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selenakDarth Real Life has me in his claws again. So, briefly:
Buffy, season 8, issue one: this is as good a time as any to declare how I stand on the canon or not question. Basically, same as with Babylon 5, where JMS after the show ended wrote a couple of short stories himself, one of which I absolutely adored and definitely regard as canon (guess what, it deals with Londo), one I liked (Lyta and G'Kar) and one I carefully avoided, because the mere description makes me blanch (it involves Marcus Cole and... well). Then there were some authorized-by-JMS novels by other writers, for which the same principle applies; I liked some of them, disliked or was left indifferent by others, and some I have mixed feelings about. Do I regard it as canon in the same sense I do the show itself? No. On screen canon trumps all; I take what I like of the written addendums and ignore the rest.
So, far, as of the first issue, I like Joss' Buffy comics continuation very much (even if it josses one of my favourite fanfics; ah well, happens to us all): it's a delight to encounter Buffy's voice again, the two plot threads set up (new enemy - allied with old aquaintance from Buffy's past - and new mystery) look promising - and btw, the new enemy makes me wonder whether this is going to become a Whedonian response to "how I'd have written Civil War" - and I'm just thoroughly charmed by it all. Doesn't mean that I'll regard any fanfic ignoring this set up now as AU; it's one of many things in the multiverse.
Secondly, fanfic rec, because now that I've watched the available Heroes episodes and am cruelly condemmed to waiting for more along with the rest of you, I went, of course, looking for fanfiction:
On Hiro getting shot, discovering a sad truth about waffles, and receiving a lesson on how to speak Petrelli
Future fic, no spoilers. What it does have are Hiro, Ando, Nathan and Peter, and great characterisations all around. Hiro pov.
Thirdly,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fannish5: List your five favourite fictional teacher or mentor figures
This is trickier than it looks. Because I easily list favourites of mine who were/are teachers, but.... Well. Laura Roslin, Irina Derevko (when posing as Laura Bristow) and Emma Frost were/are at some point teachers in their lives, but that is not their function in their main narrative; they're not defined as mentor figures in their texts, that's not their archetype, and thus I suppose listing them would be cheating. Which leaves me with:
1) Charles Xavier (X-Men). (Either movieverse or comicverse) Aka he who, depending on who writes him, is a cross between Martin Luther King and a manipulative bastard. Obviously, I'd be fond of him even if he weren't played by Patrick Stewart in the movies.
2) Qui-Gon Jinn (Star Wars). Has dignity, does not have snobbery about "lesser lifeforms", a sense of humour, and is not above cheating when gambling. Also has the advantage of being played by Liam Neeson. I'm very fond of him.
3) Severus Snape (Harry Potter). Is a terrible teacher (just one of those born research types) unless he teaches via scribbled instructions on his former school books, but definitely the most interesting character in his 'verse to me. But "favourite" does not imply the teacher figure has to be good at his job, otherwise I'd have listed Lupin (in whom, however, I am far less interested in or emotionally involved with).
4) Gandalf (Lord of the Rings). Aka the original mentor who dies and comes back. The thing about Gandalf: put him in a room with one or two hobbits, and I'm brimming with love, whether it's Bilbo, Frodo or Pippin, in either the novels or the movies. Otoh, sans hobbits, I'm more fond of movieverse Gandalf, if you allow me the heresy. Either way, though: definitely a favourite.
5) Palpatine (Star Wars - specifally, prequel era). Nobody said this teacher and mentor was supposed to guide the student in question towards their better selves. The Emperor was just a cackling villain in the OT, but prequel era Palpatine manipulates, at various points, Padmé, Anakin, and the entire Jedi Council, and Ian McDiarmid rocks in the role. And yes, (dark) teacher/mentor is definitely his function in the narrative. Also? The opera scene in Revenge of the Sith? Best seduction to Dark Side scene ever.
Buffy, season 8, issue one: this is as good a time as any to declare how I stand on the canon or not question. Basically, same as with Babylon 5, where JMS after the show ended wrote a couple of short stories himself, one of which I absolutely adored and definitely regard as canon (guess what, it deals with Londo), one I liked (Lyta and G'Kar) and one I carefully avoided, because the mere description makes me blanch (it involves Marcus Cole and... well). Then there were some authorized-by-JMS novels by other writers, for which the same principle applies; I liked some of them, disliked or was left indifferent by others, and some I have mixed feelings about. Do I regard it as canon in the same sense I do the show itself? No. On screen canon trumps all; I take what I like of the written addendums and ignore the rest.
So, far, as of the first issue, I like Joss' Buffy comics continuation very much (even if it josses one of my favourite fanfics; ah well, happens to us all): it's a delight to encounter Buffy's voice again, the two plot threads set up (new enemy - allied with old aquaintance from Buffy's past - and new mystery) look promising - and btw, the new enemy makes me wonder whether this is going to become a Whedonian response to "how I'd have written Civil War" - and I'm just thoroughly charmed by it all. Doesn't mean that I'll regard any fanfic ignoring this set up now as AU; it's one of many things in the multiverse.
Secondly, fanfic rec, because now that I've watched the available Heroes episodes and am cruelly condemmed to waiting for more along with the rest of you, I went, of course, looking for fanfiction:
On Hiro getting shot, discovering a sad truth about waffles, and receiving a lesson on how to speak Petrelli
Future fic, no spoilers. What it does have are Hiro, Ando, Nathan and Peter, and great characterisations all around. Hiro pov.
Thirdly,
fannish5: List your five favourite fictional teacher or mentor figuresThis is trickier than it looks. Because I easily list favourites of mine who were/are teachers, but.... Well. Laura Roslin, Irina Derevko (when posing as Laura Bristow) and Emma Frost were/are at some point teachers in their lives, but that is not their function in their main narrative; they're not defined as mentor figures in their texts, that's not their archetype, and thus I suppose listing them would be cheating. Which leaves me with:
1) Charles Xavier (X-Men). (Either movieverse or comicverse) Aka he who, depending on who writes him, is a cross between Martin Luther King and a manipulative bastard. Obviously, I'd be fond of him even if he weren't played by Patrick Stewart in the movies.
2) Qui-Gon Jinn (Star Wars). Has dignity, does not have snobbery about "lesser lifeforms", a sense of humour, and is not above cheating when gambling. Also has the advantage of being played by Liam Neeson. I'm very fond of him.
3) Severus Snape (Harry Potter). Is a terrible teacher (just one of those born research types) unless he teaches via scribbled instructions on his former school books, but definitely the most interesting character in his 'verse to me. But "favourite" does not imply the teacher figure has to be good at his job, otherwise I'd have listed Lupin (in whom, however, I am far less interested in or emotionally involved with).
4) Gandalf (Lord of the Rings). Aka the original mentor who dies and comes back. The thing about Gandalf: put him in a room with one or two hobbits, and I'm brimming with love, whether it's Bilbo, Frodo or Pippin, in either the novels or the movies. Otoh, sans hobbits, I'm more fond of movieverse Gandalf, if you allow me the heresy. Either way, though: definitely a favourite.
5) Palpatine (Star Wars - specifally, prequel era). Nobody said this teacher and mentor was supposed to guide the student in question towards their better selves. The Emperor was just a cackling villain in the OT, but prequel era Palpatine manipulates, at various points, Padmé, Anakin, and the entire Jedi Council, and Ian McDiarmid rocks in the role. And yes, (dark) teacher/mentor is definitely his function in the narrative. Also? The opera scene in Revenge of the Sith? Best seduction to Dark Side scene ever.
