while I am festividding*, a meme!

[such_heights]

From various folk:

Ask me one fandom-related question in the comments. This can be fandom specific, general, or about fandom/lj stuff/fic writing/etc. in general.

Just one question, please, but it can (and perhaps should) have sub-parts.

Question can be as wacky as you want. Ask me about tv shows, characters, fanfic in general, fandom issues/meta, anything about any of my stories specifically. Whatever you want.

Fandoms include but are not limited to: HP, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Merlin, SGA, Firefly, SPN, Star Treks, T:TSCC, BSG, Legend of the Seeker and Leverage, though I'm not up to date on all currently airing shows either out of choice or lack of time.

*omg you guys, omg. This is so scary, I do not feel up to this! But it's about 2/3 done, maybe.

Comments

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

If you were going to host a dinner party to which you could invite your choice of any characters from HP, Merlin, Firefly, and Star Trek: DS9

--who would make the guest list?
--what food, drinks, and dessert would you serve? (you choose how many courses)
--what topics of conversation would you provide?
--what behavior would you expect to result?

[such_heights]

OOH. Okay, I am going to limit myself to two per fandom otherwise I'm never going to be able to feed them all! *g*

HP - Sirius and Lily, for most entertainment value and because Sirius'n'James would no doubt be a nightmare. Merlin - Gwen and Morgana, obv. Firefly - Kaylee and Inara, and for DS9 I'll take Sisko and Dax. I think all of them would be excellent conversationalists, and hopefully by bringing them in friendship pairs it won't be completely awkward.

Food would have to be casual as I'm not the best of cooks - probably a hot plate of nachos with melted cheese and sour cream and so on to start, chili as a main course and something shop-bought as a desert.

I would hope to be able to let the conversation run free - I imagine that (working on the assumption that they're not in fact all in totally clashing worlds centuries apart) there would be conversations about politics - Gwen, Lily and Sisko; tech and engines - Kaylee and Dax; the aristocracy - Sirius, Inara and Morgana. In fact, all of them could talk about rebellions and fighting evil empires of varying sorts, which would be pretty awesome. I expect that by the end of the evening we'd have a revolution on our hands.

[ontology]

I AM ATTENDING THIS DINNER PARTY COME HELL OR HIGH WATER.

(even just to witness Sirius, Inara, and Morgana talking about the aristocracy. OMG.)

[glass_icarus]

Top five "superpowers" of badass female characters (in any of these fandoms): which ones would you pick and why? :D

[such_heights]

You know, I can only think of two with full of magical powers, Morgana and Kahlan from LotS. (And, obviously, everyone in HP but that doesn't quite count.) Thus, I shall go for skills more generally!

- Hermione's ability to absorb all information ever
- Uhura's linguist skills
- Toshiko from Torchwood's tech skills
- Morgana's magic powers and also sword skills
- Kara from BSG's flygirl skills

Thus, I will travel the universe and fight crime! :D

[fallingtowers]

Three crossovers involving Kara Thrace that should totally be written!

[such_heights]

- Kara and Sarah Connor should totally hang out and talk about guns and shoot up robots.
- I would kind of love to see Kara as the Doctor's companion, because hilarity. She would get him into loads of trouble, but I think maybe they'd be good for each other.
- And I think I'd quite like a crossover with Reboot Trek, where Maelstrom!Kara ends up in Reboot-verse and finds Earth. You could have angst, plot, shenanigans, all sorts.

[lefaym]

If you were in charge of Merlin S3, what major things would happen?

[such_heights]

Haha, MANY THINGS!

First of all, it would go back to an ensemble show with equal focus on the four leads. There'd be much more development of Morgana's character, and Gwen would actually get a POV not related to Arthur some more. A big arc of the series would be Gwen trying to reconnect and reconcile with Morgana even while she's off doing magic with Morgause.

Also, I think there'd be two major deaths: Gaius and Uther. Gaius around mid-season - a good death, noble and self-sacrificing and whatnot, and the typical 'the mentor must die so the hero can progress' type arc. However, with Gaius's influence gone Merlin starts to question a lot of things and regret decisions he's made. He confides in Gwen, and OMG FINALLY someone knows he's got magic.

Anyway, things plod along week-to-week more or less, but Morgause is planning a big campaign and Morgana's going to help her, building up to the finale. What I'd love, actually, is Gwen trying to talk Merlin into telling Arthur, and he finally does, but Arthur doesn't have a chance to react at all because the castle is under attack! I think it would end on a cliffhanger with Morgause killing Uther and Merlin and Morgana coming face to face in the heat of battle, with all kinds of secrets coming out. Basically, SHIT WOULD HAPPEN. Ahem.

[lefaym]

You should so be in charge of this show.

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

THIS.

WOULD BE AWESOME.

I would totally enjoy a noble, self-sacrificing death for Gaius. He's one of the few characters (ever) for which that could work. And I like the way you build to a wonderful crescendo, and leave the Arthur-reveal hanging for S4....

[magic_at_mungos]

4 times Inara kissed Kaylee and 1 time she didn't :)

[sophinisba]

How do you like your fests?
-Multifandom or monofandom?
-Anonymous or with authors' names?
-Everything posted at once so we can all gorge, or spread out over a month or two so as not to be overwhelming?
-On LJ/DW or a separate archive?
-Organized as a gift exchange or prompt free-for-all?
-Etc.

[such_heights]

Ooh, good question! I have enjoyed many types of fests in my time. I think that probably my two favourites kinds of fests are anon ones where everything gets posted at once, like Remix and Yuletide, so you have a brief amount to roll around in it and then the authors get revealed, or non-anon posting over a longer period, whether a gift exchange or prompts.

[verasteine]

What's your reading of the sexuality of the characters of Merlin?

(Yes, I'm lame, I know. I just really want to know!)

[such_heights]

Not lame at all!

One of the reasons I fell for the show in the first place is because I felt like basically everybody read as queer, which was awesome. Because I think the main four have such big big love for each other (at least, in my version of events *g*) I can happily ship them however, but I do read both Merlin and Morgana as mostly gay, Morgana especially, despite what canon would have me believe!

I think it's the metaphor of magic/hidden powers, which is always so well suited to being in the closet, like X-Men as well, and I can eat that stuff up with a spoon. All of Merlin's angst about no one knowing who he really is, and how everything he does is for Arthur ... yeah. And though Morgana undoubtedly enjoys playing the part of the débutante and receiving male attention, she always seems to be more interested in making emotional connections with women, when the show gives her a chance.

Arthur and Gwen are nicely fluid, I suspect. Certainly Gwen with the whole 'excuse me while I take the rest of these flowers to my girlfriend Morgana' thing, and Arthur being, well, Arthur, and shirtless around his manservant lots. :D

[verasteine]

Oh, I love this, because I read Merlin as bi and Arthur as gay! I've the same reading for Gwen & Morgana, though, esp. Morgana as gay, which seems so completely obvious to me. Thanks for the detailed answer!