SGA 2005: The year that started it all.

[icarus]

While I struggle through the next transition in Out Of Bounds ... gnnngh, why is this so hard? ... I tinker with my review of 2005 Stargate Atlantis fanfiction. I did one for 2006 and I hope to do one for 2007 as well.



What are the main themes of 2005 Stargate Atlantis and stories that exemplify them? Here are my initial notes.

John and Rodney are easy! Goodbye DADT --

- The very early soft romances. Stories by 2004 early adopters like thegrrrl and mmmchelle.

Initial confusion over loyalty to SG-1, a concern completely dispensed with due to --

- pegasus_b! (No idea what stories to include.)

Which led to SGA having a rep for --

- Wacky crackfic and AUs! I'm thinking the penguin stories. "It Stops Being Funny At Skirts." The story where Rodney is turned into a little dinosaur. The Harlequin Romance challenge, such as that mail order bride story, need to find two or three more Harlequin stories.

- Fandom's love affair with Rodney in fics like "Oblivious," and "Don't Tell."

Other early themes that are now standard to SGA fic, SGA's lighthearted tone --

- Ancient technology does something unpredictable. "Face Value." That one where John and Rodney explore the high tower of Atlantis and end up married. "Double Occupancy." "A Beautiful Lifetime Event."

- Atlantis' black market. Stories that reference Atlantis' drug subculture.

- Paranoid alien cultures, such as that one where John is imprisoned in the mountain and Rodney's the only one allowed to visit him. Other examples?

- Alien society does something to John because he's an ATA carrier (capture him, try to sacrifice him, make him participate in alien fertility rituals, often an excuse for "Aliens Made Them Do it"). I know I've seen this theme, but specific stories, hmm... the only two I can think of have something done to Rodney because of the ATA gene.

- Darker themes (especially in Gen for some reason) from Atlantis being cut off and taking drastic measures, such as ltlj's story, the name of which won't come to me right now, and rivier's Exigencies. The storm over "Transcendental" and the new, darker characterization in the previously light-hearted fandom.

Aha! auburnnothenna reminds of of the hiatus, which took things in a different direction from what happened in canon --

- Such as "Care Packages" and "A Different Fate" and Karen McFaddyon's "A Matter of Discretion."

Then after Atlantis reconnected with Earth --

- The scientists hazing the new military, such as in "Instructional," and that one that starts with Rodney saying, "If anyone asks, I've been sitting here the whole time." "Care Packages."

- Return to earth stories -- silly ones, romantic ones, and ones focused on recovery.

- iibnf reminds me that, good lord, I forgot the Post-Trinity stories.


Did I nail all the main themes? Disagree? Think I'm off my rocker? I could be missing a lot. It's tricky for me because I didn't start reading SGA until September 2005, so I missed most of the year.

Comments

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

But that's the beauty of it :)

If you have a fandom wide agreement on characterization, then you wouldn't need to spell it out :D

[I came in right around then, so I wouldn't really know but afair, the big point of contention was Rodney's aggressiveness, his ordering people around, his meanness,...)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I was introduced to the SGA fandom by thegrrrl (big, big fan of her Jack/Daniel SG-1 fics), so I knew a little of the situation from her point of view.

On the other hand, I read "Transcendental" in a mix of fics with "Oblivious," "Don't Tell," "Be Cool," "Face Value," "A Beautiful Lifetime Event," and I found astolat's characterization plausible and interesting. I had to ask, um, so what was the problem exactly? I've never quite followed the answer, except that portraying Rodney in an unflattering light spoiled the party.

I came in right around then, so I wouldn't really know but afair, the big point of contention was Rodney's aggressiveness, his ordering people around, his meanness,...

So. Do I have this right?

Up until that point, characterizations of Rodney portrayed his character flaws as adorable quirks. Those who didn't find him so adorable were bad guys within the story like Bates, Kolya, Lorne, Kavanagh. The good guys, John in particular, understood him and rolled with it.

"Transcendental" was viewed as an attack on Rodney by an author. Given power, Rodney became autocratic and machiavellian in consolidating it. It was not cute anymore. He and John became like kids with big guns and shaky ethics, and could have potentially done a lot of damage until Elizabeth took their toys away (unexpectedly foreshadowing "The Game"). While "Transcendental" makes sense now, at the time Rodney was... too much of a bad guy, and too successful at it as well. A little like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man being selected as the world's destroyer (I'm sorry, I had to say it).

Am I even close?

Icarus

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

Well...don't ask me. Seriously :) ASk someone who disliked the story.

But yes, that's the impression I got. See, people were still veering from SG1's Rodney, so liking him in SGA took some redefinition?

I'm not sure how IC Rodney was in Transfiguration in terms of canon, but yes, it went majorly against fannish constructions...

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

See, people were still veering from SG1's Rodney, so liking him in SGA took some redefinition?

That's an excellent point. His characterization in SG-1 was so negative, to make him "ours" the SGA fans had to ... oh no, the song is starting in my head ... accentuate the positive.

(If I get that song stuck in my head, I'm blamng you.)

but yes, it went majorly against fannish constructions...

Great phrasing that I fully intend to steal, er, borrow.

Icarus

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

hey...through Interpretive community in there as well :D

b/c obviously this was a John/Rodney thing. I doubt John/Elizabeth shippers had the same Rodney investment :D

and borrow away...

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

I thought it made Rodney competant and brilliant, he turned into a top (in life and in bed) who knew what he wanted and how to get it. I thought he was FANTASTIC in that fic. Instead of being a weepie PT boy, he was a man who knew how to rule a galaxy. Great fic, one of my definate favs in the fandom.

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

Nope, actually, you aren't. Oddly enough someone recently commented on an old comment of mine on this topic which reminded me of what I'd said way back when.

These were my objections:

I found her portrayal of Rodney completely OOC, and her distortion of Rodney distorted the characters around him, especially John.

This Rodney reminded me of Saint Daniel and Spider Methos, an aggrandizement and glorification of the character that was both needless and detrimental to the story. Here are some specifics, although I didn't finish it.

Opening bit with Shep and meetings--I loved this.

Rodney's brilliant saving of Weir--okay. He is brilliant; he does think on his feet.

Zelenka and Kavanaugh fighting with John about continuing their experiments-- not terribly believable. Kavanaugh is a coward who thinks of his own safety first, as we saw in 38 Minutes. I'm more inclined to see him arguing for more stringent security measures. Zelenka would express his concerns in a clear and respectful manner and then abide by John's decision. I can't picture either of them arguing that Rodney should be in charge. A bomb had just gone off inside Altantis. They're all going to be shaken up and in situation I can't imagine many people arguing that Rodney is the person to put in charge.

Rodney being arrogant and dismissive with the military staff was the biggest sticking point for me. Rodney is arrogant and dismissive with people he doesn't respect. However, he respects John. At no point in canon does he question John's military decisions, particularly in the field. He doesn't hesitate to state his opinions, but he always abides by what John decides. Remember, this is the man who had to be told to reload his gun in "The Defiant One." Now, he's an expert in military strategy?

Yes, Rodney is brilliant, but no one can be an expert in everything. Even Einstein was bad at math.

At first I was really enjoying the scene where Rodney locked John in the office with him. Then it went overboard. I can imagine Rodney having several projects that he's working on in his spare time, but when we got to the x-wing my suspension of disbelief evaporated. I liked John's enjoyment of solving the puzzle of the lock, though, because that resonated with what I've seen on screen. However, when there turned out to be a hardware lock as well as a software lock, I felt that a good idea had been taken too far, again.

The sex came out of nowhere, was abrupt and difficult for me to believe.

I agree with carolyn_claire, that it felt like agenda fic, although to me the agenda appeared to be 'let's get Weir out of the way and show how much better Atlantis would be if Rodney ran it.' I have problems with that beyond my fondness for Weir. Primarily because on top of Rodney being an expert on any and all kinds of science and engineering as well as military strategy, he was now an ace administrator.

This despite the fact that we've never seen Rodney express any interest in running Atlantis or any criticism of Weir's leadership.

My problem with the story isn't that Rodney wasn't soft and fuzzy and likable. It's that placing him in the role of superhero dehumanized him. I like my Rodney arrogant and pissy, generous and funny, imaginative and neurotic, and sometimes thoroughly unlikable. This story didn't have my Rodney in it.

It wasn't that Rodney wasn't soft and fuzzy; it was that the sudden heroism distorted him, and the characters around him, especially John. Don't even get me started on the idea of Rodney throwing John in the brig, or John saluting him.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's very helpful. I appreciate your taking time to talk about it. *nods* And yes, someone probably commented based on the discussion here.

It's going to be touchy handling this subject delicately, especially since I saw the story as portraying Rodney (and John's) flaws and how badly things would go for Atlantis if Rodney were in charge.

I can't bring myself to use the phrase OOC to describe anyone's work, due to my experience in the Lord of the Rings fandom on the conservative Barrow-downs (http://www.barrowdowns.com) site. There the accusation "OOC" was leveled at all slash, i.e., "since Tolkien did not write gay characters, slash should not be written because it is by nature OOC." With variations on the theme.

I argued then (and was shouted down, sometimes with biblical quotes) that there is a range of interpretations when we "write in the margins of a story" -- including, yes, slash.

It would be hypocritical of me to flip sides now and say some characterizations are legit and some aren't.

I intend to present the debate as two (or more) differing interpretations of Rodney, with astolat's fic representing a radical departure from the fandom norm at the time.

Since that's my tack, which stories do you feel represent how Rodney was usually portrayed in fanfic?

Icarus

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

It's going to be touchy handling this subject delicately, especially since I saw the story as portraying Rodney (and John's) flaws and how badly things would go for Atlantis if Rodney were in charge.

Interesting. Since I had the exact opposite interpretation, although I never did finish the story. But I understand that in the end John tells Rodney he's the best CO John's ever had.

Since that's my tack, which stories do you feel represent how Rodney was usually portrayed in fanfic?

I am the absolute wrong person to ask that question. I simply haven't read widely enough to be able to answer it. I was too busy writing.

Plus, interpretations of Rodney in the corner of the fandom where I hung out and interpretations in the rest of the fandom were never in sync, at least in my experience.

If you want to know stories from around that time in which I felt Rodney was well done, that's a different question.

Leah's Balcony series

anything by kagey, Grrrl or Danvers, especially Danvers "Under the Skin" which I still think is one of the best stories ever written in this fandom

any of alyse's stories

There are probably others.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Cool, thank you. I've read "Under The Skin" (great fic) and some of kageygirl's fics -- and thegrrrl's, of course. Leah I'm almost sure I've read. Alyse I only really know from the SG-1 fandom.

For 2006, I had amothea's encyclopedic help. She reads anywhere from 10-15 stories a day. It's just amazing. But she didn't start reading SGA until the later half of 2005, a few months earlier than me.

Plus, interpretations of Rodney in the corner of the fandom where I hung out and interpretations in the rest of the fandom were never in sync, at least in my experience.

Ah. So there isn't really a main stream of Rodney fics, with astolat's fic at odds with "a" (singular) norm, but rather it crossed more than one interpretation of Rodney. What was your sense of the fandom's interpretations of Rodney at the time?

Would you consider stories like "Oblivious" to be from a different corner of fandom?

(Hooray, I have an eyewitness!)

Icarus