Drive By and a bit on ATS S6 Virtual
Nov. 13th, 2004 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatQuick drive by, have lots of errands to run to today, before heading off to see The Incredibles with cjlasky.
Read Exodus , episode II of the aTPO's S6 Virtual project, by Arethusa.
Actually quite good. Still not a huge fan of the screenplay format (tracking shots, grounding shots, etc. tend to annoy and take me out of the story - but I felt that way reading the screenplay to Chinatown and Butch & Sundance, hence the reason I did not go to film school, become an actress, or write screenplays. I blame the over 1000 plays I was forced to read in high school personally.)
But, she nails Spike. Also nails the Spike/Angel relationship. (An aside: Why is it that so many people think that good people aren't snarky? That snark = evil? Hello? I'm snarky. I love verbal wit. Physical humor squicks and embarrasses me, but a good one-liner makes me giggle uncontrollably for hours. This in a nutshell may explain why I preferred Spike to Angel, or Marsters to Boreanze. Boreanze did (to me) embarrassing physical humor (which I can't watch without either cringing or wanting to leave the room). Marsters did verbal/dry wit comedy. Even the physical humor was more snarky, with a one-liner attached. Snark is no meaner, than laughing at how badly someone dances or sings Mandy. It is no meaner than laughing at a pratfall. For some reason, Spike gets a soul, he loses his snark or sarcastic wit, since I'm not sure snark is a word, in so much fanfic. Weird. If anything he'd be more sarcastic.
Because that's how he dealt with pain and discomfort, by being sarcastic about it.) At any rate - Aresthusa has Spike down. The lines sounded to me at least
as British, snarky, and gave insight to the character. She also does an admirable job of conveying Gunn, Angel, and Illyria. Fun dialogue that made me laugh, smile and kept my interest.
I also liked the twist at the end. My only criticism is the WaiJani bits, it does slow down the action and comes across here as well as in the prior episode as a tad conventional and cliche in places. I understand why it was needed, but I'm not sure it works. The Wa!Jani are too nice. Too likable. A bit like Lucas' Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Which may have been the point, as a means of emphasizing the difference between the world Angel is desperate to leave and the one he returns to, also emphasize how self-involved Angel has become and as a result of only seeing his own big picture, misses what is really important. The characters who do not have power, who are not "the chosen one" or the "prophesied one" with a destiny - Gunn and Spike, do see it. They see the Wa!jani. They seem to realize what Angel wants is wrong and will not lead to a good end and both are clearly annoyed with him. Illyria and Angel, who have power and destiney, can't see anything but that. Nothing else is important, even if they have to roll over and bulldoze everything in their path. A very interesting comment on prophecy, Gods, and destiny and one's own self-importance. Hmmm, seems I've changed my mind. It works overall. I'm just not sure we need the long back and forth translation of the Wa!Jani's view their gods are helping them. I think that could have been shortened a bit. (Probably would have been if this were filmed for TV.)
Interesting fanfic. Only drawback of trying to read this fanfic project - is my printer is on the blitz and it is difficult to print off. Words fall off the page. Some are blurred. Sigh. Not your problem, I know. But there it is.
Shouldn't complain - only fanfic I'm reading at the moment. Stopped reading fanfic in August. Nothing personal, just lost interest and got busy.
Finished Neverwhere. Am reading Richard Paul Russo's Ship of Fools now. Very good. Quite taken with Ship of Fools. More so actually than Neverwhere, oddly enough, which took a while for me to get in to. I liked Neverwhere, but didn't love it. The lead character, like most of Gaiman's leads, felt somewhat passive, as if he were sleepwalking through the novel, observing, occassionally taking part, but mostly just watching or hosting the action. It's a sin I'm guilty of as well in my writing, so I may be hyper-aware of it.
Read Exodus , episode II of the aTPO's S6 Virtual project, by Arethusa.
Actually quite good. Still not a huge fan of the screenplay format (tracking shots, grounding shots, etc. tend to annoy and take me out of the story - but I felt that way reading the screenplay to Chinatown and Butch & Sundance, hence the reason I did not go to film school, become an actress, or write screenplays. I blame the over 1000 plays I was forced to read in high school personally.)
But, she nails Spike. Also nails the Spike/Angel relationship. (An aside: Why is it that so many people think that good people aren't snarky? That snark = evil? Hello? I'm snarky. I love verbal wit. Physical humor squicks and embarrasses me, but a good one-liner makes me giggle uncontrollably for hours. This in a nutshell may explain why I preferred Spike to Angel, or Marsters to Boreanze. Boreanze did (to me) embarrassing physical humor (which I can't watch without either cringing or wanting to leave the room). Marsters did verbal/dry wit comedy. Even the physical humor was more snarky, with a one-liner attached. Snark is no meaner, than laughing at how badly someone dances or sings Mandy. It is no meaner than laughing at a pratfall. For some reason, Spike gets a soul, he loses his snark or sarcastic wit, since I'm not sure snark is a word, in so much fanfic. Weird. If anything he'd be more sarcastic.
Because that's how he dealt with pain and discomfort, by being sarcastic about it.) At any rate - Aresthusa has Spike down. The lines sounded to me at least
as British, snarky, and gave insight to the character. She also does an admirable job of conveying Gunn, Angel, and Illyria. Fun dialogue that made me laugh, smile and kept my interest.
I also liked the twist at the end. My only criticism is the WaiJani bits, it does slow down the action and comes across here as well as in the prior episode as a tad conventional and cliche in places. I understand why it was needed, but I'm not sure it works. The Wa!Jani are too nice. Too likable. A bit like Lucas' Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Which may have been the point, as a means of emphasizing the difference between the world Angel is desperate to leave and the one he returns to, also emphasize how self-involved Angel has become and as a result of only seeing his own big picture, misses what is really important. The characters who do not have power, who are not "the chosen one" or the "prophesied one" with a destiny - Gunn and Spike, do see it. They see the Wa!jani. They seem to realize what Angel wants is wrong and will not lead to a good end and both are clearly annoyed with him. Illyria and Angel, who have power and destiney, can't see anything but that. Nothing else is important, even if they have to roll over and bulldoze everything in their path. A very interesting comment on prophecy, Gods, and destiny and one's own self-importance. Hmmm, seems I've changed my mind. It works overall. I'm just not sure we need the long back and forth translation of the Wa!Jani's view their gods are helping them. I think that could have been shortened a bit. (Probably would have been if this were filmed for TV.)
Interesting fanfic. Only drawback of trying to read this fanfic project - is my printer is on the blitz and it is difficult to print off. Words fall off the page. Some are blurred. Sigh. Not your problem, I know. But there it is.
Shouldn't complain - only fanfic I'm reading at the moment. Stopped reading fanfic in August. Nothing personal, just lost interest and got busy.
Finished Neverwhere. Am reading Richard Paul Russo's Ship of Fools now. Very good. Quite taken with Ship of Fools. More so actually than Neverwhere, oddly enough, which took a while for me to get in to. I liked Neverwhere, but didn't love it. The lead character, like most of Gaiman's leads, felt somewhat passive, as if he were sleepwalking through the novel, observing, occassionally taking part, but mostly just watching or hosting the action. It's a sin I'm guilty of as well in my writing, so I may be hyper-aware of it.
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Date: 2004-11-14 01:52 pm (UTC)One problem with the Wa!Jani was balancing the needs of the script with characterization. If the Wa!Jani were meaner and tougher, why would they help Angel or take a chance with the stone? They had to be cooperative and the shaman's death had to mean something to AI. But yes, I did underplay the menace.
Writing the script was a great experience. It's the longest fiction I've ever completed, and the first time I've had my fiction edited. It was difficult because each artistic decision leads to about ten other decsions, but exciting too because I keep trying to add on more and more layers. Cjl, masq and anom helped me tremendously. Cjl helped with the Wa!Jani scenes in the first two acts especaily, and poor anom had to make me understand that if you *open* a portal, you have to *close* the portal, among many other things. It was so much fun and agony, I can't wait to do another.
(It's a little ironic that the episode was so action-heavy when I like the philosophical and metaphorical aspects even more. Maybe next time.)