On Atlantis fic and other weird things
Mar. 31st, 2006 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartThere will be much inane babble about Stargate - Atlantis in fanfic, so enter the shadowy room behind the tag to your own risk.
It's somewhat funny how I got obsessed with writing Stargate - Atlantis fanfic all of a sudden, considering that I can't stand any of the lead characters on the show. But the supporting characters are very promising, and I always preferred AUs in all my fandoms, save the Tolkien one.
On the other hand, of course, my AUs usually pretty much follow canon - that's the challenge in the whole thing. Anyway, I'm enjoying writing - and reading - Atlantis fic, despite the fact that most of the very popular pairings don't do a thing for me. For example, McShep makes me twitch nervously, and anyone with the Torri Higginson version of Dr. Weir - as opposed to the version played by the wonderfully talented Jessica Steen in Lost City makes me gurgle with disbelief.
Why any sane man (or even the insane ones) would want to do anyting with a woman like Weir is beyond my understanding. An anorexic chick in her thirties who behaves like a pouting teenager (oh, the hair-tossing thing, it makes me really, really cranky), and is then surprised that the "I'm always right therefore I'm God and who cares how many regulations I break"-Sheppard won't listen to her. Who would?
Her lines actually aren't that bad. I sometimes imagine them spoken by Jessica Steen, who has a strong presence and the necessary maturity, and wonder how very different the atmosphere and the network of personal relations on Atlantis would be, had she kept the role. She'd have pulled a wondrous Captain Janeway as well - she has steel behind that blonde exterior. I like her in her recurring role in NCIS, too. That's why I write the Jessica Steen version of Weir in my Atlantis fic. I even gave her another name, to make a bigger difference.
But back to McShep. Slash is a matter of taste, you either like it or you hate it (I happen to love it), but despite the enormous popularity of some slash pairings, they sometimes just don't work for me. McShep is one of these. Aside from the fact that McKay isn't exactly a sympathetic character - well to tell the truth, he's annoying as hell, David Hewlett makes a wondrous job playing him - I just can't see the chemistry between them. Which might be because Sheppard reminds me so much of Kirk or Riker or Sheridan from B5 - the same patronizing attitude, the same Casanova tendencies, and he even gets away with everything every other person would be kicked in the ass for, very hard. Not to mention saving the whole ship/city/galaxy/whatever single-handedly and repeatedly.
Now, admittedly, McKay does it, too. But he's the head scientist, it's his goddamn job. I can buy it when he does it. But whenever they have no other solution, Sheppard swings his ass into a Puddle Jumper and nukes everything that happens to be in his way, and he's the hero for it. Sorry, not buying.
Nevertheless, McShep is hugely popular. It's slowly reaching the dimensions of Kirk/Spock, another slash pairing I'll never understand. There are literally hundreds of stories out there that describe in lovely detail how McKay and Sheppard get to do the nasty. And each of them has a huge army of fans who squeal about the same story told in a very similar fashion. I just don't get it.
It's not so that I won't be open for weird pairings. I've become a Marcus/Neroon fan, which is extremely weird where Babylon 5 is considered. I'm even a member of the Marcus/Neroon Yahoo Group and regularly read the fics posted there. So, yes, I can make the distinction between canon-related fanfiction (or canon-related AUs) and simple sexual fantasies, written for shared entertainment. I can enjoy both.
Apparently, I'm not a True Purist [TM], as I don't demand that everyone who likes to write or read a bit of smutty fun should eat and drink and dream and breathe canon day and night. But for me the pairing has to make sense, in order to enjoy the story, no matter how well (or how badly, cuz that's fun, too) it is written. And McShep just doesn't do the trick for me.
What's truly unfortunate for me in this is the fact that the fandom is flooded with McShep stories. Well, I gladly grant everyone their One True Pairing, even if it doesn't work for me, but I'd really, honestly like to have something else to read. What I love in the Wraithbait archive is that both the Slash and the Ship stories are selected by pairing, so I can avoid the ones I don't like. I just wish there were more stories - general, slash, het, whatever - that would feature anyone but saint!Sheppard and genius!McKay.
Actually, I don't mind McKay quite as much (as long as he's not paired up with Sheppard). Sure, he's annoying as hell (another amazed bow in the direction of the incredibly talented David Hewlett), but at least he does have a personality and quirks, and when he makes mistakes, they are recognized as mistakes, by him and by everyone else, and he sometimes even feels bad about them. Not often enough, but sometimes.
Saint!Sheppard is always right, especially when he's wrong. Like in Hot Zone when he got away with disregarding direct orders from Dr. Weir(d) and thus allowing a deadly nanovirus to spread across the whole station. Were there any reprecussions? No, sir, he nuked the nanoviruses (well, sort of) and became the saviour of the entire city that he'd brought into great danger to begin with. Without his little display of disobedience they could have contained the frigging virus.
Oh, I'm so going to write a tag to that episode, where he gets to suffer the consequences! It'll be so much evil fun!
Anyway, I seriously doubt that anyone is really interested in my little rant, but these things have wanted to get out for quite some time, and this is as good a time as any.
My Kavanagh fic Choices was moderately appreciated, which is a good thing for a new author in the fandom. Of course, it won't get an average of 78.9 comments on LJ like your standard McShep smut, but I'm not complaining. To get any readers at all in a fandom that has so clearly outlined preferences is kind of a success in itself.
In any case, at least the whole affair made me interested in Atlantis - something I haven't really expected after I suffered through the pilot episode for the first time. But the supporting characters are hard to resist.
*hides the "More love for Kavanagh!" and "Zelenka is the coolest" banners*
It's somewhat funny how I got obsessed with writing Stargate - Atlantis fanfic all of a sudden, considering that I can't stand any of the lead characters on the show. But the supporting characters are very promising, and I always preferred AUs in all my fandoms, save the Tolkien one.
On the other hand, of course, my AUs usually pretty much follow canon - that's the challenge in the whole thing. Anyway, I'm enjoying writing - and reading - Atlantis fic, despite the fact that most of the very popular pairings don't do a thing for me. For example, McShep makes me twitch nervously, and anyone with the Torri Higginson version of Dr. Weir - as opposed to the version played by the wonderfully talented Jessica Steen in Lost City makes me gurgle with disbelief.
Why any sane man (or even the insane ones) would want to do anyting with a woman like Weir is beyond my understanding. An anorexic chick in her thirties who behaves like a pouting teenager (oh, the hair-tossing thing, it makes me really, really cranky), and is then surprised that the "I'm always right therefore I'm God and who cares how many regulations I break"-Sheppard won't listen to her. Who would?
Her lines actually aren't that bad. I sometimes imagine them spoken by Jessica Steen, who has a strong presence and the necessary maturity, and wonder how very different the atmosphere and the network of personal relations on Atlantis would be, had she kept the role. She'd have pulled a wondrous Captain Janeway as well - she has steel behind that blonde exterior. I like her in her recurring role in NCIS, too. That's why I write the Jessica Steen version of Weir in my Atlantis fic. I even gave her another name, to make a bigger difference.
But back to McShep. Slash is a matter of taste, you either like it or you hate it (I happen to love it), but despite the enormous popularity of some slash pairings, they sometimes just don't work for me. McShep is one of these. Aside from the fact that McKay isn't exactly a sympathetic character - well to tell the truth, he's annoying as hell, David Hewlett makes a wondrous job playing him - I just can't see the chemistry between them. Which might be because Sheppard reminds me so much of Kirk or Riker or Sheridan from B5 - the same patronizing attitude, the same Casanova tendencies, and he even gets away with everything every other person would be kicked in the ass for, very hard. Not to mention saving the whole ship/city/galaxy/whatever single-handedly and repeatedly.
Now, admittedly, McKay does it, too. But he's the head scientist, it's his goddamn job. I can buy it when he does it. But whenever they have no other solution, Sheppard swings his ass into a Puddle Jumper and nukes everything that happens to be in his way, and he's the hero for it. Sorry, not buying.
Nevertheless, McShep is hugely popular. It's slowly reaching the dimensions of Kirk/Spock, another slash pairing I'll never understand. There are literally hundreds of stories out there that describe in lovely detail how McKay and Sheppard get to do the nasty. And each of them has a huge army of fans who squeal about the same story told in a very similar fashion. I just don't get it.
It's not so that I won't be open for weird pairings. I've become a Marcus/Neroon fan, which is extremely weird where Babylon 5 is considered. I'm even a member of the Marcus/Neroon Yahoo Group and regularly read the fics posted there. So, yes, I can make the distinction between canon-related fanfiction (or canon-related AUs) and simple sexual fantasies, written for shared entertainment. I can enjoy both.
Apparently, I'm not a True Purist [TM], as I don't demand that everyone who likes to write or read a bit of smutty fun should eat and drink and dream and breathe canon day and night. But for me the pairing has to make sense, in order to enjoy the story, no matter how well (or how badly, cuz that's fun, too) it is written. And McShep just doesn't do the trick for me.
What's truly unfortunate for me in this is the fact that the fandom is flooded with McShep stories. Well, I gladly grant everyone their One True Pairing, even if it doesn't work for me, but I'd really, honestly like to have something else to read. What I love in the Wraithbait archive is that both the Slash and the Ship stories are selected by pairing, so I can avoid the ones I don't like. I just wish there were more stories - general, slash, het, whatever - that would feature anyone but saint!Sheppard and genius!McKay.
Actually, I don't mind McKay quite as much (as long as he's not paired up with Sheppard). Sure, he's annoying as hell (another amazed bow in the direction of the incredibly talented David Hewlett), but at least he does have a personality and quirks, and when he makes mistakes, they are recognized as mistakes, by him and by everyone else, and he sometimes even feels bad about them. Not often enough, but sometimes.
Saint!Sheppard is always right, especially when he's wrong. Like in Hot Zone when he got away with disregarding direct orders from Dr. Weir(d) and thus allowing a deadly nanovirus to spread across the whole station. Were there any reprecussions? No, sir, he nuked the nanoviruses (well, sort of) and became the saviour of the entire city that he'd brought into great danger to begin with. Without his little display of disobedience they could have contained the frigging virus.
Oh, I'm so going to write a tag to that episode, where he gets to suffer the consequences! It'll be so much evil fun!
Anyway, I seriously doubt that anyone is really interested in my little rant, but these things have wanted to get out for quite some time, and this is as good a time as any.
My Kavanagh fic Choices was moderately appreciated, which is a good thing for a new author in the fandom. Of course, it won't get an average of 78.9 comments on LJ like your standard McShep smut, but I'm not complaining. To get any readers at all in a fandom that has so clearly outlined preferences is kind of a success in itself.
In any case, at least the whole affair made me interested in Atlantis - something I haven't really expected after I suffered through the pilot episode for the first time. But the supporting characters are hard to resist.
*hides the "More love for Kavanagh!" and "Zelenka is the coolest" banners*
