Pepys Online
December 26th, 2002
The Diary of Samuel Pepys – text courtesy of The Gutenberg Project – as a weblog.
This is either a completely barmy idea or sheer genius, and I'm really not quite sure which. For what it's worth, a similar project can be found at Bloggus Caesari, a weblog by Julius Caesar. The difference being, of course, that Caesar's weblog isn't using pre-existing content.
What I'd really like to see is someone take up a suggestion Tom Coates made a couple of years ago: putting together a weblog ostensibly written by a character from a current TV show. I know that something of that sort has been done for a one-off character from an episode of Buffy which hasn't been seen on the BBC yet, but as far as I know nobody's tried it with a series regular. (Unless, of course, you know differently.)
December 27th, 2002 at 01:04
I was thinking of doing a similar thing (I might still do it) but not a weblog rather a constantly updated website. I was planning to do a newspaper writen as if it really existed in the show. Sort of The sunnydale times chronicalling the goings on in sunnydale as if it were part of the buffyverse. Not for buffy though but another universe. I haven't done it because of the time and effort and becauase I wanted to do other projects first
December 27th, 2002 at 08:05
I'm embarrassed to admit I know this, but for that last couple of years the characters from Dawson's Creek have maintained "online journals" at dawsonsdesktop.com. (It seems to have finally closed.) IIRC, you could even read the fictional high school's "online newspaper". Most fans of the show actually disliked the Desktop, though, because the writers (who weren't the same as the show writers) would either A) reveal vital plot points that weren't mentioned on the show or B) completely disregard established continuity and history. So artistically I think it was a failure, but as an Internet experiment I'd say it probably qualified as a success. Hey, it got me to visit their crappy site… :)
December 27th, 2002 at 16:29
Simon:
That sounds promising.
Not tying the publication to a single character would help avoid the situation where this week Willow doesn't have much to do in this week's episode, so 'she' ends up with nothing to write about unless you start improvising material which may not jibe with what the screenwriters have in mind a couple of episodes down the line. To some extent this is one area where the inevitable delay between US and UK airings of a show might help: if you don't mind being spoiled yourself, you can always check the episode synopses for the season's US run to make sure you don't contradict plot developments to come.
If you ever do this, be sure and let me know. I'd be interested to see where the idea takes you.
December 27th, 2002 at 16:31
Kris:
The divergence in plot and character is one of the major drawbacks of the idea, to be sure. If it's done in "real time" (i.e. following the series as it's broadcast) by people not working closely with the show's writers then it will inevitably get horribly out of synch with the developments on the show. Perhaps it's the sort of idea what would work better after the show has finished its run.
On the other hand, you can imagine the show's writers (if they had the time and commitment to do a site like this properly) using this as a killer way to fill in gaps and drop hints. For example, there's at least one element of the Buffy season 5 finale which just begs for a writer to let us in on what Buffy might have dreamt about the night before and clear up how she knew something she turned out to know at the climax of that episode.
Finally, can I just say that Dawson's Creek is the last show that I'd want to see this idea tried out on. The best character – Pacey – doesn't strike me as the sort to keep a journal, whereas I guarantee you that Dawson's journal would be pretentious, rambling and – above all – very, very long. (On the other hand, they could always liven things up by having a besotted female character's journal gradually deteriorate into a collection of PaceyPorn!)
December 28th, 2002 at 00:11
I guess initially the idea was to do a unique bit of fan-fiction. Where possible I try not to retread old ground because there's little value to it. I did write a bit of fan-fic combining the newsgroup alt.tv.party-of-five with the television show of the same name. I was thinking about doing some buffy fic but my two best ideas had already been done. The first (Giles' nephew visits sunnydale) had been done as a graphic novel and I'm sure I heard about the 2nd (Joyce confronts buffy on Jerry Springer).
As I said earlier though this idea wasn't based on buffy but ANOTHER universe. In hindsight though that universe may not have been rich enough for my plan which would have been a major hitch.
Kris, you should be embarrased. That you watch such a dreadful show! However the school paper may be similar to my idea.
Taking Buffy as an example there wouldn't be problems with spoilers etc. because it would be independant of the show. Issue one would start at or before the beginging of episode one. As more and more issues were published they'd move along the timeline of the show but not in a strict speed or in sync with a particular show.
What appeals to me is that it takes an existing universe and fleshs it out. One episode of buffy can only focus one one event in one timeframe. As with most (all?) TV shows the writers don't write knowing what'll happen years down the line and even if they did they wouldn't choose to make references to it ahead of time.
With an idea like this though you can. For example, the newspaper could have a report about professor Walsh joining Sunndale University in the first issue. If it were in episode one of buffy it would be out of place. With this idea it becomes a reference that everyone will recognise.
With regards to expanding the universe,a previously minor event or character can become an article. Jenny Calender mentions traffic on the freeway and it can be extrapolated to become a car accident in the middle of town or roadworks caused by sudden and mysterious subsidance.
A girl in xanders chemistry class can get a whole new backstory as well as completely new storys being developed.
However the main obsitcle is time. To do it would be too much for one person and even as a co-ordinator it would be time consuming and alas at the moment I don't think it would be rewarding enough to dovote my time to. My cooling attitude toward the show doesn't help.
Sorry for the long post !
December 28th, 2002 at 12:27
In my defense, I haven't watched the show in years. But along with the fine folks at Television Without Pity, I can't seem to shake its effects. I still read the recaps but only to groan at how sucky it is. Honestly. I swear. (I sound pathetic.)
Dawson's journal *was* boring and long. The time I was reading the journals was the summer after Joey and Pacey got together and headed off on the boat. It was almost as if the Desktop writers had been given the script for the first episode of the new season and just told to work from there. Thus since the episode focused on Dawson's newfound love of photography (and his part-time job painting houses), this was, like, ALL he talked about in his stupid journal. Since the big question with Joey and Pacey was whether or not they *did it*, the journal was just made up crap about their boat trip and NOT gettin' it on. Like I said, it sucked. It was still addictive though. I kept going back to it thinking they'd drop in some crucial detail or plot point (like your Buffy idea), but it was all just banal crap.
Since you mentioned PaceyPorn… there are some great stories that use the "journal" angle. One of my favorites isn't pornographic at all. It takes place during one of the episodes where Joey and Pacey are uncomfortable with their secret attraction. Through random plot manipulations, they end up sharing a bed at Dawson's aunt's house, surrounded by their friends sleeping on the floor. The story was inspired by a quick scene the next morning where we see that both of them are awake but not wanting to break the moment. The story filled what they'd been thinking about all night. No sex or anything, just an interesting little psychological fill-in that fans can appreciate and debate.
See, that's the sort of stuff that would work best for this type of project, I think. Your ideas are impressive, Simon, but I'm not sure I'd get addicted to reading about Sunnydale's traffic problems or university appointments. I'd think the first issue was neat, but would people keep coming back? I think I'd much rather know what Buffy was thinking during crucial scenes. At least with psychological stuff you run much less a risk of continuity problems. Anyway, just some ideas.
Seriously, I swear I don't watch Dawson's Creek anymore, okay? (Although if Joey and Pacey got back together, I'd be tuned in in a minute.) I'm going to stop now before I embarrass myself any further. :)
December 28th, 2002 at 22:12
Joyce and Buffy on Jerry Springer sounds as if it could be fun. I take it this would be season 1/2 Joyce, who doesn't know exactly why her daughter is such a troublemaker. I have this wonderful vision of a fight breaking out and Buffy ending up standing there with all the show's bouncers piled up in a heap wondering where that truck came from…
As to a show's writers knowing what's coming a year or more down the line, I have the impression that these days writers of science fiction and fantasy are making more use of long term story arcs than they used to. I know Joss Whedon has said that at the start of a season of Buffy he typically knows the setup for the season after that. That's not to say that he'll know every episode's outline, but he at least knows which characters will make it to the next season, whose relationships will survive and so on. Similarly, the writers on Farscape had seasons 4 and 5 all planned out following the show's renewal. (Which makes it all the more galling that the Sci-Fi Channel pulled the plug right at the end of filming for season 4. I gather the season ends on a huge cliffhanger, and now we'll never see it resolved.)
I can see you using something mentioned in passing to build a piece of fanfic, but one of the constraints is that you can't make the consequences so drastic that they'll be noticeable in subsequent episodes of the show proper. I suppose you'd end up taking the Star Trek approach, where you end up setting the stories within Starfleet but not on the Enterprise and (barring guest appearances) not featuring much more than cameo appearances by any of the characters from the show proper. The problem then becomes how you manage to break that sort of story down into newspaper-style snippets while still making it interesting enough for readers to come back for more. One advantage of the journal format is that you can have a character tell the entire story in just a few entries.
Oh, and Simon, you've known me long enough by now to know that I never object to long posts…:-)
December 28th, 2002 at 22:13
Methinks Kris doth protest too much… :-)
Filling in the gaps can work really well in fanfic, though it's often best to wait until you've seen an entire season to make sure you don't contradict plot developments that follow the moment. I know some writers are happy to take a flyer and develop a plot in parallel to the one in the show, but my preference is for fanfic that at least tries hard to be consistent with the show proper.
That said, I can completely understand that fanfic writers sometimes can't help themselves and just have to take some particularly juicy plot development and run with it.
December 29th, 2002 at 21:41
I'm not sure what you mean about the consequences being noticed in the show. Do you mean I couldn't kill a character because clearly they're still alive?
The biggest problem of course would be what to write. The stuff I mentioned above would most likely be newsbites with other stories making the majority of the content. That will be new stories.
Of course a lot of it will be a novelty and gimmicky and is that enough? Ultimatly it'll be buffy:the bits you didn't see. Things that happened that week but didn't make it into an episode.
December 29th, 2002 at 22:44
That's right. You wouldn't be allowed to blow up Sunnydale High because that's what the writers had planned for the season 3 finale. You couldn't have The Mayor lose an election because then he wouldn't be invited to attend the High School at the end of season 3 so that he could snack on the graduating class. You couldn't invent a set of parents for Tara because the writers eventually unveiled their own little surprise in that department.
I think it's feasible to do something like that, but as you noted it would be a lot of work to both produce the requisite volume of stories and keep finding gaps in the official storyline in which to fit the stories you want to tell.