Multifandom: Those Pesky New Characters
Jul. 11th, 2003 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakPractically every fandom has them: characters who appear in the final seasons, to replace old characters who were written out for a variety of reasons, or simply because the producers felt like it. Inevitably, there's a backlash, and most of them aren't that popular, to put it mildly. However, thinking about a variety of characters I liked, I found there was a surprising numbers of these despised Johnny-come-latelies among them.
Let's see:
1) BTVS: I don't think you can count Dawn or Tara because they spent as many seasons on the show as "old" characters like Cordy and Oz. But I do remember the anti-Tara brigades in season 4; she was accused of everything from being dull and having no chemistry with Willow to being a Single White Female Type stalker to being to blame Oz didn't return as a regular. And I do remember the pre-Dawn (bad pun intended) hysteria when spoilers about a little sister began to circulate. Of course, both of these ladies had more than a season to show their worth and win their fans, so instead, my Buffyverse example would be Andrew.
Yes, technically he was introduced in season 6. But then he functioned as one of the antagonists, and the above mentioned anti-new-character resentment works differently for those anyway. Also, in season 6 Andrew was the least interesting and least fleshed out member of the Troika. Which was a bad place to start from. Upon his reintroduction in season 7, he killed not just the most popular member of the Trio but one of the show's stalwart recurring characters who had been there from day 1. The stakes against fannish acceptance of Andrew were raised even higher. And then he ended up getting what poor Jonathan always wanted - hanging around with the Scoobies and gradually becoming a member of the team. By all rights, fans should be out for his blood, and some of them still are. But others, including yours truly, through great writing by the ME scribes and great acting by Tom Lenk (whom Joss spent a page of his recent interview singling out for praise), fell in love with Andrew the Nerd, going from self-deluding spineless murderer and wannabe Supervillain to awkward but brave guy (without ever losing his geekiness - that Oscar acceptance speech was priceless!).
2) Babylon 5: Captain Elizabeth Lochley. She replaced one of the most popular characters on the show, Susan Ivanova. Of course she was hated from day 1. I liked Lochley. I liked her terse relationship with Garibaldi, I liked that she was different from both Sinclair and Sheridan in her command style, I sympathized with her when Sheridan first created the Telepath problem by granting them a place on the station against her advice and then left her to deal with the consequences. I thought Tracy Scoggins was fabulous in the Neil-Gaiman-written episode "Day of the Dead". In fact, hearing Lochley and her dead friend Zoe talk, they reminded me of other Gaiman characters like Rose Walker, stranded in a strange house, or Barbie and Wanda. I could have done without her having been married to Sheridan for a month in their cadet years, but hey - that didn't affect how I perceived the character. Oh, and I really liked her banter with Rugged-but-Handsome in the ill-fated B5 spin-off "Crusade".
3) Blake's 7: Soolin. Dayna, who got introduced in B7's third season, I feel fairly neutral about. I neither dislike her nor have any strong positive feelings for her. Soolin, however, who only got one season - the fourth - and was saddled with hastily rewritten lines originally intended for Cally in the first three or four episodes as a start, became one of my favourites. Which I noticed around the time of "Assassins" (not coincidentally the first script written with Soolin as an intended character, one assumes), when she cut through the crap and figured out the danger while Avon and Tarrant were busy posturing and bickering. Soolin had an air of dry cynicism and sardonic disbelief she was stuck with this bunch, plus of all the new characters, she worked best with Avon, being neither interested in competing with him, like Tarrant, nor saddled with a Miranda complex like Dayna. When B7 ended, I mourned for her as much as for all the long-term characters.
4) Farscape: Sikozu. I'm seeing a strong parallel to the earlier case here. Jool, the newcomer in season 3, I could take or leave. (Though her relationship with Chiana was fun, and I'm somewhat disgruntled they chickened out and let her have the goodbye kiss with D'Argo instead.) Sikozu, however, I fell for in the first episodes when she got introduced as arrogant, smart, and with uncertain loyalties. The moment she mentioned having grown up under the Scarrans I knew we'd see her interact with Scorpius later. While I wish we had seen more of their relationship, what we got was fun to watch, different as it was from the obsessive John/Scorpius, the mutually exploitative Scorpius/Natira and the subtext-ridden Master/Servant combination of Scorpius/Braca. Starting out as "you're intriguing, and I need an ally on this mad ship", the elements of protectiveness and even tenderness in the later season 4 episodes were startling, without either character seeing this as reformation (or even believing there was something about each other they should improve). The unsolved riddle of Sikozu's origin - genetically engineered Kalish or bioloid? Both? - is something I'd have loved to see expanded upon.
In other news: I've discovered something for the "Crossovers which shouldn't work but do" category, which I encourage everyone with a liking for both Buffy and Star Trek to read: A BTVS/ST: TNG crossover which you can find here.
In the Buffyverse, it's set in season 6, shortly before "Dead Things". As one could guess, it's the Trio who has the bright idea of sending Buffy (and Spike) through cross-dimensional portal to end up in the Star Trek universe. (On the Trek side of things, we can blame Q that this scheme of Warren's actually works.) Not only can the author produce a genuine action/adventure plot but the characterisations score - for Buffy, Spike and later Giles (following his Slayer after being alerted in England to the goings-on) on the Joss side, and for Picard, Data and Deanna Troi on the Trek side. You've got to treasure the canonical way the Buffy/Spike relationship at that point in canon is written. I've seen few fanfics who avoid either romantisizing it or presenting it as Saint!Spike/Evil!Buffy. In this fanfic, there are no saints, and lo and behold, we get another rarity - Buffy's pov on the situation, not just Spike's. People thirsting for more Giles than canon gave us will also appreciate his ample screentime, the excellent take on his relationship with Buffy, and the delight he has when realising, while talking to Picard, he's no longer among the vocabulary-challenged.
Threat rating: High. The Bush administration is
concerned that it may not get a second term.
Therefore, we are going to change the rules so
that each Democrat vote only counts as 0.2
votes because Democrat is a shorter word than
Republican
What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
On the other hand....
Let's see:
1) BTVS: I don't think you can count Dawn or Tara because they spent as many seasons on the show as "old" characters like Cordy and Oz. But I do remember the anti-Tara brigades in season 4; she was accused of everything from being dull and having no chemistry with Willow to being a Single White Female Type stalker to being to blame Oz didn't return as a regular. And I do remember the pre-Dawn (bad pun intended) hysteria when spoilers about a little sister began to circulate. Of course, both of these ladies had more than a season to show their worth and win their fans, so instead, my Buffyverse example would be Andrew.
Yes, technically he was introduced in season 6. But then he functioned as one of the antagonists, and the above mentioned anti-new-character resentment works differently for those anyway. Also, in season 6 Andrew was the least interesting and least fleshed out member of the Troika. Which was a bad place to start from. Upon his reintroduction in season 7, he killed not just the most popular member of the Trio but one of the show's stalwart recurring characters who had been there from day 1. The stakes against fannish acceptance of Andrew were raised even higher. And then he ended up getting what poor Jonathan always wanted - hanging around with the Scoobies and gradually becoming a member of the team. By all rights, fans should be out for his blood, and some of them still are. But others, including yours truly, through great writing by the ME scribes and great acting by Tom Lenk (whom Joss spent a page of his recent interview singling out for praise), fell in love with Andrew the Nerd, going from self-deluding spineless murderer and wannabe Supervillain to awkward but brave guy (without ever losing his geekiness - that Oscar acceptance speech was priceless!).
2) Babylon 5: Captain Elizabeth Lochley. She replaced one of the most popular characters on the show, Susan Ivanova. Of course she was hated from day 1. I liked Lochley. I liked her terse relationship with Garibaldi, I liked that she was different from both Sinclair and Sheridan in her command style, I sympathized with her when Sheridan first created the Telepath problem by granting them a place on the station against her advice and then left her to deal with the consequences. I thought Tracy Scoggins was fabulous in the Neil-Gaiman-written episode "Day of the Dead". In fact, hearing Lochley and her dead friend Zoe talk, they reminded me of other Gaiman characters like Rose Walker, stranded in a strange house, or Barbie and Wanda. I could have done without her having been married to Sheridan for a month in their cadet years, but hey - that didn't affect how I perceived the character. Oh, and I really liked her banter with Rugged-but-Handsome in the ill-fated B5 spin-off "Crusade".
3) Blake's 7: Soolin. Dayna, who got introduced in B7's third season, I feel fairly neutral about. I neither dislike her nor have any strong positive feelings for her. Soolin, however, who only got one season - the fourth - and was saddled with hastily rewritten lines originally intended for Cally in the first three or four episodes as a start, became one of my favourites. Which I noticed around the time of "Assassins" (not coincidentally the first script written with Soolin as an intended character, one assumes), when she cut through the crap and figured out the danger while Avon and Tarrant were busy posturing and bickering. Soolin had an air of dry cynicism and sardonic disbelief she was stuck with this bunch, plus of all the new characters, she worked best with Avon, being neither interested in competing with him, like Tarrant, nor saddled with a Miranda complex like Dayna. When B7 ended, I mourned for her as much as for all the long-term characters.
4) Farscape: Sikozu. I'm seeing a strong parallel to the earlier case here. Jool, the newcomer in season 3, I could take or leave. (Though her relationship with Chiana was fun, and I'm somewhat disgruntled they chickened out and let her have the goodbye kiss with D'Argo instead.) Sikozu, however, I fell for in the first episodes when she got introduced as arrogant, smart, and with uncertain loyalties. The moment she mentioned having grown up under the Scarrans I knew we'd see her interact with Scorpius later. While I wish we had seen more of their relationship, what we got was fun to watch, different as it was from the obsessive John/Scorpius, the mutually exploitative Scorpius/Natira and the subtext-ridden Master/Servant combination of Scorpius/Braca. Starting out as "you're intriguing, and I need an ally on this mad ship", the elements of protectiveness and even tenderness in the later season 4 episodes were startling, without either character seeing this as reformation (or even believing there was something about each other they should improve). The unsolved riddle of Sikozu's origin - genetically engineered Kalish or bioloid? Both? - is something I'd have loved to see expanded upon.
In other news: I've discovered something for the "Crossovers which shouldn't work but do" category, which I encourage everyone with a liking for both Buffy and Star Trek to read: A BTVS/ST: TNG crossover which you can find here.
In the Buffyverse, it's set in season 6, shortly before "Dead Things". As one could guess, it's the Trio who has the bright idea of sending Buffy (and Spike) through cross-dimensional portal to end up in the Star Trek universe. (On the Trek side of things, we can blame Q that this scheme of Warren's actually works.) Not only can the author produce a genuine action/adventure plot but the characterisations score - for Buffy, Spike and later Giles (following his Slayer after being alerted in England to the goings-on) on the Joss side, and for Picard, Data and Deanna Troi on the Trek side. You've got to treasure the canonical way the Buffy/Spike relationship at that point in canon is written. I've seen few fanfics who avoid either romantisizing it or presenting it as Saint!Spike/Evil!Buffy. In this fanfic, there are no saints, and lo and behold, we get another rarity - Buffy's pov on the situation, not just Spike's. People thirsting for more Giles than canon gave us will also appreciate his ample screentime, the excellent take on his relationship with Buffy, and the delight he has when realising, while talking to Picard, he's no longer among the vocabulary-challenged.
Threat rating: High. The Bush administration is
concerned that it may not get a second term.
Therefore, we are going to change the rules so
that each Democrat vote only counts as 0.2
votes because Democrat is a shorter word than
Republican
What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
On the other hand....
You're Switzerland!
While most people think you're sort of stuck up, it's really
just that people don't interest you that much. That's why you'd rather
just stay out of everything and be as neutral as possible. Somewhere in
there is an ability to be a psychiatrist because you're so objective, but you
might just be too cold for that.
Take
the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-11 03:41 am (UTC)I never heard the Single White Female thing in regards to Tara. Weird. Why would anyone say that? Because she liked Willow and talked to her? On what planet is that stalking? I must admit, I did find Tara boring in Season 4, but she did grow on me, and I loved her in Season 6.
Andrew Lovers unite!
Date: 2003-07-11 04:14 am (UTC)Re: Andrew Lovers unite!
Date: 2003-07-11 04:17 am (UTC)The irony is...
Date: 2003-07-11 05:36 am (UTC)Re: The irony is...
Date: 2003-07-11 05:42 am (UTC)I remember that Fred caused a lot of unrest too. I suppose they thought she was taking the place of Cordelia a bit, which has happened, I suppose. But I don't mind - Fred has grown on me a lot. Even Oz got some heat in the day, from the original W/X shippers.
Buffy fandom. It's a crazy world.
New characters
Date: 2003-07-11 06:33 pm (UTC)People just don't learn, y'know?
no subject
Date: 2003-07-11 07:41 pm (UTC)And I liked Kennedy. Yes, I really did. From the very very start. I thought she was cute and confident, and from the first episode she flirted with Willow (I think the first episode she appeared in), I was excited at the idea that Willow might get a new girlfriend. Back then, and also by the end, I didn't expect or want their love to be true or pure or everlasting. But I really think (a) it was a good idea for Willow to get a sweet, semi-casual rebound relationship after Tara, and (b) Kennedy was really fun. She's sort of a brat, but she knows it, and I always found it endearing. Hey, come on, she's a young, badass Slayer now. I could get into her story. Imagining her growing up, growing into her new responsibility, learning how not to be such a brat - and yet still being her slightly wild, bratty self. Yup. Like how Faith grew up in prison and learned not to be a homicidal lunatic, but was still a little wild and badass when she got out, because that's who she is.
Iyari Limon also v. v. pretty.
(Not the point.) But for your point - I, like you and many other fans also grew to adore Andrew this year. I absolutely fell in love with him in "Storyteller", of course, but even as early as "Never Leave Me", I found him amusing, with his constant roleplaying geekiness. The part where Buffy busts in and Anya's straddling Andrew, about to punch him and Xander's leaning on the side cradling his face? Eee! So cute!
Okay, done hijacking your journal now. :)
Kennedy and Andrew
Date: 2003-07-11 11:29 pm (UTC)Kennedy growing into her Slayerness: by all means. She's a brat, but so was Buffy, so was Dawn, so was Cordy.
Andrew: I felt sorry for him during the last season 6 episodes and even in "Conversations with Dead People", but "Never Leave Me" was for me, too, the moment when I realized I actively liked him. Falling in love went a bit faster - it was "First Date" for me, his talk with "Jonathan-slash-the-First" (thank you, Jane E.!).
Re: Kennedy and Andrew
Date: 2003-07-12 06:34 am (UTC)I'd love to read some Dawn and Andrew...
Date: 2003-07-12 07:47 am (UTC)In one of her interviews Jane Espenson said this particular scene was especially fun to write because she loves having the characters be nice to each other.
Re: friendship fic
Date: 2003-07-12 07:55 am (UTC)Re: friendship fic
Date: 2003-07-12 08:29 am (UTC)(The Jasmine retcon made it somewhat more bearable, but I still maintain season 3, some standout eps aside, was the worst of the AtS seasons so far because of the A/C romance.)
Friendship fic: the lack thereof is indeed to be mourned. Incidentally, a pal of mine, HonorH, wrote some stories with prominent emphasis on the friendships (including Dawn and Spike, or Buffy and Xander), as well as characters like Riley or Robin Wood who normally don't get that much friendly fanfic attention. Oh, and she wrote a great Buffy/Sandman crossover. Her stuff is here (http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=29024).
Re: friendship fic
Date: 2003-07-12 08:31 pm (UTC)And thank you for the linkage. :) Buffy/Sandman crossover?! Yay!
::goes to read::
We don't do air conditioning...
Date: 2003-07-13 02:43 am (UTC)And yes, Angel and Cordelia deciding they didn't WANT to be lovers might have validated that storyline.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-12 04:27 am (UTC)(cough) Have you *studied* that ep? Their last shot together, Chiana has her hands on Jool's chest! They may have chickened out on screen but oh yeah, Chiana said goodbye in the best way Chiana knows ;)
Point taken, and...
Date: 2003-07-12 06:14 am (UTC)Re: Point taken, and...
Date: 2003-07-12 01:56 pm (UTC)