no_takebacks | DPP: Wish List & Coping

During the last few episodes of BSG, I was scribbling down all of my thoughts and predictions as to what might happen during the finale. Then the finale happened and I needed to find a way to accept what happened and how it ALL ended. So other than crying, talking with all of you lovely peeps; I wrote a list in the middle of the night. My version of what I’m thankful for that we got to see with pilots and what I wish we had gotten to see. This list made me more functional for the work week after the finale.

What I would like to know is what did you all do to cope with finale? Did you rewrite the end; create happy pilot gifs and icons? Did you make lists? I’m really curious about those who came into fandom after the finale. Also, did anyone else have a wish list for pilots, things that we should have gotten to see?

Here is a link for a zip file of all the songs mentioned in yesterday's DPP: Megaupload

If this doesn't work or you want me to post it on another sight, just let me know.

**REMINDER: The revelations for the challenge from last week are due Sunday, May 16th.**
I was supposed to post this yesterday but I fail!:)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

kag523.livejournal.com

I started watching BSG late... I am a HUGE sci fi fan, and I didn't want to even begin until I had the complete series to watch in sequence. It took me three weeks to get through the entire thing. I was hooked by the time I got to the end of the miniseries, and I was a complete mess when I got to the end of the finale. "What the frak was that?!?" I kept thinking... "Where is my closure? Where is the explanation of all of those things I wanted. What happened to the whole Lee / Kara dynamic that was a key ingredient to the vast majority of the series?"

As a freelance writer, I find those kind of discrepancies drive me nuts. I started poking through existing fanfiction (again a first) in search of the "real" ending I was sure was out there. There were some great ones, but none that did everything I wanted. At the same time I started writing a list of what I'd do if I was Ron Moore. (God complex, I realize.) Essentially I decided that if the BSG canon was perfect AS IT WAS... could I rewrite an extended ending that explained everything? It took me about four months to get the rough draft done. I posted daily once I started doing good copy.

The finished fic is on ff.net (abridged) and here on LJ (in its smutty completeness):

http://kag523.livejournal.com/893.html

Stuff that I wanted answers for, and included:
- Where does Kara 'go' when she disappears?
- Who is "Daniel", cylon 13?
- Why did he leave the colony?
- Where did Charbuck (the body on Earth 1.0) come from?
- How could Lee see Kara explode, but still have that extra body hanging around on Earth 1.0?
- Why can't Cottle and Baltar come up with an effective cylon detector?
- Why doesn't Roslin die from the transfusion?
- Where does the whole 'it has happened before...' wheel of time concept come from? (I'm a big Robert Jordan fan... his influences are in my own writing).
- Who is Dreilide Thrace?
- How does the piano player show up?
- Why does Sam decide to fly the fleet to the sun, when any one of the computers would have been capable of the same?
- How would the colonials plan for survival on an unknown planet?
- What would life be like mere years after the ships disappeared?

It was a cathartic and fabulous experience... and it also totally hooked me on writing fanfiction. (I'm in the middle of my first pre-series AU right now.)

If you haven't read it, you are more than welcome to check it out! :>)

From:

rdave1.livejournal.com

I love that you have a list of questions. If I look for my scribbles, I'm sure there is a long list there as well. I think in ragey post, post finale, I raised many questions that I had.

Watching the entire show in 3 weeks is I'm sure a lot different then watching it live. We had time to wallow in it all during the long hiatuses, a lot more time to pick everything apart and analyze it.

I will definitely have to check out that post finale fic and the one you are working on currently as well.

From:

kag523.livejournal.com

Watching in three weeks was a weird phenomenon... much like watching a huge epic movie all at once. If you've never done that for a series, try it sometime. It's amazing! (I did the same with Rome. You have to have the kind of friends who will support the behavior so you don't get spoilers midway. My friends were great!)

After I finished the entire BSG, I turned right around and bought the complete series (with the little cylon action figure that now sits on my desk and inspires me to write my next chapters, even when I'm tired). I can empathize with the picking things apart idea. When I was rewriting the "Kara returns" scene, I kept re-watching and re-watching the 30 second clip of the hug where Lee says SOMETHING that inspires Kara to respond "Okay, okay, me too". Funny, I think I spent two hours fixated on those 30 seconds... but I love my lines even though I had to guess on Lee's. (And you'll have to read more to find out what I guessed he said :)

From:

rdave1.livejournal.com

I marathoned the Lord of Ring series. My sisters and I spent the entire Saturday in bed watching the extended versions of all 3 movies.

I don't know anyone in RL that watched BSG so my main source of spoilers and discssions were all on LJ. In a strange way, it was good talking with people who feeling the same thing I was.

From:

lyras.livejournal.com

I want to know about all these questions, too, so will definitely be checking out your fic!

From:

kag523.livejournal.com

Let me know what you think! (My writing tends to be very character heavy, and at least with the extended ending very entrenched in canon.)

From:

shah-of-blah.livejournal.com

I think it's interesting that the show's holes got you into fanfiction. I had a similar experience, just a couple of years earlier.

(Also, hello, I'm Serrafina from ff.net)

From:

kag523.livejournal.com

Hey! I KNOW you!!! That's such a weird feeling online. :>D

From:

lotus79.livejournal.com

Oh hay, I didn't know you had an LJ! :D (I am Sarah Lotus on ffn in case you couldn't tell ;)

You should post your fics to

beyond_insane and

sasa_hq, there's many members there who'd be interested, I'm sure.

I had a bit of a mixed experience - I was a latecomer so I did the three week power watch around the beginning of season 4. You're right, it's a heady experience, huh? I caught up at about "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and then had to suffer through waiting with all the rest. The wait for the second half of season 4 was unbearable, and there wasn't much for us K/L shippers in it, so I really took it hard. You might notice I have no fics based in s4... I pretty much like to pretend it went AU before Maelstrom. ;)

(p.s. - "Charbuck"? rofl!)

From:

kag523.livejournal.com

Hey - it's YOU!!! (Again, weird feeling to find someone I "know" here.) Yes, I'm new to LJ. I actually haven't done ANYTHING to my page other than post fic. It has been a toss up between multi-post every single day or figure out code and get some pictures and banners up. Posting is winning.

Strangely enough, it was your comment about "reading your smutty chapter" at work that made me rethink my fanfic page posts. I had reread and reread their acceptance rules, when I finally decided I had to post an abridged (toned down) version on ff, and then my complete writings here on LJ. So yeah, you inspired me.

K :>)

P.S. Cannot get past your banner to the "add friend" button, so I'll just say - add me if you'd like!

P.P.S. I like Charbuck too. :>D

From:

lotus79.livejournal.com

You've done better than me - my first few weeks of LJ were just memes. Not that I post very often now either - I just never seem to have the time.

If you've looked at my LJ you'll see that I haven't looked at the coding in a long while, hehe. Still got the layout from when I was writing DW stuff. One day perhaps I will sit down and try to redesign it. Or else bribe someone else to do it for me, maybe.

Aaaah... I actually peeked back at that chapter the next day and thought 'hang on, I'm sure it was a bit smuttier than that...' Now I get it! Though FF.N hasn't been actively policed in years--I think they just gave up. I don't edit my fics for FFN, but then I don't think my smut gets past a soft R anyhow. I like to understate things. ;)

Added you. :)