Edgar Van Scyoc Presents: Doctor Who; Chapter 7

[cblj_backup]

Sam's fanfiction archive has moved. The story formerly found here may now be found at:

http://sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org/120640.html

Thank you for your patience!

Comments

[sanura.livejournal.com]

Okay, So.

Clearly you are a genius, and the thing I liked most about Written for the Victors, the extensive alternate universe and sprawling metacommentary about it, is totally trumped. This is the most intricate and well-presented AU or I don't even know what to call it because it's a fictional RPS AU too and it's so real it has its own wank. And there are multiplicitous quotable oddments of ironic greatness. This is all the obvious bits.

However. I love the Torchwood America for its context and the issues you can address with it, even considering the lack of 45-year DW canon backstory trove to draw from. But the AUness and RPF elements, particularly recasting, inhibited my ability to follow the beautimous and tremendiferous arcs because I kept thinking twice anyone spoke in order to visualize them and solidify my expectations for their voices.

So... was Harkness Scottish? Did the Doctor sound American? It's probably a function of my inability to restructure my characterizations after having observed one interpretation, but much of the glee I usually get from your impeccable speech-pattern mimicry was glossed over in favor of squeeing at the interesting OCs. There was subtle mingling of Barrowmanisms and Tennant Whoness, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted. Also, Ross appropriated much of Ianto's awesome, when I managed to perceive it, but I had to reimagine him as a career soldier, which sort of minimizes a lot of the teaboy badassery I've come to associate with dry, babyfaced Gareth. On the other hand, I had an easier time seeing and hearing Hayden as Rose than I did when I tried to imagine Billie Piper doing it.

The casting is brilliant, I do not hesitate to opine; and I'm positive the actors are capable of more than I've seen them do; it's just that I haven't seen them do it and my ability to postulate their reactions in other parts is limited to making them imitate the original, so I have trouble imagining the extremely modified or entirely new episodes, which sidetracks the narrative for me. This is an amazing and possibly revolutionary (though what do I know, since fandom for me consists mostly of you) genre of fic/metafic. I truly adore it, but the amount of face-and-voice-switching intricacy may be beyond my capacity to fully comprehend at this point in my development as a devotee of the fandom.

[sanura.livejournal.com]

Also, on further reflection, everything Lethbridge said (since I have seen No Classic Who) was in Sheppard intonations with Sheppard irony. It was a brilliant and awesome choice for the writing you did with him; I have no idea what combination you may have been after, but I was neither confused nor distracted.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

To be honest except for Lethbridge -- I've never seen any classic Who either, or anyway not much -- I had the same problem writing it. I kept having to throw in Americanisms for the Doctor ("you guys" etc) to remind myself and the reader that it's Barrowman :D And I had to walk a line with Jack, not making him typical-Tennant-manic. The Doctor definitely is intended to sound American, but Harkness I rather like Tennant's Doctor accent for, though I wouldn't mind the scots dialect either :D

For me it was easy to slip GDL from Ianto to Ross because while they come from two different backgrounds they're both very similar in that they are fairly regimented and disciplined individuals, but also very young.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, though -- and you're certainly not the only one who had total cognitive dissonance over the recasting :D