(no subject)

[melannen]

It has been a long time since I have binged on a new fandom, the way I was doing every few months or so for a while; the last one was DC comics. (I think that this is partly because I've run out of fandoms that are to my taste and that have enough fic for a good binge - I *have* started in on YW, aSoUE, Aubrey/Maturin, and Barrayar, and a couple manga, in the meantime, but none of them really have enough fic to hold me for more than a few evenings, not like the weeks-long benders when I was getting into HP and HL and SG and PotC and those.) Anyway, I sense that another one may be coming on. All the signs are there: searching madly for recs pages, reading all the fic I can get my hands on, having it jump into my dreams. And it's all stellar_dust's fault, because she keeps talking about how good Bones is, so now I've watched a couple episodes, and it seems to come on right before House, and I was mildly curious, and crack_van has just started House recs, and yeah, that was all it took. I think I'm sunk.

If it continues, and I haven't managed to short-circuit the process by writing this, it'll be really the first fandom I've fallen for that's not SF in any way. Er, or war/action stories, anyway. Which is unexpected, 'cause I'd have voted for a cop show hooking me first if that was gonna happen; I've never been particularly interested in medical dramas. Except MASH, of course, but that's *totally* different. (House+MASH would be the crossover of LOVE). I guess I need a particular blend of genre conflict and character action to get into a show, and most of the 'real-life' dramas fall too far on one side or the other for me. House seems to hit it about right. And of course I managed to start watching right before a hiatus. Need to find more fic recs.

Some of the SF shows are off-balance too, of course. I watch a couple eps of Star Trek:The Soap OperaThe Next Generation while making Christmas presents this afternoon, and alas, neither episode had a plot with any genre conflict at all. The first one was a cliche Gothic ghost story, with Beverly acting entirely out of character and some unneccessary technobabble tacked on to make it seem SF. The second one was about some annoying ensigns, and what it *really* made me realize is that I'm too cynical for TNG. What 'plot' there was told of a Bajoran ensign, who (after a great many gratuitous mind games by the command crew) is chosen to go on an important undercover mission. I assume that this was meant to show that you can earn success simply by being brave and true and clean and reverent and whatever. Unfortunately, the mission itself did not require a clean-limbed space cadet, all it required was an expendable Bajoran, which means the whole 'we trust you' thing was actually just an even more elaborate mind game to trick her into volunteering for the mission. Battlestations! did it better. There's a reason the only TNG fic I can read is the kind that has Q in it. What that show needed was a cynic on the regular cast. ETA: I've just figured out why House grabbed me so fast! It's because Dr. McCoy really needed a cane to whack people with. (Did he have one in TNG? I don't remember. Now I need to re-read Battlestations *and* Crossover. I hope Mom doesn't have any Christmas presents hidden under the bed with the Star Trek books.)

And speaking of Dr. McCoy! What about Bones, which started this whole rambling mess of a post? It's fascinating, is what it is. I can't figure that show ought. There ought to be major sexual tensoin between the two leads, by all laws of television. I get the impression that Angel David Boreanaz'z character also thinks that there should be sexual tension, because he keeps making half-hearted attempts at it, which then quickly peter out, for lack of any actual enthusiasm on his part, and you get the impression he's as relieved as I am that Bones herself is too dense to even notice that he's trying. So they end up staying partners with a growing friendship and a lot of automatic trust, which is better than sexual tension, which is what Mulder and Scully could have been if the PTB hasn't taken the easy way out. So every time I watch Bones, *I* get tense, keeping fearful eyes out for any sign that there is a miracle alien whalesong baby in their future. (Because the promos give the impression that the producers want there to be sexual tension. Only Angel still hasn't gotten over all his friends dying or leaving him, and anyway she reminds him too much of Kate.)