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For an Imperial, Dedra is surprisingly popular in STAR WARS fandom. It's because she (and other Imps) were written as people first, with their own compelling motivations and plot lines. "Andor" truly showed how everyday people can be accessories to fascists even when they don't think they are. They think they're doing the right thing and by the time they realise they are oppressing others (do they ever realise?) they're so far in that this seems normal.

Where Dedra stood out is that she is the only woman we've seen with this rank, or level of power. High-ranking women in the Empire are few and far between.

( Dedra in Season 2. )

Words cannot express how much love I have for Mon Mothma. Do I want to be her? Do I wish I was her best friend? Am I in love with her? Is it a little of all of the above? Yes!

Let's discuss Mon Mothma in "Andor" Season 2.
( Spoilers below! )

Yuletide signups opened and closed during the 9 days I was travelling. It was also when "Our Flag Means Death" was airing - and I didn't have time to keep up with it - so I was avoiding all fannish spaces so I didn't get spoiled.

So I missed sign-ups and I am sad.

I had so wanted to ask for fic for "The Great". There's so little out there, and season 3 absolutely broke my heart. Grigor's devastation at Peter's death was so compelling, and yes, we knew that he loved him, but seeing it like that - raw, all-encompassing, it really brought home that Peter was everything to him, and without him, Grigor is lost.


(I doubt anyone else will write in this fandom: I'm the one who nominated it.)

It makes me feel a little better about "Ahsoka" being rejected from the fandoms list, since I wanted to write/read fic about Mon Mothma.

"Ahsoka" wasn't really working for me at the start. Mostly because of Hera - I loved "Rebels" Hera, and live-action version didn't seem to have the same amount of gravitas + warmth. (I think the casting for her was terrible and I really hope it wasn't nepotism.)

But in recent episodes there are some things I have truly, truly loved. The big one is seeing the fates of certain characters, post ROTJ. This is stuff we DIDN'T know and how exciting to be surprised by STAR WARS?

More under the cut.
( Spoilers. )

I almost missed sign ups, I've been so busy!

Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022)

( Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022)  )


For All Mankind (TV 2019)

( For All Mankind (TV 2019)  )

The Orville

( The Orville )

The Kingdoms - Natasha Pulley

( The Kingdoms - Natasha Pulley )


( General DNWs and Likes )

I managed to see this on opening day (due to a snafu involving buying tickets for the wrong date - oops!)

Anyway, I think that somehow we were shown a censored version? Because I knew all of the controversy/excitement over Thor's butt from the trailer and was wondering if we would see it uncensored in the film.

But in my screening, we did not see it at ALL. Looks like we got the version that is airing in India, with a weird camera angle ( a little spoilery )

Apologies for the shallow post. :p

Anyway, wow, this was a good movie and much better than that recent "Doctor Strange" one and it caused me so many feelings.

Every so often, I get to be part of an active fannish movement that makes a difference. I am over the moon that "Our Flag Means Death" has been renewed for a second season. I don't think it ever would have happened without fandom.

• We made noise.
• We evangalised to all of our friends.
• We kept re-watching, to keep streaming numbers up (plus it is such a good show that you discover so much when you rewatch!)
• We tweeted and re-tweeted and made sure relevant hashtags were trending
• Some fans sent letters/campaigns to HBO themselves.*

* I have written fannish support letters in the past. I didn't this time, because there was so much loud fandom enthusiasm on other channels that I didn't think it was necessary. But I fully support the fans who did.

I am so glad we were rewarded. WE DID IT. I recruited so many people to watch this show (and they were all so happy when they did). It's been so wonderful and gratifying being in a fandom that I could whole-heartedly recommend, without saying, "I love this but there are X problematic elements," for once. 


Now I just have to keep enjoying the fandom until the inevitable letdown of season 2, where it doesn't match what fandom as a whole imagined, no matter how good it is. (That always happens with a passionate fanbase. Nothing that gets released can ever live up to the weight of expectations placed upon it. But I have faith that it will still be good and that we can emerge from it smiling that we got a show that we loved.)


<lj-cut text="Musing on other fandoms where fans made a difference.">

Star Trek.  I was so gratified to learn years later that it was the women who organised the campaigns and got the show renewed.  Oral fandom history (in the 90s) didn't tell me that; mainstream books suggested it was men.  But no, it was us.  Our people.

Stargate.  In particular, bringing Daniel Jackson back.  When Michael Shanks quit, neither he nor the showrunners quite appreciated how much Daniel was loved.  Fandom made it known loud and clear.  I wrote a letter from Australia. I helped make noise.  We got him back and for that, I am forever grateful.

Farscape.  Another one where I wrote a letter.  We got a movie to wrap up the cliffhangers and I'm so grateful.

There have been several other fandom campaigns where I participated and we failed.  "Earth 2".  "The Magicians."   It had to be a fandom that I loved beyond measure where I was upset beyond belief that they were cancelled.... and there weren't a lot that I was willing to go to bat for.  Especially as I get older and less and less things seem original.  But the two listed above were very special to me and it really, really hurt when they were cancelled/when Jason Ralph was fired.


</lj-cut>


We are living in a golden age of Sci-Fi/Fantasy.  There are multiple STAR WARS and Star Trek series airing yearly.  There are so many SF series that I can't keep up; in a variety of tones, from "The Expanse" to "The Orville" and everything in between.  WTF???  This is amazing and I am so, so glad that nerd culture has become mainstream because it means that there are so many shows that I love to watch.  

I recently read "The Kingdoms" by Natasha Pulley.

It was incredible. I thought about it for days afterwards. Re-read sections with a new perspective and to understand the nuance.

This book was rec'd to me on a list of "If you like Our Flag Means Death, you might like this" and yes, yes, yes. Time travel and mystery and men on ships and subtle, queer romance with so much understated longing...oh, this book was gorgeous and complex and I loved it.  (It's not a comedy at all; it's very angsty and deals with the Napoleonic Wars, but with a hopeful ending. The author said she was inspired by "Black Sails".)  

That is 3 amazing books I've read this year:

• The Dark Forest (Liu Cixin) - blew my mind.
• The City in the Middle of the Night (Charlie Jane Anders)
• The Kingdoms (Natasha Pulley)

(I have read several other books as well but these 3 are standouts above everything else I've read the last few years!)

Oh, and I would add Naomi Novik's "Scholomance" books to this amazing books list because they were exactly my thing.

After several years of not reading much (aside from textbooks and fanfic), these last couple of pandemic years have been a revelation in terms of the amazing new fiction that has been published.  

Follow-up to my previous post, although if you're in fandom to any degree, you've probably seen "Our Flag Means Death" stuff everywhere the past few days. It's not even a week when I felt like I was lonely in a fandom of ~20 people, and now it's everywhere.

There are now 650 fics on AO3. 1.5 weeks ago I was searching for crumbs.

This is crazy and wonderful and I hope it lasts!

The thing that drives me nuts is that the Wiki entry for OFMD described it as a "romantic comedy". This was before the final episodes aired, so I wonder - who updated it? Who knew for sure? Or was it someone who was just hoping?

But the point of this post is not just to squee over the show. Instead, I want to discuss the showrunners and things they've said, and what it means for fandom. How there's so much ignorance in "Hollywood" to this day about our fandom experience - and when I say "our", I'm talking about the groups of fans who have been queerbaited all these years.

Here's a fantastic (spoiler-filled) article:
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/03/our-flag-means-death-taika-waititi-finale-love-story-interview-rhys-darby-1234709947/

( Discussion of quotes. )

This 90-minute "Red Dwarf" (movie? special?) came out early 2020, around the time that we were all dealing with a Lot of Stuff. So I missed watching it until now.

Oh, nostalgia. It was so great from that perspective. "Red Dwarf" has been part of my life for over 25 years now and sure, the jokes don't land for me now like they used to, and I squirmed a lot at one of the opening bits, but the rest of it was just warm and lovely to see characters that I loved, acting in ways I remembered. There is a lot to be said for something light, silly, and exactly what you expect, with no shock gore/violence/distressing themes.

And there was the most beautiful scene between Lister and Rimmer, which made me remember that yes, I do ship them, and now I am reading a ton of fic.

( Spoilery discussion and thoughts on character growth. )