Jade Dixon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
leasspell_dael) wrote2011-07-17 06:01 pm
leasspell_dael) wrote2011-07-17 06:01 pm
Entry tags:
[Fic Rec][Doctor Who][Firefly] Also, rambling on crossovers
Once upon a time, I was a huge fan of crossovers. In fact, I could safely say that they were over 80% of the fics I read. As time went on, though, my tastes changed, and I found myself cringing over things I had once enjoyed.
Writing a good crossover is an extremely difficult task, and I applaud any author that manages to pull it off.
When you take two separate fandoms, spin-offs don't count, and try to merge them you are always going to find conflict. Tones and styles won't mesh, rules from one universe won't apply to or will actively conflict with the rules in the other universe.
The biggest problem with crossovers, though, tends to come in the form of what I'm going to call "the lead". That is, one of the fandoms will have precedence over the other, will be the "viewpoint" of the story. That in itself isn't a problem. The problem is that the "lead" will often be the favoured child, and will undermine the other fandom.
This action isn't on purpose, but the characters from the lead fandom will systematically fix and/or point out all the flaws with/in the undermined fandom. It's author avatarism without the Mary-Sue. It doesn't necessarily make a fic bad, but in my opinion, it makes it a lot harder for it to be good.
Finding a balance, allowing both fandoms to shine without trampling over one another, creates a story well worth reading.
Title: The Man With No Name
Author: Frostfyre
Fandom: Doctor Who (10th Doctor, post-Runaway Bride) and Firefly (post-Movie)
Rating: Teen
Status: Complete @ 32 chapters with 99372 words
Summary: He hadn't really counted on getting into a pub brawl over the color of his coat on some speck of a planet, or signing up with a crew of petty criminals. Still, the Doctor had always wondered what really happened to those Lost Colonists from Earth.
Review: This fic had the perfect balance of the two fandoms that at no point left me fuming over a slight to one or the other. The Doctor does not appear and fix all that is broken with them after the mess with Miranda; the crew of Serenity don't show the Doctor the error of his ways.
They come together in the type of pre-determined co-incidence that tends to happen in both shows, wind up working together on a conflict that would realistically attract the interest of both parties for different reasons, stay true to their own characters, but ultimately come together for a single purpose and goal, letting complementary skills work in tandem in order to achieve success. There is no magic "fix-it" button pushing or "mutual trust" wand waving. The characters act and react off each other, getting to where the story needs them to be in a natural progression.
The author wrote this fic with the intention that you didn't need to be familiar with both fandoms, and I think that worked well for achieving the balance crossovers need. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, despite the reservations I had going in.
Writing a good crossover is an extremely difficult task, and I applaud any author that manages to pull it off.
When you take two separate fandoms, spin-offs don't count, and try to merge them you are always going to find conflict. Tones and styles won't mesh, rules from one universe won't apply to or will actively conflict with the rules in the other universe.
The biggest problem with crossovers, though, tends to come in the form of what I'm going to call "the lead". That is, one of the fandoms will have precedence over the other, will be the "viewpoint" of the story. That in itself isn't a problem. The problem is that the "lead" will often be the favoured child, and will undermine the other fandom.
This action isn't on purpose, but the characters from the lead fandom will systematically fix and/or point out all the flaws with/in the undermined fandom. It's author avatarism without the Mary-Sue. It doesn't necessarily make a fic bad, but in my opinion, it makes it a lot harder for it to be good.
Finding a balance, allowing both fandoms to shine without trampling over one another, creates a story well worth reading.
Title: The Man With No Name
Author: Frostfyre
Fandom: Doctor Who (10th Doctor, post-Runaway Bride) and Firefly (post-Movie)
Rating: Teen
Status: Complete @ 32 chapters with 99372 words
Summary: He hadn't really counted on getting into a pub brawl over the color of his coat on some speck of a planet, or signing up with a crew of petty criminals. Still, the Doctor had always wondered what really happened to those Lost Colonists from Earth.
Review: This fic had the perfect balance of the two fandoms that at no point left me fuming over a slight to one or the other. The Doctor does not appear and fix all that is broken with them after the mess with Miranda; the crew of Serenity don't show the Doctor the error of his ways.
They come together in the type of pre-determined co-incidence that tends to happen in both shows, wind up working together on a conflict that would realistically attract the interest of both parties for different reasons, stay true to their own characters, but ultimately come together for a single purpose and goal, letting complementary skills work in tandem in order to achieve success. There is no magic "fix-it" button pushing or "mutual trust" wand waving. The characters act and react off each other, getting to where the story needs them to be in a natural progression.
The author wrote this fic with the intention that you didn't need to be familiar with both fandoms, and I think that worked well for achieving the balance crossovers need. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, despite the reservations I had going in.