Some Fannish Ponderings...

[athersgeo]

Point the first: No, I'm not dead or have otherwise abandoned the 'net (or even gone off to reinvent myself somewhere else)
Point the second: I appear to be in the process of thoroughly gaining myself another fandom. Like I needed one of those. At least this time I can blame my brother. If he hadn't objected to the steady Discovery/History Channel/News/Sports diet (with the occasional Midsommer Murders, Taggart and Antiques Roadshow thrown in when relevant) I would never have started watching actual programmes again - and I certainly wouldn't have ended up here. *nods* Yep. This is definitely All His Fault.


So. CSI. Up until May, I'd seen two episodes (when staying at other people's houses for CBB related things) and I'd thought one of those (I'll come on to THAT in a moment) was the most ludicrous thing I'd ever seen. Then May happened and the bother insisted that we watch "normal television programmes like anyone else" and he found us an episode of Numb3rs to watch which was followed up by an episode of CSI. Given my past experience with the show, I nearly went off to do something else but was, frankly, too tired to move. So I watched it and spent most of the episode going "This is actually better than I remember, but BOY am I confused" (for anyone who knows CSI, the episode concerned was 'Mea Culpa' from the middle of season 5 which was SO not a good point to jump in!). After that it sort of became routine to catch an episode or two from time to time and then somewhere along the line it got to be a nightly thing...and yeah.

Through the wonders of repeats (honestly, throw a stone on the TV guide and you can find an episode of CSI!) and some boxsets, I've now seen pretty much the whole of CSI up to and including the end of season six. I've also seen bits of seasons seven and eight and quite a chunk of season nine, too, which is not bad going for only watching the show four and a half months! Naturally, I've accumulated a few thoughts on the show - some of which relate to what I've seen, some of which relate to what other people have said - which I'm going to put down in point form.

I guess the big thing is: WHAT THE HECK DO THE WRITERS HAVE AGAINST NICK STOKES?! I mean, granted, the stories they've got out of picking on him are (on the whole) some of the better episodes, but, really...I mean: Held at gun point, accused of murder, stalked (and tossed through a second floor window), swimming with a dead guy and buried alive, not to mention the back story. I don't think, at least to the end of season six, any other character's been beaten on (metaphorically speaking) quite so much. And the really fun part is that if you then dive into fandom, looking for stories about him, they almost invariably continue the theme!

One of the things I really like about the show is the sense of continuity - which is one reason why I did a huge "WTF?!" when one of the directors (in commentary) mentioned that he hated doing it and wanted to ignore past stuff. The mind boggles.

That said, there are one or two continuity issues which have me head-scratching. In "Fight Night" (s3) Nick is making a point to Grissom that he doesn't get to work solo despite having seniority over Warrick and Sara. It's a point that he reiterates in "Let the Seller Beware" (also s3) [nb possibly made here first and FN's the reiteration - I don't [yet] have the episode list memorised!]...which seems to ignore at least one episode from s2 (Anatomy of a Lye). Meanwhile, in the fandom, the s4 episode "Coming of Rage" is listed as his first solo case. Can't quite wrap my head around that one.

Speaking of "Let the Seller Beware", far be it for me to object to shirtless!Nick, but am I the only person who thinks there are better ways of checking a pool for a body than getting someone to dive in?

I don't know whether it's having sat through "Rendezvous" multiple times or what, but the more I see of Warrick the less I like him. That's not to say I hate the character, I think I just don't find him terribly interesting.

As much as I love the episode "Gum Drops" (s6), I do have to admit to a basic curiosity about what the episode would have been like with Grissom taking the lead on the case, partly because I just cannot see Grissom having the same conviction Cassie was alive that Nick has, which either means Grissom would have been wildly OOC or (assuming Nick was always intended to play some part in the episode) he and Nick were clashing over it - which would have been interesting to see.

It's particularly interesting to go back and see some of the earlier episodes (s1, especially) and see how far the characters have come - Brass is the one who arguably changed the most, which I think is just as well because s1 Brass is largely a cardboard-cutout-cop.

Some of the s1 costume choices, though... *giggles*

And MORE on s1: I caught "Boom" last night. I had seen it before, and it's definitely a better episode than I remember it being, but I'm puzzled: Why did no-one take Nick's statement? You'd think that's something that would have happened regardless. In fact there's actually quite a bit missing from the 'B' story which, considering how big the 'B' plot was, is a little disappointing. Can't help but think the 'A' and 'B' plots could have done with being switched. Would have given the episode a little more punch.

Come to think, the same applies to a s6 episode too. In "Daddy's Little Girl" the 'B' plot is the last installment of the "Grave Danger" arc, in that it wraps up Kelly Gordon's fate. (This, ironically enough, was the second CSI episode I ever saw - fortunately, the first episode I ever saw was the second half of "Grave Danger" so I did at least have a fighting chance of following it!) Meanwhile the 'A' plot featured a really twisted family group and a murderous cable guy. Guess which plot's actually the more interesting - and WAS the more interesting even when I didn't really understand a huge amount!

I'm amused by some of the early-fandom takes on Sara's background. To me, at least, it struck me as painfully obvious she'd come from some sort of bad domestic situation (s1's "Sex, Lies and Larvae", for example), which was eventually confirmed in s5 ("Nesting Dolls"). Yet the number of fanfics that pre-date s5 that give her a happy and loving childhood is mind boggling. Were these people watching the same show?! (NB not to say the stories are badly written; in general terms, they're not - which makes it all the stranger!)

Speaking of "are they watching the same show as me?", anyone who thought Sara was going to fall for anyone other than Grissom. Granted, I can fully understand why people don't necessarily think that relationship is a good idea, but that's where the writers were always going to go - assuming they went the romance route at all.

And speaking of GSR, just how bad does Sara's self-esteem have to be that she keeps coming back to the guy who keeps turning her down? I think I'd have moved on after the direct "No" in s3's "Playing With Fire"...

Going back to "Grave Danger", seeing the second half in splendid isolation, I really did think the whole premise was the stupidest thing I've ever encountered - and I still do! However, having now watched both halves, even as silly as I think the plot is, I have to admit that I do really enjoy them. Of course, it does rather take the tension out, knowing that everything works out in the end...

And that said, CSI really does seem to have a thing for people being buried alive. "Grave Danger" is (I think) the third such story over the first six seasons (two of them in s5!). Given how many more obscure ways to die they've managed, that does strike me as a little repetitive. (Of course, out of those three stories, only one of them was a fatality; the other two get rescued, so maybe it's not quite as bad as all that...)

And I'll leave my thoughts there for now - pretty sure I have more observations, but the boss has found me some work to do so I need to wrap up this post!

Comments

[carolynp.livejournal.com]

Oh how I wish I could remember episode titles! :D

Have you written anything in this fandom yet? (I don't actually read a lot of fanfic, but if you were to post it on lj since I know CSI i'd be interested.)

Oh, and have you come across CSI Miami and CSI New York?

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

*grins*

I have a flypaper memory for the completely useless. Thus episode titles stick; how to code a website in a particular way doesn't...

I do also watch both Miami and New York - though I find Miami a little...trying. I really don't go a great deal on David Caruso's style of delivery and the cast just strike me as improbably gorgeous (even by Hollywood standards!). Do quite like New York, though - I just haven't seen quite as much of it as I have the original series.

As for fanfic *grins sheepishly* yes; I've begun a story which I'm posting over on fanfiction.net - so far, I've only got the prologue up, but the first full chapter's going up tomorrow and with a little luck, the rest of the story should go up over the next six/eight weeks. I don't know if I'm going to be posting it here on LJ, but I can give you the link to the ff.net story if you would like it?

[carolynp.livejournal.com]

Yes please.

I really must get into browsxing ff-net.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Browse with caution for there is MUCH that is cruddy and whatnot on the site *grin*

My author page is here:
http://www.fanfiction.net/~thefink

The story itself is here:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5337164/1/Red_Rain

[strandedinaber.livejournal.com]

Depending on who you like to read for CSI (New York in particular) if you go to my favourite fanfics page on ff.net, I have a LOT of fanfics favourited there (and one written about NY's Lindsay). I'm beautifulworld there and have about 140 favourite fanfics, at least 50/60 of which are from the CSI franchise.

Author page is here - just click on the final box to get to my faves. They are Danny/Lindsay, Calleigh and Sara focused, but often if you follow the authors you can find other pairings if you prefer:

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1020191/

[carolynp.livejournal.com]

Thanks, will have a look over the weekend.

Have always steered clear unless following a linked rec as I have heard there is a lot of dross, but am looking to widen what I read a bit.

[strandedinaber.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there is a lot of dross out there. But you learn to tell from the summary what's going to be good or what's going to be bad. I only favourite fanfics and authors I really love and are very well written (also, when an author writes a lot, I just favourite them and not the story, so it might be worth going through my fave authors as well). If you tell me what you're looking for (i.e. what pairings/which show) I can probably recommend a few authors.

[carolynp.livejournal.com]

My current fave TV show is Criminal Minds, and am eagerly awaiting the release of series 4 dvd, although since we have just finished watching it on tv I don't expect it too soon. Could be interesting to see what people have made of that.

Then on a different tack I'd also be interested in any ER fic, esp with Carter.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Ooh; I shall take a look a little later as well - thank you :)