Say what?

[selenak]

Firstly, a political link. You know how a regular complaint in the more conservative media is that Muslim clerics and the Muslim communities in general don't distance themselves enough/don't speak out enough against terrorism? Here's an article collecting Muslim responses to extremism, in no uncertain terms.

From real life to fannish life: while I find the newest lj idiocy annoying, what really made my jaw drop in horror this morning was the news, via skywaterblue, that Eric "Supernatural" Kripke might write a Sandman tv adaption. Look, I know that there are a lot of SPN fans on my flist. I tried. I watched the first season. It didn't do anything for me. Not in the sense of me hating every single episode (I'd have quit far sooner if I had) but in the sense of feeling indifferent to the leads, thinking "I've seen the X-Files do this a decade earlier, and they at least had Scully!" and concluding that this show's sensibility was not mine, and so stopping instead of continuing and complaining was the thing to do. And there I would have left it, but for this news, because Sandman? That's one of my fannish holy grails. I love the Sandman series. One of the many things I love about it is that female characters show up in equal importance and depth of characterisation as male ones, and that Neil Gaiman through all volumes avoids the privileging of one relationship above all others. This, to put it mildly, seems to me the opposite of the SPN narrative. In conclusion: do not want Eric Kripke anywhere near the Sandman saga and the Sandman characters.

After this dire shock of a prospect, I needed cheering up, which came in the form of two ficathons, thisengland and paperlegends, the former being based on Shakespeare's Histories and the later on Merlin. Both offer great tales. Two early favourites:

Shakespeare:

Fail Trying: in which Falstaff is a space pirate, which is the best thing ever. Wonderful, wonderful Falstaff pov in this sci fi updating of his story. You know, Orson Welles would have loved it.

Merlin:

When you can see forever: something I don't want to see on the show itself (because I think Gwen as a commoner is a really important part of this version of the tale) but very much enjoyed seeing explored in fanfiction: Gwen turns out to be the long lost daughter of Queen Boudicca. (Which is the kind of cheerful anachronism the show itself specializes in.) And that far from solves any problems. A great OT4 story which does justice to everyone's relationships and doesn't simplify any of its characters.

Comments

[andraste]

Am having an identical reaction to the possible Sandman news. Do not want!

I too have many friends who love Supernatural, but I got through the first season and stopped when I realised that I could not care less if any of the characters died in the big cliffhanger. I never want to have that feeling about an adaptation of one of my favourite comics.

[selenak]

I got through the first season and stopped when I realised that I could not care less if any of the characters died in the big cliffhanger.

That was exactly how I felt. I had hoped that I'd love John Winchester because between Arvin Sloane and the Spy Parents, my thing for morally grey parent figures is obvious, but John left me as cold as his sons, so - there was just no reason to continue.

And you know, I'm having sudden horror visions of Death and Delirium becoming incidental, while it's Destiny and Destruction whom Dream has the most sibling scenes with. And Lyta and Thessaly getting killed off in a Kindly Ones storyline. And Desire being a cackling villain. And a Lucifer-Morpheus showdown of the kind pointedly avoided...

DO NOT WANT.

[andraste]

That was exactly how I felt. I had hoped that I'd love John Winchester because between Arvin Sloane and the Spy Parents, my thing for morally grey parent figures is obvious, but John left me as cold as his sons, so - there was just no reason to continue.

I actually had people sell me on the show in the first place by telling me about John Winchester, but he was just nowhere near as compelling to me as the morally ambiguous parents on Alias or a bunch of other shows. (And then he died at the start of Season Two anyway, so I guess it's just as well I didn't get attached.)

And you know, I'm having sudden horror visions of Death and Delirium becoming incidental, while it's Destiny and Destruction whom Dream has the most sibling scenes with. And Lyta and Thessaly getting killed off in a Kindly Ones storyline. And Desire being a cackling villain. And a Lucifer-Morpheus showdown of the kind pointedly avoided...

Quite. And I just can't imagine Kripke getting A Game of You, which is actually my personal favourite storyline. (I know that I'm an outlier there and it's actually the lest popular, but it's like Neil Gaiman reached into my brain and pulled all my childhood fantasies out.) There are practically no men in it!

[selenak]

Oh, I love A Game of You! It's not my favourite, but I love it dearly, and couldn't understand when learning it was unpopular. And yes, the only thing I can see Kripke doing with it is skipping it entirely and bring in Thessaly some other way if he doesn't write her out altogether. But no Wanda, no Barbie, no Fox and no Hazel from him. :(

We're spoiled with our morally ambiguous parents in other shows, we have standards. *g*

[andraste]

Oh, I love A Game of You! It's not my favourite, but I love it dearly, and couldn't understand when learning it was unpopular.

I wonder if one of the reasons many people aren't fond of it is that Morpheus is in it so little? Which would be a reason for any TV show to want to skip it, I guess, but I would be sad if that happened.

And yes, the only thing I can see Kripke doing with it is skipping it entirely and bring in Thessaly some other way if he doesn't write her out altogether. But no Wanda, no Barbie, no Fox and no Hazel from him. :(

It has so many of my favourite bits - Fox find out that Hazel's pregnant, Barbie drawing the funeral veil on, Thessaly ... just, Thessaly in general.

[selenak]

Not just Morpheus - he's not so much in some of the others, either - but none of the other Endless, and I suppose that's one reason. And maybe it hit home too well for some people in the depiction of Wanda's hometown. Or I could be entirely wrong.

Didn't Neil say Fox' reaction to Hazel's pregnancy is his favourite romantic moment of the entire series?

From the moment Thessaly caught the bird, I knew I loved her...

[andraste]

And maybe it hit home too well for some people in the depiction of Wanda's hometown. Or I could be entirely wrong.

One of the reasons I loved it is that I did the same thing as Wanda, i.e. fleeing the small town I grew up in as fast as humanly possible - but you may be onto something there.

Didn't Neil say Fox' reaction to Hazel's pregnancy is his favourite romantic moment of the entire series?

I hadn't heard that, but it's certainly one of mine, and beautifully followed up in the Death mini.

[jesuswasbatman]

Agree about Kripke being a bad choice for Sandman. Although I'm not sure Sandman would work on TV at all unless they did something radical like ignoring the comic plots completely and just doing a Six Feet Under style open-ended comedy-drama about the disfunctional family life of anthropomorphic personifications.

[selenak]

Well, better tv than a film because there is no way a film could do justice to the complexity of the storylines. (Unless they pick only one of the volumes, but that would work far better with the Death one shots.)

...but not tv written by Eric Kripke. Come to think of it it, how is Alan Ball doing with the vampire show these days?

[jesuswasbatman]

I think it's still a success, fortunately for me as I like it.

Although you could think of some interesting casting ideas from True Blood and Six Feet Under alone:

Stephen Moyer: Dream
Sam Trammell: Destruction
Rachel Griffiths: Desire
Lauren Ambrose/Lizzy Kaplan/others: Delirium
Michael C Hall: Lucifer (maybe not after SFU, but after Dexter...)
Anna Paquin: Death
Deborah Ann Woll: Rose
Richard Jenkins (voice): Matthew

[selenak]

Oh, I can so see Lauren Ambrose as Delirium and Michael C. Hall as Lucifer! Rachel Griffith definitely has the acting chops and the ability to radiate sex, but shouldn't Desire be more androgynous? Rachel G. is most definitely a woman. Otoh, I suppose you could make her look more androgynous with the right costume and make-up.

I still think of Anna Paquin as a cross between Rogue and her role in The Piano, but I can see your point.

[jesuswasbatman]

I think Rachel Griffith's face is quite androgynous, you just need to costume her to mimimise curves.

[jeeps]

I adore Supernatural, but Kripke needs to stay far away from Sandman.

[selenak]

*crosses fingers*

[fallingtowers]

Thanks for linking to the blog post about Muslims condemning terrorist crimes committed in the name of religion. Sometimes, you just have to forcibly remind yourself that you should never judge a faith by its extremist arseholes.

[selenak]

Unfortunately, the extremist arseholes are the ones making the headlines in all religions (not least in this case because "Iman X preaches jihad" presumably sells more than "Muslim clerics Y and Z call for peace, refute terror"), so it's all the more important to point out the later.