Merlin, Vienna, Torchwood & the likes

[wiseheart]

Okay, looong weekend - hey five days! - has come, I'm back from Vienna (just a one-day-trip, no need to get overly envious, although the city's lovely as always), so it's time to return to cyberlife.

Fannish rambling behind the cut.

Have watched the first 3 eps of Merlin that the_wild_iris gifted upon me. Loving it, so far, although I was having definite Torchwood moments while seeing Eve Myles as evil sorceress. I'd just love if Gwen, too, reflected as an ugly old hag on ever surface, hehehe! It was interesting to see Anthony Head in such a different role - he'll always remain Giles for me, but he was really good as Uther Pendragon. Oh, and I loved the dragon, he's cute!

No luck with finding 2nd season Torchwood DVDs in Vienna, though. I saw a whole season of Dr. Who, the one in which Jack Harkness has several appearances, but I wasn't willing to pay €50 for a show I'm not the slightest interested in, just to see how Jack came into it. Perhaps someone will lend me these few episodes one day, so that I can watch. I was looking for Torchwood books, too, there are a few Ianto-related ones I hear, but no such luck.

Not even the sci-fi magazines had anything TW-related ones. Considering that both German and Austrian RTL2 shows the series, it's a bit odd. It's all about the Wolwerine movie and the new Star Trek one. Ah, well.

I'm in process of typing up some more of the Wishverse Torchwood stuff for otherworlds_lib. I've posted the Cyberwoman story today and the Ghost Machine rewrite the day before yesterday. It's interesting how different the individual parts turn out, both in length and genre. A most satisfying writing experience.

Okay, some more Merlin to watch today.

Comments

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The mags will probably have some TW stuff in when the new season is coming (sometime in the summer, I think).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link.
I hoped to find some magazines, though, you know the sort with lots of pics and interviews with the actors and the likes. The German magazines Space view (funny it has an English title) and TV Serien Highlights often bring such stuff to currently running shows, so I don't understand why there isn't anything about TW. Although perhaps it was all in last month's issues as the show has reached the 8th episode already. Just my luck. :(

Aaand the website won't allow me to watch the preview because I'm not living in the same are. Drat.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Here's the preview at YouTube: not sure whether that will play at your end either though!

I knew you'd like Merlin!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It played, thanks. You see, we teachers have been telling for ages that kids are dangerous, but do people listen to us? NO! *g*

As for Merlin - are you kidding? What's there not to like? They've made Giles the KING!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

As for Merlin - are you kidding? What's there not to like? They've made Giles the KING!

Also, everyone is pretty.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Almost a bit too pretty for my personal taste, but hey, it's been made for young people, and they won't go for ordinary types, right?

[lissas-elves.livejournal.com]

Hope you enjoyed your mini-trip to Vienna!

Those I know who watches the Merlin series are quite taken with them. I read some of Oshun's fanfics about them, and that's about all I know about the characters. :-)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did, believe me. :)

And Merlin is a lovely series - more aimed at quite young people, IMO, but I still enjoy it immensely. I wish the dragon would be a bit larger, but that would ruin the cuteness factor, I guess.

I also like the fact that they don't have an all-white cast, despite the series being set in British legends. It's fairly timeless as it is, despite the semi-medieval settings, so...

[lissas-elves.livejournal.com]

>>I wish the dragon would be a bit larger, but that would ruin the cuteness factor, I guess.<<

A cute dragon?!? Elsewhere, I saw a discussion about the series and it was mentioned that the dragon didn't growl. But cute... that just seems so wrong for a dragon. *g*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Depends on the dragon, I guess. The one in "Dragonheart" was quite cute, too.

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Oh, glad you're enjoying Merlin!

The series was originally broadcast on Saturdays in the early evening, so it was meant to be something that families could watch together. A lot of the humour is obviously aimed at children. I never thought the dragon was 'cute', though. He gets quite scary later on :)

I like the multi-ethnic casting, too; it's like the film-makers are making an Arthur story for modern Britain. I suppose all retellings of the legend have reflected their own times.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Heh! I can't help - the way it moves its head and paws, and then that almost-lip-pursing it does, and that voice... but again, I only saw 3 episodes so far, so it can change for me later.

Are they doing a second season, too?

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Yes, there'll be a second season (although I don't know when).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Are they doing a second season, too?

Yes, hurray!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, the fact that they're apparently planning to bring Eve Myles back dampens my excitement a bit...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Alas indeed. It's a shame, because she was great in her guest appearance in Doctor Who. But Gwen is a dreadful character. I'd rather Barry Boyfriend was part of the team.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Who's Barry Boyfriend?

The antigwenites (myself included) tend to replace Gwen with PC Andy in fanfic, as soon as we manage to kill her out in ever new and creative ways. *g*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

kill her out in ever new and creative ways. *g*

Hurray for fanfic!

ETA: Barry Boyfriend is our nickname for Gwen's long-suffering other half. I can't even remember his real name now...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mean Rhys? Yeah, poor bloke, he'd have definitely deserved something better.

Actually, I like Rhys. I remember a terrific line from someone's fanfic - it was a tag to "Meat", Ianto commenting the events in his diary and asks himself: "Can't we Retcon her and have Rhys instead?"

There are also loads of fics about Rhys finally getting enough and throwing Gwen out. Yay! I for myself am killing her in different ways in each chapter of the Wishverse, and boy, does it a world of good for my soul!

[nerwen-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Glad you had a nice time in Vienna.

I've seen the first six episodes of Merlin so far. It is fun. The way that they've decided to differ from the legends so much is interesting, but as it clearly deliberate, it will be very interesting to see where they go with it. I keep wondering which bits of the legends they are going to use as the show progresses, especially whether the fates of the characters will be the same.

Re: Torchwood wishverse
It's interesting how different the individual parts turn out, both in length and genre. A most satisfying writing experience.
In some ways given how different the genres of the episodes, it would be more surprising if you had written your responses to them in a consistent genre. What is very good is that while you are pointing out all the problems with Gwen you manage to keep the characters in character and often even stick to the episode dialogue (as far as I can remember it).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yep, I use the episode transcripts to stay as close to the original as possible. The funny thing is, 99 per cent of the idiocy Gwen is spouting is taken directly from the respective episodes. I barely have anything to add on her part. Heart of Torchwood, my backside...

I'm glad that you liked the Wishverse stories. They're deliberately mean to Gwen, as they're written for the antigwenallies comm - and to help me get the anger towards the character out of my system. But I'm going to post more Torchwood stuff to otherworlds_lib, soon; an Ianto-focused crossover with Atlantis. I hope you'll find it interesting. The title will be "Atlantis Café", most likely.

Re: Merlin
I was a bit surprised by the twist (at first I didn't even realize that Gwen is actually Guinevere), but I like it so far. It's so wonderfully anachronistic, the chemistry between the characters/actors is great, so I have high hopes for the show... if they can keep this level of entertainment.

[nerwen-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Re: Torchwood
I don't generally like character bashing, but it is different with Gwen because she seems to be able to get away with anything in the show without the other characters calling her on it. I don't know if you've read any of the interviews and stuff with the creater (I can't recall his name) but the way he goes on about how wonderful Gwen is shows what the problem is.

I like Ianto and will certainly be interested in reading your stories about him. Although at the moment I haven't seen Atlantis past the first disc of season 4, because I got so annoyed at the plot of "oh look we're in the right place to go and steal ZPMs from the replicator homeworld". I can't remember exactly why but that really annoyed me and I haven't got round to watching any further, partly because I was already feeling unconvinced about what I had heard from spoilers. I'll probably get back to watching it at some point, but there are so many other things that are further up my list of things that I want to watch (at the moment primarily Babylon 5 and Merlin).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean about Gwen.

Re: Atlantis
What helps me a lot is that I watch it from Season 3 as a completely different show. That way I can deal with it, and I don't mourn the loss of what I liked in Seasons 1 and 2 so much. I've just finished Season 4 on German TV, and it wasn't Atlantis at all, but at least it was not so bad sci-fi. I haven't seen a thing from Season 5 so far, which is funny, considering that I'm going to send Ianto to Season 5 Atlantis, but I read all the transcripts and saw the screencaps, so I'll manange. The stupid thing is, I can't get the DVDs here, and I haven't even found anything beyond Season 3 in Vienna, either. *sighs*

Babylon 5 is an interesting show, although it greatly suffers from the Marty Stu syndrome (Sheridan). The other characters are interesting, though, and I like the alien cultures and the continuing plotline. My most popular story ever (on FF.net) is "Still Not in Kansas", which is a B5/ST:Voyager crossover. Go figure.

So, I can definitely recomment B5, at least the first three seasons. Season 4 is extremely uneven, IMO, and Season 5 is mostly crap, although there are a few amazing episodes, particularly "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father".

[artemis10002000]

Bevor die erste Torchwood-Folge anlief, hatte ein Serien-Magazin Torchwood vorgestellt, mit Episodenguide, Charavorstellungen und sogar Poster. Aber weil ich unsicher war, ob ich Torchwood überhaupt mögen würde und die Zeitung teuer war, hab ich's nicht gekauft. Und mir auch nicht notiert, wie das Magazin hieß, um es bei Ebay zu ersteigern. *grr* Und nach der ersten Episode hatte mein Zeitungsladen dann schon alle Magazine ausgeräumt, um für die neuen Ausgaben Platz zu machen.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Haha, do bist wieder da! Ich habe dich vermisst - obwohl das natürlich mein Fehler war. Ich war in Wien für einen Tag, und dann war ich zu beschäftigt den nächsten Kapitel von der Wishverse zu schreiben und aufzuladen. (Ich habe inzwischen "Small Worlds" erreicht, falls es dich immer noch interressiert.)

Es ist so ärgerlich daß ich kein Torchwood-Material in Wien gefunden habe. Ich hatte nur wenig Hoffnung die zweite Staffel auf DVD zu ergattern, aber ich habe doch an TV Serien und Spaceview gehofft. Vielleicht solltest du nach diesen Zeitschriften suchen, die sind diejenige mit den Episodenführern und Serienvorstellungen und Ähnlichem...

[artemis10002000]

Na klar interessiert mich Wishverse noch. Ich hab die neuen Kapitel aus der Friends-List rausgepickt und zu meinen Lesezeichen getan, muß jetzt nur noch dazu kommen, sie mit Muße zu lesen :D

Wir hatten uns die letzten Tage einen Dr House-Marathon gemacht, darum war ich wenig am PC. Endlich die erste Staffel fertig geschaut, die wir über Silvester angefangen hatten.

Erzähl, wie war es in Wien?

Wenn ich zur Bahnhofsbücherei komme, werde ich mal schauen. Die haben massenweise Magazine zu allem von PC-Spielen bis zu Bollywood-Filmen. Da sollte ja wenigstens ein SF-Magazin auch Torchwood beinhalten *hoff*

Ich könnt mir immer noch in den Hintern treten, daß ich dieses eine Magazin damals im Kiosk nicht direkt gekauft hatte. Oder mir wenigstens gemerkt, wie es heißt.

Was kein Torchwood in Wien angeht: soweit ich weiß, ist Staffel 2 noch gar nicht herausgekommen in Deutschland. Amazon.de listet jedenfalls nur Staffel 1 in deutscher Version auf. Die Torchwood-Bücher gibt es dort auch noch nicht auf Deutsch.

Aber eine gute Nachricht hab ich: in der letzten TV Movie war ein Bericht über die Top 5 der erfolgreichsten neu angelaufenen Serien. Und da war Torchwood bei auf Platz 5! Wenn die Quoten wirklich gut sind, sollte demnächst auch mal Torchwood-Merchandise auf den Markt kommen...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Ich bin in der Mitte von meinem eigenen Merlin-Marathon im Augenblick, so ja, ich kann es verstehen wie zeitaufwendig Besessenheit sein kann. ;)

Mütterchen mag House auch - an einem der ungarischen Kanäle gab es einen Marathon gestern, so war sie auch recht beschäftight. Ich schaue die Serie nicht - ich treffe genug rüde Menschen während der Arbeit, ich mann sie nicht auch noch im Fernsehen ertragen.

Ich habe Staffel 1 von Torchwood wundersamerweise hier in Ungarn gekriegt, wahlweise mit englischem Originalton, was für mich sehr wichtig ist. Ich bevorzuge es, Serien und Filme im Originalton zu gucken. Erstens ist es immer wunderbar die eingentlichen Stimmen der Schauspieler zu hören, zweitens ist es gut für meine recht mangelhaften Englischkenntnisse. Ich rede und schreibe relativ gut auf Englisch, aber mit dem Sprechen und Hörverstehen hapert es manchmal. Und britische Filme sind immer leichter zu verstehen als amerikanische, vor allem weil britische Schauspieler auch regelmäßig im Theater spielen und haben gelernt wie sie vernünftig zu sprechen haben.

Was Magazine und Merchandise betrifft, entweder gibt es sie in Ungarn gar nicht, oder bin ich zu blöd, sie zu finden. Es ist sehr ärgerlich. Ich bin nicht in Aktionpuppen oder Kaffeetassen oder ähnlichem Mist interessiert, aber Magazine wären doch sehr gut. Und Bücher im englischen Original.

Oh, im Übrigen, ich habe auch den ersten Kapitel von "Atlantis Café" zu otherworlds_lib aufgeladen; du weiß ja, die Story in der Ianto nach Atlantis geht. Ich habe beschlossen, die fertigen Kapitel zu posten, falls jemand interessiert ist. Ich kann die Fehler unterwegs leicht korrigieren.

[artemis10002000]

Sprechen und Hörverstehen ist auch mein Problem. Hab im RL niemand, mit dem ich Englisch sprechen kann und das Internet hilft halt nur beim Schriftlichen...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Die Merlin DVDs the_wild_iris mir geschickt hat haben englische Untertitel. Sie killen zwar die Augen, aber gleichzeitig sehen *und* hören den Text ist wunderbar.

[artemis10002000]

Ich werd mich auch mal nach Merlin umschauen. Nachdem Du so davon geschwärmt hast, bin ich jetzt auch neugierig :D

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Nun ja, es ist nich perfekt - was ist denn heutzutage perfekt? - aber definitiv eine der besten Serien die ich seit langem gesehen habe. Auch wenn die Hauptcharaktere ein bißchen ar jung sind.

[artemis10002000]

Übrigens, ich war gestern bei der Bahnhofsbücherei und hab nach Sci-Fi-Magazinen mit Torchwood geschaut. Hab auch nichts gefunden :(

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Zu blöd. Die bringen einmal eine Nummer mit dem ganzen Stoff, dann ein Jahr lang nichts.

[artemis10002000]

Ja, wirklich blöde. Im Moment bringen sie alle nur Star Trek. Und überhaupt ist mir aufgefallen, daß es nur noch zwei oder drei Sci-Fi-Zeitungen hier gibt. Früher waren das mal so viele... Dafür haben sie jetzt nen ganzen Schrank mit Computerspiel-Zeitungen *seufz*

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

I'm delighted to hear your holiday is here and that you've managed a little trip to Wien on the side. Much yayness!

I can't comment on Merlin or Torchwood -- we don't have cable, and our video store closed a while ago, so I'm even more out of touch than usual with the big shows -- but if you tell me what you're looking for (characters you like, characters I should avoid), I can check the fan mags when I go to the big bookstore The Beloved and I visit from time to time.

As for the rest of your holiday, macht Spass, Baby!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks, it really was a lovely holiday. I worked myself through the entire first season of Merlin - British series have 13-ep-seasons, so it wasn't such a hardship - and I wrote an ungodly amount of Torchwood fic. So yeah, it was good.

When we're rich and have lots of time, you can visit me, and we can watch the DVDs together. *g*

As for Torchwood characters, my preferences would be Ianto Jones and Toshiko Sato. Gwen Cooper is to be avoided at any costs, for the safety of your own mind, unless you want to fall victim to the Bambi effect and the gap-toothed smile of doom.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Still haven't seen an episode of Merlin yet - but everyone I know who has seen the show loves it. It sounds like the perfect fandom gateway drug!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It *is* a very lovely show - and visually gorgeous, too. I can recommend it to anyone, even if the boys are a bit too young for us of moderate age. ;)

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I couldn't send you the discs, D. They haven't been released for Region 1 yet. Still, not long until the NBC screening...

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

This whole business of region coding on DVDs is very irritating! All it does is keep honest people who'd actually like to pay for a legal copy from getting their hands on one. Since I'll probably miss Merlin on NBC (I'm not good at keeping up with broadcast TV these days), I hope the region 1 version of the DVDs comes out soon!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Or you can choose to make holidays in Hungary next summer. During the day, we can go see the sights, and nights we can watch ungodly amount of Merlin and whatever other shows we both like. ;)

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

We'll see!