A whole bunch of them, courtesy of your train travelling blogger who despite loving to travel at this point just wants to rest for the weekend with some nice things to read and watch.

The Avengers:

Joss Whedon interview about directing The Avengers. Some key aspects that stood out for me: 1.) talking about working with established characters (and actors). See, one of the reasons why I'm optimistic about The Avengers is that the last time Joss worked with established characters (plus a few self created ocs who then went on to become established Marvel characters other writers used as well), in a universe he didn't create and where he was limited in the storytelling choices, it resulted in the fabulous Astonishing X-Men. Basically, having editors is good for him.:)

2.) I wasn't surprised most of the questions were about Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. My favourite Joss reply relates to the oeuvre mentioned above, for when asked how he wrote a straightforward, non-edgy hero like Cap, and wasn't that untypical for him, he said:

I love a straightforward character. I am the guy who loves Cyclops on the 'X-Men', because he is square. [Captain America] is a little square, and he is aware that he is a little square, and he is aware that the world is a beat ahead of him, or in his case, 70 beats. I think that's very disarming and very charming. I relate to that guy.

(Reminds me that the last time I really really liked Scott was when Joss wrote him, btw; the successors went too far in the dark!Cyclops direction though I haven't read X-Men comics for a while, and maybe that has changed again.)

3.) Now, if you've watched more than one Whedon oeuvre, you might be famliar with something of a recurring Joss motif, and no, not the daddy issues, though it's a bit related. It's his distrust of organizations and "the man", and yet awareness that if you're long enough successful as a rebel, you become the man, you do have that responsibility. Guess what he brings up about Nick Fury?

Well, he is not going to be talking about his childhood, and you do want to keep a certain mystery. Also -- and this is something that I was very pleased that Marvel actually mandated -- they were very interested in keeping him, not just in the sort of a mystery of how the organization operates, but a real moral gray area where you really have to decide, "Is Nick Fury the most manipulative guy in the world? Is he a good guy? Is he completely Machiavellian or is it a bit of both?" And that was really fun to tweak. I felt that in the other movies, they had been cameos and he had been called upon to come in and be Sam Jackson and bluster a little bit. And I told Sam upfront that my big agenda was to see the weight on someone who is supposed to be in control of the most powerful beings on the planet. The weight on somebody who has to run the organization and the gravity of it.



Sanctuary:

Now that I've clocked three seasons, I feel reasonably safe to watch vids without getting spoiled, so imagine my delight when penknife recently posted this one:

My Freeze Ray, which is Nikola Tesla and Helen Magnus to the tune of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible. (Here's your elegant connection of subjects.) The lyrics fit scarily well. :)

Doctor Who:

The Christmas Special Trailer. It's titled The Doctor, The Widow And the Wardrobe, and apparantly after having a go at Dickens last year, Moffat now takes on C.S. Lewis and Narnia. (Incidentally, I think the TARDIS-as-Wardrobe comparison must show up in a thousand metas through the decades.) I am simultanously intrigued and slightly scared, because on the one hand, the Moff is good with children, on the other, there is much potential for fail given the meeting of the questionable subtexts that could occur, and I'd rather have a special to enjoy and not a mighty internet flame war to follow around Christmas.

David Tennant wrote the introduction for Elisabeth Sladen's postumously published memoirs, and here he reads it, with that continuing unabashed endearing fanboy adoration you can see in all their scenes together in School Reunion. Oh, Ms. Sladen, I miss you, too.

Horribly rl business makes for short lj entries. But:

ST: Voyager vid rec:

Machine is a cool and well-made Seven of Nine character portrait. I never was as fannish about Voy as I was about TNG and DS9, but I liked Seven, the Doctor, Janeway and Torres a lot, so when I see fannish endeavours featuring any of them, I perk up a bit. This one worked really well for me both for the great match between song and subject and because while we see Seven develop, and her interaction with the characters having an impact on her (and vice versa), like Janeway, the Doctor, Naomi Wildman et al, a certain part from the end of s7 is ignored as it should be.

Apparantly the next Fringe episode to be broadcast is called "Firefly", which made some talented person use the Fireflytitle sequence and match it to the Fringe characters, here.

And lastly: re: upcoming shows and genre movies: am still undecided whether or not to continue with Being Human (aka the "Nina and Annie love versus George and Mitchell dislike, which one will win?" dilemma), no opinion on the casting of Anne Hathaway in the third Nolan Batman movie (my image of Selina Kyle is forever influenced by having read Her Sister's Keeper, which means she looks utterly unlike Anne Hathaway or Michelle Pfeiffer), but I wonder whether jesuswasbatman' speculation about Nolan's interpretation of Catwoman will turn out to be true, and they're making it hard for me not to look forward to X-Men: First Class with posting stills like this one featuring young Charles and Erik.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a show in possession of a season fnale must inspire fanfiction. Here are some of my favourites so far from the last days of Doctor Who fandom busily writing away:

( Those with spoilery descriptions )

And back to the beginning:

Amy (Amelia) Pond, This Is (Was) (Will Be) Your Life is a good Amy character vignette, covering childhood and adolescence alike, with no spoilers beyond The Eleventh Hour.

Vid Time!

Can-Can Onze: season 5 in two minutes, music courtesy of Jacques Offenbach. C'est magnifique!

Check out this fun Eleven/River vid as well. Because she's River Song, and he's most definitely a madman in a box.

Vids:

Black Narcissus is one of those classic movies which I don't exactly like but find fascinating as they disturb me gloriously in early technicolor. aycheb made a great vid about why: Riots.

Angel:

God Bless The Child: an elegic and sad portrait of Lorne by laurashapiro, and a goodbye to Andy Hallet at the same time. Oh, Lorne. It wasn't easy being green, no indeed.

On to the good news, at least if you like both Shakespeare and Patrick Stewart: his Macbeth gets filmed! I'm so looking forward to the Tennnant/Stewart Hamlet coming out this Christmas on dvd, but that production I actually had the fortune to see, whereas I didn't see the Macbeth, so imagine me squeeing over here like a banshee!

Firstly, more vid recs:


Terminator movies/ Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Land: this one is epic, using the multiple timelines premise from the show and the time loop premise from the movies to fantastic effect, matching footage from both. Sarah, John, the time loop of John's existence, and all the possibilities.

Star Trek:

Swing: this vid is just pure joy. TOS from Uhura's point of view, with a side line of "why Uhura is awesome". Old time fans will love it, and as for fans who never watched a single episode of the original show and just came on board with the new movie, I defy you to watch this and not hum along and wanting to be on the Enterprise. (Just as long as you get to hang out with Uhura instead of being a red shirt, of course. *g*)

****

Now, I've said before that if classic German literature were a fandom, Goethe and Schiller would be slashed like no one's business with all the slash fodder they so generously provide. Reading the new Rüdiger Safranski book about them reminds me they also provide precedents for writers versus fangirl encounters. Well, how would you describe the following encounter with Germaine de Stael when she was visiting Weimar (which, btw, also reminds me that French was the English of the 18th century in that Madame correctly assumed it didn't matter that she hardly spoke any German because everyone she wanted to talk to spoke French:

Madame de Stael: *meets Schiller, declares he looks like a handsome dashing general, talks A LOT, explaining Schiller to himself*
Schiller: *writes to Goethe "ZOMG you have to come home she's analyzing everything to death HELP"*
Goethe: *comes back to Weimar*
Madame de Stael: I thought the author of "Werther" would be a dashing young man. You're middle aged, overweight, and you're having sex with your housekeeper. This is why you're not a man of the world even though you try to act like one.
Goethe: Do I care?
Madame de Stael: What you do in some of your dramas is so against good taste.
Goethe: The audience will get used to it.
Madame de Stael: How could you write such a dark ending for Werther?!? Don't you feel guilty because The Sorrows of Young Werther made people kill themselves?
Goethe: No. When I write something that feels right to me, I really don't care about the consequences.
Madame de Stael: I think German verse feels clumsy.
Goethe: I think French verse feels like tapeworm.
Madame de Stael: Well, that's it for now, boys, but I'm coming so back to Weimar with a friend once I've travelled to Germany some more!
Schiller: Do you think she meant that?
Goethe: *shrugs*
Madame de Stael: *returns with August Wilhelm Schlegel, whom she has paid 10 000 Taler to be her "literary advisor"*
Schiller: I'm outta here. *goes on an unplanned journey to Berlin within 48 hours of Madame's arrival*
Schlegel (a Goethe but not a Schiller fanboy): Schiller so is the wife in that relationship.

From lizamanynames:

Things have been tough and little chaotic for everyone here lately and I think a little praise pointed in the direction of the wonderful people that offer fandom a distraction from RL, even for just a few minutes each day, will help each of us feel a little bit better and put a smile on someone's face.

So until next Sunday, if you're so inclined, take a minute to say something nice about one of your favorite fic writers and say why you enjoy their work. Remember you don't have show the love to just one writer over the course of this week.

I have several writers I love, and might not have the chance to devote a post to them, but one at least I will do: Andraste, aka andrastewhite.

First of all, andrastewhite doesn't "just" write fanfiction. She also creates fabulous vids, and she hosts the Multiverse Ficathon each year. Her meta, whether we're talking about episode reaction posts or long term analysis, is always worth reading. She was and is active in several fandoms, some of which we share, some of which we don't. So here is what I swear is just a small selection of her talent:

Meta:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Superstar and Storyteller as meta narratives. I love this essay. And not just because it's devoted to two episodes which were at the time of first broadcast less than popular and has nothing whatsoever to do with shipping. It's smart, and deals with both the episodes themselves and the habits of fanfiction. If you're not familiar with it, you're missing something.

Babylon 5:

Day of the Dead meta, inspired by the season 5 Neil Gaiman episode. You might want to check out the comments as well. (The discussion we had inspired a vid of hers and a story of mine respectively.)

Vids:

Babylon 5:

Ophelia: that would be the vid. A tender reflection on all the dead women of Babylon 5, and the way they keep coming back.

Brothers in Arms: still the definite B5 vid, covering all five seasons and the entire ensemble.

Alias and Crusade:

American Tune and Holy Grail: American Tune is a great Jack Bristow character vid; now I can't relate the song to any other character. Holy Grail is one of the funnest, most spirited advertisements for a show I've ever watched, in this case the ill-fated B5 spin-off Crusade. After seeing it, one wants to grab the dvds immediately and start watching.

Fanfiction

One of the many great things about Andraste is that she can write comedy and angsty character insight alike. I've tried to include both here.

Alias

Edge of Darkness: Arvin Sloane between seasons 2 and 3, with Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko in the background. It's been a while since I've actively looked for Alias fanfic, but back in the day good Sloane stories were hard to find, and once Andraste was seduced cajoled into watching the show, I was thrilled she decided to write some. This captures the shades of grey, the simultanous insights and self delusions, the ruthlessness and sentiment exactly.

Get me to the church on time: this, on the other hand, is lighthearted entertainment, except for the tiniest bit of foreshadowing and awareness on the part of the readers as to what will happen with these men. Shortly before Jack's wedding to "Laura", he and Arvin get stuck in an extremely uncomfortable situation. A story which also manages to pull off convincing slash between these two (not that easy due to Jack more than due to Arvin) while never for a moment neglecting Jack's devotion to Laura/Irina.

Babylon 5:

Camera Obscura: great missing scene set in early s4, during one of those prison visits on Centauri Prime.

Funeral Feast: the Narn get a bit neglected by fanfiction, and so does G'Kar's fabulous aide Na'Toth. This story is both a Na'Toth character portrait and explores Narn culture, and I love it.

Proposition: missing s1 scene set during Mind War. You know, G'Kar really wanted those telepathic genes back then. Guess what happens when he asks a certain visiting Psi Cop for a contribution?

Certamen: I might have written the first Londo/G'Kar slash, but Andraste wrote the very first tentacle porn, coming up with a name for the Centauri... attributes... while she was at it. Londo/Urza, back in the day.

X-Men:

The first stories of Andraste's I've ever read were X-Men stories. She writes Charles Xavier like no one else, no matter whether we're talking about comics Xavier or movieverse Xavier. (She also wrote one of my favourite movieverse Mystique stories.) Of her many explorations of the man, this remains my favourite:

Ten Thousand Candles: set post-X2, this describes Xavier dealing with both what he almost did and what he did do.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Living Dangerously: Andrew in season 7, during his time as a "guestage" chez Summers. Andrew character portraits were rare (and I bet this hasn't changed), but Andraste has a soft spot for him, without overlooking his flaws.

If you're curious and want to know more - and believe me, I could have gone on praising her Farscape fanfiction, the way she rp'd Crais, her Blake's 7 fanfiction, her fabulous "when Avon met Scorpius" crossover, and so forth, and so on - check out her website, here.

Catching up after insane business and before continuation of same, part II:

( Those Doctor Who casting news )

Re: the latest House episode:

( An observation or two )


On to other fandoms:

Iron Man (and superhero films in general): Power and Accountability is a great essay, and the point made vis a vis the differences between this particular comics-to-movie transition in comparison to both the Spider-man and the Batman franchise is a great one.

Battlestar Galactica:

There are songs I connect to specific vids, and so a vid using the same song automatically has an inner hurdle to overcome. "Clint Eastwood" is such a song, because sisabet did an absolutely fantastic vid based on the Buffy episode Restless (but using the entire show for the developments of the four characters) a couple of years ago. And yet this vid about Gaius Baltar by bop_radar completely managed to overcome my viewer problem. It captures the comedy and the tragedy, the insane and oddly compelling journey of the BSG storyline I tend to call Life of Gaius throughout the show. (Gaius Baltar: least likely character to fall for - I mean, I loved Roslin right from the start, wasn't surprised to go from finding Six compelling to loving her, and given my thing for Albee-like relationships wasn't suprised to take to Tigh and Ellen, either, but I never expected Baltar to sneak up on me the way he did.)

Still watching all the great new vids in various fandoms, so:

Alias:

In these shoes: captures Sydney, Nadia and fifth season character Rachel being fabulous, together and apart. You know, much as I always joke you could get the impression Alias was The Arvin Sloane Show from my fanfic in that fandom, and while Sloane is undoubtedly my favourite character in that 'verse, I do love Sydney and her sister Nadia, and one of the reasons why I can't resent s5 in its entirety is the way they made Sydney assume the mentor position with Rachel. Which brought things to a full circle, along with her pregnancy. Alias is one of the few shows where they really dealt well with their female main character's pregnancy and where it fit in the overall mythos, what with Alias being twisted family romance. It's also a show where women have, gasp, interesting and strong emotional relationships with each other, not just with the male characters. And though it's been a loooong while since I've read fanfic and a longer one that I've written it, it's good to be reminded of the many, many things I enjoy about the spy show of yore.

Buffy:

Creep. I went into watching this warily. Oh no, thought I, not another vid lamenting how that mean/self-rightous/heartless/etc. main character doesn't love our woobies as (s)he should and doesn't deserve their devotion. Well, I was wrong, and am really glad I watched it despite my wariness and weariness with this motif in many a fandom. While Creep centres around Faith's and Spike's arcs in regards to their feelings for Buffy, it does something truly innovative and amazing: after the first two sections give us Spike's and Faith's povs, complete with putting Buffy on a pedestal and feeling themselves rejected etc., it switches to Buffy's pov in the third, which is a strong rejection of the first two perspectives and of the image the other two have of her, speaking in her own voice. To me, this third section really made the vid (almost into a mini-Rashomon), and it's definitely the one with the strongest punch. (Bad pun, as it starts with Buffy digging herself out of her grave.)

Doctor Who:

...and then there are comics. And nice people doing something for those of us who do no thave access to them that easily due to geographical positions. There is a Doctor Who comic which has just started and will present all ten Doctors, using for its framing narration a Ten and Martha adventure. Someone kindly put up the core of it, which is the Doctor flashing back to when he was One and travelling with Susan, Barbara and Ian, at scans_daily... and the flashback is even in black and white, which cracks me up in the best way. Characterisation-wise, this is early, early One, which means he makes Gregory House look positively nice and thoughtful when it comes to his interactions with Ian and Barbara. Much as I love the a bit later period where the bonding has started (but he's still having these great arguments with Barbara a la The Aztecs), I must confess it made me grin. And wish for a duelling of the cranky, cane-wielding Doctors, yes. (Bonus: back in Ten's day, Martha asks him what became of Susan. His reply to that one is typical for the Doctor in all regenerations, and Martha's reaction is perfect.) So, go, read:

Doctor Who: The Forgotten 1

Some months ago, I reviewed Doctor Who and the Pirates (aka The One Where The Sixth Doctor And Evelyn Do Gilbert And Sullivan), which I was very fond of, so I was delighted Big Finish put up a free making-of-podcast. Complete with cut lyrics for that monumental song, I am the very model of a Gallifreyan Buccaneer. Now some of you might still not be inclined to check out the audio adventures, so I faithfully transcribed the verses that didn't make the final version, which were:

I know our mythic history from Omega to Rassilon
some say I am the Other but that notion's usually frowned upon

Clearly, someone doesn't like The Cartmel Master Plan. But never fear, it's Rusty's turn next:

My friendships with companions never slip into carnality
for that would be cathartic in its spurious morality

Clearly, this was dropped in order not to crush the shippers of every faction.

Colin Baker's favourite verses that were dropped were these:

I've battled mighty foes in every planetary vicinity
and handsome Captain Maxil shot me in Arc of Infinity

Footnote for those of us, including me, who still have gaps in their Whovian lore: In the Fifth Doctor adventure Arc of Infinity, Colin Baker played Maxil, which makes him the only actor to play the Doctor who did in fact appear on screen in the program during a previous Doctor's reign. (David Tennant did several Big Finish audios before he became the Tenth Doctor, but that's not the same thing.)

Having mailed my Multiverse story, it occured to me that I won't be around for the archive opening on July 7th, due to travels in regions with questionable internet access. Must make sure to leave a note here so that whoever wrote the story for me doesn't think I'm hopelessly rude. Anyway, this year's story for my favourite ficathon was fun to write once I had hit on the crucial idea, and I hope the recipient will be pleased. As crossovers go, though, it's a bit more dependent on readers being familiar with both fandoms than some previous crossovers I've written (for example, futuresoon hasn't watched any DS9 but assured me Nowhere Man still worked for her). We'll see.


Lost:

Someone with a great sense of humour made a Benjamin Linus versus the A-Team vid, which still has me grinning. Spoilers for season 4.

Nothing's gonna change: a look at Sun post- season 4. She's not in a forgiving mood, either of others or herself.


Doctor Who:

Escape: Donna after the Library episodes and during Midnight, trying to come to terms with what (never) happened. Sensitive character portrait.

A life fantastic: Joan Redfern and Tim Latimer from Human Nature/ Family of Blood during World War I and after. There isn't much fanfic about Joan and even less about Tim Latimer, so I was thrilled to find this story that gives us a plausible and touching look at how their lives could have continued.

The latest serial I've watched: The Time Monster, which is another Third Doctor/Master extravaganza. It doesn't top The Sea Devils, which wins for sheer playfulness and narrative pace, but it's the good crack. I mean, how can you not love a story where...

( Time Ram! )


YouTube is ever so useful. If you, dear reader of these ramblings, are a New Whovian without access to the old serials, or maybe without the patience to watch their more leisurely narration, allow me to link some examples of scenes that had an obvious influence on the current show.

Firstly, from Sea Devils: The Master watching The Clangers, which RTD paid homage to by letting him watch the Teletubbies in Sound of Drums:



Secondly, also from Sea Devils, the funnest sword fighting scene in the old show, which the creators also thought because they put it at the end of one episode and completely repeated it in the next. What kills me is the sandwich eating in between and the Doctor giving the Master his sword back for no other reason than he doesn't want the fight to end just yet. Also useful as an answer to the question "were they this slashy in the old days?":



Next we have a music vid using footage from the episode that inspired the, err, song of this vid, Mind of Evil. This is an earlier story in which the MacGuffin of the day is able to confront someone with his greatest fear. Enjoy.



And then, for everyone who like Gwen Cooper on Torchwood asks "which organization is UNIT again?", there is a tongue-in-cheek UNIT recruitment vid, summing up the history of that organization in Old Who.



Lastly, two links: the Brigadier, the only only Doctor Who character to appear in 11 different seasons, 9 consecutive seasons, 23 serials, and appear in all 3 decades of the classic series, of course has been vidded. Recently I found a documantary in which someone from the production team states that if the Master is the Doctor's Moriarty, the Brigadier is his Watson. I'm not entirely sure about that - Holmes never worked for Watson, after all - but there is some resemblance, yes. Here's hoping the Brig will show up one more time!

The Third Doctor had three Companions during his time on the show - Liz Shaw, Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith. Jo is the one often dismissed as a ditz, but really, the more I see of her, the more delightful I find her. Have a Jo vid portrait!