Review: "Leela and the Genestalk: Redux

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Gulliver63
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Review: "Leela and the Genestalk: Redux

Post by Gulliver63 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:02 pm

A number of weeks ago I did quite a bit of ranting and raving about the episode "Leela and the Genestalk," specifically in the way that it ended. I made a threat back then that I would like to write my own version of it. That being said, here's the story behind this story. This piece of literature was only intended as a one-paragraph companion to an art piece for Deviant Art. The paragraph grew into two paragraphs, and it just kept growing from there. Before I knew it, I had a seven page story. The main concept that I wanted to deal with was that Leela's genes were regressing back into a more mutated state; this was where I thought they were going in the episode, but they didn't. They'd always taken great pains to point out that Leela wasn't nearly as mutated as her brethren in the sewers, and I thought this might explain why. While not intended as a replacement to the episode, I had a great deal of fun writing it.

I chose the Long Island Sound as a location, as I had relatives that lived off of it. I did quite a bit of research on cephalopods, and what fish lived in that part of the Eastern Seaboard. I also studied a page of Irish expressions, which was quite fun. At any rate, enjoy this little aquatic tale...
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Re: Review: "Leela and the Genestalk: Redux

Post by missy_misery » Tue Sep 03, 2013 3:24 am

Hmm, I think it's interesting that your biggest quibble with the episode is that
Spoiler
Well, what better reason to write fic? This is a fun one. I liked the fast pace of the action scenes, and Leela's mutation provided interesting fodder.
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Re: Review: "Leela and the Genestalk: Redux

Post by Gulliver63 » Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:42 am

Thanks! The headcannon was one of those things where you're watching a show and say, "Oh, I know where this is going to go." Actually, my main gripe was the very ending, where they just let the football drop. Mom goes off unpunished, with no consequences whatsoever. Like my swap story where the Bureaucracy decided that Fry was a woman; there has to be a consequence or something somewhere.

This was a barrel of fun to write. Bender's remark came from my late father, who used to tell us, "Aw, that guy is full of the old brown stuff." His relatives used to live off of the Long Island Sound; my late aunt used to paint the sailboats down there.

The action scenes were fun - we grew up in the 60's watching things like "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and Disney's "20,000 leagues under the Sea," so it was kind of a nice place to go back to.
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Re: Review: "Leela and the Genestalk: Redux

Post by c_nordlander » Fri Sep 06, 2013 4:44 pm

Typoes: "a number small purple tentacles". Also, numbers (like on the last page) should really be written out in letters.

Full disclosure: I didn't see "Leela and the Genestalk", but fortunately that didn't affect my enjoyment of this story. And enjoy it I did. At first, I thought that it would have been better to just end it when
Spoiler
since that seemed like such a perfect end point. Fortunately, the rest of the story was equally good. It's a gripping and dramatic story.

The comedy is great as well: this probably has some of the funniest lines in any of your fics, especially coming from Bender. His being offended at "brass monkey" was a hoot. I also loved Leela's reaction to "good news, everyone".

Bender is perfectly in character, and everyone else is good as well. Leela seemed a bit soppier than usual, but she had plenty of reason. Captain O'Hannagan is a fun new character.

While I found
Spoiler
garbled speech patterns a bit annoying to read, I liked the subtle callback to Lee in "While You Were Gone".

My only negative criticism is that some of the stuff on page 2 feels like telling instead of showing. It's listing a bunch of events that would be more fun to read a more full description of. But that's a small nitpick.

As for the ending:
Spoiler
One of your best so far, and strongly recommended to everyone else.

My score: A

EDIT: Shouldn't Bender have sunk in water?
Last edited by c_nordlander on Sat Sep 07, 2013 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Review: "Leela and the Genestalk: Redux

Post by Gulliver63 » Fri Sep 06, 2013 6:38 pm

Thanks! I think in this story I really started to get the description thingee down; I've recently looked over some old science fiction novels and have started to see how little dialogue there is as compared to how much description there is (less than half...). I really enjoyed the feel of this story.

As for the show, I'm really hoping that you'll see it soon. Without giving away the ending, it just felt like they took an easy off-ramp off of the interstate - an easy way out right at the end, where everything turned out just hunky-dory for everyone, and everybody lived happily ever after with no consequences. I did have huge expectations for that show, as it dealt with topics that I've been into for most of my life. I felt that the ending broke some unwritten codes or laws regarding the writing of fiction...I may be wrong - judge for yourself sometime. That ending made me go, "What the?"
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