fannish5 Great Parents

[selenak]

Name 5 characters who you think are great parents, or who would be great parents.

You know, that begs for the definition of "great parent". I mean, I'm in awe of Jack Bristow's protectiveness of his daughter as much as the next Alias watcher, but unlike the majority of Alias watchers, I also think Jack's utter lack of fatherly communication skills between Syd's early childhood and her twentysixth year, while being understandable enough in the light of his personal history, disqualify him from father of the year awards. As for SpyMommy, Irina Derevko is incredibly intriguing, but I don't think even the most passionate Irina fan would praise her motherhood skills. And as a banner carrier of "Noah got it coming" in s2, even before quitting Heroes, fandom's and HRG's tendency to consider "I did it all for Claire" makes him right about just about everything irritated me. While the dysfunctional relationship between Angel and Connor is, after Angel and Darla, the one I'm most invested in on AtS, I wouldn't put "great father" and "Angel" in the same sentence. (He's awesome with the protectiveness and compared to many another father in the Jossverse, he's stellar, but...)

So, going by "who would I want to raise my kids, were I to die young" rather than "whom do I think of as a fascinating character":

1) Haresh and Gita of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Both likeable, at the same time, with a proven record of having a great relationship with their daughter. Very encouraging of her talents. Both working parents. Go them!

2) The Burkles, of Angel: the Series. Fred's parents were the opportunity for the show to do something self-mocking, as everyone automatically assumes they're evil (since they're parents), and they turn out to be perfectly nice, loving and concerned. If you want to stretch it, it could be held against them they can't tell a god impersonating their daughter apart from the real thing, but hey, that's better than what Buffy's friends did when they couldn't tell her apart from a robot. Anyway, the Burkles - go them as well.

3) Martha and Jonathan Kent, of Lois and Clark. Note I'm specific about the show here. They're a great couple in many a comic as well, but it gets tricky when we come to other tv shows. On Lois and Clark, though, Martha and Jonathan score by being nice, both with a great sense of humour, more on the cell phone than anyone before the X-Files, and good at raising alien babies into enterprising reporters with a great taste in Chinese food. I think I could trust them with my hypothetical offspring.

4) Wash and Zoe, of Firefly: my hypothetical example. They would have been great parents. You'd know that Zoe would have had to be the one to tell them not to stay up too late because Wash would have caved and told them one more dinosaur adventure. And the family trips would have been something to behold. Oh, Zoe and Wash.

5) Abbey and Jed Bartlet, of The West Wing. My great and just a tad flawed example. Jed and his middle daughter have the occasional communication difficulties (Abbey, by contrast, seems to be regarded as impartial by all three), and he's a scary father-in-law, but all in all, the Bartlets come across as having done a great job with their three daughters. They also have a tendency to sort of adopt people. I wouldn't hand over a baby while they're in the White House for obvious reasons, but before or after, no problem. Abbey being a doctor is just an additional bonus. (In a country which still doesn't have a reasonable healthcare system.) (I want my hypothetical offspring not to wait three days in an emergency room.)


Considered, but left out because either of their partners or their working situations or their mental state: Sandra Bennet (Heroes), Emily Sloane (Alias), Sydney (The Pretender).

****

On another topic: Battlestar Galactica offers webisodes again - and this time they seem to center around Gaeta. Here's the first chapter, which, among other things, makes a certain fanon canon:

Comments

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Considered, but left out because either of their partners or their working situations or their mental state: Sandra Bennet (Heroes), Emily Sloane (Alias), Sydney (The Pretender).

Poor Sydney. Well, it's probably just as well he works for an evil corporation of badness; otherwise he'd have an unfair advantage in parenting contests, what with his innately superior parenting. ;)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, considering how well he managed to do while laboring under the handicap, as far as I can tell, of not being allowed to put any actual being a parent into his parenting... :)

[bethos.livejournal.com]

I screamed aloud.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*g*

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

Oh, #4 made me sad.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I know, but I had to.

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

It broke my heart that the Burkles didn't even get to know that their daughter had died and was replaced by a god in her skin. Because they were such amazingly great parents that they should have been able to mourn her; they should have known.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yes, they should have. Otoh, I can understand why everyone chickened out of telling them. (There's an inherent irony here, too, with Wesley driven to break-ins and artifact smashings by the idea Angel lied to him two episodes before, but he finds it far easier himself to lie to the Burkles then to say what happened.)

[lawrence520.livejournal.com]

I grant you Sydney would be a strong contender for best parent on Pretender, but I still think he might get edged out by Broots and Miss Parker. :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

They have that same working place problem he does, though!

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

I love the Burkles. "Honey, it's just a decapitated head! Stop making such a fuss!" (slightly paraphrased, since it's been too long since I rewatched the show.)

I actually thought that Angel was a very good father, within his own limitations--that is, I loved the way he loved Connor, if that makes any sense. DB is surprisingly good at playing dads (he has a son on his new show.)

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Jin's father from Lost would be on my list, too. :-)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, as I said, Angel and Connor are one of my two favourite relationships, and I think Angel loved Connor more than anyone else in all his centuries and would have moved planets for him. But be honest: would you hand over your child if you were on your death bed and there were alternatives? Like, for example, Jin's father, who you're absolutely right is a wonderful, fabulous parent with the bonus of not being dysfunctional...

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, my *own* child? To Angel? Not a chance! xD

[damedbx.livejournal.com]

those are awesome parents. aaaawww. wash n zoe...

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

I would choose Carla from SJA, myself, but it does have a nice share of great parents this year. (Even Sarah got better at it!)

Wash and Zoe - post-sniffling, I am imagining the Serenity crew as extended family. It's kind of hilarious.

Oh, Angel. He loved Connor to death but never knew what the hell he was doing.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I am imagining the Serenity crew as extended family. It's kind of hilarious.

It would have been. *shakes fist at Joss fate* And yes, Carla on SJA is a fabulous parent. I just had to pick one set per fandom...

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

Someone should write that fic.

Heh, I try to do that too. (Well, otherwise they'd all end up Doctor Who...)

[andraste]

Not watching the BSG clip for fear of spoilers (have not yet seen Season Four) but please tell me they finally confirmed that Gaeta is the only gay man in the fleet? Or is it some other bit of fanon?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Going by that clip, there are at least two, but yeah, you got it...

[andraste]

Hooray! I was worried that BSG was going to end its run with no gay characters apart from evil/dead lesbians. They've been hinting about Gaeta since he was crushing on Baltar back in Season One, so it's really about time. And I am doubly glad that he's found a guy; hopefully neither of them will wind up evil and/or dead this year.

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Well, presumably the man he kisses is the other gay man in the fleet, but, yeah.

Incidentally, the very beginning of the clip contains a HUGE GIANT SPOILER for the end of season 4.0, so definitely keep avoiding it until you're caught up.

[andraste]

Well, presumably the man he kisses is the other gay man in the fleet, but, yeah.</>

*applauds sudden 200% increase in number of canonically non-straight men*

Incidentally, the very beginning of the clip contains a HUGE GIANT SPOILER for the end of season 4.0, so definitely keep avoiding it until you're caught up.

I shall iindeed do that. I'm planning to finish catching up soon so I can watch the finale along with the rest of fandom.

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the BSG clip! I didn't know if they would be on Youtube. Can't get the ones on the Scifi site in Canada, so again, thanks!
Jane Espenson does commentary on it too. Neat!

I think the Burkles were the best parents in the Jossverse, but Zoe and Wash would have been awesome!
Angel tried so hard, but he had his own daddy issues..

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I can't access the Sci Fi site from my part of the world, either, so I really love YouTube right now. :)

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

Wash and Zoe, of Firefly: my hypothetical example. They would have been great parents. You'd know that Zoe would have had to be the one to tell them not to stay up too late because Wash would have caved and told them one more dinosaur adventure. And the family trips would have been something to behold. Oh, Zoe and Wash.

Oh, yes.

[wemblee.livejournal.com]

WOOOOOOO CANON GAY (why only in the websiodes, Ron Moore :///).

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, here's hoping this will happen on the show proper, too. : )

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

Heh, I was thinking "Martha and Jonathan in Lois and Clark" just a second before reading down far enough to see them mentioned. :-) I started rewatching the pilot yesterday, so they were on my mind already. Anyway, I agree that all five couples are excellent choices.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Glad to find another Martha and Jonathan enthusiast.*g* Lois and Clark is one of those "make me happy" shows. I wouldn't feel inclined to write meta about the episodes, but I so love the characters and their interaction...

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

A gay character who is not evil or dead, yay! (I'm sorry, but I read Ron Moore giving one of these idiotic "I don't have gay characters because I'm too unfamiliar with them to write them right" interviews a while back. He really has to live that one down now.)

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Adding to the parent list (which is perfect, btw): I actually think Helo and Athena are surprisingly good parents, given their circumstances. I mean, yeah, they lost the kid for a couple of months, but that's hardly their fault.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Helo and Athena: true, though they - or rather, Athena in regards to shooting Natalie - are also used to show the dark side of parental protectiveness by the show.

Ron Moore interview of ages past: worst excuse I've ever heard, given that he had no problem writing Sophie and Libby in s1 of Carnivale (Libby going heterosexual on us can't be blamed on him, since this happened in s2 when he had left the show), and of course was on the record about the following (http://www.genders.org/g27/g27_st.txt):

Ron Moore, author of "Tapestry" and co-author of the series finale, "All Good Things . . . ," noted that the creative staff conceived of Q as being "in love with Picard," but further commented that Q would never admit to being in love with a human.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Ron Moore interview of ages past: worst excuse I've ever heard, given that he had no problem writing Sophie and Libby in s1 of Carnivale

Hm, I'm on the fence on that one. There was an interview with Toni Graphia (who was a writer on Carnivale and a producer on BSG for two seasons; she is now with SCC) with AfterEllen.com I believe, where she said when she suggested making Sophie and Libby a couple, she was met with blank stares in the writers' room and remarks like "but lesbians didn't exist back then!" I mean, they did it, anyway, and Graphia never said Moore was one of the producers who were this moronic, but still...

ETA: Miraculously, wikipedia provided me with a link (http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/column/2006/3/3-2.html) for just that remark. It wasn't an interview, it was a short blurb about a panel, but the words she quoted are about as intelligent as I mentioned above.