Yet More top 5 answers

[thisbluespirit]

I'm not done yet! I just had to get my space_swap story finished and edited and off to be beta-ed, and it was going epic again. /o\ But that's done and if I can just write a more reasonably-sized hurtcomfortex story over the next month, things should be better on that front. *bangs head on desk and weeps*

Where were we?

executrix asked for Top 5 B7 episodes and/or fics about Jenna and since hamsterwoman beat them to the former, here are 5 top pieces of fanfic about Jenna, with the rider that I really need to bookmark B7 stuff more thoroughly and have another go through of all the stuff that's been added onto AO3 since my last adventures in the tag, so I'm probably missing some great things I've read (like I'm sure there should be something by aralias here), let alone that I haven't. Also I'm pretty sure that whenever it was I last read B7 fic I was too ill to read longfic, because these are all very short.

Nevertheless, out of what I have bookmarked, these are all good:

1. The Light by babel (G, 1097 words. Jenna/Blake.) He always surprised her. (Spoilers for the entire series.) Nice explanation for certain things in "Blake."

2. Vocation by kindkit (G, 360 words. Jenna.) Jenna and the mystery of piloting. My favourite type of Jenna-fic is probably things about her piloting and relationship with Zen & Liberator (so much so that I nearly picked a fic by Clocket about Zen missing Jenna because Tarrant is Not The Same, but it is technically a Tarrant fic so that would be rubbish of me). But anyway, this is excellent pilot-Jenna.

3. Drink to Remember by icarus_chained (Teen, 704 words. Jenna Stannis & Vila Restal.) Gauda Prime. Two survivors, older and scarred, and things it's good to be wrong about. An unexpected but great PGP comination.

4. Unexpected by Tels (G, 281 words. Jenna/Avon.) Avon hates Jenna and vice versa. Or do they? Fun.

5. Jenna Stannis PI by vilakins (G, 1253 words. Jenna, Avon, Vila. AU.) Written for the Blake's 7 crackathon, the prompt being Jenna Stannis, Private Investigator. What it says! XD


auroracloud asked - Top 5 favourite Doctor Who companions

1. Ace
2. Clara
3. Charley
4. Tegan
5. Leela or Barbara or Evelyn

- Top 5 favourite Doctor-Companion teams (can be more than one companion)

1. Seven & Ace
2. Four-Sarah-Harry
3. Two-Jamie-Zoe
4. One-Ian-Barbara-Vicki
5. Twelve-Bill-Nardole or Twelve & Clara, or Eight & Charley or Six & Evelyn.


- Top 5 favourite historical eras/events

1. The Battle of Hastings (wee me was a bit obsessed; it's never entirely gone away)
2. Early Tudor period. Thanks to Shadow of the Tower I have somehow got sucked into being very into Henry VII's reign and also Lancastrians in the WotR, like Margaret Beaufort and Jasper Tudor.
3. 18th C generally
4. English Civil War period but also the Battle of Monmouth, which is not entirely unrelated despite the time difference (I'm from Sedgemoor. Well, Bridgwater, but it was in Sedgemoor Registration District when I was born.) When I was a small thing of eight my Devonshire teacher told us all about the wrongs done to us West Country people by that evil Hanging Judge Jeffries. Folk memories die hard. ;-p
5. WWI, I suppose. Or 19th C.

(To be honest, I'm mostly just interested in specific people or bits of fiction or whatever and then it spills on outward.)

- Top 5 favourite fanfic tropes!

It depends because Whatever Seems Like A Good Idea At The Time is my general writing rule and for reading I'll try a lot of different things if it seems promising in some way. But:

1. Hurt/comfort (done how I like it, of course. Fairly mild and in character, with tiny meaningful things! or whatever. There may be hand holding. I know it when I see it.)
2. Accidental marriage (I keep forgetting how much accidental marriage fic I've written but it is apparently a thing. Although most of it is either a) the Doctor accidentally marrying people or b) the Doctor accidentally marrying other people to other people, and if you took away the Doctor I might not have accidentally married anyone at all.
3. Time Travel
4. Supernatural/Magic AU - essentially make my mundane heroes have to deal with fantastical things and I will be very, very happy indeed. (I have a couple of times had people who did this for me in gift fic and it is awesome. ♥)
5. Trope subversion

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Hurt/comfort (done how I like it, of course. Fairly mild and in character, with tiny meaningful things! or whatever. There may be hand holding. I know it when I see it.)

YES to all of this! ;)

[jjpor]

Judge Jeffries gets namechecked by Four in The Five Doctors (well, really in Shada) iirc. I don't recall off the top of my head whether it was in approval or disapproval, but I'm sincerely hoping it was the latter.

I should probably read some of your Obi Wan/Padme fic on AO3 because I ship the hell out of them. I vaguely recall you saying you were into Star Wars long ago (possibly in a galaxy far, far away), but I think I'd forgotten about it.

Which is my weird way of saying, long time no see. I hope you're staying as well as you can in these crazy times.

[thisbluespirit]

. Heh. ♥

[thisbluespirit]

The Doctor hangs around with all sorts of dodgy people sometimes!

I vaguely recall you saying you were into Star Wars long ago (possibly in a galaxy far, far away), but I think I'd forgotten about it.

I also vaguely recall us having a conversation about Star Wars and SW fic and maybe me asking you if you knew good ones or something and me being too scared of it? Idk. I think it was about then that I learned that everyone thought the Prequels were rubbish. I never knew that till the internet told me!! :loL:

Obi Wan/Padme fic on AO3 because I ship the hell out of them.

They are the only thing making anything better in 2020 for me right now. I think I've read every decent fic for them in the past few months and I have NO REGRETS. (If you ever want recs, I bookmarked as I went!! XD)

Which is my weird way of saying, long time no see. I hope you're staying as well as you can in these crazy times.

I am okay! At the moment, it's all very weird, but I'm finally doing better than I was, because my doctor made me go check out all sorts of things re. low iron levels that totally wiped me out. I was looking forward to maybe being able to go back into town again now that they were finally over (with nothing found) but apparently the entire rest of the world is now not going into town either.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

My favourite flavour of h/c has ALL the meaningful, significant and intense hand-holding! <3

[thisbluespirit]

I really have to drag you into The Shadow of the Tower one of these days! (There's a lot of intense hand-holding throughout.)

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Ohh! I know that this one is up on youtube (or at least, it used to be!), and it looks very interesting, plus I am weak for historical stuff, so don't tempt me! ;)

(I was thinking of rewatching the "Hollow Crown" movies, but maybe I should watch this?)

[thisbluespirit]

You could rewatch The Hollow Crown first and then it would be like a sequel, because historically it follows on from the end of Richard III!

(Although you will need to watch out - the BBC seem to have blocked eps 9-11 in most regions which is rubbish, because 9 is probably the best ep and 10 & 11 have the Perkin Warbeck stuff and I really like 11. However, if you do go for it and they won't play and you can't find them elsewhere, ask me and I'll do a MP4 rip and upload temporarily to SendSpace for you. I can lend my stuff on occasion, right?)

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Haha, yes, my mind was actually working out the same reasoning re: historical time periods! ;)

And thank you for the heads up, I will see if my laptop's VPN works around the block, but if not I shall let you know!

My attention span doesn't allow for writing right now, but let's hope it's enough for watching Intense Historical Dramas! :D

[thisbluespirit]

I am also in the middle of a SotT manifesto for historium so you could even use it for that challenge!

*makes innocent face*

XD

And thank you for the heads up, I will see if my laptop's VPN works around the block, but if not I shall let you know!

Seriously, do, because if you're going to go to the effort of watching it, eps 9 and 11 in particular should not be missed. *shakes fist at randomness of the BBC* (

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Oh, a manifesto, how very sneaky of you! ;)

Thanks again for the rec/nudge! I hope that my attention span can make itself useful!

[jjpor]

He does!

I...still think the Prequels are kind of rubbish. But, you know, I like 70s-80s era Doctor Who, so that isn't necessarily something that's going to stop me enjoying them. XD I think the story is fascinating, and the characters and the actors playing them are for the most part very watchable. It's the overall execution (and the bad, bad dialogue) that lets them down. Imho, anyway. I don't know how I feel about the sequel trilogy now, because The Rise of Skywalker, while actually being a lot of fun and even quite emotional to watch (again, imho), was so clunky and stupid in so many minor and major ways that it kind of ruined the overall story of the sequels for me. I do tend to think (whisper it) that The Last Jedi might be the best Star Wars film of them all, as a film, but it's so weird and un-Stars-Warsy in a lot of ways that I can understand why some fans (not *those* fans, they deserve to be unhappy) weren't enthused by it.

But yeah, Obi Wan/Padme are the OTP. No two ways about it. :D

I'm so glad to hear that you're okay, and indeed doing better than you were. Hopefully the town will keep until you can go into it again. Until then, I suppose we just have to sit tight and do what we can.

[pedanther]

it was in Sedgemoor Registration District when I was born

I first misread this as "in Sedgemoor Registration District I was born", which ought to be the beginning of a folk song, like the chanty that starts "In South Australia I was born". (Although it would have to be a different tune, because it has too many syllables for that one, no matter how much I try to squish them together.)

[thisbluespirit]

I think the story is fascinating, and the characters and the actors playing them are for the most part very watchable. It's the overall execution (and the bad, bad dialogue) that lets them down.

I'd have said the same, but now I've watched them four times each since January and I'm converted!! :Lol; (Except for the terrible romance scenes in AotC, I'm not that mad. But the DVD scene breaks are in exactly the right places, so now AotC is a thing where Obi-Wan investigates stuff and then they all wind up in the arena, and I've no problem with that.)

I do tend to think (whisper it) that The Last Jedi might be the best Star Wars film of them all

HDU, it's clearly Rogue One!

And, heh, yes, the Sequels seem to be not bad films at all individually, but all over the place in relation to canon and, even worse, hell bent on trying to wreck what went before. TFA seemed to want to really be a reboot and it probably would have been better if it had and then they could just have gone full on for their own AU SW thing with the sequels if they felt that aggrieved by the history.

But yeah, Obi Wan/Padme are the OTP. No two ways about it. :D


File this under things George Lucas filmed and then cut, the bastard. XD

m so glad to hear that you're okay, and indeed doing better than you were. Hopefully the town will keep until you can go into it again. Until then, I suppose we just have to sit tight and do what we can.

So far, life is much as usual, shopping in TEsco aside, and nobody wants me to go to any appointments and online is much livelier, leaving me far less isolated and lonely than has been the case for years. So, I'm not enjoying it, but, um, panic and fear and economic worries and deaths aside, it's almost an improvement in practical terms for me as yet. It was worse when I was the only one isolating... /o\

[thisbluespirit]

LOL! I feel if I was going for something like that, it should be "in Sedgemoor District was I born" but I've no idea about tunes and the song would be very boring as a whole, alas. "And I@ve spent at least half my life feeling just as flat as the Levels?"

[liadt]

Leela's my fave companion (until I go on a Seven re-watch:D) but I'd have Ace in my top 5 too so obv I like the violent ones:D

[thisbluespirit]

Violence is a good attribute in a companion! We could use more of it in New Who! XD

[jjpor]

Oh, I *love* Rogue One. It's like a fanfic I'd write - 250,000 words about one of the background Imperial officers from Empire Strikes Back and his efforts to get ahead in this man's Galactic Empire, with weirdly detailed and totally spurious worldbuilding and a load of OC Rebels doing gritty military/espionage stuff on the sidelines. I *love* it, creepy CGI Peter Cushing and all.

Obi Wan Investigates while smouldering at Padme is much, much better than the AOC/RotS we actually got. Darn you, George Lucas - darn you all to heck. They need to get on with that Ewan McGregor Obi Wan TV series they've been threatening for years, only the AU version where Anakin took a lava bath and Obi Wan ended up as the loving stepdad to little Luke and Leia (I'd personally retcon it so that Luke and Leia were actually Obi Wan's kids, but I think his noble love for Padme was probably too chaste and pure for that).

It's strange, but I think there have been some positives so far in all this, in the way that (some) people are trying to be kind to one another and help where they can, and reconnect with those they haven't heard from in a while. And I like to think in my more optimistic moments that this crisis, while obviously a horrendous thing that nobody would want, might be the wake up call that our socioeconomically-dysfunctional society has been desperately needing for a while now. There *are* other ways of living and working and taking care of people, just not the incentive for those with the wealth and power to enact them actually to do so. A year from now, I'll be telling myself this sentiment was naive in the extreme. I hope not.

[singe]

I haven't seen any Star Wars since Jar Jar Binks (who I actually liked, the poor boob.) I'm very picky when it comes to my Star Wars/Star Trek head-cannon. If I don't like it, it didn't happen.

I'm also weirdly enjoying some aspects of the virus. Everyone is outside in the fresh air, playing with their dogs and kids, and evaluating their life and the true state of the Union. I really feel that things are gonna change for the better when this horror is over.

[thisbluespirit]

haha, yes, are you sure you didn't write R1? XD

I *love* it, creepy CGI Peter Cushing and all.

CGI Peter Cushing is very uncanny valley! BUt, yeah, it's so great. I also love how blatantly it's SW-does-B7 as well - not only in the most obvious aspects but things like Cassian's speech being a combination of Blake in Star One and Avon in Blake. It dawned on me last night when I was writing a B7/SW crossover thingy (as one does) that Jyn Erso's backstory is basically Dayna's, except it goes wrong even sooner for Jyn.

I wanted to be fannish about Rogue One because it's great, but it's sort of fine exactly as it is and there's not a lot to do with it mostly, so I live in the land of Prequel Canon Divergence.

Obi Wan Investigates while smouldering at Padme is much, much better than the AOC/RotS we actually got.

Or, as one fic sorted it all out for us, Obi-Wan gets the bodyguard duty and the romance while Anakin is hilariously bad at the detective side of things. (It's the only Padme/Obi-Wan fic where I thought the best bit was Anakin. XD)

only the AU version where Anakin took a lava bath and Obi Wan ended up as the loving stepdad to little Luke and Leia (I'd personally retcon it so that Luke and Leia were actually Obi Wan's kids, but I think his noble love for Padme was probably too chaste and pure for that).

Somehow I think we must resign ourselves to the fact that even if - pandemic willing - they do get on and film it this summer as planned - that it will be about Obi-Wan hermitting in the desert in a very appropriate manner, even if he does touch his face more than he should.

There are a LOT of Padme Lives! AUs like that, though. They are the best AUs. And I'm very fond of the now-jossed ones where Padme Lives and she and Obi-Wan wind up being Rey's grandparents, because Luke and Leia are, let's face it, totally Anakin's children although it is very true that Obi-Wan is also father to Luke - in Return of the Jedi he comes to Vader jedi-ing like Obi-Wan and using Padme's words, and frankly, I'm surprised he didn't have a jealousy fit and stay on the Dark Side. XD rey, however, is a much more plausible Amidala-Kenobi descendent (still dealing with Skywalker crap generations on). Heh.

BUt, yeah. Anyway, Padme/Obi-Wan AUs are great. Even the ones that accidentally erase Luke and Leia and make the rest of canon not exist, it's all good. :loL:

(Although I found one where things end happily and Mace gets to have Leia as has Padawan and that is a very awesome thought also.)

There *are* other ways of living and working and taking care of people, just not the incentive for those with the wealth and power to enact them actually to do so. A year from now, I'll be telling myself this sentiment was naive in the extreme. I hope not.

Only time will tell as someone once said! ♥

[thisbluespirit]

My friend loved Jar-Jar, too! And his poor actor was so happy to play him and then his life got ruined by people's hate. :/

I just really like the republic and the Jedi and the costumes and the lightsaber duels and Padme and Obi-Wan (like, Ewan is illegally pretty in AotC even with a mullet, and still beautiful even with the aging up in RotS). I've just been reading all the fanfic AU fixits and Padme/Obi-Wan and it's a lovely fairy-tale place to be right now.

I really feel that things are gonna change for the better when this horror is over.

Let's hope so. ♥

[jjpor]

My comparatively new favourite thing about Star Wars is just how sassy Obi Wan is in the first film (I suppose we'll call it A New Hope if they insist on it), and his mutually antagonistic relationship with Han during the brief time they spend together. "You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?" "Hmm, *should* I have?" Also, he totally didn't sneak out and murder Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru to get Luke to come with him. I won't have that kind of loose talk. ;D

Yeah, now that you mention it Rogue One *is* basically Blake's 7, but with a cop-out hopeful ending. :D But no, it is a perfect, self-contained thing unto itself that needs no director's cuts or special editions. I do wonder what the original version was like before they did all the reshoots, but honestly it probably wasn't as good.

That sounds good (Leia and Mace). I need to check out some of these Padme Lives fics, because they sound lovely, and just my kind of thing. And agreed, the retroactive foreshadowing the prequels managed to do with regard to some of the things in the original trilogy is one of the things they did right.

And yes, it always does. Using my Seven n Ace icon in tribute to them. :)

[thisbluespirit]

and his mutually antagonistic relationship with Han during the brief time they spend together.

I like that too! And actually Obi-Wan and Han have a lot more in common than Han has any idea about.

Also, he totally didn't sneak out and murder Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru to get Luke to come with him.

LOL, that's terrible talk. Obi-Wan would never! Besides, which he didn't have time to do it. He has an unbreakable alibi! (Although in things that are kind of tragic: everybody who undertook to look after Luke and Leia at the end of RotS die for it one after the other in the first half of ANH.)

Yeah, now that you mention it Rogue One *is* basically Blake's 7, but with a cop-out hopeful ending.

LOL! It is SW, though. No matter what the cool kids say, it is fundamentally a hopeful universe and the tragedy of the Prequels gets redeemed by the OT. BUt R1 does deserve all the praise for managing to make me kind of tear up just at that one line in the opening ANH scrolling text. That's fanficcing to be proud of.

[paynesgrey]

I had no idea that Clara was a favorite companion of yours. That's awesome. I adore Clara, and I hate how she is so maligned in the fandom.
Ace and Charley are fabulous too.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, yes, Clara is my New Who girl and I love her! The haters can just get away from us both! XD

[elen_nare]

Hanging Judge Jeffries! I came across him in Tamsin by Peter Beagle, which is more terrifying than I expected it to be... I still love it, though (and now want to re-read it but like almost all my physical books it's in another country, bah humbug).

Your vision of hurt/comfort sounds very much like mine... I have been writing rather a lot of it for High Rollers recently! (They're D&D characters, "go through hell and come through it by relying on small group of friends" is basically the job description :P And the fandom has embraced that with enthusiasm!)

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, I'm sorry about being such a distance from your physical books - that is tough! I may be in permanent isolation, but I do have many bookshelves. ♥

[jjpor]

It honestly is. I'm a bit sad that the box office failure of Solo seems to have killed off the idea of any further spinoff films, but on the other hand The Mandalorian (which I still haven't seen) seems to have gone down well, so hopefully some more of those sorts of stories may be coming in TV format.

But yeah, Star Wars does have a very distinctive tone and outlook, and those cool kids really have no idea what they're talking about. ;)

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, it is a bit sad, because side-steps are pretty appealing, really. (I want High Republic stuff!! XD Although, apparently, so does someone else because they are releasing some books for that sort of era across this year - until now any ancient SW history has been all Sith Lords or video games/comics.)

But yeah, Star Wars does have a very distinctive tone and outlook, and those cool kids really have no idea what they're talking about.

They never do, unlike us! (Not that I'm saying you're uncool, but I never have managed it yet. XD)

[elen_nare]

I am appreciating my kindle more than ever these days! My bank account may not be appreciating it quite so much :P Physical books are annoyingly heavy to carry, but I will try and bring over at least a couple more when I eventually have a chance.