(no subject)

[solitary_summer]

I wish my brain wasn't so slow and/or complicated. I have about 3-4 half-written livejournal entries that I keep adding to but will probably never finish, because I tend to turn an argument over and over and over in my head for so long, looking at it from every possible angle until I've completely argued myself out of any opinion and come to the conclusion that since I'll never be able to conclusively prove it anyway I might just as well not post it at all. *sigh*


On a less complicated note, though...

I interpreted episodes how I saw them, filled them full of stuff that appeals to me. And I don't think they're at odds with what's on screen - I tried to fill in blanks and play in the space between the lines, make you see scenes in a different light, and do cheeky retcons that don't damage the continuity if you choose to accept them as canon. Also it meant I could cram in some innuendo and silly jokes.

(James Moran, apropos the Captain's Blog, here, in the comments.)


So it's basically fanfiction, only written by someone who's actually writing for the show? Oookay then. At least he doesn't insist it's set-in-stone canon.



Also, dilemma, as a result of my 80ies video binge on YouTube yesterday. *g* But I'm not spending money on stuff I already own, so I'll just play my old Erasure LPs until that stupid 80ies pop craving goes away again. *facepalm*

Comments

[rivier.livejournal.com]

re. the JM quote, the bit directly before that quote is also relevant, I think - "I wrote them, they got approved, then posted." So it may just be superior show-runner fanfic, but it also has a degree of legitimacy no fanfic ever has, in that it met with the approval of TPTB before being posted. In that sense, IMO it does have a degree of canon legitimacy comparable to, say, the website content - and would score more highly for me, if I was looking to grade content outside pure canon, than things like commentaries, interviews, panels etc. Though of course I would say that since the Captain's Blogs fitted nicely with the backstory I have in mind for much of the show anyway!

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

*g* Every time I argue about this I feel like I'm starting to sound like the crazier kind of HP fans that always tell JKR to shut up and not spoil their canon by giving out additional information.

I guess my problem with the Blog is that my mind is analytical rather than imaginative and doesn't immediately try to fill in blanks or think up backstories, so when I see one thing in the show and then read what to me is a rather different version of this relationship on the Blog, my brain tends to go into either/or mode, and starts to consider the possible reasons for the differences, instead of trying to find a way to make both versions fit.

And I guess what makes me prejudiced is that I still feel it's a bit of a cheap cop-out, having so much of the emotional relationship stuff off-screen, and Moran's wording ('make you see scenes in a different light', 'cheeky retcons') for me only emphasis that what he was writing in the Blog wasn't what was actually happening in the episodes.

That this got approved hopefully at least means TPTB are aware of what a good part of fandom wants, and so maybe won't try to kill Ianto again next season, but beyond that? I would feel more secure if he'd said that what he'd written was the official version/consensus, rather than just his interpretation. Strictly speaking the Blog is probably more legitimate, but if I were writing fanfic, and, e.g., had to decide between the Blog's version and something JB or GDL said (provided they were being serious and not just kidding around, obviously), I'd pick their version, because they're the ones who have to keep track of their characters throughout the season and through scripts coming from different writers that at least sometimes bring out rather different sides of the characters.

clarification...

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

... because my brain was all over the place yesterday, sorry.

'It's basically fanfiction' wasn't so much a comment on the legitimacy/canonicity (is that even a word?), but on the approach he seems to have taken, the whole retconning/filling in the blanks/different perspective thing, which is more what I expect from a fanfiction writer than from someone actually writing for the show itself.