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Feb. 6th, 2010 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatResisting the urge to snark at the Buffy comics, whose summaries and reviews, I'm finding rather amusing. Okay, so, out of all the comic book plots out there to steal from, Whedon and Meltzer chose the Teen Titans/X-men crossover with Darkseid? They know comic book fans blasted that one out of the stratesophere when it hit the shelves as being beyond lame, right?
For an excellent review of Dollhouse, which clarified what I liked and disliked about the series - go here :http://aycheb.livejournal.com/105845.html?view=661621&style=mine#t661621
Aycheb does a great job of pointing out what bugged me about Dollhouse and to a degree what has been bugging me about Whedon's stories since Buffy. He's trying to be a political sci-fi writer and it's not his genre. He's better at psychological and gothic horror. Political world-building requires an attention to detail and thoroughness that I think Whedon lacks as evidenced by the Buffy comics actually. He's very good at psychological metaphors, but political ones...he gets a tad to preachy and loses his subtle touch. It's just not what he does well. It's not that he can't do political tales -he can but not ones with a broad scope. He's better at intimate stories...one's that focus on fewer characters, epics or stories that are broader in scope seem to get confused. I'm not stating it very well, I'm afraid.
For an excellent review of Dollhouse, which clarified what I liked and disliked about the series - go here :http://aycheb.livejournal.com/105845.html?view=661621&style=mine#t661621
Aycheb does a great job of pointing out what bugged me about Dollhouse and to a degree what has been bugging me about Whedon's stories since Buffy. He's trying to be a political sci-fi writer and it's not his genre. He's better at psychological and gothic horror. Political world-building requires an attention to detail and thoroughness that I think Whedon lacks as evidenced by the Buffy comics actually. He's very good at psychological metaphors, but political ones...he gets a tad to preachy and loses his subtle touch. It's just not what he does well. It's not that he can't do political tales -he can but not ones with a broad scope. He's better at intimate stories...one's that focus on fewer characters, epics or stories that are broader in scope seem to get confused. I'm not stating it very well, I'm afraid.
Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-08 12:20 am (UTC)Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-08 05:25 pm (UTC)Word.
ITA on that one. Although I think I know why he didn't do it.
Had something to do with a Ripper miniseries rattling around in his brain, which we never saw, but is still rattling around up there somewhere. So he was keeping his options open.
I sort of wish, he'd killed Xander off and turned him into the First - another idea that was pitched, but the writers talked him out of. Because that would have been scary and intriguing
as well.
But apparently the only characters Whedon feels that he can throw on the sacrificial altar of hightened dramatic effect are the peripherial ones such as Jonathan, Jenny, Tara, Anya, Spike and Angel. The main Scooby Gang seems to be more or less safe, even when they go nuts. ;-)
(Interestingly enough - he played things a little less safe with Angel the Series...)
Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-09 03:17 am (UTC)Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-09 03:34 am (UTC)However...on a dare, I wrote a story in which I attempted to kill as many of the major Scooby characters as I could in as an interesting and scarey a way as I could find without losing the thread of the story. Unfortunately, I ran out of steam and I think readers by the time I made it to Giles. I know what I wanted to do with the story and where it was going - but I lost interest in it. Also the plot really wasn't mine but the guy who dared me to write it. He bet I couldn't write a torture sequence or kill off a major character in a convincing manner. Or shock him. (hee, I proved him wrong.)
It was fun. But after awhile, got old.
You should only kill a character if it pushes the plot forward, and in a manner that pushes both characterization and plot and them forward, otherwise it's that old the character got hit by a bus cliche.
Always stay true to the thread of your characters - then the setting, then the plot, then the theme. That's what I learned.
Speaking of character deaths...did you kill Cordy in POM - you evil writer, you??? (I'm worrying about her, last we saw her she was fleeing Angelus..).
Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-09 03:40 am (UTC)Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-09 03:47 am (UTC)Ugh, I hate WIP's. Yet watch and read them all the same. At least yours is free. Can't say the same for Whedon's.
Is the next one The Lesser of Two Evils? I chose to read this bunch so I could appreciate the Lesser of Two Evils properly. Rather loving POM - in some ways more than Necessary Evils. Although Necessary Evils was wickedly good in places. Your depiction of Willow is in some respects gustier than Whedon's.
I wish he had the balls to take it that far. I like Barbverse Willow, and CanonSpike. LOL!!!
Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-10 04:12 am (UTC)(There are about 80 stories in this series, not counting the drabbles, and a fair number of them come before and between the novels, as well as after. Right now, four of those 80 are WIPS: "For Auld Lang Syne," POM, "In A Yellow Wood," and "Little Sister.")
Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-10 05:33 pm (UTC)Now, I need to figure out if I want to go backwards or stick with POM, then go forwards. Are any of these outside of Raising, Necessary and POM saved on All About Spike? (I only ask because I'm not sure if my kindle can access your site. But will try...after I finish the POM that I'm reading - two chapters to go. And darkapple's fic.)
I'm rather impressed by your fic. And you don't fall into the trap of grudge fic (which a lot of fans fall into the trap of, ruining what would otherwise be a good story), nor does it get overly self-indulgent. Plus the sex-scenes are plausible,
creative, and erotic, push the story forward along with the characters, without overwhelming it. (Some fanfic writers get so caught up in writing erotica...that it begins to lose plausibility and you wonder if the person needs a refresher course in anatomy.)
Re: Yes...actually you picked up on what I was trying to articulate above
Date: 2010-02-11 03:45 am (UTC)All About Spike only has the novels, so far as I know. I'd only written a few of the shorter pieces at the time Laura stopped updating the site.