January Talking Meme #16 - What pieces of media (books, TV, movies, comics, etc) do you revisit most

[grimorie]

For chaila

My old staple I keep coming back to is Life but most recently it's Leverage, Burn Notice, and The West Wing.

(I love spy stories, heists, and police procedurals. I also love ensembles with really smart people and I keep hoping re-watching all of the above will rub off on my writing and I can piece together how to write a case fic.)

But Life is the one I keep coming back to especially season 1 because it was such a gentle and kind show about two broken people who learn to find grace. It's a noir that's filled with light, and the show loves Los Angeles so much, as much as Dani Reese and Charlie Crews loves Los Angeles.

For movies: I keep coming back to Gosford Park partly because of the upstairs/downstairs dynamic and a lot because of how it was filmed like it was an ongoing theater with the added bonus of a Golden Aged Detective mystery. I love picking up the details I missed the first time I saw the movie.

For books, I tend to go back to Diana Wynne Jones books but recently in place of novels I've turned more and more to reading fanfic. I like Nomad's West Wing Further to Fly series. I'm amazed at how Nomad was able to write something so similar to TWW style plot and dialogue and made it an ensemble. It's gen with some romantic relationships but the dynamic is all about the ensemble and the politics. Each story flows and builds into the next. I hope to write a long multi-chaptered gen story like this one day.

Comments

[aurumcalendula]

This reminds me I need to rewatch Life

Heists and spy stories are awesome! Leverage has been helping me not collapse into a puddle of despair about current events. I’ve also been rewatching MacGyver (the original one) – it’s neat to see some of the foreshadowing stuff I completely missed when I was younger. Some of it has aged well, and some of it really hasn’t…

I tend to go back to Terry Pratchett’s and Elizabeth Bear’s stuff. I’ll have to check out ‘Further to Fly’ (I really should see the rest of The West Wing, somehow I only saw season 1, but I suspect it may not be a while before I get around to it. On a similar note, I liked what I saw of The Borgen, but couldn’t bear to watch the rest of it at this point in time) Fanfic-wise 'Down to Agincourt' is something I keep coming back to (and finding stuff I missed on previous read throughs).

[grimorie]

I really really love Life, I've seen Sarah in Alias and Supernatural but I never really noticed her until Life. She was a revelation! IMO Sarah excels in roles that require her to be dark and a little repressed!

Oh man, old school MacGyver is such a nostalgia bomb, I wish the network kept their mitts off the series or at least let Richard Dean Anderson reprise his role! (Which btw seven degrees of separation: RDA guest starred in season 1 of Fairly Legal, and now Amy Acker is in a reboot of MacGyver!).

You know I think apart from reading the free book from Elizabeth Bear's work I don't think I've read her other works.

What's 'Down to Agincourt' about?

[aurumcalendula]

She really does! I miss seeing her on tv (I’m still bitter Drew wasn’t picked up)

I really wish the MacGyver reboot centered on say, MacGyver’s granddaughter (iirc, MacGyver finds out he has a son at the end of the series). It may have gotten better since I tried watching the show, but the people in charge of the 2016 reboot seem to have missed how much MacGyver is like Fraser from due South, character-wise. And the Jack Dalton is a person who gets MacGyver into trouble, not out of it.

Which book? I think my favorites of hers are her Jenny Casey series (space opera), her Eternal Sky series(epic fantasy set in not-quite-Mongolia and China instead of the usual not-quite-Western Europe), and Karen Memory (AU 19th century steampunk Seattle).

‘Down to Agincourt’ is an epic (as in 1,000,000+ words at the moment) canon divergent Supernatural fic. Er, short version... Season 7 Dean ends up back in the bad future of 5x04’s ‘The End’ (it’s not clear how and that’s kind of a plot point) which throws a wrench into things, especially since his counterpart just died. Considering the setting, it’s also a really optimistic series. A theme that runs through it is: The worst of us can be the best; we all deserve the chance to discover that, even if we fall short.

One of the things I really love about this series is how Seperis writes original characters. Vera is awesome (as are Amanda, Joseph, Alicia, and everyone else). Representation-wise, it’s what I wish Supernatural was (there are a bunch of female characters, queer characters, and characters of color). …I also now know more about Cornelia Africana, her sons the Gracchus brothers, her granddaughter Fulvia, and the Late Roman Republic than I did before.

[grimorie]

(I’m still bitter Drew wasn’t picked up)

Same! Although... while Sarah doesn't agree with CBS's reason why they didn't pick up Drew she said she was relieved that the show wasn't picked up too because the pilot just wasn't good. I stumbled into a scene in the pilot and I got why she was relieved.

Also, thanks for the book recs and the Agincourt fic really does sound interesting! I stopped watching SPN around season 3... would I still be able to understand the story if I read it?

I'm actually very cranky with the writers because this iteration of Nancy with her history and mixed heritage could've been the most interesting and nuanced Nancy of all-- but no instead they loaded Nancy up with almost all the 'millennial' cliches, and employed a Sherlock Scan more annoying than BBC Sherlock's.

After her role in POI, I got why Sarah was disappointed with the script. (Weirdly, when I read the first scenes I didn't 'see' Sarah Shahi but Sarah Michelle Gellar, they hyper version of Buffy on cheerleader high from season 1, or even Daphne in the liveaction Scooby movie).

[aurumcalendula]

That does sound awful (and Bess’ character apparently got killed off prior to the pilot?), which is disappointing since could’ve been very interesting. Although I am amused that Vanessa Ferlito’s George a lesbian in this since her character on NCIS: New Orleans is as well (...which is why I’m now watching NCIS: New Orleans and trying not to get my hopes up re: Gregorio and Percy)

Re: Down to Agincourt, I think so? (I first ran across the show at the very end of season 7, so most of my own knowledge of seasons 4 through 7 is via various wikis) It may be helpful to read a synopsis of 4x01 so you know who Cas is, and 5x04 since this picks up right after the events in that episode. The first chapter is kinda confusing (since the POV character is in shock), but the consensus seems to be if you can get through chapter 4 of 'Map of the World', you’ll probably end up reading the rest of it.

ETA: 4x16, 6x20, and 6x22 may also be helpful, as well as generally knowing who Zachariah is, and what the Leviathan are, and how the Apocalypse went.

[grimorie]

You're really making me want to watch NCIS New Orleans now!

And I'll definitely check out Down to Agincourt!