Re: I got in first?executrixJanuary 8 2007, 01:43:01 UTC
Well, LJ is like UPS: a heavily trafficked delivery system that hates me for some reason. I tried to post this in December when it was due, it ended up in reflections_2 and *did* get two comments, and I usually get three comments per project...
Joss is certainly the Bard of Tactless People--although in my days as a crossover Avon/Simon shipper, at any given moment the entire combined Liberator-Serenity crew was probably mad at both of them, but at Avon because he was deliberately being insulting.
Re: I got in first?the_summoning_dJanuary 8 2007, 17:22:53 UTC
O.O I must find and read these Avon/Simon fics of which you speak! I considered writing a Blake's 7/Firefly crossover, but for some reason I never thought about which pairings to have (Although don't you think there's a great potential for friendship between Vila and Wash? And, come to think of it, River and Cally...)
Re: I got in first?executrixJanuary 8 2007, 17:35:41 UTC
Joss is a known B7 fan, and Firefly reflects the same "life's a bitch and then your catalytic converter packs up" ethos, so I think they're an excellent chocolate/peanut butter combo. Although actually B7 is supposed to take place 500 years *after* Firefly, a problem I solve with a little hand-waving.
summoning_d: send me your e-mail address (I'm dshilling@verizon.net; I looked, it's not in your user info). I wrote a story where Vila and Wash embarked on a project that did NOT turn out well...
I also wrote some fusions--Duel makes a pretty shiny Firefly episode, and Jaynestown a pretty good B7 ep.
Yoinks. This is awesome. As you may have discovered, I am a product of my fannish friends and therefore, have become more and more interested in one Simon Tam (and the Winsisters, and crack AUs and so on... it's not always the most sophisticated stuff that rubs off).
This is the TRUTH: For those who love Firefly, the brilliant flash faded too fast, and we're left with…not enough of so many things. OUCH. And yes, there are still so many bunnies left to be explored in Firefly and it's a shame that the fandom isn't bigger and more willing.
But the first bunny I'll follow will always be the one with the cleanest fur, shining against the silk of his buttoned-up vest. AWWWW... *pets*
I love your deconstruction of Simon and Jayne and also his relationship with River. Spot-on. I'm surprised there isn't more of Simon and Mal, but what's here is clear. Also the notion of Mal/Inara as lead couple with the juvenile and the ingenue -- that works in it's own unique way for the show, I think.
I'm sure I would never have written any Simon/Jayne (or, in my B7 days, any Avon/Tarrant) if I hadn't been absorbing the WeltFanschauung.
I don't see how the fandom could be any more willing though--other fans already run and hide when they hear us coming.
My mind just went to a very scary place of Renee Zellweger being inspired to write slash by talking watercolor bunnies (one with a vest, one with suspenders holding up his tight pants...)
As for the Mal/Simon ship, it inspires a lot of antipathy not only among non-slashers but among slashers with other ship preferences, so I figured I'd just put it into the record and move on.
oh, Simon, you great big dork, how I love you. Simon took me a while to fall for, but once I did, and once I saw what a raving idiot he tended to be, II couldnt help but love him.
this is a lovely look at him, even for those of us whose slash goggles tend to be put aside on Firefly.
Norman Lear said that every TV show is about a house and a family. I'd put it a little differently--that every TV show is about people whose various attributes add up to an UberBuffy. Firefly certainly is a demonstration that there are different kinds of intelligence, and the crew need each other because of the extent to which they complement one another.
This is a great overview of Simon's character and I agree with everything you've said about him. I hadn't thought of the comparison with how the two main romantic couples not together progress exactly the same.
All great insights into the character and a good read!
Really enjoyed this. I'd agree that Simon has more backstory than anyone else, with the possible exception of Mal. Because he's so central to the long-term plot, I'd also say that he got a more complete plot arc than anyone else, at least in the TV run.
What bugged me most about the Great TV/movie Continuity Schism of 2005 was that Simon's character arc from the series got dropped and replaced by the whole crew/not-crew chestnut. In the series, his efforts to protect River bring him up against bigger and bigger obstacles, and his fight goes from just keeping her safe, to keeping her safe against what's starting to look like everyone in the Alliance not actually on Serenity (plus Jayne). So I see him as being in the same position as Mal during the war, when it became increasingly obvious he wasn't going to win. In my little world, Simon's character arc was leading up Simon's Serenity Valley -- who would he become?
It's to the series credit that he's as fleshed out as he is, and yours that you've distilled the character's essence
Serenity Valley is Room 101, where it's not so much about what you *become* but what constitutes everything you have to lose, so sometmies I think tht Simon would have to be in a psoition where he had to kill River and then survive.
Comments 15
You've got Simon down perfectly. Well done
Peace out
~TSD
("Born with a silver foot in his mouth" ...oh, I love that ^^)
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Joss is certainly the Bard of Tactless People--although in my days as a crossover Avon/Simon shipper, at any given moment the entire combined Liberator-Serenity crew was probably mad at both of them, but at Avon because he was deliberately being insulting.
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summoning_d: send me your e-mail address (I'm dshilling@verizon.net; I looked, it's not in your user info). I wrote a story where Vila and Wash embarked on a project that did NOT turn out well...
I also wrote some fusions--Duel makes a pretty shiny Firefly episode, and Jaynestown a pretty good B7 ep.
Reply
This is the TRUTH: For those who love Firefly, the brilliant flash faded too fast, and we're left with…not enough of so many things. OUCH. And yes, there are still so many bunnies left to be explored in Firefly and it's a shame that the fandom isn't bigger and more willing.
But the first bunny I'll follow will always be the one with the cleanest fur, shining against the silk of his buttoned-up vest. AWWWW... *pets*
I love your deconstruction of Simon and Jayne and also his relationship with River. Spot-on. I'm surprised there isn't more of Simon and Mal, but what's here is clear. Also the notion of Mal/Inara as lead couple with the juvenile and the ingenue -- that works in it's own unique way for the show, I think.
Brava, Brava!
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I'm sure I would never have written any Simon/Jayne (or, in my B7 days, any Avon/Tarrant) if I hadn't been absorbing the WeltFanschauung.
I don't see how the fandom could be any more willing though--other fans already run and hide when they hear us coming.
My mind just went to a very scary place of Renee Zellweger being inspired to write slash by talking watercolor bunnies (one with a vest, one with suspenders holding up his tight pants...)
As for the Mal/Simon ship, it inspires a lot of antipathy not only among non-slashers but among slashers with other ship preferences, so I figured I'd just put it into the record and move on.
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this is a lovely look at him, even for those of us whose slash goggles tend to be put aside on Firefly.
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Norman Lear said that every TV show is about a house and a family. I'd put it a little differently--that every TV show is about people whose various attributes add up to an UberBuffy. Firefly certainly is a demonstration that there are different kinds of intelligence, and the crew need each other because of the extent to which they complement one another.
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All great insights into the character and a good read!
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What bugged me most about the Great TV/movie Continuity Schism of 2005 was that Simon's character arc from the series got dropped and replaced by the whole crew/not-crew chestnut. In the series, his efforts to protect River bring him up against bigger and bigger obstacles, and his fight goes from just keeping her safe, to keeping her safe against what's starting to look like everyone in the Alliance not actually on Serenity (plus Jayne). So I see him as being in the same position as Mal during the war, when it became increasingly obvious he wasn't going to win. In my little world, Simon's character arc was leading up Simon's Serenity Valley -- who would he become?
It's to the series credit that he's as fleshed out as he is, and yours that you've distilled the character's essence
Reply
Serenity Valley is Room 101, where it's not so much about what you *become* but what constitutes everything you have to lose, so sometmies I think tht Simon would have to be in a psoition where he had to kill River and then survive.
Reply
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