Before the BBC announced RTD2, he repeatedly expressed interest on twitter. Now, my dream British tv show for JMS to do would actually have been Blake's 7 (as in, a reboot - come on, the Excalibur already looks like the Liberator, and Anna Grant says hello to Anna Sheridan, so clearly he likes the original), but undoubtedly it would also be fascinating to watch his take on DW. So, here are my guesses on what it would have been like, based not just on B5 and Crusade but also on his Spider-Man comics, Sense 8 and his most recently published novel::

- at the very least two thirds of a season would take place in space or on non-Earth planets; he might even do a season without any Earth episode (historical or present) whatsover, in direct reverse to the New Who trend so far

- at least one of the Companions (and there would be several) is an Alien (not a human being from the future, an alien who needs daily make-up to look like it)

- the Old Who aliens for JMS to unearth are the Draconians; we'll get multi episode plot of scheming families and/or revolution

- at some point, someone quotes parental advice saying "Never start a fight, but always be the one to finish it"

- Time Lord telepathy gets explored as a major plot element

- one of the Companions has the initials JS

- at least one canon transgender character (possibly the Companion of the present day?)

- either the Doctor mentoring someone or someone mentoring the Doctor (trickier because of the age factor, but not impossible) is an ongoing emotional arc

- monologues which, depending on the casting, are either incredibly moving scenes or get mocked above and beyond (think G'Kar vs Byron)

- one of the big or little bads is a sinister cooperation with research on human experimentation

- one of the characters has traumatic childhood abuse

- there's unforunately one episode where other characters tell the Doctor and their Companion(s) how great they are and/or viliy their critics

- both the Doctor and the Companion(s) have highly significant dreams which we see on screen; despite Amy's Choice already existing, there will be at least one other episode taking place in the mind ouf our hero(s)

- JMS is horrified when the Anti-Vaxxers latch on the plot about the evil cooperation doing secret experiments and gets into so many fiery battles on twitter about it that he has to take a break from social media

- when at least one veteran Star Trek actor guest stars, the annoying B5 vs ST battles get another round and are now B5 vs ST vs DW

- sometihing utterly unpredictable which I can't remotely guess at happens, because the man is very, very creative and has managed to surprise me in all his endeavours I'm familiar with so far

The other days

Day 23 - Most annoying character

Disclaimer first: like so many things, annoyance is in the eyes of the beholder. One person's much beloved character is another person's well of irritation, and I know I sometimes feel absurdly hurt reading my favourites torn to shreds by internet friends, so I apologize in advance. Another disclaimer: to me, there is a big difference between characters designed to be annoying and who are recognized by their narrative to be - where it's a deliberate part of their characterisation - and characters whose irritation factor is heightened (imo, as always) by the fact that their annoying qualities while for me glaring are either ignored by their narrative or even declared to be virtues. I may sometimes be irritated indeed by the former, but never so much as by the later. Which is why you won't find, say, Ziggy Sobotka from The Wire as my choice. To quote Jessica Rabbit, he was written that way. :)

The characters whose annoyance factor was out of all proportion to me weren't. They were not supposed to be irritating. But they still managed to push every one of my irritation buttons, and then some. Step forward, Galen from Crusade, Byron from Babylon 5 and Bill Adama from Battlestar Galactica, so that I may choose between you. You are relieved, Michael Vaughn from Alias and Jack Shephard from Lost, by virtue of having reached the peak of your annoyingness several seasons before your show ended and having improved subsequently. You didn't exactly became favourites, but I made my peace with you and occasionally even felt for you, when I had only wanted to strangle you in your respective third seasons. So, you are not my choice.

On the other hand, it's really hard to pick one of these three gentlemen:

1.) Byron from Babylon 5. I feel a bit like beating a deceased equine, because Byron is probably going to be topping a lot of replies to this question. I won't say he's universally loathed, because I actually met a Byron fan in person and another in othe internet, but... he's the closest thing to universally loathed I've known a B5 character to be. The best in show thing about Byron is that he brought Bester back to the show several times, and the best fandom thing is the hilarious filk titled I am the very model of a maudlin telepath, but neither really justifies his existence. It's... well, everything about him. He's supposed to be a charismatic cult leader, and I'm sorry, but the actor doesn't have charisma, at least not in this role. (He's okay as a Minbari in In the Beginning.) Also, he has speeches that are JMS in over the top rethorical mode, and you need to be Andreas Katsulas to make these come across as wise and profound. Alas, the actor is no Andreas Katsulas. Then there's the long golden shampoo commercial hair when he's supposed to live in poverty and on the run, and the awful love speeches ("you are my willow").... he's just the very model, you know?

2.) Galen from Crusade. As opposed to Byron, Galen is really popular in fandom. 99% of what exists of Crusade fanfiction is about him. So unless you've been following my ramblings since years, you may be surprised I find him so annoying. Here's why: For starters, he's the third example of JMS' tendency of casting a British actor in the role of black-clad, brooding man with a mysterious past (after Marcus and Byron), and at the time it was getting old. Secondly, he's also an example of JMS' Tolkien fanboying, not just because he's a technomage, but because he does the Gandalf thing of mysteriously coming and going and delaying explanations. But it sometimes irritates me even when Gandalf does it, and Galen is no Gandalf. Thirdly, his narrative does not chastize him for endangering everyone else in a gratitious and reckless way to soothe his mourning soul. I think if I had the impression that Path of Tears meant me to be furious with Galen for the stunt he pulls, I would not mind. After all, my beloved Londo does a great many infuriating things, but in his case, the story means us to see this as wrong. (Or, to remain in the same show, Max Eilerson does a great many selfish things, and I adore him. The difference is of course that the show points out to Max and the viewers alike when he's being a pain in the butt.) But in the case of Galen, I thought the show wanted me to go "awww, poor woobie!", and I most certainly did not. Fourthly, with all my fondness for manipulative characters, female and male alike, I still didn't like what Galen did with Dureena. And I absolutely can't stand his voice, which I have to hear during the credits in every single Crusade episode. And did I mention that 99% of the existing fanfic is about him? In conclusion: bloody Galen!

3.) William Adama from Battlestar Galactica. You know, there was a time when I liked Adama, and I've written the fanfiction to prove it. Also, just recently I rewatched, for the first time since the original broadcast, the first half of season 4 of BSG and went "hm, this is tighter written than I remember... I really like these eps... maybe I was too hard on Adama, these scenes when he reads to Roslin are actually sweet, and Eddie Olmos doesn't overact, he's conveying great warmth here"....and then my rewatch arrived at the episode Sine Qua Non. At which point not only my Adama annoyance but my Adama hatred came back in full force and all my zen disappeared. I wished Adama had been rejected and spat into the eye by every single of the few characters he cared about. I wished he had been retconned out of existence by a time travelling Romulan. I wished... well, you get the picture. Seriously, there is nothing like Sine Qua Non to sum up every bad trait Bill Adama ever had and put it to its worst effect. If you wish to know the gory details, here is the review I wrote at the time, and rewatching gave me only more, not fewer things to complain about. (One annoyance I did not mention in my original review: our hero Adama, informed that his XO got a Cylon prisoner pregnant, not only telling the man that it would have been preferable if Tigh had tortured the woman, but also adding "what would Ellen have said?". I mean, seriously. Adama despised Ellen. (And vice versa.) That the news of Tigh having sex with a Cylon isn't bad to him because it could have been rape (that doesn't even seem to occur to him) and that he declares torture to have been a better alternative is awful enough without adding the hypocrisy of "what would Ellen think of you?" as if Adama had ever had a moment where he didn't wish Ellen to disappear from the universe. And it's very satisfying to me that Ellen, not Bill, gets the ever after with Saul Tigh, oh yes, it is.) To get from Sine Qua Non back to Adama in general, here is why he wins over Byron and Galen in the degree in which he annoys the living hell out of me: his hypocrisy, self-righteousness, self-pity and complete lack of empathy for anyone outside his very limited circle grew and grew and grew over the course of the show, but unlike at the start this was neither balanced by a display of his good qualities, nor by in-show criticism from sympathetic characters; instead, everyone insisted on admiring him despite the show not giving us any longer reasons for this to be the case. And they let Eddie Olmos go completely overboard with chewing the scenery, severely overestimating my patience for scenes where we see Adama cry, rage, or monologue. And, worst of all, one of the best, most interesting female characters in the last decade, Laura Roslin, was reduced to simply being his love interest, having no virtually no scenes which weren't about Adama in the last ten or so episodes she was in. Byron and Galen at least got neither of them even a complete season to bother me. Adama? Is still getting webisodes.

Most annoying (to me) character ever.


( The rest of the days )

Fannish5: Name 5 characters you like but that you wouldn't hire to work with you.

Only five? Is that a joke? Most fictional people I adore tend to be NOT the kind of people I'd work with, or for. But fine. Here are five of many.

1.) Arvin Sloane (Alias). My beloved Mr. S. is actually super competent, be it at heading a good guy spy organisation, a bad guy spy organization, shady in betweens, or really efficient charity organizations. He's so good that heroes and villains alike keep rehiring him, no matter which among them be betrays in between; they're also majorly impressed at his own hiring skills which you can see because they keep hiring everyone he ever hired as well. However, I want to live, if possible with family & friends. Arvin Sloane would sacrifice my life without even a flicker of hesitation if it serves his purpose, and if anyone else threatens me, then, since my last name isn't Bristow, he wouldn't bother trying to save me, either. No way would I ever go anywhere near the man in real life, and certainly not in a work situation.

2.) The Doctor (any regeneration) (Doctor Who). I'm generally fond of the man and many a regeneration I even love, but good lord, can you imagine what he'd be like to work with, let alone to supervise? Actually, you don't have to imagine, because we saw it on screen for several years, in the Three era, which is one of my favourite DW eras. To watch, not to experience. This is why the Brigadier is my hero, whose example I would never be able to follow. (Between the Doctor doing as he damn well pleases all the time, offending every second guest star UNIT had to deal with, and the Master stalking his ex on an ongoing basis which means lots of invasions and loss of personel, I'd have quit the service in no time flat. Even if UNIT had been a library and the Brig the chief librarian, I dare say the results would have been the same. Sorry, Doctor. No job for you.

3.) Max Eilerson (Crusade). Max is my hands down favourite Crusade character, but like the Brig, Matthew Gideon is another hero of mine for being able to employ him on an ongoing basis, because I for sure would not be able to. Dating him for a while would be a different matter. Archaeological and linguistic genius or not. However, I would entrust Max with babysitting my cat, which is more than I could say for the earlier two gentlemen. He's really trustworthy with cats, Max is. Even gets mean thugs to brush them in repentance for their vileness.

4.) Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (BTVS and Angel: The Series). Undoubtedly, Wesley would be super competent (unless whatever I hire him for is his first job) and very sweet (well, depending in which phase of his life the hiring would be done, but for the most part, he'd be soft-spoken and darling), and one could even trust him to take over supervision and do a better job of it than whoever was originally in charge did. But. Sooner or later, Wesley would develop a masochistic streak and decide that whatever choice is most painful to him (and others) is automatically the right choice. He would not talk with anyone about any problems he has. And I'd hate to think about possible actions if I ever reproduce. And the cat-sitting job is out as well because as opposed to Max, he'd end up killing the cat to save me from having to kill the cat without even considering the beast might just have to go to the vet. So no. Vade retro, Wesley, and remain on my tv screen.

5.) Toby Ziegler (The West Wing). My own creative efforts would shrivel and die because I'd be too busy intimidated by him. No matter how angry he'd make me, he'd also cause me a horrible guilt trip every time I looked into his sad panda eyes, and thus my debating skills would wither. My voice would become rusty from disuse. In conclusion, not hiring Toby Ziegler is a question of self preservation for me. I'm sure Toby would understand.

***

And in remix news, I've now read most of what my remixee has written (which I'd have enjoyed quite outside of the ficathon), and I can see two or three possibilities... but I'm not sure yet. As for my own stories, dear remixer, if you're reading this - you already have the link to my lj page where all stories, even the drabbles, are sorted by fandom. You can also find most of them at the AOO as well, if you prefer. I hope you'll find something you to have writerly fun with!

I'm answering this from the ideal assumption I could resurrect some of these directly after they were cancelled, i.e. with the same writers/actors/producers available instead of bound by other commitments, aged or died.

1) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Because it was, hands down, the best show in the last two years, smart, with complex characters and relationships, developing arcs, and a superb use of its medium. (By which I mean it used visuals and music as well as dialogue for storytelling, which fewer tv shows do than you'd think.)

2) Deadwood. Because I want my characters cursing in iambic pentameters back, damn it, instead of seeing their story just cut off by cancellation. Again, great ensemble show, complex characters of both genders, and it manages to avoid incredibly easy traps of horrible gender clichés. (For example: Trixie and Al.)

3) Crusade. Not as great as the first two, but it had promise (especially if seen with the episodes in the right order), I liked most of the characters enormously (i.e. everyone except for Galen), I'm still frustrated thinking of the unfilmed scripts that I've read (one of which was a great Bester episode which incidentally would have made my favourite B5 books character, Sandoval Bey, tv canon, and the other would have been one of the jawdropping OMG NOW I UNDERSTAND revelation episodes JMS excels at that would actually have justified the existence of Galen the irritating to me), and also, the Excalibur is the Liberator with better GCI and I loved watching it.

4) American Gothic. This one found out it would get cancelled just early enough so that the s1 finale also works as a show finale, and a good one, but you know, it should never have been cancelled to begin with. It was great and subversive, and it probably influences me against Supernatural to this day because I can't help but comparing its first and only season to SPN's first season (which is all I've seen of the later) and wonder how the second one survived when the former was ever so much better as a take on supernatural mysteries of the week connected through ongoing arcs and an ensemble of characters. And as twisted family relationships with possible devils, definite angels and potential antichrists go, give me Lucas Buck, Caleb Temple and Merlyn over the Winchester boys any time. Footnote: and it even got screwed on the DVD release because for some benighted reason they put the four episodes not broadcast in the US at the end instead of putting them where they were in the European broadcast, which is at various places in the first third, middle, and last third of the show. Where, you know, they included crucial character development. Grrr. Argh.

5) The Order. Because the question did not specify "tv series", and the cancellation of this comics series by Matt Fraction after just two trade volumes continues to grieve me. Yes, he can and has brought characters from it back in his other titles, but that's not the same as the freedom to develop them and their stories in their own title. Again, great ensemble story, great twist on the Marvelverse and its established storylines, and oh, great, great use of location. (I.e. Los Angeles). I want it back!

I've been rewatching some Crusade episodes for my matrithon story, and aside from filling me with nostalgia for the spin-off that couldn't, this also reminded me of a curious phenomenon Crusade shares with Babylon 5 and Torchwood as far as I'm concerned. Or, to put it differently, what do Galen, Marcus Cole and Ianto Jones have in common? They're incredibly popular fandom woobies in their respective shows, and not only could I never get into them when I watched, but during my initial watching, I was downright irritated and disliked them. In the case of Marcus and Ianto, this was somewhat modified later, in that when I rewatched B5 years ago on dvd, I found to my surprise that not only didn't I mind Marcus anymore but occasionally he made me smile in a fond way, and season 2 of Torchwood managed to make me mildly fond of Ianto though he still remained the least interesting character on the entire show to me. (This, ahem, never changed. Sorry.) But Galen? Let me put it this way:

selenak watches Rules from the Tomb; credits run, to Galen's voice: God, Galen is irritating. At least he's not in this episode.
The Max Eilerson/Dureena dance scene comes up: Man, Max and Dureena have chemistry. Way more than her and bloody Galen. Also Max might be an ass but he's not playing stupid games, and she never acts like an infatuated school girl around him. Whereas Galen...

selenak watches Every night I dream of Home: credits run, to Galen's voice: Galen isn't it in this one, either. Phew. If he were, he probably would have found a way to make the discovery of the nature of the Drakh virus all about himself. Hey, this reminds me, Galen isn't in any of the Lochley episodes. I bet if he had pulled that emo stunt where he kidnaps the Excalibur to go mourning and endangers everyone with her, she'd have punched him. *spends happy moment fantasizing about Lochley punching Galen*

selenak watches The Rules of the Game: credits run, to Galen's voice: am I ever glad Galen is not in this one. It's probably my favourite Crusade episode, what with the Max and his ex plot and the Gideon and Lochley plot, and he might have managed to ruin both.

... you get the picture. And guess whom 99% of the existing Crusade fanfiction is about, which of course never helped with my Galen-hostility. At least B5 fanfiction during the show's initial run was evenly divided in being John/Delenn and Marcus/Susan; I wasn't - and still am not - interested in either pairing, but this way my fannish sulking was diverted in several directions, and later on I quit sulking altogether and did the sensible thing, i.e. wrote about the characters I was interested in instead and seduced a few people into watching whom I knew wouldn't be into the two big pairings, either. *veg* But even with my hostility towards Marcus vanishing and being replaced with a general "he was a part of the show I loved" fondness, I still experience moments of disconnect whenever someone watches Endgame and Rising Star and ( has a spoilery reaction ).

And Ianto? Out of curiosity, I went back and checked my oldest Torchwood-related utterings. And sure enough, in my third or so post related to the show at all, a review of the episode Ghost Machine which was 1.03 and in which I became intrigued with Owen, sure enough, there it is: yours truly writes: Can someone explain the Ianto thing to me, i.e. his popularity? I mean, sure, he's pretty, but so far, he's a completely blank slate, with his one or two lines per episode. If they give him more to do, I might get interested in him, but so far, nah. Three seasons later, I still heretically think the "blank slate" description holds for most of s1 Ianto and that might actually have been a reason for his initial popularity - a lot of projecting going on -, but while he did aquire a personality later, and I came around enough so he held my attention while on screen (or on the radio), I never was compelled to seek out fanfiction or meta. This, naturally, means I haven't read 95% of the Torchwood fanfiction output, either before or after Children of Earth. Perhaps I never got over Cyberwoman, which (leaving aside the skeeviness of the Lisa presentation) which, now that I think of it, rubbed me the wrong way exactly the same way the Galen-centric Crusade episode mentioned earlier, Paths of Sorrow did, where instead of feeling sorry for the central character whom the narrative presented as a woobie I had massive slapping urges instead.

In conclusion: Marcus Cole > Ianto > Galen. Bloody Galen.

This week's fannish5: What five characters would you like to see get more attention in fan fiction?

(In the spirit of the meme, I won't list favourites of mine whom I always love reading more of but who already have ample fanfic devoted to them, so, no Petrellis here. Or Elizabeth Swann.)



1.) John Locke, Lost. There's still so little fanfic, at least that I could find, and three years onwards, he's still the most intriguing character on that show to me, so, a pox on the age-ism. (Can't be Locke's, err, less than stable emotional state, because have you looked at the other characters who do get written about?)

2.) Audrey Hanson, Heroes. Audrey was a semi-regular during the first half of season 1, a female character far better written than poor Niki who was a regular during the same time, and I was so happy to see her back in the last but one episode, no matter how briefly. She's no one's love interest, she's on the show because she's FBI, doing her job (hunting down a serial killer). Why isn't there more Audrey fic? (Note to self: stop whining and write about Audrey next time the Heroes muse strikes.)

3) Elizabeth Lochley, Babylon 5. Resented at the time because she replaced Ivanova by much of fandom, but I liked Lochley. Both during the fifth season of B5 and on Crusade. I'd like to see some exploration as to why she made the choices she did before appearing on the show (notably during the Earth Civil War - given the way s4 presents Sheridan as so utterly and completely in the right and the only logical choice in that confict, this would be a great opportunity to look at the other side through shades of grey), her backstory with Zoe, her backstory with Bester, and I absolutely want to see some interaction between her and Delenn during the show (other than those two scenes we got). The relationship with Garibaldi on the show was great, more of that would be even better.

4) Max Eilerson, Crusade. Because there is little enough Crusade fanfic out there, and most of what does exist is mostly Galen/romance partner of choice. Unabashedly playing favourites here, I want more Max!

5) Abigail Brand, Astonishing X-Men. Yours truly is only waiting for the current arc to conclude, but that's no reason why the rest of you shouldn't be writing my favourite among the characters Joss newly created for the X-Men verse. She's ruthless, she exploits Our Heroes for what she thinks is the greater good, and she has great snarky banter with Hank McCoy. What's not to like?

***

One of the more annoying things about the way the media presented the restart of Dr. Who back in 2005 was the claim that Rose was the first companion to do something other than scream. As if. Behold a a vid showcasing some of the kick-ass ladies who went there first: Sarah Jane, Leela, Romana (both regenerations), Nyssa, Tegan and Ace:


Sisterhood

Academic Pursuit is one result from the Babylon 5 Rare Pairings story and is actually a Crusade fic, starring Max Eilerson (that's him on my icon) and Dureena. Sparkling dialogue, both completely in character, and I love it to bits.

new Battlestar Galactica: The Day I Met You: the five ways that Ellen might've met Saul. Set pre-show, naturally, no spoilers, and such a great take on my favourite Edward Albee couple not written by Edward Albee, the Tighs. Keep your pilots of any nature, these two are my BSG love story of choice. (Well, followed by Baltar/Six in all her guises.)


Chosen is a lovely Alias/Carnivale crossover ficlet written for me by kangeiko, in which those two men of faith, Arvin Sloane and Justin Crowe, encounter each other.

Now, this was written as the result of the recent relationship meme. I had written my take for kangeiko earlier, about Connor (AtS) and Caleb (American Gothic) . Now, sinister seducer that she is, she wants me to expand on that and write Connor/Caleb. But a) I can't write AG fanfic - it would necessitate Southern accents, and I can't write accents in English, b) I can't write grown up Caleb in a serious fashion as long as I have the image of the kid in my brain (perhaps checking out images of Lucas Black today would help?), c) I'm not sure the world would be save with that combination (whaddaya mean I'm a messed up relationships addict?). So clearly all of this saves me from the temptation to ignore my real life obligations for the evil lure of fanfic right now. *am ignoring that I've been writing Connor/Harry Osborn for over a year now at theatrical_muse...*

Another thing I bought in England: I've joined the club and read naominovik's novel Temeraire now. Which is charming. Though I fell in like, not love, I'll definitely read the sequels. One of the many things I appreciated: though this is a novel set during the Napoleonic wars, the French don't get bashed. Such a relief. Seriously, it's something that alternatively annoys and amuses me about a lot of fiction set in this particular period. I also am reminded of a book about historical movies in which the author states that he finds it disconcerting to realise that the same noble English one is rooting for in adaptions of Henry V. are the same crowd, twenty years later, one is rooting against in any adaption of the Jeanne d'Arc story. (Clearly, he hasn't seen read or seen Shakespeare's Henry VI trilogy in which Jeanne is an evil, evil witch, for how else could she defeat ENGLISH forces?) Anyway, Temeraire. The human hero, Laurence, reminds me of Captain Wentworth in Jane Austen's Persuasion, and the dragon whose name is the book's title of every Star Trek (all incarnations) alien whose job it is to present an outsider point of view on human society and comment on it while bonding with one (or more) of the humans. I felt nostalgic in the best way.

From sea ships to space ships: labingi has an intriguing post about Crusade and Firefly, both shows gutted in their first season after 13 episodes by dastardly networks, and why, while Firefly is better written, she prefers Crusade. I like Crusade, redheaded stepchild of the B5 franchise which it is, though not quite as much as Firefly. Which is probably not because FF is better written (which it is) but because one of the characters who worked so well for labingi does nothing or not much for me. To wit, Galen. Galen, like Marcus on Babylon 5, is just - well, there is a reason why I never got around to reading the Technomage Trilogy. I'd say "Galen is too emo for me", except that well, I'm the person who's crazy about people like Anakin Skywalker and Connor, so that obviously can't be it. Anyway, to me, the appeal of Crusade definitely were the rest of the gang, especially the sarcastic Max Eilerson whose face graces this icon. And I shall always be frustrated that the already written (and circulating in fandom ever since) script for the episode guest starring a post-Telepath Wars Al Bester didn't get filmed. Not to mention that the DVD set has the episodes in a terrible order, but then again, one can rectify that by watching them in another (points to andrastewhite's episode guide). Where was I? Ah, yes. Watch Crusade. Watch Firefly. Curse at networks both. And read the post.