comments not in others' journals

[scarfman]

In this post on startrek bloggers are complaining that Spock and Uhura have no chemistry and that, according to a screenwriter quote, the relationship was put in just so Spock would have someone to lean on when his mother died. I decided it was offtopic and possibly inflammatory so I didn't, but I was going to comment:

I can't help but think of twelfth-century romance readers reacting to Chretien de Troyes' latest and saying, "Who is this Lancelot? He's never been in it before, and now the queen's having an affair with him? Where did that come from? It's a ripoff of the Tristram stories, that's what it is. If Gawaine must share the spotlight, dump this loser and give us Kay back."

Edit I did comment earlier to someone complaining about the effect of the Spock-Uhura romance on the classic Kirk-Spock-McCoy triangle, asking, "What's wrong with a square?" The other blogger accused either me or the screenwriters of making Uhura into a mary sue (not true: everyone knows the Doctor is my Mary Sue). The gloves came off.

Comments

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

That comment is so medieval lit-nerdy, I approve. :)

[tlachtga.livejournal.com]

Actually, that kind of is the way I felt, until I read The Once and Future King--that really humanized Lancelot for me. I always liked Gawain better before that.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't so much the addition of Lancelot that bugged me so much as the MASSIVE RETCONNING of the whole series as fundamentally Christian. I mean, what the heck, Troyes? There's a wizard in the story, for crying out loud! I realize it's not 'politically correct' to recognize that these stories come from Celtic roots, but man, the Church just ruins everything. At least they haven't gotten to the Norse sagas yet."

[tlachtga.livejournal.com]

And man, when they introduced Galahad...

[scarfman]

I wonder though whether anyone who'd've had that opinion would have seen Chretien's work when it was new?