Various fannish thoughts

[fignewton]

An interesting link in The Wall Street Journal that instantly reminded me of Daniel: Professors on the Battlefield. Without getting into the politics (please, don't get into the politics here!), the "Human Terrain System" is a new Pentagon initative in which the military is consulting anthropologists to get a clearer idea of the expected cultural response to their behavior in the field. When quotes like,"serve as cultural advisers to brigade commanders" and "a willingness by military officers to learn from civilian academics" immediately flashed me on Stargate, I came to the conclusion that the round thing on the bottom of Cheyenne Mountain has taken over my life entirely. This may, or may not, be a good thing. :)

I rewatched certain episodes of SG-1 last night, as research for an up-and-coming ficathon. I haven't quite decided which episode to work with, as yet, but I did come up with the following two observations:

Can someone please explain to me why this fandom isn't full of fantastic Teal'c and Daniel friendship fics? In episode after episode, in season after season, these two are framed together, standing side by side and reacting to dialogue from Jack or Sam. Do Sam/Jack shippers tend to write Daniel and Teal'c together, as many Jack and Daniel friendship authors tend to write Sam and Teal'c together, and I'm just missing all of it because I don't read Sam/Jack ship? There is so much potential between those two: Daniel as everything that Teal'c has not been taught to honor, Daniel's unwavering support in Cor-Ai, their friendship and loyalty to each other despite Sha're's abduction and subsequent death, working through alt-Teal'c shooting Daniel in TBFTGOG, Avatar, the struggle to save Jack and Sam during Divide and Conquer, Bra'tac's growing respect for Daniel through the years (I've mentioned this before one or ten times), Daniel calming Teal'c in Fair Game - gah, the possibilities are endless. So where is all the fic?

And on a lighter note, one of the episodes I scanned was Urgo. Despite Dom DeLuise's frantic chewing of the scenery - or maybe because of it? - that episode is solid gold. Marvelous Janet and George scenes, hilarious team scenes, the poor SFs assigned to trail SG-1 in a pile-up when Jack bolts back to the commissary for one last slice of pie - and, of course, "I wanna live, I wanna experience the universe, and I wanna eat pie." That, my friends, is SG-1 in a nutshell. (Tallulah Rasa picked up on that delightfully in the final chapter of her excellent So Long, Farewell, See You Around.)

At any rate, I noticed something during the scene in the infirmary, after Urgo first reveals himself and they're trying to explain him to Janet. It's after Teal'c has turned on the defribillator, so there's already the charm of seeing tiny Janet next to towering Teal'c (and knowing that Teal'c is utterly cowed by her, as is everyone on base). Daniel is explaining how Urgo seems to work: "He also seems to be able to enhance our enjoyment of certain experiences in order to motivate us." As Daniel is speaking, it cuts to Urgo, standing next to Janet, staring at her very intently. Not, however, at her face...

This is the ultimate Gen Girl speaking here, and it still screamed at me! Heh. My own take on Daniel/Janet is that over the years, they became quite close, even affectionate; but I have never really shipped them. Urgo, apparently, thought overwise. :)

Comments

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, this fandom has plenty of gen (one thing I love about it) but I wonder if that ship-dominance spreads into the gen side - since we dominate those characters (and relationships) in ship fic, they turn around and dominate friendship fic. Maybe. Though it's probably just Teal'c being unloved. Which just means there's room for more fic!

I didn't love Orpheus that much, but I loved the moments between Daniel and Teal'c so, so, so much.

*mulls* Hopefully when I get a break from ficathons (except the team one is coming! gah!) Really only four? I would have thought there'd be more than that...*is sad*

[nomadicwriter]

I wonder if that ship-dominance spreads into the gen side - since we dominate those characters (and relationships) in ship fic, they turn around and dominate friendship fic. Maybe.

I think there is something to that. Certainly a lot of J/D slashers in this fandom double as gen writers, and of course because it's that relationship that interests them, they tend to write mostly Jack-and-Daniel focused gen. (Sam and Jack friendship-not-shipfic is, sadly, a whole lot rarer. I would kill for some good SJ buddy-fic, dammit.)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I would kill for some good SJ buddy-fic, dammit.

aurora_novarum has been muttering about that for a while now, and I've been agreeing with her. splash_the_cat told us it's sometimes posted as Sam/Jack or pre-ship Sam/Jack which is why it's missed - though it's also way too rare.

But, yeah, I agree with what you mean - you write the characters/relationships that interest you and that you're comfortable writing - so it makes some sense that the commonly explored characters/ships influence the gen side of the fandom.

[nomadicwriter]

it's sometimes posted as Sam/Jack or pre-ship Sam/Jack which is why it's missed

Yeah. And it's frustrating, because even if you find a good one it's then difficult to rec to other gen fans who are more pairing-paranoid than you, because you've got to be all, "Yes, I know it says it's Sam/Jack UST in the header, but there's not really any evidence of it in there anywhere, honest..."

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

We had a whole discussion about this on surrealphantast's How-to Guide in which she invited everyone to celebrate their favorite ship, specifying what they wanted other people to know about that ship and what they wished people didn't assume. I chimed in with gen, naturally. :) But yes, the subject of the lack of Sam and Jack friendship came up, and labels: more readers will try a ship-labeled story in the first place, and many writers are afraid that readers will be angry with them for not labeling a story Sam/Jack if Jack even smiles at Sam in approval.

However, splash_the_cat offered this link to her growing collection of Sam and Jack friendship fics. It's not much, but you of all people would probably be interested. :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. Usually it's like "I know it's says UST/preship/ship but they actually don't do anything you don't see onscreen, really"
*sigh*
Crazy fandom categorization.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I have to admit it's the "if you really squint" category that drives me personally insane. :)

I understand the desire to coax a ship's readers to read your fic, I do. But how about all the non-shippers, who might enjoy your fic but are wary of the shipping?

Sigh. It's lonely here, on the moon... :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Oh, no kidding. And I can never tell if that's coaxing shippers to read a gen fic or warning genners they might see ship and get offended.

I've grown to hate the "pre-ship" label - I can't figure out what it means. Half the time it seems to end with me thinking "Okay, that was totally gen why the label?" and the other half "OMG Jack and Daniel are kissing - that is so ship"

And, really, I don't care that much - I'm not going to flip out or want to bleach my eyes I just...don't get it.

*hands you spare oxygen tank and digger-thing for moon-rock golf*

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I can never tell if that's coaxing shippers to read a gen fic or warning genners they might see ship and get offended.

I'd personally call it "trying to cover all the bases but probably offending everybody" myself. :)

Yes, the "pre-ship" label can be highly annoying, indeed. Let readers find their own subtext and decide - or, if it's blatant, call it ship.

It's nice and peaceful up here. Cool, too. And the view, as your Sam icon attests, is just lovely.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Four new ones. There are the six I recced last time, plus several older recs that fit nicely into the category. But I waited until I had four new fics to rec before asking for the category again. I only hope I'm going to get it; the mods might decide that even though I'm asking for different friendships, other people get a turn at the category first.

The Jaffa backstory kinda bores me, because while they did an amazing job of making me really really care about Teal'c and Bra'tac and Ry'ac and even Rak'nor, they didn't do all that good a job about making me care about the Jaffa in general. But Teal'c's struggle to recover his "mojo" and the friendship with Daniel? That part was made of wow. :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I'm hit or miss on a lot of the Jaffa episodes. I like parts of them and I love Teal'c's journey and Bra'tac and such, but they didn't quite make me care enough about the Jaffa as a whole - so, yeah, in Orpheus I didn't care as much about liberating ALL the Jaffa.

But that stuff with Teal'c dealing with his first big injury post-symbiote and helping Daniel re-find himself and all was SO GOOD. Of course, I also watched the episode with a cat named Mojo sitting on my lap so when Jack told Teal'c he had to get his mojo back I might have laughed really hard and told the cat not to worry - we wouldn't be sending him through the big glowy screen.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Hee!!!! Poor Mojo the cat! And you MUST read SEF's innocent little drabble about Orpheus: #7 on the list.

To be honest? If they'd done a better job with the Free Jaffa in S9-10, I might have retroactively cared more about the Jaffa in earlier seasons. Imagine if Almost a Statesman was canon! As it is, though, I really don't think the Free Jaffa deserve the awesomeness that is Teal'c. Or Bra'tac!