Slashy Nominations 84: the Fan That Has Time to Mourn Has Time to Mend

[thefourthvine]

Canon repair is one of the most common and most irritating types of fan fiction. Why common? Well, canon creators seem to delight in breaking our hearts, hurting the characters and destroying the worlds we love. It's only natural to want to make it right, to fix the owie owie badness somehow. (Or, alternatively, bite the creators. Or, in many

Comments

[minkhollow]

As far as Angel goes, I think part of the reason they wrote Doyle out was because the actor was sick.
Not that that justifies killing off a really really really cool character (I sort of stopped watching the show after that episode), but still.

[fanofall]

That's really interesting. I don't think I've EVER heard anything other than the writers had always planned to kill off Doyle (which, now that you mention it, is really quite weird). What sort of illness did he have?

[thefourthvine]

Hmmm. Well, you're right. It doesn't help; just kinda makes the whole thing, you know, sadder. But it is interesting, because I'd wondered if there was some kind of behind-the-scenes problem. But is this one of those cases where "sick" means "totally unable to control his addiction anymore?" Because I thought he died of a heroin OD. Or did he have something else wrong with him?

And, for the record, even though I totally resented the death of Doyle (and even though I would totally love to have Xander in the show - Xander for visions, Cordelia for snark and screams, and Wesley for research would make so much more sense, assuming I'm right about what happens in the story), the shows that come afterward really are still good. At least, OK, the ones I've seen, i.e., part of the rest of season one so far.

[thuviaptarth]

But is this one of those cases where "sick" means "totally unable to control his addiction anymore?" Because I thought he died of a heroin OD.

Yes. He was apparently more difficult to work with than anticipated, and the public statements about plotting were a way to explain this without revealing personal information about the actor in public, or tarring his reputation so badly that he'd have a hard time finding other work. Though given that I heard rumors about this within weeks, and I'm not particularly in the loop, I always figured it was an open secret.

As opposed to Nick Brendon's alcoholism, which was never mentioned up until he made a public statement about it. And which some people speculate has something to do with the reduced Xander plotlines in later seasons, although I'm not entirely convinced.

[pearl_o]

Molly = molly36.

[thefourthvine]

Thank you! All updated and friended and so on.

[fanofall]

GUH.

And, I love you. That is all.

Except for one thing: You recced gen Buffy/Angel? Girl, what the HELL is wrong with you? *boggles*

[thefourthvine]

It's an aberration! It won't happen again! And, um, there'll be extra porn for you to make up for it!

No, wait, wrong attitude.

Why, yes, I did rec BtVS/AtS gen, and I am damned proud to have done it. It is a fantastic story, and, really, must we always have smut? Must we always have hot men getting hot with each other? Must we always have them pressed together, hands sliding from neck to back to waist to ass, grinding their cocks desperately against...

Um. Perhaps we must. I'll do some research and get back to you.

(And now you know why I don't write porn.)

[nwhepcat]

Fear not. I'm about to finish a Xander-meets-Angel AU fic that is definitely not gen.

[thefourthvine]

Rem acu tetigisti. Because you can't fix what isn't broken, and unless you're pissed off that RayV went to LV (which I, of course, am not), there isn't much to fix about due South. I, at any rate, don't know of any episode that left most fans angry or sad; even the last episode, which is traditionally a place where the creators throw everything to the winds and the fans throw major tantrums, is pretty much perfect from a fan perspective

[kassrachel]

I've never actually watched the series, but I know enough about the situation in "The Sentinel by Blair Sandburg" to know that a) there were other and better ways of resolving it and b) the way they picked wouldn't actually work.

I'm actually going to respectfully disagree with you, here. I think this was one of the strongest episodes in the show (at last, a script Burgi and Maggart could do something with!) and I think it's a fine ending to the series. There's a way in which the whole series shows us Blair's character-development arc; though the show (like his thesis) is called "The Sentinel," there's an argument to be made that the one who changes over the course of the series is Blair. From worshipful wannabe to genuine partner; from sidekick to fellow hero. And there are some excellent, excellent post-TSbyBS stories that (to me) illustrate why the ending works. I used to maintain a list of my favorite post-series stories. I haven't added to it in a while, but it's still a good list of links to good, good stuff. It's here(You're

[thefourthvine]

I can totally acknowledge the acting thing, and I can even see that it is, in a way, the completion of Blair's character arc. (Although one of my problems with the concept of Blair as cop is that he then loses the last thing he had that was entirely not Jim's.) But I can't see it as a solution to the problem they created in the same episode - the outing of Jim. If you can, please help me do so, because I'd really like to. (And it's entirely possible that I'm just missing something

[rhyo]

I'm in the "ummm, this isn't going to work as scripted" camp (and that is leaving *aside* the reality holes big enough to suck entire galaxies through.) While it's an interesting idea, having Blair declare his research fraudulent to protect Jim, and wonderful that his friends in Major Crime tried to "catch" him, there are major problems with it.

The episode has some wonderful moments between the characters and GM turns in one of his best acting performances in the series, it's true. But there are a lot of questions this episode leaves open, and it's a shame with never got the full season to answer them. Which is why the TS fandom is *full* of episode "fix-its", some of them very good.