The joy of recommendation

[selenak]

I got recced! A story of mine, that is. By the newest update of Bright Shiny Objects, no less. Consider me dancing the dance of recommendation joy here.

And speaking of reccomendations: kangeiko wrote a fabulous take on Londo/G'Kar during The Fall of Centauri Prime, "Lip Reading" . Which reminds me that I haven't raved nearly enough about matters B5 recently. You know, many of my favourite shows have elements that throw off people who haven't watched it beyond switching channels, and don't intend to, and often, not always, they seem to be connected to the look of things.

Farscape:

"But isn't that the one with the muppets?"

(To which every 'Scaper replies: The muppets will make you cry. And doesn't mean in frustration)

Firefly:

"So... a Western in Space? Huh?"

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

"Isn't that the one with the silly title?" Or: "Teenagers and vampires - sounds like a bad sitcom."

(New) Battlestar Galactica:

(From non-viewers of the original): "Wasn't there some camp 70s show?" Or (from viewers of the original): "Starbuck is a woman?"

Blake's 7:

"Come on, a homemovie has better sets..."

In the case of Babylon 5, the objection seems to be: "Isn't that the one with aliens with the funny hair?"

More recently, I have decided the funny hair has other purposes than filtering out viewers who object to these kind of superficialities, or giving the Centauri a unique look. It also gives one perspective. Before the film version of Prisoner of Azkaban got released, quite a lot of HP fans objected to a) David Thewlis' moustache, and b) to the hairstyles sported by Thewlis and Oldman as Remus and Sirius in general. Now admittedly I'm not a big Remus/Sirius fan (I like both gentlemen, they're just not my favourites), but as I said to penknife when she told me that if I were, I'd object to the hair, too: I am devoted to Londo Mollari. If you fall for a Centauri, then you have no problems regarding the hairstyles of your favourite characters ever again.

***

Meanwhile, a new Alias vignette of mine is up, "Piranha Pool" (set during season 2's "The Getaway"), and the beta'd version of my Emily vignette, "In Flight", set during "Truth Takes Time".

Comments

[k-julia.livejournal.com]

You know, many of my favourite shows have elements that throw off people who haven't watched it beyond switching channels, and don't intend to, and often, not always, they seem to be connected to the look of things.

Hm. I'll give you the muppets, but looking over the rest of the examples, I'm not sure that's necessarily a general phenomenon related to the looks of a show.

"Isn't that the show with weird-such-and-such?" doesn't necessarily imply that weird-such-and-such is considered a reason for not watching. I find it pretty normal that with a show you've heard of but haven't watched, you'll latch on to the weird or unusual for describing it. But maybe that's just me.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

True, it's sometimes just a shorthand for description, but I've seen it used as reason for not watching really quite often, too.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

(From non-viewers of the original): "Wasn't there some camp 70s show?" Or (from viewers of the original): "Starbuck is a woman?"

Good point! There's a strike against it either way. Though anybody who Katee Sackhoff doesn't win over in 30 seconds is beyond my understanding. . .
so the question is, will you be able to get your hands on the BSG premiere or Harry Potter first?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Depends on how quickly the mail delivers.*g*

And I don't get it, either. Aside from everything else, her version is far more interesting...

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

BSG is finally starting to get some mainstream attention in the US, with a featured article on Salon . com, by Laura Miller (who's also a sometime NYT Book Reviewer, and was a big pro-BtVS voice, at least most of the time). I'm not linking the article because it has spoilers, and b/c Salon makes you sort through a bunch of ads. But it's easy enough to find if you're tempted, and has nice pix of Katee :).

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Heh. When I first stumbled across Star Trek - Next Generation I thought of it as that show with the bald guy and the guy with lumps on his forehead. Little did I know at this point that the Klingons had got a make over. :-) It also took me awhile to appreciate the magnificence of Captain Picard - he who needs no hair to be gorgeous.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I remember the second season episode Sarek made me fall for him, and that was before I heard Patrick Stewart's original voice which of course would have made me fall for him much sooner.

Speaking of, behold:

http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/RSCcompletefest.htm

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

And he's performing in "The Tempest" which is probably my favorite Shakespeare play! (I have a special fondness for it because I once acted in it. Played a female version of Trinculo; that way the couple Stefano/Trincula provided a nice contrast to Ferdinand/Miranda in addition to mirroring Antonio/Sebastian)
I want to go there!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Me too. We should make a convoy!

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Great idea!
Especially since Ian McKellen will be there as well!

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Londo/G'Kar rec. Great story!

I haven't watched all Babylon 5 episodes by far, but even in the beginning of the show I was easy too see the chemistry. It's nice to see some fanfiction for them is finally accumulating.

(Oddly enough they reminded me a bit of Odo and Quark from DS9 at the time. -- Now that's a pairing I would like to read, but I don't think I'll ever see it. Quark just doesn't have the sex appeal to appear in any slash stories. And Odo, of course, loves Kira.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I did my bit for that, she says proudly. (I.e. wrote the first few stories and lured andrastewhite into the fandom, who wrote plenty more.)

bethos wrote some Odo/Quark, I think. I wrote an utterly platonic crossover story featuring the two of them in the lead, and of cours I wrote some other Quark-centric stuff, loving him as I do.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Thanks for jump-starting Londo/G'Kar! *bows down greatfully* I'll definitely check out your stories as well.

Thanks for the info about

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Thanks for jump-starting Londo/G'Kar! *bows down greatfully* I'll definitely check out your stories as well.

Thanks for the info about <lj-user ="bethos">. I wish the story had more plot, though. :-)

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

Oddly, those negatives can also be selling points. On the weekend I convinced someone to see Serenity when it is released by describing the set up as a mixedgender Magnificent Seven set in space. Also, I think I convinced him to watch BSG starting on Friday by telling him that Starbuck is a woman and some of the cylons look like humans.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! Depends on the target one tries to draw in, I suppose. For example, if andrastewhite hadn't watched BSG anyway, I would have used the "mature, interesting middleaged characters in central roles, some of them good at manipulation" angle, wereas for, say, monanotlisa, I would have pointed out the pretty young things.*g* My most recent Firefly pitch was for thalia_seawood and went something like "it has witty dialogue and in-depth characterisation and this mixture of Chinese and American culture in space", at which point she was interested enough to see the pilot, and the rest was history.

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

crossoverman used a two front approach to wear me down and get me to watch B5. First, he said that it was the anti-X-Files because all the arcs and mythology of the show actually make sense and were planned out. Second, he told me that it was a very good politics show dressed up in sci-fi clothes. After a few months of his badgering I finally gave in and I'm so glad I did.

The more you know about the person you are pitching to the easier it becomes.