some stuff about television, as if I'm in fandom or something

[eruthros]

1. Okay you guys, I need HELP. Where is the Avatar: tLA fanfic? I have checked out the AO3, and the old yuletide archive, and some of the multifandom reccers I know, but I have found very little. There must be some post-series worldbuilding fic, right? Surely?

Unfortunately, all my routes to fanfic have taken me to stories that basically start off:

"After Aang decided to travel the world saving people with his Avatar powers and not appearing in this story, Zuko was sad."

Or sometimes "Zuko's life was very hard, so Katara shouldn't have been so mean to him." (As I complained to chagrined, I keep finding fanfic that takes a Draco in leather pants approach.)

Or sometimes, "She and Aang were meant to be together, Katara thought as she sighed wistfully."

And I'm not saying I wouldn't read those stories, but I'd like them to also care about the world, and the characters who aren't Zuko or Aang, and hello Toph is also on the show, guys. Srsly, I will take any genre! Gen, slash, het, post-series, pre-series, world-building, Toph rebuilds Earth kingdom villages, the future of the Western Air Temple, anything, so long as it respects the world and the characters and doesn't put Zuko in leather pants. (Well, unless it actually puts Zuko in leather pants, which I would probably be all for.)

2. I watched the Man from UNCLE episode that guest stars Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner the other day, and let me just say: n'awwww. It's a first season episode (The Project Strigas Affair), so it predates Star Trek and is in black and white and is totally about pulling a giant con and they barely encounter each other in the course of the episode but it still made me go "awww." (Especially because I am pro giant cons and Ilya undercover in awesome moustaches.) Anyway, if you're in a nostalgic mood (and are willing to put up with some really heavy-handed eastern European stereotypes) it's pretty amusing. William Shatner plays the innocent young chemical engineer turned exterminator! Leonard Nimoy smokes cigarettes with a holder and does expansive arm gestures!

3. I'm kind of weirded out by the fact that basically all the tv I'm looking forward to is on a summer-airing schedule --Mad Men, White Collar, Leverage, Psych as long as someone prescreens the episodes for embarrassment squick -- and that none of it includes spaceships. I mean, there are three whole cop/con comedy-dramas on that list, geez. Could I get just a little spaceship?

Anyway, if you've been watching a neat speculative fiction tv show, or are looking forward to a new one, I'd love a rec. Especially if it includes women and characters of color and queer people who also have cool powers/are on the spaceship/do neat things/aren't the backup, the love interest, or the funny neighbor. I'm told that I have to start watching Fringe, among other things.

Comments

[chagrined]

lol, now I kind of wish I knew enough (aka anything beyond our conversations, haha) about the fandom to write you Zuko-actually-in-leather-pants fic. XD XD

[gloss]

I know pearl_o just posted a post-series A:tLA fic that people liked. I don't have a link handy, sorry about that.

edit: here! I have not read (I just don't care about Zuko), but it was highly recced

edit again! Striking Balance; I found this while I was researching my Yuletide recipient last year and it's a lot of fun.

[eruthros]

Awesome! I am mostly interested in Zuko in a post-war rebuilding sort of way, so that sounds right up my alley. Thanks!

[gloss]

Also! There is avatar_minis, which is a low wordcount, low stress ongoing challenge comm.

[glass_icarus]

I WANT MORE A:TLA FIC TOO! *g* I do have some linked (including a list in one of the comments) under my a:tla tag; don't know if you've seen them already, though.

.. and whoops, just realized the list I'm thinking of was linked on one of the LJ versions. /o\

[eruthros]

Yaaay! *opens in new tab*

[wilhelminabenedict]

mekosuchinae writes A:tLA fic. (Second link is general fanfic tag.) She's very much a 'shipper, but I think she does a really good job at characterization.

[eruthros]

Thank you!

[torachan]

It's a huge fandom (23,254 fics on ff.n), so it didn't qualify for Yuletide except maybe at the very beginning.

I am vaguely interested in fic, but not enough to go searching on my own, so I have no recs.

[eruthros]

*g* yeah, that's part of the problem -- there's a lot of fic, so it's not like it's a tiny fandom where I could read the first paragraph of everything. And I'm not opposed to reading on ff.n, but I find it really hard to search there -- like, 23,254 stories? And I can only search by broad genre? Not happening!

[wychwood]

Have you tried delicious? I find that searching for appropriate tags in the "popular" section is a pretty good way of winnowing out the better stories. I don't know how well it would work for a mostly-FFN fandom - because it's obviously dependent on readers using delicious, and that may be more an LJ-fandom thing - but it could be worth a look, anyway.

[sineala]

Oh man, I clearly need to watch MfU sometime. (I read the fanfiction, but I always forget which one the blond is. You'd think this wouldn't be a problem, the way people write, but still.)

If you watched nu!BSG (or probably even if you didn't) the second half of Caprica S1 is probably starting up over the summer, I would think. It has a lot of the weird pacing and plotting problems BSG did, but it has a lot of women and and characters of color (many of the Taurons are played by Latino actors) and queer people. Also poly people. My favorite is baby!Bill Adama's uncle the gay Tauron gangster.

[eruthros]

Ha, yeah, Ilya's the blond one, but he wears undercover wigs sometimes :) I haven't watched MUNCLE episodes with any consistency or in any particular order, but the ones I've seen have been fun!

[monanotlisa]

Could I get just a little spaceship?

...the TARDIS? I mean, it's little on the outside! ;)

[eruthros]

That's true! I am watching Doctor Who :)

[forestgreen]

If no one has done it, I would totally recommend The Vampire Diaries. All female characters are awesome and Bonnie, which is my favorite character by far (even if she isn't the main one) is a PoC, a witch and absolutely fucking perfect plus hot as hell.

The females characters in this show are to die for. The TV series is so much, much better than the book, so don't judge it by the book (if you've read it). Here is a primer to the show with the basic plot, which I know sounds very cliche, but is so absolutely well executed. This is currently my favorite show on TV and it took me completely by surprise.

[cobweb_diamond]

Well, Charlie Jade aired a couple of years ago but if you need something to watch, that is my recommendation. It's a canadian/south african cyberpunk detective show about alternate realities, and is very interesting. you should wiki it, but beware spoilers. all the actors in it are brilliant! and it has an excellent villain.

[darkrose]

Most ATLA fic seems to be shippy. Me personally, I'd find it a hard fandom to write in because there aren't many holes and I don't have a burning need to go in and fix anything. I was even happy with the ending.

[livrelibre]

*averts eyes from AtLA spoilers* Fringe is pretty cool (though Astrid especially and Broyles are fairly underused).

[watersword]

Oh, man, that episode of MUNCLE is delightful. *thinks fondly of Leonard Nimoy's Russian acent and cigarette holder* I will always be grateful to shayheyred for introducing it to me!

[ryca]

So I've been dorkily compulsive lately, and had made a spreadsheet of all of the shows that are:
somehow on my dvr or
shows that I like and want to watch or
shows that are new and seem like they might be interesting to watch.

So, I put it in a google doc and then added comments, about whether or not it fit the criteria that you mentioned. Hopefully it'll help!!!