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God, I just, it hit me all over again while watching eps just how much I love this show and how much it feels like every episode was written for me, because it resonates with my mind in a way that very few shows do. It usually frustrates me that I can't enjoy the usual shows other people around me enjoy, sorta in the way that I'm frustrated that I can't think linearly very easily; which is to say that I figured out another way to go about it.
Hence fandom. Though even then, I kinda just drifted fandoms, mostly lurking and not sending feedback.
Until PotC. Until OUaTiM. Until Saiyuki.
(HP doesn't really count because I've never read any of the books.
Yes, I wrote fic based on the fanon alone. ::braces self for skewering::)
And it makes my head tilt because these fandoms not really similar and they span different genres and mediums. Or rather, maybe it's not because I have a Genre that I truly love. I love, really, the sort of a meta-genre, if it could be called a genre at all, of pastiche. It's a type of story within a genre that's both a tribute and a loving parody of the genre itself. (examples would be American Psycho for horror, PotC for pirate movies, Sin City for Film Noir, OUaTiM for spaghetti westerns, and Saiyuki for adventure sagas) I love love love homages that makes fun of itself, that has a sense of humor about itself, that undermines its own genre while at the same time celebrates it.
Pastiche is perhaps, in essence, the crack!fic of the genre. But let me pause here to define crack!fic as I think of it. Because crack!fic doesn't mean bad!fic to me; instead I think of it as good!fic with astonishing qualities. It's "I can't believe that just happened" and "I can't believe that worked". It's subversive and strange, strange because it shouldn't happen and subversive because it uses its own medium to comment on itself. My favorite type of crack!fic is consequently usually simultaneously meta!fic (which, come to think of it, explains RPAS), done with joy and love and insuppressable glee.
So perhaps it's not so surprising that I love SGA.
It is so much so true to its genre that it has, for lack of a better term, wiggle room. It's sorta like my liking slash because it's an exploration of relationships without the difficulties of power dynamics tied to gender, it's sorta like Republicans being able to critique Bush and being more easily believed because they're Republicans, it's sorta like in an experiment controlling the constants while swiveling only one variable.
I adore so much how SGA is a critique on sci-fi genre itself (sci-fi genre itself frequently being a critique on culture and society), while showing it so much love and empathy and fondness. It's a show that knows both it's roots and loves it and comments on it, from the Ancients in Aurora (who we are shown in that ep. is like Star Trek) to the variations of the Prime Directive (Sanctuary, End of Childhood) to the characters themselves. For instance Halling is like a physical comment on his character archetype (Wise Black/American-Indian Shaman), and Sheppard and Teyla are self-contained gender-fucks (see previous meta), and how they sometimes have a character play the part of Sceptical Audience when they do the especially cliched plotlines (like McKay in Sanctuary).
Granted, I think the cliched plot-lines are part of the point. To be able to allow such play in character and themes, to be able to mess with and to critique the genre so much, a show needs some stable structure (some "draw") to allow it to connect with the audience. In SGA's case, it's the sci-fi codes and conventions that they're utterly playing with, and succeeding at playing with, and doing so with such love in a way that utterly facinates me and nevermind the cliched storylines that aren't really the point for me anyways.
Then again, it returns to how SGA so very much feels like it's made for my brain 'cause I personally don't think there's any new story under the sun. Solely-narrative-based plotlines lose me whereas SGA approaches its narrative like a monumental McGuffin and basically said, "Lets mix up characters and themes and turn every cliche inside out, and do it with some salt for the wounds and lime for McKay and DON'T FORGET THE UMBRELLA!"
God, I love my show. ::blissed out::
Hence fandom. Though even then, I kinda just drifted fandoms, mostly lurking and not sending feedback.
Until PotC. Until OUaTiM. Until Saiyuki.
(HP doesn't really count because I've never read any of the books.
Yes, I wrote fic based on the fanon alone. ::braces self for skewering::)
And it makes my head tilt because these fandoms not really similar and they span different genres and mediums. Or rather, maybe it's not because I have a Genre that I truly love. I love, really, the sort of a meta-genre, if it could be called a genre at all, of pastiche. It's a type of story within a genre that's both a tribute and a loving parody of the genre itself. (examples would be American Psycho for horror, PotC for pirate movies, Sin City for Film Noir, OUaTiM for spaghetti westerns, and Saiyuki for adventure sagas) I love love love homages that makes fun of itself, that has a sense of humor about itself, that undermines its own genre while at the same time celebrates it.
Pastiche is perhaps, in essence, the crack!fic of the genre. But let me pause here to define crack!fic as I think of it. Because crack!fic doesn't mean bad!fic to me; instead I think of it as good!fic with astonishing qualities. It's "I can't believe that just happened" and "I can't believe that worked". It's subversive and strange, strange because it shouldn't happen and subversive because it uses its own medium to comment on itself. My favorite type of crack!fic is consequently usually simultaneously meta!fic (which, come to think of it, explains RPAS), done with joy and love and insuppressable glee.
So perhaps it's not so surprising that I love SGA.
It is so much so true to its genre that it has, for lack of a better term, wiggle room. It's sorta like my liking slash because it's an exploration of relationships without the difficulties of power dynamics tied to gender, it's sorta like Republicans being able to critique Bush and being more easily believed because they're Republicans, it's sorta like in an experiment controlling the constants while swiveling only one variable.
I adore so much how SGA is a critique on sci-fi genre itself (sci-fi genre itself frequently being a critique on culture and society), while showing it so much love and empathy and fondness. It's a show that knows both it's roots and loves it and comments on it, from the Ancients in Aurora (who we are shown in that ep. is like Star Trek) to the variations of the Prime Directive (Sanctuary, End of Childhood) to the characters themselves. For instance Halling is like a physical comment on his character archetype (Wise Black/American-Indian Shaman), and Sheppard and Teyla are self-contained gender-fucks (see previous meta), and how they sometimes have a character play the part of Sceptical Audience when they do the especially cliched plotlines (like McKay in Sanctuary).
Granted, I think the cliched plot-lines are part of the point. To be able to allow such play in character and themes, to be able to mess with and to critique the genre so much, a show needs some stable structure (some "draw") to allow it to connect with the audience. In SGA's case, it's the sci-fi codes and conventions that they're utterly playing with, and succeeding at playing with, and doing so with such love in a way that utterly facinates me and nevermind the cliched storylines that aren't really the point for me anyways.
Then again, it returns to how SGA so very much feels like it's made for my brain 'cause I personally don't think there's any new story under the sun. Solely-narrative-based plotlines lose me whereas SGA approaches its narrative like a monumental McGuffin and basically said, "Lets mix up characters and themes and turn every cliche inside out, and do it with some salt for the wounds and lime for McKay and DON'T FORGET THE UMBRELLA!"
God, I love my show. ::blissed out::
Tags:
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Playing is exactly the right word- Scifi channel does its behind the scenes specials and it's obvious that everyone involved is having a great time.
Do you think the canonical irreverance is the reason fandom has such fun with things like the 'aliens made them do it' cliche?
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ooo, is there anywhere I can get these?
And yeah, I think canonical irreverance helps with fanfic levity; there's less a demand to do Serious Fic and more play with form I think =)
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Replied to the wrong thing at first. Whoops.
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ooooo, I would *love* that if it's not too much trouble??
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"The Lowdown", aired before season 1 started
"Behind the Stargate", aired halfway through season 1
"Inside SciFi Friday", aired before season 2 started
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And to actually say something about your post, I'm ohsovery glad you made it because now I think I know why I didn't get into SGA when I first went through it. I absolutely fell in love with the characters but never really "got" any of the episodes because I was approaching it like SG1, and it's not like SG1 at all and I needed to stop thinking about the plot and just look at how they're playing with the characters. (holy run-on sentence, Batman!) So, will definitely be rewatching SGA and keeping this post in mind, 'cause it is so so true.
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Oh god, David and Paul talking about Duet!!! and Joe being REALLY REALLY cute to his wife and the "McKay being less annoying, what the buh?? Hey Joe, can you be more annoying eh, eh?" and Joe all staring and hair-twitchy and Rainbow Sun dancing and eeee!
And yay, I'm glad the post made sense in that and that you're giving SGA a chance again! (really, look at it like darkcrack!fic, or wing!fic, it makes everything have so much more sense)
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P.S. I know the people over at
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And oooooooooooo, shiny community! I'll definitely post the links there later today when I have time. And I finally have a place to show off the DVD-ripped AVIs I made for my friends! Whee!
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Oh, and I finished watching the Skiffy specials. It was wonderful. Really wonderful! Thank you again for hosting these.
There was one little problem though: "Inside Sci-Fi Friday" blacked out about halfway through. I'm sorry I can't give you the exact time, but while MS was talking, video and audio disappeared, only to resume on a clip of McKay saying his Marine guards might have to die to protect him ("I mean the ZedPM!") from "The Siege."
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Now I am counting the minutes until the emergency SGA DVDs get here....
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And one day I did.
(DOOM.)
I think SGA can be considered inferior to SG1 if you liked SG1 for specific reasons, just as vice versa. =)
On another note, I really really want to try The City In The Sea BPAL now. Really really ('cause aquatic violets omg), but I'm sitting on my hands till x-mas I think.
And ooooh, the commentaries, yes. ::nodnodnod:: have you found
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For $5, I can send you the decant and the empty bottle that I got through a decant circle. Sadly, it did not work on me in the slightest. ::weeps::
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I think you will like it.
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And god, knowing my skin chemistry, the violets and kelp will probably be ramped up which might ::crosses fingers:: make it work.
Or in any case I'll keep it to sniff for inspiration. =D
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::GLOMPS:: and omg it's like flowers on a speedboat, I breathe it in and can taste the salt sting at the back of my throat, this is fantastic. Thank you!
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Oh man, I kept on trying to get into SG1 too, but nothing "caught" me either. SGA really *is* a different show than SG1 I think, even though they reuse storylines and themes from SG1 they play out so much differently because of how different the shows are, they're just in the same universe. I know there's some crossover between fans of SG1 and SGA, but I think that the crossover fans are looking for different things than I am in a show and I only got into SGA because lierdumoa basically SHOVED the discs into my hands and went, "WATCH."
And one day I did.
(DOOM.)
I think SGA can be considered inferior to SG1 if you liked SG1 for specific reasons, just as vice versa. =)
Amen to that. I tried to watch SG-1...I just wasn't feeling it. I should really try again since those SG-1 crossover episodes are coming up soon. I just love the dynamic on SGA more. I tried watching SG-1 shortly after seeing a few eps of SGA and I missed everyone because I grew an attachment to the cast just that fast.
I thought it was really interesting on the DVD commentaries how they were saying SGA is a lot darker than SG-1. I actually find it funnier, but I guess you can have a dark comedy, lol.
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::nods:: I'm not sure if it's the same for you, but the group dynamic feels more like a family to me because it has more friction.
I thought it was really interesting on the DVD commentaries how they were saying SGA is a lot darker than SG-1.
Hey, there's nothing that prevents something from being funny and hella dark at the same time. Actually my sense of humor tends towards the morbid and the tragic anyways, sort of like this icon with the puppy stuck in a can or those kittens stuck in jars that someone made a joke page off of.
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Yes, I wrote fic based on the fanon alone. ::braces self for skewering::)
if you relax, the skewer will hurt less.
::points at icon::
Re: ::points at icon::
Re: ::points at icon::
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::HARTS::
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*tries to hide from it*
*fails*
How can I resist a fandom that has so much 'the aliens made us do it' fic? *cries more*
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"Rodney!" Weir stopped him before he got out the door. "Maybe you both should take a little time to recover first."
"Is that supposed to be funny?" McKay eyed her. "We have no idea how long this is going to last."
"You've both been through a traumatic experience -- "
"Oh, please," McKay said. "We had embarrassing public sex. It's not a life-threatening condition. Hurry up and get out of bed," he added to Sheppard, and was gone.
Or
Rodney's Antarctica is a lot like Siberia in that it's full of scientists who work 16-hour days and bathe once a week (twice when they're feeling social), and who would slit your throat for a fresh banana. Also, you can't go for a walk without a survival kit, but that's fine - Rodney's never really been an outdoorsy person.
John's Antarctica is miles and miles of emptiness flitting beneath him and no one sitting beside him. It's nothing like Afghanistan at all.
::grins::
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*shoves inner nerd in a closet*
Much better. No more temptation.
Ah, who am I kidding? There's no way I cannot love something that inspires this level of fic. Everything I've read so far is just brilliant and intelligent and witty. And god, I needed fic like this. I mean, as much as I love some of my other fandoms, it's impossible to find intelligent fic in many of them. *coughnarutocough*
There's no denying it. SGA fic makes my brain happy.
*starts watching episodes*
Now I'm going to have to go back and read through your SGA tag.
You are an evil woman. ♥!
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There's downloadable eps available at
for your daily SGA crack needs check out
Granted the canon's always a little different than the fic, but the marvelous thing about SGA's canon is that there's so much weight of the passing of time in it that there's TONS of room for fic to wiggle in, there's so much room to play in the canon it's wonderful.
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I love when canon has wiggle room. Like Saiyuki with it's 3 years later thing. It just begs to have you fill in the blanks.
And now this is making me curious about the difference between SGA and SG-1 that people are talking about. Hmm. I know my aunt is a big fan of SG-1... I may just have to steal her DVDs when I go home for Christmas and check it out.
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You just said everything I would say if I could sit enough to figure out why I like something (and brave enough to adventure into the scary places in my brain).
I love SGA because unlike SG-1, which takes itself seriously, SGA doesn't even when it does without being camp. It's that great mix of self-loathing at the fact that it's a crazy space opera and EVERYONE KNOWS IT and MYGODMYGODWE'REALLGONNADIE!
I mean, Rodney McKay seems to be the favorite character (only by a smidgen, but still, I think he's more popular than John by a hair). I MEAN RODNEY.
Rodney is not Daniel. He's is not OMFGHOTTERTHANHADES, he is not modest, he is not getting it on with alien chicks, he is not dying every season, he's not even being nice half the time!
But he's freak'n awesome and we love him
and want to tie him up in our closets.And hello! Lemme list the fannish wonders:
What more could a girl possibly want from life?
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::nods:: it could so so easily be camp, but it just barely skirts that line, which I think it's all due to the awesomeness of the actors.
Rodney is not Daniel. He's is not OMFGHOTTERTHANHADES, he is not modest, he is not getting it on with alien chicks, he is not dying every season, he's not even being nice half the time!
::nodnodnod:: I really love this conditional competence thing they have going on with SGA. 'cause like, not only do they have character flaws, but these flaws are actually a detriment to their getting the job done at times. Like Sheppard frequently makes things a whole hella lot worse before it gets better or how Weir is really a mediocre leader, part of the problem being that she's trying to lead non-traditionally. And yet they're all brilliant at their jobs in different ways, they just fuck up just as often.
What more could a girl possibly want from life?
SGA, the crack that just keeps on comin' =D
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I love both shows, but I think both deal with heavy, heavy themes and deadly serious situations. Waking the Wraith, and having to deal with them? The Genii? Ford? Death, death, and more death? Not exactly light entertainment. And with practically every new SGA ep, I think anew, "Oh my god, they are really, really fucked, and so is Earth!" Honestly, SGA is far darker on that score.
SG-1 has a *lot* of humor. It's probably less accessible, though, because they're forever referencing stuff from earlier eps and making fun.
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Heavy themes doesn't prevent something from being humorous, and vice versa. I find my own humor tending towards the very very morbid; what I delight in with SGA is that they are fully At One with this morbid humor, they realize The Ridiculous at the same time that they know the heft of The DOOM.
Actually, come to thing of it, yes! ::uses icon:: That, the puppy in this icon! That's my favorite sort of expression, bleakness and comedy, all wrapped up at once. On one level it's perfectly rediculous and quite cute, on another level that's a puppy stuck in a can, probably frightened out of it's mind and leave it there long enough it'll die. That doesn't prevent it from being absolutely hilarious tho.
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nice articulation!
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actually...the SGA love has gotten so bad that I'm actually contemplating setting my default icon to this ::seagulls:: one. Which, o.0 'cause I haven't changed it since I got into PotC.
I mean, holy shit, this is for me on the order of thinking about changing my LJ handle.
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The dark -'we are so fucked' humor is one of the things I like about it. I mean wraithSteve?
I'm not saying I'll stick with it for 8+ yrs because often the thing you love about a show changes so much when they last that long, but for now-it is definitely my new love. All my other fandoms are getting ignored for it.
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I mean wraithSteve?
Oh god, *yes*, and the CLOWNS!
I'm not saying I'll stick with it for 8+ yrs because often the thing you love about a show changes so much when they last that long, but for now-it is definitely my new love. All my other fandoms are getting ignored for it.
::nods:: ditto. My longest fannish love has been PotC at...hmm...maybe a year and a half? ::crosses fingers:: here's to seeing.
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SGA is definitely a show that's very fond *and* well aware of its roots in sci-fi; I'm just not entirely sure it's a very self-aware show, too. Yes, Sheppard's and McKay's dialogue especially constantly plays with the context, and the casting of some characters is clearly the result of deliberation -- Weir and Teyla, for one, making them female leaders of their respective people, the delightfully high number of non-white actors -- but the storylines and actual on-screen characterisation, especially with regards to gender and convention, rarely surprise me.
I think the cliched plot-lines are part of the point. To be able to allow such play in character and themes, to be able to mess with and to critique the genre so much, a show needs some stable structure (some "draw") to allow it to connect with the audience.
This reminds me of what Jen Garner once said in an Alias commentary, on the concept J.J. Abrams had for the show -- that they were trying to ground it, give that wacky spy!world a foundation of acceptance...but I must say I was not and am still not particularly impressed by this argument: I hail from the Jossverse, which has it all -- a unique twist to just about every stereotype, a solid mythology, and layers upon layers of in-built meta without letting either the drama, the humour, or the action suffer; to a lesser degree, this is true for Farscape, too, which
SGA approaches its narrative like a monumental McGuffin and basically said, "Lets mix up characters and themes and turn every cliche inside out, and do it with some salt for the wounds and lime for McKay and DON'T FORGET THE UMBRELLA!"
Hee. I get your enthusiasm, though; not like I don't adore SGA with all my heart, if mostly because of the shiny, crack-addled and insanely loveable fandom.
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o.0 er. yes. That's the point of this post. The take cliches and run off a cliff with them.
As with the Jossverse...I keep trying to get into it and bouncing off. He usually doesn't have enough prominent trickster-figures/rogues to keep my attention, or the ones that he does have either descends into the Heroic (xander at points, and spike), becomes a Villain, or is comic relief. I really really adore socially marginal characters, and by that I mean those characters who at least 50% (if not more) of the rest of the characters are violently annoyed at.
Hee. I get your enthusiasm, though; not like I don't adore SGA with all my heart, if mostly because of the shiny, crack-addled and insanely loveable fandom.
=) yeah, I find my reasons are usually not other people's reasons to like something, again my brain is wierd, but I love that SGA the show is so amenable to so many different types of fans. It's like becoming the Perfect Storm of fandom. (and crack. ohhhhh the crack)