On being productive & my new New Who itch

[amatara]

In case anyone wonders why things aren't moving anymore around here…
It has nothing. At. All. To do. With lack of productivity. *whistles*
No, really, the past two weeks have been uncommonly productive by my standards, because during my holiday I managed to squeeze out:

• One (1) B5 fanvid, slapped together in 48 obsessive hours, followed by two weeks of tweaking which has raised my respect for any and all vidders in the universe to dizzying heights.
• Two (2) B5 pencil portraits (care to guess?) which aren’t too bad, if I say so myself.
• Two (2) nearly finished B5 fics, one of which has passed the 6000-word mark and so officially my longest one ever. Keeping in mind I write at a measly speed of 1 word a minute (and that’s not counting the second round of agonizing over said word, once I’ve put more than a hundred of them together), this is an achievement. *g*
• One (1) hour-long New Zealand trip DVD montage, complete with fancy menu including chapter selection!
• One (1) photo montage of the Andalucia trip we took last spring.

Now, one would say at least the first three of these are amply sufficient to bring some life into this lj, but. But. But. The problems are the following:

• One fic is meant for matrithon, the other for babylon5_love, which means the posting dates are fixed. AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER. *ngh* Also, note the designation “nearly finished” in the fic descriptions: for some reason, it seems I am completely incapable of starting with another fic as long as these two have as little as a single paragraph missing. And hell, that paragraph is taking forever. So, um… *twiddles thumbs and waits for muse to drop out of sky*
• I committed the folly of requesting another posting day at babylon5_love, for the vid. ETA – two weeks and counting. *twiddles some more*
• That leaves the drawings, but... just posting drawings, without at least a fic to go with them? Meh. Won't do.

So... there we are. And what does a person do in such a case?

One possibility: watching New Who. It took me a while, but I’ve finally, definitely and happily fallen for the Ninth Doctor, to the point where I now want to hug him at least once an episode, and I’m dreading the arrival of the next two season box-sets (for which I’m just about to put in the amazon order) as much as I’m pining for them. Dreading, because while I get the impression David Tennant is hugely popular, and probably for a good reason, he is so going to have to grow on me. Is this the rumoured “you’ll never forget your first Doctor” syndrome, then? Yes, I know Rose is still around, so there will be some familiarity at least to hang on to, but while I like Rose (most of the time; when she’s not ranting at Mickey for him going out with someone else instead of being readily available whenever she happens to pop by – which he is, by the way, and that makes it even worse), it’s not going to be the same, is it?

Well... Just one episode left to watch. The last episode of the very last disk… which means This Is The Night I Am Going To Watch Him Die. *gulp*

Something inside me is already itching to write New Who fic. (In any case, I’m itching to write anything else than B5 for a change, because the longer I stay in that fandom, the harder it’ll be to switch. And I can hardly keep writing nothing but Londo/G’Kar & Vir for the rest of my days… Or can I? *blinks*) Only: I have no idea how or what or why to write so I won’t wreck four decades of canon, plus, Nine seems devilishly hard to get right to me. And I’ve yet to find any existing fic that resembles what I’d like to write. Yesterday I did a quick search for New Who fics, and found only cartloads of Ten stories, Nine/Rose shippiness, and R-rated things like Nine/Jack/Rose/TARDIS, which I was brave enough to try but gave up rather quickly. Also, “doctor who” is a hellish thing to Google: I only found something relevant after I started adding “rose” or “jack harkness” – which is probably what got me to the R-rated stuff in the first place.

So, a question to the universe: Can someone recommend some good Nine Era fic that is not either Doctor/Rose (don’t get me wrong, I like seeing him and Rose interact, but – in a romantic way? Nope. Sorry. Don’t see it.) or Doctor/Jack? Friendship fics with either combination would be great; ensemble fic even better; and anyone who can give me an angsty fic from Nine's POV that does a believable characterization of him, I will worship till the end of my days.

Secondly: Anybody heard of any good ficathons recently? Preferably prompt/claim based (as compared to the ones where they just give you an assignment) since that seems better for the nerves. Writing some good old Trek (ah – old love…) might be nice for a change. And of course, anything B5-related still goes!

Comments

[maspalio.livejournal.com]

Glad to know you've been productive - I'm looking forward to reading/watching all this new material. (You *could" be writing nothing but B5 for the rest of your life - I certainly wouldn't complain *g*)

About Doctor Who: Nine was my first Doctor as well and I love him, but it didn't take long for Ten to grow on me. He's so giddy! And fun! And Rose is likeable enough, but Martha and Donna, the next companions, are great characters too. So no, it's not going to be the same, but I hope you'll find the new seasons to be as fun as the first one. Maybe even better.
I'm afraid I can't recommend any fic, though. Dr Who is a series I enjoy watching, but am not really fannish about.
Nor have I heard of any ficathon, but you could always do one of these meme things.

[amatara.livejournal.com]

You *could" be writing nothing but B5 for the rest of your life - I certainly wouldn't complain *g*

Aw, thanks, that's sweet... You know, I can almost imagine it: me, as an 80-year old lady, still writing Londo/G'Kar tencacle pr0n. That would be so cool. *g*

I didn't know you were into Dr Who! I've only once seen (part of) an episode with Ten once, and he seemed a bit, um - overdoing it with the giddiness... But probably that was just because I dropped in in the middle of an episode, or I wasn't in the right mood for it. I think I'll like him, anyway. In any case, I just ordered the s2 DVD, yay!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

My first Doctor was actually Four, who is universally the most popular but ranks among my least favourite. Then I saw some Six, and then some Seven, and Seven was the first Doctor I loved. (He was joined later by most of the other incarnations.) Nine I liked well enough, but I had something of a Christopher Eccleston problem. To wit: he's a fabulous, fabulous actor, no question about it, but when watching him I saw more "great actor playing traumatized man" and not the Doctor as in the same person in a different body from all the others I had seen before. This is one of the reasons why I do love Ten, btw; you can tell Tennant is a fan. (David Tennant: first time the Doctor is played by an actor who was a fan of the show throughout from his childhood onwards and can debate trivia with the best of them. Makes his audio commentaries fun. Not just DW trivia, mind; the man is a massive geek and has actually won a quiz on the show The West Wing.) There are glimpses of all the previous incarnations at different points, and yet Ten is his own man as well. Now this obviously would not be an issue for you because Nine is your first. What I also like that yes, he can be giddy, but he's actually one of the most dangerous incarnations of the Doctor around. He simply hides the pain and the anger better than the immediate post Time War Nine could. But it's there.

BTW, doesn't mean I fell for Ten on sight. I can tell you the episode - the third one of s2, which also happens to be the first New Who episode starring an Old Who companion, Sarah Jane Smith. This was when I thought "yes, the new guy is my Doctor".

Despite my like not love for Nine, I can help you out with fanfiction because I'm an anti-shipper when it comes to the Doctor (any incarnation) and Rose. (Whose treatment of Mickey was one reason why I never went from like to love with her, either, as opposed to other companions.) Which means the rare stories blessedly free of shipping them do catch my attention. *g*

So:

DW/ Deep Space Nine: in which Nine meets Jadzia Dax, and there is delicious character stuff for long-lived beings who go through various incarnations and traumatic losses:

An Element of Blank (http://www.altogetherelsewhere.net/multiverse/anelementofblank.html)

DW/ Alien:
Outside In (http://www.altogetherelsewhere.net/multiverse/2006/outsidein.html)

In which Nine meets Ripley.

(Err, suddenly I realize I have no idea whether you've watched the Alien movies. If youd don't, you should still be able to follow the story.)

I myself have never written Nine, and I don't think I will (there are simply other incarnations I'm more drawn to, no offense to Nine intended); I did write Seven, Three and Ten. You might want to check out one of my two DW/B5 crossovers anyway, because it while it features Seven, you don't have to know more of DW canon than you do to understand it (he shows up at a certain point of the Earth/Minbari war):

Brief Encounter (http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=18982)

(The other crossover is longer and very much involved in the B5 myth arc, but you really need to be familiar with s3 of New Who first.)

I do have another Nine story to reccommend for you, but I'll need longer to track it down again...

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Those were lovely recs, thanks! (and yes, I did see Alien, but only the first one.) I have to admit I've never been into crossovers that much, for no reason I can specify. Most of the ones I have read, I enjoyed, so it's not a dislike of the genre; I just tend not to go actively looking for them (maybe because I'm afraid that they'll screw with canon? I really don't know). But these were quite good!

On your Dr Who/B5 crossover: I loved how you were able to put so much into such a short story! The comment about wearing grey and white, the Dalek comparison, and this:
There was sadness in his expression when she spoke of Centauri Prime.
Because yes... of course he would know.
By the way, has the Doctor, in his travels, always been concentrating mostly on Earth, as he seems to do in New Who? If yes, is it ever explained why? Or has he had non-human companions in the past, also?
(ps: I couldn't find a "review" option on the whofic site - isn't there one, or am I just being blind?)
Also, I found some pretty good non-shippy Nine fics over here (http://www.loony-archivist.com/mad/winners.htm) (the 2005 Dr Who fanfic awards).

After watching "Parting of the Ways", I finally understand why so many people are writing Doctor/Jack. *g* That was without a doubt the loveliest same-sex kiss I've ever seen on TV; neither too moralistic (as I remember from that episode of DS9) or too in-your-face, just perfectly natural and understated. I was very impressed. (btw: is that why I've read some people making snide comments about Torchwood supposedly "advertising homophilia"? As Jack is a main character there, I've gathered?)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

There is a review option at whofic.com (which is the largest site for DW fanfiction, and you can go by categories, i.e. right now search specifically for Nine-era fanfic).

The Doctor had none-human companions in the past, absolutely. Four for example started out with a Three-era human one but afterwards only had aliens, and Five's regular gang were two aliens, one human. Then there are eras, like Three's or Seven's, where all the companions are humans. This being said, yes, Earth is special.

Doylist reason: lack of budget through most of the show, of course. Aliens are more expensive. Also, TPTB figured that with the Doctor as an alien, the audience would need a human identification figure most of the time.

Watsonian reason: he just likes us. :) Also, One was pretty much into travelling for its own sake and not yet a hero at the start; his two first human companions were the ones who dragged him into heroism, you might say. So humans are special.

Torchwood: yes, that's the reason. Mind you, Torchwood operates pretty much on the principle that everyone is bi, though most of the regular relationships are m/f, with one exception. The show had a shaky first season, like B5 very different in quality - bad episodes, mediocre episodes, and some really good ones - but found its feet in the second season, so to speak, and I've grown quite fond of it. The controversial third season was outstanding tv holding its own with the best of any other show, and I was blown away by the awesome, but some earlier fans hated it.

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I'm more and more tempted to go check out season 3 of Torchwood... Until now, only two things have held me back:
- being both a Dr Who and a Torchwood newbie, I'm not sure how much I'd be getting out of it,
- plus, for only 5 hours of television the DVDs aren't that cheap, and I'd hate to buy them just to find out I fall into the "hate" category of people. I think that's unlikely, but... could you explain in a non-spoilery way why some fans hate it, or is that impossible? If it's just that - as I strongly suspect now - many regulars are going to die, I think I can live with it. And is it re-watchable, or more something to watch just once?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Children of Earth is actually pretty approachable if you haven't watched previous DW and TW; hobsonphile watched it without any previous Whoverse knowledge, and it worked for her. The only continuity-relevant thing you need to know is that we find out in the Torchwood pilot that the Rose/TARDIS amalgan in Parting of the Ways didn't just bring Jack back to life, she made him immortal. This... is something of a mixed blessing, to put it mildly.

(If you're curious, the correct timeline for New Who and TW is:

New Who s1 and s2 - TW s1 - New Who s3 - TW s2 - New Who s4 - TW s3. So when you see Jack again in DW's third season, the s1 finale for him has just happened, when you see him and the other Torchwoodians in s4, they're past the s2 finale and before s3. But though there are two dialogue references to the Doctor in Children of Earth, they're not spoilery for DW in the slightest, so don't worry.)

As for why the people who hate it, hate it: wellllll. Your guess is partly correct. The other reason, imo, is the very one that made people who'd given up on the show in s1 change their minds. To quote nomadic_writer who commented to my review for Day Four : See, I'm only a very casual occasional Who-watcher and have never liked Torchwood at all, so having caught the last three episodes of this miniseries, I have a question: When did this show stop being all stupidity and inappropriate sex talk and suddenly become brutally hard-hitting and awesome? Because that was kind of a surprise.(What was not a surprise: checking friendsfriends for reactions and discovering that just when I thought it had got really good, ninety percent of the fandom hated it and declared the show ruined forever. Ah, my old friend the minority opinion corner. We meet again.)

And astrogirl2: man, it's really nice to know that I'm not the only one sitting here going, "That was awesome!" rather than, "NOOOOOO! RTD, I AM ANGRY AND I HATE YOUR FOREVER!" :) And an earlier comment of hers: I am very much enjoying the new Torchwood. Somewhere along the line, Torchwood stopped being mock-worthy buffoons and started being complex, competent, brave people I could really root for.

Rewatchable: I rewatched it four times already, if that answers your question...

[maspalio.livejournal.com]

Having just finished watching Torchwood I'm seconding this : Children of Earth is awesome ! Definitely worth checking it out.