Challenge 11: MG TV series pitch
Sep. 10th, 2008 02:38 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
quill-shadow.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
lkh_lashoutsI decided to take the plunge. With Merry Gentry, no less, though I changed quite a lot - I think the jargon for it is 're-imagined'?
Disclaimer: I do not own the Merry Gentry series, or any of the characters, plots,or bad sex scenes (wait, that's covered by 'plot' here, isn't it?) from the series. I also do not own the world she created within the series (which is frankly the only part I'd want to own).
Series Title: The Dark Court
Main characters:
Merry Gentry - a changeling, raised among humans and until the first episode completely unaware that she is anything more than a human with distant fae ancestry. When the series starts she has just left college and is twenty-one. She is shocked when Doyle and Frost bring her to the court, and then fascinated by this new world to which she is supposed to belong, although her human upbringing gets her into a lot of trouble.
The Dark Queen - a sidhe who rules the Unseelie court. She is Merry's aunt, and has her brought to the court when she reaches twenty-one - officially because she has the right to know about her ancestry, having reached her majority, but really so that Prince Cel, the Dark Queen's son, has a bride of their own bloodline available. She expects him to prove himself a worthy successor by winning Merry over.
Doyle - one of the Dark Queen's most loyal guards, he is sent with Frost to collect Merry from the human world, and ordered to act as her bodyguard once she is in the court. No interest in Merry (not just sexually; literally ignores her completely except as far as the Dark Queen's orders involve her).
Frost - another of the Dark Queen's guards, sent with Doyle to collect Merry from the human world and ordered to act as her bodyguard once she is in the court. He regards Merry as an ill-mannered child, and doesn't like having to guard her, but he is as loyal to the Queen as Doyle is and obeys her orders to the best of his abilities.
Prince Cel - insane, bloodthirsty, undisciplined. A certain amount of cunning, but his mother is not convinced that he has enough to be a worthy successor. His only real interest in Merry is to make sure that no one else can use a relationship with her to claim a right to the throne of the Unseelie Court.
Galen - has little influence of his own in the court, and has survived by avoiding the wrong sort of notice. Is interested in Merry as a way of improving his status. Does not think that he could win the throne even with her support; just wants more security regarding his place in the court. Merry is not interested in him, but he hopes to change her mind.
Griffin - somewhat more power than Galen, which makes him arrogant, but not one of the leaders of the court. He thinks that if he could persuade Merry to marry him, he would have a chance at the throne. He is too arrogant to believe that Merry might not be interested in him, so he thinks she is just playing hard-to-get. Because he is wooing her, he is more polite to her than might be expected of him.
Keelin - half-goblin girl who befriends Merry. She explains court ettiquette and politics when Merry gets confused by them. She is the one who tells Merry that her arrival has caused a great deal of interest because, as the niece of the Dark Queen, she could potentially give someone a lot of power in the 'games' of court politics.
Recurring characters:
Siobhan - Prince Cel's main bodyguard. She is insanely loyal to him (and possibly literally insane, even by fae standards). She regards Merry as a threat, though it is never clear whether she means a threat to Cel or a threat to her personally, or what kind of threat Merry could be. Known to sometimes 'disappear' from the court for a while; no one wants to think about why, although her disappearances tend to coincide with the death/mutilation/both of someone outside the court who has upset Prince Cel.
Barinthus - a friend of Merry's father, which means that he sometimes feels obligated to help her out of her latest scrape. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to his decisions as to whether he will help her this time; sometimes she is in a lot of danger and he does not lift a finger, but he saves her life at least once in the series and helps her again after that.
Merry's Grandmother - a half-brownie, who immediately takes to Merry and is often her confidant and shoulder to cry on. Her position in the court is difficult to determine; she is not a great lady, but none of the members of court are willing to risk upsetting her. This means that she can provide Merry with a safe place when she needs one.
Lord of the Wild Hunt - the King of the Sluagh, he is a dangerous creature, but he does try to control himself around Merry and has never actually -hurt- her. He dislikes everything to do with the sidhe of the Unseelie Court, but is less disgusted with her because she has not been in the court for very long. He thinks she might be a useful ally if he could win her over.
Demi-fey Queen - might see Merry as an ally or a pawn; it seems to change from moment to moment. Merry doesn't trust her at all.
Goblin King - shows up occasionally at the court to watch what happens to Merry, and once or twice offers her some useful advice or knowledge. At the end of the season, we learn that he has been using Keelin to influence Merry.
(Some of the) Changes:
- As much as I thought I could get away with about Merry Gentry, including her interest in having a relationship with anyone. Having just found out that she is practically immortal, she has filed finding true love under 'for later' and is exploring her new world. I also want her to be more naive about the rules, instead of outright weak and waffling the way that Merry is portrayed in the books.
- How the other characters relate to Merry.
- Royalty in this world tend not to risk letting people know their true names (as Keelin will explain to Merry). The fact that Prince Cel does is another sign of his arrogance, and one more reason why his mother thinks he might not deserve to rule her court.
- The Dark Queen is not emotionally out of control like Andais in the books; she does care for her son, but she has not let that blind her to what he is like.
- The Wild Hunt, the Demi-fay, and the Goblins are all seperate courts who are loosely allied to the Unseelie, which is specifically 'evil' sidhe.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Merry Gentry series, or any of the characters, plots,
Series Title: The Dark Court
Main characters:
Merry Gentry - a changeling, raised among humans and until the first episode completely unaware that she is anything more than a human with distant fae ancestry. When the series starts she has just left college and is twenty-one. She is shocked when Doyle and Frost bring her to the court, and then fascinated by this new world to which she is supposed to belong, although her human upbringing gets her into a lot of trouble.
The Dark Queen - a sidhe who rules the Unseelie court. She is Merry's aunt, and has her brought to the court when she reaches twenty-one - officially because she has the right to know about her ancestry, having reached her majority, but really so that Prince Cel, the Dark Queen's son, has a bride of their own bloodline available. She expects him to prove himself a worthy successor by winning Merry over.
Doyle - one of the Dark Queen's most loyal guards, he is sent with Frost to collect Merry from the human world, and ordered to act as her bodyguard once she is in the court. No interest in Merry (not just sexually; literally ignores her completely except as far as the Dark Queen's orders involve her).
Frost - another of the Dark Queen's guards, sent with Doyle to collect Merry from the human world and ordered to act as her bodyguard once she is in the court. He regards Merry as an ill-mannered child, and doesn't like having to guard her, but he is as loyal to the Queen as Doyle is and obeys her orders to the best of his abilities.
Prince Cel - insane, bloodthirsty, undisciplined. A certain amount of cunning, but his mother is not convinced that he has enough to be a worthy successor. His only real interest in Merry is to make sure that no one else can use a relationship with her to claim a right to the throne of the Unseelie Court.
Galen - has little influence of his own in the court, and has survived by avoiding the wrong sort of notice. Is interested in Merry as a way of improving his status. Does not think that he could win the throne even with her support; just wants more security regarding his place in the court. Merry is not interested in him, but he hopes to change her mind.
Griffin - somewhat more power than Galen, which makes him arrogant, but not one of the leaders of the court. He thinks that if he could persuade Merry to marry him, he would have a chance at the throne. He is too arrogant to believe that Merry might not be interested in him, so he thinks she is just playing hard-to-get. Because he is wooing her, he is more polite to her than might be expected of him.
Keelin - half-goblin girl who befriends Merry. She explains court ettiquette and politics when Merry gets confused by them. She is the one who tells Merry that her arrival has caused a great deal of interest because, as the niece of the Dark Queen, she could potentially give someone a lot of power in the 'games' of court politics.
Recurring characters:
Siobhan - Prince Cel's main bodyguard. She is insanely loyal to him (and possibly literally insane, even by fae standards). She regards Merry as a threat, though it is never clear whether she means a threat to Cel or a threat to her personally, or what kind of threat Merry could be. Known to sometimes 'disappear' from the court for a while; no one wants to think about why, although her disappearances tend to coincide with the death/mutilation/both of someone outside the court who has upset Prince Cel.
Barinthus - a friend of Merry's father, which means that he sometimes feels obligated to help her out of her latest scrape. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to his decisions as to whether he will help her this time; sometimes she is in a lot of danger and he does not lift a finger, but he saves her life at least once in the series and helps her again after that.
Merry's Grandmother - a half-brownie, who immediately takes to Merry and is often her confidant and shoulder to cry on. Her position in the court is difficult to determine; she is not a great lady, but none of the members of court are willing to risk upsetting her. This means that she can provide Merry with a safe place when she needs one.
Lord of the Wild Hunt - the King of the Sluagh, he is a dangerous creature, but he does try to control himself around Merry and has never actually -hurt- her. He dislikes everything to do with the sidhe of the Unseelie Court, but is less disgusted with her because she has not been in the court for very long. He thinks she might be a useful ally if he could win her over.
Demi-fey Queen - might see Merry as an ally or a pawn; it seems to change from moment to moment. Merry doesn't trust her at all.
Goblin King - shows up occasionally at the court to watch what happens to Merry, and once or twice offers her some useful advice or knowledge. At the end of the season, we learn that he has been using Keelin to influence Merry.
(Some of the) Changes:
- As much as I thought I could get away with about Merry Gentry, including her interest in having a relationship with anyone. Having just found out that she is practically immortal, she has filed finding true love under 'for later' and is exploring her new world. I also want her to be more naive about the rules, instead of outright weak and waffling the way that Merry is portrayed in the books.
- How the other characters relate to Merry.
- Royalty in this world tend not to risk letting people know their true names (as Keelin will explain to Merry). The fact that Prince Cel does is another sign of his arrogance, and one more reason why his mother thinks he might not deserve to rule her court.
- The Dark Queen is not emotionally out of control like Andais in the books; she does care for her son, but she has not let that blind her to what he is like.
- The Wild Hunt, the Demi-fay, and the Goblins are all seperate courts who are loosely allied to the Unseelie, which is specifically 'evil' sidhe.
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Date: 2008-09-10 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-11 02:50 pm (UTC)Thanks! Part of that might actually come from the fact that when I was reading the first Merry Gentry I spent the entire book waiting for the reveal of Galen's secret attempts to manipulate Merry so that he would have more power in court. It really did seem to me that LKH was building up to that - blame a mixture of gullibility and wishful thinking. I thought, 'She must be going on about how wonderful to her Galen is to give the point where he betrays her more emotional impact.' And then my hopes were crushed. [sighs] I think that Galen in the Dark Court series would still be pretty nice, but he'd be looking out for number one.