OT: Beauty and the Beast - We are not alone!

[Distracted]

Okay, so my husband gave me all three seasons of Beauty and the Beast for my birthday. It was a series that ran in the late 80's with a young, soft, sweet, and positively radiant Linda Hamilton (unlike her post-Terminator 1 persona, when she looked like a chain smoker waiting for the end of the world to arrive) and Ron Perlman in awesome furry beast mode. It was soooo romantic. The two of them have a "bond" which enables them to sense what the other is feeling. Their relationship remains chaste for most of the series because he's afraid of hurting her but they love each other beyond all reason. After one night together (at a time when Ron Perlman's character was not in control of himself for various reasons), she gets pregnant and has his child. And then...get this... the writers KILL OFF Linda's character in a very gruesome way in the first episode of Season 3.

So... we have two star-crossed lovers of different species who are bonded to each other and have a child together before one of them is brutally killed by the writers just for the heck of it. Sound familiar?

I got so depressed after watching season 3 (in which Linda's character is dead. They don't just have a finale to fix. They have a whole frakking SEASON to fix.) that I had to find Beauty and the Beast fanfics. And then I had to WRITE one. But I'm better now. Thank God for fanfiction.

Our fandom is not alone. There are others who have been violated by writers intent on sending "valentines" to their viewers.

[WarpGirl]

I've always said this fandom has it much better than some others. Here's another atrocity, BBC's Robin Hood. How do you kill off Maid Marian? And then Robin discovers that the rival who killed her is actually his half brother and they team up! Now this isn't just destroying a pairing, it's destroying a whole incarnation of a tale that is cherished for centuries.

[justTripn]

Whoopsie, D., did we miss your birthday?

[Distracted]

Nope. You guys were very attentive. My birthday is in December. It just took me a while to watch 3 seasons of the show. I was savoring them. At least until they killed her.

[WarpGirl]

So post the link to your fic already woman!

[Distracted]

Well... ummmm... here's the thing. It's NC-17. I'm not sure you'll like it. It's an episode addition to Beauty and the Beast's version of Harbinger, in which the Beast is battling his violent nature and they conceive their son, and it's pretty graphic. It's also very romantic, if I may say so myself, but it's definitely not direct-link-from-the-board material. If you want the link, please pm me and I'll give it to you, but I'm not going to post it on the board.

[WarpGirl]

Okay then... Write another one for me!

[Distracted]

I'm trying to get back to my novel now that I've purged the urge. Here's a link to the main page, called Tunnel Tales. http://www.classicalliance.net/tunneltales/tunneltales.html My story is in their version of Decon, called the Steam Tunnels, but there are plenty of less graphic stories to read on the main page.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Ah, Beauty and the Beast, I do remember that one. I had a big thing for Linda Hamilton back in those days. And I didn't mind her ass-kicking transformation in Terminator 2, quite the contrary on fact. Rowr!

The reason why her B&B character (Catherine) was killed off, was because Linda got pregnant in real life and probably didn't want to continue after she had a small baby. In the last episodes before she got killed you can notice how they're always trying to hide her expanding belly.

[Distracted]

I know she was pregnant and left, but a smart writer could have figured out a way around that. GRR Martin didn't even try. All you have to do is read the fanfics to come up with at least half a dozen outcomes that are better than what he wrote. Heck, just canceling the series altogether and then doing a TV movie once she'd had a couple of years home with the kid would have been better than killing off the character. Jeez.

[WarpGirl]

I concur! I'm still trying to figure out why they killed Maid Marian, no baby there. Besides a baby would have made things more dramatic. Frankly that's why I'm lovin' Bones right now, even if I do have to wait until November.

But to be completely fair sometimes death isn't the absolute worst fate. Sometimes they make it absolutely clear that it should happen but it will never happen. Anyone seen The Pretender: Island of the Haunted. Not only will Jarod and Miss Parker never be, but they had no intention of answering ANY of the mysteries. They are by far the most depressing examples of TPTB screwing with a fandom.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I hated that they killed off Catherine too, but they probably wanted to continue making money even after Linda left...

A lot of TV shows have bad endings, or non-endings, where the fans can come up with better closures. As I'm rewatching the new Battlestar Galactica at the moment, I'd mostly like to forget the last season and pretend it never happened. Gah!

[Snorpenbass]

I hated that they killed off Catherine too, but they probably wanted to continue making money even after Linda left...

A lot of TV shows have bad endings, or non-endings, where the fans can come up with better closures. As I'm rewatching the new Battlestar Galactica at the moment, I'd mostly like to forget the last season and pretend it never happened. Gah!

Worst part is, for a while it seemed as if they were going to make a whole "sufficiently advanced technology"-version of the somewhat Mormon-inspired light-beings in the original show...

...and then they chickened out and used a frankly insulting Luddite ending in which rocks fall, everyone dies.

But I personally find the worship of certain TV-show makers kind of annoying. JJ Abrams, for example, who has revealed that he was, in fact, just making it up as he went in both Alias and Lost. Say what you will about Joss Whedon, but at least he has his season arcs somewhat plotted out before he starts filming...

[WarpGirl]

I thought I was the only person around here that Liked the original BSG (not BSG 1980) but the one with Richard Hatch. It was a pretty awesome show in season 2. Then of course everything got screwed up. Richard Hatch's novel was *very good.*

[WarpGirl]

I think in the case of Shows like Firefly and Terminator Sarah Conner Chronicals it's the networks that screw the fans not the creators. And frankly that's a less bitter pill to swallow.