Crossovers, fusions, and AUs in FKFicFest

[brightknightie]

We've had crossovers in fkficfest, but it wandered through my mind today that I can't seem to recall, off the top of my head, any fusions (as distinct from crossovers)* or the most typical sorts of "total"/"mundane" AUs (like, coffee shop AU, high-school AU, band AU).

In this year's game, I'll be sure to list those specifically as allowed, along with crossovers, at the "minimum 51% Forever Knight, however you choose to measure it" threshold.

(This thought is brought to you by the notion of Janette, not Guinan, running Ten-Forward on the Enterprise-D.)

* Addendum: Apologies! I'm probably mis-defining "crossover" versus "fusion," and I may well have blown it entirely on how to reference AUs! Of course the fest has enjoyed future!fic and space and pirates and many things. I should be more careful with vocabulary I don't know well! And with times my memory is clearly failing.

Comments

[thefruitbat]

Now I can totally see Janette throwing (literally) Worf out of Ten-Forward because he had too much. XD

Looking forward to this year's FkFicFest. :)

[brightknightie]

Ridiculously pedantic me: I seem to recall that Worf's beverage of choice was prune juice, rather than an intoxicant... ;-)

[senmut]

A factoid from the novels - prune juice as a Klingon drink came from the novels (John Ford, I believe was the first to use it) and it is mildly intoxicating to them.

[brightknightie]

Oh, I didn't know that. All these years, I thought Worf's on-screen line about prune juice being a warrior's drink was a meta joke about prune juice's unpleasant taste and effects on the gastrointestinal tract.

[greerwatson]

A matter of preference, clearly. I love prune juice! I do agree about its effects, though: it has to be taken in small quantities.

[thefruitbat]

Yes, I know.
But it would look just hilarious if she bodily threw him out, like he weighed nothing, and then went back to the bar and polishes a glass or something. The rest of the patrons just goes silent, eyes huge, and she just raises an eyebrow and asks: "What? Seriously, he had it coming. Told him last time, in the holodeck simulation of the wild west, that I'd do it to him if he misbehaved in my establishment. He didn't believe me."
*normal noises resume*

...I might have a weird sense of humour.

[senmut]

I treat the universe where Janette and Amanda are close as a fusion. Highlander's strangeness and vampires work pretty well together.

(Though it then amuses me because Geraint was on HL s a guest star)

[brightknightie]

Interesting! My instinct would have been to classify that scenario as a crossover rather than a fusion. But of course I don't know much about how the definitions are developing.

[senmut]

This is definitely a definition thing. I have the following rules for how I categorize:

Crossover - each universe is distinct, and the borrowed character is operating under its own rules.
Fusion - there is only one world, with a set of rules (or canon, so to speak) that applies to all characters no matter the originating universe.

But everyone in fandom has different ideas on it.

[brightknightie]

Thank you for explaining! Just from curiosity, may I ask, how do you approach the "ongoing" universes? That is, for example, can TNG/DS9 or BtVS/AtS or CSI/CSI:NY ever be crossovers, or are they always fusions?

[senmut]

I... don't see those as either. Continuing canon is a GREAT term for them, may I just say?

Take Star Trek. TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, and VOY are explicitly one universe. (Supposedly, ENT is as well, but there's some continuity issues there that make me less willing to accept it.) I would consider them all one universe, with the same rules, and continuity across the board.

One example I can think of where continuing canons might be considered as a fusion for me would be anyone writing Knot's Landing fic that referenced Bobby Ewing being alive and well, because they'd be borrowing a continuity change from their parent show that the writers of KL decided not to use.

AKA, it all gets really muddy when different execs have their hands on the branded pieces of the franchises.

[ride_4ever]

<3 the notion of Janette instead of Guinan running Ten-Forward!

[brightknightie]

I'm confident that people other than me have thought of that before! Though I can't seem to grasp specifics just now... It probably wandered into my mind today from the proximity of the '90s TV Exchange.

[lightbird]

Ooh, vampires in space!

[brightknightie]

"Immortals in space" is a popular trope in the annual HL fest. A stray thought about that led to me remembering that there have indeed been "vampires in space" stories in FK fic, including in FKFicFest! Which led to the Janette and Guinan comparison, which I presume others have made before me, though I honestly -- and apologetically! -- can't recall who or when just now.

[sholio]

I think your definition sounds like my definition of fusions vs crossovers! I've always thought of the key distinction as:

Fusion: characters from universe A have always lived in universe B (e.g. "what if Nick was a Jedi" - implying that he grew up in the Star Wars universe and hasn't ever been his canon Toronto police officer self)

Crossover: characters from universe A meet characters from universe B (e.g. "what if Duncan & co. met Han Solo and traveled on the Millennium Falcon") but both sets of characters are still their usual canon selves with their usual backstories, aside from whatever is required to get them to meet - a portal or magic or time travel or whatever.

[brightknightie]

Thanks! Yes, I've been still assuming that a crossover is the default for most "so-and-so meets so-and-so!" scenarios (as we very commonly get in canon in comics, less commonly in TV, and almost never in movies or books), with a fusion being a more foundationally transformative approach.