Great news, and more meme replies
Aug. 11th, 2009 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI'm turning 40 in September, and judging by what likeadeuce told me yesterday, Marvel has decided to give my a birthday present a month early (or later, depending on how you view it): Abigail Brand gets her own series. Mind you, before reading the first issue one can't say how good or bad it will be, but the sound of it is incredibly promising: Agent Brand is our lead and abstractly mostly in charge. Beast is her boyfriend and top-science bod. Together, they save the world or die trying (whilst engaging in fine banter). In addition to which, there'll be Lockheed (picking up on a plot point Joss established in AXM). And like I speculated in Face of the Enemy, Brand being half-alien will be a plot point for suspicion an distrust of her in the post-Secret Invasion world. I am a happy, happy camper, people.
One Torchwood fanfic rec:
Lines of Command: Tommy, from season 2's To the Last Man. A sensitive character vignette.
And now, on to the last meme replies:
Top five ways Mitchell Hundred makes a good politician:
1) His mixture of pragmatic cynicism and idealism as exemplified by supporting gay marriage but making sure to be photographed taking out a woman on a date first.
2) His ability to recognize talent and expertise he lacks and get people who have it to work for him (see: persuading Wylie to become his campaign manager and later his No.2, for example)
3) On that note: he's good in inspiring loyalty (not unrealistically so - there are people who work for him without being won over as well), which is important for politicians and not just because they need people to cover for them if necessary
4) Usually, though not always, he can take criticism and listen to it if it's valid; that scene with Angotti chewing him out because his superheroics cause car crashes and thus do harm in addition to good seems to have been the road-to-Damascus point where he decides to abandon vigilantism and try to help the world via politics instead
5) He's a comics fan offended by retcons. This is promising in light of politicians rather into retconning their past all the time rather than take responsibility.
Top five personal pieces of fanon.
I wasn't sure whether this meant "fanon that I made up" or "fanon I adopted from elsewhere to believe in", but decided to go with both.
1) Doctor Who: the Doctor and Martha either lived with Barbara and Ian Chesterton when they were stuck in 1969 for a while, or at the very least met with them on a regular basis. I haven't yet read a story using this idea I didn't like.
2) Babylon 5: after her divorce from Londo and after both he and G'Kar became galaxy-wide famous in their respective capacities, Mariel made a lot of cash by writing an entertainingly trashy tell-all until G'Kar's incensed followers made life too dangerous for her publishers. It's one of the first things I made up re: B5 and I'm still ridiculously fond of it.
3) Angel: the girl Connor dragged to her death in Inside Out was the daughter of the Rileys, who were so shattered by her mysterious death that they ended up as clients of Wolfram and Heart. Who then then organized the mindwipe after Angel made the Home deal, placing Connor with the Rileys, because they're twisted that way and because the this particular bit of truth gives them great blackmail possibilities. I had the idea for my AtS/Sandman Connor-meets-the-Furies crossover, and have since seen it elsewhere, which I found flattering. It's still my favourite personal bit of fanon for Connor post-NFA to realize this and thus having to deal with that crucial choice he made in Inside Out.
4) Doctor Who (again): each regeneration of the Doctor responds to something that either was perceived as missing or out of balance in the previous one. I first encountered this fanon inandrastewhite's journal, and it made complete sense to me. (For example, Three being the first regeneration keen on physical fighting and rather good at it, and prone to start an argument, is the direct result of Two's traumatic ending, the enforced regeneration and inability to protect Zoe and Jamie from the Time Lords. Conversely, Four remaining away from Earth and post-Sarah Jane taking non-human companions for years until Tegan at the very end, whom he didn't invite, for most of his run is the result of Three's exile and the way he grew so close to the humans around him. Six' aggressiveness and bluster is the result of Five's passivity and experience of not being able to avert horrible tragedies. Nine post Time War could not make that decision to kill the many to save the many more again in Parting of the Ways, which resulted in Ten who can make this decision if he has to (Runaway Bride, Fires of Pompeii). Undoubtedly Eleven will compensate for something in Ten.)
5) Alias: the reason why Sloane tells Judy Barnett in s3 about his affair with Irina twenty five years earlier is payback, pure and simple; it happens just after Katya (as far as the audience and he know at the time, on Irina's orders) had her little power demonstration of letting Jack almost kill Arvin and letting both of them know this. In retaliation (to Irina, that is), Sloane for one of the few times in his life where he hasn't thought something thoroughly through plants his little time bomb of a revelation, because he knows sooner or later Judy will tell someone, so Jack will find out. What he didn't expect was being framed and thus in CIA custody and utterly at Jack's mercy by the time this happened instead of elsewhere and at liberty, hence Hourglass as the end result.
Top five one-off villains/monsters, across all series.
This is harder to answer then you'd think, not least because many villains frustrated me by appearing only twice in their respective shows, which on the one hand disqualifies them from being a one shot villain, but on the other didn't really make them a recurring villain (a category which would have been far easier to answer). For example, that's why I can't name either the Rani for Doctor Who or Kenny from Highlander. Still, here are some villains and/or monsters I thought were awesome and who really appeared only one single time.
1) The Gentlemen, from BtVS's Hush. Still my favourite Jossverse monsters. Villains are characters; I'll get to my favourite one shot villain in that universe later. The Gentlemen, by contrast, are fairy tale monsters, scary, and most importantly creatures that would NOT work if they were used in a recurring fashion; they're ideal for a one shot story. It doesn't hurt that Hush, together with Restless, The Body and Once More, With Feeling form a quartet of episodes demonstrating Joss Whedon at his experimenting-with-what-television-can-do best.
2) The Weeping Angels, from Doctor Who's Blink. You're a mean one, Stephen Moffat. Like many another viewer, I was never able to see statues in the same light again, ahem. As with the Gentlemen, the Angels would lose their effectiveness if used more than once, but for one episode, they were fantastic. The climactic scene of Sally and Larry getting to the basement, then into the TARDIS, then watching the TARDIS fade around them is when first watched nailbiting horror for this reason.
3) The creature from Midnight (Doctor Who again). It has the benefit of being played by Lesley Sharp (in a demonstration that you don't need special effects or black eyes at all to creep the hell out of everyone) for most of the episode, and the use of a children's game as a horror tool (i.e. repeating what everyone says) is amazing. The progression from repeating to in-sync-talking to talking first chills and captivates me no matter how often I rewatch. I also like that the episode leaves it ambiguous whether the creature is malicious from the get go or simply adapts the traits of the increasingly paranoid humans (and one Gallifreyan) as it does their speech. Mind you, as with RTD's later Children of Earth, the true villains of the story are the humans - the alien is mostly there to provide the external pressure which exposes their darker sides - but that would not work if the alien were not scary to the audience as well. Which this one is. In conclusion: Lesley Sharp is awesome.
4) Holden from BTVS's Conversations with Dead People. One might debate whether or not he belongs into the "villain" category, but I'd say by following his nature and attempting to kill Buffy a couple of times in between bonding with her, he qualifies. Joss uses Jonathan Woodward in three shows as a slightly geekish and endearing trickster type, with Knox as the darkest version and Tracy as the most pathetic, but Holden is definitely the most sympathetic variation, in addition to being the most memorable vampire since Spike and Dru came to town in s2 (and now we're in the seventh and last season of BTVS). Despite Holden only showing up in this one episode, which has four different plot threads of which he's in only one, you still get a clear sense of fleshed out character. Whether he's providing free psychotherapy for Buffy or geeking out about the vampire terminology she teaches him ("sire is also a noun" - "cool!"), or delivering typical post modern Joss Whedon patter ("oh my god - well, not my god, because I defy him and all his works - by the way, is there any word on that? Whether there is a god?"), Holden is infinitely entertaining. But he is also reaffirming, for the viewer, the quintessential vampire rules for this 'verse, no matter how likeable he is. Humans, including former class mate Buffy, are food. If they leave themselves vulnerable, he'll use it and eat.
5) Gul Madred, from Star Trek: TNG's Chain in Command II. While he appears in a two parter, he only shows up in the second part, and thus fits the criteria of a true one shot villain. I recently wrote some meta on Chain of Command when I rewatched, and it only gained through the years. (It also confirmed my personal "Chain of Command pwns Intersections in Real Time when it comes to honest depiction of main character torture" heresy.) Gul Madred, played by David Warner, is one reason why. He's the Cardassian in charge of "interrogating" Picard, and a great example of non-moustache twirling evil, with the episode taking care to give him a background that explains without excusing, and a family. Yes, Patrick Stewart is his awesome self, but the episode still wouldn't work as well if Madred weren't a chillingly plausible and oh so familiar character.
likeadeuce told me yesterday, Marvel has decided to give my a birthday present a month early (or later, depending on how you view it): Abigail Brand gets her own series. Mind you, before reading the first issue one can't say how good or bad it will be, but the sound of it is incredibly promising: Agent Brand is our lead and abstractly mostly in charge. Beast is her boyfriend and top-science bod. Together, they save the world or die trying (whilst engaging in fine banter). In addition to which, there'll be Lockheed (picking up on a plot point Joss established in AXM). And like I speculated in Face of the Enemy, Brand being half-alien will be a plot point for suspicion an distrust of her in the post-Secret Invasion world. I am a happy, happy camper, people. One Torchwood fanfic rec:
Lines of Command: Tommy, from season 2's To the Last Man. A sensitive character vignette.
And now, on to the last meme replies:
Top five ways Mitchell Hundred makes a good politician:
1) His mixture of pragmatic cynicism and idealism as exemplified by supporting gay marriage but making sure to be photographed taking out a woman on a date first.
2) His ability to recognize talent and expertise he lacks and get people who have it to work for him (see: persuading Wylie to become his campaign manager and later his No.2, for example)
3) On that note: he's good in inspiring loyalty (not unrealistically so - there are people who work for him without being won over as well), which is important for politicians and not just because they need people to cover for them if necessary
4) Usually, though not always, he can take criticism and listen to it if it's valid; that scene with Angotti chewing him out because his superheroics cause car crashes and thus do harm in addition to good seems to have been the road-to-Damascus point where he decides to abandon vigilantism and try to help the world via politics instead
5) He's a comics fan offended by retcons. This is promising in light of politicians rather into retconning their past all the time rather than take responsibility.
Top five personal pieces of fanon.
I wasn't sure whether this meant "fanon that I made up" or "fanon I adopted from elsewhere to believe in", but decided to go with both.
1) Doctor Who: the Doctor and Martha either lived with Barbara and Ian Chesterton when they were stuck in 1969 for a while, or at the very least met with them on a regular basis. I haven't yet read a story using this idea I didn't like.
2) Babylon 5: after her divorce from Londo and after both he and G'Kar became galaxy-wide famous in their respective capacities, Mariel made a lot of cash by writing an entertainingly trashy tell-all until G'Kar's incensed followers made life too dangerous for her publishers. It's one of the first things I made up re: B5 and I'm still ridiculously fond of it.
3) Angel: the girl Connor dragged to her death in Inside Out was the daughter of the Rileys, who were so shattered by her mysterious death that they ended up as clients of Wolfram and Heart. Who then then organized the mindwipe after Angel made the Home deal, placing Connor with the Rileys, because they're twisted that way and because the this particular bit of truth gives them great blackmail possibilities. I had the idea for my AtS/Sandman Connor-meets-the-Furies crossover, and have since seen it elsewhere, which I found flattering. It's still my favourite personal bit of fanon for Connor post-NFA to realize this and thus having to deal with that crucial choice he made in Inside Out.
4) Doctor Who (again): each regeneration of the Doctor responds to something that either was perceived as missing or out of balance in the previous one. I first encountered this fanon in
andrastewhite's journal, and it made complete sense to me. (For example, Three being the first regeneration keen on physical fighting and rather good at it, and prone to start an argument, is the direct result of Two's traumatic ending, the enforced regeneration and inability to protect Zoe and Jamie from the Time Lords. Conversely, Four remaining away from Earth and post-Sarah Jane taking non-human companions for years until Tegan at the very end, whom he didn't invite, for most of his run is the result of Three's exile and the way he grew so close to the humans around him. Six' aggressiveness and bluster is the result of Five's passivity and experience of not being able to avert horrible tragedies. Nine post Time War could not make that decision to kill the many to save the many more again in Parting of the Ways, which resulted in Ten who can make this decision if he has to (Runaway Bride, Fires of Pompeii). Undoubtedly Eleven will compensate for something in Ten.) 5) Alias: the reason why Sloane tells Judy Barnett in s3 about his affair with Irina twenty five years earlier is payback, pure and simple; it happens just after Katya (as far as the audience and he know at the time, on Irina's orders) had her little power demonstration of letting Jack almost kill Arvin and letting both of them know this. In retaliation (to Irina, that is), Sloane for one of the few times in his life where he hasn't thought something thoroughly through plants his little time bomb of a revelation, because he knows sooner or later Judy will tell someone, so Jack will find out. What he didn't expect was being framed and thus in CIA custody and utterly at Jack's mercy by the time this happened instead of elsewhere and at liberty, hence Hourglass as the end result.
Top five one-off villains/monsters, across all series.
This is harder to answer then you'd think, not least because many villains frustrated me by appearing only twice in their respective shows, which on the one hand disqualifies them from being a one shot villain, but on the other didn't really make them a recurring villain (a category which would have been far easier to answer). For example, that's why I can't name either the Rani for Doctor Who or Kenny from Highlander. Still, here are some villains and/or monsters I thought were awesome and who really appeared only one single time.
1) The Gentlemen, from BtVS's Hush. Still my favourite Jossverse monsters. Villains are characters; I'll get to my favourite one shot villain in that universe later. The Gentlemen, by contrast, are fairy tale monsters, scary, and most importantly creatures that would NOT work if they were used in a recurring fashion; they're ideal for a one shot story. It doesn't hurt that Hush, together with Restless, The Body and Once More, With Feeling form a quartet of episodes demonstrating Joss Whedon at his experimenting-with-what-television-can-do best.
2) The Weeping Angels, from Doctor Who's Blink. You're a mean one, Stephen Moffat. Like many another viewer, I was never able to see statues in the same light again, ahem. As with the Gentlemen, the Angels would lose their effectiveness if used more than once, but for one episode, they were fantastic. The climactic scene of Sally and Larry getting to the basement, then into the TARDIS, then watching the TARDIS fade around them is when first watched nailbiting horror for this reason.
3) The creature from Midnight (Doctor Who again). It has the benefit of being played by Lesley Sharp (in a demonstration that you don't need special effects or black eyes at all to creep the hell out of everyone) for most of the episode, and the use of a children's game as a horror tool (i.e. repeating what everyone says) is amazing. The progression from repeating to in-sync-talking to talking first chills and captivates me no matter how often I rewatch. I also like that the episode leaves it ambiguous whether the creature is malicious from the get go or simply adapts the traits of the increasingly paranoid humans (and one Gallifreyan) as it does their speech. Mind you, as with RTD's later Children of Earth, the true villains of the story are the humans - the alien is mostly there to provide the external pressure which exposes their darker sides - but that would not work if the alien were not scary to the audience as well. Which this one is. In conclusion: Lesley Sharp is awesome.
4) Holden from BTVS's Conversations with Dead People. One might debate whether or not he belongs into the "villain" category, but I'd say by following his nature and attempting to kill Buffy a couple of times in between bonding with her, he qualifies. Joss uses Jonathan Woodward in three shows as a slightly geekish and endearing trickster type, with Knox as the darkest version and Tracy as the most pathetic, but Holden is definitely the most sympathetic variation, in addition to being the most memorable vampire since Spike and Dru came to town in s2 (and now we're in the seventh and last season of BTVS). Despite Holden only showing up in this one episode, which has four different plot threads of which he's in only one, you still get a clear sense of fleshed out character. Whether he's providing free psychotherapy for Buffy or geeking out about the vampire terminology she teaches him ("sire is also a noun" - "cool!"), or delivering typical post modern Joss Whedon patter ("oh my god - well, not my god, because I defy him and all his works - by the way, is there any word on that? Whether there is a god?"), Holden is infinitely entertaining. But he is also reaffirming, for the viewer, the quintessential vampire rules for this 'verse, no matter how likeable he is. Humans, including former class mate Buffy, are food. If they leave themselves vulnerable, he'll use it and eat.
5) Gul Madred, from Star Trek: TNG's Chain in Command II. While he appears in a two parter, he only shows up in the second part, and thus fits the criteria of a true one shot villain. I recently wrote some meta on Chain of Command when I rewatched, and it only gained through the years. (It also confirmed my personal "Chain of Command pwns Intersections in Real Time when it comes to honest depiction of main character torture" heresy.) Gul Madred, played by David Warner, is one reason why. He's the Cardassian in charge of "interrogating" Picard, and a great example of non-moustache twirling evil, with the episode taking care to give him a background that explains without excusing, and a family. Yes, Patrick Stewart is his awesome self, but the episode still wouldn't work as well if Madred weren't a chillingly plausible and oh so familiar character.
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-11 11:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-11 03:57 pm (UTC)...if for nothing else, I'd like him already for the idea of Lockheed as S.W.O.R.D's Wolverine. :)
Also, considering the "His Girl Friday" comparison: I used to joke with 'deuce that Brand and Hank were actually a gender-reversed Pride & Prejudice, i.e. she's Darcy, he's Elizabeth. It seems to me that this could apply to His Girl Friday as well, because Brand is definitely more the Walter type, and Hank the Hildy one!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-11 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:35 am (UTC)In any case: I'm all for Gillen thinking along these lines, of course. :)