Heh. It took me a few different searches as well. I *thought* it was some kind of terminal illness but the details were just out of my mind's reach, you know? Then of course I had to go all obsessed and *had to* find out.

Guess there's a little Bayliss in all of us. Sadly, I do not mean porn. Sigh.

Oh, *ouch*.

t whimper

I blame Vonnie and the Stargate people. I just finished reading The Cost of Doing Business. That is one hell of a story. Brutal and unyielding and yet it all makes sense in the end. Takes balls to do that, and again, and again.

Now I have to go crawl off and lick my wounds.

(ETA: And Dana? You never ever should read that story. Ever.)

Hee. Hee hee.

t remembers own self curling into a ball and whimpering in a corner

t stops giggling

I in turn blame Katie, who recced the fic to me way back when I first started reading SG fic. I was just learning to get attached to the team, you see? This fic killed me, in a way most dark Buffyfic never had. I was all, "Holy shit. It's frickin' brilliant. I never want to read this again." Then, "wahh! I want a hug!". Maybe I should revisit it to see if it still packs the same kind of wallop.

ETA: I remembered there was a good longish discussion on Maayan's blog about the story a year or so ago. Let me see... ahh, here it is.

I was just learning to get attached the team, you see? This fic killed me, in a way most dark Buffyfic never had.

Wrod. I think that because there are already such deep currents of darkness in the Buffyverse, dark Buffyfic (if done well) has a satisfying sense of tragedy to it, sort of like Macbeth.

Stargate, on the other hand, doesn't have that heart of darkness. Therefore, in dark SGfic, you're not just watching beloved characters in pain, you're also going through a certain loss of innocence, if that makes any sense.

Therefore, in dark SGfic, you're not just watching beloved characters in pain, you're also going through a certain loss of innocence

That's it, exactly. I always marvel at what a sunny show SG is, given the stakes. This story imagined the flip-side of it, the ideas the writers on the show might have toyed with but dared not follow through, and took them all the way to their logical, terrible conclusion. Interestingly enough, there has been some debate in the fandom as to whether Daniel as we know him would have ended up in the place where he was at the end of the story, no matter what happened. A lot of people didn't buy that he would go so dark.

I always marvel at what a sunny show SG is, given the stakes.

No kidding. Plus, it's not just the stakes. Some of the characters have deep-seated issues that would give Angel's or Wesley's a serious run for their money.

Jack is trained in Special Ops, i.e. dirty work and bare-hands killing. He lost his only child in a truly horrible way that was sorta-kinda his fault. He's shown in the course of the show that he can make some very hard, very brutal decisions. Yet, his default mode of behavior seems to be that of a slightly hyperactive 12-year-old.

Daniel not only lost his parents at an early age, he also got front-row seats at their unfortunate squooshing. Then there came the foster homes, the wild theories and eventual professional disgrace, etc. He lost his wife twice over--first as she got taken over by a Goa'uld, then as she was killed. We saw, in "Absolute Power" just how much of a bastard Daniel could be, under the right (wrong) circumstances. He died a horrible death, became an ascended being, then lost that, coming back all disoriented and with a shattered memory. Yet, when he came back, he was back to his normal deadpan snark within no time, and he and Jack resumed their whole Burns-and-Allen routine. He's got his angst, but his default mode seems to be that a contented bookworm with a lifetime pass to every library accessible through L-space.

Sam "Black Widow" Carter has lost scores of love interests in various, unpleasant ways. She comes across (to me, at least) as a classic workaholic. As a scientist and as an officer in the military, she's occupying two roles that are still often thought of as "boy's jobs." Her father is now pretty much half-alien. Her scientific goals and military goals are often in conflict. Still, I always get the feeling that she loves what she does, and is in hog-heaven since she basically has access to the best toy store/hobby shop every.

Anyhow...

Basically, what I think I'm getting at is that if a piece of SG-fic is going to create a truly dark scenario and make it work, the author needs to be aware of how he or she is going to tear apart the childlike optimism and wonder that is at the base of the show. I think the same holds true in many ways for due South fic, and will probably also hold true for Wonderfalls fic.

In a way, dark SGfic is like the inverse of schmoopy Buffyfic or Angelfic. If I'm going to write a happy, sappy fic set in the Jossverse, it will only work if there is some acknowledgement of the moral turbulence and uncertainty that runs throughout the show and its characters. I'd say the same thing would apply to X-Files and Farscape fic, but I'm not as familiar with those.

Thoughts? Comments? General mockery?

In a way, dark SGfic is like the inverse of schmoopy Buffyfic or Angelfic.

There's an interesting analogy. Metaphor? Crap, I forgot the word.

Especially if you consider the prevalence of each style in each fandom--dark SGfic is pretty huge, a large chunk of the well-written fic in the fandom. Just as fluffy Jossverse fic is a staple in its fandom. I wonder why.

I wonder why.

Part of it might be because people see the story potential in the unexplored darkness of SG1, while in the Jossverse fandoms, people love the characters and want them to catch a well-deserved break from the hardness and uncertainty of their lives.

Teal'c is "just" on a crusade against false gods, but you know that's a pretty deep issue right there.