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Apr. 17th, 2003
Crossovers
Apr. 17th, 2003 02:36 pmThe Attack of the Day Trippers is in full swing. I don't mind, I really don't... except that I do. Why can't they tidy up after themselves? Why can't they realise that some people do in fact live here and are not appreciative of flying crisp packets and thrown eggs? Stupid people.
Em's in Wales. She texts me occasionally, which is nice. The first one was at half nine - "Are you awake?"
I wasn't. I fell asleep again and slept till eleven. That wasn't a brilliant idea, but last night's insomnia wasn't either. When I can't sleep at night I do stupid things. Last night's stupid thing was to go downstairs and cut an apple - in the dark. With a Subway knife. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up this morning with long cuts in my hands, but there's only a few scratches. I must have better night vision that I thought. Anyway, Em was texting to inform she had Sky and was watching M*A*S*H. I approved.
Physics is the revision of the day, although I did look at the Cold War. I don't understand transistors, or capacitors, but I am willing to put up with that. I like Physics because it makes sense. Unlike a certain other science. Sigh. I think I'll go and perch myself on the windowsill again, which I prefer to any other kind of revision at present. Plus, when I'm sitting at the stone table, the noise of the blinds swaying back and forth is like the sound of a person breathing, and it unnerves me.
So... procrastination is the apparent order of the day. I have been having random thoughts about crossovers, for some reason...
The problem with crossovers is you have to be familiar with both fandoms, which is doubly nice for you if you are, but not so nice if you know only one, as you get the feeling that a nice fic just went swooshing over your head. And then there's people who try to do the weirdest crossovers. LotR/Harry Potter... um, no. They might both feature magical goings-on, but that does not make the same thing. Crossing them over does not make sense.
Actually, few crossovers make sense. There's Stargate/X-Files, which is really a match made in heaven, because just thinking about it, the plot comes into your head. It's obvious, really. Mulder and Scully feel sinister vibrations from below the ground in Colorado Springs. Simple as that. And if someone hasn't already written it I'm the Flying Dutchman.
But so few other crossovers make such perfect sense like that. I remember someone who wanted Q and Picard to suddenly land in the 4077th, and although that would be so much fun to write, I don't think I could make a particularly classy piece of fiction out of it. Some sci-fi series(es?) do crossover nicely, but Star Trek and Stargate aren't in that category. All the people trying to do that - it does not work. Star Trek, even Enterprise, takes place in the future. If the Stargate Project really existed, it would be happening today, right at this very moment, now. A crossover has to get around this little chronological problem, and it has to do it convincingly.
Talking of whacked-out chronology brings me back to M*A*S*H, of course, and there's a show that really can't be crossed over with anything, if you ignore TNG randomness. I did, however, attempt to cross it over with Good Omens - the fic was called "Hallelujah." That was very subtle, though. Again, chronology is a problem - not with Good Omens, of course - but yeah, that's always the thing.
The other type of crossover, the easier kind, is my favourite and works for Stargate/just about anything. I love having SG-1 watching other TV shows. I mean, it works because we already know they watch a lot of TV - Teal'c and the Jerry Springer show come to mind - and it's an easy step to take. This one I have done, making SG-1 watch the Enterprise episode Unexpected. That was fun. And then, someone (not me, surprisingly enough) used the Stargate episode Window of Opportunity to have a bit of fun with the characters. If I remember rightly, she had Jack deciding to walk through the base naked to see if anyone would notice. Where could he get the idea but from Hawkeye Pierce, as Teal'c was watching old M*A*S*H re-runs at the time. With her permission, I did a sequel to that story. That was even more fun.
I'll admit to being extremely tempted by the "Q and Picard land in the 4077th" idea. Help me.
Em's in Wales. She texts me occasionally, which is nice. The first one was at half nine - "Are you awake?"
I wasn't. I fell asleep again and slept till eleven. That wasn't a brilliant idea, but last night's insomnia wasn't either. When I can't sleep at night I do stupid things. Last night's stupid thing was to go downstairs and cut an apple - in the dark. With a Subway knife. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up this morning with long cuts in my hands, but there's only a few scratches. I must have better night vision that I thought. Anyway, Em was texting to inform she had Sky and was watching M*A*S*H. I approved.
Physics is the revision of the day, although I did look at the Cold War. I don't understand transistors, or capacitors, but I am willing to put up with that. I like Physics because it makes sense. Unlike a certain other science. Sigh. I think I'll go and perch myself on the windowsill again, which I prefer to any other kind of revision at present. Plus, when I'm sitting at the stone table, the noise of the blinds swaying back and forth is like the sound of a person breathing, and it unnerves me.
So... procrastination is the apparent order of the day. I have been having random thoughts about crossovers, for some reason...
The problem with crossovers is you have to be familiar with both fandoms, which is doubly nice for you if you are, but not so nice if you know only one, as you get the feeling that a nice fic just went swooshing over your head. And then there's people who try to do the weirdest crossovers. LotR/Harry Potter... um, no. They might both feature magical goings-on, but that does not make the same thing. Crossing them over does not make sense.
Actually, few crossovers make sense. There's Stargate/X-Files, which is really a match made in heaven, because just thinking about it, the plot comes into your head. It's obvious, really. Mulder and Scully feel sinister vibrations from below the ground in Colorado Springs. Simple as that. And if someone hasn't already written it I'm the Flying Dutchman.
But so few other crossovers make such perfect sense like that. I remember someone who wanted Q and Picard to suddenly land in the 4077th, and although that would be so much fun to write, I don't think I could make a particularly classy piece of fiction out of it. Some sci-fi series(es?) do crossover nicely, but Star Trek and Stargate aren't in that category. All the people trying to do that - it does not work. Star Trek, even Enterprise, takes place in the future. If the Stargate Project really existed, it would be happening today, right at this very moment, now. A crossover has to get around this little chronological problem, and it has to do it convincingly.
Talking of whacked-out chronology brings me back to M*A*S*H, of course, and there's a show that really can't be crossed over with anything, if you ignore TNG randomness. I did, however, attempt to cross it over with Good Omens - the fic was called "Hallelujah." That was very subtle, though. Again, chronology is a problem - not with Good Omens, of course - but yeah, that's always the thing.
The other type of crossover, the easier kind, is my favourite and works for Stargate/just about anything. I love having SG-1 watching other TV shows. I mean, it works because we already know they watch a lot of TV - Teal'c and the Jerry Springer show come to mind - and it's an easy step to take. This one I have done, making SG-1 watch the Enterprise episode Unexpected. That was fun. And then, someone (not me, surprisingly enough) used the Stargate episode Window of Opportunity to have a bit of fun with the characters. If I remember rightly, she had Jack deciding to walk through the base naked to see if anyone would notice. Where could he get the idea but from Hawkeye Pierce, as Teal'c was watching old M*A*S*H re-runs at the time. With her permission, I did a sequel to that story. That was even more fun.
I'll admit to being extremely tempted by the "Q and Picard land in the 4077th" idea. Help me.
Tonight has excelled in utter surreal-ness. It was exactly eight o'clock, Pedar and I were watching the tail end of M*A*S*H whilst waiting for my mother to decide whether or not she wanted to go food shopping or stay home and watch Astitva (it's reaching crisis point). At that point, the phone rang. Pedar picked it up. He immediately said, "We're on our way!" and dropped the phone and ran out with me trailing in his wake. Guess who forgot she was babysitting tonight, and guess who was reminded at the hospital today and forgot to remind me?
Helen was really very nice about it, though. I arrived in a flurry of confusion, but she was all friendliness as always, and she left the emergency numbers in the right place, and off she went. I was left alone and disorientated. Maybe that's not the word, but at eight o'clock I'd planned to do nothing, start reading (and gawping at) all the crossover fic that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
apestaartje recommended. Within five minutes I was on the other side of Formby facing an evening quite different from what I'd planned, and I've never been one for sudden transitions. So I wandered vaguely around for a while, which was decidedly odd. And then I sat down, and tried to do Physics, which wasn't remotely successful. So I finally succumbed to the inevitable and started reading Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke.
I read for twenty minutes before I heard the howling.
Rebecca was really not happy. She screeched for a while, and all the time I was sitting there, next to her, looking and feeling like something citrus. Every time I thought she was settling down, she started up again. Finally, she seemed to calm a little and attempt to go back to sleep, so I told her to come downstairs if she wanted anything. I went down, read five more pages, and there she was. "Will you ring up my mummy, please?"
I would have called my own parents, or maybe Becca, but what can you say to an appeal like that? I made the call.
Happily, Helen was only in Formby, and she said she'd come back just to settle Rebecca down. Helen really is lovely; she found the whole affair amusing to say the least. She caught sight of some of my Physics books, and remarked on the fact that Merchants' still stamp their exercise books with their crest. She was a Merchants' brat, too, so she knew all about it. After about fifteen minutes spent soothing Rebecca - the baby never made a sound - off she went again.
I returned to Childhood's End. I'd read the short story it was based on, Guardian Angel, as that was in one of the short story collections I read when in the States the last time, and I rather think I liked the short story better. It features an Earth much like this one, except for the fact an alien race named the Overlords have come down from the stars, and silver ships now hang over every major city. The Supervisor of Earth is an Overlord named Karellen, and every week, he arranges a private meeting between himself and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I liked the short story because of its inventiveness, the wish-fulfillment in it, but mainly because of the real and honest affection Karellen has for the Secretary-General. The longer version of the story has this in, but doesn't focus on it, so I don't think it works as well. Anyway.
I was on the last page when Helen (and her husband - what the hell is his name?!) got back. They paid me and sent me merrily on my way, so despite the weirdness, not a bad evening all round. Pedar seemed pleased to see me when I turned up on the doorstep. According to him, Helen is pregnant; I really didn't notice, but then again she's not very far gone. That's neither here nor there. I'm a little richer, but I'm glad to be home. Tonight was too tiring, considering how little I actually did.
Sleepiness.
Helen was really very nice about it, though. I arrived in a flurry of confusion, but she was all friendliness as always, and she left the emergency numbers in the right place, and off she went. I was left alone and disorientated. Maybe that's not the word, but at eight o'clock I'd planned to do nothing, start reading (and gawping at) all the crossover fic that
apestaartje recommended. Within five minutes I was on the other side of Formby facing an evening quite different from what I'd planned, and I've never been one for sudden transitions. So I wandered vaguely around for a while, which was decidedly odd. And then I sat down, and tried to do Physics, which wasn't remotely successful. So I finally succumbed to the inevitable and started reading Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke.I read for twenty minutes before I heard the howling.
Rebecca was really not happy. She screeched for a while, and all the time I was sitting there, next to her, looking and feeling like something citrus. Every time I thought she was settling down, she started up again. Finally, she seemed to calm a little and attempt to go back to sleep, so I told her to come downstairs if she wanted anything. I went down, read five more pages, and there she was. "Will you ring up my mummy, please?"
I would have called my own parents, or maybe Becca, but what can you say to an appeal like that? I made the call.
Happily, Helen was only in Formby, and she said she'd come back just to settle Rebecca down. Helen really is lovely; she found the whole affair amusing to say the least. She caught sight of some of my Physics books, and remarked on the fact that Merchants' still stamp their exercise books with their crest. She was a Merchants' brat, too, so she knew all about it. After about fifteen minutes spent soothing Rebecca - the baby never made a sound - off she went again.
I returned to Childhood's End. I'd read the short story it was based on, Guardian Angel, as that was in one of the short story collections I read when in the States the last time, and I rather think I liked the short story better. It features an Earth much like this one, except for the fact an alien race named the Overlords have come down from the stars, and silver ships now hang over every major city. The Supervisor of Earth is an Overlord named Karellen, and every week, he arranges a private meeting between himself and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I liked the short story because of its inventiveness, the wish-fulfillment in it, but mainly because of the real and honest affection Karellen has for the Secretary-General. The longer version of the story has this in, but doesn't focus on it, so I don't think it works as well. Anyway.
I was on the last page when Helen (and her husband - what the hell is his name?!) got back. They paid me and sent me merrily on my way, so despite the weirdness, not a bad evening all round. Pedar seemed pleased to see me when I turned up on the doorstep. According to him, Helen is pregnant; I really didn't notice, but then again she's not very far gone. That's neither here nor there. I'm a little richer, but I'm glad to be home. Tonight was too tiring, considering how little I actually did.
Sleepiness.
