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Alice vis-a-vis Tin Man
Comparisons may be odious, but they are also irresistible. Brief thoughts on the fanfic potential of the two series.
In some ways, Alice gave us less than Tin Man. As we followed our heroes around the O.Z., we encountered or heard about farming of various kinds, at least one large city with pedestrians on the street, nightclubs, hookers, and other businesses, a prison system, and so on. I found myself totally able to believe that the Outer Zone had a society and an economy that worked. Tin Man succeeded in creating a world, and I think that's one of the reasons there's so much fanfic - there's a whole world to explore that we've glimpsed and can build on. While I loved the look and feel of Wonderland, we didn't see much of it - mostly the casino and a city that appeared largely uninhabited, and some wilderness. It almost seemed, at the end, as if all the people who escaped from the casino were pretty much all the people, period, although I don't think that's meant to be the case. That might foster fanfic of the worldbuilding kind because there are so many blanks to fill in, or it might be just too daunting because they've left so much for us to do.
In other ways, Alice gave us more than Tin Man. The canonical pairings in Tin Man (Ahamo/Queen, Cain/Adora) predate the events of the series. The characters are much too busy trying either to save or to destroy the O.Z. to dabble in pesky things like romance. Which means that relationship stuff was left for fans to fill in, if they want to. By contrast, Alice pairs off the pretty young protagonists at the end: Duchess/Jack and Alice/Hatter, and as happy as I am to see those nice kids get together, it takes the wind out of the sails of people who want to write the kind of shippy stories in which people come to have that first realization that they're interested in each other that way. That's already been done.
Alice also gave us more in terms of tying up the ends of the plot more neatly - it actually ended, rather than just stopping, like Tin Man did. Which is better from a literary standpoint, but less encouraging from a fanfic standpoint.
Nonetheless, my reaction to Alice is still, "Wheee! That was fun!"
In some ways, Alice gave us less than Tin Man. As we followed our heroes around the O.Z., we encountered or heard about farming of various kinds, at least one large city with pedestrians on the street, nightclubs, hookers, and other businesses, a prison system, and so on. I found myself totally able to believe that the Outer Zone had a society and an economy that worked. Tin Man succeeded in creating a world, and I think that's one of the reasons there's so much fanfic - there's a whole world to explore that we've glimpsed and can build on. While I loved the look and feel of Wonderland, we didn't see much of it - mostly the casino and a city that appeared largely uninhabited, and some wilderness. It almost seemed, at the end, as if all the people who escaped from the casino were pretty much all the people, period, although I don't think that's meant to be the case. That might foster fanfic of the worldbuilding kind because there are so many blanks to fill in, or it might be just too daunting because they've left so much for us to do.
In other ways, Alice gave us more than Tin Man. The canonical pairings in Tin Man (Ahamo/Queen, Cain/Adora) predate the events of the series. The characters are much too busy trying either to save or to destroy the O.Z. to dabble in pesky things like romance. Which means that relationship stuff was left for fans to fill in, if they want to. By contrast, Alice pairs off the pretty young protagonists at the end: Duchess/Jack and Alice/Hatter, and as happy as I am to see those nice kids get together, it takes the wind out of the sails of people who want to write the kind of shippy stories in which people come to have that first realization that they're interested in each other that way. That's already been done.
Alice also gave us more in terms of tying up the ends of the plot more neatly - it actually ended, rather than just stopping, like Tin Man did. Which is better from a literary standpoint, but less encouraging from a fanfic standpoint.
Nonetheless, my reaction to Alice is still, "Wheee! That was fun!"
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"jump ships!" hee hee - nice play on words!