Multi-fandom post

[briarwood]

Happy birthday to betagoddess! May you have all the happiness you could wish for, darling.

I changed my banner and layout colours again. I was getting bored with blue, and needed something colourful.

Apparently SPN fandom is imploding over some rumoured S3 spoilers. I don't know what they are (and if you tell me I will beat you to death with a damp lettuce leaf) but hell, you'd think the fandom would have learned to trust Kripke by now.

Supernatural has a lot wrong with it, and they've made mistakes (*cough* Heart *cough*) but despite the occasional bobble the show still delivers, over and over. Fact is, Supernatural at its worst is better than most current shows can come up with at their best, and Supernatural at its best rocks like a rocking thing.

This is coming from me, the fan least likely to trust TPTB in any fandom: Trust the Krip. At least until he proves we can't. For a man with virtually no track record in TV to deliver two spectacular seasons is a good sign. I'm not saying the show might not jump the shark, but I'm willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt and say he probably knows what he's doing.

I finally got around to watching the rest of Blood Ties. I really must get hold of those books. I'm turning into an urban fantasy addict. Anita Blake got me started, then Kelley Armstrong's wonderful Women of the Otherworld books, Kat Richardson's fantastic Greywalker, Carrie Vaughn's werewolf stories...and I just started reading the Rachel Morgan books. Guess this is one to add to the list. But that's books. As for the TV adaption...

The good: I loved the characters and the basic setup of the plot. I can't figure out whether or not it's meant to be a "everyone knows about the supernatural" verse. The pilot implied not, but as the season went on there was way too much acceptance of the weird among the supporting characters. Yay for strong female leads, and I love that Vicki is a disabled character and still kicks ass with the best of 'em. Henry's a cool character, too. The background mythology is very different from most of the supernatural shows I've loved.

The bad: The film quality (and admittedly this might be because my copies are downloaded) is really poor, and the scripts are pretty weak (can't blame that on illegal downloads). Worst of all, there's very little chemistry between the leads, and I get the impression there's supposed to be a lot of sparkage there. I just don't see it.

I finished reading The Harlequin. It's a huge improvement over the last few AB novels, proving my theory that the AB books are no longer worth reading unless it's an Edward story. But even Edward's presence failed to save it. The awful thing is I can see how easily a decent editor could fix this novel: just talk LKH into giving the plot as much loving attention as she does the sex, and actually explain what's really happening occasionally and this one would be really, really good. It's not that sex is bad. It's that sex is not plot. A novel-length story requires plot.

The Harlequin actually has plot. And mostly the sex is relevant to it. I was all set to give the book an amazing review until I got to the last few chapters where Anita & Co are in the middle of a confrontation with the scary bad guys and take time out to talk about their feelings. I mean...seriously? And where the hell was Edward in that sequence? He was there, but the author ignored his presence totally until she needed him - which is wrong, Edward is action-guy, not stand-around-listening-while-the-bad-guys-do-bad-shit guy. So it ends up with 6/10. Best since Obsidian Butterfly but it's ample evidence that it's not worth buying any more of them.

I gave in to temptation and am downloading the next season of Numb3rs. I've found it's a great series to write to (to, not about - I write in front of the TV). It's interesting and exciting without being distracting. This may not be a compliment to the show, but it's good for me :-)

Comments

[admiralandrea.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about SPN spoilers, as I don't frequent the places they appear, but I'm happy to adopt a wait-and-see attitude...

And good to hear you're enjoying Numb3rs. Which season are you on? Second?

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

The SPN thing: I'm seriously spoiler-allergic for this show. But I've seen people posting petitions against whatever it is, even. Makes me curious. But I spoiled myself for the S2 premier and I refuse to do it again!

As long as they're not killing off Sam or Dean, I'm trusting that Kripke knows what he's doing.

Which season are you on? Second?

Second is the one I'm downloading. I've been trying to be good and wait for the DVD release 'cause I know once I've got the eps for this show I won't bother buying. (This is how I justify my piracy: I only download stuff I know I'll buy when I get the chance. So as far as I'm concerned, I ain't stealing.)

But I am weak. I want more Numb3rs.

[admiralandrea.livejournal.com]

They're horribly slow with the DVD releases over of Numb3rs over here. I bought mine on eBay via someone selling American versions, as my player is multi-regional. I've got the downloads of S3, but will still buy the DVDs for the extras and commentaries...

[betagoddess.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes. =>}

[slipperieslope.livejournal.com]

"... confrontation with the scary bad guys and take time out to talk about their feelings."

I made a rec to a friend for your SPN stories and I was ineptly trying to explain how much I enjoyed your writing style and sensibilities. While I was reading this post your complaint above jumped out at me. That is something I would trust you to the end of the earth to never do in a story. You understand the dynamics of the action of a tale so well; the build, the flow, the payoff and that is one of the things I enjoy best about your writing! You achieve a believable balance in the story elements and you never sacrifice the story and the clutch you have on my brain to throw in a sex scene or a relationship discussion where they don't fall realistically and naturally! Brava!

LOL

I may have to go post this into my comment to T so she gets what I was ineffectually driving at in her lj yesterday.

TTFN

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

While I was reading this post your complaint above jumped out at me. That is something I would trust you to the end of the earth to never do in a story.

LOL! I should bloody well hope not! I do understand plot. I sometimes feel like I sacrifice characterisation for plot - if the story just has to go a certain way I'll force the characters into it - but it means I'm not afraid to do bad things to the characters if the story demands it.

Thanks!

multifandom comments

[(Anonymous)]

Supernatural: I love the show and first ran into your site because of the fanfiction of this fandom. However, I blame you for now reading Sentinel fanfiction--a whole new arena I had hardly ever watched and wasn't interested in reading about--because of your Cry Wolf story, which I hope you will do a sequel to. It is a great show that holds my interest like few others do. I do wish that it was a little more creepy like the first few seasons of X-files were. I love the show's emotional content but sometimes it does seem too emo for typical guys, more like something for women viewers. But what was your problem with Heart? I loved that episode, though I did think it may have been a bit too emotional on Sam's part, I don't think he would have visible cried as much, more like a few tears as shown by Dean.|

Harlequin: I have been a long time fan of Anita, since her second book. Like many others, I think that the writer has lost some direction in the series with the focus on sex and less on action and plot. But I do think this is one of the better books in the last few. Edward is a great character and his family expansion is fascinating.

Richard seemed to be making progress in this book only to regress majorily. The writer may be working out some of her own problems with regards to her ex-husband in this character, but I think it really is a detriment to the storyline. Someone, who isn't emotionally charged in his life -- like his rat friend whose name I can't remember off the top of my head-- should call him on his hypocricy of thinking only humans are good and all "monsters" are bad. He's seen enough of humanity to know that humans can be as evil and his friends amongst the "monsters" aren't evil. Never mind, his own secret "deviant" sexual behavior isn't evil, just not the conservative accepted view of what's right. Even the conservatives don't normally conform to that, just look at politicians.

Blood Ties: The series was kind of intriguing, though I didn't watch the entire series. I hope they continue it. However, like it most situations, I think the books are usually better than the series. Some of the shows have better aspects than the books and of course some of tv episodes were not books but still good shows. You should read some of the books. In some cases, I actually think the portrayal on tv was better than the books.

I hope you post more supernatural stories soon.

Re: multifandom comments

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

But what was your problem with Heart?

You maybe don't wanna get me started on that. For a show that's supposed to be hot on myths and legends, the treatment of the werewolf mythos was just plain nonsense. And the werewolf makeup sucked. And the only reason they fucked it up was so Dean could recognise Madison.

Madison herself was a suicidal doormat. That mugging story was supposed to make the audience respect her, show she was a strong person, but then she totally caved in to this silly notion that she had to die - when she had absolutely no reason to trust Sam or Dean. Not that far. She was weak and pathetic and it's even worse that a woman wrote the episode.

And just to add insult to injury, the final scene stripped her of any individuality and made her a symbolic thing, a cipher used to drive home a point which, let's face it, the audience didn't really need, about the Sam/Dean relationship.

Sam's characterisation sucked. He's an intelligent man who doesn't give up on people. Except in Heart where he's a sexist pig and a murderer. Fuck that.

And the sex scene was dreadful. It was filmed like porn, which would be okay, but they left out the "money-shot" (orgasm) which makes it crappy porn.

because of your Cry Wolf story, which I hope you will do a sequel to.

I refuse to apologise for getting you into Sentinel fic! But as for a Cry Wolf sequel...I don't know. The sequel I originally planned kinda got spoiled by canon; I can't think of a way to make it work now. I might still write more about Jim and Blair in that 'verse, but a crossover sequel is less likely.

Richard seemed to be making progress in this book only to regress majorily.

Richard always does. LKH basically doesn't like him, but she's too chicken to do what the plot demands and kill him off. Look how close she came in Harlequin, and she still didn't. Either Jean Claude or Richard needs to die. And it's overdue. My vote would be JC, actually (because he deserves it more and because Richard's is the more interesting storyline), but either one will do. It would break the triumverate, which would in turn give Anita back her free will, even if she didn't loose the extra powers like the ardeur. Grief would provide excellent actual plot, as would vengeance. But LKH won't do it. A decent editor would force her into it, but she has lousy editors.

I hope you post more supernatural stories soon.

Depends on your definition of "soon" but I can pretty much guarantee that :-)

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

I'm only a few chapters into Harlequin and man... I am SO sick of the sex. I know it's (mostly) plot related... but DAMN... It's old and I'm mostly eye rolling and not even enjoying THAT anymore.

It's nice to see Edward again but yeah. I miss the real plots. Stuff that wasn't about her needing sex for this or that, but hunting baddies like she used to.

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

It actually took a few chapters for the sex to start this time. I was quite impressed... And Edward's presence did help a lot - he's the one character she'll never fuck.

I know it's (mostly) plot related... but DAMN... It's old and I'm mostly eye rolling and not even enjoying THAT anymore.

I see what you mean. But the fact that she managed to keep it plot-relevant this time is serious progress. I guess...see, I love the Merry Gentry books, and they are basically all about sex and nothing else. The sex is the plot, and it works for me. One of the reasons it doesn't work so well with Anita is it's psychologically impossible: realistically this prudish, devoutly Christian girl would have imploded by now under the weight of horror at what she's become. But I don't think LKH gets Christian psych, either. She never managed to make Anita's faith convincing.

I think the thing that bothers me most in Harlequin is what she's done to Raphael. It's as if she - or perhaps the character - has forgotten all the careful character building. He's walking in and talking like he thinks Anita will hang him out to dry - has he forgotten she saved him from the Council, citing nothing but friendship? And apparently, Anita's forgotten that, too... *sigh*

Oh, boy, that turned into a rant, didn't it? Sorry :-)

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

(as usual, love the layout)

I'm JUST at the meeting with Raphael now... No wait, she's in the hospital, so it's after that. But yeah, I see what you're saying.

And I'm glad Edward is back, but jeez, hasn't it been long enough that he should be there by now? *rolls eyes*

I sometimes can't help but wonder if she wrote herself into a corner with some of this. lol

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

I always love it when you change your layout colours and banner - they're always gorgeous *g*