Summer Talking Meme #6

[thisbluespirit]

From persiflage_1: Which Elements haven't you cast yet, and want to?


Something I hadn't thought about for a long while! When I first watched Sapphire and Steel and fell headlong in love with it and all its weirdness, I also became obsessed with other Elements.

I still don't see how you can not be - the four we know are all fascinating, inhuman, very different to each other and completely mysterious. They are even, we learn in Assignment Three, something of a mystery to each other. (While Steel speculates on Silver's unknown origins, Sapphire replies that she wonders much the same about him & we definitely get the impression that they were quite different.) So, how could I help but be intrigued by the others we hear about - the list in the opening credits, Copper (who is always having trouble with Silver, & in the audios, whom Silver nevertheless defends as being incapable of betraying them), Jet (who sends her love to Steel) and Mercury, who is a technician like Silver. There's always a sense of how important they are to each other, even if often accompanied by fear/mistrust of some kind. In addition, in the audios, we meet Gold and Ruby (even if I have still not yet met Ruby). And I forget what the exact number was stated to be, but there are well over 100 of them, and then there's the possibility of Elements who defected or who were lost/destroyed - and maybe Elements are still being 'made' (or found, or chosen, or whatever it is)? If, of course, 'Elements' is even the proper name for them, whatever they are.

So I obsessed and obsessed about it all, home alone and ill, and then generated a shiny list of 100 Element prompts for Sapphire, Steel, Silver and Lead and any other likely Elements and wrote lots of them. I made a post of my ideas about these other Elements once before, here (as I'd been asked) and included casting, because Elements are so - I don't know the best word - but visual? sensual? something? - anyway, it seemed to make sense to have a physical base for the character. (I notice that quite a lot of people who've also written original Elements seem to have done the same thing.)

I hunted up a further list of prompts I'd made and saved on my PC (what? 100's not many...) and according to that, it seems that these are the 'Elements' I was contemplating back in the day:

Zinc, Quartz, Tin, Emerald, Opal, Jasper, and Amber.

I assume that in my periodic table/alloy/jewel/whatever obsession I'd come across some interesting properties of these but it was so long ago now I have no idea, unfortunately, but that was generally where it began, if they weren't in the list from the intro - I browsed through Wiki looking for stuff that had interesting aspects for an Element. I hadn't got as far as casting yet, though! I hadn't even really written Mercury, who I'd had in mind for ages, let alone some new ones. I probably thought it was time to try and be sensible (and no doubt then got into something even more obscure, very likely Public Eye.)

But... fellow S&S fans (I know there are a few) how about you? I am seriously obsessed with Elements. Please tell me if you made any up and who they were and if you cast them and what your thinking was! I love how completely open the canon is and that I can write Copper and then read and enjoy someone else's totally different take on Copper - or Jet or Diamond or the Transuranics (they're unreliable and can't be counted, says Steel). What thoughts do other people have?

So, you see, I just love Elements. I made a masterlist of all the OC Element fic I could find. When I listened to the commentary for the last episode, PJ Hammond said that the thing he was sorriest about was that they didn't get to meet the others, Copper and Jet and the rest, and I was just: oh, me too, PJ Hammond, me too! (So, maybe I wouldn't hate a remake - if it was properly cool and weird and mysterious and had new Elements just every once in a while, the way they had Silver and Lead before.) I love Elements! I wanted more!! (Even if I really hadn't got around to any more casting.)

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I'd have to cast all my current fave actors as Elements. 'cos I'm boring and predictable that way!

[thisbluespirit]

Well, I might not be terribly shocked at hearing that, but it's certainly not boring when you have such excellent taste! (I'd ask who'd be which Elements but then you might get accidentally bunnied... Actually, who'd be which Elements? ;-p)

*looks innocent*

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Chances of me being bunnied?

Nil by brain...

I'm just too exhausted and in too much pain.


(I don't know. I'd have to make a list of the un-cast Elements, and then of my fave actors, and match 'em up...)

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, poor you! *sends hugs*

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Thanks...

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

I love your Copper a lot and I always forget he isn't canon. James Maxwell is just so perfect as an Element. :-)

(I think I've written a grand total of two S&S drabbles myself - I have too much of a weakness for explaining things to get in that writing headspace for long, it's like the ficcing equivalent of holding my breath. But yes, Silver and Lead and OC Elements are awesome! Even though Steel will always be the prettiest. ;D)

[thisbluespirit]

I love so much that you love my Copper, too. I forget sometimes that he isn't canon and that he is James Maxwell. It comes as a surprise to me this far down the road. (I wonder if I'd ever have watched all this JM if it hadn't been for the weird Copper casting coincidence + ghostliness? I suspect not. I suspect Portrait of a Lady really would have scared me off!)

(I think I've written a grand total of two S&S drabbles myself - I have too much of a weakness for explaining things to get in that writing headspace for long, it's like the ficcing equivalent of holding my breath.

:lol: It's been such a while since I did a proper S&S fic, and I'm grinning now at the reminder - the only fandom where you panic in case your fic might make too much sense or you might have explained too much!! *collapses laughing*

However, Sapphire is the prettiest, but Steel is the coolest, obviously. (Silver is the shiniest). ;-D

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

I Transuranicked for Obscure & British last year, but I don't think I cast them. At least, I don't remember doing so! I used Curium, Neptunium and Plutonium. Curium was female, but Neptunium was completely androgynous, which might be why I didn't cast them. Although I have an idea I was thinking of Alfie Enoch as Plutonium.

I was planning a Copper and Jet story a while ago, which was definitely cast. Jet was Josette Simon, and Copper was Steven Pacey. And yes, I had just finished a B7 rewatch!

Mercury would be a great one to use. Such possibilities there.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, gosh, and why haven't I got that on my list? (If I can't find things from my own commentfests, what hope is there for me?)

It's funny, lot's of people are particularly into the Transuranics (and, I admit, I had fun trying to write Plutonium for Yuletide) but I'm much more interested in the regular ones. Er. Insofar as there is a regular Element, which is the point. However, I am greedy for all Elements of all kinds in any format, so I approve of other people's curiosity.

I was planning a Copper and Jet story a while ago, which was definitely cast. Jet was Josette Simon, and Copper was Steven Pacey. And yes, I had just finished a B7 rewatch!

:loL: Did it have a lot more exploding of things than S&S usually does? I find it hard to imagine Steven Pacey as an Element, but Josette is totally my Jet, too. I think you should write that fic!

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was going to have exploding. I think I was just taken by the chemistry, and felt it a shame that it's never been used in anything else. But yes, perhaps there should be a few more bangs than normal! Can't remember why I chose those elements though. I know there was a reason. Something to do with plot/chemical properties probably, but it was a long time ago!

[thisbluespirit]

Or because they're one of the few we hear something about, perhaps? Actually, they do interact interestingly via electricity; I seem to remember using that in a Copper and Jet fic. But then an awful lot of 'Elements' have potential interesting interactions & I think the series does hint at that. (Like Sapphire and Steel are the perfect combination, but Steel and Silver balance each other out in useful ways and Lead also complements Steel and Sapphire and Silver are shiny and decorative together, while there's a Jet-Steel and Copper-Silver connection mentioned - and as soon as you look at the properties of those things, there are reasons for all of that & it's great.

*cough* Sorry, did I mention that I got obsessed about it?

Anyway, I think your Copper & Jet sound interesting if ever you did come back to it. (STeven Pacey and Josette Simon do have lovely chemistry - you know I agree on that.)

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

You may be obsessed, but it's undertandable! It's a great universe to theorise on. I had fun trying to figure out what the transuranics that I used might be capable of, but although they're an interesting wild card, the "medium weights" are more story-friendly than they are - and so fascinating. It's great thinking about which ones you can use, and how. I don't blame you in the slightest!

[john_amend_all]

I don't usually cast actors as my original Elements. I just write them with the characteristics I want them to have, and leave the rest to the casting director. So my version of Arsenic is easy to overlook, like the poison; and her signature yellow colour is taken from orpiment.

I've got Hugo Myatt lined up for if I ever write Iron, though.

[thisbluespirit]

I didn't set out to do it like an isurrendered meme, but it sort of happened for most of them and I just then kept an eye out for people who struck me as likely Elements while watching all this old telly.

I didn't cast Cerium or Ruby, though, and I only worked out who it was I'd mentally cast as Copper when I coincidentally watched Shadow of the Tower a month later, and it turned out my brain had wanted that guy who played Jackson in Underworld.

I've got Hugo Myatt lined up for if I ever write Iron, though.

Oh, I have a very different Iron, but I can see that! And when you put it like that, I'm also imagining him getting really annoyed at all the waiting. (Do you think that's the best idea? He might send Lord Fear round!)

[john_amend_all]

If I disappear unexpectedly and Lissard calls on you with a ransom note, you'll know what's happened :-)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Like swordznsorcery above, I'm kind of fascinated by the idea of the Transuranics. I did think of a story where Sapphire, Steel & Silver had to stop Plutonium from doing...something. I think my idea was that s/he would be some sort of embodiment of chaos and entropy, just causing timey-wimey-related death and destruction willy-nilly by his/her very presence and kind of bemused as to why all of this stuff happened when they were around. I'm not sure about casting, though. Other than that s/he would of course wear a greyish suit with a fabulous waistcoat... :D

[thisbluespirit]

:loL: No wonder Steel thinks Transuranics are unreliable, then!

I would sit here and beg you to write it, but I think I've made enough of a nuisance of myself in your direction over the years, haven't I? /o\ (But still: you should write it!!)

ETA: If only for the waistcoat, you should write it!

[shannonsequitur.livejournal.com]

The cartoonist behind XKCD has a book called What If? that answers a lot of weird, hypothetical (mostly) science-related questions. One of the questions is what would happen if you tried to make a periodic table using the actual elements, and some of the reactions are pretty catastrophic, which makes it fun to imagine their S&S personifications. (Several of the scenarios in the book are reprinted from the website (http://what-if.xkcd.com/), but this doesn't seem to be one of them, alas.)

[thisbluespirit]

Hee, that does sound like a fun thing for the S&S periodic table-obsessive...

:-)

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

OMG...

I need to see this show!! Arrrghhh!!

[thisbluespirit]

*pets*

I do hope you get the chance, but I won't pester you! So much shiny in the world, so little time!

(... time. It may be breaking in, about to eat you up...)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Interesting collection of Elements you have

vis a vis Cerium,
How about Claudia from Warehouse 13 or Five from Dark Matter?

Actually most of the cast of Dark Matter could be Elements. Six would make a good Lead, for instance.

Ruby oddly enough reminds me of Jenna Coleman.

I used to think it was odd how the Elements were named, Lead, Copper, Silver, fine then we have Steel? Not iron and then the jewels. It took me a while to figure they weren't really talking about the periodic table.

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks!

I've never watched Warehouse 13, so I don't know about Claudia - I might have to look into that! I haven't seen any of Dark Matter yet, either.

And, aha, Ruby actually was partly based on Jenna Coleman. (It was the red dress in Asylum of the Daleks that did it!)

I used to think it was odd how the Elements were named, Lead, Copper, Silver, fine then we have Steel? Not iron and then the jewels. It took me a while to figure they weren't really talking about the periodic table.

Well, apparently they nearly called Lead Concrete, so it could have been even worse!!

[liadt]

The nearest I've got was in my 'Ophree' crossover. When I watched the film I thought perhaps the Elements' world would be run in a similar way to the Underworld.

I remember your drawing for Copper:)

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, just as well, since I seem to have accidentally deleted it! :-)

[liadt]

Aw! Another piece of James Maxwell missing from cyberspace!