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I saw this meme, what are your comfort reads, the books you turn to when you're having a really shitty day and you just want to go away for a while. *smiles* I have a few of those. However, because of the way we grew up (Mam's obsession was books, Dad's was film), I also have comfort films and comfort series that I'm equally as likely to turn to, and to bring with me when I'm travelling. So, I thought I'd run through all of them? Books, films, series. Lots.
The original meme had around 9 books, I think, but numbers vary here, because, um, I devour stories in pretty much any format. There are just the ones that are likely to be closest when I'm in need, but they are not comprehensive, even for comfort -_-;
Comfort Media:
And on top of all those, I could name you about a dozen or so cartoon series that I also gravitate towards under stress (DCAU, Avengers: EMH, Transformers, Pirates of Dark Water, Jonny Quest, etc). And these are ... far from comprehensive, either.
Media is my escape, yes? Stories. *smiles sheepishly* I read, I watch, I devour. I also write. Fanfic, a lot. Also many of my own (see 'original fic' tags for the universes), long and complicated stories that don't really end. I live my life in a network of a billion stories, and it carries me though ... quite a lot, really. Heh. *shrugs, smiles* And so.
The original meme had around 9 books, I think, but numbers vary here, because, um, I devour stories in pretty much any format. There are just the ones that are likely to be closest when I'm in need, but they are not comprehensive, even for comfort -_-;
Comfort Media:
My comfort books:
My comfort books, when I just want to go read something familiar and good, tend to be parts of series. Something where I can just grab something in that series, and delve in. So:
- Discworld, by Terry Pratchett. Mostly the Watch series, I'll admit, or the AM related standalones, though I also love Death. I have Discworld books scattered all over the house, and am perfectly willing just to pick up whichever of them is closest to hand to read a few pages or a chapter or just my favourite interactions from it just to calm down for a few moments. (Detritus and Cuddy in Men At Arms, WORDS IN THE HEART, any and all of Night Watch, any and all of The Last Hero, etc). I've read them all so many times, it's just the bits I want right now, really. Heh. Discworld just has a lot of themes and characters that lift me up.
- Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. Mostly the same deal as Discworld, I have them scattered around the house, and I can pick up whichever is handy for the bits I want, or sit down with one of them for longer (if I've got to specify one to come back to, probably Dead Beat, because Butters is my favourite, though Small Favour, Death Masks and Turn Coat tend to be up there, because also Marcone and Morgan). They tend to be angstier, but triumphs are sweet.
- Star Risk series, by Chris Bunch. I bought the first one of these in a second hand bookshop, and then went around sourcing the other three from whatever second hand I could (I didn't ever see them in a mainstream bookshop, for whatever reason, though I've seen them in libraries). They're just ... when I want my swashbuckling fix with added sci-fi and crime, yes? *grins* A gang of five science fiction mercenaries (Freddie, who used to be a quartermaster -think Nobby Nobbs crossed with Nathan Ford -, M'chel Riss, who used to be a Marine and kicks ass, Jasmine, who used to work for the opposition and is so perfect a woman that they accused her of being an android as an excuse to fire her, Grok, the alien, artist, techie and bloody monstrosity, and Chas, the ex-special forces bioaugmented thief who is very probably an actual sociopath) running around space getting into a lot of trouble and then fighting, stealing and backstabbing their way back out of it. *grins* I love them.
- The Pyrates, by George MacDonald Fraser. For when I want my swashbuckling with a heavy dose of comedy and anachronisms, because I grew up listening to the Goon Show and rampant absurdity does a lot for me. Heh. Also? Because Blood and Bilbo are awesome. By this author I also love the Flashman series, which are again scattered around my house for casual perusal should the mood strike. Heh.
- Commissaire Adamsberg series, by Fred Vargas (in English translation). For my crime fix minus other elements (okay, a touch of supernatural here or there, but questionable). The first one I read was Have Mercy On Us All, and it opens with Joss Le Guern talking about how all inanimate objects are secretly out to get us (case in point, wine corks who insist on flying off and landing underneath the stove so you have to concuss yourself getting them), and I loved them. I love longsuffering Danglar, who admits straight-up that he drinks and is useless past a certain point of the day, and Adamsberg himself (though I want to slap him sometimes), and just the whole mood of the books, drifting and evil and quiet. Heh. I do love this series.
- In Death series, by JD Robb. Crime plus sci-fi plus romance, an incredibly formulaic series wherein you can pick up any one you like and have a decent idea what you're going to get. I used to get these regularly out of the library, as in I'd have one of my six books regularly be one of these, because you can read one in a couple of hours and just have fun. A crap tonne of romance and angst and dark backstories, almost in the supernatural romance mode, except these are crime/sci-fi, and usually have pretty decent crime plots (think L&O: CI or L&O: SVU, except set in the 2050s and with less grating casts). Pure comfort fluff, with added homicide.
- And to finish, The Laundry Series, by Charles Stross. What you get when you cross Cold War flavour spy drama with the Lovecraft mythos, and make the hero a techie with good gadgets who has to fight screaming monstrosities while doing his paperwork and dealing with the bureaucracy (that word never looks right). I tend to favour the first and third books, which is probably weird because they're the darkest of them, but I just love Bob in full survival mode trying to do the right thing and beat the really fucking creepy enemies without becoming them. I also love Angleton, so there's that. And Mo. Heh. Not exactly 'light' reading, but I never claimed to be right in the head. *smiles faintly*
My comfort books, when I just want to go read something familiar and good, tend to be parts of series. Something where I can just grab something in that series, and delve in. So:
- Discworld, by Terry Pratchett. Mostly the Watch series, I'll admit, or the AM related standalones, though I also love Death. I have Discworld books scattered all over the house, and am perfectly willing just to pick up whichever of them is closest to hand to read a few pages or a chapter or just my favourite interactions from it just to calm down for a few moments. (Detritus and Cuddy in Men At Arms, WORDS IN THE HEART, any and all of Night Watch, any and all of The Last Hero, etc). I've read them all so many times, it's just the bits I want right now, really. Heh. Discworld just has a lot of themes and characters that lift me up.
- Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. Mostly the same deal as Discworld, I have them scattered around the house, and I can pick up whichever is handy for the bits I want, or sit down with one of them for longer (if I've got to specify one to come back to, probably Dead Beat, because Butters is my favourite, though Small Favour, Death Masks and Turn Coat tend to be up there, because also Marcone and Morgan). They tend to be angstier, but triumphs are sweet.
- Star Risk series, by Chris Bunch. I bought the first one of these in a second hand bookshop, and then went around sourcing the other three from whatever second hand I could (I didn't ever see them in a mainstream bookshop, for whatever reason, though I've seen them in libraries). They're just ... when I want my swashbuckling fix with added sci-fi and crime, yes? *grins* A gang of five science fiction mercenaries (Freddie, who used to be a quartermaster -think Nobby Nobbs crossed with Nathan Ford -, M'chel Riss, who used to be a Marine and kicks ass, Jasmine, who used to work for the opposition and is so perfect a woman that they accused her of being an android as an excuse to fire her, Grok, the alien, artist, techie and bloody monstrosity, and Chas, the ex-special forces bioaugmented thief who is very probably an actual sociopath) running around space getting into a lot of trouble and then fighting, stealing and backstabbing their way back out of it. *grins* I love them.
- The Pyrates, by George MacDonald Fraser. For when I want my swashbuckling with a heavy dose of comedy and anachronisms, because I grew up listening to the Goon Show and rampant absurdity does a lot for me. Heh. Also? Because Blood and Bilbo are awesome. By this author I also love the Flashman series, which are again scattered around my house for casual perusal should the mood strike. Heh.
- Commissaire Adamsberg series, by Fred Vargas (in English translation). For my crime fix minus other elements (okay, a touch of supernatural here or there, but questionable). The first one I read was Have Mercy On Us All, and it opens with Joss Le Guern talking about how all inanimate objects are secretly out to get us (case in point, wine corks who insist on flying off and landing underneath the stove so you have to concuss yourself getting them), and I loved them. I love longsuffering Danglar, who admits straight-up that he drinks and is useless past a certain point of the day, and Adamsberg himself (though I want to slap him sometimes), and just the whole mood of the books, drifting and evil and quiet. Heh. I do love this series.
- In Death series, by JD Robb. Crime plus sci-fi plus romance, an incredibly formulaic series wherein you can pick up any one you like and have a decent idea what you're going to get. I used to get these regularly out of the library, as in I'd have one of my six books regularly be one of these, because you can read one in a couple of hours and just have fun. A crap tonne of romance and angst and dark backstories, almost in the supernatural romance mode, except these are crime/sci-fi, and usually have pretty decent crime plots (think L&O: CI or L&O: SVU, except set in the 2050s and with less grating casts). Pure comfort fluff, with added homicide.
- And to finish, The Laundry Series, by Charles Stross. What you get when you cross Cold War flavour spy drama with the Lovecraft mythos, and make the hero a techie with good gadgets who has to fight screaming monstrosities while doing his paperwork and dealing with the bureaucracy (that word never looks right). I tend to favour the first and third books, which is probably weird because they're the darkest of them, but I just love Bob in full survival mode trying to do the right thing and beat the really fucking creepy enemies without becoming them. I also love Angleton, so there's that. And Mo. Heh. Not exactly 'light' reading, but I never claimed to be right in the head. *smiles faintly*
My comfort films:
You have to understand, these are mostly films I grew up loving. Because I think most comfort things tend to be things we grew up loving. And the film library (DVD, you don't want to be depending on an internet connection) at home grew up slowly and with input from at least three and usually five people, so ... things could get weird, yes?
- Best Seller (1987). With Brian Dennehy and James Woods. This is my number-one comfort movie, the one I find myself gravitating to on really bad days. And I could not, for the life of me, tell you why. I don't think it's even very good, really. Retired cop-turned-writer is forced by an assassin into telling his life story, while sort of maybe helping him go up against a crime boss at the same time. It ends in death and redemption, because of course it does. But ... I love it, I really do, and I couldn't explain if I tried. I don't know why this is the movie I go to. It just is.
- LA Confidential (1997). Noir. Just ... noir. Alright, yes, neo-noir rather than the originals (I liked The Big Sleep, there), but still. And Exley, Vincennes and White are sort of the perfect main trio who you despise in distinct but equal ways at the start (and most of the way through, for that matter), but end up feeling such sympathy for by the end. And it's all broken and hopeless but there's flashes of grace, and I love this movie, yes? *shakes head* I do love it.
- Enemy Mine (1985). You know how I have a thing, in stories, for characters who are enemies who have to work together, and find mercy and honour unlooked for in each other? Yeah. This is where that started, I think. This movie. And the bit at the end, where Davidge brings Zammis to Drac to recite his ancestry because he promised Jeriba he would raise Zammis as a Drac, and how Davidge's name is added to that ancestry thereafter ... This movie. Very much. Yes?
- The Court Jester (1956). Comedy. Danny Kaye. Sword fights. Three scheming women who all have reasons. Angela Lansbury. The pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle. The Maladjusted Jester song. Just ... everything. This whole movie. Everything ever, and I love it.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Noir. I have a thing, okay? (You can add Dark City, LA Confidential above, and you have my neo-noir trine of awesome). Also, toon craziness, leaning heavily on the fourth wall, and love and honour in really weird (and really crazy) places. Toon Town is a lunatic asylum, but the story and the characters are so perfect.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). I did not understand this movie for years. I mean, I got the bits with the aliens and the mad science and the music, but, uh, the whole sexual-awakening end of the movie? Which was the whole point? Completely missed me. Okay. I got 'Toucha toucha touch me', because I'm not actually brain dead, but the whole thing where Frank made Rocky to be a sex slave? Nada. (This is partially me being dim about these things, and partially seeing this movie pretty young). So. This movie is somewhat complicated for me, because it took me years to figure out what the hell I was watching, but in the end ... Well. The music, the gaudiness, the craziness, and the mad aliens from outer space. I'll just go with that and call it good. *grins faintly* 'Frankenstein Place' is still one of my favourite songs ever.
- Young Frankenstein (1974). Speaking of. I saw Gene Wilder first as Willy Wonka. Then in this movie. Then in The Producers. He plays a lot of crazy men, yes? *grins faintly* This movie is just ... I mean. Don't ask. It just is. *shrugs* This is one of those movies we watched as a family to the point where we were quoting the lines ahead of the actors (we do that with a few, like Les Mis the musical, and so on - one of my dad's friends made the mistake of having Young Frank be the first movie he watched with us, which gave him an interesting experience and made him swear off watching films with more than one of us at once). It's just something that's in my head as a family experience, funny and cool and full of in-jokes, which is why it works wonders as comfort film. Heh.
- Strange Days (1995). Noir. Cyberpunk noir. With one of the most badass women I've ever seen in film in the form of Lornette 'Mace' Mason, who kicks ass in a suit with a small armoury of guns in her limo, or in a little black dress with absolutely nothing but grit against a mob, or in smaller, quieter ways where she tells Lenny to get his life back together, he can't always live in dreams. And yes, this entire movie is about Mace for me. About honour and love and patience and guns, and sticking to principles until they get in the way of doing the right thing. And her in a suit with guns. Ah. Questions? Heh.
- And to finish out, Tron (1982). You all know I have a thing for AI, yes? For non-humans, and other worlds, and speculative sci-fi, and also for honour and courage and fighting the bad guy? Um. Yes. Hi, Tron! *waves* Also, I have a thing for visible special effects, which came over from my love of TV sci-fi, and this film ... so much. I love and adore it with all the warm glow of nostalgia, and will never let it go. *grins*
You have to understand, these are mostly films I grew up loving. Because I think most comfort things tend to be things we grew up loving. And the film library (DVD, you don't want to be depending on an internet connection) at home grew up slowly and with input from at least three and usually five people, so ... things could get weird, yes?
- Best Seller (1987). With Brian Dennehy and James Woods. This is my number-one comfort movie, the one I find myself gravitating to on really bad days. And I could not, for the life of me, tell you why. I don't think it's even very good, really. Retired cop-turned-writer is forced by an assassin into telling his life story, while sort of maybe helping him go up against a crime boss at the same time. It ends in death and redemption, because of course it does. But ... I love it, I really do, and I couldn't explain if I tried. I don't know why this is the movie I go to. It just is.
- LA Confidential (1997). Noir. Just ... noir. Alright, yes, neo-noir rather than the originals (I liked The Big Sleep, there), but still. And Exley, Vincennes and White are sort of the perfect main trio who you despise in distinct but equal ways at the start (and most of the way through, for that matter), but end up feeling such sympathy for by the end. And it's all broken and hopeless but there's flashes of grace, and I love this movie, yes? *shakes head* I do love it.
- Enemy Mine (1985). You know how I have a thing, in stories, for characters who are enemies who have to work together, and find mercy and honour unlooked for in each other? Yeah. This is where that started, I think. This movie. And the bit at the end, where Davidge brings Zammis to Drac to recite his ancestry because he promised Jeriba he would raise Zammis as a Drac, and how Davidge's name is added to that ancestry thereafter ... This movie. Very much. Yes?
- The Court Jester (1956). Comedy. Danny Kaye. Sword fights. Three scheming women who all have reasons. Angela Lansbury. The pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle. The Maladjusted Jester song. Just ... everything. This whole movie. Everything ever, and I love it.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Noir. I have a thing, okay? (You can add Dark City, LA Confidential above, and you have my neo-noir trine of awesome). Also, toon craziness, leaning heavily on the fourth wall, and love and honour in really weird (and really crazy) places. Toon Town is a lunatic asylum, but the story and the characters are so perfect.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). I did not understand this movie for years. I mean, I got the bits with the aliens and the mad science and the music, but, uh, the whole sexual-awakening end of the movie? Which was the whole point? Completely missed me. Okay. I got 'Toucha toucha touch me', because I'm not actually brain dead, but the whole thing where Frank made Rocky to be a sex slave? Nada. (This is partially me being dim about these things, and partially seeing this movie pretty young). So. This movie is somewhat complicated for me, because it took me years to figure out what the hell I was watching, but in the end ... Well. The music, the gaudiness, the craziness, and the mad aliens from outer space. I'll just go with that and call it good. *grins faintly* 'Frankenstein Place' is still one of my favourite songs ever.
- Young Frankenstein (1974). Speaking of. I saw Gene Wilder first as Willy Wonka. Then in this movie. Then in The Producers. He plays a lot of crazy men, yes? *grins faintly* This movie is just ... I mean. Don't ask. It just is. *shrugs* This is one of those movies we watched as a family to the point where we were quoting the lines ahead of the actors (we do that with a few, like Les Mis the musical, and so on - one of my dad's friends made the mistake of having Young Frank be the first movie he watched with us, which gave him an interesting experience and made him swear off watching films with more than one of us at once). It's just something that's in my head as a family experience, funny and cool and full of in-jokes, which is why it works wonders as comfort film. Heh.
- Strange Days (1995). Noir. Cyberpunk noir. With one of the most badass women I've ever seen in film in the form of Lornette 'Mace' Mason, who kicks ass in a suit with a small armoury of guns in her limo, or in a little black dress with absolutely nothing but grit against a mob, or in smaller, quieter ways where she tells Lenny to get his life back together, he can't always live in dreams. And yes, this entire movie is about Mace for me. About honour and love and patience and guns, and sticking to principles until they get in the way of doing the right thing. And her in a suit with guns. Ah. Questions? Heh.
- And to finish out, Tron (1982). You all know I have a thing for AI, yes? For non-humans, and other worlds, and speculative sci-fi, and also for honour and courage and fighting the bad guy? Um. Yes. Hi, Tron! *waves* Also, I have a thing for visible special effects, which came over from my love of TV sci-fi, and this film ... so much. I love and adore it with all the warm glow of nostalgia, and will never let it go. *grins*
My comfort series:
These are really my childhood picks. Films and books, I switch up as I go, things getting bumped around the lists as I encounter new ones. But while I meet new series that I love and adore madly, when it comes to comfort, I want my childhood ones. *grins faintly* So.
- The A-team (1980s). Right. So. Genesis? Of so many things? My love of tricksters and cons, primarily (also blame mythology and Looney Tunes). The A-team was just ... I grew up on it. And I've bought the DVDs, and I've rewatched at various points over the years, and the plots don't stand up (if they ever did), and watching when you're slightly older you start to realise how massively implausible so many things were (the helicopter got shot, blew up, hit a cliff, fell down the cliff, blew up again, and we get a voiceover of the crew surviving? Seriously?). But. I don't care, because you're not watching for that, you're watching for Hannibal being crazy and awesome, Murdock being crazy and awesome, BA being ill-tempered and awesome, and Face being sneaky as all hell. And awesome. Then for BA and Murdock and that really bizarre friendship, for Murdock and Face, for Murdock and Hannibal ... Erm. Face was the one I loved watching work (trickster! conman!), but Murdock was the one who sort of glued the team together, so. Heh. Anyway. Childhood central, this show.
- The Incredible Hulk (1970s). You know how I said Enemy Mine was the start of my enemy mine kink, above? Maybe not true, though it was the naming of it. Because ... David Banner and Jack McGee, yes? (Also Kimble and Gerard from the TV Fugitive, and Javert/Valjean from Les Mis, but those came later). My favourite episodes of this show are 'Hulk Breaks Las Vegas', and 'Mystery Man' (I've only gotten the first two seasons on DVD, and can't really remember specific episodes from the others I watched as a kid). Just ... The whole 'hero wandering the earth' thing, and the pursuer/pursued thing, and ... lots. Yes. Um.
- TV Westerns. And I should probably specify, maybe, but seriously. Any of them will do. I found some ones recently (Wild Wild West, Alias Smith and Jones, Magnificent Seven), but sometimes I just want to watch tv westerns and I really will take anything. They'd be on TG4 when I was young. In college, I used to watch The Virginian if I was home for lunch. I was pointed towards Laredo recently too, and I wish there was a way to see The Peacemakers over here. *grins, shrugs* Period costume helps, the whole honour-and-loyalty thing always helps (I have a thing. Have you noticed how I have a thing?). Just. TV westerns, they'll do just fine.
- Miami Vice (1980s). You should probably blame my dad for this one. Well, and rerun programming on the local channels. My entire family watches crime shows as a matter of course (well, since CSI, doesn't everybody?), but this was the oldest love for my Dad. (Well, also Starsky and Hutch, but my Dad used to actually dress like Sonny Crockett). And ... Castillo. Gina. Tubbs. Vice, and the way they all slip gently into it no matter what they do, the way the show actually went there with the corruption and the effect it had on them ... Also, Gina. I loved Gina.
- Man From UNCLE (1960s). Um. You should probably realise, despite the fact that most of my growing up was in the 90s, because of our local stations buying lots of old reruns for cheap, many of my childhood shows were a few decades out. Not that we gave a damn, really. MFU was just fun. Hard to get, now, I've only managed to get the compliation movies on DVD, but never mind. Those'll do for now. (While we're in this vein, though, I also have the original Mission Impossible series on DVD, and the spy thing carried over into the Laundry series above).
- And to finish up, we'll go for Sherlock Holmes (1980s/90s, Granada version). Jeremy Brett. And I'd known the books since I was a kid (my Dad's fault, again, he had this big green hardback copy of the complete collection which I couldn't even lift when I was a kid, which is probably why I remember it so clearly), and which may actually have affected my language development (sometimes I have quite archaic phrasing, I'm told), but I never saw a TV adaptation until around about five years ago, when I found the Granada series on DVD and thought I'd try it. And, um. Yes. So very much. I introduced this one back to my dad, and my DVDs have somehow become his DVDs in the intervening years, but we've agreed to share, so that's fine. And Brett's Holmes is ... erratic and excitable and stern and impatient and values justice and holds a surprising amount of sympathy for the people around him if all you're used to is later Holmes, and is just ... And I love 'The Six Napoleons' (Lestrade) 'The Crooked Man', 'Final Problem/Empty House', 'Musgrave Ritual' (if only for Holmes getting high as a kite and embarrassing Watson), 'Master Blackmailer', 'Abbey Grange' (Holmes is shockingly gentle in this one), 'Dying Detective' (Mrs Hudson ought to have shot him, seriously) ... Um. Yes. I quite like many of these, yes?
These are really my childhood picks. Films and books, I switch up as I go, things getting bumped around the lists as I encounter new ones. But while I meet new series that I love and adore madly, when it comes to comfort, I want my childhood ones. *grins faintly* So.
- The A-team (1980s). Right. So. Genesis? Of so many things? My love of tricksters and cons, primarily (also blame mythology and Looney Tunes). The A-team was just ... I grew up on it. And I've bought the DVDs, and I've rewatched at various points over the years, and the plots don't stand up (if they ever did), and watching when you're slightly older you start to realise how massively implausible so many things were (the helicopter got shot, blew up, hit a cliff, fell down the cliff, blew up again, and we get a voiceover of the crew surviving? Seriously?). But. I don't care, because you're not watching for that, you're watching for Hannibal being crazy and awesome, Murdock being crazy and awesome, BA being ill-tempered and awesome, and Face being sneaky as all hell. And awesome. Then for BA and Murdock and that really bizarre friendship, for Murdock and Face, for Murdock and Hannibal ... Erm. Face was the one I loved watching work (trickster! conman!), but Murdock was the one who sort of glued the team together, so. Heh. Anyway. Childhood central, this show.
- The Incredible Hulk (1970s). You know how I said Enemy Mine was the start of my enemy mine kink, above? Maybe not true, though it was the naming of it. Because ... David Banner and Jack McGee, yes? (Also Kimble and Gerard from the TV Fugitive, and Javert/Valjean from Les Mis, but those came later). My favourite episodes of this show are 'Hulk Breaks Las Vegas', and 'Mystery Man' (I've only gotten the first two seasons on DVD, and can't really remember specific episodes from the others I watched as a kid). Just ... The whole 'hero wandering the earth' thing, and the pursuer/pursued thing, and ... lots. Yes. Um.
- TV Westerns. And I should probably specify, maybe, but seriously. Any of them will do. I found some ones recently (Wild Wild West, Alias Smith and Jones, Magnificent Seven), but sometimes I just want to watch tv westerns and I really will take anything. They'd be on TG4 when I was young. In college, I used to watch The Virginian if I was home for lunch. I was pointed towards Laredo recently too, and I wish there was a way to see The Peacemakers over here. *grins, shrugs* Period costume helps, the whole honour-and-loyalty thing always helps (I have a thing. Have you noticed how I have a thing?). Just. TV westerns, they'll do just fine.
- Miami Vice (1980s). You should probably blame my dad for this one. Well, and rerun programming on the local channels. My entire family watches crime shows as a matter of course (well, since CSI, doesn't everybody?), but this was the oldest love for my Dad. (Well, also Starsky and Hutch, but my Dad used to actually dress like Sonny Crockett). And ... Castillo. Gina. Tubbs. Vice, and the way they all slip gently into it no matter what they do, the way the show actually went there with the corruption and the effect it had on them ... Also, Gina. I loved Gina.
- Man From UNCLE (1960s). Um. You should probably realise, despite the fact that most of my growing up was in the 90s, because of our local stations buying lots of old reruns for cheap, many of my childhood shows were a few decades out. Not that we gave a damn, really. MFU was just fun. Hard to get, now, I've only managed to get the compliation movies on DVD, but never mind. Those'll do for now. (While we're in this vein, though, I also have the original Mission Impossible series on DVD, and the spy thing carried over into the Laundry series above).
- And to finish up, we'll go for Sherlock Holmes (1980s/90s, Granada version). Jeremy Brett. And I'd known the books since I was a kid (my Dad's fault, again, he had this big green hardback copy of the complete collection which I couldn't even lift when I was a kid, which is probably why I remember it so clearly), and which may actually have affected my language development (sometimes I have quite archaic phrasing, I'm told), but I never saw a TV adaptation until around about five years ago, when I found the Granada series on DVD and thought I'd try it. And, um. Yes. So very much. I introduced this one back to my dad, and my DVDs have somehow become his DVDs in the intervening years, but we've agreed to share, so that's fine. And Brett's Holmes is ... erratic and excitable and stern and impatient and values justice and holds a surprising amount of sympathy for the people around him if all you're used to is later Holmes, and is just ... And I love 'The Six Napoleons' (Lestrade) 'The Crooked Man', 'Final Problem/Empty House', 'Musgrave Ritual' (if only for Holmes getting high as a kite and embarrassing Watson), 'Master Blackmailer', 'Abbey Grange' (Holmes is shockingly gentle in this one), 'Dying Detective' (Mrs Hudson ought to have shot him, seriously) ... Um. Yes. I quite like many of these, yes?
And on top of all those, I could name you about a dozen or so cartoon series that I also gravitate towards under stress (DCAU, Avengers: EMH, Transformers, Pirates of Dark Water, Jonny Quest, etc). And these are ... far from comprehensive, either.
Media is my escape, yes? Stories. *smiles sheepishly* I read, I watch, I devour. I also write. Fanfic, a lot. Also many of my own (see 'original fic' tags for the universes), long and complicated stories that don't really end. I live my life in a network of a billion stories, and it carries me though ... quite a lot, really. Heh. *shrugs, smiles* And so.
