thefourthvine | Slashy Nominations 39: Revenge of the Small Fandoms

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Slashy Nominations 39: Revenge of the Small Fandoms

I dedicate this Slashy set to Isaac Asimov. I'm re-reading I, Robot (because I want to have some happy memories to carry me through the horror that will be the movie), and I've realized that Mike Donovan and Gregory Powell were the very first slashy pairing I ever recognized, back when I was 10 and innocent and had never even heard of fan fiction. That makes I, Robot my original small fandom. It's nice to know where all the madness started.

Best FF That Provides More Comprehensible Backstory in 5,000 Words Than the Entire Video Game It's Based on: The First Book of the URTV, by Mooncalf. Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zer Macht, gen. I've played Xenosaga. It's a fantastic game. It's also really fucking confusing; I can completely understand why it's going to take five more games to explain everything and tie up all the loose ends. So don't worry if you've never played the game; you can still read this story and be almost as up on what's going on as those of us who did. And this story is coherent in a way that the game never, ever was, which is one reason why I love it. Another reason is that it makes Rubedo human and sympathetic, instead of repulsive, juvenile, and irritating, as in the game. The story also fills in a lot of the history of Gaignun (aka Nigredo), a rich and sarcastic good guy, and Albedo, an androgynous villain with great hair, an evil laugh, and a mission to be slashy.

Best Slash FF That Has a Lower Rating and Less Gay Sex Than the Canon on Which It Is Based: Pleasantly Surprised, by

shrift. Velvet Goldmine, Curt Wild/Arthur Stuart. You really do need to have seen the movie to read this story, but I assume everyone who is reading this blog has seen it. You mean you're a slash reader who hasn't seen the Only Movie There's No Reason to Slash (Not That That Will Stop Us)? Go rent it at once. After you're done watching it, you can read this story and be, well, pleasantly surprised that Curt Wild, the quintessential insane rock star, could grow up to be reasonably sane and reasonably happy.

Best FF in Which Someone Finds a BBC TV Movie More Interesting Than an Unknown Universe Outside His Door, Thus Proving That People Who Can Wear Superhero Costumes Really Do Have Taste Deficiencies: Still, by Jane St. Clair, aka

3jane. The Authority, Apollo/Midnighter. This is another gay-in-canon couple. Makes you wonder why these are small fandoms, doesn't it? Well, one possible answer is that canon authors apparently really enjoy tormenting their gay characters; though you don't need to have read the comic books to read this story, you do need to know that, in the canon, Apollo was badly beaten and probably raped after losing a fight. But, no matter what your knowledge of the canon, read this and be impressed; Jane does an excellent job here of showing us a realistic long-term relationship. And she manages some post-hurt comfort that actually makes sense. And that's rare enough that maybe I should've called this nominations set "Endangered Slash Species."

Best FF That Reminds Us Just How Irritating It Is to Have a Friend Who Insists on Being the Best at Everything: The Ghosts of Women, by Miro (sorry, no link for her). GoldenEye, James Bond/Alec Trevelyan. Let us all take a moment to remember that Sean Bean is the patron saint of slash. This story really gets to the heart of why. We can believe that James Bond has lots of women. We can believe that Alec Trevelyan has lots of men. And we can believe that Bond would switch teams for Trevelyan. (And, as so many writers have pointed out, Bond would be more than a bit of jerk about that.) Be thankful, then, for Sean Bean, who makes every role just the right combination of slutty, slashy, and morally ambiguous. It's a recipe more actors could stand to follow.

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Hmm, I'd have to say my favorite crossover series (other than the stuff I write myself--I've written a lot of crossovers with Tim Bayliss from Homicide: Life on the Street paired with various other folks) is probably

kelliem and Aukestrel's due South/Hard Core Logo/Tales of the City series. I think they're archived both on due Slash and the HCL fic archive (http://hcl.shriftweb.org/quicksearch.html) that

shrift runs. Oh, and the HCL/Iron Chef crossover by Mairead, which is the funniest thing I've read, ever. That's A Few Highlights from My Very Favorite Imaginary Show (http://www.avalon.net/~nonie/spike/iron2.htm). I think I recced a couple other good ones in my HCL recs for

crack_van back when it was the small fandom of the month (February, I think it was?).

Ooo. Thanks for the recs. I couldn't actually watch Hard Core Logo, because it reminded me way too much of an old friend (who essentially is Joe Dick), but I will gladly read the FF anyway; god knows I do not hesitate to embrace strange fandoms. (Yes, go ahead, say it: fandom slut.) Two questions that might help me a bit with these stories, though:

1. What is Iron Chef?

2. When you say Tales of the City, I assume you mean Armistead Maupin's series of books set in a sort of slightly AU San Fransisco during the '70s and '80s? Because my brain is reeling at the thought of combining Mouse et al with Fraser et al.

Though, come to think of it, the Due South universe and the Tales of the City universe have a lot in common. I'm sort of starting to see how it could work.

Thanks!

Hard Core Logo is an amazing film, but I imagine it *would* be difficult to watch if you knew someone who was a lot like Joe, especially given the ending of the film, which I'm guessing you know?

Anyway, to answer your questions:

1. Iron Chef is a Japanese cooking show (shown on the Food Network in the US). It is the most over the top thing you could ever imagine, with a chairman (Chairman Kaga) who picks "iron chefs" to "battle" other chefs in "Kitchen Stadium," where they have one hour to create dishes that all include the ingredient from that battle--try to imagine, if you will, excited announcers (like Ota) dubbed in English talking about how Iron Chef Chen Kenichi is using the heads of the (live until Chen chops said heads off) to make, oh, ice cream, and you'll get the merest idea what this show is like.

2. Yes, I am talking about the Maupin books, although the specific source material is the PBS miniseries, which starred, among others, Paul Gross--I'm blanking out on the name of the character, unfortunately, but he's a lawyer and he has a teenage daughter.

And, hey, you say fandom slut like it's a *bad* thing! ;-)

(I in no way intended to imply that fandom sluttishness was a bad thing. Hey, I write this LJ in hopes of bringing more people into the fanslut fold, so you know I'm for it.)

Actually, I don't know the ending of HCL. I'm never going to be able to watch it anyway, so would you mind, um, spoiling it for me? I know it's a bad bad thing to want, but now I'm curious.

Iron Chef sounds amazingly wonderful, and suddenly I ache to see it, but there's no way. It doesn't look like it's been released on DVD, even. Still - that sounds like an insanely entertaining show.

And I had no idea they'd made a miniseries out of the Maupin books! Those were one of my first literary encounters with gay characters that did something besides cry and die, and I will forever be grateful to Maupin, even though he hasn't written anything even half decent since the fifth book of the City series.

But I can't figure out who Gross played; it sort of sounds like Brian, but Brian didn't have a teenage daughter. (Brian was a lawyer before the series starts, but he quit to be a waiter and to, like, live a free life and have great sex and not be all tied down and adult. Apparently this kind of thing made sense in the '70s. Anyway, he ends up with Mary Ann Singleton; they get married (and, in the last book, divorced) and adopt a baby who is about 5, I think, when the series ends.) It would sort of make sense in terms of casting, though; Brian is described as being good-looking, dark-haired, tall, and built, and that's pretty much how Fraser is described, too.

And the IMDb is completely thrashed and running like it's under a DOS attack (though I don't think it actually is), so I can't even look it up. Well, this is going to bug me.

So. Is the miniseries of Tales worth seeing?

Okay. Well.

If you read any HCL fic, you're going to be spoiled anyway, so, if you're sure...

At the end of the movie, Joe shoots himself.

Re: the TotC miniseries, etc. Yes, PG played Brian. There was a *second* miniseries where he was played by someone else, I gather--I never saw the second one. I didn't realize the daughter was adopted. The crossover (which starts out dS/HCL, then goes to HCL/TotC) takes place starting in the late 90s (during the time of dS), so they aged everyone in a corresponding fashion--and Brian has gone back to being a lawyer.

I did see the original miniseries when it first aired on PBS back in the, uh, I think it was the early to mid-80s. The second miniseries was maybe in the 90s? They might have even had a third one; I'm not sure. From what I've heard, the later one(s) aren't that great, but the first one was very entertaining and with some really good actors, like Olympia Dukakis and the guy who played Greg on Dharma and Greg and I can't remember who else 'cause it's been a long time. I remember it being very soapy and fun and with bad words and stuff that I wasn't used to seeing--I think I was in late high school when it was on, maybe, which would mean maybe '83 or so. Not sure how well it would hold up now, but as far as I know it might well be available on video or dvd. I'm pretty sure it was co-produced with the BBC.

Hope that helps!

Oh, and it is available on dvd:

Tales of the City on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006BT1A/qid=1084592181/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-6601998-5550355?v=glance&s=dvd).

Oh, wow. I am now so, so, so glad that I didn't finish watching that movie. Because I could not have handled seeing that character, of all people, shoot himself; he's...it's...eeek. Thanks for telling me.

That makes sense, actually; there's a clear implication at the end of the last Tales book that Brian's sort of re-doing his life, and I can easily see him returning to the legal fold. Interesting. Must read this fic now.

And I must also take a deep breath and borrow the Tales mini from the library. I can't believe anyone would ever make a miniseries out of the book - I don't even see how they could - so I'm interested to see how to came out. Scared, but curious.

Story of my life, actually.

And thanks for the help!

Yeah, checking on Amazon last night I see they *did* make a third one, and PG was only Brian in the first, not the second or third. I haven't read the book, so I don't have anything to compare it to--plus, like I said, I've only seen it once, the first time it was on, so my memory of it is pretty fuzzy.

I saw HCL for the first time already spoiled, btw, and I was glad that I was, because the way it's done, even if you know it's going to happen, it just totally shocks you. And it was Hugh Dillon's idea.

Do you know the other big things about HCL, both of which you find out about when Mary the Fan comes to visit?

Just in case you don't, because they're pretty important for the plot of the series I recommended:

Mary has a daughter, and her name is Billie, and at the end of the movie the blurb is that Billy's pursuing custody. The other thing is that John tells Mary that the reason Billy left is because Joe "fucked him up the ass"--the implication is that it's rape, although you *can* read it that John's just fucked up on his meds and making it up.

No, I didn't know that. I watched a very small portion of HCL with my Best Beloved, until we both concluded that a) Joe Dick was that friend I mentioned and b) we could not cope at all with a movie about Friend. So I'm very glad you told me about those things.

Um, though, now I'm wondering why there's so much Joe/Billy slash. 'Cause that sounds, you know, like a fairly unhappy relationship there. With the rape and all.

God help me. I'm really curious about the movie now. I want to know why he kills himself, and the deal with Joe and Billy and...but I can't watch it! I can't! Even if I screwed my courage to the sticking point, I couldn't watch a movie in which a clone of Friend kills himself.

*brain tries to find solution to insoluble dilemma*

*brain explodes*

The Joe/Billy relationship is *very* dysfunctional, and a lot of the fic reflects that. It's a great movie, but it's not a *light* movie--it was often marketed in the US as a comedy (the punk Spinal Tap), but it is definitely *not* a comedy, although there are of course some very funny moments.

If you want a (non-spoilery) overview of the movie and the fic, you can check out the fandom overview (http://www.livejournal.com/community/crack_van/253199.html) I did for

crack_van.

Oh, and I meant to ask - who is that in your icon? (I'm so bad at iconage. I never recognize anyone.)

Kyle Secor as Tim Bayliss in Homicide: Life on the Street, otherwise known as the character I can't get enough of. I assume this is the guy you meant, since I *know* you know who Callum Keith Rennie is!

Um. Actually? I wouldn't know Callum Keith Rennie if he walked up and bit me; he'd have to hand me a resume or something for me to know who he was. I have this, um, near total inability to recognize faces. So I wasn't kidding when I said I was bad at iconage; I spend a lot of time looking at people's icons and wishing I knew who they were. Though I'm comforted somewhat by the knowledge that if the guy I was asking about was Secor, there's no reason I should've recognized him.

Oh, I'm sorry--I assumed from your dS post that you knew the players. The person in *this* icon is Callum Keith Rennie, who played Ray Kowalski in dS and Billy Tallent in HCL.

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Slashy Nominations 39: Revenge of the Small Fandoms

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