SGA question

[eretria]

Random question that's been bugging me for months now:

Why is there hardly any post Allies fic?

Last year, the post Siege II fics almost tripped over themselves, and this year? Barely anything. Or have I just not found them?
And if there really is as little of it as I have found, and it's not just me looking in the wrong places, then why? Why is there such a lack? It was the cliffhanger of doom, after all. I'd have expected the writers to go bonkers over the possibilities.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Help me, flist, you're my only hope.

Keeping this unlocked, so, feel free to educate me.

Comments

[amezri.livejournal.com]

That is a very good question... I have over 50 post-Siege fics tagged, but only six post-Allies. Theyre here (http://del.icio.us/amezri/[e]-Allies) if you want to have a look, but you've probably read them.

I hope it's not because people don't care that Rodney is in actual danger...

[eretria.livejournal.com]

I hope it's not because people don't care that Rodney is in actual danger...

As I said below, I seriously doubt that. Rodney is much-loved in fandom, so not caring whether or not he dies? Doubtful, Watson, doubtful.
There are so damn many options for this to go - apart from the actual rescue (which is a given), but with Rodney's knowledge, especially about Atlantis and Ancient technology in Wraith hands? Crikey.
Plus, we don't seriously think that they haven't shared the location of Earth with other Wraith, now do we? So, a whole new problem - how to stop the news from spreading? The Wraith aren't stupid, after all.

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

Drive by posting, so I'm not sure if I'll make any sense. Oh, btw, when The Siege II aired I wasn't in the fandom, so I don't know how fast the post Siege fic popped up.

I think people were more disgruntled with the cliffhanger of the second season because there had to be a whole lot of stupidity going on for the plot to work. Plus, the options seem limited. The most obvious: McKay, Ronon (+ Sheppard who probably managed to hitch a ride) sabotage the hive ship.

The Siege ending was...more hopeless? Maybe there was a feeling of Gottafixthisnow, while with Allies you don't have any urges to basically write a variation of the plot of the show. All you have to do is wait.

Or maybe the flood of post Siege fics is the cause of the lack of Allies fic. Big disaster, rescue, h/c, desperation leads to first time sex etc. A case of it's been done before?

Mind if I link to this?

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Link away.

But if you wanted to be disgruntled with a cliffhanger, you might as well be disgruntled with the S1 cliffhanger. We do know that our heroes always get out alive, TPTP wouldn't actually kill any of them off, so, why the need for post-ep fic for Siege II, then? (Okay, this might be a superflous question, because I wrote Two Siege II fics myself)

I found, in many ways, Allies even more hopeless, because - hello, Earth in danger, not just Atlantis, and that's a whole new wasp-nest to poke into. There could have been so much dark, dark, dark fic, and also, rescue fics, and fics from the POV of those left behind on Atlantis, who have to live with their mistakes which made them lose three of the most valuable members of the expedition.

I didn't really consider Allies to be that criminally stupid, because the situation was fucked either way, and what else could they have done with Michael threatening to disclose them to the otehr Wraith? Yes, allowing Rodney to go on the Hive-ship was not the smartest of moves. But, take the computer - they thought they had it firewalled. Okay, so obviously not enough, but that's a mistake that's human, and not simply stupid.

Plus, the options seem limited.

Well, there weren't all that many outcomes for Siege II, either, were there? Either he's dead or he's not.

A case of it's been done before?

You know, if that were really the case, then there could be no more new fic written, because everything has been done before, one way or the other. :o) It's what the writer does with an old theme that brings the spice. So, I ask you: Where is the spice in post-Allies?

[munchkinofdoom.livejournal.com]

Had a bit of a search around, and boy, is it hard to find a list sorted by episode first! They're all sorted by pairing, which makes things hard if the story is het or, shock!, gen. *g*

The first one I've listed is on ellex42's spoiler list, the second isn't.

And, like you, I can't explain why there isn't more Allies fic out there. I hope it isn't because it is Rodney in danger - but, arguing on the lines of popularity, then Ronon in danger should have produced fic in its own right, considering the impact the character has had since his introduction. He may not be as popular as John, but he does seem to be up there. So why there aren't more fans trying to save him is definitely interesting.


Dulce et decorum est (http://kajikia.livejournal.com/1092.html) - McKay/Ronon. death story.

Touching the Sun (http://ts5000.livejournal.com/37043.html#cutid1) - gen. No warnings. I betaed this, just telling you... *g*

ellex42's Allies spoiler fic list (http://ellex42.livejournal.com/37741.html)

[eretria.livejournal.com]

I hope it isn't because it is Rodney in danger

I seriously doubt that. It's not like Rodney is hated in fandom. If anything, the idea of what Rodney under torture or under some mind-altering drugs or under a serious prodding from the Queen could have told the Wraith should be frightening enough to produce fic, even if Sheppard does save them all. Even with Rodney alive, but with his knowledge in Wraith hands? Oh, boy. That's one hell of a problem.

or, shock!, gen. *g*

*narrows eyes at you* Missy. Don't mock the gen.

*drops by*

[shusu.livejournal.com]

It's possible that Your Cowboy Days are Over (http://samdonne.livejournal.com/26869.html) is post-Allies. I'm not 100% sure. White Lies (http://solvent90.livejournal.com/4741.html) posted earlier in the month. Otherwise I have one during-Allies fic, They are Wraith (http://shusu.livejournal.com/763089.html).

Having not-found much more than that, I think it's because Siege 2 put every individual character in peril, while really it's only (heh) Earth in peril here. The Wraith can't feed on Ronon, the Queen wants Rodney alive, and we were distracted by the synchronized elbows when John explained the hiveship blindspot. Unless the Ori show up and make mad love not war, there aren't a lot of places that cliffhanger can go.

Re: *drops by*

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links. (Although, aiiiii, it had Ronon!sex. Ronon does NOT have sex. That's just ... aiiiii. No. No. Ronon is a monk, he's the little brother, he's a ritual virgin, he's asexual, something, anything, but he does not have sex. *covers eyes*)

Okay, yes, I get you about the peril argument, but, really ... There weren't that many ways Siege II could go, either. It was either John making it or not making it. Either they defeat the Wraith or they don't, and them not making it seemed far less likely with the show renewed for a second season.

Re: *drops by*

[onehauntedhill.livejournal.com]

cowboy days is post-allies fic, i think. everything that happens is because john is captured by the queen when he rescues rodney and ronon, and because of the deal with the wraith, and it's got the whole michael thing in it too. it's all about the end of s2.

maybe people don't write more allies stories because they already know the writers will make it all better five seconds into the premire, like after siege? cowboy days will be au after july.

/re-lurks

[enname.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

Maybe it is related to the way that people are still dealing with season two itself? I mean it is only in the last few months that I have seen a flood of season two writing and most of that has been about the earlier/middle part and not the later episodes. I can't think of many stories that goes beyond Grace Under Pressure. Sure there are one or two, but certainly not the plethora that abound for season one or early season two. The majority are still around The Hive. Even Coup D'Etat with the ever popular Genii has barely been breached and as for Michael? Zip. Or Inferno and the Tower, which are talked about in meta constantly but not really written about.

Are authors afraid (not meaning anyone in particular) to broach the characters and what might be their weaknesses? There are a lot of classic stories dealing with their personality issues when there is not so much at stake, but people seem to be shying away from the darker story lines or more 'human' decisions. I mean, how do you write Carson? Or even to write the Wraith as something to interact with on more than 'space vampire!' level. The uncertainty doesn't seem to be about cliff hanger potential, but character direction and stuff. Weird, because I look and go 'goldfield!' before reminding myself that I can't write.

Good question and one that I shall go ponder some more.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

I heart you and your shiny brain, because - yes. Yes, yes, and, oh, that, there? Yes, too.

(Though there are quite a few Inferno-fics. Which are (all) about the conduit-flirting. :o) )

[munchkinofdoom.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of classic stories dealing with their personality issues when there is not so much at stake, but people seem to be shying away from the darker story lines or more 'human' decisions.

Now that is a very good point, and reminds me of some of the meta that came out after Critical Mass. I started out in a fandom which was based on a very grey show - Blake's 7 - and find the questions of morality/expediancy in a time of conflict fascinating, and do not expect the characters in my shows to be only slightly flawed. I am much more fascinated if those flaws are great, gaping fissures. I want to see them wrestle with the bigger questions. I want to see them fail. I was fascinated by the decisions Weir etc made in Critical Mass, even if the writers may not, themselves, have been fulling aware of what they were doing. But the fact that Weir could send Ronon off to torture Kavanaugh is interesting. My only complaint is that the subject was not later touched upon, the consequences not dealt with - not that the situation occured.

Perhaps Allies is just too much conflict/failure/drama for most writers to feel they can tackle. Perhaps they can, but perhaps they don't think so. It is just sad that they haven't, to this date, tried.

Inferno

[shusu.livejournal.com]

Speaking for myself, my Inferno fic is taking way too long to complete. It's comedy and it's harder to dissect comedy -- if people are working from memory or scripts, they're missing or reinterpreting all the non-verbal cues.

found!

[shusu.livejournal.com]

My short, short Wraithy recs (http://shusu.livejournal.com/736504.html), including the Milkshake fic. That to me sums up SGA's morality. XD

[quiller77.livejournal.com]

Oh right, SGA. How did the season end?

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Oh, Christ.

Don't tell me I never sent you that DVD?

[bruinsfan.livejournal.com]

My experience with fandom is that a LOT of people are bemoaning the bad decision-making (if not outright idiocy) that resulted in the season finale. Perhaps the relative dearth of post-Allies fanfic has to do with writers not wanting to get into the mindset of the characters sans whatever common sense they would normally possess? I can see if someone's reaction to a storyline is "oh, COME ON—Ray Charles could have spotted this train wreck coming!" they might not regard that as the ideal jumping off point to use for new fic.

[nightspring.livejournal.com]

Totally agree with this. The characterizations in Michael and Allies were so badly conceived and executed, they feel out of character to me. Until and unless the third season gives me a handle on how to reconcile the stuff the characters did in those two epys to what I think of as being in character for them, I'm not touching those two epys with a hundred-feet pole.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

No, no. Self-pimping is good and encouraged.
This goes straight on the reading list. Gen!

[liresius.livejournal.com]

Funnily, I wrote something that was post Allies. I hesitate to call it a fic since it doesn't have any plot or narrative structure in the traditionally expected sense (yet). It centres more on a damaged rodney and his condition after rescue (by John! Of course) so it's more social in the sense of how the Atlanteans deal with him and it does deal a little with Carson's thoughts on the ethical dilemmas of S2. I haven't posted it as it's long and unfinished and I'm too busy now to do it. Oddly, it's the ONLY fic I've ever written. A first time thing.

[stungunbilly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
Yes, inquiring minds are boggled.

drive-by comment

[rike-tikki-tavi.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's been said before but from the McShep point of view, in Siege II we had "So long, Rodney" and that last wonderful shot of Rodney watching the jumper-blip moving towards the hive and there were so many ways to explore the fallout from that (established relationship, first time, relieved andthentheyhadsex, angry andthentheyhadsex...)

The end of Allies seems to lack this because non of our intrepid heroes know exactly what kind of shit the others are in.

Plus, there's Supernatural, which seems to have eaten a substantial part of SGA fandom.

self-rec

[serabut.livejournal.com]

At the risk of looking absolutely shameless, I wrote a fic that could be considered post-Allies: Debriefing (gen) (http://serabut.livejournal.com/201202.html)

Teyla-centric rather than Rodney, and well... hope this meets your criteria. :)

Re: self-rec

[eretria.livejournal.com]

God, no, as I said before, self-pimping is highly encouraged. This goes on the reading list as well, thank you. I scanned the first section and was already quietly impressed with your Teyla. This looks very promising. Plus: Gen! Oh, how I love me good gen.