#1
Tittle: Ryans universe3
Author: Vampire-hunting-angel
This piece doesn't deal with an alternate reality but rather tries to serve as another episode or piece of an episode within the existing story.
In this imagined episode Ryan meets a new neighbour who also has a dog which Ryan can see the way that he can see Wilfred.
Wilfred also alludes to the neighbour being able to see the dogs this way too; this would forever change the story and would probably become a central plot point. This makes this a very interesting idea for a piece of fan fiction.
Ryan and the new neighbour bond over and awkward meeting, and their mutual depression over their would be romantic lives.
The first thing which struck me was that there was a lot of punctuation missing, this along with the sometimes broken grammar and the writer not having the best grasp of proper script format break the flow somewhat.
The new neighbour talks an unnatural amount; in fact the whole attempt to set up the friendship seems forced, as does all the dialogue between the two.
Ryan’s speech is much wordier than usual and in a style that is alien to his usual bumbly speech, this makes me feel uneasy. A beloved character is taking on someone else’s manner. Ryan is often an awkward character but the dialogue still does not feel like him.
The way issues are addressed, such as Ryan being used by Jenna is far to direct. In most Wilfred scripts characters motivations are less directly talked about and therefore less obvious and this leaves situations open to the enormous theme of manipulation which, is a key characteristic of the show. This is completely missing.
One thing I did really enjoy was the authors portrayal of Wilfred, Wilfred comes through as believable with his usual lovable positions on things. I can feel Wilfred’s, confidence, swagger and aggression and I’m immediately at home with this portrayal of the character. I even feel like I can see Wilfred walking with Ryan, fur glowing in the sun.
The attention to detail also rings true for Wilfred’s character. He has seen no houses for sale and therefore concludes that any new people in the neighbourhood are out of place and bearing ill will to the pack.
Overall I found he script weak….and oddly disconcerting. The plot never went anywhere and seemed only to bizarrely shoehorn in a relationship with an awkward gay guy. This situation would not play out this way in the actual show and so the dialogue seems completely wrong. The characters have to say things they wouldn’t in order to serve the plot and do things that they usually wouldn’t.
#2
Tittle: Own Worst Enemy
Author: eclectiqueRDF
In this fan fiction Charlie finds a book on Freud and through what he can piece together about psycho-analysis, through his thick dyslexia, astounds him. Dennis shows some of his characteristic strangely intense anger. Charlie then attempts to use his new found knowledge to encourage Dennis to look inside of himself and uncover what he has repressed, Dennis as he would immediately dismisses him.
Meanwhile Dee ditches out on the end of work to go out on a date. She even rubs this in because they call her a bird.
Mac is either bored or in love with Dee, maybe both. This plot line felt off. It says in the synopsis that he is struggling with feelings for her but the actual dialogue displays this weekly if at all and it comes across as confusing and strange.
This piece is short, but it's quite sweet. It's not long so we get a nice familiar burst of our favourite characters. The story perfectly captures the shows sense of humour and since the show's heavily character based even when the dialogue doesn't quite fit it still has the warm familiarity of one of my favourite shows.
#3
Tittle: Marks Day Off
Author: Courtneycat
In this script the plot is quite simple. Callie calls Mark telling him that the D.O.I is on fire. Mark sets out to help and comes across each of his friends one by one while trying to find Callie. Callie has lied about the D.O.I being on fire. Eventually, Mark finds Callie and learns that she lured him down there to seduce him, either out of lust or, more likely as a sexual power play.
The spelling is bad enough to be distracting and sometimes change the words entirely. The dialogue for the characters is close to the way that they would speak in the real thing but it falls short. Each character speaks from a very similar voice and each sais at least one thing that is out of character.
The plot is weak but that leaves a lot of room for the characters to talk and even with the stumbling dialogue the characters still have some of their spark.
I can live with all of the above, but I can’t cope with how poorly the author understands Callie’s character. If Callie were to lure mark to the D.O.I for sex it would be motivated as much by power as her simple, sexy Daemon factor. The author doesn’t seem to understand this and it makes Callie come off not as herself. Finally, Callie would laugh at and maybe even kill someone dull enough to think having sex in a copy room was exciting.
#4
Tittle: Bad Animation
Author: akito01
In this episode Brendon gets the idea from coach McGurk to make an animated feature. In lovable Brendon fashion he goes from conversation to conversation trying to find an easy way to get the project done. Doing no research and talking to the usual characters Brendon is eventually defeated in his quest to make his first animated feature.
During this time, inspired by a naked SpongeBob, Jason begins to draw test images.
The plot is very short and even though it is true to the characters (Brendan wouldn't do any research) this means it has nowhere to go. Brendon tries to get advice from the pre-existing characters in the show who also know nothing about animation. This means that the plot never really goes anywhere; it's just a collection of conversations.
The conversations genuinely made me laugh a few times. The rhythm of the dialogue and the role the characters take in every conversation is true to form; when Jason Sais “I, um, want to be naked” I feel like I’m watching a real episode. However some of the words used feel like a betrayal of the characters vocabulary, the author knows the characters but has missed some of the nuances of their speech. There are also points where the script doesn't give enough direction. This is fan fiction, it is meant to stand up on its own as a script, but the script never describes how the lines are delivered and this means some of the conversations don't have the atmosphere that the author intended.
Lastly, there is one camera angle described that I have to praise. When Brendan goes into the computer lab the camera is positioned behind the computer screen looking out at Brendan. Very home moves.
Overall, I liked this script. The characters felt familiar, Jason especially and there were some real laughs to be had.
#5
Tittle: Big Trouble in Little Gstaad
Author: Citizenjess
In this script Anka continues her mischievous seduction of Archer. The script starts with a conversation Archer has with Lana which gives context to the script and a funny little aside for their relationship to express itself. It then progresses to Anka coming onto Archer, following their miraculous survival of the snow mobile fight which took place in E1 S02 of the actual show.
This was my favourite of all the fanfiction I read. The dialogue of each individual character feels easy and is mostly in keeping with their usual dialogue. There is the occasional word or two that sends me back to reality but for the most part, I’m watching an episode of Archer. What really grabbed me about this piece was the execution of the relationships between the characters. They speak to one another and fill their roles in conversation with beautiful accuracy. Special mention goes to Anka, she is coy, mysterious and smug about holding all the cards and yet I still sympathise with her as a character. Pulling this off with such a short script has very much impressed me.
My only criticism is the lack of directing, however, this is a tiny gripe because there is some explanation of when the characters come and go and how they say thing etc. The script is so well written that I can see the scene play out in my mind’s eye without being told how it happens.
Wonderful.
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