Thoughts on Kirk/Spock, fic requests, and picspam!
What I want from fic--and you
I think the single-greatest thing about the new Star Trek movie is how it's injected new life into the fandom, and how that's not at all isolated to the actors/characters from the new film. I have talked to so many people who've gotten into TOS via the film, and thus far my interactions in fandom have been really positive and inclusive. (Hell, ontd_startrek ate up my Intruder picspam, which is pretty funny considering the community and the fact that the movie I was capping was a social problem film about racism in the South.)
The problem is, perhaps, that there's too much.
I love Kirk/Spock. I'd definitely read other pairings done well. But here's the thing: where do I start? (I know I've asked this before, but my request has been refined and maybe more of you have been asking these questions now, too.) The explosion of fannish activity means that the K/S is overwhelming. Those of you reading fic, how do you decide what to read if you need to be selective? Where do you go? Whose recommendations do you trust?
I'm more interested in the characters from TOS, but I've read some fantastic XI fic, as well. I like angst, I like humor, I like anything good. I like stuff that examines the meeting of both of those worlds, the questions of identity raised by the whole nu/Prime situation and which the film very conveniently allows to be canon. I like stories about both "how does nuKirk become the awesome we know he is destined to be?" and "how do nu Kirk and Spock become the awesome we know they are destined to be?"
What I want from Kirk/Spock
In an effort to educate myself about classic K/S fic, I've been working through a couple rec lists, and I've observed something interesting. Thus far, I haven't seen a single one that doesn't involve a very schmoopy mind-meld pair-bond situation in which Kirk and Spock finally figure it out, hook up with the aid of touch telepathy, and are the most perfect couple foreverandeveramen. I adore the leading-up-to bit, the misunderstandings and the way their respective characters complicate that revelation. I've read some good stuff involving doubt and will and, say, Kirk's decision to sit behind a desk after their five-year mission. What I haven't seen, and very much want to, is fiction dealing with what I would consider the obvious problems of having complete and total access to the mind of the person in whom you've invested everything. Most of the barriers in these stories are outside imposed; Kirk and/or Spock are kidnapped or sick or attacked or whatever and that endangers their relationship.
But what about their own natures? What makes them work as a couple, for me, or even as friends or partners, is the way they complement and defy one another. I'm not saying it needs to be some drawn out domestic melodrama ending only in tears. But don't you think that Spock might see something in Kirk's mind or memories that disturbs him? That he can't reconcile? Wouldn't a mind like Spock's have an alien quality Kirk might not always understand or deal with well? I like a dose of schmoop once in awhile. But most of these fics lose their edge once the hookup happens and Kirk and Spock lose theirs.
I want that edge. I wonder if this is a function of where the fandom was, because it does seem like a genre convention that K/S are soul-bonded in the most comfortable and least problematic way. Maybe that's what people want(ed) to read; it's a very clear wish-fulfillment fantasy. Maybe that's a logical extension of what people see on the show. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places. But I would like to see something different. Something examining that psychology.
(But you're more than welcome to send along links to schmoopy you like particularly well, because I can be squishy, too.)
What I want from William Shatner
By the way, all of these bubblegum cards are on crack, and so amazing. I don't even know when I've laughed this hard.
He doesn't know what's going on.
[Note: I'm really sorry to be so behind on my f-list. I find it difficult to find time to both write and keep up on LJ, so writing has taken precedence. But I will try to catch up, and if you do have a post or something you want me to look at, please let me know.]
I think the single-greatest thing about the new Star Trek movie is how it's injected new life into the fandom, and how that's not at all isolated to the actors/characters from the new film. I have talked to so many people who've gotten into TOS via the film, and thus far my interactions in fandom have been really positive and inclusive. (Hell, ontd_startrek ate up my Intruder picspam, which is pretty funny considering the community and the fact that the movie I was capping was a social problem film about racism in the South.)
The problem is, perhaps, that there's too much.
I love Kirk/Spock. I'd definitely read other pairings done well. But here's the thing: where do I start? (I know I've asked this before, but my request has been refined and maybe more of you have been asking these questions now, too.) The explosion of fannish activity means that the K/S is overwhelming. Those of you reading fic, how do you decide what to read if you need to be selective? Where do you go? Whose recommendations do you trust?
I'm more interested in the characters from TOS, but I've read some fantastic XI fic, as well. I like angst, I like humor, I like anything good. I like stuff that examines the meeting of both of those worlds, the questions of identity raised by the whole nu/Prime situation and which the film very conveniently allows to be canon. I like stories about both "how does nuKirk become the awesome we know he is destined to be?" and "how do nu Kirk and Spock become the awesome we know they are destined to be?"
What I want from Kirk/Spock
In an effort to educate myself about classic K/S fic, I've been working through a couple rec lists, and I've observed something interesting. Thus far, I haven't seen a single one that doesn't involve a very schmoopy mind-meld pair-bond situation in which Kirk and Spock finally figure it out, hook up with the aid of touch telepathy, and are the most perfect couple foreverandeveramen. I adore the leading-up-to bit, the misunderstandings and the way their respective characters complicate that revelation. I've read some good stuff involving doubt and will and, say, Kirk's decision to sit behind a desk after their five-year mission. What I haven't seen, and very much want to, is fiction dealing with what I would consider the obvious problems of having complete and total access to the mind of the person in whom you've invested everything. Most of the barriers in these stories are outside imposed; Kirk and/or Spock are kidnapped or sick or attacked or whatever and that endangers their relationship.
But what about their own natures? What makes them work as a couple, for me, or even as friends or partners, is the way they complement and defy one another. I'm not saying it needs to be some drawn out domestic melodrama ending only in tears. But don't you think that Spock might see something in Kirk's mind or memories that disturbs him? That he can't reconcile? Wouldn't a mind like Spock's have an alien quality Kirk might not always understand or deal with well? I like a dose of schmoop once in awhile. But most of these fics lose their edge once the hookup happens and Kirk and Spock lose theirs.
I want that edge. I wonder if this is a function of where the fandom was, because it does seem like a genre convention that K/S are soul-bonded in the most comfortable and least problematic way. Maybe that's what people want(ed) to read; it's a very clear wish-fulfillment fantasy. Maybe that's a logical extension of what people see on the show. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places. But I would like to see something different. Something examining that psychology.
(But you're more than welcome to send along links to schmoopy you like particularly well, because I can be squishy, too.)
What I want from William Shatner
By the way, all of these bubblegum cards are on crack, and so amazing. I don't even know when I've laughed this hard.
He doesn't know what's going on.
[Note: I'm really sorry to be so behind on my f-list. I find it difficult to find time to both write and keep up on LJ, so writing has taken precedence. But I will try to catch up, and if you do have a post or something you want me to look at, please let me know.]