I feel like if I once start; i'll never stop crying. D.C. Fontana (1939-2019) R.I.P.

[kerk_hiraeth]

 
  It feels like the Star Trek I loved is dying around me. 

  D.C. Fontana has gone. 

  Far too many obituaries and tributes to even begin posting but this from twitter says everything really; plus my own comments made to friend earlier today. ~ 

 Probably one of the biggest influences on my writing; what I read and what I watch and I didn't realise just how much. 

 

https://twitter.com/JacksonLanzi…/status/1201927437069586432

“Stories about objects don't work. Stories about relationships do. Focus on telling stories about the characters. Do your best. Do it from the heart.”

D.C. Fontana was, is, and always shall be my North Star for Star Trek. I have a million things I’d like to say but for now: RIP.

 I wish I was at an old fan-run Trek con in the midst of a massive; tear-filled group hug, or with the old USS Drake crowd in Plymouth back when the news came through that Pat Troughton had died. 

 I just want the bad news to take a day off. 

 PLEASE. 


  
 

Comments

[elisi]

[kerk_hiraeth]

Thank you sweetie (in a sad River Song voice).

Sent the Babylon 5 story to the guy that runs the update comm; he said nice things and we are now friended. Not done much the last couple of days; too mentally exhausted. Once I settle down I'll get back on it.

As Oz would say, "I feel oddly motivated."

Hugs back atcha.

[elisi]

♥

I'll try to get something posted... tomorrow.

Yesterday was Simon's birthday so we had family round and today it's a little nephew's birthday (he's 3) so we're going out. I'm just grabbing a few minutes in front of the screen.

But I can put up the Babylon 5 story next?

[kerk_hiraeth]

Yeah that should be the next one; it's the last of the 'new' fics that's completed. There's more new stuff to come; mentioned them the other day, but there's also a need to get on with archiving the old stuff.

I have everything from all the old journals saved, so it won't matter so much if they disappear, but I do need to edit them properly if they're going on A03. Matters much more than I expected that they look as right as possible. More so than on DW or LJ; much more so.

Kerk

[elisi]

Yeah that should be the next one; it's the last of the 'new' fics that's completed.
Excellent.

There's more new stuff to come; mentioned them the other day
I knooooow. It's very exciting.

but there's also a need to get on with archiving the old stuff.
I shall do my best to keep up!

I have everything from all the old journals saved, so it won't matter so much if they disappear, but I do need to edit them properly if they're going on A03. Matters much more than I expected that they look as right as possible. More so than on DW or LJ; much more so.
Well it is literally an archive - like a fannish library. And you'll want your contributions to look nice on the shelves. :)

[kerk_hiraeth]

I hope you've got the fire extinguishers and escape shuttles prepped ;-)

[yourlibrarian]

Agreed, she had a lot to do one of the fandoms that started it all and was absolutely right about writing. (TOS Trek was my first fandom).

BTW, I wanted to let you know that I got your message! I am currently a bit sidetracked with something else but I plan to resume work on the AO3 Top 5 collection soon. I kept thinking I'd reply once I got your work added but it hasn't happened yet. But it should be next weekend, I think.

[kerk_hiraeth]

That's ok; as with elisi you have a real life which has far greater priority than my needy writerliness :-)

Also pretty much what I said to elisi above.

And I do owe you a fic; thanks to our discussions with Que Sera, Sera etc my muse kept nagging at me until I listened. :-)

It was Diane Duane and John M. Ford original novelisations that made me a fan of Star Trek, but in an oddly Whovian timey-wimey way I wouldn't have read, or appreciated their books, of not for Dorothy Catherine Fontana's influence on Trek.

[yourlibrarian]

I enjoyed both of them as well! In fact Duane wrote my favorite of the tie-ins, "The Wounded Sky." I have a shelf of books (out of the many tie-ins I read) that I kept and keep planning to re-read at some point since it's been many years since I read any.

[kerk_hiraeth]

As much as I love Worfy-babes; the Movie & TV Klingons ( we shall not name the new w-t-a's? ) John M. Ford's Klingons are the Klingons I see; and Diane Duane's Rihannsu are who I see when the Romulans are written about.

Enterprise did the best Andorians though (and their Tellarites were much better too; though not nearly good enough).

After many years of looking I finally found a copy of Ishmael by Barbara Hambly; not my Klingons, but when Biddy & 'Ish' say goodbye I cry and when Aaron & Spock say goodbye I cry.

And there's Janet Kagan's 'Uhura's Song' can get me teared up too; AnotherStarFreedom-to-Eeiauo is one of those characters I want to grow up to be. As is Krenn in a different way; the scene where he reveals his secret installation gets me crying more often than it probably should having read that book more times than even all of Diane Duane's put together (it's very rare when I don't a copy with me).

I'd love all of them in leather-bound hardbacks.

I do know I'm going to have to set aside an a day to watch every significant DC Fontana episode I have available to me.

kerk

[yourlibrarian]

John M. Ford's Klingons are the Klingons I see; and Diane Duane's Rihannsu are who I see when the Romulans are written about.

Enterprise did the best Andorians though

Agreed and agreed. And both those books are on my shelf.

And your screencap of Sarek and Amanda reminds me of how I came to Trek through the animated series as I was 10 at the time. That episode was my favorite -- although I also quite liked How Much Sharper as well. It retrod some familiar ground, being not unlike Who Mourns for Adonis, but I saw it first ;)

[kerk_hiraeth]

Not had a chance to watch all the episodes yet, but I did manage to pick up the animated series DVDs back in the summer. Brand new was always way too expensive for me, but I got a very good set for only £8 and realised when I was skipping through them just how many were never shown on the BBC when I was a kid; at least not when I could watch them; more than forty years / memories / old age blah, blah, blah ;-) But that episode is one I remember very well.

Another unappreciated at the time influence she had on me. I find instead of being mournful and teary; not as much as I felt for a while earlier, I am more determined to get back to the writing.

I realised I needed to have a picture and that's one I saw earlier in the day and it feels like a mentor and me waving farewell to each other; there's also the memory of Spock talking to his younger self about mourning and wasted lives.

[yourlibrarian]

it feels like a mentor and me waving farewell to each other;
there's also the memory of Spock talking to his younger self about
mourning and wasted lives.

I hadn't thought about that -- very appropriate.

[kerk_hiraeth]

Just finished watching 'How Sharper Than the Serpent's Tooth'; it was one of the few animated ones I got to see in full when I was a kid; probably a similar age to yourself. Listening to the audio commentary now.

Have you seen? Robert Walker jr.; who played Charlie X has passed away as well; just a couple of days after D.C. Fontana.

[yourlibrarian]

Probably so. One thing I remember is that Scholastic, which had a reading program for schoolkids, sent little newsletters that promoted their books for purchase every month to classrooms. But they also often included stories about things of interest to kids. I remember that one month they had a feature on the new animated series, and it included some images from Sharper as well as One of Our Planets Is Missing. I was intrigued, watched the show, and so was into the fandom.

I don't have the discs though and didn't realize a set was out with commentary (I rewatched it with Mike last year on Netflix).

I didn't see the notice about Walker until after I got your comment. But I did hear about Rene Auberjonois today though :( It's come in threes it seems.

[kerk_hiraeth]

Saw a couple of hours ago; was looking for messages about Rene Auberjonois and, I think it was via Nicole deBoer, that Marina Sirtis had posted her husband had passed away in his sleep. With Aron Eisenberg and the recent losses, there's a lot of sadness in Trek World just now. I wish the ds9_rewatch was still going strong and we could talk about Odo and make jokes about him and Quark.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, this has been that sort of year. Your reference to Aron reminded me of this great image I'd reblogged on Pillowfort but it's since been taken down. It was a wider version of this:https://www.dailystartreknews.com/read/star-trek-online-players-hold-vigil-for-aron-eisenberg-on-deep-space-nine

[kerk_hiraeth]

And it continues https://www.facebook.com/roddenberry/photos/a.379278853143/10153225755808144/?type=3&theater :-(

RIP to the lovely Karen Montgomery. You will be missed, friend.

Montgomery portrayed Princess Beata in a 1988 season one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.