I had no idea what MRKS meant, I wondered. I'm kinda glad I didn't ask.

Oh, don't get the wrong idea -- the MRKS people are sane and cool. Hell, a couple of them have written Fraser/Vecchio stuff. I'm pretty sure the name was a way to make a clear break from people in fandom who were, um, doing some very psychotic things.

Yes, yes, now I've frightened you all away from due South fandom. It's not like that anymore! Really!

I suddenly feel like a native person who hires out to lead foreigners through land-mine territory...

I've found the DS people to be really cool and helpful.

The irc chat I mentioned is neat. Lots of different people with different interests, some nights it's overwhelmingly RayK/Fraserly bent but most of the time it's a free for all.

Same here with the askye DS sane-finding. The IRCs are also fun!

Random fandom alert--Alexander Siddig (Dr. Bashir from DS9) is on tonight's ep of MI5.

Eeeep!!! (Pssst: Don't tell 'Suela, but Alexander Siddig is part of the reason I loved Vertical Limit. Don't get her started on the bad climbing... )

I suddenly feel like a native person who hires out to lead foreigners through land-mine territory...

"Don't touch that, it's poisonous... I'm kidding. I'm a kidder. It's fine to eat. NO WAIT, NOT THAT!!! Hahahahahaha. No, really, it's fine. You'll be fine. You tourists are so gullible..."

Siddig was also in Reign of Fire, a silly movie redeemed by abs, Star Wars ripoffs, facial hair, angst, and a cast member of Star Trek calling somebody a wanker. Pity about the logic, but it's a guilty pleasure.

Sort of sad he can't use his own real name, though. Got to be irritating.

Have watched many shows and braved many fandoms. I Just Don't Get sentinel love -- hate the show, hate the actors -- but that's my only true hate-on. Except for my exceptional (and sad, I am told) wish to wipe the smugness off the face of the guy who plays Fraser. He is all smug and smug. He needs to stop that.

Random fandom question: Is this going to be the Alias area too? Or will Natter be the location for, "Wow. I can't believe it. And Will's still pretty..." type discussions?

Still in Natter, I think.

I totally did not twig that was Alexander Siddig AT ALL until you posted that Anne. I just knew he looked familiar.

Ooh, me neither. No wonder he looked familiar.

I came into DS fandom right at the tail end of the Ray Wars - it was a weird vibe, to be sure. Pretty much every list or site seemed to spend at least the first page explaining their stance on the Rays, and absolutely no discussion of the subject was allowed. I resisted going back to see why everyone was so gunshy.

Funny - I've become a total RayK girl, but when the show was on the air I only ever saw the RayV eps - by the time the show was resurrected I didn't have a TV anymore. And I'm still bitter that, years later, TNT cancelled the reruns of the show two weeks after I found out they were even on. So though I've only ever seen three or four of the CKR eps, he's become the closest thing I have to an actor obsession. As to the slash, even in the small bits I saw it's so amazingly apparent, to me at least. (And yes, the riding off into the sunset together is the canonical ending to the series.)

But anyway, things have calmed considerably, so don't be afraid. (On the RayK side anyway - are the OneTrueRay folks still up in arms? I never saw the slash in Fraser/RayV, so I just never fell in with that group in terms of fic, and I fell so head over heels for RayK that it just didn't seem like the right corner of fandom for me. Now Ray/Ray, that's another story. They have about four minutes of screen time together, but some serious sparkage.)

I'll heartily second the recommendation of Speranza's Chicago's Most Wanted as a story that gives you a great idea of the characters and the tone of the show. It's slash, but not schmoop in any way, so even if the slash isn't your usual cuppa, it's well worth the read. I've heard probably a hundred people say that if they ever made a DS movie, this story could be the script. You know, if the movie were Fraser/RayK slash, of course. But Paul Gross seemed to be heading that direction in the show anyway, so who knows?

Another fun one - Resonant's American Way. Also mentioned before, her Adorned just breaks me every time. In the good way. Check out Polyamorous Recs for more good stuff.

But the fannish stuff aside, the show itself is really, really entertaining. Definitely worth seeking out.

Farscape I've seen once or twice, but could never manage to keep the schedule in mind to watch it regularly when I had cable. I'd love to get my hands on the DVDs to catch up, because it seems like the kind of thing I'd like.

Smallville never really grabbed me, but maybe I'll check it out again now that it's the lead-in for Angel.

It's a shame -- there's clearly more to Paul Gross than the smugness. Goodness, he wrote some of the best episodes of the series, and he has done some serious play-writing as well, plus producing and directing. FWIW, I'm told that he comes off in interviews often as a smug frat-boy, which can't be all there is to him.

(Conversely, Callum Keith Rennie is witty and self-effacing in interviews, sounds like a guy you'd really enjoy talking about art and acting and plays and movies with, regardless of what he's done in his career.)

Don't get her started on the bad climbing...

Hah! Don't think you can name-drop me like that and not experience my wrath!

You have no idea -- after that movie came out I wrote up a 17K rant about the awfulness of it, and mailed it off to a dozen friends and relations. God, it was so bad.

On to the topic at hand: I find Paul Gross to be, like Ben Browder, deceptively attractive. By which I mean he looks like a very ordinary guy, if one blessed with a symmetrical face, and you have to be watching him for a while to get how truly talented and subversive and positively twisted he really is. (And I think he's pretty hot, too...)