Yuletide: my letter to Santa

Dear Santa:

Some general notes first: as the Details fields in most of my requests (and the bio material in my userinfo) should suggest, my fanfic interests lean strongly toward character but not particularly toward smut/slash. Not, it should be emphasized, that I have anything against either of those in proper and well-developed context, but I don't tend to view my fandoms-of-interest through that particular lens. Oh, and this is my first Yuletide, so be gentle....

Anastasia: This is possibly my favorite modern animated film ever. It had fantastic songs, it had cool visuals, and oh, the script! The Anya/Dmitri chemistry just crackled, and neither one was lacking in the snappy-comeback department. There should absolutely have been a follow-up half-hour TV series; written properly, it could have been close to Gargoyles in quality. (I have avoided seeing the sequel, Bartok the Magnificent; I thought Bartok worked reasonably well in the context of the original film, but I didn't see him as a breakout character, and I am not sure I trust in the studio's ability to keep him from going too far over the top.)

Anyhow: for me, the centerpiece of the movie is the romance -- but it ends just as that relationship is blossoming, and it seems to me that before Anya and Dmitri get to "happily ever after", they need to (a) really come to terms with what they've found in each other, and (b) have at least several more adventures together. He's still a rogue; she's still an innocent (a pretty pragmatic one, but very inexperienced in dealing with the larger world). There's a lot of story there....

Muppets: Kermit and I go way back; I was a huge fan of the syndicated Muppet Show, and then of most of the feature films (I have mixed feelings about Muppets in Space, and the Muppet Oz telefilm tried way too hard). And as the above may suggest, I have a serious jones for old-fashioned musicals, and The Muppet Movie is pretty strong in that department. "Rainbow Connection" never fails to tear me up, and there's a Tom Smith (aka filkertom) song called "A Boy and His Frog" that does too. Beyond that, the request-details pretty much speak for themselves; S&W are in a lot of ways among the most mysterious Muppets in the canon, and that's always interested me....

Narbonic: If you're one of the four Yuletiders (counting me) who offered to write Narbonic, I'm pretty sure you know the strip at least as well as I do; I came in late (shortly before Helen gave Artie morphing powers in the effort to infiltrate her mother's lair), but was instantly hooked. This is the most fun I think anyone's ever had with the whole Evil Mad Scientist shtick, not excluding Phil Foglio. As you'll note if you look backward through my LJ, I've dipped my toe into this universe already [and really should get back to finishing that story....].

If you're not one of those four Yuletiders, do not pass Go, do not collect $, but go instantly over to the Web site and have a look -- but you'll probably want to actually write in one of the other fandoms. These characters are complicated....

Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?: By now, you may be picking up a pattern in this cluster of fandoms: I'm attracted to well-written source material, and this series certainly qualified. In addition to all the geography and history, the adventure plots were handled well and the three central characters were -- over the course of the show -- pretty well fleshed out. Now, unlike the three other fandoms in this group, there is a small body of fanfic out there for the series (most of what I've seen I located through the Sandiego Manor Web site), much of it quite good. But nearly all of it tends to focus so closely on Carmen that it drops Zack and Ivy out of the equation, and I think the evolving dynamic between all three of them is one of the most fascinating things about the show. I know that in the character selector, I specified Carmen without including Zack and Ivy -- I did that, frankly, because I was worried about triggering slash impulses (and also because I figure that the fewer formal restrictions one puts on one's Santa, the easier it makes the assignment). Anyhow, that's one direction I don't see that relationship going.

I'm looking forward to seeing the direction in which this goes, and I hope you have as much fun writing as I expect to have in reading the results.

Best,

the Gray Cardinal

Yuletide: my letter to Santa

Dear Santa:

Some general notes first: as the Details fields in most of my requests (and the bio material in my userinfo) should suggest, my fanfic interests lean strongly toward character but not particularly toward smut/slash. Not, it should be emphasized, that I have anything against either of those in proper and well-developed context, but I don't tend to view my fandoms-of-interest through that particular lens. Oh, and this is my first Yuletide, so be gentle....

Anastasia: This is possibly my favorite modern animated film ever. It had fantastic songs, it had cool visuals, and oh, the script! The Anya/Dmitri chemistry just crackled, and neither one was lacking in the snappy-comeback department. There should absolutely have been a follow-up half-hour TV series; written properly, it could have been close to Gargoyles in quality. (I have avoided seeing the sequel, Bartok the Magnificent; I thought Bartok worked reasonably well in the context of the original film, but I didn't see him as a breakout character, and I am not sure I trust in the studio's ability to keep him from going too far over the top.)

Anyhow: for me, the centerpiece of the movie is the romance -- but it ends just as that relationship is blossoming, and it seems to me that before Anya and Dmitri get to "happily ever after", they need to (a) really come to terms with what they've found in each other, and (b) have at least several more adventures together. He's still a rogue; she's still an innocent (a pretty pragmatic one, but very inexperienced in dealing with the larger world). There's a lot of story there....

Muppets: Kermit and I go way back; I was a huge fan of the syndicated Muppet Show, and then of most of the feature films (I have mixed feelings about Muppets in Space, and the Muppet Oz telefilm tried way too hard). And as the above may suggest, I have a serious jones for old-fashioned musicals, and The Muppet Movie is pretty strong in that department. "Rainbow Connection" never fails to tear me up, and there's a Tom Smith (aka filkertom) song called "A Boy and His Frog" that does too. Beyond that, the request-details pretty much speak for themselves; S&W are in a lot of ways among the most mysterious Muppets in the canon, and that's always interested me....

Narbonic: If you're one of the four Yuletiders (counting me) who offered to write Narbonic, I'm pretty sure you know the strip at least as well as I do; I came in late (shortly before Helen gave Artie morphing powers in the effort to infiltrate her mother's lair), but was instantly hooked. This is the most fun I think anyone's ever had with the whole Evil Mad Scientist shtick, not excluding Phil Foglio. As you'll note if you look backward through my LJ, I've dipped my toe into this universe already [and really should get back to finishing that story....].

If you're not one of those four Yuletiders, do not pass Go, do not collect $, but go instantly over to the Web site and have a look -- but you'll probably want to actually write in one of the other fandoms. These characters are complicated....

Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?: By now, you may be picking up a pattern in this cluster of fandoms: I'm attracted to well-written source material, and this series certainly qualified. In addition to all the geography and history, the adventure plots were handled well and the three central characters were -- over the course of the show -- pretty well fleshed out. Now, unlike the three other fandoms in this group, there is a small body of fanfic out there for the series (most of what I've seen I located through the Sandiego Manor Web site), much of it quite good. But nearly all of it tends to focus so closely on Carmen that it drops Zack and Ivy out of the equation, and I think the evolving dynamic between all three of them is one of the most fascinating things about the show. I know that in the character selector, I specified Carmen without including Zack and Ivy -- I did that, frankly, because I was worried about triggering slash impulses (and also because I figure that the fewer formal restrictions one puts on one's Santa, the easier it makes the assignment). Anyhow, that's one direction I don't see that relationship going.

I'm looking forward to seeing the direction in which this goes, and I hope you have as much fun writing as I expect to have in reading the results.

Best,

the Gray Cardinal