

Two lovely and amusing snapshots of my favourite New Who TARDIS team, Donna and the Tenth Doctor, set during s4:

Fair Trade: in which Donna breaks him out of prison.

Glossolia: in which they end up somewhere where the TARDIS can't translate.

Vid:

Run : "There is an awful lot of running involved" in the Doctor's existence, as Donna put it. Indeed. Fast-paced, simultanously a character portrait of the Doctor and a homage to the era with a Masterly bias, just wonderful to watch.

Before I get to the review part of this entry, some other things:

1.) I listened to the audio commentary for ST XI by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof. Highlights:

( Spoilers are still giggling )

2.) Apparantly John Simm went all fanboy about David Tennant in DWM 416, swearing, among other things, eternal masterly fidelity ("David is my Doctor"). Quite right, too; I think if and when they bring the Master back for future incarnations, whether for Eleven or subsequent Doctors, he should mirror/contrast that particular Doctor and be played by a different actor. IMO John Nathan-Turner did Anthony Ainley no favours by giving his Master Roger Delgado's look. Different incarnations of the Master should be as different as different incarnations of the Doctor are. One of the reasons why Simm!Master works so well for me is how he specifically mirrors the Tenth Doctor.

3.) Fanfic recs:

Being Human: Everything arrives at the light is a lovely, lovely OT3 friendship story about George, Annie and Mitchell. No spoilers.

Astonishing X-Men: Gravity. Covering the transition period between Joss Whedon's run and Warren Ellis' for my favourite couple, Hank McCoy and Abigail Brand, from Hank's pov. I love this story quite a lot.

Which brings me to:

4.) Review!

( S.W.O.R.D. #2 )

Odd thought of the day: does Galaxy Quest count as the film version of a roman a clef? Because much as Primary Colors was obviously inspired by Clinton and American Wife by Laura Bush, Galaxy Quest doesn't just reference Star Trek (with some other sci fi thrown in as well). The early section, with the actors making the rounds in the convention circuits and the hostile relationships between them and their former leading man is instantly recognizable as specifically the TOS crew and William Shatner, if you've read any of the memoirs by people other than Shatner and Nimoy.

Of course, in Galaxy Quest by the end we've arrived at a new "he's an egomaniac but we love him anyway" status quo, whereas in real life, not so much. Though the reactions among the supporting cast aren't uniform. You have loathing from the start (Jimmy Doohan), first dislike, then loathing (George Takei), first sympathy and admiration, then indignation and dislike (Nichelle Nichols), and exasparation mellowing in a mixture of pity and amusement (Walter Koenig). Incidentally, I've always found the supporting cast's memoirs to be the most readable, not because of the common "Bill Shatner is a bastard" theme but because these people had interesting lives beyond Star Trek. In the case of Nichols and Takei, you get a perspective of what it meant to be an actor of colour in the Hollywood of the 60s. One of my favourite stories comes when Nichelle Nichols describes the filming of Porgy and Bess (directed by Otto Preminger), where she had a small part.

"Fed up with Preminger's condescending attitude toward everyone in the all-Black cast, Sidney Poitier called a full cast meeting. He carefully planned it for a time when Dorothy Dandridge was noton the set. She was a delicate, beautiful woman who deserved far better treatment than Preminger (who had an affair with her) gave her, and Sidney didn't want to cause her further problems with our director.
As Priminger stood there baffled, Sidney expressed his annoyance in no uncertain terms. "Otto! We are not Stepin Fetchits. We are artists!" he roared. "And we will not tolerate your bullying white slavemaster tactics!"
"Hear! Hear!" Brock Peters growled.
"You do not listen, Otto," Sammy added, somewhat more gently. "Otto, baby, you gotta listen, man."
Surprisingly, Preminger did listen without arguing. But to make certain that he fully understood the problem, Pearlie Mae settled it once and for all.
"Look, Otto, honey," she began. "There ain't no use going through this over and over. You've got professional people here, from the stars to the singers and dancers, even the extras. We know our business and we're all working hard, but you are not giving us the respect that is due us. And the way you're treating that poor child Dandridge is disgusting, with her her breaking down every day in tears and holding up production. You better figure this out, honey: we are human beings, not slaves! If you don't, you ain't gonna have no picture."
"Miss Bailey, what do you want from me?" Preminger finally asked.
Pearlie May's eyes narrowed. "Darlign, I know you ain't stupid, and I know you know what respect is. But just in case, I'll tell you. You can start with this damned script. It's written by some silly-ass white boy who's trying to write colored. It's insulting. First, he's written all these "dees" and "dems" and "dose" and "Ises" and "weeses" and "beeses". Well, we've tried to act this dumb crap, but it's all ridiculous. Besides," she added, chuckling, "they're all in the wrong places!"
"What do you suggest, Pearl?" Preminger asked, truly befuddled.
"Honey, just let them write the script in plain English without your white version," she replied. Lapsing into a stereotypical Southern dialect, she quipped, "Wese knows where dem deses and doses and 'i's 'sposed to beses, Mr. Charlie. We don't need no white boy tellin' us how to be cullud...suh!"

George Takei spent part of his childhood in the camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II (Rowher and Tule Lake), which among other things ensured a life long interest and engagement in politics. He campaigned for and was friend with first councilman, then Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley (the first black mayor in a major American city) and ran for office at the Los Angeles City Council himself. The passage where he explains what playing Sulu meant for him is typical for the larger-context-awareness of his book:

"Throughout our theatrical history, Asians had been visible on American stages and screens from the time immigrants first becan arriving from Asia over a hundred and fifty years ago. In times of prosperity, the depiction of Asians had been benign - usually as quaintly charming or romantically exotic. IN times of stress - of economic hard times and social tensions - Asians and other minorities became scapegoats. The images became darker, depraved, dangerous. Chinatowns were transformed from quartrs of captivating exotica to ominous places of white slavery and opium dens. Quiet, servile Japanese became inscrutable and shifty. At tiomes of war, with Japan, with Korea, or in China, Asians were transformed into deadly omnipotent foes - the personifications of evil. The images of Asians were reduced to politically incited, media-manipulated stereotypes.
We were again engaged in a hot war in Asia. Vietnam was raging. Every night on the six o' clock news, we saw the enemy - deadly, black-pajamana-clad threats in the jungle. It was kill or be killed. These cunning foes had to be destroyed. Bomb them! Burn them! Napalm them!! They had to be wiped out. These enemies in black pajamas... looked like me.
But every night, a little bit after the six o'clock news, the Star Trek reruns came on. There on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise we saw our heroes, the good guys. And there at the helm console we saw Lieutenant Sulu, a crack professional, a swashbuckler, one of our good guys - one of us. ANd he was Asian; his face looked like that of those wearing the black pajamas on the six o'clock news. For the first time in the history of the American media at a time of war in Asia, there was a regularly visible counterbalance to the pervasive image of Asians as evil, of Asians as nemeses. Sulu was on "our side", he was one of the heroes. And his face was mine."

As far as Star Trek is concerned: what everyone's books agree are that DeForrest Kelley was a sweetheart and the nicest guy imaginable, Leonard Nimoy was remote but impressive (and came through for the supporting cast by insisting they should voice their characters in the ST cartoons instead, as the network had originally planned, being replaced by other actors while only the trio was kept, which made a difference to everyone's income)... and, err, that Bill Shatner was something else. Not coincidentally, by the time the books get to Wratch of Khan there is very pointed Ricardo Montalban praise, along the lines of "and then we saw it was possible to be a star and not be an asshole at the same time", or, as Takei puts it: "Ricardo felt he was there to serve the script. If an angle that favored another actor made sense, he deferred. If a scene needed to be tightened and his line of dialogue was slowing the action, he considered eliminating it. (...) Walter, who had many scenes with him, would come off the set marvelling. 'I can't believe it. Ricardo Montalban, this legendary star, is so generous! He's incredible!' Ricardo was a big star in every sense. THere was size to his presence. There was grandiloquence in his speech. And ther was bigness in his spirit."

Walter Koenig, the only one of the TOS supporting cast for whom lightning struck twice, so to speak (i.e. he became part of another cult tv show, Babylon 5), is probably the most self-critical of all the TOS memoirs writers - his memoirs read a bit like an early Woody Allen movie, Koenig as the entertainingly kvetching narrator - , which also contributes to the conciliatory tone towards William Shatner. Case in point, the description of shooting Generations, with which I shall conclude my overview:

"I braced myself the first time Carson offered an alternative approach to ta scene Bill had been rehearsing. (...) Shatner had no problem trying it a different way and brought to his lines the same dedication he ahd done previously. It didn't require great insight on my part to see what was happening. He admitted to me that for the first time he didn't feel like the star of the production. Not carrying all that baggage did wonders for his sense of proportion. He was much more a regular guy than I had ever seen him before.
In the absence of Leonard and De he also turned to me for the small talk around the set. I kidded him a lot. Particularly in his efforts to establish some kind of rapport with Jimmy Doohan. Jimmy was always professional but remained distant. Jimmy has spoken a thousand times about his differences with BIll Shatner. He wasn't about to have a change of heart now.
Now I'm going to relate a story with a one word punchline. THe reader might well wonder why I have included such an apparently innocuous incident here. Innocuous to you, maybe. To me it was historic. We were setting up the scene just after I introduce Sulu's daughter to Captain Kirk. We are both standing on the bridge, the Captain above and slightly behind Chekov, as we watch the young woman move away. The camera is facing us. 'I vas neverr dot young," says the wistful Russian. We rehearsed it a couple of times looking out past the camera, as was natural. Then Bill quietly suggested that, instead, I turn to him while saying the line. It doesn't take Ansel Adams to figure out that if I do that my back is to the lens and there is only one face in the shot.
"No," I said. I can't ever remember saying "no" to Mr. Shatner before. That it took twenty seven years and was such a big deal to me probably says more about my character flaws than his."

The local supermarket had the last two TNG movies, Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis as a special cheap offer, and thus I saw them again for the first time since the cinematic release. (Because they were not exactly good, and I say that as a devoted later series of ST fan, I never made any attempt to rewatch before.)

So, how do they feel several years hence? For starters, there are worse ST movies. (Step forwards, Slow Motion Picture and Final Frontier.) However, the basic problems remained the same. Let's start with Insurrection.

( Star Trek: Insurrection )

On to the last TNG movie, object of much fannish ire.

( Star Trek: Nemesis )

With the usual caveat that one woman's source of fannish annoyance may be another sentient being's source of fannish pleasure, etc.

1.) Chakotay from Star Trek: Voyager.
Why is he annoying? ( Spoilers for ST: Voyager ensue. )

2.) Lorien from Babylon 5.
Why is he annoying? ( Spoilers for Babylon 5 ensue. )

3.) William "Bill" Adama from Battlestar Galactica.
Why is he annoying? ( Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica ensue. )

4.) Galen from Crusade.
Why is he annoying? ( Spoilers for Crusade ensue. )

5.) Lila from Dexter.
Why is she annoying? ( Spoilers for Dexter ensue. )

As the pan-fandom women 40 and over ficathon appears to be wrapped up, here is a list of (some) of my favourite stories. In truth, I thought the overall quality was excellent, and I hope alara_r will host this ficathon again next year.

Babylon 5:

Desiderata: Timov in her terse, no-nonsense glory, with a sharp eye towards what it means to be a woman in a society such as the Centauri.

Battlestar Galactica:

What's past is prologue: Ellen before, to put it as unspoilery as possible if you haven't finished watching the show. I love how the author creates differences due to the different situation and keeps ongoing traits.

Blake's 7:

Motherhood: Servalan on Gauda Prime. A short and excellent portrait of my favourite evil overlady.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Vigil in Accustomed Places: there were several good stories portraying Joyce Summers in this ficathon, but this one remains my favourite. Oh, Joyce.

Doctor Who:

Writing History: Evelyn Smythe, an (audio) companion of the Sixth Doctor's, has until the broadcast of Waters of Mars the honor of being the physically oldest female companion in the Whoverse (she's 60 when they meet; I know Romana is over 200, but Romana doesn't have problems running in her youthful bodies, does she?), historian by profession, not to be trifled with, and I love her quite a lot. This portrait captures her very well.

And another one for good luck: Barbara Wright, married Chesterton, was a part of the very first team TARDIS back in 1962, all around awesome woman, and largely responsible for transforming the Doctor from a traveller into a hero to begin with. Here she is in the New Who era, still gloriously herself.

Escape: You just know the Rani would have found a way to survive the Time War. Here's one version.

Farscape:

Glue: Noranti always struck me as one of Terry Prattchet's witches on leave from Discworld in the Uncharted Territories. One crone you underestimate at your peril, and this vignette captures both her whimsy and her strength.

Star Trek:

Loving the Alien: Lwaxana Troi was one "love or hate" character in ST fandom. I was firmly on the "love" side of the divide, on both TNG and DS9, and having paid tribute to her in fiction myself some years ago, I always regretted she didn't show up more. So I was delighted to see alara_r tackle her, and come up with this layered, fascinating result!

Haunted by Geography: fun as the most recent ST movie was, the women, Uhura aside, really suffered from lack of screen time there. Which is where fanfic comes in; penknife gives us a rich double portrait of Winona Kirk and Amanda Grayson, and they both both shine.

Twin Peaks:

I'll take a quiet life: Twin Peaks was a show where the veneer of cheerful normality covered some incredibly dark messes, and this portrait Norma Jennings in her determined optimism, literally covering up her bruises, captures this beautifully.