SGA Rewatch: Series Wrap-Up

Well, it took a little over a year, but we've finally made it all the way through the complete series of Stargate Atlantis. I want to extend a big "thank you" to everyone who has joined me on this journey. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to revisit the show with a slightly more critical eye than I usually lend it.

Stargate Atlantis is, in all seriousness, my favorite television show pretty much of all time. The show was, in many ways, a life-changing event for me. It introduced me to the concepts of fandom, fan fiction, and fan art. It was the first time I ever really considered myself as part of an online community. I have had a lot of fun sharing some of the reasons for that with you guys. I thought I'd wrap things up by listing some of the best of the best, as it were.

First off, here are my favorite episodes from each season:

Season One: The Brotherhood
Season Two: Duet
Season Three: McKay and Mrs. Miller
Season Four: Tabula Rasa
Season Five: Brain Storm

Don't ask me to pick a favorite episode for the whole series though, I don't think I could. (*cough*McKay and Mrs. Miller*cough*)

My obvious favorite characters going into the rewatch were McKay and Lorne. After all is said and done, I think that Ronon and Todd have emerged with distinction as well, however.

What about you guys? Did any of you have any favorites coming in? Did any of those change, or did watching the episodes again just reinforce why you loved what you did in the first place?

Now, it seems unlikely that the already written follow-up movie to the series, Stargate: Extinction, will ever actually see the light of day, but if you want more Stargate Atlantis don't despair! There are still other places to get your fix.

Tie-In Novels: I've mentioned this several times throughout my rewatch but here you go one last time. Fandemonium has released (and continues to do so) several wonderfully written novels set within the events of the series and beyond. Each novel is like its own self-contained episode.

Audio Stories: Big Finish Audio has released several short audio stories (each about 50 minutes long) in the Stargate Atlantis universe. They are told from the point of view of different characters and read by the actor who portrayed that character. It's actually a nice way to explore some of the other characters on the base, aside from the main team.

Fan Fiction: If it is your thing, my favorite archive of Stargate Atlantis fan fiction is over at Wraithbait. It's not quite as active a community as it used to be, but it is a huge repository of stories set within this world. Wraithbait also has some fairly stringent policies on what they will accept/post quality-wise, so as far as fan fiction goes, the writing is better than you find in a lot of places.

So...I think that's about it. Thank you again, so so very much, for coming along with me on this ride. I hope that you will join me on the next. Come back Wednesday when I announce the new rewatch!

Completely Immersed

An announcement was made this week that a third Dragon Age book will be coming out (hopefully) later this year. As with the first two, the book will be written by David Gaider, who was the lead writer for the Dragon Age games (as well as a slew of other Bioware titles). The first two books were extremely spiffy, as I believe I have mentioned here before, so I'm sure you can imagine how excited this news makes me. The third book, titled Asunder, will tie in with the events of Dragon Age II. (Which, by the way, I finished last night, go me!)

This news, plus renewed chatter from Felicia Day about her forthcoming Dragon Age web-series (squee!), got me thinking (again) about how immersive the best science fiction and fantasy worlds are. If you have ever wondered why SFF fans are so completely into whatever they are fans of, I truly believe this is the reason. The amount of work that goes into creating these universes is staggering. There's enough there to allow the fans to actually imagine themselves within the world having their own adventures, with or without the "main" characters of the game or movie or show or what have you.

For my money, these are the top three most immersive SFF universes, the ones I want to just keep playing in and never come out:

Number 3: Star Wars
The really, truly, wonderfully cool thing about the Star Wars universe is that it goes so far beyond the central three (or six) stories. Beyond that handful of characters that everyone knows so well, whether they think themselves fans of Star Wars or science fiction at all. The expanded universe, both canon and not, extends for thousands of years before and after the original trilogy. There really are stories enough there to fill the entire galaxy that Lucas dreamed up way back when. Even with the tight reins he keeps on his sandbox, there is still more than enough room for everyone to play. Pick your flavor: Jedi? Mandalorian? Bounty Hunter? Smuggler? Sith? Clone? Imperial? Rebel? X-Wing Pilot? What era do you want to visit? There's a book or a game out there that will let you experience pretty much any story you might be craving.

Number 2: Stargate
Okay, one and two on this list are very closely placed, I'll grant you. With Stargate I can immerse myself completely in the story and the mythology of it all and, I won't lie, frequently imagine I am stationed on Atlantis butting heads with McKay on a daily basis. There are many, many books, most of them very well written. I hope Fandemonium keeps producing them for years to come. Big Finish Audio also produced two series of audio dramas, read/performed by the actor who portrayed the character each story is about. That's just darn cool. Then there's the fan fiction. That's a whole different kind of playground, but still a fun one. While the shows sparked no shortage of imaginations, everything is still so centrally linked to the main characters of whichever show one prefers. This isn't a bad thing, granted, what made Stargate so enduring was its amazing and memorable characters. I will be very curious to see if this doesn't expand a bit now that all of the shows are off the air. It would be lovely to see a (canonical) Stargate expanded universe that could grow to the size of the Star Wars EU. But even if that never happens, there is still the already mentioned fanfic. Some of those writers have already started telling stories about the next generation of 'gaters. Still, Stargate does come in at number two because, in the end, fiction though it may be, it is still set in a world that very closely resembles our own. It just isn't quite enough of an escape.

Number 1: Dragon Age
Of course. Oh, come on. Did you really think this was gonna be anything else? You know I have to really love this world to put it above the all-awesome Stargate. As I've said before, there is something about the world of Thedas that just draws me in. I am like a fish that saw something shiny and when I went to investigate, found myself being reeled in to shore. It seems more than likely I'll be getting a new, Dragon Age-related tattoo before the summer is out. I am already thinking about when I'll get my next chance to play it again. Sadly, that won't be any time soon. But hopefully the web-series and the new book can tide me over until I can get back. After all, we are only forty years into the Dragon Age itself, which leaves us another sixty to play around with. That's gotta be at least two or three more games, right?

I know I am not alone in this--the fandoms just these three universes have ignited are proof alone of that. But I also know there are so many more fandoms out there. Do any of you have a world that you just dive into head first? Where do you go to play, knowing full well you're likely to get lost, and being more than a little okay with that fact?

On the Playlist

What road trip would be complete without a new music mix? None of mine, that's for certain. Every time I have embarked on a road trip, for as long as I can remember, I have always made at least one new mix-tape or mix-CD for said trip. This coming journey is no exception. This time I decided to go with all songs that I can sing along with at the top of my lungs (for keeping myself energized and to entertain my kiddo). If I'm honest with myself, most of these songs have made their way onto multiple mixes, but never before have so many of them been assembled on one disc for my listening pleasure! I am already excited to pop it in to my stereo!

For the curious, here's the mix I made yesterday:

Drive On

1. Dixieland Delight by Alabama
2. Mean by Taylor Swift
3. Alright by Darius Rucker
4. Lover, Lover by Jerrod Niemann
5. You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon
6. She Likes Hair Bands by Butch Walker
7. Mr. Jones by Counting Crows
8. Unwell by Matchbox Twenty
9. Long Way Down by Goo Goo Dolls
10. Hey Jealousy by Gin Blossoms
11. Hey, Soul Sister by Train
12. Fast Car by Christian Kane
13. I'm Gonna Be Somebody by Travis Tritt
14. Small Town Kid by Eli Young Band
15. Small Town Saturday Night by Hal Ketchum
16. Gunpowder & Lead by Miranda Lambert
17. Breathe by Michelle Branch
18. Fair to Middlin' by Collin Herring
19. Little Red Rodeo by Collin Raye
20. You Look Good In My Shirt by Keith Urban

You can probably see the train-of-thought nature that went into some of the assembly of this mix, but I am pretty happy with it. It should be a fun listen. 

Of course, just one mix for a twelve hour drive won't cut it. I do realize this. Sadly, I am not quite into the twenty-first century with the electronics in my car and cannot just plug in my iPod to select from whatever I feel like listening to in my vast library of music and audio stories. I'm going to get there one day (soon, hopefully). My stereo is equipped for it, it just doesn't have the actual connector installed, and every time I ask my dealership about getting it done, I get some vague mumbo jumbo about their "audio guy" and his mysterious and baffling (to them) schedule, so I have yet to get that taken care of. Probably gonna cave and go elsewhere at some point. But. Not before I leave on Friday.

This means assembling a good selection of CDs to take along with me, in addition to the aforementioned mix. Here's what I've got:

1. All twelve of Big Finish Audio's Stargate SG-1 and Stargage Atlantis audio dramas (six for each show, each clocking in at around fifty minutes to an hour).
2. There's A Hippo In My Tub by Anne Murray (for the kiddo).
3. The album of songs from my daughter's current semester of music class.
4. All the Stars and Boulevards by Augustana.
5. Can't Love, Can't Hurt by Augustana.
6. Augustana by Augustana. 
7. Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup.
8. All of my favorite Bowling For Soup songs not on the new album (condensed into two CDs--which, hey, lets me put two versions of Belgium on there, score).

All in all, I think this should keep us going out there on the open road.