Because sometimes insanity should be celebrated

[neadods]

Warning: This post contains uncut CoE spoilers for Day 4 and bad language. It's uncut because it's not actually *about* CoE, but about fandom.

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When Catherine died, a Beauty and the Beast fan who'd been chairing a feed-the-hungry charity in the show's name shut it down because there was no point anymore if there was no Catherine/Vincent romance. (No point except HUNGRY PEOPLE NEEDING FEEDING. But that's just reality, which is so much less important than a TV show.)

This is why I'm so incredibly delighted that Ianto's death has started a Torchwood charity smackdown. There are now three - three! - charity drives started because of Children of Earth:
- Children of Earth Viewers for Children in Need (aka "Thank you, James Moran"): current total: 286.25 pounds
- Save Ianto Jones: current total: 2,674.83 pounds, also for Children in Need
(A smackdown so uneven that even the BBC doesn't bother mentioning that it is a smackdown.)

And now, Ianto Jones Wants a Pony. A serious charity with a silly name, (and already at 260 pounds and rising) this isn't for saying Ianto has to live or die. It's for adopting a pony from the Lluest Horse and Pony trust, a charity that Gareth David-Lloyd has been championing.

I eyeroll about the bags of coffee and the Internet petitions to bring Ianto back (as if RTD, or anyone, ever listens to the Internet fandom that much). [ETA: That said, I find it really amusing that both pro-Ianto charities are whipping CoE for CiN's financial ass. The fandom is speaking with its collective wallet, and loudly.] But what's wonderful is that even though the kids in Children in Need may not even know who Ianto is, and the horse surely doesn't give a damn about TV, all that angst and anger is doing good in the world for real living things.

And that beats the everlivin' fuck out of punishing hungry families because a fictional character snuffed it.

Comments

[mtgat]

I love fandom. I've been giggling about the pony thing all day.

Hey, can I interview you re: the BatB thing? I'm working on an essay about fan campaigns.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Sure... but if you want a name, you're going to have to give me time to see if I can find my old OUT-INs. I've long since forgotten all the details except my horror that the charity was canceled.

The pony thing is beyond win. Sarcastic, proactive people with keyboards make my world go 'round.

(Speaking of FFN, give me a bit to spruce up something about CoE. I'm about to go out of state for the weekend.)

[mtgat]

I don't need names. :) But I can chat you up on Monday.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Chat me up? Oooo, baby! ;)

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of the great Chicago Opera Wars. Some 20 years ago, during the NPR fund-raising period in Chicago, someone called in and said, "I'll donate $50 if you'll stop playing opera in the morning."

Then someone else called in and said, "I'll donate $100 if you'll keep playing opera in the morning!"

And thus were born the Opera-in-the-Morning and No-Opera-in-the-Morning funds. When Chicago NPR fans called in to donate, they could specify if they wanted their donation to count toward one or the other. Whichever one had the highest total at the end of the fund-raising period, that's what Chicago got for the next year.

I have no idea whether this is still going on or not, but I was told about it by someone who was an active contributor to the No-Opera-in-the-Morning fund.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's a brilliant way of fundraising. At one point PBS in my home town was asking for specific amounts to keep specific shows on, so they could really leave things in the hands of the viewers. (I remember this because Whofen came out of the woodwork, while nobody called in for the next show.)

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

Why uncut?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Two reasons:

Day 4 aired in Canada and America yesterday and Great Britain 2 weeks ago - I figure that even spoilerphobes have seen it now.

More importantly, because the post isn't about CoE, it's about fandom reaction to shows and charities, and if I cut it, I think people would blow off the post as more CoE discussion and not read it.

[museclio]

I hadn't yet. We were watching it today.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I apologize for spoiling it for you two.

[museclio]

No worries - you only got me, and I had an idea already.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's been hard to miss, especially in the explosive reaction.

[webqatch.livejournal.com]

Doesn't help if one goes skip=xxx and reads flists *up* instead of down.

Delaying by 48 hours also isn't very much for those of us with busy evenings -- Saturday was our day to watch all of 'em back to back.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I apologize for spoiling it for you two.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

David Gareth-Lloyd

Don'tcha mean Gareth David-Lloyd?

And yeah, you might want to cut this. There are still people who haven't seen CoE and might get Very Upset.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Oh, *facepalm* I'll fix the name. Thank you for pointing that out.

ETA: It's uncut because CoE Day 4 has, to the best of my knowledge and Google, aired in Britain, Australia, Canada, and America at this point. The only people I know of on this list who are spoilerphobes have had the chance to see it in their home market. And I still warn of the spoiler and have space and a paragraph about something else so people can scroll past if they still don't want to see it.

But I don't want people bleeping over a post about charities and proactive fandom because they see the cut and assume it's yet another discussion about the plot or the interviews about it.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I like that. I don't want Ianto back, and think it's stupid of people to insist he should come back (gods, for once I *agree* with RTD - Ianto's death WAS necessary to make that story more powerful and believable), but I like them using their campaigns to raise money for good causes.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I both want Ianto back and am not convinced by RTD's reasons - but then, I think he pretty much firebombed Torchwood so nobody else could play with his toy and left himself a back door to write a Who knockoff.

But I'm beyond thrilled that after the initial explosion of wank, when I was worried that Torchwood fandom would head the way of BatB fandom, people are doing good for the greater world - *especially* after the BatB example.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Why aren't you convinced by RTD's reasons?

And yes, it does look as if he deliberately broke his toys so no one else could play with them.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think it would have had more drama and emotional depth if Jack had had to sacrifice his grandson because he knew it was the only way to save the Earth, rather than having to be "pushed" there by the third team death in 5 episodes. (Someone has pointed out that it would have been more wrenching if Ianto was faced with a Sophie's choice between his niece and nephew, which I also agree with. If the point was to be dramatic, why not break new ground instead of repeat Tosh and Owen's deathscenes?)

Also, the more I look at Ianto's death scene, the less I understand the motivations of taking an unprotected man into a room with the intention of shooting the hell out of glass holding back poisonous gas. Had they been successful or unsuccessful, either way, Ianto would have died, which strikes me as being a poor plan, on both their and the writer's part. You'd think at some point in the proceedings Ianto would ask "what happens if we do shoot it up?" (Y'know, I think I just found my story for ninja_teaboy.)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree Ianto's death was pointless in terms of the plot except insofar as someone from the team had to die - and it couldn't be Jack, and it wasn't going to be Gwen.

But then, logic's never been Rusty's strong point. It's always necessary to switch off your logic filters when watching a story of his otherwise you'd be dragged out of the story every 30 seconds!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's always necessary to switch off your logic filters when watching a story of his

I'm more likely to do so when I'm happy with the story...

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Sure.

Apparently the BBC have agreed to a fourth season: see here.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That's an awfully vague announcement - that I notice is not getting overwhelming support in the comments.

I wonder what this is supposed to mean vis a vis the announcement that RTD was moving to Hollywood.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yeah I noticed that lack of much enthusiasm.

No reason RTD can't write from the US, modern technology being what it is. Maybe someone else will take over as head of the show and he'll just write some eps?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

He could write from the US certainly - but he wouldn't be able to oversee shooting as producer from the US. I'm not sure the BBCA has a mandate to produce its own programming, but I am sure that it'll be a very cold day in hell before the BBC (not to mention the actor and behind the scenes unions) allows a British branded and funded product to be shot in America.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Well I wasn't even thinking of it being made in America - I'd assumed they'd go on making it in Wales since they're all fiercely proud of it being made there.

[fourzoas.livejournal.com]

This is far preferable to the insanity that just (I hope) ended in the ST fandom over K/S. Go fandom fundraisers!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I've been hearing about that, and am gobsmacked.