A Different View - Review Version

Topic: Bawk bawk bukawk? buk buk bawk buk bukawk!

Users: @gkscotty @Graham @SuzyQ

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[Archonix]

Well here it is, the definitive, final, absolutely finished version.

A Different View



Rating - PG (some violence and swearing)

Plot Summary

An accident in the Professor's lab changes Fry in to a woman, and has more profound consequences that alter the very course of history itself. Now, whilst having to deal with the changes in her personal life, and a new-found friendship, the new Philippa Fry and the crew have to battle to prevent a sinister alien conspiracy that reaches to the very heard of the Democratic Order of Planets in a quest that may force them all to make a sacrifice almost too difficult to comprehend.

Incidentally, the "soundtrack" mentioned at the end is available on request. It's a personal conceit, nothing more.

Also: Some art related to this fic can be found starting here. Brows through the thread to see what you can find and enjoy the rest, too, why not?

[Archonix]

Chaptered versions for easy spot marking.

[Lisabella]

Short review: This remins Good Stuff. 

I forgot to say in my first review how much I like the Phi/Bender stuff.  When taking on a plot like this people often overlook how the robot who's arguably Fry's closest friend would react to such a change, and you handle it in this fic so very well.  Everything Bender says and does in reaction to Phi is believable.

In short - a fic with a wee bit for everyone.  You have some well-written action, a little humor, some very interesting drama, sci-fi elements, bits of romantic interaction and wee bits of slice of life.  None of these elements overpower each other and all mix up well and make a beautiful picture.

All in all, well worth reading. 

Final Rating: A

[Wilde Gray Yonder]

First of all: I've done a bit of beta-reading work with this story, so if this review seems overly gushy, it's because I've already made all the nitpicks I could think of.

I enjoyed this very much. I won't pretend I'm fond of the gender-switch premise, but it's redeemed by what you've done with it. The fact that it's really only an accessary to the more momentous plot about the invasion makes it less clichéd, and it is handled maturely throughout. Like Missy, I'm impressed with Fry's interaction with Bender: it makes the point that losing a friendship can be as sad as losing a love, which I don't see a lot of in most stories. The central dilemma is well done, and builds up to some very nice Leela moments in their fight. The ending is a twist, in the best way possible: unexpected, but not for the sake of it. Bittersweet without being clichéd.

Characterisation is flawless, as far as I can tell. Fry is particularly impressive, but I also enjoyed Bender, Leela and Zapp. Samuel isn't given all that much depth, but he doesn't have to, seeing how he's a minor character anyway. The Ruklisk make for good melodramatic villains.

The writing style is perhaps your best so far, with some beautiful descriptions (the opening sucks you in, and I also like the events when Fry repeats the experiment at the end). This is a drama, obviously, but where there are jokes, they are hilarious.

There's very little not to like here. There is the occasionally slow moment, and the plot felt quite complicated in places, but over all, as Missy says, this fic has a bit of everything. It even made me feel a bit teary-eyed in places.

And now I want to find out what happened after

Spoiler (hover to show)

Leela's and Samuel's wedding

My rating: A.

[Assistant Crone]

Putting the whole thing in spoilers, why not:

Spoiler (hover to show)

First of all, congratulations for getting a proper story out of a subject that, ‘til now, was an excuse to write about boobs or how wimmen be different than men. It kept me interested and I’m glad you’re continuing to write it.

Good stuff: The end of the introduction; very Fry. The secondary characters are in-character and given attention throughout the plot (even Zoidberg!). I liked seeing Kif in his military role away from Zapp, and Arnk – hope there’s more on the Amphibiosians in future plots. Zapp himself was absolutely hilarious and had some of my favourite lines (“Leela. So, we meet again. The game is on the other foot.” is perfect). The expression ‘making eye’.

 I’m glad Bender made an effort to hold onto his friendship with Fry, and there’s a lovely bit where Fry’s discussing Leela with Samuel and gives ‘forgiveness’ as a reason why she (Leela)’s so valuable to her. Sam himself is of course a likeable (and, importantly, unobtrusive) character and gives stability to the relationships plot. He could be a little too stable, and I wonder if anything might happen to break him down a bit further on.


Some of the following problems might be due to me being thick, but here goes: Perhaps the biggest problem is the Ruklisk’s motivation. They’re wonderfully creepy, but are they just there to be evil? Then there was the instant decommissioning of 95% of the DOOP fleet. (I don’t think Glab was enslaved at that point). Why so soon? They must have tons of enemies. It seems unlikely that they’d put so much trust in long-term enemies so quickly, and the outcome could even suggest that trusting enemies is pointless. Then again, Glab has made big decisions for no good reason. (Loved that the Ruklisk initially had some respect for Zapp, btw).


The gender-switchery is complicated () and I’m hesitant to try and unpick it because Fry’s new personality could be as much due to how she thinks she’s expected to behave as due to her change in hormone levels. I’m happy that you made it more complex than ‘wimmen be different than men,’ but there’s this rather odd statement from Fry towards the end:

“I thought I was pursuing her because of some sort of pure love, but all I really wanted to do was screw her brains out.”

 Large pieces of canon contradict this – Parasites Lost, for example. Fry willingly gave up the chance to screw Leela’s brains out in order to pursue that pure love.


The last problem I can see is the explanation that the dead spiffy silver thing gives Fry for her gender switch.

“Your subconscious desired to be close to Leela, or closer than could be achieved as a male. Your culture has somehow impressed upon your ego that women will be necessarily closer to other women than men, no matter how intimate they become. Consequently your desire to be close to Leela expressed itself as a desire to be like Leela. And so you were.”

Fry obviously admires Leela and has often tried to learn from her, but I don’t see how that closeness is restricted to gender in a future world where intelligent beings of all sorts get on pretty well, and which Fry fits into far better than she did her 1900s life. Leela isn’t the most feminine of characters, either.


The end works out well, but there’s an odd sense of Leela getting exactly what she wants – a more mature version of Fry (as referred to in her diary) plus original Fry’s friendship. I wonder whether she’ll have to give anything up as the plot goes on, or whether Sam will have concerns caused by his resemblance to Fry.


You’ve created an intriguing world and I hope it goes on. Hooray for your inspiration!

ETA: Forgot the rating. I give it ten smiling Zoidbergs!

[Archonix]

Well, thanks for the review! And you others too, thanks, I should have said something before...

Anyway, Beb, to specifically answer a couple of your questions:

The ruklisk are evil bastards. It's what they do.

Spoiler (hover to show)

The decomissioning is loosely based on the behaviour of the British government right after the end of World War 2, when the incoming labour government decided that the new era of peace meant they could scrap the majority of the royal navy just in time for the Korean war. Then they did it again just in time for the Falklands War. The point was that politicians are stupid and don't think ahead. Except when tax is involved...

The other thing, about the silvery dude, is; Fry might well fit in to the 31st century society well enough but he - or she, I suppose - is still a product of 20th century thinking and a large part of that thinking still informs men that they can't have an intimate relationship with women on the same level as women can have with each other.

Now here comes the bit where I sound like a first year media studies student...

A lot of it also comes down to Fry's own perception of Fry. Actions that a man might consider to be motivated by pure thoughts may well be considered by a woman to be motivated by simple lust, if she were a cynic. New Fry's perception of the Old Fry could be biased by a subconscious need to conform to a possibly idealised feminine norm which would cause her to view previously positive actions in a more negative light. The problem, of course, is that it's difficult to get that explanation across in a story without turning it into a lecture on gender roles and crap.

I swear I wasn't thinking any of this when I wrote it. It's all after the fact! Honest!

We need a zoidberg smiley.

[Enhas]

Since I'm lazy and want to say the same thing I did before, here's my post lifted from FMMB:

I've read the whole thing, and I thought it was a really good story.  Very different from most stuff I've read, but done pretty well.  It makes things much easier to remind yourself throughout when reading that Philippa is not really Fry anymore (more like, she's a woman with Fry's memories and is struggling to find her place in things).

Hope to see a sequel sometime and a few pictures to go with it, including Samuel (who in my mind looks like a slightly different-looking Fry with longer brown hair, sort of like Yancy).  Actually, it'd be nice if this whole story / series was illustrated like some of coldangel's are, but it'd probably take too long.

Rating: A- (minor spelling errors / word usage, and a few wrong uses of "he" and "him", but nothing that really detracts from the story)

As for "A Different View 2" (or whatever it would be named), I said before in chat that Philippa should be eventually paired off with someone.  Well, here's an idea I have:

- Due to one of their new contracts from the party, a new liaison is sent back and forth from that company to Planet Express (ie. a delivery boy).
- He's a bit of an idiot but has a good heart (like Fry), and would start showing interest in Philippa.
- Philippa would see what it was like from Leela's point of view after being pined after by someone she doesn't love (at least at first).

I know that you're doing Parallel Lives next, but I look forward to a sequel (and maybe more) of this story.  Never mind what everyone on PEEL says.  And if you ever do a Universe-1 crossover I'd see something like this happening:

Fry-1: Well, we're in weird-colored land again.  Everything's just so wrong!
Leela-1: There's no box around, so we have to figure out why we're here.  Come on, Fry!  We should find the other me.
Fry-1: The purple-haired one?  She was like, really stuck up the last time we saw her!  Uh, no offense!
Leela-1: Actually, I agree.

(Later, when they are at Planet Express)

Leela-1: I never thought I'd see you again!  You're like the big nosy sister I never had!
Leela-A: It's nice, (glances at Fry-1 for a few moments) and a bit awkward.
Leela-1: Well, what have you been up to?
Leela-A (Holding out her hand to show off her ring): I'm married!
Leela-1: Congratulations!
Fry-1: Yay!  I score again!  I'm the greatest and belong with Leela no matter what universe I'm in!  Whoop!  Whoop!
Leela-1: So, you decided to take my advice?
Leela-A (Nervously): Not exactly.. I'm not married to Fry, if that's what you're thinking.  I met this lovely coffee-shop owner, and..
Philippa (after entering the room): Leela, I think we're out of french vanilla cappuccino.. oh.  What the..
(Leela-1 and Fry-1 look completely shocked)
Fry-1: You mean, you're married to..
Leela-A (suddenly realizing what the situation looks like, and is embarassed): No!  Philippa is my best friend, and I'm married to Samuel!  Samuel, who is a man!  A man!
Philippa: Why is the Universe-1 Leela and the other, uh.. person doing here?  I thought that we didn't have the box with their universe in it anymore.
Fry-1: Leela, who's the redhead?  She kind of looks like a younger, hotter version of my mother.. wait, that sounds weird even for me!
(Leela-1 hits his arm)
Leela-A: Well, I could drag this out but I think it's better to get it out all at once.  Philippa, would you be alright if I told them?
Philippa (nodding head): Sure.  But I wonder which one of them will take it better?  If I know Fry, he'll probably freak right out or something!
Fry-1: Hey!  How do you know me? (Turning to Leela-1) Leela, are you sure that we haven't ended up in an episode of The Scary Door?
Leela-A: The easiest way to start is.. is that Fry isn't around anymore.
Leela-1: You mean.. is he dead?
Leela-A: What?  No, of course not!  Over a year ago, there was an accident in the Professor's lab and he was badly hurt.
Fry-1: So, he's in a hospital but in a coma or something?  How could you do this, Universe-A Leela?  If I know me, he'd still be trying to win you over but you went and got married to someone else!  He told me a lot of stuff before I went back home, and then we had a Slurm drinking contest!
Philippa (interrupting): No, he's not in the hospital.. she's here.  And I won that contest!  You really couldn't hold your Slurm, but I probably couldn't now either!
Leela-1 (looking to Leela-A): You mean, she's..
Leela-A: Meet Philippa Fry, Delivery-Girl first class of Planet Express!
Fry-1: Kinky. (Passes out)
Philippa: That went well.

I just had a few ideas to throw out and I don't expect you to use them, but they were fun to make up.  Again, A- for A Different View, but a high A-.

(Edit: Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this kind of stuff, but I didn't know where else I should have posted it.)

[Archonix]

Ahhh... now that's funny.

Thanks for the comments, don't worry about posting it here. Makes it easier for me to, ah... borrow.