More Five By Fives
My top five books and movie fandoms where I wish there was more fic.
1.) Sandman. There is some, but not much, especially if you discount the inevitable "a lonely teenager becomes friends with one or several of the Endless" type of stories. The fact that everything that doesn't fall into this category tends to be awesome only makes me long for more, plus the canon manages to be both richly detailed and leaving up all kind of room for other stories.
2.) Blade Runner. The movie, not the Philip K. Dick novella it's based on. There is a dreadful "sequel" published as a media tie-in, btw, and a sequel to that one but sequel No.1 managed to miss the point for me so entirely that I left the second book alone. And was ever more frustrated there is nearly no fanfiction. It could be about any of the characters, or about the world they live in; again, great canon, still much to explore.
3.) The Prestige. Again, the film, not the book. Again, there is some, but not much, and I find all the characters fascinating and would love to read more about them. (Also, I don't really buy the main slash pairing in what little fanfic exists, because this is one case where two men's obsession to destroy each other really doesn't translate into UST for me, so.)
4.) Armadale. Actually, I'd be happy about more fanfiction based on Wilkie Collins' novels, full stop, and in this case on the novels themselves, not any of the adaptions. (Especially for the Woman in White.) But I have a particular soft spot for Armadale because it has one of my all time favourite female villains/ambiguous characters (she's somewhere in between categories, truly), Lydia Gwilt.
5.) The Sunne in Splendour. I love most of Sharon Penman's novels. This one, her first, actually isn't my all-time favourite though I'm still pretty fond of it. But it's the one I most urgently wish to read fanfiction based on. I remember telling linaerys, not entirely tongue-in-cheekly, that I'm surprised Heroes fandom didn't discover it ages ago because see, there is this highly successful, charismatic and morally ambiguos older brother (Edward IV) who has an intense emotional bond with his idealistic younger brother who is eleven years younger (Richard III); said brother hero-worships him, comes to realize the flaws of the older brother in a drastic way, but their bond survives this. Also, Edward's oldest daughter has a big crush on her uncle... But all kidding aside, this novel about the Yorkist kings is chock full of interesting characters and the kind of emotional drama that fanfic thrives on. And it's all thanks to history. :)
Top Five Arvin Sloane Moments
1.) "I can't be the first one who has trouble taking you seriously, can I?" First season of Alias, The Box, part II. Sloane, at this point definitely the main villain of the story, is temporarily captured and gets tortured by a minor flashy villain. Said minor villain is played by Quentin Tarantino and talks accordingly. Whereupon Sloane makes the quoted observation in the precise, soft voice Ron Rifkin usually employs for Sloane. It's awesome.
2.) Last silent minutes of the season 2 episode The Getaway, in which it all comes together for the audience as they see Sloane walk up on a beach towards a woman who is none other than his believed-to-be-dead wife Emily, and we realize that he managed to con good guys (CIA) and bad guys (Alliance) alike in the last three months, in the process saving his wife's life and shamelessly profiting by relieving the alliance of several millions. This is Our Arvin at his magnificent bastard best.
3.) Still season 2, Truth Will Tell; Emily has just revealed she is wired (and by implication that she had been ready to betray him to the CIA). Sloane takes this in, steps towards her, and a first time watcher might wonder whether he's going to attempt strangling her, but no. Instead he tells her one more time he loves her and asks her to come with him. And she does. Which despite the fact that both Emily and the audience know Sloane has ruined many lives and is responsible for such a lot of deaths is absolutely understandable, because he really loves her that much.
4.) Season 4, Another Mr. Sloane, the teaser: in which Jack Bristow, informed by his daughter and her boyfriend that Sloane supposedly framed Irina Derevko and set Jack up to kill her, drags his old buddy Arvin into the men's room, shoves him against the wall and says "give me one good reason why I shouldn't do to you what I did to my wife". Sloane somehow how resists the temptation to make an inappropriate reply and proceeds to talk Jack out of this not by protesting his innocence or saying that he'd never do such a thing, but by pointing out how stupid and illogically it would have been for him to do it at this particular point and the motive Jack suspects. Sloane actually is innocent, but that's not the point here. In this particular season, we see Jack shoot fake!Irina, and strangle a former protegé of his, Sasha. But Arvin Sloane? Calmly and rationally talks him out of it, with a gun at his head in the men's room. I just love their relationship, can you tell?
5.) Season 4 finale: our heroine Sydney is temporarily losing the fight against her sister Nadia, not least because she doesn't want to kill Nadia, who is under the control of a manic-zombie-state-inducing-drug and not herself, whereas drugged!Nadia is bent on killing Sydney. As usual in a finale, the fate of the world is at stake; if Nadia succeeds, the device of the hour will reduce millions more to her state. Sloane shows up. He might love Sydney (a bit like a daughter and a bit not like a daughter at all), but he loves Nadia (who actually is his daughter) more. He's also really really really into Rambaldi, who created the device of the hour. What does he do? Shoots Nadia to save Sydney and the world. Sloane has been on a redemptive arc, with set backs, through the last two seasons, and this is the big test by fate. (Insert obvious comment of frustration about season 5 here.) We've seen him perform good deeds before, of course, but they were usually for the few people he actually cares for (read: Jack and Sydney, Emily or Nadia) and more often then not also had secondary benefits for himself. But here, he really does the right thing because of the greater good, and at the most devastating cost to himself possible.
Let me tell, it was really had to pick these five among many others. Honorary mentions to last moment drop-outs should go to s3's "really, Jack, sometimes you're just outsmarting yourself", aka the conversation after Sloane caught a bullet for Jack and Jack is operating said bullet out of him while trying to figure out what devious reason Sloane could have had to risk his own life that way, making Sydney dance a waltz with him in s3's Prelude and the shameless "but you can't deny we make a great team" to Sydney and Dixon, both of whose significant others he had killed in the past, in the s4 opener.
Top Five Londo Mollari Quotes
Only five? Wah! Limiting these was even more difficult.
1.) Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. (In the Beginning)
2.) What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy? (Born To The Purple)
3.) Lord Refa: Why should I do as you say?
Londo: Because I have asked you; because your sense of duty to our people should override any personal ambition; and because I have poisoned
your drink. (Ceremonies of Light and Dark)
4.) I never wanted you to… I remember when you first arrived on Babylon 5. You were so full of life... innocent. I was not kind to you. I treated you poorly. I think that I did that because I was... envious of you. Envious that you had come so far and yet were still... innocent, in your way. You still believed. I, on the other hand... I cannot tell you that your pain will ever go away. I cannot tell you that you will ever forget his face. I can only tell you that it was necessary. You may have helped to save our people. You did a hard thing... but you still have your heart, and your heart is a good one. You would not be in such great pain otherwise. It means there is still hope for you. And for that... I find I still envy you." (The Long Night, Londo attempts to comfort Vir about Vir having had to kill Cartagia)
5) The Universe is an evil place, but at least it seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. (The Very Long Night Of Londo Mollari)
Londo being one of the most quotable characters of all fandoms, I could just as well write a top hundred, but hey.
1.) Sandman. There is some, but not much, especially if you discount the inevitable "a lonely teenager becomes friends with one or several of the Endless" type of stories. The fact that everything that doesn't fall into this category tends to be awesome only makes me long for more, plus the canon manages to be both richly detailed and leaving up all kind of room for other stories.
2.) Blade Runner. The movie, not the Philip K. Dick novella it's based on. There is a dreadful "sequel" published as a media tie-in, btw, and a sequel to that one but sequel No.1 managed to miss the point for me so entirely that I left the second book alone. And was ever more frustrated there is nearly no fanfiction. It could be about any of the characters, or about the world they live in; again, great canon, still much to explore.
3.) The Prestige. Again, the film, not the book. Again, there is some, but not much, and I find all the characters fascinating and would love to read more about them. (Also, I don't really buy the main slash pairing in what little fanfic exists, because this is one case where two men's obsession to destroy each other really doesn't translate into UST for me, so.)
4.) Armadale. Actually, I'd be happy about more fanfiction based on Wilkie Collins' novels, full stop, and in this case on the novels themselves, not any of the adaptions. (Especially for the Woman in White.) But I have a particular soft spot for Armadale because it has one of my all time favourite female villains/ambiguous characters (she's somewhere in between categories, truly), Lydia Gwilt.
5.) The Sunne in Splendour. I love most of Sharon Penman's novels. This one, her first, actually isn't my all-time favourite though I'm still pretty fond of it. But it's the one I most urgently wish to read fanfiction based on. I remember telling linaerys, not entirely tongue-in-cheekly, that I'm surprised Heroes fandom didn't discover it ages ago because see, there is this highly successful, charismatic and morally ambiguos older brother (Edward IV) who has an intense emotional bond with his idealistic younger brother who is eleven years younger (Richard III); said brother hero-worships him, comes to realize the flaws of the older brother in a drastic way, but their bond survives this. Also, Edward's oldest daughter has a big crush on her uncle... But all kidding aside, this novel about the Yorkist kings is chock full of interesting characters and the kind of emotional drama that fanfic thrives on. And it's all thanks to history. :)
Top Five Arvin Sloane Moments
1.) "I can't be the first one who has trouble taking you seriously, can I?" First season of Alias, The Box, part II. Sloane, at this point definitely the main villain of the story, is temporarily captured and gets tortured by a minor flashy villain. Said minor villain is played by Quentin Tarantino and talks accordingly. Whereupon Sloane makes the quoted observation in the precise, soft voice Ron Rifkin usually employs for Sloane. It's awesome.
2.) Last silent minutes of the season 2 episode The Getaway, in which it all comes together for the audience as they see Sloane walk up on a beach towards a woman who is none other than his believed-to-be-dead wife Emily, and we realize that he managed to con good guys (CIA) and bad guys (Alliance) alike in the last three months, in the process saving his wife's life and shamelessly profiting by relieving the alliance of several millions. This is Our Arvin at his magnificent bastard best.
3.) Still season 2, Truth Will Tell; Emily has just revealed she is wired (and by implication that she had been ready to betray him to the CIA). Sloane takes this in, steps towards her, and a first time watcher might wonder whether he's going to attempt strangling her, but no. Instead he tells her one more time he loves her and asks her to come with him. And she does. Which despite the fact that both Emily and the audience know Sloane has ruined many lives and is responsible for such a lot of deaths is absolutely understandable, because he really loves her that much.
4.) Season 4, Another Mr. Sloane, the teaser: in which Jack Bristow, informed by his daughter and her boyfriend that Sloane supposedly framed Irina Derevko and set Jack up to kill her, drags his old buddy Arvin into the men's room, shoves him against the wall and says "give me one good reason why I shouldn't do to you what I did to my wife". Sloane somehow how resists the temptation to make an inappropriate reply and proceeds to talk Jack out of this not by protesting his innocence or saying that he'd never do such a thing, but by pointing out how stupid and illogically it would have been for him to do it at this particular point and the motive Jack suspects. Sloane actually is innocent, but that's not the point here. In this particular season, we see Jack shoot fake!Irina, and strangle a former protegé of his, Sasha. But Arvin Sloane? Calmly and rationally talks him out of it, with a gun at his head in the men's room. I just love their relationship, can you tell?
5.) Season 4 finale: our heroine Sydney is temporarily losing the fight against her sister Nadia, not least because she doesn't want to kill Nadia, who is under the control of a manic-zombie-state-inducing-drug and not herself, whereas drugged!Nadia is bent on killing Sydney. As usual in a finale, the fate of the world is at stake; if Nadia succeeds, the device of the hour will reduce millions more to her state. Sloane shows up. He might love Sydney (a bit like a daughter and a bit not like a daughter at all), but he loves Nadia (who actually is his daughter) more. He's also really really really into Rambaldi, who created the device of the hour. What does he do? Shoots Nadia to save Sydney and the world. Sloane has been on a redemptive arc, with set backs, through the last two seasons, and this is the big test by fate. (Insert obvious comment of frustration about season 5 here.) We've seen him perform good deeds before, of course, but they were usually for the few people he actually cares for (read: Jack and Sydney, Emily or Nadia) and more often then not also had secondary benefits for himself. But here, he really does the right thing because of the greater good, and at the most devastating cost to himself possible.
Let me tell, it was really had to pick these five among many others. Honorary mentions to last moment drop-outs should go to s3's "really, Jack, sometimes you're just outsmarting yourself", aka the conversation after Sloane caught a bullet for Jack and Jack is operating said bullet out of him while trying to figure out what devious reason Sloane could have had to risk his own life that way, making Sydney dance a waltz with him in s3's Prelude and the shameless "but you can't deny we make a great team" to Sydney and Dixon, both of whose significant others he had killed in the past, in the s4 opener.
Top Five Londo Mollari Quotes
Only five? Wah! Limiting these was even more difficult.
1.) Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. (In the Beginning)
2.) What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy? (Born To The Purple)
3.) Lord Refa: Why should I do as you say?
Londo: Because I have asked you; because your sense of duty to our people should override any personal ambition; and because I have poisoned
your drink. (Ceremonies of Light and Dark)
4.) I never wanted you to… I remember when you first arrived on Babylon 5. You were so full of life... innocent. I was not kind to you. I treated you poorly. I think that I did that because I was... envious of you. Envious that you had come so far and yet were still... innocent, in your way. You still believed. I, on the other hand... I cannot tell you that your pain will ever go away. I cannot tell you that you will ever forget his face. I can only tell you that it was necessary. You may have helped to save our people. You did a hard thing... but you still have your heart, and your heart is a good one. You would not be in such great pain otherwise. It means there is still hope for you. And for that... I find I still envy you." (The Long Night, Londo attempts to comfort Vir about Vir having had to kill Cartagia)
5) The Universe is an evil place, but at least it seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. (The Very Long Night Of Londo Mollari)
Londo being one of the most quotable characters of all fandoms, I could just as well write a top hundred, but hey.