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brightknightie) wrote2023-01-09 09:16 pm
brightknightie) wrote2023-01-09 09:16 pm
Snowflake Challenge 2023 #4: Add something to canon
"Add something to your fandom’s canon."
Only "add," not change, fix, override, or redirect, hmmm? Three ideas:
How about we add an episode to Highlander, late season one or early season two, after TPTB know Alexandra Vandernoot is leaving and before Tessa dies, in which Tessa rescues Duncan in a practical, mortal, real-world way, a la how Methos gets Kalas picked up by the police, perhaps in professional or social or governmental surroundings, and -- here's my real prize -- we learn Tessa's "origin story," with solid info on her family and upbringing, maybe even flashbacks.
Given that TPTB know they'll never have to sustain any of this for continuity, given her impending departure, it could have been anything, the creators' or actress's head-canon, thoughtful history references to '60s and '70s France...
Or let's add a whole second season to the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) -- no, Galactica 1980 doesn't count; be serious -- in which the fleet actually fully outpace the robot Cylons we know, and begin encountering instead, say, the scattered, cut-off remnants of the original biological Cylon civilization, strung out along the path toward distant Earth. Some of them could be allies; some will be enemies; some will know what happened in their own culture's history; others won't.
Athena will lean fully into becoming a civilian teacher, and the story can thus spend more time on the civilians in the fleet. Apollo and Sheba can tentatively start a romance, but Apollo isn't ready, still mourning Sernia (it hasn't even been one year since she died!), and that's a through-line plot; Sheba needs to either wait or look elsewhere. Rigel and Omega each get episodes focused on them. Aurora becomes recurring. So does Chameleon (Starbuck's father). We have an episode in which Boxy asks to start going by Troy in public, but in the sweet tag he's okay with Adama and Apollo still calling him Boxey.
In Dungeons & Dragons (1980s cartoon), let's canonize the speculation that Teri is the party's intended cleric and her necklace is or represents a weapon of power from the Dragon's Graveyard, and give her a return episode or flashback explaining this. Or just let it happen without her, as the necklace is in Bobby's possession.
Alternatively... we could never have had this in canon in '80s kids TV, but, golly, we all want to know so much more about our gang's home lives. All we know is that Diana's dad is an astronomer and she feels fondly toward him and Eric's dad is rich and he feels conflicted toward him. We don't even know for sure whether any of them have other siblings, or "intact" homes, or what! That is not enough. So perhaps we could have episodes for each of the rest, similar to Diana's star turn in "Child of the Stargazer," that drop hints about their parents and backgrounds? We could subtly canonize my personal head-canon that our gang is a perfect '80s after-school-special "diversity" demographic set of Catholic (siblings Sheila and Bobby), Jewish (Presto), and assorted Protestant (Diana, Hank, and Eric). (Yes, Eric very well could be Jewish instead of or as well as Presto, but that's problematic and the rules of '80s kids TV are that nothing is ever problematic except on A Very Special Episode. The Parents' Television Council already unjustly despised this wonderful show as it was. So fanfic yes, literal canon addition no.)
Only "add," not change, fix, override, or redirect, hmmm? Three ideas:
How about we add an episode to Highlander, late season one or early season two, after TPTB know Alexandra Vandernoot is leaving and before Tessa dies, in which Tessa rescues Duncan in a practical, mortal, real-world way, a la how Methos gets Kalas picked up by the police, perhaps in professional or social or governmental surroundings, and -- here's my real prize -- we learn Tessa's "origin story," with solid info on her family and upbringing, maybe even flashbacks.
Given that TPTB know they'll never have to sustain any of this for continuity, given her impending departure, it could have been anything, the creators' or actress's head-canon, thoughtful history references to '60s and '70s France...
Or let's add a whole second season to the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) -- no, Galactica 1980 doesn't count; be serious -- in which the fleet actually fully outpace the robot Cylons we know, and begin encountering instead, say, the scattered, cut-off remnants of the original biological Cylon civilization, strung out along the path toward distant Earth. Some of them could be allies; some will be enemies; some will know what happened in their own culture's history; others won't.
Athena will lean fully into becoming a civilian teacher, and the story can thus spend more time on the civilians in the fleet. Apollo and Sheba can tentatively start a romance, but Apollo isn't ready, still mourning Sernia (it hasn't even been one year since she died!), and that's a through-line plot; Sheba needs to either wait or look elsewhere. Rigel and Omega each get episodes focused on them. Aurora becomes recurring. So does Chameleon (Starbuck's father). We have an episode in which Boxy asks to start going by Troy in public, but in the sweet tag he's okay with Adama and Apollo still calling him Boxey.
In Dungeons & Dragons (1980s cartoon), let's canonize the speculation that Teri is the party's intended cleric and her necklace is or represents a weapon of power from the Dragon's Graveyard, and give her a return episode or flashback explaining this. Or just let it happen without her, as the necklace is in Bobby's possession.
Alternatively... we could never have had this in canon in '80s kids TV, but, golly, we all want to know so much more about our gang's home lives. All we know is that Diana's dad is an astronomer and she feels fondly toward him and Eric's dad is rich and he feels conflicted toward him. We don't even know for sure whether any of them have other siblings, or "intact" homes, or what! That is not enough. So perhaps we could have episodes for each of the rest, similar to Diana's star turn in "Child of the Stargazer," that drop hints about their parents and backgrounds? We could subtly canonize my personal head-canon that our gang is a perfect '80s after-school-special "diversity" demographic set of Catholic (siblings Sheila and Bobby), Jewish (Presto), and assorted Protestant (Diana, Hank, and Eric). (Yes, Eric very well could be Jewish instead of or as well as Presto, but that's problematic and the rules of '80s kids TV are that nothing is ever problematic except on A Very Special Episode. The Parents' Television Council already unjustly despised this wonderful show as it was. So fanfic yes, literal canon addition no.)
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I'm still working on Dungeons & Dragons -- I recently sat down and started over from the beginning.
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I do know that D&DC isn't for everyone, as much as I adore it. If you're watching it, I hope that it's repaying your time investment in entertainment! Fingers crossed. There are a few episodes later on that are quite striking, and one that totally freaked out the Parents' Television Council. They tried to get the show canceled over it (and not even for '80s D&D moral panic reasons).
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And the BSG is perfect.
I think you were why I am aware there's potentially new D&DC?
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I recently posted about the upcoming new comic-book D&DC 4-issue limited series, and the first-time-ever toys (batch #1 arriving soon-ish), but I genuinely think it's more likely that you told me about the possible new TV series than that I told you. :-) I am quietly dreading it. I am afraid that they will hurt my beloved '80s series in some way, that they will override it or not respect it or just not understand it... and the worry is that it won't be like the new BSG that I can just ignore and push away and no one gets confused, but that they will reach right in and grab it, because it is animation and they can...
I think that I'm most likely hoping that they will set a new series in the present day, with a new group of kids under Dungeon Master's tutelage, following their own path, with only the most tantalizing little references to our gang.
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Now I look forward to reading it ;-)
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Really, the only thing stopping me from writing it is my complete and utter ignorance of late-twentieth-century France. Politics, culture, religion, economy... aaaargh. I tried to look it up at one point, and learned that there were a lot of student protests of the government at relevant times in Tessa's life, but that's all I know. I don't think I've ever even seen a movie or show -- HL excepted! -- set in late-twentieth-century France.