sid_guardian | For the record

Entry tags:

For the record

I did a promo for Guardian at our local mini-fancon over the weekend, and afterwards several people said they'd seen fannish activity for it around the place but hadn't realised it was SF. When I posted about this yesterday, someone else said the same -- they didn't realise it was SF until they watched the first episode last week.

(Clearly we need more Dixing powers in our fanart, gifs and general discourse! ;-)

(Particularly since we had the usual discussion at the con about the lack of fandom-friendly procedurals these days, and how the rise of prestige TV has kind of killed juggernaut fandoms. At which point I piped up that Guardian beautifully spans both: there are enough monster-of-the-week cases that you can make fanworks in the spaces between, but it's arc-y enough to be satisfying in this age of narrative continuity. Win-win!)

Anyway -- question for fans of the drama: did you know it was SF before you started watching? For myself, I honestly can't remember.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For myself, I honestly can't remember.

Same! I know I knew very, very little about it.

And that's despite my having flailed about it pretty much non-stop for the last year (unless you were avoiding those posts)! Clearly my flail is 99% content free! Hee!

*laughs* Once I decide I'm going to want to watch something, I actively try to tune out info about it as much as possible, so I was indeed skimming (everyone's) posts about the show pretty aggressively.

That makes total sense. I'm a spoilerphobe too, most of the time. *high fives you*

(In fact, it's been so long since I watched the second half of the show that I've forgotten most of it and am starting to get spoilerphobic about it again, WHICH IS RIDICULOUS, SELF! OMG!)

I read some of the discussion about Chinese censorship, so I knew it was sci-fi but didn't know what the sci-fi elements were, if that makes sense.

*nodnod* Absolutely. I'm guessing that means you weren't expecting a monster-of-the-week show?

I honestly can't remember, sorry.

No problem! I'm in the same boat. :-)

Yeah, I'd heard it summarized as "gay supernatural romance", and knew that there was a "Special Investigation Division". I also knew about Chinese censorship re: the paranormal, so was aware of the "aliens!" figleaf. XD

Ah, now you say that, I'm pretty sure I knew about the fantasy --> SF censorship stuff before I started watching, probably via you! :-)

Maybe the people who didn't know it was SF had actually come across that info before but it hadn't fully registered or something. I just found it interesting, because at least three different people said it over the weekend. :-)

I was actually drawn in to the show because it was promoted to me as a sci-fi procedural with amazing chemistry between the leads! This was back when it was just beginning to air, so maybe the promotions of the show have evolved since then.

I kinda wish they played up the alien angles more, but I enjoyed the thinly veiled supernatural cases regardless.

I was actually drawn in to the show because it was promoted to me as a sci-fi procedural with amazing chemistry between the leads!

Oh, that's cool! And very accurate! ;-)

I kinda wish they played up the alien angles more, but I enjoyed the thinly veiled supernatural cases regardless.

*nodnodnod*

I only picked it up because I was spoiled for the time travel, so, yes. *g* Had I not known it was science fiction, I wouldn't have picked it up. I think I saw naye chat about it but scrolled past (but managed to osmose the bad ending), and then went to poke through the Yuletide requests to see if there were any cool prompts to write, and boom, time travel mentioned.

Ah, yes, I think I knew that already. :-)

and boom, time travel mentioned.

And here you are!! \o/ \o/ \o/!

I knew nothing going in and had in fact confused it with Nirvana in Fire to boot >_<. Then I forced myself to watch slowly because I had started reading the novel in Chinese and was afraid I wouldn't finish reading if I watched the show first - so my impression was always muddled and I filed it under "supernatural" instead of scifi.

I knew nothing going in and had in fact confused it with Nirvana in Fire to boot >_<.

LOL! That's interesting that you had a blend of the two canons from the beginning. :-)

I really want to go back and watch the series in one go instead of with interruptions, but it's hard to find that kind of time, especially since I tend to get distracted by new (to me) things...

Ha! Yeah, I'm too busy making fanworks to rewatch the thing that the fanworks are about. This sometimes seems very wrong to me. ;-)

Now that you mention it,I didn't either! We should obviously icon/draw Shen Wei with his powers and the labs more often!

We should obviously icon/draw Shen Wei with his powers and the labs more often!

I would love that so much.

We should obviously icon/draw Shen Wei with his powers and the labs more often!

Yes, exactly! :D :D :D

I knew. I knew next to nothing about the plot, but I wouldn't have checked it out if I hadn't known the genre. (Things that aren't SF, fantasy or detective stories are generally a hard sell for me. And SF is my favourite genre.)

*nodnod* The majority of my non-fannish viewing is SF/F, but my previous major fandoms have both been cop shows. This is the perfect blend (in so many ways!). :-D

Yeah, it's a great genre blend! It works so well for me.

It's what I'd been waiting for for years. *rolls around in it joyously*

I didn't know when I first heard of it and first saw people I followed mentioning they were watching it. In fact, for a while, I got it confused with a standard American police procedural that didn't have any appeal to me, and I was very puzzled as to why it seemed to be developing fannishly. Then

bonibaru showed her vid at a con--I missed seeing the vid, but my friends who did all told me you HAVE to watch this show, it seems like something you'd like, and IIRC at least one person said it seemed to have fantasy elements in it, but that info didn't stick with me until

ranalore posted about the show. Then I knew it was SF/fantasy and was ready to dive in.and have not surfaced since :)

In fact, for a while, I got it confused with a standard American police procedural that didn't have any appeal to me, and I was very puzzled as to why it seemed to be developing fannishly.

Ha! The character names didn't give it away? Or did you not see any talk in that much detail? :-)

Then I knew it was SF/fantasy and was ready to dive in.and have not surfaced since :)

\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/!!!!

The character names didn't give it away? Or did you not see any talk in that much detail? :-)

I didn't see/read discussion with much detail until I read

ranalore's post. *g* It wasn't until then that I connected "cool-looking, possibly SF/fantasy Chinese show with gorgeous men, seen in

bonibaru's vid" with the title "Guardian." Even though, had I looked at the vid's actual information, I would've seen the title of the show, obviously! Sometimes living in a fannish cave for long stretches of time has its downsides...

Ha! I know what you mean, though. You have to screen out things you don't think will be relevant to your interests, or you'd just spend all your time sifting through random stuff, but that screening inevitably means things lack context, impressions are misleading, or connections get overlooked.

Anyway, you're here now -- yayayay! \o/

I can't tell you if I really knew about SF. I through "OH! a slash chinese novel do it for/from China?! What are they going to do?!"
I don't think too much in the universe if the fanservice is good ( and I don't need much for that, I create it so...)

I can't tell you if I really knew about SF. I through "OH! a slash chinese novel do it for/from China?! What are they going to do?!"

*nodnod* I came for the slash and was delighted to find the sci-fi elements and monster-of-the-week sides of things. :-)

Idk if I knew it SF at the time, but given the person reccing it to me has been a friend through many fandoms there's a pretty good chance I did. About all I remember from being recced it, though, is having Shen Wei pimped at me because she knows me WELL and also Da Qing as 'a cute catboy who wears bells around his neck' that she thought I would probably like as well. She absolutely was not wrong. XD

and also Da Qing as 'a cute catboy who wears bells around his neck' that she thought I would probably like as well. She absolutely was not wrong. XD

:D :D :D :D :D

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For the record

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject