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

Hell, yeah. Plus the whole family thing. I can't believe I left him out of my analysis.

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

Way ahead of you.

t goes off to reread (again) the one where Jack and Daniel have the sex with the dog tags

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.

My work here is done.

I read that story when I was still in the process of seeing all of Stargate and before I had the TiVo, so there was a lot of recording going on. I happened to have "Tangent" on one of my tapes - that's basically Stargate Does Apollo 13, little peril, little angst, happy ending. Went home and watched the end of the episode five times trying to convince myself that it didn't really happen that way in canon.

Didn't help.

I'm over it now, but it took... a while. Permanently changed my view of Daniel, too. Actually, come to think of it, Maayan and I are talking about the characterization in that story right now in Tripoli's LJ.

goes off to reread (again) the one where Jack and Daniel have the sex with the dog

WHAT?

tags>

Oh. That's okay then.

Excellent analysis, Anne. Daniel, in particular, you would think should be as off-his-rocker as John Crichton or Wesley by now, 'cause he's been through so much. But that's not the Stargate way. I am alternately frustrated and charmed by this aspect of the show.

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.

Yeah, I agree with you there. There is A LOT of exaggerated hurt/comfort in SG fanfic, but it mostly ends up well, and... schmoopy. I wouldn't call those darkfic at all. Come to think of it, I *don't* think true darkfic, in which the characters have their spirits broken and remain that way, is that common in the fandom.

The comparison to Due South is interesting. Speranza, in her review of last year's Vividcon, mentioned how the dark-n-tormented fic/vids are incompatible with her view of the DS-verse, no matter how well done they may be. I kind of get that--I mean, I love the kind of fic in which the team is together and happy and ends up saving the day. (Provided the schmoop is a very low-key.) But occasionally, I get a craving for "there but for the grace of God" scenarios like the one Tripoli devised.

Fluff is the norm in Buffy fic? Huh. I wouldn't have thought so, but then, I mostly avoid fluff.

Edited because "frustraged" is not a word. But it totally could be! Like, combination of "frustrated" and "enraged".

As I post and run to class, does Stargate have what's called smarm? It was most common in Sentinel, as far as I know, and it was used to described a story that was supposedly gen, but in which the comfort part of h/c often included a whole lot of physical contact, up to and including kissing.

As I post and run to class, does Stargate have what's called smarm? It was most common in Sentinel, as far as I know, and it was used to described a story that was supposedly gen, but in which the comfort part of h/c often included a whole lot of physical contact, up to and including kissing.

Er, some. Not up to the kind of "well, yeah, we're cuddling naked in bed, but no sex here!" thing I've heard used to describe some Sentinel smarm, at least not in my experience, but yeah, there's SG h/c out there that clearly wants to be slash but doesn't have the, er, balls.

Though that can sometimes also have more of a Daddy Jack Taking Care Of Poor Ickle Danny vibe than a sex vibe.

Oh, is that what smarm is? I thought it just meant hurt/comfort.

Daddy Jack Taking Care Of Poor Ickle Danny vibe than a sex vibe.

Ew.

Fluff is the norm in Buffy fic? Huh. I wouldn't have thought so, but then, I mostly avoid fluff.

There's a lot of it, but I wouldn't say it's the norm.

The only constant any of my number running has found is that B/S, in terms of sheer quantity, kicks the ass of all other pairings to the curb. (At least in terms of active archives, all types of fic allowed, open sub policy.)

Oh, and that good gen is hard to find. Which isn't really a fault of the gen writers, as the source text is too consumed with the whole issue of romance to really lend itself to good gen.

Ew.

There's one spectacularly unfortunate series out there that features Daniel actually de-aged to... nine, I think? The problem was that I read the whole damn thing, because the author kept almost pointing out exactly how fucked-up the whole situation was, and then veering off into "isn't it cute!" So I spent all this time thinking "she's building to it... she's building to it... crap, she's not! She thinks this is adorable! ...I feel dirty now."

Come to think of it, I *don't* think true darkfic, in which the characters have their spirits broken and remain that way, is that common in the fandom.

I tend to agree with this. I think of darkfic as fic that ends in a way where things aren't going to get better, and where the (surviving) characters are left bitter, hopeless, and/or psychologically damaged in some irreversable way.

For example, Kat Allison's "The End of the Road" (due South) was painful as hell, but it left me with the feeling that there was some sort of hope for both characters. Even though it was sad, the hug at the airport also left me with a good feeling of closure for both of the characters. Bittersweet is not the same as dark.