Let me talk to you about all my fiction feelings!

[muneca_brava]

I. Meme from penny_lane_42

Give me a text (book, TV show, movie, etc.) and I will tell you what I would have done differently if I had written it. Not little details, necessarily, but big plot or theme or characterization choices.

Please leave stuff for me to answer because I am having a not-fun day of anxiety and would like to think of something that will not lead to panic attacks. Thank you. :)

Comments

[mizzy2k.livejournal.com]

Merlin. \o/

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

Haha, oh where to start! (full disclosure: I stopped watching somewhere in S3 and only know the rest of it from Tumblr and my flist)

Mainly, I would allow the characters and relationships to evolve, and have the characters be more consistent. I would mostly keep S1 the way it is (with less crack), but I would have let Arthur find out about Merlin's magic at the end of S1 or somewhere in S2. Then the next season would be about Arthur's struggle to accept that people with magic can be good and that he could be a better king than his father.

I would have drastically changed Morgana's turn to 'evil'; I would have had Merlin confide in her about his magic, and they could have fallen out because they have different views of how to get acceptance but at the same time they'd still have a connection with eachother they can't have with anyone else.
She would still try to kill Uther, but she would also still care very much about Arthur and, mainly, about Gwen. I'd have loved to see Morgana struggle with her compassion and innate goodness versus the things she feels she has to do to make Camelot a better place and get her revenge.

On a more personal level, I would have Gwen/Arthur be nothing more than friends and let Gwen/Lancelot be the real love story. But that's just my shippy feelings coming through ;)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Well, let's go with your icon and say The Hour.

Also: hugs to you on your bad day.

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

The Hour is one of the most perfect shows I have ever seen so this probably won't be very drastic. But I'll try!

I'd cut down a bit on the different plots going on. There was the character stuff, the starting-a-news-show stuff, the revolts in Egypt AND the whole government conspiracy thing. I actually would have been perfectly happy just watching a show about a bunch of idealistic professionals trying to make a new kind of news program, so I guess maybe I'd cut the whole conspiracy. It got kind of confusing anyway.

We would then have some time to spend on more Lix Storm, more Marnie and Marnie/Bel scenes, more Hector/Freddie being grudging friends of a kind, etc. :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I knew it would be hard, because it's so well done. But I agree with your thoughts.

For an easier one, how about ASoIaF/Game of Thrones?

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

Books:
The first thing that comes to mind is that I'd put more focus on the queer narratives. ADWD was a little better with it but most of the time you need a microscope to even figure out a character is supposed to be gay. I was spoiled for lots of things before starting GoT so I knew about Loras/Renly in the show but I would NOT have figured that out on my own.

Secondly, both AFFC and ADWD have POV characters that get dozens of chapters but hardly do anything, which feels like a waste. I'd have focussed instead on characters that stay too much in the background for me, like Margaery Tyrell or any of the Sand Snakes. Or maybe we could get the POV of someone poor, who isn't fighting but is being affected by all the lord and ladies playing their games. Or from one of the inhabitants of the islands across the sea or whatever they're called, because we only get people visiting and being amazed at the strange culture.

I'd also like it if someone at some point would get to be happy. Just saying.

Show:
Mainly I really like how the show has interpreted the books. Th only thing I can think of rn that really bothered me was the stupid girl-on-girl whorehouse scene that came out of nowhere in order to make an exposition scene more interesting. No thanks? :P

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

YES.

Th only thing I can think of rn that really bothered me was the stupid girl-on-girl whorehouse scene that came out of nowhere in order to make an exposition scene more interesting

ABSOLUTELY.

If I wrote those books, I would have an editor.

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

If I wrote those books, I would have an editor.
Yes. And a ghost writer for the sex scenes tbh.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA YES. He should at least read some fic or something to figure out how to do that well.

[swift-tales.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd like your thoughts on Firefly. I mean, I know it's one of your favourite shows ever, so I'm curious if you'd change anything there.

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

ARHGH I had this comment open in a tab forever and then my laptop crashed :/ Anyway, the slightly shorter version:

The main complaint about this show is that there aren't any Asian characters in the America/Asia mix, so I'd definitely fix that.

Other than that, it's hard to say because there was SO LITTLE TIME. But I'd get rid of the first two eps after the pilot and instead have more character-focussed episodes. Especially focussed on Zoe because I never quite felt that I got her until I saw a deleted scene, so that should be fixed. I'd basically just have them sit around and crack jokes tbh. Possibly in formalwear. Oh, and the other episode could be one where the girls and the boys are separated and it could be all about how awesome the girls are. Also in formalwear? :D

And I would not have done some of the things that were apparently planned for the next seasons, but obviously that's not relevant.