Exit Reality. Part 1 of 2. PG.
Sep. 30th, 2006 05:55 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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A fic set in a AU where the hallucination in Back To Reality was reality. This is a bit of a thought experiment - poking at how characters with fundamentals of the four folk might have ended up where they did when they 'emerged from the game.' Crit very welcome.
"It's a little late for traffic concerns, innit?"
"It's a little late for traffic concerns, innit?"
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Date: 2006-10-01 01:18 am (UTC)..You've been reading 1984, haven't you? ;D
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Date: 2006-10-01 08:12 pm (UTC)Ja, 1984, Brave New World, and a Russian book called We are the best of the totalitarian dystopias I've read, methinks. Not that we learn too well from them.
I remember Billy being referred to as an "alky dropout" somewhere in BTR, but I don't remember how that information was gleaned.
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Date: 2006-10-01 08:24 pm (UTC)I don't remember, either, but I'll bet Rimmer called him that during his rant, before he knew who he was...;)
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Date: 2006-10-03 04:10 am (UTC)I looked it up - it's when they're leaving the Game site. Rimmer says, "We've got to find out more about ourselves. I refuse to accept I'm his alky-dropout-yak-coat-wearing half-brother."
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Date: 2006-10-01 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-03 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-01 04:37 am (UTC)I also really liked the justification for Sebastian's work - the ep never really covered the severity of the offences that people who are altered have committed.
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Date: 2006-10-01 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-01 11:26 am (UTC)He was no casual killer; what he did, he did to make far more people safe than were harmed by the doings of his department
Eeep. That's chilling. The sign of a true killer in a totaletarian society. He actually thinks he's doing good. *shudder*
Tranquilizer of the People
Is it avaliable around here?
Official Established Truths
Very nice touch for the creepy society. Yes, they must have had something like this *trys hard to ignore the program about Stalin going on in the background*. I love the whole presentation scene. And the new directives, also very fitting. Sexism - another sure sign of a totaleterian society.
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Date: 2006-10-01 08:17 pm (UTC)Thanks! Yeah, I can't see Lister as an evil man, but I can see him as a misguided one. Sexism, elitism, and a fear of sexuality are the things I see coming out. No parallels, of course...
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Date: 2006-10-01 02:11 pm (UTC)Great exploration of the AU. I love how you're delving into the universe of Back To Reality, and the little details of how Sebastian couldn't quite recognize Jake, his sort of grudging consideration about Billy, his half-brother, his self-justification about the work he does, etc. It's a very believable 1984-ish society that you've portrayed. Definitely hoping that you'll expand further on this fic. Cheers!
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Date: 2006-10-01 08:18 pm (UTC)Thanks! I found the BTR idea interesting - partly because they took me in! Yes, I'll be uploading part 2 as soon as my connection cooperates.
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Date: 2006-10-04 03:05 pm (UTC)Um... I don't quite know where I was going with that. Sorry. I'm in a weird mood. And now for something completely different:
This is the one you were telling me about, then? I like it! I think you've done a good job of making sense of a world that was not nessecarily supposed to make sense, being as it was set up to torment the dwarfers as much as possible. The characters seem more like dimensional alternates than the templates suggested in the episode, but that is a natural concequence of what I mentioned above, and I like the results.
The doorbell was a very nice touch.
Shrieks emerged from the living room shortly after she went off to do so, and Sebastian sent the butler in after her.
Some great scene-setting there - so much said in so few words.
Sebastian's character is very well done, I think. It's a Lister-alternate who grew up in a totalitarian state. It makes so much sense. With a lifetime of brainwashing, a Lister-type would want the kind of job Sebastian has, because he's been conditioned to think it is for the good of society. And yet, he would have lingering doubts that something is wrong, exactly as Sebastian does. He constantly needs to reassure himself that what he is doing is - indeed - right. But he knows it isn't, deep inside.
Loved the "-of the people" inserts, "Tranquilizer of the People" in particular. Good stuff.
Readers of porn, eh? But writing it is fine... Right? Hell, I'm screwed anyway. Except not, because that's probably illegal too. ;)
*hurries home to read the next bit*
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Date: 2006-10-04 05:22 pm (UTC)Ja, even though it was never meant to be a real world, the Dwarf-dystopia is just too tempting. I love the idea of a nasty Lister who isn't quite comfortable with who he is and what he does.
We would both be Altered by Lister in that reality. And not in a god way.
*blush* Thank ye!
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Date: 2006-10-04 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 05:30 pm (UTC)