Two links

[selenak]

Yuletide nominations are open! I also browsed the nomination confirmations and found several fandoms I can volunteer for this year in addition to those I was planning for. Excellent.

Vonda M. McIntyre about writing Star Trek novels. For verily, hers were among the best. Also, her beef with the third TOS season reminds me there's nothing new in fandom - it's exactly the reaction anyone has today when a current day series stops matching one's own ideas of characters. Cautious phrasing is deliberate: I've become disenchanted of shows myself, but I'm also aware that I've loved seasons which for other fans were hateful, and vice versa. And there's nothing more tiresome than someone insisting that you MUST despise season x/movie y/book z, and if you don't, you're doing fandom wrong. (Which is a mind set depressingly many people seem to share, says the woman fond of the Star Wars prequels, season 4 of Angel and Wesley Crusher, among others.)

Comments

[ratcreature]

I like the SW prequels and Wesley Crusher too. *fistbump of solidarity*

[selenak]

*fistbump shared*

[wee_warrior]

(Which is a mind set depressingly many people seem to share, says the woman fond of the Star Wars prequels, season 4 of Angel and Wesley Crusher, among others.)

I think it's mob mentality. Think of the times when you maybe only moderately disliked something you saw or read, and then you went online and saw three posts ranting about it, and suddenly you kind of hate it, too. Add to that a certain bad conscience when you're the odd one out - if you're the only one who liked it, maybe it's just because your taste is just really horrible? (I've fought so much with that one, and sometimes still do. It's pretty ridiculous, though fascinating when you're interested in group dynamics.)

Although I admit, of your examples, I like one and a third (liking Wil Wheaton now doesn't count). That has nothing to do with peer pressure, of course! >:D

[selenak]

The flipside is of course when a very vocal majority likes something and you don't, which can feel weird and irritating and "What's wrong with me?" like, too, but isn't nearly as common as the reverse with me. Though it has happened.

[wee_warrior]

My circle of friends currently has an Elementary vs Sherlock situation (Roomie and I prefer the former and loathe the latter to varying degrees, her bf and a good friend don't care much about the former and adore the latter.), so I know what you mean exactly. In that vein, my relationship to Stephen Moffat is endlessly complicated, since I have mixed views about his writing and/or showrunning, and simply refuse to engage in the debate about his personality, which can be challenging when you talk about NuWho on the internet. Or Teen Wolf, which I adore for all its weaknesses and oddities, but which has such an irritating fandom, that I usually find myself in the position of defending its virtue like a besotted old knight for his less than perfect lady love.

btw, before I forget again, Vonda McIntyre: have you ever read "The Sun and the Moon," one of her original novels. It's been made into a film lately (Pierce Brosnan as Louis XIV!), and the trailer was so atrocious, I thought of reading it again just to get the taste of bad adaptation out of my mouth.