thefourthvine | 172: A Goodly Length in Times Past

Okay, so, um, before we get to the recs (and there are recs - I know! I'm as stunned as you are), I have a question. Sadly, these leads us into deeply contentious waters, and I seriously considered hiding this behind a cut tag, because I love Best Beloved and don't want her to be lynched. But I trust you guys.

See, BB is watching The X-Files - she's just finished season one - and, um, she doesn't like it much. So she asked me to ask y'all some questions. For those of you who have watched the show, what's the best season, in your opinion? And what's the worst? And if she didn't much like the first season, mostly because she kind of felt like Scully got shafted, should she try any of the rest of the show? Please advise her, oh you who have watched the show. We will both be most grateful.

Now, before you reach for the pitchfork, can I distract you? I have things to recommend! Stories! Long ones! Because, you know, I've been away from this recommending thing for long time, so it seemed appropriate to come back that way. (Also, people are producing an astonishing number of fabulous longer stories lately, and this is a trend I want to encourage.) See? They are shiny and good. Please put down the pitchfork.

The One That Demonstrates, Once Again, That in the Jossverse, Retirement Is Only Possible If You're Dead. (And Buried. And Rotted. And No One Who Loves You Is a Witch.) Otherwise, It's Just a Temporary Retreat. Lilac City, by

nwhepcat. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander Harris/Faith Lahane.

I have a peculiar love of post-Sunnydale stories; to be perfectly honest, that's my primary reading (and, OMG, writing) area in BtVS these days. (It probably says some unfortunate things about me that I'm much less interested in the whole fighting vampires, saving the world thing and much more interested in where you go after you've saved the world. A lot.) And I also have a deep and abiding love for stories in which Xander is a person as opposed to, you know, a speaking prop in a comical shirt.

In other words, this story might as well have been made for me. (For some reason, I'm now tempted to break into song: "This fic is my fic/This fic is your fic/This fic was maaaaade for you and me!" And, whoa, I got flashbacks just from looking up the lyrics for that one, and of course I did have to look them up, because otherwise I get that song mixed up with the one about Tipperary. Or maybe it's Dixie. Thank you, music teacher of my elementary school: without you, I would not know how to sing several dozen songs about peanuts and cowboys and land, usually all at the same time. Also, because of your fine tutelage, I can bang arhythmically on any damn tambourine you care to hand me.)

Um. I think I was actually talking about this story, wasn't I? Right. So. This is Xander after Sunnydale, and he's settled into what we might call a very low energy state. But the thing about being around Buffy for a while - it's kind of like the Chosen-ness wore off on all of them; they gave her some normalcy, and it's like in return she gave them a bit of destiny. So, of course, trouble finds Xander. And he totally steps up. I love that, and I love how it unfolds, and there's one particular scene in this that I just - it was totally unexpected and wonderful and perfect, and I remember reading it while I was Trapped in a Hotel Room with Dogs and squeaking loudly enough to wake up Best Beloved.

The One That Is a Public Service Advisory on the Dangers of Heteronormativity for Everyone. From Superheroes to Supervillains, Heteronormative Assumptions Harm Us All. Useful Arts, by

rivkat. Smallville, Clark Kent/Lex Luthor.

I love this one because - well, because, first, Lex Luthor is one of very few characters anywhere who would deliberately create a pheromone for his very own pheromones-made-them-do-it story. I mean, other characters - pheromones just happen to them. You know: it's the flowers' fault, or maybe the strange quirk of alien biology and/or ritual, or maybe the chocolate just has that extra special mystery ingredient. (Or, in The Sentinel, it's canon, in which case you have no choice as a fan fiction writer but to go there, too. I mean, obviously.) But Lex - Lex doesn't let things just happen to him, oh no. He makes them happen. Even if he knows damn well that he shouldn't.

Which is another reason why I love this story so damn much. Because Lex makes just about every major plot point happen and he knows it. That self-awareness - this is how I fucked up, this is when I fucked up, this is why I fucked up, these are fourteen historical references that thematically depict my fuck-up, and I knew all this at the time and did it anyway - is something I love to see from Lex, whose motto is apparently, at least in part: "If I don't outsmart myself, who will?" This story, in short, makes me want to simultaneously hug and smack Lex, and thus is just about perfect.

(And, as a serious, major bonus, it gives me a Supergirl I actually like. I never really gave Supergirl a chance in comics - there's, um, other issues in the way, there - but if she's like this, it might almost be worth dealing with those issues. She's like Clark, except a) comfortable in her own body and b) without all the buckets of "Yes, I'm more than human, but isn't more less in this case?" angst. I mean, I love Smallville's version of Clark, don't get me wrong, but it's refreshing to see someone managing to be superpowered and gorgeous and a hero to all without somehow turning that into a source of great personal unhappiness.)

The One That Proves That All Those Professional Perfume Creators, with Their Subtle Top Notes and Crap, Are Totally Missing out on Some Very Obvious Scents Guaranteed to Induce Passion in - Okay. Geeks, Mostly. I Fail to See a Problem with That. Instantaneous, by Cimorene, aka

cimorene111. Stargate: Atlantis, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard.

You know, I'd say the actual show - and remember, my experience isn't all that extensive here, so feel free to correct me with charts and graphs and what-have-you (I welcome multi-colored charts! I find them very inspiring! ...What. So I was a science geek; I blame my genes.) - is maybe 10% boys with toys. (Oh, shut up. Not that kind of toy. Sadly, the canon is 0% boys with that kind of toy, and will be until we get Squee TV up and running ("By fangirls, for fangirls. And anyone else who loves genre television and sex").) This story is conclusive proof that it should be 40% boys with toys, 40% girls with toys, and they can have the other 20% for - whatever. It doesn't matter. Funny hats, for all I care. (Actually, funny hats would be kind of...never mind.) My point is, when you have great characters, and you put awesome toys in their hands (and, see, that was totally funny, and you'll have to read the story to find out why), greatness is the result.

At least, in the hands of Cimorene, greatness is certainly the result. I've been regularly re-reading this story ever since she posted it, and it just never stops being fun. It's everything I adore about SGA, basically. (Or everything that doesn't include cliches, crack, AUs, grimly realistic SF, and stories where someone has to make friends with a super-smart squid.) It's fun. It's snarky. It's got a great little gimmick that turns into a fantastic plot. And there is sex.

I tell you, when we get going with Squee TV, I am totally nominating Cimorene for a job writing one of the shows. She'd be fabulous at it. And her stories would absolutely contain the appropriate ratio of boys with toys.

The One That Proves That, When Given a Choice, You Should Always Take the Bigger Boat. (Although, Really, I Think a Single Viewing of Jaws Should Be Sufficient to Teach That Lesson, but Some People Are Stubborn.) In the Wrong Story and Wandering Blind, by

katie_m. Stargate: SG-1, Sam Carter/Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter/Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill.

You know, I'm not sure if it says more about this fandom or more about my tastes within this fandom that it was serious agony to pick only one of the many long post-apocalyptic SG1 stories that I want to recommend for this post. I mean, part of it is just that - well, you need something major to break SG1 (the team) out of the mold, and an apocalypse is a good way to do that. And part of it is that I'm a happy endings addict, and a lot of the happy endings I see for these people require, well, an apocalypse. It's like their motto is: "The end of the world is the first day of the rest of our lives."

And, yes. I am perfectly willing to have billions of off-screen deaths in exchange for my on-screen happy ending. When it comes to fan fiction, I am all about the needs of the few, okay? And the billions of deaths are definitely totally off-screen in this story; we start with Sam and Daniel, picking up the pieces (that's in In the Wrong Story, and I'm just not capable of seeing these two stories as anything but two parts of one long one - actually, they're kind of two-thirds of one long story in my mind, but these parts are entirely complete in themselves), and then move on to Sam, Daniel, and Jack, still picking up the pieces. I love that.

I also love the way the threesome plays out in this, because too many OT3 stories are all: "Hey presto, and the characters are together, and it's all perfect and also there are unicorns! Yay!" (For that matter, too many OTP stories go that way, too, but that's a deal for another day.) This story shows three smart but complicated people working out their relationship, with determination and difficulty. I adore the realism of that.

Also, there's an awesome road trip. And zombies, kind of, and yet not the kind of zombies I'm afraid of. And world-building. And just - oh, too much good stuff to mention. So just trust me: this story is made of perfection, and so what if it's a perfection that had to be built on the deaths of billions of people? With SG1, these things happen.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Season one is what we call the 'Fluffy Chickens' phase. I think it's best if you come back to it after seeing Mulder and Scully live through the next seven years of getting progressively more cynical, and then come back to S1 and it's like sudden sunlight. S2 and S3 are quite good, and I personally think that's where the best-plotted of the mytharc/conspiracy stuff is, and some of the best character work, but they weren't standout and have a lot of bad filler eps. S4 and S5 are just pretty consistently good, with a lot of really excellent one-shot episodes, and some solid plot and character work on the ongoing stories.

The reason everyone is probably mentioning them, though, is that they also had the very slashiest episodes of all. The ones where Mulder and Krycek are handcuffed together, hike across Siberia, and end up in a gulag together? And the one where they kissed, and all that? S4 and S5.

S6 and S7 still have a lot of good one-shots - some of the very best one-shot episodes, that always get named on people's favorites lists, turn up then. But the movie was between S5 and S6, and they completely screwed over the conspiracy/plotline stuff in the movie, and it never came anywhere close to making sense, or even being particularly interesting, after that. Also, Krycek got a girlfriend and some really ham-handed characterization. But you can't miss the goofy and excellent one-shots in S6 and S7 that the others have mentioned on this thread.

After S7, Mulder's actor quit, and they took away Scully's characterization in favor of making her all of her plotlines be about her uterus. I actually like the new characters they brought on for S8 and S9, and some of what they did with the plot, and some of the one-shots, but you have to pretend it's a completely different show, which had a completely different Mulder and Scully in it.

It's as if in Stargate S9 and S10, instead of having Jack retire in glory, they had him run off and join the NID, and Teal'c was killed off in a stupid way, and Hammond was demoted, and Daniel went to Atlantis, and they knocked up Sam with Jack's baby, and made her stop kicking ass in favor of having her weep and worry. Oh, and the Goa'uld just sort of faded off the radar instead of actually being dealt with. Cam and Vala and Landry and the Orii storyline would have *still* been great fun, it would just be very, very hard for Stargate fans to see past all the fail enough to appreciate that.

I think it's best if you come back to it after seeing Mulder and Scully live through the next seven years of getting progressively more cynical, and then come back to S1 and it's like sudden sunlight.

Awww. That's kind of adorable, actually; I can totally see how that would work better.

S2 and S3 are quite good, and I personally think that's where the best-plotted of the mytharc/conspiracy stuff is, and some of the best character work, but they weren't standout and have a lot of bad filler eps. S4 and S5 are just pretty consistently good, with a lot of really excellent one-shot episodes, and some solid plot and character work on the ongoing stories.

*makes notes*

(And, hey, I've read all this out loud to BB, and right about here was where she caved and added season two to our Netflix, so thank you!)

But the movie was between S5 and S6, and they completely screwed over the conspiracy/plotline stuff in the movie, and it never came anywhere close to making sense, or even being particularly interesting, after that.

They made the movie between seasons? I thought they only made movies from TV shows after they were off the air. It seems like it would be hard to have a continuous canon running on TV and movies simultaneously; you'd have all kinds of problems making the movies self-contained enough, for one thing. Plus, the storytelling would be weird. Just seems like a bad idea generally. I shake an admonishing finger at whichever people were responsible for making the X-Files movie. *admonishes*

After S7, Mulder's actor quit, and they took away Scully's characterization in favor of making her all of her plotlines be about her uterus.

...OMG. No wonder people describe this as the worst of all possible fan/canon breakups.

I think if BB gets that far, we'll just declare seasons eight and nine never to have happened. Our canon will end at season seven. (Or maybe season five.) Sounds like the best way.

It's as if in Stargate S9 and S10, instead of having Jack retire in glory, they had him run off and join the NID, and Teal'c was killed off in a stupid way, and Hammond was demoted, and Daniel went to Atlantis, and they knocked up Sam with Jack's baby, and made her stop kicking ass in favor of having her weep and worry. Oh, and the Goa'uld just sort of faded off the radar instead of actually being dealt with.

THANK YOU. This is the best explanation ever for the seasons eight and nine problem, and I now grasp it completely. And, um, am kind of horrified. Canon assassination!

The Stargate metaphor kind of came naturally, because a lot of former XF people got *very worried* around the time it was announecd that RDA was retiring. I had *nightmares* about that actually happening. But yes, XF is a canon with a very natural stopping point.

...I do have a whole spiel about how S8 and S9 are still worth watching eventually, but it's probably best if you wait a year or so until emotions are cooled and you're ready to try just being friends again. Being still semi-active in XF I keep coming across old-time fans who've come back to it, started watching 8 and 9, and say, "Hey, wait, now that I'm no longer having canon rape flashbacks, this is pretty good!" And the very last ep ends the whole series in a satisfying way that creates lots of fic openings. But every time they attempted to use something from earlier in the series, it SUCKED.

I *think* the idea with the movie was that they'd make it stand-alone by using it to wrap up most of the way-too-many dangling threads from the mytharc, and then in S6 they'd come back to it with a clean slate and a chance to go deeper. The ep before the movie was titled "The End" and the one after it "The Beginning". Only it quickly became clear that the truth was *not* out there, CC had no idea what he was doing, and the movie was full of internal plot-holes even if you ignored the show canon it was messing up. So they came to S6 with an even murkier plot than before, and a bunch of writers who were sick and tired of dealing with it, and things did not go well. (The movie was very pretty, though; it's neat to see them with a location and effects budget; and it's the last time that mytharc stuff has reasonably good characterization with it, so it's worth watching if you get that far.)

If you want to know (spoilery!) what's up with the mytharc, I attempted to summarize it a few years back, here (http://community.livejournal.com/xfiles/653046.html), for my own benefit in fic-reading. (Somewhere down in the comments I also summarize the movie by way of "The Perilous Gard," which has fairies!)

172: A Goodly Length in Times Past

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