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Jan. 7th, 2006 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graculusBack at work since Tuesday, hence the relative quiet here in comparison to the past couple of weeks...
Woken by the postie this morning at 7am (bloody typical that this should happen on a non-work day!) with yet another copy of The Amulet of Samarkand for me. Regular readers of this journal will recall that I bought a copy which fell apart because of bad binding and I'd complained to the company. In this case, I'd complained by email and then when I got no response, I'd written a stroppy letter to them as well. I already received one replacement copy before Christmas, but neither have had the promised return postage so I could send the faulty one back - apparently the left hand at Random House does not know what the right hand is doing. ;)
So, the faulty one will shortly be going back to Amazon for a refund, since Random House don't seem to want it, and if anyone on my friends list wants my spare copy, please let me know!
Meanwhile, in other news, I may be opening up a can of worms by opining in this way but it's been on my mind most of the week. Namely, the poor quality of the submissions in the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
muncle Secret Santa thing (in my opinion, naturally, which may not be shared by anyone else reading this) as opposed to the submissions in the equivalents organised on lupin_snape and merry_smutmas.
Even taking into account Sturgeon's Law and the respective size of the fandoms, I was disappointed by the majority of the entries, with characterisation (again, for me) being a major sore point. I can only hope that the promised dvd issues this year will increase the number of people who've actually seen episodes of the show before they put pen to paper or pixels to screen, as the case may be, because frankly how Napoleon and Illya are being asked to behave in the vast majority of recent fic needs some closer reference to canon.
Woken by the postie this morning at 7am (bloody typical that this should happen on a non-work day!) with yet another copy of The Amulet of Samarkand for me. Regular readers of this journal will recall that I bought a copy which fell apart because of bad binding and I'd complained to the company. In this case, I'd complained by email and then when I got no response, I'd written a stroppy letter to them as well. I already received one replacement copy before Christmas, but neither have had the promised return postage so I could send the faulty one back - apparently the left hand at Random House does not know what the right hand is doing. ;)
So, the faulty one will shortly be going back to Amazon for a refund, since Random House don't seem to want it, and if anyone on my friends list wants my spare copy, please let me know!
Meanwhile, in other news, I may be opening up a can of worms by opining in this way but it's been on my mind most of the week. Namely, the poor quality of the submissions in the
muncle Secret Santa thing (in my opinion, naturally, which may not be shared by anyone else reading this) as opposed to the submissions in the equivalents organised on lupin_snape and merry_smutmas. Even taking into account Sturgeon's Law and the respective size of the fandoms, I was disappointed by the majority of the entries, with characterisation (again, for me) being a major sore point. I can only hope that the promised dvd issues this year will increase the number of people who've actually seen episodes of the show before they put pen to paper or pixels to screen, as the case may be, because frankly how Napoleon and Illya are being asked to behave in the vast majority of recent fic needs some closer reference to canon.
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Date: 2006-01-08 04:07 pm (UTC)So with you on this one. I'm mystefied at the characterisations I see. NS doesn't seem to get too much stick, although I generally find him 3 steps removed from the man I see on the screen. I'm not sure where this swaggering, hairy chested, macho Napoleon comes from but I supposed you could see it if you squinted. But Illya... Why do people turn him into a snivelling, pathetic, creature with no confidence, effeminate habits and waiflike thinness? This proves to me they've never seen the show, or don't care about canon.
Yes there is room for interpretation but the interpretation should be based on canon facts. Please show me where IK snivels and cries aside from the one time where is gassed. Please show me examples of the no confidence in his skills... I've only seen the opposite. Please explain the waif like thinness. He was slim in season 1 but not waiflike. The rest of the time he was a deliciously sturdy young man. Please show me the whinging, submissive Illya who is terrified of his own shadow and cries at the drop of a hat. You can't show him, because he doesn't exist.
but frankly I'm not so convinced many of the people writing MLP!Illya give a damn about the show, and that vexes me.
I know. I love the show in all its quirky camp and tongue in cheekness. Its a fun universe and it saddens me that so many people want to turn it into Len Deighton, or Love Story. If that's what you want, please go do it. Just don't call it Man From Uncle, because you know what? It isn't.