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The Bagenders by Lady Alyssa and Random Dent (NC-17)
Title: The Bagenders
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Author: Random Dent and Lady Alyssa
Authors website: The website homepage seems to be down at the moment, although the links work for this story.
Pairing: Various. In slashy interludes: Aragorn/Boromir, Aragorn/Legolas, Merry/Pippin, Merry/Frodo, Sam/Frodo. Mention of het: Aragorn/Arwen, Pippin/other, Sam/other.
Rating: Ranging from PG-13 to NC-17
Why this must be read:
History became legend.
Legend became myth.
And myth became a three-bedroomed semi...
The Bagenders series answers one of the most pressing questions about Lord of the Rings: What would happen if the Fellowship were immortal and living in present-day Britain in a three-bedroom semi?
From such humble beginnings comes a saga which is well and truly out of control. From Frodo's unfortunate Sectioning under the Mental Health Act and propensity to hide in the
side-board, to Aragorn's present job as a park ranger and odd ability to blend in with the wallpaper to Gandalf's channelling of Father Jack and Legolas's sadly understandable neuroses, this series is side-splitting from the first episode.
Not only do the authors slyly poke fun at the typically serious representations of the Fellowship - even Tolkien had a joke at their expense occasionally - but they also cover the pitfalls of house-sharing and take a huge delight in lampooning and affectionately mocking Very British Insitutions. Without being hugely derivative, there are definite nods to Father Ted, Men Behaving Badly and possibly even The Young Ones. Don't underestimate them, however, the authors know their stuff but instead of throttling the story with Tolkien trivia, blend it subtly into the action.
One of my favourite things about this series is the fact that the authors use a bunch of minor characters who had a big impact in the book but who never made it into the films.
Elladan and Ellrohir (Arwen's brothers) steal every scene as Surfer! Elves - "Like, hey, little dude!" - Radagast the Brown (fellow wizard) puts Gandalf in drag as part of a cunning plan, Legolas's father Thranduil turns up for Christmas (and does a nice impersonation of the father in Sons and Lovers) and even the Valar get a starring role.
From mountains of porn to possessed fridges (and elves) to holidays in Center Parcs and outings to Whitby, this series is a riot and just when you think it can't get funnier or more outrageous - it invariably does.
Thoughtfully thinking of everyone, the authors have also included what they call 'Random Non Plot Defining Slashy Interludes' which can be skipped if slash isn't your thing or hugely enjoyed if it is.
This is probably one of the very best humour/parody works on Lord of the Rings in the fandom. Personally, I rate it higher than The Very Secret Diaries with the added bonus of a new episode every so often. Each episode can be read as a stand-alone but there is also a faint trance of continuity through the seasons.
Incidentally, most of the episode titles are corruptions of chapter titles in Lord of the Rings: a nice cross-section would be, The Long-Awaited Psychotic Incident, The Flight to the Ford Fiesta and The Karoke of Elrond. It's also worth reading the
authors' notes because they are also very funny. And occasionally informative.
Choosing excerpts has been extremely difficult over the last month (and will probably be next month when I'm doing the Lotrips recs) and this one really did me in. I've chosen a brief extract from one of the later episodes, And the Sign said: Center Parcs
The last few days, which should have been spent constructively packing and trying to crowbar Gandalf out of his chair, were actually spent trying to prevent various members of the household from killing each other. This in itself was nothing unusual, what was strange
was who was having homicidal thoughts, and about who.
It had all started on Thursday evening when Frodo had been hiding in the sideboard because Legolas had decided that the group needed a little more culture and had tried to make them watch a film version of Wagner's 'Ring Cycle', which in retrospect had probably been a bad idea - next time he would just go for something less controversial, like 'The Magic Flute', although he could imagine the kind of comments that Merry and Pippin could come up with if
someone mentioned any kind of vaguely suggestive musical instrument (and this being Merry and Pippin this included everything up to and including the xylophone).
Frodo had been in the sideboard for almost half an hour when Sam had finally tried to start coaxing him out again, but Frodo had not been entirely ready (perhaps because Gandalf was sitting next to it humming the same four bars of 'Ride of the Valkyries' over and over) and when Sam had opened the door, kicked him so hard that it was a damn good job he wasn't married any more. Merry and Pippin tried the pro-active method of grabbing Frodo's legs and
dragging him out of the door at the other end, but Sam, still being protective of Frodo, did not like to see him manhandled and tried to make Merry and Pippin let go of him. The upshot of this was that the three Hobbits outside of the sideboard had turned into three angry, hairy, balls of flailing fists, hitting everything and everyone within reach and wrongly blaming most of the damage sustained to themselves and the house on the other two. The upshot of this was that none of the three of them were talking to each other, or talking to Frodo, because it was all his fault for being insane and hiding in the sideboard in the
first place. Frodo, the eldest of the Hobbits, had reacted to this in the most childish way possible by deciding that if they weren't talking to him, he wasn't talking to them either, and that the sideboard incidents were not his fault.
The Hobbits didn't fall out very often, only once a decade or so, but when they did, they did it with style, or, a complete lack thereof.
The Bagenders by Lady Alyssa and Random Flatmate
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Author: Random Dent and Lady Alyssa
Authors website: The website homepage seems to be down at the moment, although the links work for this story.
Pairing: Various. In slashy interludes: Aragorn/Boromir, Aragorn/Legolas, Merry/Pippin, Merry/Frodo, Sam/Frodo. Mention of het: Aragorn/Arwen, Pippin/other, Sam/other.
Rating: Ranging from PG-13 to NC-17
Why this must be read:
History became legend.
Legend became myth.
And myth became a three-bedroomed semi...
The Bagenders series answers one of the most pressing questions about Lord of the Rings: What would happen if the Fellowship were immortal and living in present-day Britain in a three-bedroom semi?
From such humble beginnings comes a saga which is well and truly out of control. From Frodo's unfortunate Sectioning under the Mental Health Act and propensity to hide in the
side-board, to Aragorn's present job as a park ranger and odd ability to blend in with the wallpaper to Gandalf's channelling of Father Jack and Legolas's sadly understandable neuroses, this series is side-splitting from the first episode.
Not only do the authors slyly poke fun at the typically serious representations of the Fellowship - even Tolkien had a joke at their expense occasionally - but they also cover the pitfalls of house-sharing and take a huge delight in lampooning and affectionately mocking Very British Insitutions. Without being hugely derivative, there are definite nods to Father Ted, Men Behaving Badly and possibly even The Young Ones. Don't underestimate them, however, the authors know their stuff but instead of throttling the story with Tolkien trivia, blend it subtly into the action.
One of my favourite things about this series is the fact that the authors use a bunch of minor characters who had a big impact in the book but who never made it into the films.
Elladan and Ellrohir (Arwen's brothers) steal every scene as Surfer! Elves - "Like, hey, little dude!" - Radagast the Brown (fellow wizard) puts Gandalf in drag as part of a cunning plan, Legolas's father Thranduil turns up for Christmas (and does a nice impersonation of the father in Sons and Lovers) and even the Valar get a starring role.
From mountains of porn to possessed fridges (and elves) to holidays in Center Parcs and outings to Whitby, this series is a riot and just when you think it can't get funnier or more outrageous - it invariably does.
Thoughtfully thinking of everyone, the authors have also included what they call 'Random Non Plot Defining Slashy Interludes' which can be skipped if slash isn't your thing or hugely enjoyed if it is.
This is probably one of the very best humour/parody works on Lord of the Rings in the fandom. Personally, I rate it higher than The Very Secret Diaries with the added bonus of a new episode every so often. Each episode can be read as a stand-alone but there is also a faint trance of continuity through the seasons.
Incidentally, most of the episode titles are corruptions of chapter titles in Lord of the Rings: a nice cross-section would be, The Long-Awaited Psychotic Incident, The Flight to the Ford Fiesta and The Karoke of Elrond. It's also worth reading the
authors' notes because they are also very funny. And occasionally informative.
Choosing excerpts has been extremely difficult over the last month (and will probably be next month when I'm doing the Lotrips recs) and this one really did me in. I've chosen a brief extract from one of the later episodes, And the Sign said: Center Parcs
The last few days, which should have been spent constructively packing and trying to crowbar Gandalf out of his chair, were actually spent trying to prevent various members of the household from killing each other. This in itself was nothing unusual, what was strange
was who was having homicidal thoughts, and about who.
It had all started on Thursday evening when Frodo had been hiding in the sideboard because Legolas had decided that the group needed a little more culture and had tried to make them watch a film version of Wagner's 'Ring Cycle', which in retrospect had probably been a bad idea - next time he would just go for something less controversial, like 'The Magic Flute', although he could imagine the kind of comments that Merry and Pippin could come up with if
someone mentioned any kind of vaguely suggestive musical instrument (and this being Merry and Pippin this included everything up to and including the xylophone).
Frodo had been in the sideboard for almost half an hour when Sam had finally tried to start coaxing him out again, but Frodo had not been entirely ready (perhaps because Gandalf was sitting next to it humming the same four bars of 'Ride of the Valkyries' over and over) and when Sam had opened the door, kicked him so hard that it was a damn good job he wasn't married any more. Merry and Pippin tried the pro-active method of grabbing Frodo's legs and
dragging him out of the door at the other end, but Sam, still being protective of Frodo, did not like to see him manhandled and tried to make Merry and Pippin let go of him. The upshot of this was that the three Hobbits outside of the sideboard had turned into three angry, hairy, balls of flailing fists, hitting everything and everyone within reach and wrongly blaming most of the damage sustained to themselves and the house on the other two. The upshot of this was that none of the three of them were talking to each other, or talking to Frodo, because it was all his fault for being insane and hiding in the sideboard in the
first place. Frodo, the eldest of the Hobbits, had reacted to this in the most childish way possible by deciding that if they weren't talking to him, he wasn't talking to them either, and that the sideboard incidents were not his fault.
The Hobbits didn't fall out very often, only once a decade or so, but when they did, they did it with style, or, a complete lack thereof.
The Bagenders by Lady Alyssa and Random Flatmate
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