With all of the time I have been spending on Tumblr lately, I have found myself getting deeper and deeper into the Dragon Age fandom (and to a lesser extent the Mass Effect fandom). That has included finding and reading a lot of really fun fan fiction.
This in turn has led to me wanting to write more fan fiction.
I have been kind of dithering over this, mulling over ideas and trying to decide where (or if) to start. Earlier this week I finally got the kick in the pants that I guess I have been waiting for. A group on LiveJournal has decided to host a "big bang" for Mass Effect. Basically it is a drive to inspire new fiction and art within the fandom. Intrigued by the concept, I looked up the information on it.
For fic writers the minimum story length is 8,000 words, and we will have until September 25 to write it (with a few checkpoints and hopefully a beta-read along the way). I saw that word count and actually scoffed. Two months for 8,000 words? Dude.
Meanwhile, about two weeks after sign-ups end, authors are required to submit a short summary of their story for the artists. The artists will then choose one that sounds interesting to draw an illustration or companion piece for.
Then, at the end of all of that, all of the stories will be posted along with their companion art for all of the fans to share and enjoy.
I had never heard of a big bang before this, but oh my goodness it just sounds fun. While telling my husband about it I even came up with a story idea, yay! So I went ahead and signed up to do this and I am really kind of excited. As crazy as I get in November doing Nanowrimo, that challenge to hit a certain word count every day was an amazing motivator, and I love the sense of accomplishment I get from hitting my numbers. Also, I think this will be a good warm up for November as well.
As you can imagine, there is a lot of crossover with Mass Effect and Dragon Age fans, and after hearing about the Mass Effect big bang, there is now one in the works for Dragon Age too for later in the summer. This is excellent news to me.
I need to write more, and this is a good way to do that while adding a little bit of fun.
To sign up for the big bang I had to create a LiveJournal account of course (I actually had one until earlier this year that I signed up for ages ago and never ever did anything with so it got deleted--but this is okay because it gives me a fresh start this way). So I did that.
I figure no use letting it go to waste. I'll be rounding up all of my old written fan fiction (mostly Stargate Atlantis) and posting it on my LJ account, and that will be the home to anything new I write, which will most likely be Dragon Age and Mass Effect. I've put the link up over there on the right in case anyone ever has any interest in checking it out, though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.
So, there you go. Challenge issued, challenge accepted. Let the plotting begin!
Showing posts with label Fan Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fan Fiction. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Fanfic Friday (Because Why Not?)
Howdy folks! Happy Friday! So, it turns out that the story I posted yesterday wasn't the only thing I ended up writing this week. I also managed to write a sort piece of fan fiction. I seem to have been getting back into that a little bit lately. I haven't written any in years, but this past week I finally had a story that I just had to get out of my head.
It combines my two biggest obsessions: Stargate Atlantis and Dragon Age. Thematically it contains some elements similar to "Above the Clouds," but it is definitely a different type of story. To me, the Eluvian mirrors in Dragon Age have always triggered thoughts of the Quantum Mirrors from Stargate. I also have always thought that Alistair would get along well in Atlantis. So I decided to take those two elements and put them together and see what happened. I am pretty happy with the result. I even went ahead and submitted it to Wraithbait (although I had completely forgotten that you have to put in html tags for anything like italics or, you know, line breaks when submitting a story there--that was fun, let me tell you). If I get any sort of positive feedback on the story, I might write some more adventures in this universe.
Spoilers disclaimer: MAJOR spoilers for the end of Dragon Age: Origins and hints of characters and events from DAO: Awakening. No real spoilers for Stargate Atlantis, provided you are aware of who is actually in the city as of season five.
Other disclaimer: Please note that Alistair and all things Dragon Age belong to Bioware and EA, while all things Stargate belong to MGM. Just the idea for the story is mine.
I hope you enjoy!
Alistair paused to wipe the sweat from his eyes. Despite the chill of the vicious winds this high in the mountains the exertion of the climb was getting to him. This pass had clearly been carved out by Chasind with a sadistic streak. Or a very disoriented dragon, he thought, smirking to himself. Really it barely qualified as a pass at all, but it was the only known way through this stretch of the Frostback Mountains, and he would complete his assignment or die trying. Looks like the dying part of that is getting more and more likely though. He winced as a new blast of frigid air swept through the range, almost knocking him off of the narrow ledge. Alistair pressed himself against the wall of rock that the ledge followed and steadied himself with a few deep breaths as he waited for the wind to die down again.
He continued to make his way through the treacherous pass once nature seemed to have calmed back down. Not for the first time, he allowed himself to wonder what his life would be like now if he had accepted the crown of Ferelden after the archdemon had been slain. I wouldn't be trekking out here in the middle of nowhere, that's for sure, he thought to himself. He still firmly believed that letting Anora remain queen had been the right thing to do, but he had grown convinced that she didn't accept that he believed it. Every time he had call to go to court she could not even stand to be around him, and he knew better than to think it was his resemblance to Cailan. No, his very existence was a threat to her rule and so he made her uncomfortable. As a result, she had somehow managed to convince the new Warden Commander to relegate him to all of the tasks that required extensive (and dangerous) travel throughout the damned country.
Such line of thought twisted a double-edged blade right into his heart, however. Alistair had no quarrel with the Orlesians, nor with the new Commander that the Wardens in Orlais had sent to help rebuild the order after the Blight. But every time he saw the man it was a reminder of the woman who should be Commander of the Grey Wardens in Ferelden. The love of Alistair's life, his brave and fiery elven mage, the hero who sacrificed herself to kill the archdemon. All because Alistair had refused to swallow his pride, his honor, to grant her one simple request. He had meant to take the final blow himself, of course, but a hurlock, an alpha, had distracted him just long enough for her to strike the dragon first, and with one final spell the Blight was over and she was gone. Thinking of Cailan was no better. Ever since Anora had admitted that Alistair's half-brother had been fully aware of his existence, he couldn't help but wonder why the man had never acknowledged him once they had met, at least in private. He couldn't help but wonder if Cailan had lived, perhaps they might have eventually come to be true brothers to each other after all.... Then again, maybe Cailan would have been just as bad as Goldanna, wanting nothing to do with Alistair unless it was of benefit to her.
So here he was, all alone in the mountains, risking his neck to find some elven artifact that the Commander had heard rumors existed. Always alone, even among the other Wardens. None of the faces in Amaranthine were familiar to him these days, save that of Oghren, and the dwarf had his own concerns to deal with. At least out here in the wilds it was less awkward. Alistair tried to shake his depressing ruminations and focused instead on the land around him. By the time the sun had begun to fall from its zenith he realized that the land was leveling out. Shortly after that, it began to descend. He had crossed through the pass and was on his way down into a basin between this range and the next. It appeared to be heavily wooded, which he hoped meant it was his destination. At the very least, he should be able to find a good place to make camp for the evening.
As he entered the woods he increased his guard. Likely there would be predators he would need to watch out for, but also, if what he sought was here, then there should be signs of a previous civilization. Even in the shade of the trees, the woods were practically cozy after the winds he had endured in the pass. Alistair soaked up the warmth gratefully as he searched, ever an eye out for signs of his quarry, a likely spot to rest for the evening, or even potential dinner.
He almost missed it, the first sign that he was in the right place. He was resting in a small clearing and thinking it would be a good place to stop for the day when a nearby stone caught his eye. Its shape was just a little bit too regular, the moss covering it seeming to follow too decorative a pattern, as if it was filling in crevices that had been put there intentionally. He moved across the clearing and examined the stone, unsurprised to realize that it was part of some larger structure--a paving stone, perhaps, or part of a building. His weariness forgotten, Alistair searched the area for more stones and after a short time found one, and then another, each embedded in the ground. He stepped back and looked at the area in front of him carefully, and after a few moments he could see that the trees in this part of the woods ran a little bit straighter, and there seemed to be two parallel lines of them, evenly spaced. A road had run through here once upon a time, long long ago.
Alistair followed the remnants of the road for two hours before he found the ruins. There wasn't very much left to be found, truth be told. But he could see where the foundation had been, and it took little for him to imagine the building that once stood here, centuries ago, when the elves were in their height of power. It hadn't been a very large building, probably just a way-station for travelers coming through the mountains, he guessed. The ruins in and of themselves were an incredible find, and he knew he would have to carefully mark them on his map before he returned. Likely other Wardens, or maybe even the Dalish, would want to come here to study them. But he had not been sent to find the ruins, he had been sent to find something in the ruins, and he feared his luck had just run out. There were no traces of the artifact for which he searched. Still, night was falling and he was tired. He would make camp here and get some rest. Maybe in the morning he would be better able to examine the area.
He expected a restless night but perhaps some trace of the magic of the ancient elves still lingered in the ruins. No predators came anywhere near Alistair and he slept far more soundly than he had since joining the Wardens. Even when he didn't hear the darkspawn in his dreams, he remained plagued by nightmares, or even worse, memories of the few happy moments he and his love had spent together before her death. This night, however, he did not dream at all.
When he wakes the next day he sets to work combing over every bit of the ruins. His diligence is rewarded when he discovers that a flat round stone tablet set into the ground near the back of what had once been the building moves to reveal an underground room. He can make out the first few rungs of a ladder, as well as an unlit torch hanging on the stone-lined wall. He climbs down far enough to retrieve the torch and brings it aboveground so he can light it, then carefully makes his way down into the cavern. He looks around in awe, sensing from the stale feel to the air that no one has been down here in a very long time. Perhaps not since the fall of Arlathan. Alistair walks to the center of the room, illuminating as much of it as possible with the torch. It is not much smaller than the ruins indicate the building above once was. Probably it was used for storage. A glint catches his eye and he turns to find the source. There, tucked carefully in a corner and draped with a sheet of cloth that looks as if it would crumble at his very touch, is an object that can only be what he was sent here to find.
Alistair glances around and notices that there are more torches lining the walls. He lights the one nearest the artifact and replaces the torch in his hands back in its bracket. Then he carefully approaches the object and brushes aside the cloth. He registers a moment of surprise when it doesn't disintegrate, but then he is distracted by the object itself. An Eluvian. The mirror is slightly larger than he is and set in an extremely ornate stone framework. The stone has been carved to quite realistically mimic living trees. It is breathtakingly beautiful. The mirror itself does not give a reflection but instead shows a grey smoky haze. Alistair can practically feel the magic radiating from it.
He has done his duty and located the Eluvian. Even better, it is already secured in a very safe location, and he knows that once he leaves it will not be disturbed again until he tells his Commander where it can be found. He knows he should cover the mirror up with the cloth once more, extinguish the torches, return to the surface, mark his map and return home.
But he doesn't.
Instead, he reaches out a tentative hand and lightly grazes the surface of the Eluvian with his fingertips. A soft warm tingle spreads throughout his body, starting where he touched the mirror and working quickly into the very heart of him. He feels a stirring deep inside, in the part of him that was once used by the Templars to dispel and deny magic. Only this time he does not deny it, this time he accepts it wholeheartedly. His eyes reflect the light of the elven script set into the frame as the words begin to glow. Without any further thought Alistair places both palms flat against the mirror. For the briefest of moments the haze clears and he sees the reflection of a room similar to the one in which he stands. Then he is jerked forward and all he knows is the blinding sensation of pain consuming his entire body.
He doesn't know how long he lies on the floor before consciousness returns to him, but when he comes to he realizes he is not alone. He can hear a heated argument--one side of it at least--from nearby as he groggily sits up and tries to blink his vision clear. He feels as if he has just been rammed by an ogre, then picked up and slammed into the ground repeatedly by said beast. Every muscle and bone in his body aches. He takes a few deep breaths, trying to steady himself, wondering if he is about to have to defend himself from the intruders. As he tries to get a grip on the situation some of the conversation catches his attention.
"Look, I don't know where he came from, alright? Why do you always look at me for an explanation, huh?" There is a mumbled response to the question but Alistair can't make it out. The speaker he can hear continues in a very fast, very irritated tirade, "Look, just because I know more than, well, everyone else, doesn't mean I know everything there is to know, okay? One minute I was studying the device and then he was just falling through it. He almost landed on me. Have you seen him?! He's wearing a full suit of medieval armor! Can you imagine the kind of damage that would have done to my delicate structure?"
Alistair has to resist the urge to chuckle. The speaker certainly doesn't sound very delicate. He frowns as what the man said sinks in. Why are the intruders trying to determine where he came from? They showed up after he had...after he had touched the mirror. The conversation outside continues but Alistair has stopped listening. He takes a good look at his surroundings. When he woke up he had just assumed that he was in the underground room in the ruins. But now that he looks around he sees that he is not. It is very similar, but the surfaces are not lined with rock, instead they are a smooth uniform material, like stone but not. The torches are gone, replaced by glowing orbs affixed to the walls. Instead of a few fragile shelves, the room contains a series of strange devices the like of which Alistair has never seen. They appear similar to desks but they are not made of wood, or any material he is familiar with. One directly in front of him is covered with blinking lights and glass panels that are covered in some sort of glowing script. The ladder is gone, instead there is a doorway in the far wall of the room, open to reveal daylight streaming in. Not underground then. The others must be standing just outside the door.
Gingerly he stands and turns around, finding a mirror, but not the one that he discovered in the ruins. This one is roughly the same shape and size, but its frame is wholly different. It is made of a similar material to the desks in the room, and it lacks the decorative carvings of the Eluvian that clearly brought him to this strange place. He vaguely remembers Duncan mentioning once that scholars believed Eluvians to be ancient portals, used by the elves to transport themselves across Thedas. Apparently the scholars were right. As he examines this other mirror he becomes aware of the voices from outside getting louder.
Alistair turns just in time to see two men enter through the doorway. They are both looking at something one is holding and he realizes it is a tablet that resembles another panel like those on the desk, covered in glowing script. As they cross the threshold the man without the tablet looks up and tenses as he sees Alistair standing in front of the mirror. Alistair senses instantly that this man is a soldier, despite his lack of armor, and a dangerous one at that. He tries to look as non-threatening as possible. The other man does not notice, however, and keeps on walking. He begins to speak and Alistair identifies him as the angry man who thinks he knows everything. He doesn't look delicate at all, Alistair notes.
"Look, even if it is a Quantum Mirror, and I have to admit, from the evidence, that is looking more likely, we can't really do anything with that information now. Whatever our friend did to get here burned it out. I mean, completely. Used up all of the juice. I mean, yes, I was running a diagnostic at the time, and I guess that could have contributed somewhat, but even if it did--"
"Rodney," the soldier says cutting off his companion's rant. He says it very softly and Alistair knows he was right to call this one dangerous.
"What?" The one called Rodney asks in an exasperated tone. He finally stops walking and looks up from the tablet in his hands, his blue eyes going wide as he sees Alistair, just a few feet away. The other man's hand drops to an object strapped to his thigh. Alistair doesn't recognize it, but he'd be willing to bet his last silver it is a weapon. Very slowly he raises his hands in the air, palms up, trying to indicate he means no threat to these people. Rodney lets out a strangled yelp and jumps back about a foot. The sound brings two more people into the room, a wild looking young man only a few years older than Alistair and a beautiful woman that he realizes is just as dangerous as the soldier. Both are brandishing weapons like the one the soldier wears.
"Um, hello." Alistair says after a tense moment of silence. When no one says anything in reply he adds, "I'm Alistair. I seem to have gotten a bit lost. Maybe one of you could, um, tell me where I am?" The wild man and the woman keep their weapons trained on him but they glance at the soldier as if waiting for the command. He's the one in charge, then. Alistair is relieved to see that he has not yet drawn his weapon. The man stares at him closely, clearly trying to assess the level of threat he represents to their group.
"At ease," he says in that same quiet tone after a few moments. The other two drop their weapons and Rodney relaxes visibly, though not completely. He tilts his head and then gestures to himself, saying "Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. This is Doctor Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex." He gestures to Rodney, the woman, and the wild man. "As for where you are, well, it's more or less the same place you were, just..." he runs a hand through his hair as he trails off and Rodney pipes up to finish his sentence.
"...just in a different reality. Well, most likely. I'll need to go over some data to know for sure." Alistair frowns at this answer. A different reality?
"You mean, like in the Fade?" he asks, trying to make some sense of what he's been told. That would explain a lot. The Fade is known to contain strange, often inaccurate reflections of real places.
"Hmm, maybe, maybe," Rodney answers, looking down at his pad. "Depends on what you think this 'Fade' is, but...hmm." He wanders over to one of the desks and begins tapping his fingers against what turn out to be buttons of some sort. The soldier, Sheppard, shakes his head and looks at his companion with a sort of resigned bemusement.
"You'll have to forgive Doctor McKay," Teyla says quietly, moving to stand next to him. Her voice is calm and reassuring, although he can see that she is visibly trying to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "He tends to get...absorbed in his work. Perhaps it would help if you tell us of how you came to be here?" Alistair starts to protest that he doesn't know but she stops him to clarify. "I mean, what do you remember before you woke up here?"
So Alistair tells them of finding the ruins and the Eluvian, explaining that he was looking for it and what his people knew of the artifact. He doesn't tell them everything, there are many details they don't really need, but he tells them more than he would under normal circumstances. He finds himself trusting them almost immediately for some reason. Rodney occasionally jumps in to the conversation to ask him about the elves or the Eluvian or what he means by "magic," about which he clearly feels dubious. Alistair can't imagine why, given the lighting in the room and the objects that Rodney manipulates with such ease. Those seem to reek of magic to him. But perhaps they call it something else here. After a while he tires of standing in the middle of the room and moves to lean against one of the desks. As he does the lights on its surface begin to glow and he can feel the whole of it hum with a soft vibration. That tingle he felt when he first touched the mirror returns. Rodney looks up in surprise when the desk lights up and then glances questioningly at Sheppard.
"I hadn't initialized that one yet."
"Not me," Sheppard answers.
"Huh," Rodney says, giving Alistair a hard look of his own. "Well that's interesting." As no explanation is forthcoming Alistair doesn't give it any further thought. The room falls silent save for Rodney muttering to himself, but it is a companionable silence and Alistair finds he rather enjoys it. After a while Rodney slams his tablet down on a flat surface and huffs in frustration, rubbing his eyes.
"Rodney?" Teyla asks tentatively. "What have you found?"
"Nothing," he answers tersely. "That's the problem. There's not a damn thing in here about how to activate the mirror or how to dial the right reality. We already know there's no remote, we went over the place three times looking for it before Astaire here showed up--"
"Alistair," he interrupts, wondering how the man could have forgotten his name already.
"Whatever," Rodney huffs, "the point is, we didn't find a remote, and there's no reference to one that I can find anyway. I mean, maybe if I could download the whole database and go through it in my lab with a team of scientists we could figure out how to get it to work. But there's still the problem of powering the damn thing."
"Wait a minute," Sheppard says, frowning. "Back up. What do you mean 'how to dial the right reality?' Nobody's touched it since Alistair came through. Shouldn't it still be set on the correct channel or whatever? I say we go grab a naquadah generator and hook it up to the mirror. This thing can't require that much power, can it?"
"Oh, by all means John, do my job for me, please. Yeesh. Are you kidding me? Just hook it up to a naquadah generator? Seriously?"
"Rodney," Sheppard says with a warning tone, "you're avoiding the question. Why do you need to know how to find Alistair's reality again?"
"Oh, um, well. Remember that diagnostic I said I was running? Well, it might have triggered something that cycled the different realities this thing is connected to and, well, it seems to have kept going for a few minutes after he came through."
"Rodney..." Sheppard says.
"Look, we were all caught off guard when he showed up!" He jerks his thumb at Alistair, who isn't even trying to make sense of their words. He furrows his brow as the gist of the conversation begins to become clear though. "Our scans showed this planet to be completely uninhabited, and we know no one has come through the gate since we arrived!"
"So we download the database and take it back with us," Ronon speaks up. Alistair jumps. It is the first time he has heard the man speak since he arrived. "You have your people go through it and figure out how to turn it on and get it to the right channel, then we come back, hook up a generator, and Alistair can go home."
"Um, no." Rodney answers, chagrined.
"Why not?" Sheppard asks.
"For one thing, I don't have nearly enough memory to copy the whole database right now. For another, there are almost an infinite number of realities that thing could be hooked up to, and it's not like they're listed in any sort of order. Also, the naquadah generator isn't going to work. In fact, it's probably the worst possible thing we can do because, well, according to the diagnostic, it is broken. Really broken. Any attempt to bypass it and provide an alternate energy source is more than likely going to cause the whole thing to blow up." The room falls into silence once more as everyone digests this new information.
"So I'm stuck here." Alistair says at last. He is surprised to find that he isn't upset at this revelation.
"Um, yes?" Rodney says tentatively. Alistair walks over to the mirror and reaches up to touch it. "What are you doing?!" Rodney cries.
"All I had to do was touch the other one," Alistair answers. But he knows even before he makes contact with the mirror that there will be no reaction to his touch this time.
"Well, yes, clearly the mirror in your reality is working just fine." Rodney sounds a little testy now. "The problem is that you need this one to be working in order to get back, and well," he falters, "it isn't."
"Alright then." Alistair says. "So, what now?" There is another long moment of silence and he can't bring himself to turn around and face them. After a few moments, Sheppard is the one to break the silence.
"Now, you come and stay with us."
"Really?" Rodney asks in surprise as Alistair turns at last. Sheppard's face is serious, and a bit sad. Alistair suspects he feels a little bit responsible for their current predicament. Teyla is nodding in approval, however, and Ronon is giving him an assessing look. Alistair meets Ronon's gaze and after another moment the young man nods just once and looks back to Sheppard. Alistair looks at Rodney who glances at the desk that lit up at Alistair's touch and then shrugs and says to Sheppard. "Might not be a bad idea." He gives a little bit of a chuckle and adds, "Woolsey is gonna love this."
They gather up their belongings and Alistair follows the group out of the building and along an overgrown path. There are no woods, but the mountains could be identical to those he came through at the start of this strange journey. Before they get to the pass that would lead back to Ferelden (or whatever stands in its place on this side of the mirror) they come upon a large ring standing up against the mountain face. In front of it is a small podium of some sort that Rodney walks up to. He presses a sequence of buttons and there is a rumbling from the ring. Alistair jumps backwards as there is a loud "whoosh" sound and a jet of something resembling water shoots out horizontally from the center of the ring before settling back and leaving what looks like a standing pool shimmering across its surface. It is beautiful. Teyla places a reassuring hand on his arm and promises him this will not hurt, although it might feel a bit strange his first time through. He sees Sheppard talking to thin air and hears him identify himself and say something about clearance and a visitor. After a few seconds Sheppard nods and gestures toward the ring and one by one, they step through.
This sensation is no less strange than his journey through the mirror, but much more pleasant at least, and when he emerges he is still standing and fully conscious. A fact he is quickly glad of as he looks around and finds himself inside a gleaming building bustling with people and more objects like those in the room and Rodney's tablet. A feeling of belonging, a sense of home, unlike anything Alistair has ever felt in his life washes over him. He looks at Sheppard and sees that the other man is watching him take it all in with an open grin.
"Welcome to Atlantis Alistair," he says.
It combines my two biggest obsessions: Stargate Atlantis and Dragon Age. Thematically it contains some elements similar to "Above the Clouds," but it is definitely a different type of story. To me, the Eluvian mirrors in Dragon Age have always triggered thoughts of the Quantum Mirrors from Stargate. I also have always thought that Alistair would get along well in Atlantis. So I decided to take those two elements and put them together and see what happened. I am pretty happy with the result. I even went ahead and submitted it to Wraithbait (although I had completely forgotten that you have to put in html tags for anything like italics or, you know, line breaks when submitting a story there--that was fun, let me tell you). If I get any sort of positive feedback on the story, I might write some more adventures in this universe.
Spoilers disclaimer: MAJOR spoilers for the end of Dragon Age: Origins and hints of characters and events from DAO: Awakening. No real spoilers for Stargate Atlantis, provided you are aware of who is actually in the city as of season five.
Other disclaimer: Please note that Alistair and all things Dragon Age belong to Bioware and EA, while all things Stargate belong to MGM. Just the idea for the story is mine.
I hope you enjoy!
Finding Home
Alistair paused to wipe the sweat from his eyes. Despite the chill of the vicious winds this high in the mountains the exertion of the climb was getting to him. This pass had clearly been carved out by Chasind with a sadistic streak. Or a very disoriented dragon, he thought, smirking to himself. Really it barely qualified as a pass at all, but it was the only known way through this stretch of the Frostback Mountains, and he would complete his assignment or die trying. Looks like the dying part of that is getting more and more likely though. He winced as a new blast of frigid air swept through the range, almost knocking him off of the narrow ledge. Alistair pressed himself against the wall of rock that the ledge followed and steadied himself with a few deep breaths as he waited for the wind to die down again.
He continued to make his way through the treacherous pass once nature seemed to have calmed back down. Not for the first time, he allowed himself to wonder what his life would be like now if he had accepted the crown of Ferelden after the archdemon had been slain. I wouldn't be trekking out here in the middle of nowhere, that's for sure, he thought to himself. He still firmly believed that letting Anora remain queen had been the right thing to do, but he had grown convinced that she didn't accept that he believed it. Every time he had call to go to court she could not even stand to be around him, and he knew better than to think it was his resemblance to Cailan. No, his very existence was a threat to her rule and so he made her uncomfortable. As a result, she had somehow managed to convince the new Warden Commander to relegate him to all of the tasks that required extensive (and dangerous) travel throughout the damned country.
Such line of thought twisted a double-edged blade right into his heart, however. Alistair had no quarrel with the Orlesians, nor with the new Commander that the Wardens in Orlais had sent to help rebuild the order after the Blight. But every time he saw the man it was a reminder of the woman who should be Commander of the Grey Wardens in Ferelden. The love of Alistair's life, his brave and fiery elven mage, the hero who sacrificed herself to kill the archdemon. All because Alistair had refused to swallow his pride, his honor, to grant her one simple request. He had meant to take the final blow himself, of course, but a hurlock, an alpha, had distracted him just long enough for her to strike the dragon first, and with one final spell the Blight was over and she was gone. Thinking of Cailan was no better. Ever since Anora had admitted that Alistair's half-brother had been fully aware of his existence, he couldn't help but wonder why the man had never acknowledged him once they had met, at least in private. He couldn't help but wonder if Cailan had lived, perhaps they might have eventually come to be true brothers to each other after all.... Then again, maybe Cailan would have been just as bad as Goldanna, wanting nothing to do with Alistair unless it was of benefit to her.
So here he was, all alone in the mountains, risking his neck to find some elven artifact that the Commander had heard rumors existed. Always alone, even among the other Wardens. None of the faces in Amaranthine were familiar to him these days, save that of Oghren, and the dwarf had his own concerns to deal with. At least out here in the wilds it was less awkward. Alistair tried to shake his depressing ruminations and focused instead on the land around him. By the time the sun had begun to fall from its zenith he realized that the land was leveling out. Shortly after that, it began to descend. He had crossed through the pass and was on his way down into a basin between this range and the next. It appeared to be heavily wooded, which he hoped meant it was his destination. At the very least, he should be able to find a good place to make camp for the evening.
As he entered the woods he increased his guard. Likely there would be predators he would need to watch out for, but also, if what he sought was here, then there should be signs of a previous civilization. Even in the shade of the trees, the woods were practically cozy after the winds he had endured in the pass. Alistair soaked up the warmth gratefully as he searched, ever an eye out for signs of his quarry, a likely spot to rest for the evening, or even potential dinner.
He almost missed it, the first sign that he was in the right place. He was resting in a small clearing and thinking it would be a good place to stop for the day when a nearby stone caught his eye. Its shape was just a little bit too regular, the moss covering it seeming to follow too decorative a pattern, as if it was filling in crevices that had been put there intentionally. He moved across the clearing and examined the stone, unsurprised to realize that it was part of some larger structure--a paving stone, perhaps, or part of a building. His weariness forgotten, Alistair searched the area for more stones and after a short time found one, and then another, each embedded in the ground. He stepped back and looked at the area in front of him carefully, and after a few moments he could see that the trees in this part of the woods ran a little bit straighter, and there seemed to be two parallel lines of them, evenly spaced. A road had run through here once upon a time, long long ago.
Alistair followed the remnants of the road for two hours before he found the ruins. There wasn't very much left to be found, truth be told. But he could see where the foundation had been, and it took little for him to imagine the building that once stood here, centuries ago, when the elves were in their height of power. It hadn't been a very large building, probably just a way-station for travelers coming through the mountains, he guessed. The ruins in and of themselves were an incredible find, and he knew he would have to carefully mark them on his map before he returned. Likely other Wardens, or maybe even the Dalish, would want to come here to study them. But he had not been sent to find the ruins, he had been sent to find something in the ruins, and he feared his luck had just run out. There were no traces of the artifact for which he searched. Still, night was falling and he was tired. He would make camp here and get some rest. Maybe in the morning he would be better able to examine the area.
He expected a restless night but perhaps some trace of the magic of the ancient elves still lingered in the ruins. No predators came anywhere near Alistair and he slept far more soundly than he had since joining the Wardens. Even when he didn't hear the darkspawn in his dreams, he remained plagued by nightmares, or even worse, memories of the few happy moments he and his love had spent together before her death. This night, however, he did not dream at all.
When he wakes the next day he sets to work combing over every bit of the ruins. His diligence is rewarded when he discovers that a flat round stone tablet set into the ground near the back of what had once been the building moves to reveal an underground room. He can make out the first few rungs of a ladder, as well as an unlit torch hanging on the stone-lined wall. He climbs down far enough to retrieve the torch and brings it aboveground so he can light it, then carefully makes his way down into the cavern. He looks around in awe, sensing from the stale feel to the air that no one has been down here in a very long time. Perhaps not since the fall of Arlathan. Alistair walks to the center of the room, illuminating as much of it as possible with the torch. It is not much smaller than the ruins indicate the building above once was. Probably it was used for storage. A glint catches his eye and he turns to find the source. There, tucked carefully in a corner and draped with a sheet of cloth that looks as if it would crumble at his very touch, is an object that can only be what he was sent here to find.
Alistair glances around and notices that there are more torches lining the walls. He lights the one nearest the artifact and replaces the torch in his hands back in its bracket. Then he carefully approaches the object and brushes aside the cloth. He registers a moment of surprise when it doesn't disintegrate, but then he is distracted by the object itself. An Eluvian. The mirror is slightly larger than he is and set in an extremely ornate stone framework. The stone has been carved to quite realistically mimic living trees. It is breathtakingly beautiful. The mirror itself does not give a reflection but instead shows a grey smoky haze. Alistair can practically feel the magic radiating from it.
He has done his duty and located the Eluvian. Even better, it is already secured in a very safe location, and he knows that once he leaves it will not be disturbed again until he tells his Commander where it can be found. He knows he should cover the mirror up with the cloth once more, extinguish the torches, return to the surface, mark his map and return home.
But he doesn't.
Instead, he reaches out a tentative hand and lightly grazes the surface of the Eluvian with his fingertips. A soft warm tingle spreads throughout his body, starting where he touched the mirror and working quickly into the very heart of him. He feels a stirring deep inside, in the part of him that was once used by the Templars to dispel and deny magic. Only this time he does not deny it, this time he accepts it wholeheartedly. His eyes reflect the light of the elven script set into the frame as the words begin to glow. Without any further thought Alistair places both palms flat against the mirror. For the briefest of moments the haze clears and he sees the reflection of a room similar to the one in which he stands. Then he is jerked forward and all he knows is the blinding sensation of pain consuming his entire body.
He doesn't know how long he lies on the floor before consciousness returns to him, but when he comes to he realizes he is not alone. He can hear a heated argument--one side of it at least--from nearby as he groggily sits up and tries to blink his vision clear. He feels as if he has just been rammed by an ogre, then picked up and slammed into the ground repeatedly by said beast. Every muscle and bone in his body aches. He takes a few deep breaths, trying to steady himself, wondering if he is about to have to defend himself from the intruders. As he tries to get a grip on the situation some of the conversation catches his attention.
"Look, I don't know where he came from, alright? Why do you always look at me for an explanation, huh?" There is a mumbled response to the question but Alistair can't make it out. The speaker he can hear continues in a very fast, very irritated tirade, "Look, just because I know more than, well, everyone else, doesn't mean I know everything there is to know, okay? One minute I was studying the device and then he was just falling through it. He almost landed on me. Have you seen him?! He's wearing a full suit of medieval armor! Can you imagine the kind of damage that would have done to my delicate structure?"
Alistair has to resist the urge to chuckle. The speaker certainly doesn't sound very delicate. He frowns as what the man said sinks in. Why are the intruders trying to determine where he came from? They showed up after he had...after he had touched the mirror. The conversation outside continues but Alistair has stopped listening. He takes a good look at his surroundings. When he woke up he had just assumed that he was in the underground room in the ruins. But now that he looks around he sees that he is not. It is very similar, but the surfaces are not lined with rock, instead they are a smooth uniform material, like stone but not. The torches are gone, replaced by glowing orbs affixed to the walls. Instead of a few fragile shelves, the room contains a series of strange devices the like of which Alistair has never seen. They appear similar to desks but they are not made of wood, or any material he is familiar with. One directly in front of him is covered with blinking lights and glass panels that are covered in some sort of glowing script. The ladder is gone, instead there is a doorway in the far wall of the room, open to reveal daylight streaming in. Not underground then. The others must be standing just outside the door.
Gingerly he stands and turns around, finding a mirror, but not the one that he discovered in the ruins. This one is roughly the same shape and size, but its frame is wholly different. It is made of a similar material to the desks in the room, and it lacks the decorative carvings of the Eluvian that clearly brought him to this strange place. He vaguely remembers Duncan mentioning once that scholars believed Eluvians to be ancient portals, used by the elves to transport themselves across Thedas. Apparently the scholars were right. As he examines this other mirror he becomes aware of the voices from outside getting louder.
Alistair turns just in time to see two men enter through the doorway. They are both looking at something one is holding and he realizes it is a tablet that resembles another panel like those on the desk, covered in glowing script. As they cross the threshold the man without the tablet looks up and tenses as he sees Alistair standing in front of the mirror. Alistair senses instantly that this man is a soldier, despite his lack of armor, and a dangerous one at that. He tries to look as non-threatening as possible. The other man does not notice, however, and keeps on walking. He begins to speak and Alistair identifies him as the angry man who thinks he knows everything. He doesn't look delicate at all, Alistair notes.
"Look, even if it is a Quantum Mirror, and I have to admit, from the evidence, that is looking more likely, we can't really do anything with that information now. Whatever our friend did to get here burned it out. I mean, completely. Used up all of the juice. I mean, yes, I was running a diagnostic at the time, and I guess that could have contributed somewhat, but even if it did--"
"Rodney," the soldier says cutting off his companion's rant. He says it very softly and Alistair knows he was right to call this one dangerous.
"What?" The one called Rodney asks in an exasperated tone. He finally stops walking and looks up from the tablet in his hands, his blue eyes going wide as he sees Alistair, just a few feet away. The other man's hand drops to an object strapped to his thigh. Alistair doesn't recognize it, but he'd be willing to bet his last silver it is a weapon. Very slowly he raises his hands in the air, palms up, trying to indicate he means no threat to these people. Rodney lets out a strangled yelp and jumps back about a foot. The sound brings two more people into the room, a wild looking young man only a few years older than Alistair and a beautiful woman that he realizes is just as dangerous as the soldier. Both are brandishing weapons like the one the soldier wears.
"Um, hello." Alistair says after a tense moment of silence. When no one says anything in reply he adds, "I'm Alistair. I seem to have gotten a bit lost. Maybe one of you could, um, tell me where I am?" The wild man and the woman keep their weapons trained on him but they glance at the soldier as if waiting for the command. He's the one in charge, then. Alistair is relieved to see that he has not yet drawn his weapon. The man stares at him closely, clearly trying to assess the level of threat he represents to their group.
"At ease," he says in that same quiet tone after a few moments. The other two drop their weapons and Rodney relaxes visibly, though not completely. He tilts his head and then gestures to himself, saying "Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. This is Doctor Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex." He gestures to Rodney, the woman, and the wild man. "As for where you are, well, it's more or less the same place you were, just..." he runs a hand through his hair as he trails off and Rodney pipes up to finish his sentence.
"...just in a different reality. Well, most likely. I'll need to go over some data to know for sure." Alistair frowns at this answer. A different reality?
"You mean, like in the Fade?" he asks, trying to make some sense of what he's been told. That would explain a lot. The Fade is known to contain strange, often inaccurate reflections of real places.
"Hmm, maybe, maybe," Rodney answers, looking down at his pad. "Depends on what you think this 'Fade' is, but...hmm." He wanders over to one of the desks and begins tapping his fingers against what turn out to be buttons of some sort. The soldier, Sheppard, shakes his head and looks at his companion with a sort of resigned bemusement.
"You'll have to forgive Doctor McKay," Teyla says quietly, moving to stand next to him. Her voice is calm and reassuring, although he can see that she is visibly trying to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "He tends to get...absorbed in his work. Perhaps it would help if you tell us of how you came to be here?" Alistair starts to protest that he doesn't know but she stops him to clarify. "I mean, what do you remember before you woke up here?"
So Alistair tells them of finding the ruins and the Eluvian, explaining that he was looking for it and what his people knew of the artifact. He doesn't tell them everything, there are many details they don't really need, but he tells them more than he would under normal circumstances. He finds himself trusting them almost immediately for some reason. Rodney occasionally jumps in to the conversation to ask him about the elves or the Eluvian or what he means by "magic," about which he clearly feels dubious. Alistair can't imagine why, given the lighting in the room and the objects that Rodney manipulates with such ease. Those seem to reek of magic to him. But perhaps they call it something else here. After a while he tires of standing in the middle of the room and moves to lean against one of the desks. As he does the lights on its surface begin to glow and he can feel the whole of it hum with a soft vibration. That tingle he felt when he first touched the mirror returns. Rodney looks up in surprise when the desk lights up and then glances questioningly at Sheppard.
"I hadn't initialized that one yet."
"Not me," Sheppard answers.
"Huh," Rodney says, giving Alistair a hard look of his own. "Well that's interesting." As no explanation is forthcoming Alistair doesn't give it any further thought. The room falls silent save for Rodney muttering to himself, but it is a companionable silence and Alistair finds he rather enjoys it. After a while Rodney slams his tablet down on a flat surface and huffs in frustration, rubbing his eyes.
"Rodney?" Teyla asks tentatively. "What have you found?"
"Nothing," he answers tersely. "That's the problem. There's not a damn thing in here about how to activate the mirror or how to dial the right reality. We already know there's no remote, we went over the place three times looking for it before Astaire here showed up--"
"Alistair," he interrupts, wondering how the man could have forgotten his name already.
"Whatever," Rodney huffs, "the point is, we didn't find a remote, and there's no reference to one that I can find anyway. I mean, maybe if I could download the whole database and go through it in my lab with a team of scientists we could figure out how to get it to work. But there's still the problem of powering the damn thing."
"Wait a minute," Sheppard says, frowning. "Back up. What do you mean 'how to dial the right reality?' Nobody's touched it since Alistair came through. Shouldn't it still be set on the correct channel or whatever? I say we go grab a naquadah generator and hook it up to the mirror. This thing can't require that much power, can it?"
"Oh, by all means John, do my job for me, please. Yeesh. Are you kidding me? Just hook it up to a naquadah generator? Seriously?"
"Rodney," Sheppard says with a warning tone, "you're avoiding the question. Why do you need to know how to find Alistair's reality again?"
"Oh, um, well. Remember that diagnostic I said I was running? Well, it might have triggered something that cycled the different realities this thing is connected to and, well, it seems to have kept going for a few minutes after he came through."
"Rodney..." Sheppard says.
"Look, we were all caught off guard when he showed up!" He jerks his thumb at Alistair, who isn't even trying to make sense of their words. He furrows his brow as the gist of the conversation begins to become clear though. "Our scans showed this planet to be completely uninhabited, and we know no one has come through the gate since we arrived!"
"So we download the database and take it back with us," Ronon speaks up. Alistair jumps. It is the first time he has heard the man speak since he arrived. "You have your people go through it and figure out how to turn it on and get it to the right channel, then we come back, hook up a generator, and Alistair can go home."
"Um, no." Rodney answers, chagrined.
"Why not?" Sheppard asks.
"For one thing, I don't have nearly enough memory to copy the whole database right now. For another, there are almost an infinite number of realities that thing could be hooked up to, and it's not like they're listed in any sort of order. Also, the naquadah generator isn't going to work. In fact, it's probably the worst possible thing we can do because, well, according to the diagnostic, it is broken. Really broken. Any attempt to bypass it and provide an alternate energy source is more than likely going to cause the whole thing to blow up." The room falls into silence once more as everyone digests this new information.
"So I'm stuck here." Alistair says at last. He is surprised to find that he isn't upset at this revelation.
"Um, yes?" Rodney says tentatively. Alistair walks over to the mirror and reaches up to touch it. "What are you doing?!" Rodney cries.
"All I had to do was touch the other one," Alistair answers. But he knows even before he makes contact with the mirror that there will be no reaction to his touch this time.
"Well, yes, clearly the mirror in your reality is working just fine." Rodney sounds a little testy now. "The problem is that you need this one to be working in order to get back, and well," he falters, "it isn't."
"Alright then." Alistair says. "So, what now?" There is another long moment of silence and he can't bring himself to turn around and face them. After a few moments, Sheppard is the one to break the silence.
"Now, you come and stay with us."
"Really?" Rodney asks in surprise as Alistair turns at last. Sheppard's face is serious, and a bit sad. Alistair suspects he feels a little bit responsible for their current predicament. Teyla is nodding in approval, however, and Ronon is giving him an assessing look. Alistair meets Ronon's gaze and after another moment the young man nods just once and looks back to Sheppard. Alistair looks at Rodney who glances at the desk that lit up at Alistair's touch and then shrugs and says to Sheppard. "Might not be a bad idea." He gives a little bit of a chuckle and adds, "Woolsey is gonna love this."
They gather up their belongings and Alistair follows the group out of the building and along an overgrown path. There are no woods, but the mountains could be identical to those he came through at the start of this strange journey. Before they get to the pass that would lead back to Ferelden (or whatever stands in its place on this side of the mirror) they come upon a large ring standing up against the mountain face. In front of it is a small podium of some sort that Rodney walks up to. He presses a sequence of buttons and there is a rumbling from the ring. Alistair jumps backwards as there is a loud "whoosh" sound and a jet of something resembling water shoots out horizontally from the center of the ring before settling back and leaving what looks like a standing pool shimmering across its surface. It is beautiful. Teyla places a reassuring hand on his arm and promises him this will not hurt, although it might feel a bit strange his first time through. He sees Sheppard talking to thin air and hears him identify himself and say something about clearance and a visitor. After a few seconds Sheppard nods and gestures toward the ring and one by one, they step through.
This sensation is no less strange than his journey through the mirror, but much more pleasant at least, and when he emerges he is still standing and fully conscious. A fact he is quickly glad of as he looks around and finds himself inside a gleaming building bustling with people and more objects like those in the room and Rodney's tablet. A feeling of belonging, a sense of home, unlike anything Alistair has ever felt in his life washes over him. He looks at Sheppard and sees that the other man is watching him take it all in with an open grin.
"Welcome to Atlantis Alistair," he says.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
SGA Rewatch: Tao of Rodney
Hello! Welcome to the Stargate Atlantis Rewatch! Today we will be discussing season three's "Tao of Rodney." Spoilers abound!
What Happened
While the Ancients were in charge of Atlantis for that brief period of time, they turned on a lot of lights and systems and machines throughout the city. They didn't exactly have time to turn any of that stuff off before they were killed by the Asurans, so now that the city only has one ZPM, someone needs to go find all of that stuff and turn it off to conserve power. Rodney and Radek are leading a team of scientists doing just that as the episode opens. They find a lab that has been left up an running and Rodney, showing off for a cute scientist, steps right on up to the central machine and fires up the console. Ostensibly this is so that he can figure out what it is and how to turn it off, but Radek tries to advise him to be more cautious. Rodney ignores the urging of his colleague, however, and he does something to the console that causes him to be surrounded by a pulse of energy. The energy dissipates and the entire lab goes dark.
In the infirmary, Carson has run pretty much every test he can think of on Rodney. He declares that he can't find anything out of the ordinary about Rodney. The device had no apparent harmful effects. Rodney is not so sure and his hypochondria kicks in to overdrive, but Carson goes ahead and clears him for active duty anyway. John offers to stay with Rodney in case anything happens. Accompanied by Radek, they return to the lab to (much more cautiously) see if they can't figure out exactly what the device was for and what happened to Rodney.
Later that day Rodney is eating lunch in the mess. His plate is piled with food and the remnants of what he has already shoveled down. As he continues to plow through the oversized meal, he hears his teammates discussing his eating habits in hushed tones from somewhere behind him. They are a little concerned about how much he is eating and wondering what the deal is. Rodney spins around to snap at them that he can hear them talking about him, only to be surprised to find that they are all the way on the other side of the mess. He gets up from the table, reaching for his datapad without looking, and therefore without noticing that it actually slides right into his hand seemingly of its own volition. Rodney goes to the rest of the team and lets them know he doesn't appreciate their speculation, but before they can get into it, the team is called to the control room.
They arrive to find that Major Lorne has dialed in from off-world requesting backup. His team is under attack and pinned down, unable to get to the gate. The team heads for the jumper bay, John calling for a team of marines to meet them, and they head out to rescue Lorne's team.
While she is waiting on their return, Elizabeth is called down to the Ancient lab by Radek. He tells her he has managed to get power to the device's research logs. Before he reports his findings, however, he would like her to take a second look at them to confirm his translation is correct. From what they can read, the machine seems to have been developed to manipulate human DNA. Elizabeth and Radek exchange worried glances, realizing that Rodney might not be as okay as he had first seemed after the encounter with the device. Elizabeth gets a call from the control room informing her that the rescue team has returned. She and Radek run to the jumper bay to meet them and to check on Rodney.
They arrive at the same time as Carson and a medical team. The jumper door opens and we can hear John and Rodney squabbling about something. Carson demands to know who needs medical attention and Lorne says nobody. He says they are all fine and unhurt, thanks to (his voice switches into sarcastic mode) Rodney. Everyone looks at Rodney for an explanation. He tells them that when the rescue team arrived, they saw Lorne's team surrounded by enemies all preparing to fire. He thought to himself wouldn't it be good if their weapons all jammed--and they did. No one really believes that he caused that to happen but disgruntled he decides to demonstrate. He gestures and Carson rises up in the air unsupported.
Back in the infirmary, everyone has accepted that Rodney has developed some new abilities. Carson asks him if he has noticed anything other than telekinesis and he mentions his improved hearing and says he thinks he is getting smarter as well. A nurse arrives with a huge tray of food and John points out he also seems to have a "super" appetite now. Radek and Elizabeth share their findings about the machine. They suspect that the Ancients were trying to artificially accelerate their evolution in order to give themselves the abilities that were often developed on the path to ascension. Rodney is super excited about it, but Carson, Elizabeth, and Radek are not so sure. Elizabeth and Radek get back to studying the machine to see if they can learn more. John, realizing the potential of such a device, starts badgering Elizabeth to let him be next (assuming they can prove it is safe, of course). Radek pipes up he wouldn't mind trying it either and Elizabeth just rolls her eyes at both of them and gets back to work.
Carson decides to release Rodney to his normal duties despite reservations about his current condition. He does require that Rodney remain under supervision, and assigns Ronon to keep an eye on him. As they are walking down the corridor, they pass the cute scientist Rodney had been trying to impress earlier. Rodney thinks he hears her say he's hot, only to realize she meant Ronon, only to realize she hadn't actually said anything out loud. The scientist scurries off, embarrassed, and Rodney realizes he is able to read minds now. He goes to Elizabeth's office and tells her he wants to use the city's control chair. He thinks his heightened intelligence will allow him to improve the power distribution of the city's systems. He has this whole conversation with Elizabeth and Ronon without either of them saying anything out loud, he just reads their answers in their minds and then responds before they can actually open their mouths.
Rodney gets to work in the control chair, with Ronon and a team of scientists overseeing him. Whatever he is doing is causing lights to flicker and power to fluctuate throughout the city, though one of the scientists admits it does seem to be making improvements overall. One of the areas affected is the lab with the Ancient device, where power is pretty much shut down, delaying Radek's own research into the machine's purpose and effects. Elizabeth had managed to download some of the research logs, however, and continues to read through them. She and Radek had originally thought the Ancients had built the machine to help them fight the wraith, the added abilities would give them a definite advantage. But further research shows they actually meant for it to accelerate the entire process of ascension, leading to ascension itself, and an escape from the wraith, not defense against them. It also doesn't work properly, the results the Ancients experienced were varied and more subjects died than ascended. She and Radek go to speak to Rodney.
Elizabeth tells (well, thinks, and Rodney hears) him that his body will continue to evolve until it reaches the point where it will no longer be able to support his increased brain functions. At that point, he will need to ascend or he will die. But it isn't just a physical process, there is a mental component to it that Rodney must undergo as well, and he doesn't know how to do that part. Rodney is so freaked out by this news that he stops working on his project in the chair in the middle of a process. The abrupt stop causes power surges throughout the city. Radek, on his way to the control room, is caught in one of these surges and seriously injured. He is rushed to the infirmary and the doctors are trying to keep him alive when Rodney arrives. He steps forward and heals Radek--another ability has emerged. Everyone looks at him in wonder as he just looks at Radek in shame and then flees the room.
Elizabeth goes to talk to him about his situation and finds him in his lab surrounded by whiteboards and computers all full of equations. He tells her he has been very busy--even invented a new kind of math. She is impressed but brings the conversation back on topic. He says he tried to fix the machine but it just wasn't designed to reverse the process. Since he doesn't know how to achieve the mental portion of ascension, he has just decided to get as much done as he can before he dies. Elizabeth asks him to consider trying to ascend anyway, but he admits he never really saw the point of it, doesn't think he is cut out for it. She mentions that if he did manage to ascend, he could always descend afterward and resume mortal form. Rodney looks at her in wonder, not having considered that option.
Rodney retrieves an Ancient device and goes to the infirmary to have Carson hook him up. The device was meant to monitor how evolved a person's brain it. From their research, they know that ascension can only occur when a person's brain frequencies are at a certain very low level (a level associated with coma patients). They also know that his body can only survive until his synaptic activity reaches about 96% and right now it is at around 60%. Carson hooks Rodney up to the machine and they see that his frequency is way too high for ascension. He tries calming down, clearing his mind, but it doesn't do any good. Carson points out that Rodney keeps trying to approach it through science, as if it is just a simple process with specific tests. But the Ancients who ascended spent most of their lives dedicated to reaching that goal.
Elizabeth speaks with John about the situation. She thinks that maybe when he spent all of that time in the sanctuary designed to allow people to seek ascension he might have picked up some pointers on the mental aspect of the process. She thinks maybe he can help Rodney out. He sits down with Rodney and tries to talk him through meditating, but it isn't very successful. John admits he wasn't very good at it himself. For his part, Rodney is having a very hard time clearing his mind. Every time he does, he keeps thinking of a new scientific proof or realizing the answer to some great scientific question. After a while, he gives up on trying to ascend. He says he is just not cut out for it and decides to dedicate the rest of the time he has left to advancing science as much as possible. Elizabeth once more goes to speak to him, urging him not to give up. She says that she thinks the reason a lot of attempts at ascension fail is that the person attempting it maybe thinks he isn't actually worthy of doing so. She asks Rodney to reflect on any reasons he might feel himself unworthy and then think of a way to ease his guilt, or release his burden.
Rodney reflects for a bit and then begins going to his friends to try to make amends for his faults. He goes to Radek and tells him that he is a brilliant scientist and a good person who doesn't deserve all of the crap he has put up with from Rodney. Rodney apologizes for the way he has treated Radek and says he has been fortunate to work with him. He then goes to Teyla and says he has learned that the anniversary of her father's death approaches. He spoke with Halling and learned that there is a memorial tea ceremony that the Athosians perform on such an occasion and asks if he might share it with her, showing great respect for her culture and customs, which he has always kind of disdained. He goes to Ronon and asks about the scars on his back from his failed attempts to remove the wraith tracking device. He asks if they are a badge of honor or just a painful reminder of something Ronon would really rather forget. Ronon is quiet for a moment and answers that he tries not to let things he can't change get to him. Rodney hugs him and then says he hopes Ronon doesn't mind, but he healed the scars for him. For Elizabeth, he writes a book (500 pages!) detailing all of the good she has done as leader of the expedition, since he knows she gets a lot of flak about her decisions from the people back on Earth. He wanted her to know she is appreciated.
After making peace with all of the people Rodney feels he has wronged, he meets up with John and attempts meditation once more. His brain frequencies have dropped significantly, but he is still nowhere near ascension levels. He shakes his head and declares his situation hopeless. He asks if John will deliver his eulogy. John doesn't want to entertain such thoughts, but Rodney persists. He tells him what kind of funeral he wants and also that he thinks Carson should do a full autopsy on him. John is at a loss for how to respond to this when Rodney suddenly collapses.
Rodney is moved to the infirmary and Carson tells him his synaptic activity has climbed to 90%. He doesn't have much time left. His friends have gathered round him and John asks him to meditate one more time. Rodney agrees. He tries to clear his mind and let go of everything holding himself to the physical world. He loses consciousness and his brain frequencies start dropping. Suddenly, he sits up and grabs Carson, staring at him intently before passing out again and flatlining. Carson immediately calls for a ventilator and Elizabeth reminds him that Rodney ordered no extraordinary measures. Carson says she doesn't understand. In that last moment, Rodney told Carson how to save him.
They rush him to the lab with the Ancient machine and lay him on the pedestal. Carson activates the machine and Rodney is once more surrounded by the energy pulse. After it subsides he sits up and seems to be fine. He tries to read everyone's thought and move something with his mind and is relieved that he can't. He is back to his old self. He explains that he was just drifting in a void when he realized the answer--the machine couldn't reverse the process because it didn't have his original DNA to compare to the evolved DNA. Carson keeps blood samples of everyone on the expedition as a baseline in case of disease or mutation, and once he introduced that to the machine, it was able to repair Rodney to his original state.
Afterwards, Rodney is back in his lab trying to make sense of the work he did while in his heightened state. Elizabeth stops by and he admits that he can't understand any of the new math he created. She comforts him by showing him his last EEG reading from his final meditation. His frequencies were right in the ascension zone. He could have done it if he hadn't decided to tell Carson how to use the machine to save himself. He is smug that he wasn't so hopeless after all. He teases Elizabeth a little for telling him she loved him when he was dying. She tries to defend herself in that she clearly meant it in a friend/family kind of way and was talking about the group as a whole. He knows it is the case but is having fun giving her a hard time about it. He asks if she has eaten and she agrees to keep him company while he goes to get lunch.
Commentary
Again, the Ancients? Kind of jerks. They created a species that was an absolute menace to an entire galaxy and instead of trying to figure out a way to fight them, they just decided to try to accelerate their own escape process. Yeesh. Although this episode does give us a fascinating insight into the process of ascension, the supposed science of it as well as the more spiritual side.
I love that Rodney was very much Rodney throughout the whole ordeal, and the way his friends rallied around him. I especially loved his attempts to make amends with everyone by trying to show respect for the aspects of them that he usually treats with disdain or disregard. It shows that he does actually understand who they are as people, even if he doesn't always act as if that is the case. I also very much like that there is no scene of him trying to make amends with John. To me that shows that those two are close enough already that they know where they stand with each other. It is a bromance of epic proportions.
Although the whole "release your burden" plotline had all of the John/Rodney shippers (yes, it is actually a pretty prevalent group) in fandom giggling like twelve-year olds. Not gonna pretend I wasn't immune to that either.
Overall a very good episode with some amazing acting from everyone involved. Rodney-centric episodes always seem to shine the brightest to me. I don't know if that's because he's my favorite character or if it is because the writers seem to have so much fun writing for him, or some combination thereof. Either way, this is a good entry. It doesn't really do much to add to the overall story of the season, but it does make good use of everything that has happened up to this point. It also shows a nice little slice of the daily life and perils of the inhabitants of Atlantis.
Favorite Quotes
"Rodney?" (Elizabeth)
"Believe me, I find this as disturbing as you do." (Rodney)
"Like bloody hell you do!" (Carson)
"Does super-ego count as a power?" (John)
"Anyway, it's not like you...or these guys could stop me from leaving anyways." (Rodney)
"No, but I could." (Ronon)
"Oh, you care to put that to a test?" (Rodney)
"Do you?" (Ronon)
"Well...no, not really." (Rodney)
"She wants you to shoot me if you think for even one second that I might be trying to take over the city for my own evil purposes." (Rodney)
"Look, you're teaching me how to meditate. Not exactly good odds there to start with." (Rodney)
"I realize that." (John)
"Now, is Sheppard still bugging you to let him use the ascension device to turn himself into some kind of a superhero?" (Rodney)
"Oh yes." (Elizabeth)
"Despite the fact that the Ancient database states that its effects on people are wildly unpredictable and that I'm just lucky I wasn't instantly melted down into a pool of protoplasm." (Rodney)
"Yes." (Elizabeth)
"Yes, well. Maybe you should let him." (Rodney)
"I think not." (Elizabeth)
~*~
That's all for today folks! See you back here on Monday when we continue the journey through season three. Next up, "The Game."
P.S. In not entirely unrelated news, yesterday this piece of fan fiction, by Live Journal user Bitter_Crimson, came to my attention. It tells tells the tale of a romance between John and Rodney, if they were Girl Scout Cookies. In pictures. It is pure crack, but amusing crack. Some strong language and, um, well, cookie sex, so be warned. But very, very silly and funny.
What Happened
While the Ancients were in charge of Atlantis for that brief period of time, they turned on a lot of lights and systems and machines throughout the city. They didn't exactly have time to turn any of that stuff off before they were killed by the Asurans, so now that the city only has one ZPM, someone needs to go find all of that stuff and turn it off to conserve power. Rodney and Radek are leading a team of scientists doing just that as the episode opens. They find a lab that has been left up an running and Rodney, showing off for a cute scientist, steps right on up to the central machine and fires up the console. Ostensibly this is so that he can figure out what it is and how to turn it off, but Radek tries to advise him to be more cautious. Rodney ignores the urging of his colleague, however, and he does something to the console that causes him to be surrounded by a pulse of energy. The energy dissipates and the entire lab goes dark.
In the infirmary, Carson has run pretty much every test he can think of on Rodney. He declares that he can't find anything out of the ordinary about Rodney. The device had no apparent harmful effects. Rodney is not so sure and his hypochondria kicks in to overdrive, but Carson goes ahead and clears him for active duty anyway. John offers to stay with Rodney in case anything happens. Accompanied by Radek, they return to the lab to (much more cautiously) see if they can't figure out exactly what the device was for and what happened to Rodney.
Later that day Rodney is eating lunch in the mess. His plate is piled with food and the remnants of what he has already shoveled down. As he continues to plow through the oversized meal, he hears his teammates discussing his eating habits in hushed tones from somewhere behind him. They are a little concerned about how much he is eating and wondering what the deal is. Rodney spins around to snap at them that he can hear them talking about him, only to be surprised to find that they are all the way on the other side of the mess. He gets up from the table, reaching for his datapad without looking, and therefore without noticing that it actually slides right into his hand seemingly of its own volition. Rodney goes to the rest of the team and lets them know he doesn't appreciate their speculation, but before they can get into it, the team is called to the control room.
They arrive to find that Major Lorne has dialed in from off-world requesting backup. His team is under attack and pinned down, unable to get to the gate. The team heads for the jumper bay, John calling for a team of marines to meet them, and they head out to rescue Lorne's team.
While she is waiting on their return, Elizabeth is called down to the Ancient lab by Radek. He tells her he has managed to get power to the device's research logs. Before he reports his findings, however, he would like her to take a second look at them to confirm his translation is correct. From what they can read, the machine seems to have been developed to manipulate human DNA. Elizabeth and Radek exchange worried glances, realizing that Rodney might not be as okay as he had first seemed after the encounter with the device. Elizabeth gets a call from the control room informing her that the rescue team has returned. She and Radek run to the jumper bay to meet them and to check on Rodney.
They arrive at the same time as Carson and a medical team. The jumper door opens and we can hear John and Rodney squabbling about something. Carson demands to know who needs medical attention and Lorne says nobody. He says they are all fine and unhurt, thanks to (his voice switches into sarcastic mode) Rodney. Everyone looks at Rodney for an explanation. He tells them that when the rescue team arrived, they saw Lorne's team surrounded by enemies all preparing to fire. He thought to himself wouldn't it be good if their weapons all jammed--and they did. No one really believes that he caused that to happen but disgruntled he decides to demonstrate. He gestures and Carson rises up in the air unsupported.
Back in the infirmary, everyone has accepted that Rodney has developed some new abilities. Carson asks him if he has noticed anything other than telekinesis and he mentions his improved hearing and says he thinks he is getting smarter as well. A nurse arrives with a huge tray of food and John points out he also seems to have a "super" appetite now. Radek and Elizabeth share their findings about the machine. They suspect that the Ancients were trying to artificially accelerate their evolution in order to give themselves the abilities that were often developed on the path to ascension. Rodney is super excited about it, but Carson, Elizabeth, and Radek are not so sure. Elizabeth and Radek get back to studying the machine to see if they can learn more. John, realizing the potential of such a device, starts badgering Elizabeth to let him be next (assuming they can prove it is safe, of course). Radek pipes up he wouldn't mind trying it either and Elizabeth just rolls her eyes at both of them and gets back to work.
Carson decides to release Rodney to his normal duties despite reservations about his current condition. He does require that Rodney remain under supervision, and assigns Ronon to keep an eye on him. As they are walking down the corridor, they pass the cute scientist Rodney had been trying to impress earlier. Rodney thinks he hears her say he's hot, only to realize she meant Ronon, only to realize she hadn't actually said anything out loud. The scientist scurries off, embarrassed, and Rodney realizes he is able to read minds now. He goes to Elizabeth's office and tells her he wants to use the city's control chair. He thinks his heightened intelligence will allow him to improve the power distribution of the city's systems. He has this whole conversation with Elizabeth and Ronon without either of them saying anything out loud, he just reads their answers in their minds and then responds before they can actually open their mouths.
Rodney gets to work in the control chair, with Ronon and a team of scientists overseeing him. Whatever he is doing is causing lights to flicker and power to fluctuate throughout the city, though one of the scientists admits it does seem to be making improvements overall. One of the areas affected is the lab with the Ancient device, where power is pretty much shut down, delaying Radek's own research into the machine's purpose and effects. Elizabeth had managed to download some of the research logs, however, and continues to read through them. She and Radek had originally thought the Ancients had built the machine to help them fight the wraith, the added abilities would give them a definite advantage. But further research shows they actually meant for it to accelerate the entire process of ascension, leading to ascension itself, and an escape from the wraith, not defense against them. It also doesn't work properly, the results the Ancients experienced were varied and more subjects died than ascended. She and Radek go to speak to Rodney.
Elizabeth tells (well, thinks, and Rodney hears) him that his body will continue to evolve until it reaches the point where it will no longer be able to support his increased brain functions. At that point, he will need to ascend or he will die. But it isn't just a physical process, there is a mental component to it that Rodney must undergo as well, and he doesn't know how to do that part. Rodney is so freaked out by this news that he stops working on his project in the chair in the middle of a process. The abrupt stop causes power surges throughout the city. Radek, on his way to the control room, is caught in one of these surges and seriously injured. He is rushed to the infirmary and the doctors are trying to keep him alive when Rodney arrives. He steps forward and heals Radek--another ability has emerged. Everyone looks at him in wonder as he just looks at Radek in shame and then flees the room.
Elizabeth goes to talk to him about his situation and finds him in his lab surrounded by whiteboards and computers all full of equations. He tells her he has been very busy--even invented a new kind of math. She is impressed but brings the conversation back on topic. He says he tried to fix the machine but it just wasn't designed to reverse the process. Since he doesn't know how to achieve the mental portion of ascension, he has just decided to get as much done as he can before he dies. Elizabeth asks him to consider trying to ascend anyway, but he admits he never really saw the point of it, doesn't think he is cut out for it. She mentions that if he did manage to ascend, he could always descend afterward and resume mortal form. Rodney looks at her in wonder, not having considered that option.
Rodney retrieves an Ancient device and goes to the infirmary to have Carson hook him up. The device was meant to monitor how evolved a person's brain it. From their research, they know that ascension can only occur when a person's brain frequencies are at a certain very low level (a level associated with coma patients). They also know that his body can only survive until his synaptic activity reaches about 96% and right now it is at around 60%. Carson hooks Rodney up to the machine and they see that his frequency is way too high for ascension. He tries calming down, clearing his mind, but it doesn't do any good. Carson points out that Rodney keeps trying to approach it through science, as if it is just a simple process with specific tests. But the Ancients who ascended spent most of their lives dedicated to reaching that goal.
Elizabeth speaks with John about the situation. She thinks that maybe when he spent all of that time in the sanctuary designed to allow people to seek ascension he might have picked up some pointers on the mental aspect of the process. She thinks maybe he can help Rodney out. He sits down with Rodney and tries to talk him through meditating, but it isn't very successful. John admits he wasn't very good at it himself. For his part, Rodney is having a very hard time clearing his mind. Every time he does, he keeps thinking of a new scientific proof or realizing the answer to some great scientific question. After a while, he gives up on trying to ascend. He says he is just not cut out for it and decides to dedicate the rest of the time he has left to advancing science as much as possible. Elizabeth once more goes to speak to him, urging him not to give up. She says that she thinks the reason a lot of attempts at ascension fail is that the person attempting it maybe thinks he isn't actually worthy of doing so. She asks Rodney to reflect on any reasons he might feel himself unworthy and then think of a way to ease his guilt, or release his burden.
Rodney reflects for a bit and then begins going to his friends to try to make amends for his faults. He goes to Radek and tells him that he is a brilliant scientist and a good person who doesn't deserve all of the crap he has put up with from Rodney. Rodney apologizes for the way he has treated Radek and says he has been fortunate to work with him. He then goes to Teyla and says he has learned that the anniversary of her father's death approaches. He spoke with Halling and learned that there is a memorial tea ceremony that the Athosians perform on such an occasion and asks if he might share it with her, showing great respect for her culture and customs, which he has always kind of disdained. He goes to Ronon and asks about the scars on his back from his failed attempts to remove the wraith tracking device. He asks if they are a badge of honor or just a painful reminder of something Ronon would really rather forget. Ronon is quiet for a moment and answers that he tries not to let things he can't change get to him. Rodney hugs him and then says he hopes Ronon doesn't mind, but he healed the scars for him. For Elizabeth, he writes a book (500 pages!) detailing all of the good she has done as leader of the expedition, since he knows she gets a lot of flak about her decisions from the people back on Earth. He wanted her to know she is appreciated.
After making peace with all of the people Rodney feels he has wronged, he meets up with John and attempts meditation once more. His brain frequencies have dropped significantly, but he is still nowhere near ascension levels. He shakes his head and declares his situation hopeless. He asks if John will deliver his eulogy. John doesn't want to entertain such thoughts, but Rodney persists. He tells him what kind of funeral he wants and also that he thinks Carson should do a full autopsy on him. John is at a loss for how to respond to this when Rodney suddenly collapses.
Rodney is moved to the infirmary and Carson tells him his synaptic activity has climbed to 90%. He doesn't have much time left. His friends have gathered round him and John asks him to meditate one more time. Rodney agrees. He tries to clear his mind and let go of everything holding himself to the physical world. He loses consciousness and his brain frequencies start dropping. Suddenly, he sits up and grabs Carson, staring at him intently before passing out again and flatlining. Carson immediately calls for a ventilator and Elizabeth reminds him that Rodney ordered no extraordinary measures. Carson says she doesn't understand. In that last moment, Rodney told Carson how to save him.
They rush him to the lab with the Ancient machine and lay him on the pedestal. Carson activates the machine and Rodney is once more surrounded by the energy pulse. After it subsides he sits up and seems to be fine. He tries to read everyone's thought and move something with his mind and is relieved that he can't. He is back to his old self. He explains that he was just drifting in a void when he realized the answer--the machine couldn't reverse the process because it didn't have his original DNA to compare to the evolved DNA. Carson keeps blood samples of everyone on the expedition as a baseline in case of disease or mutation, and once he introduced that to the machine, it was able to repair Rodney to his original state.
Afterwards, Rodney is back in his lab trying to make sense of the work he did while in his heightened state. Elizabeth stops by and he admits that he can't understand any of the new math he created. She comforts him by showing him his last EEG reading from his final meditation. His frequencies were right in the ascension zone. He could have done it if he hadn't decided to tell Carson how to use the machine to save himself. He is smug that he wasn't so hopeless after all. He teases Elizabeth a little for telling him she loved him when he was dying. She tries to defend herself in that she clearly meant it in a friend/family kind of way and was talking about the group as a whole. He knows it is the case but is having fun giving her a hard time about it. He asks if she has eaten and she agrees to keep him company while he goes to get lunch.
Commentary
Again, the Ancients? Kind of jerks. They created a species that was an absolute menace to an entire galaxy and instead of trying to figure out a way to fight them, they just decided to try to accelerate their own escape process. Yeesh. Although this episode does give us a fascinating insight into the process of ascension, the supposed science of it as well as the more spiritual side.
I love that Rodney was very much Rodney throughout the whole ordeal, and the way his friends rallied around him. I especially loved his attempts to make amends with everyone by trying to show respect for the aspects of them that he usually treats with disdain or disregard. It shows that he does actually understand who they are as people, even if he doesn't always act as if that is the case. I also very much like that there is no scene of him trying to make amends with John. To me that shows that those two are close enough already that they know where they stand with each other. It is a bromance of epic proportions.
Although the whole "release your burden" plotline had all of the John/Rodney shippers (yes, it is actually a pretty prevalent group) in fandom giggling like twelve-year olds. Not gonna pretend I wasn't immune to that either.
Overall a very good episode with some amazing acting from everyone involved. Rodney-centric episodes always seem to shine the brightest to me. I don't know if that's because he's my favorite character or if it is because the writers seem to have so much fun writing for him, or some combination thereof. Either way, this is a good entry. It doesn't really do much to add to the overall story of the season, but it does make good use of everything that has happened up to this point. It also shows a nice little slice of the daily life and perils of the inhabitants of Atlantis.
Favorite Quotes
"Rodney?" (Elizabeth)
"Believe me, I find this as disturbing as you do." (Rodney)
"Like bloody hell you do!" (Carson)
"Does super-ego count as a power?" (John)
"Anyway, it's not like you...or these guys could stop me from leaving anyways." (Rodney)
"No, but I could." (Ronon)
"Oh, you care to put that to a test?" (Rodney)
"Do you?" (Ronon)
"Well...no, not really." (Rodney)
"She wants you to shoot me if you think for even one second that I might be trying to take over the city for my own evil purposes." (Rodney)
"Look, you're teaching me how to meditate. Not exactly good odds there to start with." (Rodney)
"I realize that." (John)
"Now, is Sheppard still bugging you to let him use the ascension device to turn himself into some kind of a superhero?" (Rodney)
"Oh yes." (Elizabeth)
"Despite the fact that the Ancient database states that its effects on people are wildly unpredictable and that I'm just lucky I wasn't instantly melted down into a pool of protoplasm." (Rodney)
"Yes." (Elizabeth)
"Yes, well. Maybe you should let him." (Rodney)
"I think not." (Elizabeth)
~*~
That's all for today folks! See you back here on Monday when we continue the journey through season three. Next up, "The Game."
P.S. In not entirely unrelated news, yesterday this piece of fan fiction, by Live Journal user Bitter_Crimson, came to my attention. It tells tells the tale of a romance between John and Rodney, if they were Girl Scout Cookies. In pictures. It is pure crack, but amusing crack. Some strong language and, um, well, cookie sex, so be warned. But very, very silly and funny.
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Details Are Kind of Important
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| Photo by Jamiecat via Flickr. |
Heads up, this is going to largely be a post about Stargate. Well, it is a post about writing, but my inspiration was a Stargate novel, and therefore main examples are gonna be from Stargate. I just say this to warn you, though I will do my best not to delve so far into things that someone who hasn't seen anything can't follow the line of thought.
Anyhoo, disclaimers done, moving forward now.
I have mentioned before that I a huge fan of Fandemonium's series of Stargate novels. These are novels approved by MGM, but not considered canon by the franchise's writers. They are written by a variety of authors and each one is a stand-alone story (with the exception of two that tie into each other, wrapping up a story left untold by a specific episode). There are multiple books out for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and there might be some on the way for Stargate Universe (so far the only novel they have released for that series is the novelization of the pilot episode, Air).
Basically, and I say this in the most loving way possible, these books are official fan fiction, written by professional writers hired by Fandemonium and approved by MGM. I know that at least one of their regular authors actually started out writing Stargate fan fiction and was contacted by Fandemonium when they started putting these books together and asked if she would like to contribute. From what I can tell from the FAQ on the Stargate novels site (which, to be fair, seems like it hasn't been updated in quite some time because it only mentions SG-1 and still says the books aren't available outside of the UK, which hasn't been true for a long while), while MGM has to approve each story idea and the stories themselves in each stage of production, the writers come up with their own story idea for each novel.
The stated goal is for these books to each feel like an episode of Stargate. While the events within these stories are not considered canon, they do follow canon, meaning they don't change up something that has been established on screen or verified by The Powers That Be. They also must leave the Stargate world as they found it by the end of the story. (I will note this is one of two major deviations from traditional fan fiction, the other being the lack of romantic involvement, save those that have been established or alluded to in the official show canon).
Most of the time the writers accomplish this goal beautifully. When they don't, however, it is extremely jarring. Usually, failure to feel like a true episode is down to a lack of attention to detail. Characters are not acting like themselves, with no explanation given for the change of behavior. Things that have been clearly established as possible within the shows are treated as if they have never been encountered before, with, again, no explanation as to why this particular instance is different from what we, the reader (and presumably viewer) have seen before and know has already been experienced by these characters.
It seems to me that most of inconsistencies seem to come from an author's first entry into writing a Stargate novel, suggesting they are just not as familiar with the show and the mythology of the universe as the other writers. According to Fandemonium's FAQ, all of their authors are fans of the show and have seen every episode at least once, but I wonder sometimes. SG-1 ran for ten seasons, Atlantis ran for five. That's a lot of episodes, and just seeing them once maybe isn't enough to ground someone in the mythology. At the very least, I feel like maybe these first-time Stargate authors need a little bit more hand-holding throughout the process, and their manuscripts perhaps should be given a bit higher level of scrutiny.
Sometimes it is just clear that the writer is perhaps writing for one show, say, Atlantis, when clearly he is more familiar with the other, SG-1. In this case, portrayals of the characters are just a little less nuanced, and that can be overlooked if the story is compelling enough. But when you have a character born and raised in the Pegasus galaxy (where Atlantis is located) thinking and referring to humans as "Tau'ri," it can get extremely frustrating. Why? Because the term "Tau'ri" is a term used by the Goa'uld (a race that has never been to the Pegasus galaxy or had any contact with it until well after the SG expedition arrived in Atlantis) and by those cultures they have dominated to refer to the people of Earth. People from the Pegasus galaxy who encounter people from Earth tend to think of and refer to them as Atlanteans or Lanteans, because they have set up residence in Atlantis. It is a small detail, but an important one to staying true to established characters.
Sometimes though, I wonder if the author has actually watched the show they are writing for at all. Take for example, the book I am currently reading, The Power Behind the Throne. Granted, author Steven Savile seems to be a good writer, I am not trying to knock his skills in that area. His basic story idea is even actually pretty interesting. But I have to say, I am having some problems with one of the major plot lines.
Okay, a little background for you really quick if you are not familiar with the franchise. The stargates transport people and other matter from one planet to another via stable wormholes. Each planet has a gate address made up of seven symbols (six representing the planet's coordinates and the seventh being a point of origin, or the planet from which you are dialing). It is kind of like an interstellar telephone number. (Using an eight-symbol address, with seven coordinates and the point of origin, will take you to another galaxy, but that requires more energy than most stargates have access to.) Matter will only travel one way through the wormholes (from the originating planet to the receiving planet) but radio transmissions and data can go both ways (so people can stay in contact through the gate when they are off-world). When you step through the event horizon, your body is broken down into all of its component molecules and transferred from one end of the wormhole to the other, to be reassembled upon arrival. The effect is almost, but not quite, instantaneous. Assuming that everything is just fine with both gates and the wormhole itself.
Got that? Okay. Good.
It has been established that all kinds of things can interfere with wormhole travel. The wormhole passing through a solar flare can cause time travel. Interference on one end or the other can cause an unstable wormhole, resulting sometimes in a very painful transit and sometimes in loss of matter being transported entirely (which means death if the matter is people). A directed blast of energy (such as a nuclear bomb) can cause the wormhole connection to jump to another nearby gate, even if there is matter in transit, resulting in that matter coming out somewhere other than the originally dialed destination.
That last one is important, we've seen our heroes make use of it a few times (intentionally and not) throughout the series on SG-1 and Atlantis. The fact that a wormhole hit by a blast can redirect to a nearby gate even with matter in transit was established at the end of the first season of SG-1, when Daniel and Teal'c made it through to Stargate Command, but Carter and O'Neill, just behind them, got stuck on some ice-planet (which turned out to be Earth, but that doesn't matter for the current discussion).
Okay, back to the story. The planet which SG-1 has been visiting is pretty much literally Hell. Sky on fire, bleak landscape, crazy hot or crazy freezing temperatures, yada, yada, yada. It's not a recommended site for gate travel, really (this was on purpose). When SG-1 tries to leave the planet (under fire from their good old enemy, the Goa'uld), they establish a wormhole connection with Earth but during transit the wormhole jumps and they end up somewhere else.
Back on Earth, at the SGC, everybody is freaking out because the wormhole closed before SG-1 rematerialized. Okay, well, that's understandable. But they all assume that this means our heroes have perished and no one even seems to think that maybe, just maybe, the wormhole jumped. Even though there was clearly a huge wonky energy reading right before the wormhole failed.
Furthermore, SG-1, on planet stranded, seem frankly amazed that their wormhole somehow jumped, as if they had never considered such a thing to be possible. Even though the exact same thing had already happened to two of them. We know it has, because Carter is a Major in this book (she was promoted in season three), so clearly season one has already happened. Gah.
Then. Then! They try dialing Earth with the same address they used from the original planet with no luck. Which makes sense because a new planet means a new point of origin symbol. But then O'Neill starts freaking out and lapsing into despair because they will never figure out the point of origin, oh no! Okay, my credulity has been stretched to its limits at this point. This was an issue in the movie, yes, because Kurt Russell and James Spader had no idea how the gates actually worked (or that they dialed more than one planet). Also, they had no Carter. But, assuming that the Dial-Home-Device (or DHD, on which you enter the coordinates of where you want to go), is working properly (and there's no indication given that this one isn't) it isn't gonna be that hard to figure out the point of origin through trial and error. There are a finite number of symbols on a DHD. The first six symbols of Earth's address haven't changed. So they just need to try the address with each symbol on the device until they get a connection.
Like I said, the story itself is actually pretty interesting, but I feel like maybe Savile is working a little hard to cram a pre-existing story into the Stargate framework, and he made a few missteps along the way. I want to enjoy the book, but it is hard to do when characters that I know very well are acting like they have forgotten basic common sense, or at least basic parts of the job they have been doing every day for the last three years at least. It would be like me going in to work at my old job and not remembering that I have to count the money the contractor is giving me before I sign that yes, he did give me that much money, and then freaking out and being confused later on when nothing added up correctly.
Maybe I am wrong and Savile has an awesome explanation waiting as for why these people are acting so stupid. I sure hope so. Shame on MGM though for letting this get through their "approval" process. I know they're facing a bankruptcy and trying to get what money they can from the consumers, but that doesn't mean they should let the quality control slip. We might as well just relegate the stories to the badly written, unofficial fan fiction, otherwise. And I know well enough by now how to spot and avoid those.
I know I am nitpicking, I know that these are small details. But I pay good money for these products expecting something very specific, something which this company says is its intended goal. And I truly believe that something made by fans and marketed to fans should know better. Is that too much to ask?
I think my point with all of this was that this has made me very conscious of my own writing style. Even though I am unlikely to be writing anything professional in an existing franchise outside of straight up fan fiction (and you can be darn sure I will do my best to get the details correct there), there are lessons to be learned from this. The first is to know your characters inside and out. The story you are trying to tell is important, certainly, but the events should be shaped by the characters, and if they are acting contrary toward their established natures, you had better have (and provide to your readers) a darn good explanation for it. The second is that small details count. Keep track of what you write and say about your world, because the people who will end up reading are going to be paying attention to that kind of stuff. Third, and finally, know your target audience. I am not saying pander to them, mind you, we don't always want what we think we want. But. If you are writing for fans of an existing franchise, whether it is your world or the creation of someone else, your readers are going to want you to get it right, so be sure you do so.
Now, it's Friday, so, enjoy a new Gronk (Katie Cook is apparently not a fan of Monopoly), and have an excellent weekend! Off you go, now.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Real Life Crossovers!
I have mentioned before my love of fan fiction, and I think I have also said that one of my favorite aspects of fan fiction is the possibility for crossovers--when characters from one show or franchise appear on a totally different show or franchise. It's fun stuff. Every once in a while we'll get those on actual television shows, but usually within shared universes (the various Stargate franchises, Buffy and Angel, Torchwood and Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane adventures). In fan fiction though, you can have The Sentinel and Stargate, Firefly and Star Wars, Harry Potter and Star Wars. I once read a massively epic fan fic that retold the entire original trilogy as if Harry, Hermione, and Ron had somehow gotten sucked into the Star Wars universe just as the story was getting going. It was pretty freaking spectacular.
Anyhoo, I like to think of "real life crossovers" as events where I can take two completely different aspects of my life and mix them up with each other. I am talking, of course, about genre-inspired crochet and knitting projects! I have quite a few in the pipeline for this year, so I thought I would tell you what's coming up!
First up, after I finish my current crochet project, is, of course, the Doctor Who scarf. Even if you are not too familiar with Doctor Who, you probably know about this scarf, as it is rather legendary. Fourth Doctor Tom Baker's costume included a ridiculously long scarf made up of many colors (and different kinds of yarn, I think). There are many stories about how this scarf came into being, and there were several different versions of it over the course of his time as the Doctor. There are many websites devoted to recreating this scarf. It is a nerd knitter's badge of honor to make this scarf. Many Whovians (fans of Doctor Who) teach themselves to knit specifically to make this scarf. Many then fall in love with the craft and continue to knit ever more while some, regrettably, do not. The pattern I would like to make is based (color scheme and length) on the original scarf, that appeared in two episodes.
You can check out the pattern for the one I am going to be making here: WittyLittleKnitter's Season 12 Doctor Who Scarf
The yarn for this scarf actually came yesterday, and I was so excited! Well, most of it did. The box was full to the gills and was actually one skein short. But I mailed the site and they responded that they would get the missing skein out to me right away. I am not overly stressed about this, because I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever packed the box just chose one a bit too small and accidentally left the last skein out without realizing it because the thing was so darn full. I would probably be more annoyed if I wanted to start the project immediately, but I am working on something else right now, so all is well.
The other Doctor Who project I would like to do this year is also by WittyLittleKnitter (her handle is actually a Doctor Who reference). She whipped up a lovely lovely pair of TARDIS socks. The TARDIS is the Doctor's time-traveling space ship (it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). One of the reasons I wanted to teach myself to knit was so I could make the Doctor Who scarf, I'll admit it. But the other was so that I could make socks. So this works out perfectly.
You can see them here: TARDIS socks
I will probably wait until later in the year (once I've got some other knitted socks worked up) before I try this pattern, but it is definitely in the queue.
Doctor Who is of course not the only genre I will be knitting (or crocheting) in. After the scarf is made, my next genre project is to crochet some (several) amigurumi Super Mario Brothers mushrooms. I can think of several children (and grown-ups) that need these, and they seem like they will be a quick and simple little project. If I get ambitious, I may attempt to modify the pattern to make a giant one as well.
WolfDreamer's Mario Brothers Mushrooms
Then I will jump back to my Browncoat roots to make Jayne Cobb's hat from the episode of Firefly titled "The Message." This hat, that appeared on screen only briefly, has come to be just as big a nerd badge of honor as the Doctor Who scarf, actually. My goal is to get this done before June, when Browncoats the world over celebrate Joss Whedon's birthday with charity screenings of the movie Serenity, because I will totally wear it to that.
The Jayne Cobb Hat
Of course, what kind of Star Wars fangirl would I be if I didn't make some amigurumi for that fandom? Etsy seller Lucyravenscar has patterns available for many different characters, and I purchased this set of ten.
Star Wars Mini Amigurumi
I am most keen to make R2D2, a stormtrooper, Yoda, and an Ewok. Once I get the stormtrooper pattern down, I may play with it a little to make my own little stuffed Omega Squad from Republic Commandos. Just because.
My last genre project will probably definitely not get done this year, but I do think I want to start trying to plan it. I had toyed with making this in crochet, but it just didn't seem feasible--but I think knitting might make it possible. What I want to make is a blanket that has on it an accurate depiction of a Pegasus Galaxy stargate (from Stargate Atlantis). There are different versions of the gate for each series (explained as basically different generations of the same tech, like the different generations of iPods), and I am, of course, partial to the version from Atlantis.
Here's a shot of the gate activating: Stargate Atlantis Gate Dialing
The thing that makes it so complicated is the glyphs around the inner wheel of the gate. There are 39 or 36 symbols, and you dial a combination of six plus your "point of origin" symbol to make a connection to another gate. Each symbol is a representation of a constellation. That is going to take a lot of planning, and graph paper. But the color-work possibilities on knitting might just allow for this. Also, I would probably want to make it with the "puddle" or vortex in the middle that you get with an active gate, and that will be tricky. I am going to need to find the right variegated yarn or the right combination of two colors worked at the same time to pull that one off. But I think it can be done. If I can make that, well, I will consider myself queen of the knitting nerds--at least in my corner of the world.
Heck, I didn't think I would be able to get my Yoshi blanket done in nearly as much time or awesomeness as I did, and look how that turned out:
It is amazing what a determined nerd/yarn-crafter can do when she puts her mind to something, isn't it?
Have a great weekend folks. Don't forget, new Gronk! Today's guest strip features nap-time teamwork!
Anyhoo, I like to think of "real life crossovers" as events where I can take two completely different aspects of my life and mix them up with each other. I am talking, of course, about genre-inspired crochet and knitting projects! I have quite a few in the pipeline for this year, so I thought I would tell you what's coming up!
First up, after I finish my current crochet project, is, of course, the Doctor Who scarf. Even if you are not too familiar with Doctor Who, you probably know about this scarf, as it is rather legendary. Fourth Doctor Tom Baker's costume included a ridiculously long scarf made up of many colors (and different kinds of yarn, I think). There are many stories about how this scarf came into being, and there were several different versions of it over the course of his time as the Doctor. There are many websites devoted to recreating this scarf. It is a nerd knitter's badge of honor to make this scarf. Many Whovians (fans of Doctor Who) teach themselves to knit specifically to make this scarf. Many then fall in love with the craft and continue to knit ever more while some, regrettably, do not. The pattern I would like to make is based (color scheme and length) on the original scarf, that appeared in two episodes.
You can check out the pattern for the one I am going to be making here: WittyLittleKnitter's Season 12 Doctor Who Scarf
The yarn for this scarf actually came yesterday, and I was so excited! Well, most of it did. The box was full to the gills and was actually one skein short. But I mailed the site and they responded that they would get the missing skein out to me right away. I am not overly stressed about this, because I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever packed the box just chose one a bit too small and accidentally left the last skein out without realizing it because the thing was so darn full. I would probably be more annoyed if I wanted to start the project immediately, but I am working on something else right now, so all is well.
The other Doctor Who project I would like to do this year is also by WittyLittleKnitter (her handle is actually a Doctor Who reference). She whipped up a lovely lovely pair of TARDIS socks. The TARDIS is the Doctor's time-traveling space ship (it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). One of the reasons I wanted to teach myself to knit was so I could make the Doctor Who scarf, I'll admit it. But the other was so that I could make socks. So this works out perfectly.
You can see them here: TARDIS socks
I will probably wait until later in the year (once I've got some other knitted socks worked up) before I try this pattern, but it is definitely in the queue.
Doctor Who is of course not the only genre I will be knitting (or crocheting) in. After the scarf is made, my next genre project is to crochet some (several) amigurumi Super Mario Brothers mushrooms. I can think of several children (and grown-ups) that need these, and they seem like they will be a quick and simple little project. If I get ambitious, I may attempt to modify the pattern to make a giant one as well.
WolfDreamer's Mario Brothers Mushrooms
Then I will jump back to my Browncoat roots to make Jayne Cobb's hat from the episode of Firefly titled "The Message." This hat, that appeared on screen only briefly, has come to be just as big a nerd badge of honor as the Doctor Who scarf, actually. My goal is to get this done before June, when Browncoats the world over celebrate Joss Whedon's birthday with charity screenings of the movie Serenity, because I will totally wear it to that.
The Jayne Cobb Hat
Of course, what kind of Star Wars fangirl would I be if I didn't make some amigurumi for that fandom? Etsy seller Lucyravenscar has patterns available for many different characters, and I purchased this set of ten.
Star Wars Mini Amigurumi
I am most keen to make R2D2, a stormtrooper, Yoda, and an Ewok. Once I get the stormtrooper pattern down, I may play with it a little to make my own little stuffed Omega Squad from Republic Commandos. Just because.
My last genre project will probably definitely not get done this year, but I do think I want to start trying to plan it. I had toyed with making this in crochet, but it just didn't seem feasible--but I think knitting might make it possible. What I want to make is a blanket that has on it an accurate depiction of a Pegasus Galaxy stargate (from Stargate Atlantis). There are different versions of the gate for each series (explained as basically different generations of the same tech, like the different generations of iPods), and I am, of course, partial to the version from Atlantis.
Here's a shot of the gate activating: Stargate Atlantis Gate Dialing
The thing that makes it so complicated is the glyphs around the inner wheel of the gate. There are 39 or 36 symbols, and you dial a combination of six plus your "point of origin" symbol to make a connection to another gate. Each symbol is a representation of a constellation. That is going to take a lot of planning, and graph paper. But the color-work possibilities on knitting might just allow for this. Also, I would probably want to make it with the "puddle" or vortex in the middle that you get with an active gate, and that will be tricky. I am going to need to find the right variegated yarn or the right combination of two colors worked at the same time to pull that one off. But I think it can be done. If I can make that, well, I will consider myself queen of the knitting nerds--at least in my corner of the world.
Heck, I didn't think I would be able to get my Yoshi blanket done in nearly as much time or awesomeness as I did, and look how that turned out:
 |
| Yoshi Blanket by Cori 2010 (crochet) |
 |
| Baby Girl approves. |
It is amazing what a determined nerd/yarn-crafter can do when she puts her mind to something, isn't it?
Have a great weekend folks. Don't forget, new Gronk! Today's guest strip features nap-time teamwork!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Amendment
So yesterday I read a a really interesting article about fan fiction, from the perspective of someone who writes it, and has written it for quite some time. It was up on Pink Raygun (which is a fabulous site for fans of genre) and looks to be the beginning entry in a series on the topic. After reading the first article I am definitely looking forward to more. This is partly due to the fact that it was well written and about a topic that I have some personal experience with. But my anticipation is largely due to the fact that this article once more got me thinking something I have been thinking for quite some time.
I need to start writing fan fiction again.
Some of you might be nodding your heads in understanding with this, others might be wondering if I have completely lost my marbles. Fan fiction, in my experience, is something that people either understand or don't. Most of the people in my life don't get it. I am at peace with that. As far as I know, nobody I love enough to really care about their opinion on the matter has judged me for my involvement in the activity. My husband, in fact, has always been quite supportive of my writing fan fiction. He has had some minimal exposure to fan fiction in the past, but mostly, he understands the two things that are most important to me about it: It is an incredible way to practice and improve upon my writing, while sharing it with a group of peers who will give me feedback; and it is a way to delve deeper into a community of people who love something that I also love, as deeply (or more so) as I do.
My drug of choice was Stargate Atlantis. It was my gateway into fan fiction and I never really strayed far from the fold. That is, honestly, the only fandom I have ever been so involved with that I wanted to write more stories for it, and read what other people had to say as well. It was a way of getting more SGA during the breaks between seasons, or, increasingly, the ridiculously long hiatus between season halves. Sure, I have toyed with writing a few crossover stories involving the characters from Buffy or Bones (I love crossovers), but they would have been set largely in Atlantis.
Once I stumbled across the SGA fan fiction, I was, quite simply, hooked. Finding the archive site Wraithbait was a revelation of sorts for me. You see, hardly anyone I know watched SGA. My husband, if home, would watch the occasional episode with me (and we are currently watching the whole series together), but he isn't that big at sitting down and watching serialized television, so I couldn't have the kind of in-depth speculative conversations with him about the series that I wanted to have (though he is kind and patient enough to have listened to me ramble on about the topic ad nauseam on more than one occasion, to be sure). Fan fiction gave me that outlet, though, and I will always love it for that.
I'll admit, when I say I was hooked, I mean, I was spending hours a day poring over every new story added to the site, and would get antsy whenever there wasn't anything new to read available. Then a series of stuff happened that caused me to get so far behind that there was no way to get caught up again, especially when some other stuff happened that cut significantly into my reading time. So it has been a few years since I have spent much time on Wraithbait, or since I have written my own story. I have a few started stories or story ideas hanging out in my writing folder though, and I think the time has finally come to get back to them.
I don't know that I will ever get back into fan fiction with the same fervor of that original experience. That's probably okay. But I have realized that I do miss that community, and I would like to go back, even if it is only for a brief visit once or twice a year.
One of my goals for this brand new year is to work on my writing, and today I would like to make an amendment to it. I would like to dust off and finish one or two of those fan fiction stories that are waiting oh so patiently on my hard drive. I may or may not upload them to Wraithbait. I definitely think that my November novel may be a fan fiction story this year, if one of my ideas seems like it might lend itself to the length (you'd be amazed at some of the novel-length fan fiction stories I have come across over the years). It seems like a perfect fit, to me. I will be able to dive right into the characters and setting without the need to worry about world-building and without getting too bogged down in descriptive text. This will leave my non-November writing time free to focus on the world-building, character development, research, and story plotting that I would like to devote to my original story. The more I think about it, the more I like this idea.
I love this feeling, when my brain is all afire with new inspiration and ideas are just racing around like particles in the LHC. This year I will not fear the blank page. I will instead look upon it as the on-ramp to the highway that will lead me directly to becoming the writer I want to be.
I need to start writing fan fiction again.
Some of you might be nodding your heads in understanding with this, others might be wondering if I have completely lost my marbles. Fan fiction, in my experience, is something that people either understand or don't. Most of the people in my life don't get it. I am at peace with that. As far as I know, nobody I love enough to really care about their opinion on the matter has judged me for my involvement in the activity. My husband, in fact, has always been quite supportive of my writing fan fiction. He has had some minimal exposure to fan fiction in the past, but mostly, he understands the two things that are most important to me about it: It is an incredible way to practice and improve upon my writing, while sharing it with a group of peers who will give me feedback; and it is a way to delve deeper into a community of people who love something that I also love, as deeply (or more so) as I do.
My drug of choice was Stargate Atlantis. It was my gateway into fan fiction and I never really strayed far from the fold. That is, honestly, the only fandom I have ever been so involved with that I wanted to write more stories for it, and read what other people had to say as well. It was a way of getting more SGA during the breaks between seasons, or, increasingly, the ridiculously long hiatus between season halves. Sure, I have toyed with writing a few crossover stories involving the characters from Buffy or Bones (I love crossovers), but they would have been set largely in Atlantis.
Once I stumbled across the SGA fan fiction, I was, quite simply, hooked. Finding the archive site Wraithbait was a revelation of sorts for me. You see, hardly anyone I know watched SGA. My husband, if home, would watch the occasional episode with me (and we are currently watching the whole series together), but he isn't that big at sitting down and watching serialized television, so I couldn't have the kind of in-depth speculative conversations with him about the series that I wanted to have (though he is kind and patient enough to have listened to me ramble on about the topic ad nauseam on more than one occasion, to be sure). Fan fiction gave me that outlet, though, and I will always love it for that.
I'll admit, when I say I was hooked, I mean, I was spending hours a day poring over every new story added to the site, and would get antsy whenever there wasn't anything new to read available. Then a series of stuff happened that caused me to get so far behind that there was no way to get caught up again, especially when some other stuff happened that cut significantly into my reading time. So it has been a few years since I have spent much time on Wraithbait, or since I have written my own story. I have a few started stories or story ideas hanging out in my writing folder though, and I think the time has finally come to get back to them.
I don't know that I will ever get back into fan fiction with the same fervor of that original experience. That's probably okay. But I have realized that I do miss that community, and I would like to go back, even if it is only for a brief visit once or twice a year.
One of my goals for this brand new year is to work on my writing, and today I would like to make an amendment to it. I would like to dust off and finish one or two of those fan fiction stories that are waiting oh so patiently on my hard drive. I may or may not upload them to Wraithbait. I definitely think that my November novel may be a fan fiction story this year, if one of my ideas seems like it might lend itself to the length (you'd be amazed at some of the novel-length fan fiction stories I have come across over the years). It seems like a perfect fit, to me. I will be able to dive right into the characters and setting without the need to worry about world-building and without getting too bogged down in descriptive text. This will leave my non-November writing time free to focus on the world-building, character development, research, and story plotting that I would like to devote to my original story. The more I think about it, the more I like this idea.
I love this feeling, when my brain is all afire with new inspiration and ideas are just racing around like particles in the LHC. This year I will not fear the blank page. I will instead look upon it as the on-ramp to the highway that will lead me directly to becoming the writer I want to be.
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