Wrath of Khan and writing possibilities

[neotoma]

greenygal, pleasance, fabrisse and I went to see Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan on Friday night. E Street Cinema does classic movies at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights in summer -- these are the nights that Metro runs late, so it works out fine.

Wrath of Khan is still a fantastic movie, with almost no detail wasted and a lot of wonderful character moments -- even though the special effects are a bit dated, the story itself is still compelling, streamlined, and intelligent. Ricardo Montalban exudes such menance just by taking off one glove! It was so refreshing after the disappointment that was Star Trek Into Darkness.

Now, I'm not going to be writing TOS fic -- I'm more of a reader there. Also, I've been in a slump, probably connect with my annus horibilis at work.

However, I've been happily installed at different contract for a month now, and am considering getting back to writing.

Things that I've been thinking about writing:

• a Dresden Files story -- mainly because Harry trusts Odin, which I think is an atrociously stupid idea. I'm not sure whether Blutcher has read in depth on Norse mythology or not, but if you have, you know one of Odin's bynames is 'Oathbreaker'. I'm thinking maybe Harry should get involved in a situation where he learns more about his erstwhile ally, like the fact that even the Norse thought he was shifty, and for good reason.


• a Captain America story -- Steve Rogers vs 21st American food culture, including Steve's bafflement that chicken is cheap and veal is expensive


• timestamps for Quatrain -- there's a lot of detail that I just hinted at that I could write up into short scenes or short stories.


• a sabriel_mini-bang story -- though here I'm at a loss. I kind of want to finish the Jewel Knights story I was writing with mikhala_c before she gafiated, but it was her story more than it was mine; I just added to the Sam & Gabriel familial relationship, and kept poking her for more story. I suppose I could go back and just write a Sam & Gabriel AU with Gabriel as Sam's foster-father that doesn't have much to do with her premise, but I really had fun working on that story with her and kind of want it finished.


• the DC comics story where Pied Piper takes control of Apokalips in the wake of Countdown and rules it with peace, love, understanding, practical socialism, and a ruthless talent for mind controlling the violent opposition into compliance. The Justice League would be very conflicted over whether they are supposed to topple this particular planetary tyrant... from an idea that I tossed back and forth with author376 years ago.


• A Sentinel AU -- there is a whole AU trope of Sentinels and Guides are known and the world is a repressive dystopia for them that I'd like to deconstruct. On the other hand, alex51234's Dread Bonding AU is a pretty fantastic work in that vein already, and I'm not sure I could parallel canon events without making Jim look like a raging asshole... also, I'd have to track down the complete series, and only the first season of eight episodes was ever put on DVDs.

I'm not sure I'll be writing any of these, but I want to write something, since I haven't really done so since I posted Quatrain.

Comments

[icarus]

Any Star Trek: OTS recs? I've been rather disappointed in my searches on AO3.

[neotoma]

I've only got two bookmarked on Pinboard -- one's a crossover, the other's a fusion.

ellen_fremedon's Need to Know -- the pairing is Jack Harkness/Naraht. Naraht is a character from the tie-in novels. He's a Horta. The story proceeds from there.

Inclination by Laura JV -- A Sentinel AU, set in the Star Trek universe. A human starship captain and his Vulcan Guide...his heterosexual Vulcan Guide. I think this one works pretty well as TOS story even if you don't know Sentinel at all.

[icarus]

Well, ellen_fremedon's always good, even though I only know Harkness from Dr. Who and don't know Naraht from a hole in the wall.

Inclination looks promising.

I was reading a Star Trek Reboot AU that started out well ... and then fell apart, wah.

[neotoma]

I actually just read screamlet's an upbeat kind of dirge, which I thought was fantastic. It's a Reboot AU where Amanda survives and Sarek doesn't. Also, it features a fantastic Winona Kirk.

[icarus]

I know nothing of Sentinel, but I'm enjoying Inclination very, very much. Thank you!

[icarus]

And Need To Know is insane, lol!

[neotoma]

Need to Know is gloriously cracky, but also a fantastic worldbuilding on making aliens alien.

[madripoor_rose]

Those all sound pretty great.

And just in case TS isn't on Youtube or torrents anywhere:

http://www.kelesa.net/transcripts/index.htm#Season Four

Becky's still got complete transcripts for every Sentinel episode up. I used to use them for quick reference before I caught everything on tape, back in my Besterette days.

[neotoma]

I think I never saw all of The Sentinel season 3 or any of season 4 back when it was first airing -- it was on an independent channel, and it always got pre-empted and moved around the schedule.

I've read the recaps by Zelempa, but thanks for the transcript site. If I do try to do a Sentinel story, that'll be useful.

But seriously, I wasn't kidding about how hard writing a story and not writing what a jerk Jim was (seriously, boxing up all of your roomate's possessions as a way of telling him you're throwing him out? wtf?) would be a hard challenge.

[madripoor_rose]

Yeah, I think I dealt with it as 'Alex's prescence in his protectorate was literally driving him insane.' But I was always more of a Jimbabe and found Blair annoying as hell.

[neotoma]

Whereas Blair is really smart, short-ish, stocky and surprisingly graceful (I still remember how he moved in the scene where he was high on a kite on Golden and shooting at the hallucinations -- damn, but was that the kind of flexibility and control you usually seeing in dancers!), which is basically my type as far as it goes with male characters.

This is why I fall for sidekicks and character roles, because actors of that body type don't get cast as the heroes.

... Unless we're watching a Gene Kelly movie, and then it's Gene Kelly.

[icarus]

I think you've hooked me on The Sentinel. *reads*

[neotoma]

Oh, dear. The show is hard to find, and sometimes embarrassingly bad. Otoh, there's a lot of eyecandy, and the show had a lot of diversity among the supporting characters for a mid-90s syndicated cop drama.

[icarus]

Okay, maybe I'll just read the fanfic. ;)

[ayalesca]

Would totally read your Dresden Files and Captain America fics :)))))

(Don't know the other fandoms! Or would want to read those too XD)

[neotoma]

If I do the Dresden Files idea, it will deal with three famous swords of Norse mythology, in a sort of parallel to the swords of the Knights of the Cross.

Those swords are Tyrfing, Dainslief, and Mistilteinn... guess who would be fighting over them?

[reginagiraffe]

I have actually seen a recipe (from the 40's or 50's?) for "Mock Chicken Legs" using veal. I thought it was a joke at first.

[neotoma]

Lol. Nope.

Veal was a by-product of the dairy industry, but to get chickens to eat you had to sacrifice egg production, either temporarily while that hen raised a brood or permanently if you ate the hen. Most eating chickens were aged hens that couldn't produce anymore or cockerels that didn't make the cut to be a breeding rooster.

[fyrdrakken]

copperbadge has done some pretty good stuff along the lines of showing Steve Rogers adapting to the 21st Century: On AO3, and I especially point out A Partial Dictionary Of The 21st Century By Captain Steve Rogers, US Army as a really good one along those lines.