Stuff I love: Sapphire & Steel
3 Feb 2019 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritThis morning, I woke to find an excellent new Sapphire & Steel fic in the Past Imperfect collection, and then had cause to mention the series to a flister. This must mean today's thing I love is going to have to be Sapphire and Steel.
And since there's been no easily available fandom primer anyway since eponymous_rose tragically locked down their journal and with it the best ever S&S intro, I may as well go full on manifesto here. Because Sapphire & Steel is a very odd series that is not going to be to everyone's taste, but it is truly amazing and original and worth trying if you have any interest in TV SF and a reasonable amount of patience for old time TV.
(I used/adapted some text and pics from an old manifesto for het_reccers on LJ, which is why they have a Photobucket logo on. Sorry about that.)
“There is a corridor. And the corridor is time. It surrounds all things and it passes through all things. You cannot enter into time, but sometimes time can enter into the present… break in and take things. Take people…" (Sapphire, Assignment 1)
S&S starred Joanna Lumley and David McCallum and ran from 1979-1982 (on ITV, aka The Other Channel, not the BBC), and while there are only 34x 25min episodes, broken down into six serials, known as "Assignments," it's been highly influential in much SF that's been made since. It was created by PJ Hammond, who'd written for Ace of Wands (UK 1970s fantasy children's series) and would later write two episodes for Torchwood, but is still most famous for Sapphire & Steel. It has the slow pace and low budget values of much British TV of the time - but takes the clever approach of turning both into virtues in a way that can still unsettle modern viewers.
All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.
The first rule of S&S is mystery. We don't know who or what Sapphire and Steel are. We know that they're not human, that they have strange powers (including telepathy) and that they are sent by a higher authority to intervene on our behalf against Time, which in the S&S universe is a malevolent force using any means it can to break free and wreak havoc. And by any means, we here mean paintings, photographs, clocks, pillows, motorway service stations, flowers and nursery rhymes. Everything is a potential "trigger" or threat.
PJ Hammond has said in interviews that he has no idea what Sapphire and Steel are, or where they came from. “It’s part of the mystery, not to know… Not knowing has never bothered me.” And: “I don’t think that Sapphire & Steel were ever human in the basic sense. … I think they come closer to representing the spirit and the soul.”
The Guiness Book of TV once summed it up by saying something like "There are many ways to hold a TV audience. Complete lack of explanation is not supposed to be one of them..." And yet, with S&S, it works. And, as you can tell, I love it.
So, basically, that's it. You can already go read the fanfic or run off to YouTube/place you obtain DVDs to watch it. Congratulations!
The main caveat (apart from "it's old TV, it is very static and often beige") is that it originally started as a children's show, and the trappings of that are still apparent in "Assignment 1" so be patient with the two child guest stars etc., as it will only get better from here. (I could advise you to start elsewhere, but you'd miss Lead and the only kind of explanation of the series we ever get, so it's best to give it a go and only skip it if you really can't be doing with the child actors.)
After I first got into it, I made a fanvid as an explanation: Dark Waltz. (It was an early effort in vidding, too, but does still do its job & the other, better whole-show vids I have are more spoilery alas.)
The Characters
All the main or recurring characters are non-humans, known as Elements. Or Elementals, if you prefer. (The first rule is mystery, yes?)
Sapphire (Joanna Lumley)
Sapphire is an Operator, partnered with Steel. She can read things and people, turn back time and seems to have the most powerful telepathic abilities out of the Elements we meet. She's obviously awesome and gorgeous, as she's played by Joanna Lumley, what more can I say?
Steel (David McCallum)
Steel is also an Operator. His main abilities include strength (he can tie lift cables in knots) and taking his body temperature down to freezing at need. (It helps him defeat evil paintings and suchlike.) He's a shade too serious, as Sapphire says, but you'll get used to him. And he's hardly less pretty than Sapphire, what with being played by ex-Man From UNCLE David McCallum.
Together they fight Time...
... And perfect the art of standing beautifully, often close together.
Sapphire and Steel, always so perfectly posed. (They can also do synchronised walking.)
Lead (Val Pringle)
Lead arrives in Assignment One because, once Steel's reduced his temperature, he's in need of cuddling better from Lead. Lead's possibly even stronger than Steel and doesn't seem to be fazed or bothered by anything they face.
Silver (David Collings)
Silver is a specialist or technician, who is sent in to help Sapphire and Steel with specific tasks and you'll find him in Assignments Three and Six. He's the character you're most likely to come across in fic, other than our eponymous duo. Silver likes to make an entrance, steal doorknobs and shiny things, has the ability to transform and reduplicate objects, and make stuff glow. Oh, and he flirts with everyone... (I love Silver. He is my favourite. Just so you know in case it wasn't already obvious.)
Other Characters
Other Elements mentioned in the original series are sometimes picked up by fic authors. You're most likely to find Jet (who sends Steel her love, via Lead), Copper (who is apparently having trouble with Silver again) and Mercury (said to be a technician with similar abilities to Silver). As there are over 100 unknown Elements around, that's a lot of elements/minerals/alloys available to play with.
There are references in the show to Elements having joined the other side, or to the "unreliable" Transuranic Elements, and also the Transient Beings, who seem to be like dark mirrors of our Elements. There are several humans, including the children Rob and Helen Jardine (from Assignment One) or George Tully (from Assignment Two).
Big Finish also released 3 series of Sapphire & Steel audios, with David Warner and Susannah Harker in the title roles (and David Collings reprising his role as Silver in three of them). They also gave us new Elements in Gold, a technician with arrogant tendencies, (played by Mark Gatiss), and Ruby (Lisa Bowerman).
Ships
Somehow, you're not going to be surprised by the dominant ship for this fandom: Yes, Steel once had a terrible time aboard the Mary Celeste...
Oh, no wait. Okay, here they are, as you will no doubt have gathered by now:
Sapphire/Steel is the ship that is the ship. They've been partnered for something like 90 years, Steel admits that he loves her in Assignment Two and while they're inhuman and always focused on the task in hand, they're clearly the most important people in each other's lives. The threat of one losing the other always seems to panic them, and there are occasional brief kisses, even aside from the general lack of personal space. And all the shared glances and touches and...
Not shippy at all, then. Of course, what Elements do, or if their partnership is deep but platonic and they're just teasing and confusing the humans like us, who are watching, who knows? (Yes. It's still a mystery.)
So, really, there couldn't be any other ships in this fandom, because who would ever be able to come between these two? It's unthinkable.
Or, at least, it's unthinkable until Assignment Three...
Sapphire and Silver have a strange bond and a history that goes back to before she was partnered with Steel, and she likes having him around. Silver, in return, clearly adores her.
That said, it's not as if Silver isn't an equal opportunities sort of Element when it comes to flirting and is pretty much just as keen on Steel:
I ship the OT3 here as I probably ship nothing else. I understand that you can have Sapphire/Steel quite happily without Silver, but I don't understand why you would want to when the option of a shiny inhuman OT3 is right there (and supported by canon - don't get me started, did I mention the bit where I actually do OT-whatever them?).
Have an OT3 fanvid: Amor Tenet Omnia
To be honest, though, flirting with humans to get the job done is a thing any of them will do if they must, it seems...
Most ships outside of Sapphire/Silver/Steel and its component parts are rarer - mostly a small amount of Lead/Steel (Steel canonically needs hugs from Lead!), Steel/Jet (she sends her love!), and Silver/Copper (Silver's trouble, it must be love!) here and there.
(It's not the shippiest fandom anyway. It is a fandom full of casefic! This bit on ships is because of this blurb originally being for het_reccers.)
****
I am also obsessed with the Elements we don't see and have started a series of mood board thingies with pics and blurb and recs for them on tumblr here. I have my own ideas about a few of them, but I love other people's as well. There are 100s of them out there! How can anyone help but speculate every now and then?
So, there it is. It is a splendid fandom that has wonderful fic, much of which could even be read without knowing canon if you like weird hauntings and mysteriousness, so have a very short selection of 'casefic' that gives a taster of the show.
(If you want more just ask. I have a loooong list of bookmarks and will peddle S&S fic to anyone at the drop of a hat.)
Lieder ohne Worte (1365 words) by eponymous_rose
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sapphire, Steel
Additional Tags: 1000-3000 words, POV Third Person, Science Fiction, Canon - TV, Time Travel, Drama, Music
Summary:
The Green Girl (2696 words) by Mab
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sapphire, Steel
Additional Tags: Horror, Pre-Canon, Community: spook_me
Summary:
light your way, but that is all (16003 words) by TheBigCat
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sapphire (S&S), Steel (S&S), Lead (S&S), Silver (S&S), Original Character(s) - Character
Additional Tags: Assignment Fic, reliable narrator, Yuletide 2017, Elemental Weirdness, Mystery, Supernatural Elements, Worldbuilding
Summary:
Green, Red and Gold, and Blue Follows (1015 words) by kaffyrutsky
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sapphire/Steel
Characters: Sapphire (Sapphire and Steel), Steel (Sapphire and Steel)
Additional Tags: Vignette, Seasonal
Summary:
Assignment 96 (2708 words) by sovay
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sapphire/Silver/Steel (S&S)
Characters: Steel (S&S), Curium (S&S)
Additional Tags: Photography, Physics, Original Character(s), Ghosts, Metaphorical Uses of Chemistry
Summary:
The Glade by wiccagirl24 (S&S/Doctor Who crossover, with Sapphire, Steel, Seven & Ace.)
Daisy Bell (32278 words) by Nemo_the_Everbeing
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sapphire & Steel (Sapphire and Steel), Steel & Silver, Sapphire & Silver & Steel, Diamond & Radium
Characters: Sapphire (Sapphire and Steel), Steel (Sapphire and Steel), Silver (Sapphire and Steel), Original Female Character(s), Diamond (Sapphire and Steel), Radium (Sapphire and Steel)
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Horror, Timeline Shenanigans, Irresponsible Uses of Chemistry, Metaphorical Uses of Chemistry, Original Operators Based on the List in the Title Credits, ghost story, Time Travel, Transient Beings, Answers that Answer Nothing, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary:
And since there's been no easily available fandom primer anyway since eponymous_rose tragically locked down their journal and with it the best ever S&S intro, I may as well go full on manifesto here. Because Sapphire & Steel is a very odd series that is not going to be to everyone's taste, but it is truly amazing and original and worth trying if you have any interest in TV SF and a reasonable amount of patience for old time TV.
(I used/adapted some text and pics from an old manifesto for het_reccers on LJ, which is why they have a Photobucket logo on. Sorry about that.)
“There is a corridor. And the corridor is time. It surrounds all things and it passes through all things. You cannot enter into time, but sometimes time can enter into the present… break in and take things. Take people…" (Sapphire, Assignment 1)
S&S starred Joanna Lumley and David McCallum and ran from 1979-1982 (on ITV, aka The Other Channel, not the BBC), and while there are only 34x 25min episodes, broken down into six serials, known as "Assignments," it's been highly influential in much SF that's been made since. It was created by PJ Hammond, who'd written for Ace of Wands (UK 1970s fantasy children's series) and would later write two episodes for Torchwood, but is still most famous for Sapphire & Steel. It has the slow pace and low budget values of much British TV of the time - but takes the clever approach of turning both into virtues in a way that can still unsettle modern viewers.
All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.
The first rule of S&S is mystery. We don't know who or what Sapphire and Steel are. We know that they're not human, that they have strange powers (including telepathy) and that they are sent by a higher authority to intervene on our behalf against Time, which in the S&S universe is a malevolent force using any means it can to break free and wreak havoc. And by any means, we here mean paintings, photographs, clocks, pillows, motorway service stations, flowers and nursery rhymes. Everything is a potential "trigger" or threat.
PJ Hammond has said in interviews that he has no idea what Sapphire and Steel are, or where they came from. “It’s part of the mystery, not to know… Not knowing has never bothered me.” And: “I don’t think that Sapphire & Steel were ever human in the basic sense. … I think they come closer to representing the spirit and the soul.”
The Guiness Book of TV once summed it up by saying something like "There are many ways to hold a TV audience. Complete lack of explanation is not supposed to be one of them..." And yet, with S&S, it works. And, as you can tell, I love it.
So, basically, that's it. You can already go read the fanfic or run off to YouTube/place you obtain DVDs to watch it. Congratulations!
The main caveat (apart from "it's old TV, it is very static and often beige") is that it originally started as a children's show, and the trappings of that are still apparent in "Assignment 1" so be patient with the two child guest stars etc., as it will only get better from here. (I could advise you to start elsewhere, but you'd miss Lead and the only kind of explanation of the series we ever get, so it's best to give it a go and only skip it if you really can't be doing with the child actors.)
After I first got into it, I made a fanvid as an explanation: Dark Waltz. (It was an early effort in vidding, too, but does still do its job & the other, better whole-show vids I have are more spoilery alas.)
The Characters
All the main or recurring characters are non-humans, known as Elements. Or Elementals, if you prefer. (The first rule is mystery, yes?)
Sapphire (Joanna Lumley)
Sapphire is an Operator, partnered with Steel. She can read things and people, turn back time and seems to have the most powerful telepathic abilities out of the Elements we meet. She's obviously awesome and gorgeous, as she's played by Joanna Lumley, what more can I say?
Steel (David McCallum)
Steel is also an Operator. His main abilities include strength (he can tie lift cables in knots) and taking his body temperature down to freezing at need. (It helps him defeat evil paintings and suchlike.) He's a shade too serious, as Sapphire says, but you'll get used to him. And he's hardly less pretty than Sapphire, what with being played by ex-Man From UNCLE David McCallum.
Together they fight Time...
... And perfect the art of standing beautifully, often close together.
Sapphire and Steel, always so perfectly posed. (They can also do synchronised walking.)
Lead (Val Pringle)
Lead arrives in Assignment One because, once Steel's reduced his temperature, he's in need of cuddling better from Lead. Lead's possibly even stronger than Steel and doesn't seem to be fazed or bothered by anything they face.
Silver (David Collings)
Silver is a specialist or technician, who is sent in to help Sapphire and Steel with specific tasks and you'll find him in Assignments Three and Six. He's the character you're most likely to come across in fic, other than our eponymous duo. Silver likes to make an entrance, steal doorknobs and shiny things, has the ability to transform and reduplicate objects, and make stuff glow. Oh, and he flirts with everyone... (I love Silver. He is my favourite. Just so you know in case it wasn't already obvious.)
Other Characters
Other Elements mentioned in the original series are sometimes picked up by fic authors. You're most likely to find Jet (who sends Steel her love, via Lead), Copper (who is apparently having trouble with Silver again) and Mercury (said to be a technician with similar abilities to Silver). As there are over 100 unknown Elements around, that's a lot of elements/minerals/alloys available to play with.
There are references in the show to Elements having joined the other side, or to the "unreliable" Transuranic Elements, and also the Transient Beings, who seem to be like dark mirrors of our Elements. There are several humans, including the children Rob and Helen Jardine (from Assignment One) or George Tully (from Assignment Two).
Big Finish also released 3 series of Sapphire & Steel audios, with David Warner and Susannah Harker in the title roles (and David Collings reprising his role as Silver in three of them). They also gave us new Elements in Gold, a technician with arrogant tendencies, (played by Mark Gatiss), and Ruby (Lisa Bowerman).
Ships
Somehow, you're not going to be surprised by the dominant ship for this fandom: Yes, Steel once had a terrible time aboard the Mary Celeste...
Oh, no wait. Okay, here they are, as you will no doubt have gathered by now:
Sapphire/Steel is the ship that is the ship. They've been partnered for something like 90 years, Steel admits that he loves her in Assignment Two and while they're inhuman and always focused on the task in hand, they're clearly the most important people in each other's lives. The threat of one losing the other always seems to panic them, and there are occasional brief kisses, even aside from the general lack of personal space. And all the shared glances and touches and...
Not shippy at all, then. Of course, what Elements do, or if their partnership is deep but platonic and they're just teasing and confusing the humans like us, who are watching, who knows? (Yes. It's still a mystery.)
So, really, there couldn't be any other ships in this fandom, because who would ever be able to come between these two? It's unthinkable.
Or, at least, it's unthinkable until Assignment Three...
Sapphire and Silver have a strange bond and a history that goes back to before she was partnered with Steel, and she likes having him around. Silver, in return, clearly adores her.
That said, it's not as if Silver isn't an equal opportunities sort of Element when it comes to flirting and is pretty much just as keen on Steel:
I ship the OT3 here as I probably ship nothing else. I understand that you can have Sapphire/Steel quite happily without Silver, but I don't understand why you would want to when the option of a shiny inhuman OT3 is right there (and supported by canon - don't get me started, did I mention the bit where I actually do OT-whatever them?).
Have an OT3 fanvid: Amor Tenet Omnia
To be honest, though, flirting with humans to get the job done is a thing any of them will do if they must, it seems...
Most ships outside of Sapphire/Silver/Steel and its component parts are rarer - mostly a small amount of Lead/Steel (Steel canonically needs hugs from Lead!), Steel/Jet (she sends her love!), and Silver/Copper (Silver's trouble, it must be love!) here and there.
(It's not the shippiest fandom anyway. It is a fandom full of casefic! This bit on ships is because of this blurb originally being for het_reccers.)
****
I am also obsessed with the Elements we don't see and have started a series of mood board thingies with pics and blurb and recs for them on tumblr here. I have my own ideas about a few of them, but I love other people's as well. There are 100s of them out there! How can anyone help but speculate every now and then?
So, there it is. It is a splendid fandom that has wonderful fic, much of which could even be read without knowing canon if you like weird hauntings and mysteriousness, so have a very short selection of 'casefic' that gives a taster of the show.
(If you want more just ask. I have a loooong list of bookmarks and will peddle S&S fic to anyone at the drop of a hat.)
Lieder ohne Worte (1365 words) by eponymous_rose
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sapphire, Steel
Additional Tags: 1000-3000 words, POV Third Person, Science Fiction, Canon - TV, Time Travel, Drama, Music
Summary:
He and she and an abandoned music hall: a solitary performer plays for an empty audience, keeping Time.
The Green Girl (2696 words) by Mab
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sapphire, Steel
Additional Tags: Horror, Pre-Canon, Community: spook_me
Summary:
An assignment for Sapphire and Steel set before the beginning of the series.
light your way, but that is all (16003 words) by TheBigCat
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sapphire (S&S), Steel (S&S), Lead (S&S), Silver (S&S), Original Character(s) - Character
Additional Tags: Assignment Fic, reliable narrator, Yuletide 2017, Elemental Weirdness, Mystery, Supernatural Elements, Worldbuilding
Summary:
A lighthouse, a storm, a telephone, an empty island. And a fantastic tale from a mysterious stranger to tie all of it together. What better way to spend your last moments of existence?
Green, Red and Gold, and Blue Follows (1015 words) by kaffyrutsky
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sapphire/Steel
Characters: Sapphire (Sapphire and Steel), Steel (Sapphire and Steel)
Additional Tags: Vignette, Seasonal
Summary:
It was a terrible gift to have to give, and she was honoring it.
Assignment 96 (2708 words) by sovay
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sapphire/Silver/Steel (S&S)
Characters: Steel (S&S), Curium (S&S)
Additional Tags: Photography, Physics, Original Character(s), Ghosts, Metaphorical Uses of Chemistry
Summary:
The transuranics are unstable.
The Glade by wiccagirl24 (S&S/Doctor Who crossover, with Sapphire, Steel, Seven & Ace.)
Daisy Bell (32278 words) by Nemo_the_Everbeing
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sapphire & Steel (Sapphire and Steel), Steel & Silver, Sapphire & Silver & Steel, Diamond & Radium
Characters: Sapphire (Sapphire and Steel), Steel (Sapphire and Steel), Silver (Sapphire and Steel), Original Female Character(s), Diamond (Sapphire and Steel), Radium (Sapphire and Steel)
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Horror, Timeline Shenanigans, Irresponsible Uses of Chemistry, Metaphorical Uses of Chemistry, Original Operators Based on the List in the Title Credits, ghost story, Time Travel, Transient Beings, Answers that Answer Nothing, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary:
In 1979, Sapphire and Steel arrive at the Howard Street Hospital to investigate a time break. They have a chance encounter with the receptionist, Daisy. In 1999, Diamond, Radium, and Silver arrive at the Howard Street Hospital to investigate a time break. They have a chance encounter with the receptionist, Daisy.