Fic recs: SG-1 and SGA
As much as I love love playing with the SGA characters, for whatever reason the show will never measure up to how I feel about Stargate SG-1. With SG-1, when I watch an episode that really highlights SG-1 as a team, or that delves into the meat of these characters, like "The Changeling" or "Forever in a Day" or "Solitudes", or I read a gen story that perfectly captures Jack or Vala or Hammond or even minor/one-shot characters, there's just something in my brain that goes, "Yes, yes, that's it exactly." There's a sense of the epic, of the sublime, of history and continuity and greatness when I look at the SG-1 characters. I can't help but love every single one of them.
I don't know why I don't get the same feel with SGA. Perhaps it's as simple as SG-1 having ten seasons versus SGA's five, more time to develop the characters, their loyalties, their relationships. SG-1 fandom might be small compared to SGA fandom, and the fic generally less cracktastic, but there is so much heart, so much blood, guts, and glory, so much faith and hope and we're all gonna die, we might as well go out fighting. (I watched "The Changeling" on Saturday, taking a break from working on sga_genficathon. Hence my sudden outpouring of SG-1 love. Christopher Judge is a damn good writer. Fireman!AU = ♥)
Every once in a while, I'll read a fantastic SG-1 gen story and remember, this, this is why SG-1 owns my heart. I'm not even talking about grand epic adventures wherein they save the universe in time for lunch--just the little stories that show how SG-1 is a family. And so...
Fic recs! Three from Remix Redux (2 SG-1 gen, 1 SGA gen) and one from SGA Gen Ficathon (1 SGA gen):
1) Best-Laid Plans by penknife, 2310 words, rated General: Five times being on SG-1 screwed up Sam's holiday plans. This little story spans several years, from SG-1 v1.0 to v1.5 (the Jonas edition) to v2.0 (Cam and Vala), and therefore includes mention of canon deaths. It's got "family" threaded through every holiday, a spiderweb of friendships, so that when one connection fails--because that person is gone--there's always someone else to hold you up. Read. Laugh, cry, cuddle.
2) Fair Play by penknife, 3000 words, rated Teen: Five times Vala and Teal'c didn't play by the rules. One of the things I love best about Seasons 9-10 is how much looser everyone suddenly becomes. Don't get me wrong: Teal'c has always had a sense of humour. Ditto Sam. But with Cam and Vala in the mix, they're much more willing to indulge the newbies and be playful without the sharper edge Jack always had. (Not that Vala doesn't have her own sharp edge, but in some ways, Jack is the better actor.)
Anyway, this is a delightful friendship story in which Teal'c and Vala cheat. Just a little. For fun! And also to save their team. There are some classic lines.
"News flash: cake is tasty," Vala says, taking a bite of hers and licking the frosting very deliberately off her fork. She likes to think that Daniel looks at least a bit distracted by that.
"My mama always said I had to eat my vegetables first," Cam says.
Vala shrugs. "Why wait?"
3) Water and the Weight of It (Athosian Remastered) by
sugargroupie, 1117 words, rated General: You believe Atlantis to be more of a leviathan. Teyla character study, second person narration, with Ronon friendship. It's lovely and lyrical, giving us Teyla's perspective of the city of Atlantis, and of the Earth humans and their cultural assumptions.
4) Practicing Medicine by kristen999: Jennifer learns that accepting and upholding an oath, requires living it. (6000 words, rated PG.) This is a terrific look at the Atlantis expedition through Keller's eyes, and also through her position as CMO. It's a terrific look at Keller too, and the difficulties of her job, which I imagine would be hard enough back on Earth, let alone in a different galaxy with a war going on. Some nice Teyla-Keller friendship too.
I'll edit this post to include the authors once they are revealed. ETA: DUDE. penknife wrote both SG-1 stories! This is proof that I love her writing for what it is, not because she's popular.
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I don't know why I don't get the same feel with SGA. Perhaps it's as simple as SG-1 having ten seasons versus SGA's five, more time to develop the characters, their loyalties, their relationships. SG-1 fandom might be small compared to SGA fandom, and the fic generally less cracktastic, but there is so much heart, so much blood, guts, and glory, so much faith and hope and we're all gonna die, we might as well go out fighting. (I watched "The Changeling" on Saturday, taking a break from working on sga_genficathon. Hence my sudden outpouring of SG-1 love. Christopher Judge is a damn good writer. Fireman!AU = ♥)
Every once in a while, I'll read a fantastic SG-1 gen story and remember, this, this is why SG-1 owns my heart. I'm not even talking about grand epic adventures wherein they save the universe in time for lunch--just the little stories that show how SG-1 is a family. And so...
Fic recs! Three from Remix Redux (2 SG-1 gen, 1 SGA gen) and one from SGA Gen Ficathon (1 SGA gen):
1) Best-Laid Plans by penknife, 2310 words, rated General: Five times being on SG-1 screwed up Sam's holiday plans. This little story spans several years, from SG-1 v1.0 to v1.5 (the Jonas edition) to v2.0 (Cam and Vala), and therefore includes mention of canon deaths. It's got "family" threaded through every holiday, a spiderweb of friendships, so that when one connection fails--because that person is gone--there's always someone else to hold you up. Read. Laugh, cry, cuddle.
2) Fair Play by penknife, 3000 words, rated Teen: Five times Vala and Teal'c didn't play by the rules. One of the things I love best about Seasons 9-10 is how much looser everyone suddenly becomes. Don't get me wrong: Teal'c has always had a sense of humour. Ditto Sam. But with Cam and Vala in the mix, they're much more willing to indulge the newbies and be playful without the sharper edge Jack always had. (Not that Vala doesn't have her own sharp edge, but in some ways, Jack is the better actor.)
Anyway, this is a delightful friendship story in which Teal'c and Vala cheat. Just a little. For fun! And also to save their team. There are some classic lines.
"News flash: cake is tasty," Vala says, taking a bite of hers and licking the frosting very deliberately off her fork. She likes to think that Daniel looks at least a bit distracted by that.
"My mama always said I had to eat my vegetables first," Cam says.
Vala shrugs. "Why wait?"
3) Water and the Weight of It (Athosian Remastered) by
sugargroupie, 1117 words, rated General: You believe Atlantis to be more of a leviathan. Teyla character study, second person narration, with Ronon friendship. It's lovely and lyrical, giving us Teyla's perspective of the city of Atlantis, and of the Earth humans and their cultural assumptions.
4) Practicing Medicine by kristen999: Jennifer learns that accepting and upholding an oath, requires living it. (6000 words, rated PG.) This is a terrific look at the Atlantis expedition through Keller's eyes, and also through her position as CMO. It's a terrific look at Keller too, and the difficulties of her job, which I imagine would be hard enough back on Earth, let alone in a different galaxy with a war going on. Some nice Teyla-Keller friendship too.
I'll edit this post to include the authors once they are revealed. ETA: DUDE. penknife wrote both SG-1 stories! This is proof that I love her writing for what it is, not because she's popular.
I prefer comments on Dreamwidth |
comment(s)