This week's Fannish Five. This one is easy and tricky at the same time - there are a lot of candidates for me to pick from, but some of them don't really fit the definition of "sidekick" in their particular narrative, or it's impossible to pick just one of them. Hence, for example, no Scoobies. So:

1) Matthew the Raven, from Sandman. Matthew actually started out as a human man named Matt Cable in another comic, Swamp Thing, and his background sometimes gets obscurely alluded to, but all Sandman readers need to know about his former life is mentioned in Sandman itself. When we meet Matthew early on in Sandman, he has, after his death as a human, just started his existence as a raven in the Dreaming, the realm of Morpheus, aka Dream. Matthew is still trying to figure things out there and getting adjusted to Dream, which makes him an obvious stand-in for the reader, and his wry comments and 20th century lingo are a great contrast to Dream's mythical grandeur. Matthew comes to care passionately about his boss, even if he at times questions his sanity, and their dialogues can be both funny and, in the end, very touching. One of my favourites comes when Dream asks Matthew whether Matthew is well versed in the art of car driving. Quoth the Raven: "Are you kidding? I died in a car crash. Well, the first time." Dream: "I am not sure that is a recommendation." On the other end of the scale, the scene where Morpheus sends Matthew away because he doesn't want Matthew to die (again) or witness Morpheus' end is the thing that regularily gets me crying during The Kindly Ones. And Matthew remains our guide till the end, during The Wake, at first absolutely refusing to deal and to accept the new Dream, Daniel, and slowly coming around until he takes Daniel under his literal wing. Ah, Matthew.

2) Vir Cotto, from Babylon 5. Vir is brave, loyal, loving, and in the terrible situation of actually spending two of the five years in the show absolutely hating what the object of his devotion does and the rest fretting over the consequences. He also loses his own innocence in the process. His above and beyond loyalty to Londo is never blind - and very similar to Vir's relationship with his people, the Centauri, because being a patriot to Vir means neither accepting when your people go wrong nor turning your back on them - and, both during the dark times and the climb back, probably the crucial element of what keeps Londo from losing himself completely. What Vir comes to mean to Londo and vice versa is best summed up in The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari in season 5, an episode which mostly takes place in Londo's mind, confronting him with his deeds. Londo, who is aware of what his ultimate fate will be, not utterly surprisingly asks himself the question whether it wouldn't be better if he died now. No, says his inner Vir. It wouldn't. "I would miss you." "And I suppose," says Londo, "I would miss you" and finds the strength to face the past and to live.


3) Zoe, from Firefly. Nobody uses the term "Sir" so effectively as she does; as an ironic put-down or as a sign of support, Zoe has Mal's measure. She's his best friend, pillar of strength, and sometimes direly necessary provider of common sense. Her marriage to Wash in its relaxed adult happiness (which doesn't mean it's argument-free, of course) is a counterpoint to the angsty UST between Mal and Inara and the frustrated pinings of Kaylee for Simon, and she has raised warrior woman stoicism to an art form. Two of my favourite Zoe scenes: when Niska the sadist, anticipating the fun of tormenting her by making her choose between Mal and Wash, shows their tortured selves to her and opens his mouth for his gleeful speech, and Zoe just cuts him off before he even started by picking Wash, getting the hell out of there and starting the rescue-Mal-operation. The expression in her eyes says it all (Gina Torres is a goddess). The other scene is from the BDM. ( Serenity Spoiler. )

4) Ace, from Dr. Who. Listing a Companion as a sidekick is a bit tricky, especially one as strong as Ace, but let's face it, the show is about the Doctor, and Companions come and go. Ace has issues, including the fact she loathes her mother, she loves to blow things up, and she has great chemistry with her Professor. (Don't ask why she calls him Professor; it's one of those Ace things.) What makes Ace's courage feel so real is that she can get scared - in her first adventure on Who, for example, when the villain has the proverbial gun at her head - and her acts of heroism can spring from panic (case in point: Rememberance of the Daleks, when she goes from dodging the Dalek's shots to attacking it with a baseball bat, and you can see the transition very well). Her relationship with the Doctor is somewhat complex, close but with the occasional dark undertone because he can get quite manipulative. Also? When she thinks he's dead, she puts on his hat and takes on the bad guys. *loves Ace*

5) Marshall Flinkman, from Alias. Marshall is essential, not just because he's the Q of the show (from Bond, not Star Trek, as Buffy would say), or because he's often used as the comic relief, but because despite being tech guy, not a field agent and not trained in their ways, he comes through every time he needs to save the day (while quoting Star Wars, and you've got to love that Marshall, despite having a crush on Sydney early on, automatically casts himself as her Luke, not her Han Solo). He presents his Evil Overlord of a boss with cravats, makes up technical data songs for his baby - because Marshall manages to get married and become a father without all the angst, as opposed to certain types who shall remain Vaughn -, and when he's asked to play a badass, he introduces himself as Bristow, Jack Bristow. Marshall, says Sydney to him in season 3, I love you. Well, naturally! So do I.

Serenity: in a word, loved it. So did the rest of the audience, which wasn't huge, considering that they had put the movie on a late night schedule and had made zilch advertisment for it, but thalia_seawood and I were happy fans anyway. In that special, Jossian way. *veg*

( Can't stop the signal )