"Good luck, SG-1" - Don S. Davis

[fignewton]

I first heard the news late last night, and it's been officially confirmed by the time I woke up this morning: Don S. Davis died of a heart attack at the age of 65 on June 29th.

Don brought General George Hammond vividly to life for us, creating one of fandom's favorite supporting characters. Hammond knew how to walk the line of his orders and still get the job done, how to inspire his people to the best of their abilities (and beyond), how to "stand and wait" in all its agonizing pemutations - except, of course, for the times when he didn't, and he stepped into the line of fire for the sake of those under his command.

I'd considered making a tribute post here, but my marvelous co-mod aurora_novarum beat me to it, and with infinitely more style. Go here for Redial's tribute to George, and leave your own comments.

Meanwhile, izhilzha suggested we have Hammond Alphabet Soup sometime. I love the idea, and my immediate reaction was, "It's too bad we can't do this for next week's Gen Fic Day." And then I wondered: maybe we can?

The Alphabet Soup series started as a birthday gift to abyssinia4077, and that first one was put together in three days. We limited the word count from 100-200 words then, although of course some of us went over that limit. :) But if we could do it then, maybe we can also do it now - even with Teal'c Alphabet Soup already simmering in so many authors' muses.

So, a quick poll: Should we try and pull together a Hammond Alphabet Soup by a week from today, as a tribute to a character we all love and the man who made that character so loveable?


[Poll #1214140]

Comments

[maevebran.livejournal.com]

I've never written Hammond before but for this I will. =)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Hammond inspires that kind of reaction. :)

[uniquinum.livejournal.com]

I'm in whenever wherever. I've nearly finished the Teal"c soup so I'm up for some Hammond loving.

Can I claim a letter without the post being up yet?

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Ah, that would be a no. :) But I will try to coordinate the timing of the post (whenever that will be) with you folks Down Under, so you can claim the letter you'd like.

[uniquinum.livejournal.com]

Thought so...

[sulien77.livejournal.com]

My writing can be pretty sucktastic, but I would like to give it a try for this. Don S. Davis was such an amazing man.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

He does seem to inspire people, doesn't he? :)

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

The stargategenrec community is also asking for recs for Hammond-oriented fanfic. You can also rec your own fic for this. Just thought I would pass the word along.

Don Davis seemed like such a wonderful man, and he contributed so much to the Stargate universe. This is very sad.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip! I'll go check it out.

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

because so many of the fandom's writers are busy with the Remix Ficathon, the Jack/Daniel Ficathon, your lovely Teal'c Gen Fic Alphabet, and because next weekend is one of the major USA holidays, with people traveling for days on end and now getting ready to travel, I think you should wait at least a week. Maybe until after the 14th, when the J/D people will be freer.

That's my two cents. If you wait, I'll participate. But my hands are full right now.

*cheers*

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Excellent points. I do tend to be focused on my own little corner of the fandom (aren't we all?) and I hadn't realized how busy it is out there.

And, of course, since I haven't been in the States for the month of July in 16 years, I'd totally forgotten the Fourth!

The poll is definitely leaning in your direction, anyway.

[beanpot.livejournal.com]

I would love to do a fic for this, but as Princess says above - with the long weekend in the States and the Teal'c alphabet thing (which I still need to write), I don't know if I can fit it in for next week. But either way - I love the idea and look forward to reading them!

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

::nods:: This is exactly why I posted the poll - it's hard to gauge what's right, here. I think I'd rather wait, but if enough people were enthusiastic about doing it right now... but that doesn't seem to be the case. We'll see how the poll ends up.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Memorial services are not always held in the days immediately following a person's death. By that token, I don't think that a fic tribute needs to be an immediate thing. Ultimately, I think a little bit of time and space can make for a more meaningful fic collection.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

That is an excellent and thoughtful point, yes. Time and space to do the job right seems to be winning the poll at the moment.

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

I'm overdue on birthday fic(s) for two people and two more of my flist are having birthdays today (Plus it's Canada Day and the forthcoming US holiday weekend). With my muse in its current state, I'm thinking of making a sweet, funny Hammond fic tribute combined birthday gift, but still feeling too sad to write.

I'm wondering if it might be better to wait until people get their fandom feet under them again. so that stories can give Hammond, and of course the actor who gave him life, the tribute he deserves.

We don't have to coordinate Alphabet Soups for Gen Fic Days (in fact, I've had at least two people mention to me about the alphabet soup and gen fic as if they're two different things and/or that they need to post gen fic on these holidays. We want gen fic all the time!)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I do think it would be better to wait, personally. But I want to see how others feel. And it does seem that most prefer to put it off.

Regarding Gen Fic Day vs. Alphabet Soup... to be honest, syncing them togther is a rather shameless excuse on my part to make sure that the Alphabet Soups stay gen. :) Benevolent Dictatrix aside, I believe that there's a lot more to characterization than who the person is being shipped with, and we want these ficlets to be about defining the character. So by marrying the two concepts together, there's a stronger chance that the soup will be flavored in terms of definition and not by the writer's OTP.

So yes, we want Alphabet Soup. AND gen fic! And not only four times a year. :)

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I jumped the gun on posting at redial as soon as I did, but I just felt compelled. Sigh. Poor Hammond.

AS v GF Day. Ah. Tres clever, mon amie. Bwah ha ha.

Now to just inspire more gen fic to be written between those times and our plans to take over fandom fic folders will be complete!

o:-)

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

I'll sign up if we have it for this coming Gen Fic Day, but I wouldn't be adverse to putting it off, either. *shrug* Either way.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Thanks for chiming in! We'll see the poll results by tomorrow.

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

My inital reaction is 'oh, yes, let us jump right in.' But cooler heads prevail and I now think we should give our grief time to temper so that we can give the fics the time and effort they deserve to honor a great man.

I have so many pictures in my mind of General Hammond, shouting at Jack, standing up to Pentagon goons and off-world bullies, saving SG-1 over and over again.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Yep, we're going to hold off a bit. New post going up shortly.