I. Miscellanea1. Feedback, PlzOh. Wow. Thanks for the feedback… right away. I
really hadn’t expected that. I didn’t want you to drop whatever you were doing and review right away, you know – just so long as it’s within a couple days of posting, that’s okay, really! I mean, gee, I never said “ASAP” or anything like that.
And EEZ, my reviewing your fics is a leetle different from your reviewing mine, and here’s why:
a. I read
everything new, unless I know it’s trashy beforehand (and even then, I still read sometimes). I believe I’ve made comments to this effect before. You, on the other hand… well, I don’t know whether you always read my stuff or not. So there’s that.
b. I enjoy just about
anything that’s well-written –
all your fics included. (Oh wait, barring the M-rated Zurgarakish fics, but that’s it.) With you and Steel, I
never know whether you’re going to like something or not. Most of the time, I just assume
not right away, and prepare myself for disagreement. If you actually
enjoy something I write, not only is it a pleasant surprise, but I go up to Cloud 9! I don’t really expect positive feedback from either of you at all – but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still try to work for it. And if I – with all my wildly different and radical concepts – can write something that you actually
enjoy, I
know I’ve got something good.
c. Believe it or not, the feedback that I get actually
determines, to an extent, what I write – and the 100 Challenge has become a sounding board for me. I toss out a lot of my apparently radical ideas in these one-shots, and I use the feedback I get to determine what does and doesn’t work. If somebody says something with which I completely disagree and won’t back down on, then I go to work at figuring out how to validate what I’m doing.
For Good is developing all the time, and a sizeable part of that development comes from the
feedback I get.
That being said, I
do have a review in the works for
And They Said It Couldn’t Be Done – I even
said I would do it, so I will. I just need time. You have some constructive criticism coming your way, and I expect you to take it like a good big girl.
Ironically, you might be afraid of my reaction to whatever criticism you send my way, but did you know that I feel the exact same way vice versa?
Besides, like I said – the feedback
I get determines what I write. As far as I’ve been able tell, the same is
not true of you, so why really bother telling you if I don’t care for something? I very much doubt you’d alter it.
And as far as BotE goes, I can give it to you in a minute!
1. WHAT HAPPENS TO ZETA NOOOW??
2. The guy that turned off the gate or whatever was Zurg, wasn’t he.
3. WHAT WAS ZURG DOING THERE??
…Aaand that was honestly it. Can’t think of anything to really say about your 100 challenge. Good grief, woman, what
else am I supposed to say?? xDDD
2. Half-blood KidsI’ve mentioned before that I’ve always thought Warp is half-human, half-Tangean –
always. A human having a child with a humanoid has been something like an established reality at the back of my mind for as long as I can remember.
Let me say just this right now and get it over with: you guys might as well get used to people with mixed genetics, ‘cause it’s not going away. I’m not trying to be pushy here – I mean, I can’t hold a gun to you or anything. But I think it’s only fair to let you know that I won’t back down on this one.
Anyway, Buzz and Warp wouldn’t be the only “half-bloods.” The next most important would be the still-secretive OC Zomega, half-human/half-Zetan – and most of the other mixed-gene characters are cadets. …Ohhh boy, you guys will probably hit the roof when you find out about Cadet Cloud Reisha.
Within reason, I believe that a human having a child with a humanoid is entirely possible.
I’ll get to the science of it in a minute.
3. Oh no, not this again…Look, guys, I understand that, in the show, evolution is apparently a reality. I get that, okay?
However.
I
cannot believe that evolution could ever be
remotely possible in real life, and I absolutely
refuse to write it as reality in
anything that I write, be it original or fanfic.
I cannot and will not back down on this one.
Frankly, I’m a little surprised that you guys brought it up in the first place – I thought we’d gone through this several months ago. I
hate it that we have to go through it again, because now that it’s come up, it’s only going to cause trouble. It’s not something I can ignore.
Remember when Ckret2 said this?:
Speaking of which, if Skyfire wants, couldn't she easily say that in her interpretation of BLoSC universe, everything was intelligently designed by a higher power, thus neutralizing all arguments that anything she comes up with is evolutionarily implausible? Who cares if such-and-such is impractical from an evolutionary perspective?She was
right. If a six-day Creation, rather than evolution, is the reality in my story, why bother dragging evolution into an argument against something I’ve written? It doesn’t strengthen your point – it
weakens it. Now, EEZ made a comeback when she brought up the blood thing because it was neutral territory, but even then, it’s not actually
proof that humans and humanoids
can’t have children together. If you’re going to argue with me about the possibility of half-human/half-alien kids, you’re going to have to do it from a
creationist perspective, because any
evolutionist point you make will be moot. It won’t matter, because it won’t have anything to do with my story.
Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m gonna say, “forget reality,” and mate a human with a Raenok. Craters, I don’t think that you can even
do that, and you sure as day can’t get a kid from it.
However.
Tangeans (both Royals and Grounders), Zetans (my own humanoid race), Derriyans (made-up name for the green gal on Warp’s moon), and Lorreans (made-up name for the pink gal dancing with Brainpod 57) all have
extremely human builds. “Derriyans” and “Lorreans” have different-sized and shaped ears, Grounders have elongated bald skulls and no noses, Royals and “Zetans” have different eye color, Royals have pointed ears – but take away those attributes (none of which are
horrifically different), and you’re only left with skin color.
Now. Royals can ghost, Grounders can mind-pulse, both can telecommunicate, “Zetans” can shoot with their eyes – but I don’t think any of these special abilities would make their DNA incompatible with human DNA. I don’t know – NO one really does. I was talking this over with someone else, who said that, in the end, we just can’t know, period.
But here’s the thing: these five humanoid races are veeery similar to the human race.
Not only that, but in a
created (no evolution) universe, who’s to say that these five races can’t have the same blood (to a degree) that humans do? …Never mind, EEZ will probably come up with
something. But at any rate, those blood incompatibility problems are only
possibilities – the vast majority of babies are born more or less healthy. That doesn’t mean that the problems
won’t happen, but the chances aren’t actually
large.
And honestly, do chimps
really have the
exact same reproductive system humans do? Not something I’m exactly
arguing, mind you – it’s a honest question.
Now let’s get down to the bare basics: the sperm cell and the egg cell. The sperm cell is programmed to seek out the egg cell and unite with it – this is basic anatomy, here, and it’s something I remember well. (Why? Quite literally, because I love babies. ^^) Okay, so the sperm cell tries to unite with the egg cell. If both cells are human, naturally, the egg cell is going to accept the sperm cell – that’s what the egg is programmed to do.
But what happens if, say, the sperm cell is “Zetan” (whose DNA I still claim to be veeery similar) and the egg cell is human?
It really all boils down to this:
Will the egg reject or accept the sperm?I don’t know. I do
think that the answer is
yes, but the truth is, we really can’t know for sure. The programming of both cells is certainly still there – a coded-female egg cell is still programmed to unite with a coded-male sperm cell, which is why I think
yes.
Now, if the human egg cell really
does accept the “Zetan” sperm cell and unites with it… well, right there, you have a baby. Then the baby’s cells start dividing, and dividing, and dividing, until finally, you have something visible to the human eye. The baby continues to grow into a recognizably humanoid form – along the way, certain parts of the father and certain parts of the mother (as in any child) mixing to form a completely unique person. In my universe (also, I believe, in real life),
God predetermines what aspects, physical and mental, of his parents a child will have. Therefore, you have no random chance to make a mess out of the baby’s mixed DNA – you have God guiding the development all the way through.
The DNA is a truly incredible thing. Its programming and its computer-like functions in their fullness are still beyond our comprehension. The deeper we dig, the more complex this microscopic chain gets – in the end, it’s probably more complex than our most complex supercomputers could ever
hope to be. (In fact, the very existence of DNA is one of the reasons why I can’t believe evolution to be remotely possible, but enough of that.) And in the end, we just can’t know for sure.
And here’s some food for thought, just to toss this idea out there. Let’s say that, of all the humanoid races, actual
humans have the simplest DNA structure (‘cause we get nothing cooooool~! =P). Let’s compare the DNA to a computer program now, and of all the computer programs of this type, the human programming is the simplest. Okay. Now you’ve got the two Tangean races, the “Zetans,” the “Derriyans,” and the “Lorreans” – all of which have these little extra bits and pieces to their DNA, or little extra features to their computer programs. You can open up a .doc file that was created with MS Word 95 with MS Word 2000, ’03, or even MS Word 7. Do you see what I’m getting at?
Maybe it might not be possible for a
human woman to have a “half-blood” child, but it
should be possible for a Tangean Royal (Mira) to have a child with a human (Buzz). Actually, even if Buzz is half-human/half-alien himself, his DNA is probably more human than alien, so it still shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that your DNA is more your mother’s than your father’s – I’ll have to check into that.
Anyway, the logic is actually
there, and we can’t really know for sure, so I go with the idea. You can continue to argue with it, but I wouldn’t advise it – it’ll just be a waste of your time, and frustration for all concerned. Just let it go at this, okay?
¿Por favor?II. The Story Itself1. To CherryAww, that’s too bad that you don’t care for Buzz and Zurg being on good terms. But it’s really neat that, in spite of that, you still thought it was cute! ;D
And you’re probably right about putting too much thought into this. But then again, I take my story very seriously. ^^
2. It’s LOVE, not ROMANCEOh, c’mon, guys – there’s a difference!
Steel, there’s not any “love advice” being given here. Zurg isn’t asking for any, and Buzz isn’t giving any. No kidding, Buzz isn’t the best person to go to for that! But on the other hand, when he talks with Booster in “Plasma Monster,” he does
start out right – the problem comes when he lets his bitterness at his ex-fiancé get in the way. Even when he talks to Gravitina at the end of “Opposites Attract,” he might sound a little corny, yeah, but overall, it’s not actually all that bad. Buzz can pull through if he needs to and if he keeps focused on what he should be saying.
Anyway, back to the story… romance is touched on, yes, but it’s more the impact that love – just
love – has on their lives.
EEZ, maybe it
is kind of a weird topic for them. But:
a. The idea for this was born out of reading a different fic and begged to be written! Who was I to deny it life?
b. Buzz himself soon asks Zurg, “What’s up with this? You’re not acting like yourself?” Because, yes, he knows it’s weird. And as for Zurg… well, I’m not exactly sure what’s wrong with him. But he’s not… being normal here!
c. He was brooding, anyway, and I guess his inhibition was looser than normal (hence Buzz saying, “You’ve half been acting as if you were drunk…). And he just blurted out what he was thinking about.
They weren’t talking about past stuff, per se, because that just wasn’t what the fic was about. That didn’t “occur to me,” as it were.
3. Canon vs. FanonWell, if you’ve read my feedback responses on “100. Miracle,” then you should have a pretty fair idea of my thoughts on this, at least in regards to my own work.
EEZ, please be careful how you say things! That sounded a bit “holier-than-thou,” and I don’t think you meant it to come out that way! It makes it sound like you’re careful and the rest of us are just plain careless and don’t really give a care about canon, which, of course, is absolutely untrue. Careful, careful,
mi amada*~!
I know that a lot of people think that BotE is the most canonical big!fic ever, but the truth is, I don’t think so. And that’s not even a bad thing! (But, pfft! I’m
always the odd one out.
) I think that you actually take quite a lot of creative liberty with the story, in regards to Zurg, Warp, the GA, Star Command, Sector 51, etc. I’m
not criticizing you, please understand this – please don’t get defensive! (‘Cause I know that
I’m not the only gal around here with that tendency.
) I think that it’s important to recognize that, when you see people do certain things with their fanfics, chances are, you’re doing it, too.
I
know all the pros and cons (or most of them, anyway) that FG has, all the little nuances and tropes and such. Mary Sue (gah, I HATE that stereotype!), AU, Heroes Want Red Heads, OTP, Girls Like Bad Boys, Word of God, Disney Death, Luke I Am Your Father, Promoted Fanboy (inverted), maybe Wangst… lotsa stuff. It might be enlightening sometime to surf TV Tropes and see what tropes fit into BotE – I know that FG has many more tropes than what I listed, but those were the ones I could recall off the top of my head. You can really get a different and much more balanced perspective on your work.
At any rate, I
do appreciate, EEZ, your taking into consideration that it’s my story and you can’t know everything that’s in my head. *hugs*
4. Da VoicesActually, I almost
never hear the characters’ voices in my head, whether I’m reading or writing, so… Zurg, sometimes; Commander, sometimes; XR, fairly often; Booster, sometimes… But on the whole, I don’t often hear their voices, no matter
what I read. Actually, I think it’s only in SLWatson’s fics that I really hear their voices, so what does that tell you? …I don’t know – I don’t even know what it tells me! xDDD
5. Buzz’s Characterization“Now we come to it.” – Miraz,
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (film)
Let’s start out by placing this fic properly in the timeline. When Zurg studies Buzz – well, that paragraph makes Buzz 45 years old. If you do just a little bit of searching here and there, you’ll figure out that I place Buzz’s age at 38 in TAB. So,
seven years have passed since the formation of Team Lightyear. (We could do it like the Star Wars community and say 7 ATAB. ^^ ATAB: After The Adventure Begins; BTAB: Before The Adventure Begins.)
So, we have 7 years since TAB, probably 5 years since the end of the series – that’s a
lot of time for things to change, and I’ll come back to that in a minute. But think about this: if this happens that far into the future, there might have been stuff in-between this story and the end of the series that you’re not aware of. And really? A
lot happened.
Let me say this: I
can’t write Buzz totally IC, and I’m fully aware of that. I’m not afraid or even ashamed to say that. Even admitted it in an author’s note on
Breakaway: “though I’ll admit, I think I
do tend to write him maybe a little more mature and levelheaded than is strictly canon.” I
always have – several
years before I knew that fanfiction even
existed!
I can do the occasional corniness, dorky-ness, denseness, etc., but those aspects don’t make it into my characterization as often as they do in the real McCoy. Well, okay, I take back a piece of that: he still gets corny fairly often. xD The way that I write Buzz… he tends to still be corny, overconfident, impulsive, insensitive, stubborn, etc., but he’s also mature, more levelheaded than he is in the show – and occasionally sensitive, serious
and young-hearted, career-focused but still enjoys life, tough, caring, etc. I guess my point is that I don’t
change his characterization so much as I kind of
mature it.
Canon!Buzz is a cartoon – thus, not an entirely realistic person.
I try to write Buzz as a real person.
6. Character DevelopmentThe thing that I crave more than anything else is good characterization. I live and breathe that stuff in the fandom! It’s my passion, my obsession! So you can bet that when I write a character a certain way, doing a certain thing, I know what I’m doing, I have a good reason for it! (10 to 1, anyway. xD)
The beginning of FG in the first few chapters of
Breakaway is pretty serious, so by default,
Buzz has to be more serious. I mean, people
die. And a girl receives life-threatening injuries.
Once the dust starts settling down, Buzz falls back into his normal self.
But it’s important to note that, while Erin’s arrival into the future is just
one piece in the puzzle, it’s also the piece that started the whole puzzle in the first place IRL. What I mean is this: when I started writing FG, it was half a way to finish the series and half a story about a fangirl from our time who gets pulled into the future. Over the past year and a half, it’s changed dramatically, and Erin is no longer such a big focus. But while she’s no longer the focal character, that doesn’t mean that she isn’t an important part. She’s a catalyst. Without her, certain things wouldn’t happen, or at least, wouldn’t happen maybe as smoothly.
And remember who
adopts her. Buzz.
He can’t have a girl be legally his sister for 17 months without being affected by the relationship. Even in the show, Buzz’s relationships affect who he is. And in FG, he spends less time with Erin than he does with his team, but at the same time, he has a different obligation to her. The team are his best friends, his coworkers/subordinates, and his “ohana” – but Erin directly becomes his immediate family, and he feels an obligation to regard her as such. In the beginning, it’s his duty and protective instinct that draw him to the vulnerable young woman.
And we know Buzz. When he does something, he puts his heart and soul into it!
As time goes on, he spends time with his new sister “doing stuff”
and in training. He teaches her how to drive, how to fly, how to swim (she’s hydrophobic) – helps her build up her body so she can enter the Academy when summer ends. Their relationship gets strained on account of the training – neither are the easiest people in the galaxy to work with. But at the same time, their friendship has also grown into a very geniune sibling love.
Here’s the thing: Buzz shows just enough potential in the show that we can realize, “Hey, this guy could have family and be good at it if he tried.” The way he handles kids, the way he interacts with Zoey in “Lone Wolf” and Mira in many episodes… it adds up. He could be a good big brother. He could be a good husband; he could be a good dad.
Drawing that potential out, though –
that’s where things get tricky. You’ve got to have a foundation that builds up over time.
And despite the fact that I’ve written stuff that takes place in the future of FG, I
still have that foundation and build-up. It’s there in
Breakaway; it’s there in the old
Watermark. Even in the early days, I knew what I was doing, and I knew how I was doing it.
So Buzz and Erin grow close. Interesting thing is, Erin is actually bunking with
Mira, and most times Buzz and Erin do something together, he has to drive over to Mira’s apartment. Buzz’s and Mira’s
personal lives overlap now, so
their relationship also develops. (It’s
not a
lightbulb! I love you! kind of deal.)
Anyway, you don’t get that close to a person without changing, even if it’s only slightly. Knowing the Commander affects Buzz. Knowing Warp, before and after Warp’s “death,” affects Buzz. Knowing Zurg affects Buzz. Knowing Mira, Booster, and XR affects Buzz. Knowing
Erin affects Buzz, and knowing her as his
sister really affects Buzz.
He
has to be sensitive,
has to be understanding, etc., or it’s not going to work out, and he knows that. When he first meets Erin, he meets a kid. She’s not done growing up yet, and over the next year or so, he finishes raising her. He has to be both her brother
and her dad. He doesn’t always do the best job of it, but hey, he’s not perfect, y’know?
(And just so you don’t think that Erin is changing Buzz and unrealistically remains the same – argh, her characterization in “100. Miracle” was so bad it just makes me mad now! –
she changes, too. Not just growing up, but… growing stronger. By nature, Erin is intense and passionate and even obsessive, just like Buzz. But without the
fortitude to back those qualities up, she can’t get very far with them. Buzz becomes her hero and her role model, and she learns from
him to be strong.)
I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives
For a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those
Who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return…
…So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You’ll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart…Anyway, so right there, you have Buzz developing as a person. His innate, buried potential is drawn out. By the time his 17 months of being Erin’s legal guardian are up, it would probably be safer to discuss deeper subjects with him, though he’d still likely feel initially awkward.
But he’s also pretty solemn in this fic, and, overall, just sounds
older. We’ll get to that in the next section.
7. All That Has Gone On BeforeObviously, I can’t tell you that, because that would ruin the fun of reading the actual story. But there are at least 4 years between the end of his guardianship of Erin and this fic. And
boy, does stuff happen. The prologue for
Breakaway ends with a foretelling: “The galaxy will need their strength in the days to come. You can’t even see the faint, dark outline of the approaching storm – but it
is coming.”
There really
is a war coming, and it’s probably not at all what you might think it would be. By the time this fic takes place, though, the war has just ended, two or three months earlier.
And it’s
big. “The galaxy had been turned upside-down and given a good shaking”… actually, that’s probably an understatement. It’s hard and fast, and in the end, people have changed. It’s like the soldiers who went through WWI, the soldiers and the prisoners who went through WWII. You couldn’t walk away from those experiences unscathed and unchanged. Neither can the canon characters.
Zurg… well, I can’t really tell you what happens on
his side of the fence, ‘cause that’s spoilers till kingdom come. Not to mention, I haven’t worked out
all the details yet. But he faces things that slowly work at him, even to the point where he helps Buzz escape captivity and works with (not
for, but
with) the Space Rangers.
Buzz… I think that Buzz and Mira are married before the war starts… I’ll have to play with my timeline a little more before I can say for sure. But anyway… Buzz and Mira lose their first child in stillbirth due to a ship crash. Buzz sees a lot of people die, including his fellow Rangers – even friends. Buzz is captured and remains POW for several months. …Do you see just how hard it would be for Buzz to remain the same? A
lot happens to him. He
can’t realistically go back to being who he was when Team Lightyear was formed or even just before the war – that’s not the way life works. “The boyish look was gone, and in its place were slightly more angular features, a harder look. The crystalline blue eyes appeared much older than their forty-five years…” The changes aren’t just physical. Buzz can’t walk away from all that unscathed and unchanged.
Mira changes.
Warp changes.
Booster changes.
XR changes.
Erin changes. The Commander… not so much. But he lets his Rangers work with Zurg, so he has to have changed just a little. ^^
This war leaves marks and scars on these people, and they
can’t go back to the way life used to be.
If I were to have written Buzz more “normal” here, it would have been completely unrealistic.
8. A Conclusion? Finally?I knew what I was doing when I chose the title
For Good for my series. “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.” That’s the main theme of the series: people changing for the better because of the people they know. Buzz, Warp, Zurg, Mira, Booster, XR, Erin… they all grow and develop, because they know each other.
I guess it’s only fair to finally explain that my characterization of Buzz is based off of three sources: canon itself, SLWatson’s fics & characterization, and Calvin Wong’s fics & characterization. Ever since I started reading BLoSC fanfiction, I’ve believed that SLWatson’s Buzz is the closest to canon. And while Calvin Wong’s Buzz isn’t strictly canon, he does have a wonderful, realistic grasp on the character. I may question some ethics, but other than that, I love that characterization.
And what you love influences you, and you can’t help what you love, you know?
Maybe Buzz was still a bit too mature in this fic, but given everything that I know (and now, you know, too!) has happened to him, I don’t really think so. Could I work at his voice some more? Eh, probably, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
It doesn’t help that I don’t get much chance to watch the show anymore, and there’s not really much I can do about that, for reasons that will remain private. I have an excellent cinematic memory, and I have to rely on that. (Excellent, as in, I only have to watch a show 20-120 minutes
twice to be able to recite most of the script, line for line – and I’ve
been able to do that since I was little. That’s pretty good, guys – I don’t think many people can do that.)
And, Steel, despite the fact that Zurg didn’t totally click for you, I
am encouraged by the fact that you still thought he was at least somewhat IC. If you can figure out what was wrong, let me know~! (But if you can’t, don’t hurt yourself trying, okay?
)
EEZ, I really appreciate the characterization offer, and if I think I need the help, I won’t hesitate to ask! (I did once, don’t forget~! ^^) For now, though, this is still highly experimental. As much as I talk about certain things like they’re set in stone, they aren’t unless I actually
say they are (like Creation and “half-bloods”). I know well from the past that my stories change
constantly, and I’ve written many future drafts, only to discard them because something else develops. The reason I posted
this future fic is because I believe it’s safe to say it’s fairly stable, and won’t change drastically as the story continues to develop.
So! All that being said, it was still good for me to get your thoughts on all this.
¡Muchas gracias!But *gulp*! That’s my second strike! If I get leveled with criticism a
third time in a row… *eyes dart nervously* Farewell, cruel world~!
…Maybe I should have posted “73. Light” AFTER this. You guys could tell me what you think about that one (no rush, just so long as you do, eventually
), and that way, I don’t strike out! *bawls* I DON’ WANNA STRIKE OUT!!!
…Yeah, I’m hyper. You knew that. xD