Lacking a Central Theme
Aug. 31st, 2006 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
itsallovernowYesterday was such a writer's high, not only the SG-1 pron, but the NIP. Class has really been so much more than I expected it to be, discussionwise, and of course, now that we've really hit our strides - both novel wise and as a class and a group of critiquers for each other, it's about to end. And my teacher does actually get where my story is going, which is a relief, because I was worried that it sounded pretty but didn't say anything. (And dude, seriously, there's just nothing better than sitting in a group of people, all of whom are intensely invested in figuring out that a) the main character has a slew of guns that he needs to get from his ship to another ship down to another place and the plan involves either sneaking them onto said second ship when a bunch of other people are there or stealing the ship and b) they all want him to steal the ship because he thinks it would be a lot more fun. They are very, very bad at encouraging him to Do the Right Thing!)
Mostly, it makes me feel like this all will work out, and that someone will want to read it, but it's also coming together thematically, which, god, that's such a blessing.
I splurged and bought the latest Starburst edition because I just can't resist the commentary, and there's nothing that makes me feel quite as gooily happy as people who are really good at what they do talking about what they do in the geekiest way possible (and seriously, Ben Browder and Claudia Black mercilessly harrassing David Kemper will always be worth the price of admission because all three of them are so damned smart and sooo easily distracted and they all call each other on all sorts of ridiculous things and have so much admiration and affection for each other and it is just so much love.)
And because, in the midst of my intense Vala love, I'd been missing my girl, I realized how much I love the moment in Kansas where Aeryn takes them down into the wormhole because it's such a simple thing but it tells us so much about who she is, and where she's been. She's been watching John for long enough that she's developed her own sense of the time and patterns of the wormhole openings. And it patterns A Human Reaction (and much of this jump started in my brain because of the commentary when they talk about how it's mirrored) by Aeryn being the one to take them into the wormhold. In AHR, she's scared, she's not willing to abandon the life she is leading to go with John, but when she's afraid for him, she goes. And it's so telling of her, that she's fearless when it comes to other people. And here, she doesn't hesitate, she's got this utterly intent look on her face and as soon as the mouth opens, she steers them down effortlessly. And I love that, because in the face of all the things that are fucked up in her life, all the things that are going wrong, that she's screwing up, that John's screwing up, she's still a pilot, its the thing she'll always, always have and I just... it makes me happy.
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pdxscaper, who wanted
Five things John Crichton wanted to ask the Doctor. [as in Doctor Who, the Ninth doctor preferably]
1. How do you live with never being able to go home?
2. No, seriously, how's it bigger on the inside. Because I've met a lot of aliens, and for the most part, the laws of physics still hold.
3. If you could go back, change one thing, would you? Not history, not destruction, just a moment when you could have been a different man.
4. Why us? Why humans? How do we measure up? (Because once upon a time, John would have known this. He was the reason - wonder and vision and exploration. Innocene and intelligence and a mind wide open to possibility). What do you get from us?
5. Are we going to be all right? Not the universe, just us, my family, Moya, my grandkids if we have 'em. Did we really achieve peace or just become terrorists on a whole 'nother scale?
robynbender wanted 5 Things D'argo Will Resent (until he understands them)"
1. D'Argo finally wins at rock, paper scissors when John's really drunk and mooning after Aeryn and John throws rock when he normally throws paper and D'Argo wins and John says, "Go ahead, do what you want." All this time, it had felt like a stupid human trick, something D'Argo was never gonna win, and now he finally gets that it's the only time John feels like fates telling him he made the right choice.
2. That being captain does not mean everyone will do what he tells them to. Ever. Except for Pilot, and all of a sudden, it's not so much fun to order Pilot around. In fact, his sympathy for Pilot increases exponentially and sometimes he'll have Pilot produce random, inconvenient malfunctions that they'll blame on Moya just to keep the others out of their hair.
3. That John is always going to be the person Chiana goes to for comfort because it's about comfort, nothing else. Because they can be honest with each other in a way that's just not possible when sex is involved. That she didn't tell John about Jothee either. Because then he could have been angry at John instead of Chiana.
4. That he won't get to see John and Aeryn's child grow up. He had PLANS for that boy!!
5. That he had to share a very small ship with Grunshlik and Sikozu and that revolting man actually was able to stop the bleeding long enough for D'Argo to not die, which frell if that wasn't the surprise to end all surprises, and they're now floating out here in the middle of nowhere and the baby is going to be frelling talking by the time he finds Moya again and Chiana will have moved on and how the frell is he going to get his qualta blade back.
Mostly, it makes me feel like this all will work out, and that someone will want to read it, but it's also coming together thematically, which, god, that's such a blessing.
I splurged and bought the latest Starburst edition because I just can't resist the commentary, and there's nothing that makes me feel quite as gooily happy as people who are really good at what they do talking about what they do in the geekiest way possible (and seriously, Ben Browder and Claudia Black mercilessly harrassing David Kemper will always be worth the price of admission because all three of them are so damned smart and sooo easily distracted and they all call each other on all sorts of ridiculous things and have so much admiration and affection for each other and it is just so much love.)
And because, in the midst of my intense Vala love, I'd been missing my girl, I realized how much I love the moment in Kansas where Aeryn takes them down into the wormhole because it's such a simple thing but it tells us so much about who she is, and where she's been. She's been watching John for long enough that she's developed her own sense of the time and patterns of the wormhole openings. And it patterns A Human Reaction (and much of this jump started in my brain because of the commentary when they talk about how it's mirrored) by Aeryn being the one to take them into the wormhold. In AHR, she's scared, she's not willing to abandon the life she is leading to go with John, but when she's afraid for him, she goes. And it's so telling of her, that she's fearless when it comes to other people. And here, she doesn't hesitate, she's got this utterly intent look on her face and as soon as the mouth opens, she steers them down effortlessly. And I love that, because in the face of all the things that are fucked up in her life, all the things that are going wrong, that she's screwing up, that John's screwing up, she's still a pilot, its the thing she'll always, always have and I just... it makes me happy.
For
pdxscaper, who wanted Five things John Crichton wanted to ask the Doctor. [as in Doctor Who, the Ninth doctor preferably]
1. How do you live with never being able to go home?
2. No, seriously, how's it bigger on the inside. Because I've met a lot of aliens, and for the most part, the laws of physics still hold.
3. If you could go back, change one thing, would you? Not history, not destruction, just a moment when you could have been a different man.
4. Why us? Why humans? How do we measure up? (Because once upon a time, John would have known this. He was the reason - wonder and vision and exploration. Innocene and intelligence and a mind wide open to possibility). What do you get from us?
5. Are we going to be all right? Not the universe, just us, my family, Moya, my grandkids if we have 'em. Did we really achieve peace or just become terrorists on a whole 'nother scale?
robynbender wanted 5 Things D'argo Will Resent (until he understands them)"1. D'Argo finally wins at rock, paper scissors when John's really drunk and mooning after Aeryn and John throws rock when he normally throws paper and D'Argo wins and John says, "Go ahead, do what you want." All this time, it had felt like a stupid human trick, something D'Argo was never gonna win, and now he finally gets that it's the only time John feels like fates telling him he made the right choice.
2. That being captain does not mean everyone will do what he tells them to. Ever. Except for Pilot, and all of a sudden, it's not so much fun to order Pilot around. In fact, his sympathy for Pilot increases exponentially and sometimes he'll have Pilot produce random, inconvenient malfunctions that they'll blame on Moya just to keep the others out of their hair.
3. That John is always going to be the person Chiana goes to for comfort because it's about comfort, nothing else. Because they can be honest with each other in a way that's just not possible when sex is involved. That she didn't tell John about Jothee either. Because then he could have been angry at John instead of Chiana.
4. That he won't get to see John and Aeryn's child grow up. He had PLANS for that boy!!
5. That he had to share a very small ship with Grunshlik and Sikozu and that revolting man actually was able to stop the bleeding long enough for D'Argo to not die, which frell if that wasn't the surprise to end all surprises, and they're now floating out here in the middle of nowhere and the baby is going to be frelling talking by the time he finds Moya again and Chiana will have moved on and how the frell is he going to get his qualta blade back.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 07:01 pm (UTC)And good thoughts on Aeryn in "Kansas"; I just re-watched that one recently and was also struck by Aeryn the pilot, navigating the wormhole with such confidence, because whatever else may be going to hell, flying is what she does. I hadn't so much thought about it mirroring AHR, and now I want to re-watch them together.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 07:18 pm (UTC)That was so my freaking idea first. ;)
*loves on you hard*
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Date: 2006-08-31 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 07:40 pm (UTC)I'm rewatching season 2 right now. I love this show.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 08:40 pm (UTC)1) When the pulse rifle in his right hand clicks down on an empty cylinder, D’argo hurls it at the head of the nearest Scarran, knocking the scaly bastard out cold. He switches to a two-handed grip on his remaining rifle and it’s almost too easy to pick’em off when he actually takes time to aim. After learning to shoot with a Qualta Blade, he’s Arnie-frelling-Oakley with PK issue, which is why they cheat by trying to blow him up with mortars… If he hadn’t been bleeding to death internally at the time, the concussion from the blast would have killed him.
2) After he drops the first six or seven, the Scarrans decide it’s not worth it to kill one dying Luxan and find a short cut around his little alley. He can hear them on the other side of the wall on his left. Frell that, he’s making a gesture here — sacrificing himself for the good of the next generation; this is the noblest of deaths for a Luxan warrior (ha, John’s so going owe him for the rest of his life) – and the frelling Scarrans are not going to frell this up for him.
This is how D’argo discovers that Scarran power cells make a real good bang (totally worth dragging his bleeding, bruised body over two dozen motras of rubble). This is also how D’argo discovers the empty Scarran landing craft on the other side of the wall. It smells like the floor of a public necessary but the field medical kit is easy to find (John still owes him for this one, though).
3) D’argo died and went… straight to Hezmana? He’d have nightmares like this on Moya after they escaped the first time, worried that he’d go to sleep and wake up in a Peacekeeper cell. If the red and black accents decorating the white infirmary walls weren’t enough of a clue, Grayza’s smile confirmed it – “Ka D’argo, how good to see you awake. We have so much to discuss-“ this was hell.
4) The rifle clicked empty and D’argo knew that this was it. He lifted his chin and stared straight down the barrel of the Scarran disruptor to meet his death with honour. The Scarran fired and the red bolt disappeared with a pop like it had been sucked out of the air. The Scarrans wavered in his sight then fizzed away – this must be what it’s like to die.
“You’re not dead, Ka D’argo,” a voice spoke into his ear.
The speaker stood beside him, tall and slim-built, his hands fisted deep in the pockets of his black leather jacket and his shoulders hunched forward. He stuck out a hand and pulled D’argo to his feet.
“What’s going on? Who the frell are you and wha-“ D’argo grabbed his stomach, his pain-free, whole stomach, “What have you done to me?”
He grinned and D’argo realized that he wasn’t much more than an adolescent. “This is a rescue.”
“A rescue? What the Hezmana-“ A breeze wafted through the alley, lifting the boy’s lank, wavy hair out of his eyes for a moment – black eyes like holes in the universe. “Who are you?” D’argo asked again.
The boy’s smile twisted into a bitter frown, “I guess you could say I’m you’re nephew…”.
5) The Eidolon counter-attack was a pointless effort even before John Crichton broke their planet in half. But they were fighting for their home and that gave them the determination and the ferocity to drive back the Scarrans from the city centre and briefly establish a corridor between the harbour and the emergency spaceport in the central park. In the end, only a handful made it off the planet, barely a thousand from a population hundreds of times greater. Even so, it took Sikozu nearly a full solar day to find D’argo among all the refugees. She was surprised he was alive at all, given what Eidolons knew about Luxan physiognomy. Perhaps he was just too stubborn to die. It seemed they had that in common.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 09:08 pm (UTC)*I* want to read it!
Also, yay for D'Argo 5 Things!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 09:20 pm (UTC)YES!!!!!! EXACTLY!!!!
Couldn't have said it better.
Your Wish, etc...
Date: 2006-08-31 09:25 pm (UTC)1) For some reason, ice cream is singular to Earth. Meatloaf is a universal constant but only Earthlings had ever combined cream, sugar, ice and salt in that marvelous alchemy that produces ice cream. Vala thinks that this is Very Significant and if Daniel would ever take her for ice cream at that place in Colorado Springs, she might even tell him why.
2) TiVo is the bestest thing ever - Vala finds the idea of a device that will not only record the TV you want but find TV especially to please your tastes delightful. It makes her feel a bit like a queen again, having this device that exists only to serve her TV-viewing pleasure. Although, until what Mitchell refers to as The Cinemax Incident, Vala didn't realize that the TiVo's selections were only _suggestions_.
3) Vala is fascinated by the women on this planet. At least the ones she's met: Carter goes through entire weeks without so much as wearing a skirt, let alone skin-tight black leather corsets. And yet that doesn't seem to deter Mitchell from watching her ass when she walks out of a room like a dog waiting to be thrown a bone. Vala knows that she's attractive - damn attractive when she wants to be - but that's not exactly highly valued currency around Stargate Command. This idea of a woman being respected for her smarts and skills, having authority based on her abilities than by conning or forcing her way into power - it's interesting. Obviously an ideal rather than everyday practice - Vala's not that naive, never has been - but she watches the way the men listen to Carter, the way they take her seriously, listen to her ideas, value her. Vala craves that, craves it worse than gold.
4) When Vala finally gets permission for her first unescorted off-base trip, her first stop is Heroes and Dragons on Brigerton. She's been itching for the next issue of Action Comics ever since she finished Teal'c's last month. Daniel can ramble on and on about stuffy dead cultures and yet never see what's right under his nose - the living, breathing, evolving mythology of his own people. Of course, Superman represents the collective super-ego of the United States (although she suspects Batman would be better in bed - all dark and aggressive) - at least that's what she tells Mitchell when he catches her reading Superman in the dining room - well, that and the men are hot.
5) Brad Pitt.
Re: Your Wish, etc...
Date: 2006-08-31 09:57 pm (UTC)Re: Your Wish, etc...
Date: 2006-09-15 04:00 am (UTC)Which is my inarticulate way of saying YES!
Fab.
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Date: 2006-08-31 09:57 pm (UTC)and yay for john asking the doctor some questions. and d'argo, i so love him. and you've captured his tone perfectly.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 10:49 pm (UTC)3. If you could go back, change one thing, would you? Not history, not destruction, just a moment when you could have been a different man.
**sigh**
Thanks for John and the Doctor. I think they'd be cool together.
5. That he had to share a very small ship with Grunshlik and Sikozu and that revolting man actually was able to stop the bleeding long enough for D'Argo to not die, which frell if that wasn't the surprise to end all surprises, and they're now floating out here in the middle of nowhere and the baby is going to be frelling talking by the time he finds Moya again and Chiana will have moved on and how the frell is he going to get his qualta blade back.
And I ♥ you greatly for this one. That last part killed me.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 06:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 03:30 am (UTC)And, points for difficulty: You could also write such a list for D'Argo Crichton [eg]
no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 06:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 12:03 pm (UTC)Five Things D'Argo Sun Crichton is NEVER gonna do to his kid.
or, Five Things that D'Argo SC says are totally gross.
or, Five Things that D'A SC never tells his friends.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 04:51 pm (UTC)