lunabee34

Things that have made me a happy Lorraine:

1. trekgirl55 gave me an autographed picture of Spike signed "To Lorraine, with Love." OMG, James Marsters loves me! I always suspected, but to have it spelled out like this in silver pen OMG OMG *g*

2. krayat and I finished watching Ats and here is his review of the fifth season. Warmed the cockles of my heart, it did.

3. Got my first holiday card, from chocgood84. Made my day, Brad.

4. Finally, I can reasonably and convincingly fake superficial cuts and scratches for our film! Yay! Serious wounds, not so much, but we're working on it. And Hitchcock had it right--in black and white, chocolate syrup works swimmingly for blood.

To me, one of the most interesting aspects of Ats seasons 4 and 5 is that we get to see what kind of fanficcer Angel would make. Although what Angel technically does in the episodes “Deep Down” and “Awakening” is fantasize about his own life, I think the term fanfiction is applicable. I tend to think of fantasies in which the fantasizer is a character (or even memoir and autobiography*) as “fanficcing one’s own life.” In any case, fantasies in which the dreamer is a character and fanfiction are certainly similarly constructed and operate under some of the same principles. Fantasies take the canon of a dreamer’s life and create new material that builds on that framework. The fantasy might correct what the dreamer perceives as a canonical mistake (I really shouldn’t have divorced my husband; here’s what might have happened if we stayed together), explore non-canonical relationships (I know I’ve got a girlfriend, but what would it be like if I slept with my boss?), go completely AU (Me and my best friend, captured by sexy bank robbers, manage both to woo them and save the world), or cross-over (What if I suddenly got transported to Sunnydale and OMG Anya couldn’t keep her hands off me?). Like fanfic, these fantasies can run the gamut from gen to NC-17, from funny to incredibly disturbing, from plausible to pie in the sky.

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PS Someone wrote an excellent essay about season 5's mindwipe that I wanted to reference for this essay, but apparently I didn't save the post to my Memories. Anybody have any idea what essay I might be talking about. I believe I discovered it in 2005 (which doesn't necessarily mean it was written in 2005).

I've always thought that the PTB send Cordelia visions with a purpose--to protect the Champion(s), to avert apocalypses, to protect key people that are instrumental to the to the PTB's agenda (even if it's in some subtle, obscure way), or as a learning experience for the AI team so that they are better equipped to do A, B, and C. I'm not sure that I believe the visions have ever been about saving just some random person in trouble. I think the missions that Cordy's visions send the team on are important to the safety of the world (or more accurately, the PTB's agenda, which I'm not convinced is "good" in the traditional sense of the word) on a large scale and not an individual one. So this leads me to the question: Why do the PTB have them bring Fred back?

They give Cordy visions of Fred, and I think are responsible for Cordelia being sucked into the portal to Pylea, forcing AI to rescue Fred as well. I've got a theory (and it's not bunnies). Is Illyria essential to that final battle with the Senior Partners? Is the only reason the PTB want Fred back in our dimension so that she can become Illyria and kick some demon ass with what's left of the AI team?

ETA: See sweet_exile's comment below for an alternate explanation.