Daily Pilots Post: Hey, I Know You!

[ecstaticdance.livejournal.com]

I know you've done it.  Seen a couple in a movie or TV show or read them in a book and said, "HEY!  THAT'S LEE/KARA!"  It makes sense, in a lot of ways.  As mlsky pointed out a few weeks back over in sci_fi_shipper's Write and Gripe community, the two of them are archetypal.

With Tara, we discussed movies that you wish would be made for Katee and Jamie to act in, or could see Katee and Jamie cast in, because the parts scream for their chemistry and/or remind us so much of Kara and Lee.  I expect there will be some overlap here, but I want to hear about book (or play or other works of literature) characters that remind you of Pilots.  Maybe, for whatever reason, they'll never end up on a screen, or the casting wouldn't work if it did, but these characters scream Lee and Kara for you.

Examples:

Eve and Rourk from J.D. Robb's In Death series.  She's a feisty, broken, beautiful woman with a badly cut, dirty blond hair and hazel eyes.  He's a suave, sophisticated, wealthy, dark haired man with his own troubled past and a set of piercing blue eyes.  His accent holds a hint of Ireland, but the chemistry between them comes closer to the climate of Equador.  And they both know about kicking ass, then taking names.  I could go on, but I think you get the point.  They're Kara and Lee in NYC in 2050.  I may be off by a bit on the year.

Kat and Gail/Peeta from Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series.  This one isn't quite as obvious, but it's close.  Kat resembles Kara in so many ways it's difficult to count, and I maintain that both Gail and Peeta have different aspects of Lee's personality.  Peeta is the idealist and Gail is the fierce hunter.  These kids are younger, and I think less broken that Kara and Lee were, but looking at them through that lens makes for an interesting study in what might have been when Pilots were younger.

Matrim Cauthon and Tuon (The Daughter of The Nine Moons) from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (which is being completed posthumously by Brandon Sanderson, using notes and outlines RJ made before his death, for those who were curious).  This is easily the most abstracted comparison example I'm going to use.  She's a petite, dark-skinned princess and he's a brash gambler and reluctant, if highly successful, general.  But when you dig down, you see it.  They're drawn to each other from the moment they meet.  In this case, prophesy actually throws them together and sees them married, but there's a constant push and pull and vying for dominance between them that reminds me of the dance our beloved Pilots shared.  She's aloof and critical and cold and fierce (and a shockingly good fighter), but her smiles transform her.  He's crass and irreverent, macho and insane and luckier than any one person has any business being.  Anyone else would have died pulling the stunts he pulls.  Last I saw, though, circumstances had drawn them apart again, despite their marriage.  And without even a goodbye kiss.  They aren't the main pairing in the series, but they're the one I like best.

So, where have YOU seen reincarnations of our pilots?

Comments

[ecstaticdance.livejournal.com]

Soooo with you on the three women and all the fawning that happens. Ick. I mean, different cultures, different traditions, open mind, etc. But... The starry-eyed fawning. That's what I can't get past.

Anyways!

(and this is completely off topic, but I'd love to know... Have you read the whole series? Is it worth it? Since I read so many of these books I always thought that I'd try to finish the series if the ending was an acceptable one).

The series isn't done yet. Book 12 came out last fall, 13 is planned for this fall, and 14 is scheduled for the fall after that (so 2011). I have read through book 12, and I really think that the writing is better than it had been for the last 4 or 5 books. I think there was more editing happening, the story was tighter and there was less repetition going on. I'm going to finish it, because I'm curious to see how certain threads are wrapped up. Do I recommend it? Right now, I'd say yes, if you can get through the way Rand's harem treats/reacts to him. Matt's story line is interesting, Egwene's is fascinating and awesome (she even gets righteously angry when a bunch of people save her in this last book, and is shutting a few people out, including the guy she's head-over-heels about, because they seriously betrayed her trust -- YAY! A female character actually THINKING about what she's going to do about a relationship instead of just falling into it! It's refreshing in this book, I tell you.)

Okay, long-winded way to say... Overall I don't think that it really is worth putting all that time into right now if you're going to be reading the whole series from the beginning. It isn't something I'd recommend to people. Maybe, maybe if there's a really fabulous payoff in the end, but I'm not sure I'm feeling it right now. There are just a lot of cliches and... Ugh. But if you're familiar with/remember most of the plot and want to find out what happens, I think it's worth the effort to find a synopsis of books 10 and 11 to get you caught up and then read 12. Because like I said, 12 is a lot better written than the last few were.

ETA: WOW! Confusing, stream-of-consciousness post, much there Jen? Okay. Sorry. The actual answer is the last paragraph before this. A conditional Yes. I reserve the right to revise this statement if that last two books are fabulous.

[nazkey.livejournal.com]

I'm waiting for Brandon to be done. I personally thought it was a huge fail to get our hopes up saying that the final book would be released late last year and then do an about-face and say, hey, remember what we said? We lied. It's way too much material and it's now going to be 3 installments and won't be all out until 2011. I figure I've waited what? 15 years? I'll wait another and start reading the whole thing from beginning to end once it's all done.

PS Matt's my fav too, btw.

[ecstaticdance.livejournal.com]

I guess I was never putting much faith into the whole "done in book 12" thing anyways. Even before Jordan's death. It was intended to be a 13 book series, and I guess I always thought that some of the choices Jordan was making would force it to be longer anyways. The idea of finish it with book 12 had to do with Jordan trying to force the story out before he died, which didn't happen. And like I said above, I think the quality of book 12 was much higher than at least 10 and 11, if not even a couple before those. I'd rather see the story done justice and told more slowly than forced into a single half season book. (Yes, there are spill-over issues from the ending of BSG at play here. I do not deny that.)

[cosetteferaud.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for all the useful info, Jen! I am glad to hear that the writing gets better, because when I gave up –as told you, I read through “Path of Daggers” --, I though Jordan was losing it –there were so many useless storylines and characters, the pace was so slow, and all that awful clichés! (that man had no clue about writing women, that’s for sure. Arggh!). Yeah, I definitely developed some WoT fatigue (that, and the fact that I couldn’t stand all the Rand/harem thing --OMG, so many female interesting characters wasted!).

But truth is I spent so many hours reading those books, I am really curious to know what happens in the end… So I think I may give it a chance --I’ll skip books 10 and 11 as you suggested and read 12 (what you told me about Egwene stirred my interest, btw, I used to like her as a character).

(and don't worry about stream-of-consciousness comments, I love them! --and I as you have probably noticed, I am kinda wordy as well ;)).