Tea and Dragons

So I've been rewatching Space: Above and Beyond for the first time in years, and the first time since I got the DVD set.  It's interesting to see what I remember and what I've forgotten, and it's still an outstanding show even if the computer special effects haven't aged well.  And I still have as much of a crush as ever on Cooper.  

There's something else, though. 

Back when I was living in England, in 1997, one of the four channels I got on the TV in my room started showing S:AAB, and I started watching it--more out of desperation than anything else.  I'd refused it the first time around in the U.S. since I didn't want to watch a military show, but with just the pilot I was hooked.  

I watched each episode greedily and even went to the length of going to Bristol to buy a used VCR so I could record some (no small expense for me at the time).  The movie rental place in Bath actually carried the first episode on tape, though that was the only one they ever had, and I watched that too.  I picked up some of the spin-off novels and novelizations and kid's books and graphic novels for the show--yes, they existed, but possibly only for the British fans. 

And I was disappointed.  Most of the plotlines/writing were terrible, and never rose above mediocre.  I thought to myself that I could do better.  Mind you, at the time my exposure to published fanfic was basically nil, and while I did eventually write a little, I was more focused on doing a better job at novelization than the official writers had. 

So I started with the first episode I had on tape, which was "Hostile Visit".  I spent hours rewinding in increments to get the dialogue down, and I wrote it out slowly, describing the action and interpreting the facial expressions.  I even threw in a bit of supposition here and there, to make it more interesting.  I got about three-quarters of the way through "Choice or Chance" (maybe more) before I went home.  

(Side note: I took the tapes with me but of course they wouldn't play in the U.S. machines.  I left before the station had broadcast all the episodes, and had to wait over a year before someone reran it in America.  Argh.  It was not released on videotape here.)  

Before I left, though, I started exploring the fledgling Internet for fandom information, and found a S:AAB fansite with fanfic.  And they accepted my novelization of "Hostile Visit".  When I got a FF.net account, I put it up there too.  

It's still there.  It dates back to before FF.net allowed italics, so I used asterisks instead.  *eyeroll* 

It's fascinating to watch the episode and hear my own phrasing rising in my mind.  I've certainly improved as a writer since then, there are bits that make me wince, but it's been ages since I actually read it and I'm astonished that I could recall things at all. 

Oddly enough, I'd like to clean up the posted version and settle one or two words that were ambiguous on videotape but clear on DVD (there's at least two I got flat wrong).  I'd like to finish "Choice or Chance" even though the audience has to be about nil now.  But I'm afraid to mess with the FF.net version because that might pop it back up to the top of my fic list, and that would just confuse people. 

I wonder where I put the hard copy...  

I really, really need some escapism just now.  I realize it's a small fandom, but can anyone recommend some good Lily/Snape fics?  Happy endings, please, I'm not up for undiluted angst. 

Thank you! 

I haven't watched the (relatively) new Sherlock, in part because I find the idea of an out-of-period remake irritating (why??  What on earth moves people to do that?).  So I don't know much about it.  

But I looked it up tonight and am absolutely boggled that fandom has exploded over a show that's only had six episodes.  Are they double-length or some such?  Even Firefly took fourteen.  

I'm still on sick leave, and out of sheer boredom I've been rereading some of my old posted fanfic.  I started posting on Fanfiction.net back when they didn't do italics, and I've never gone back and fixed the few that have asterisks instead.  :P 

They've changed their pattern again, too--double dashes have disappeared, which leaves my stuff looking like I formatted it wrong.  *sigh*  I'm not that careless.  I am, however, lazy enough to wait and hope that they switch back.  

But it's interesting to me to see how my style has changed over time, to see the things that make me wince or roll my eyes.  Not that I'm going to go back and edit anything--I reserve that for serious errors.  But it's been almost ten years...my style has changed.  And improved, if I do say so myself.  

Fandom changed, too, at least for CSI.  I started writing around the middle of the fourth season, I guess, back when the GSR was in its UST heyday.  My first few attempts at resolution are laughable now, given how much was revealed later, and my lack of deeper comprehension of the characters.  But readers were kind, and the welcome they gave me pulled me right into the fandom as a whole.  Come to that, I've only ever had one entry go unreviewed on FF.net, and given the fandom and the entry's structure, I'm not surprised.  *grin*  

I've slowed down in posting lately.  With the GSR resolution that impetus fell away; and while Iron Man offers a lot of scope and some wonderful readers, I just haven't been doing as much.  I wish it were because I was working on original stuff instead, but alas no.  Still, that may change as I heal up and boot the muse back online.  That's boot as in to the rear, not as in booting up...

It's been a great ten years--longer, really, counting the Prey fandom, also marvelous folks.  I'm deeply grateful.  

( Spoilers... )

ETA: Does anyone know what the ending music was? Or where to look to find out?