ext_179632 ([identity profile] bradamante13.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] crack_van2008-01-16 10:41 pm

Xena / Gilbert & Sullivan (G)

Title: Xena; or, The Warrior Princess, by Kevin Wald
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Kevin Wald
Why this must be read:

There's really no way to describe this. It's one of the main reasons I wanted to recommend
Xena stories this month (and why I waited in line for a year!), only to miss cross-over day. Can I get credit by saying that yesterday was also my birthday? Anyway, this is one of the most amazing, and funniest, pieces of fan fiction I've ever read. Technically it's a filk, which is a song whose lyrics have been redone by a fan. For anyone who likes Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas, or even who's seen one once, you'll find this hilarious. It's to the tune of a famous song from "Pirates of Penzance", and not only does it scan perfectly (i.e. the words line up EXACTLY to the music, which is a feat in and of itself), but it's completely in keeping with the style of Xena, right down to the sly asides (subtext!) and stage directions. It even has footnotes, and is amazingly erudite! The rhymes are just amazing, too.

A brief quote:
"But though the kinked chronology, confusing and chimerical
(It's often unhistorical, but rarely unhysterical),
Would give a massive heart attack to any antiquarian,
I am the very model of a heroine barbarian!"

Any fan of Xena, or G&S, or both, who hasn't seen this is in for a treat. I dare you to try to read this without at least singing it in your head, if not out loud. Enjoy!

Plain Version: Xena; or, The Warrior Princess or Heroine Barbarian which has a sound file link in case you can't remember the tune.

[identity profile] joandarck.livejournal.com 2008-01-17 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
Beautiful!

[identity profile] azdak.livejournal.com 2008-01-17 07:52 am (UTC)(link)
Absolutely bloody brilliant. Quite restores one's faith in humanity. :;wipes tear from eye::
wendelah1: (Default)

[personal profile] wendelah1 2008-01-17 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
This is terrific!

[identity profile] greenlily.livejournal.com 2008-01-17 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Every time the MIT Gilbert and Sullivan Players do Pirates, someone prints this out and posts it on the wall of our greenroom. It's great to watch the new fish read it...they stand there and mouth the words to themselves while they read, then they get to the end and shriek "Oh my God! This is the best thing ever! You have to read this!!!"

I'm apt to run into Kevin sometime this weekend, in the course of the MIT Mystery Hunt, and I'll have to make sure to tell him he's been recced. :)