Lucy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
luciazephyr) wrote2012-05-21 11:19 am
luciazephyr) wrote2012-05-21 11:19 am
Entry tags:
Why Fitz Kreiner is the Greatest DW Companion You've Never Heard Of
a follow up to the last post, because Fitzgerald Michael Kreiner is possibly my favorite character in anything ever of all time okay.
Who is Fitz Kreiner...Fitz Kriener is flawless, I hear his guitar is insured for $10,000!
Fitz is technically the longest-running companion in the DW series. He's the main companion in the Eighth Doctor Adventures, a series of book that are pretty fucking awesome most of the time. Eight is personally my favorite Doctor thanks to said books, because he's just so damn interesting. But this is about Fitz, not EDA!Eight.
Fitz was picked up in 1963 when the Doctor found him cashiering a plant store and idling away his clever mind. He was a slacker who disparaged the fact the people around him weren't as smart as he is.
His life pre-Doctor.... sucked. He's the son of a German man and English woman, and with an obvious surname to boot. He grew up getting the shit regularly kicked out of him for being German (despite not even speaking the langauge), bullied by his teachers (making him more interested in private reading and learning instead of school), and peer pressured into smoking at a young age (which comes up often; he's got one hell of a nicotine addiction).
His mother is also aneurotypical, and sadly in a bad, bad way. When his father dies while he's young, Fitz ends up in and out of foster homes when his mother's sanity goes for a walk, because she can sometimes be dangerous.
When the Doctor shows up, it turns out that Mama Kreiner's insanity has plot-related origins (contain your surprise) and by the end of the novel, her condition has worsened to the point she tries to kill her son. 8( And then the Doctor kills her. 8( 8( And decides to take Fitz along because now he's got nowhere to go.
Fitz is oddly sanguine about the whole thing, and for a good reason: over the years, he's gotten very good at masking his true feelings under little performances. He goes by Fitz Fortune, sometimes pretends to be French to avoid anti-German sentiment, and is an old hand at play-acting for his own safety. At one point, the Doctor needs a paranormal investigator and Fitz creates the Fitzwilliam Fort persona to get the job done. Very rarely do his true feelings come out, buried as they are in self-deprecating humor and acting.
He's also a decent guitarist (counterpoint to the Doctor's violinist), very concerned about people who aren't treated fairly by society. He makes a ton of terrible outdated pop culture references. He's campy as fuck (once dressed up in a gold jumpsuit and gave a rendition of "I wanna be Jessie's Girl". He's usually a very competent lyricist (unless Parkin is writing). He's hinted to be bisexual in his introduction and by the end of the series is basically married to the Doctor (Fitz is the only one the Doctor regularly kisses, notices the attractiveness of, and worries himself sick over). Canonically in love with the Doctor, and I think it's reciprocal.
He also once got mugged by a unicorn in San Francisco for his chocolate bar, and said, "This is Fitz. This is Fitz Kreiner's life encapsulated in an instant."
AND IF I HAVEN'T BORED YOU YET. I'd like to go into why Fitz is legitimately the greatest and most interesting character in the Who series.
So Fitz is in fuckton of books, but halfway through them, something happens. He gets separated from the Doctor and becomes a villain. At the same time, a clone of a clone of a clone is created, named Kode, who has the basic characteristics of Fitz, but is someone new.
The Doctor wants his Fitz back so bad, he indirectly convinces Kode to commit suicide and re-Remembers Fitz back into Kode's body using some alien tech and the TARDIS's help. It's this clone of Fitz that continues on with the Doctor.
Goes something like this:
But he's changed. In the aftermath, Fitz is less stoner-mellow and more attentive. He has random bonus abilities (he's really good as anagrams and crosswords all of a sudden). Computers really enjoy his brain because it's better organized than most organic beings. The TARDIS changes him in subtle ways to make him better suited for time travel and taking care of the Doctor.
Which is good, because later the Doctor blows up Gallifrey (the EDAs did it first) and loses his memory from the trauma, and the TARDIS and Fitz actualyl conspire together to help him and take care of him. So my fanwank over this is that Fitz is closer to the TARDIS itself than any other companion before. I mean, when the Doctor has a chance to get his memory back and Fitz thinks its a bad idea, and...
I could go on. Like, about how Fitz's gets a Matrix dream where he dresses in drag, marries an evil!Doctor, has a swordfight (in a wedding dress) and escapes via jetpack.
Or the time the Doctor carried an injured Fitz bridal style to safety. Or their couply tea times.
Or that time that Fitz got a hangover and the Doctor hypnotized it away for him (which was vaguely kinky, not gonna lie).
Or that Fitz likes existentialist writings like Sartre.
Or that time Fitz and the Doctor mind-melded and the Doctor cried because Fitz's life is so scary because of him, ugh ugh.
Or that time Fitz and the rest of the TARDIS crew were making a movie and the Doctor got super upset that Fitz didn't ask him to be in the movie.
Or HEY THAT ONE TIME that the Doctor forgot who he was and all of Gallifrey and even the TARDIS but remembered a song Fitz had wrote him, a song that he's been looking for for over a hundred years. The Year of Intelligent Tigers is probably the best EDA book okay.
Yeah. That happened. Basically, Fitz is an extremely sympathetic character, who doesn't always do the right thing at first but always lets his better angels get the best of him. And he and the Doctor have that really awesome co-dependence I like in some pairings, where they just are both so much better together than apart. And Fitz is genuinely sweet and funny and /FEELINGS
Also, Lullabee, someday we should break down and post those Abridged EDAs. Some were pretty fucking funny, I think.
Lance Parkin: OOOOH CAPITALISM, DO ME HARDER.
And for anyone who would like more info on the EDA books, Lullabee and I wrote the TV Tropes page on it (check out the Characters page for a full list of just how fucked up and amazing Fitz is). Not that I'm not still pissed at TV Tropes for their bullshit, but Lull and I wrote those pages, so.
And and if you like the audio adventures, Fitz got a guest spot in the Company of Friends work, and it was written by his creator, Stephen Cole, and while BFA!Eight =/= EDA!Eight, it's a good portrayal of Fitz's character. Besides the accent. Dunno WTF happened there.
AND AND AND if you want the EDA books, the mass majority are seriously out of print, but there are PDFs the fandom circles around. Hit me up and I'll get them for you if you're interested.
"But you’re not my ancestor, are you?" hissed Father Kreiner. "You’re an ersatz version of me, created by the Remote over many years. [...] You’re a fake. You’re a fiction. Truth is, boy, I am the person the Doctor first met, first took from Earth in the TARDIS." He closed his eyes, and the lids fluttered as though he were searching deep in his memory. "I was the young man who went to China with Mao’s army. I wept at the sound of the T’hiili Queen’s song. I saw the double sunrise on Cherantrin V. It was me who travelled with him and ... Samantha? Yes, with him and Sam to Vega Station..."
There was a long pause. Fitz couldn’t think what to say to all this. Couldn’t admit it might be true. Couldn’t speak.
Kreiner’s eyes snapped open again. The Faction monster said, "I am the real Fitzgerald Michael Kreiner."
"And I claim my five pounds."
-The Ancestor Cell, Father Kreiner (original Fitz) vs Clone/'Real' Fitz
Who is Fitz Kreiner...
Fitz is technically the longest-running companion in the DW series. He's the main companion in the Eighth Doctor Adventures, a series of book that are pretty fucking awesome most of the time. Eight is personally my favorite Doctor thanks to said books, because he's just so damn interesting. But this is about Fitz, not EDA!Eight.
Fitz was picked up in 1963 when the Doctor found him cashiering a plant store and idling away his clever mind. He was a slacker who disparaged the fact the people around him weren't as smart as he is.
His life pre-Doctor.... sucked. He's the son of a German man and English woman, and with an obvious surname to boot. He grew up getting the shit regularly kicked out of him for being German (despite not even speaking the langauge), bullied by his teachers (making him more interested in private reading and learning instead of school), and peer pressured into smoking at a young age (which comes up often; he's got one hell of a nicotine addiction).
His mother is also aneurotypical, and sadly in a bad, bad way. When his father dies while he's young, Fitz ends up in and out of foster homes when his mother's sanity goes for a walk, because she can sometimes be dangerous.
When the Doctor shows up, it turns out that Mama Kreiner's insanity has plot-related origins (contain your surprise) and by the end of the novel, her condition has worsened to the point she tries to kill her son. 8( And then the Doctor kills her. 8( 8( And decides to take Fitz along because now he's got nowhere to go.
Fitz is oddly sanguine about the whole thing, and for a good reason: over the years, he's gotten very good at masking his true feelings under little performances. He goes by Fitz Fortune, sometimes pretends to be French to avoid anti-German sentiment, and is an old hand at play-acting for his own safety. At one point, the Doctor needs a paranormal investigator and Fitz creates the Fitzwilliam Fort persona to get the job done. Very rarely do his true feelings come out, buried as they are in self-deprecating humor and acting.
He's also a decent guitarist (counterpoint to the Doctor's violinist), very concerned about people who aren't treated fairly by society. He makes a ton of terrible outdated pop culture references. He's campy as fuck (once dressed up in a gold jumpsuit and gave a rendition of "I wanna be Jessie's Girl". He's usually a very competent lyricist (unless Parkin is writing). He's hinted to be bisexual in his introduction and by the end of the series is basically married to the Doctor (Fitz is the only one the Doctor regularly kisses, notices the attractiveness of, and worries himself sick over). Canonically in love with the Doctor, and I think it's reciprocal.
He also once got mugged by a unicorn in San Francisco for his chocolate bar, and said, "This is Fitz. This is Fitz Kreiner's life encapsulated in an instant."
AND IF I HAVEN'T BORED YOU YET. I'd like to go into why Fitz is legitimately the greatest and most interesting character in the Who series.
So Fitz is in fuckton of books, but halfway through them, something happens. He gets separated from the Doctor and becomes a villain. At the same time, a clone of a clone of a clone is created, named Kode, who has the basic characteristics of Fitz, but is someone new.
The Doctor wants his Fitz back so bad, he indirectly convinces Kode to commit suicide and re-Remembers Fitz back into Kode's body using some alien tech and the TARDIS's help. It's this clone of Fitz that continues on with the Doctor.
Goes something like this:
Kode: Why are you people all so stupid?
The Doctor: [remembers the first thing he ever heard Fitz say] [gasps] Say that again!
Kode: Why are you so stupid?
The Doctor: I think you're actually my missingwifeFitz!
Kode: Everything I've known is a lie, and I want to die.
The Doctor: Well, that's convenient!
Lightning: [flashes]
Thunder: [crashes]
Kode: [is transformed into Fitz by the TARDIS]
The Doctor: MUHAHA! HE LIIIIIIVES!
Readers: Wait, did you just kill a kid to bring back Fitz? What the fuck, Doctor?
The Doctor: It's this or no more Fitz.
Readers: ... Complaint withdrawn.
-Abridged EDAs: Interference 1 & 2
But he's changed. In the aftermath, Fitz is less stoner-mellow and more attentive. He has random bonus abilities (he's really good as anagrams and crosswords all of a sudden). Computers really enjoy his brain because it's better organized than most organic beings. The TARDIS changes him in subtle ways to make him better suited for time travel and taking care of the Doctor.
Which is good, because later the Doctor blows up Gallifrey (the EDAs did it first) and loses his memory from the trauma, and the TARDIS and Fitz actualyl conspire together to help him and take care of him. So my fanwank over this is that Fitz is closer to the TARDIS itself than any other companion before. I mean, when the Doctor has a chance to get his memory back and Fitz thinks its a bad idea, and...
The Doctor: I still have no memory of who I am but I've found a way to get my memories back, and I am so happy and excited.
Fitz: Sorry, no. [asks the TARDIS to stop him]
The TARDIS: [does so]
The Doctor: D8
Fitz: It's okay, I'm doing it for your own good.
The Entire Doctor-Fitz Dynamic: [is turned on its head]
Readers: ... This is an awesome book. Fuck.
-Abridged EDAs: Earthworld
I could go on. Like, about how Fitz's gets a Matrix dream where he dresses in drag, marries an evil!Doctor, has a swordfight (in a wedding dress) and escapes via jetpack.
Or the time the Doctor carried an injured Fitz bridal style to safety. Or their couply tea times.
Or that time that Fitz got a hangover and the Doctor hypnotized it away for him (which was vaguely kinky, not gonna lie).
Or that Fitz likes existentialist writings like Sartre.
Or that time Fitz and the Doctor mind-melded and the Doctor cried because Fitz's life is so scary because of him, ugh ugh.
Or that time Fitz and the rest of the TARDIS crew were making a movie and the Doctor got super upset that Fitz didn't ask him to be in the movie.
Or HEY THAT ONE TIME that the Doctor forgot who he was and all of Gallifrey and even the TARDIS but remembered a song Fitz had wrote him, a song that he's been looking for for over a hundred years. The Year of Intelligent Tigers is probably the best EDA book okay.
Yeah. That happened. Basically, Fitz is an extremely sympathetic character, who doesn't always do the right thing at first but always lets his better angels get the best of him. And he and the Doctor have that really awesome co-dependence I like in some pairings, where they just are both so much better together than apart. And Fitz is genuinely sweet and funny and /FEELINGS
Fitz was sitting cross-legged, tuning his guitar. After a few minutes of twanging, he began to strum. In a rough-edged voice, he sang:
Now in this age of quiet desperation
Where thoughtful men are often moved to tears
I raise a glass to wanton dissipation
And all the grief it’s spared me through the years
’Cause I’d rather by far
Be left standing at the bar
Than at the altar. . .
When he had finished, Anji clapped her hands and laughed. "Who did that?"
‘I did,’ said Fitz, grinning modestly. "A Kreiner original."
-The Year of Intelligent Tigers, which also has Anji who deserves her own post of how great she is.
Also, Lullabee, someday we should break down and post those Abridged EDAs. Some were pretty fucking funny, I think.
Lance Parkin: OOOOH CAPITALISM, DO ME HARDER.
And for anyone who would like more info on the EDA books, Lullabee and I wrote the TV Tropes page on it (check out the Characters page for a full list of just how fucked up and amazing Fitz is). Not that I'm not still pissed at TV Tropes for their bullshit, but Lull and I wrote those pages, so.
And and if you like the audio adventures, Fitz got a guest spot in the Company of Friends work, and it was written by his creator, Stephen Cole, and while BFA!Eight =/= EDA!Eight, it's a good portrayal of Fitz's character. Besides the accent. Dunno WTF happened there.
AND AND AND if you want the EDA books, the mass majority are seriously out of print, but there are PDFs the fandom circles around. Hit me up and I'll get them for you if you're interested.
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Fitz is introduced in The Taint which is... okay, it's a really mediocre book except for the parts with Fitz. And I have a theory that since Fitz was created by then range editor (book equivalent of showrunner) Stephen Cole, who is a magical person. I think Cole oversaw Fitz's introductory book pretty closely.
So just FYI. The Taint's quality jumps around a lot because of that.
And it you want good authors to read:
Blorman are always must-reads.
Magrs is big on batshit post-modernism, metafictional narrative, and a lot of Gay. His The Blue Angel is famous for being a massive Mindscrew of a book involving the Obverse, an AU where the Doctor is mostly human and owns a giant house with Fitz and Compassion, has a mermaid mother, and gives birth to a baby angel. Um. Yeah. it's kind of great tho.
Lawrence Miles is EXTREMELY hit or miss. Interference is apparently great if you have working knowledge of Classic Who, and it's some of the most important books in the series, but not necessary, so don't worry if you can't make it through them. Later on, he gets a Mary Sue villain that he intended to replace the Doctor, but the other authors smacked that shit down 'cause it was stupid.
STEPHEN COLE IS SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS AND PUPPIES AND HAPPINESS. Read all his stuff. It's always Fitz-heavy and fun and he often goes on tangents where it seems like he's trying to say something profound (Vanishing Point about God and genetics, Fitz's BFA audio about copyright and advertising), but gets distracted. He's lovely.
Lance Parkin is Randian and makes everyone incredibly OOC (the Doctor is now "Thatcher personified" instead of a pinko socialist hippie! Fitz is randomly racist! what!). Avoid at all costs.
Earthworld is one of the best books, along with YoIT and UH. I also really adore Lloyd Rose, because her stuff is very beautifully written and she does a lot of research and writes a more complex Eight. And The Book of the Still has jetpack swordfights and the evil Doctori marrying Fitz. See icon, also has Fitz professing his love for the Doctor, it's a tearjerker.
.... oh god this was long I'm so sorry. I REALLY LOVE THESE BOOKS. Anji and Compassion are the best! Sam is the worst!
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(Like I'm ever going to nail you for long, thoughtful comments. You've seen my comments. Also I may need to hit you up for fannish flailing every time I finish a book. So just... prepare yourself.)
For whatever reason, Vampire Science is just not grabbing me--I think maybe I'd need to have a better grasp of Classic Who because currently there's a lot of sad stuff about what it really means to be young and think you're invincible and travel with the Doctor, whose every decision is 'for your own good'. Which is painful-in-a-good-way if you've previously invested in a lot of adventuring but isn't the greatest first impression. I don't know Eight, or Sam, or this other person who seems pretty awesome and has been burned HARD by the Doctor. I'm wondering if I should skip ahead for a while and go back when I've been primed for this kind of thing. If I'd been fresh from New Who, maybe, but I've been off Who for a while--Moffat's cornucopia of Issues aside, the writing just bugs me somehow.
But these books sound really good, and the style is definitely agreeable, and I think I'm really going to like these. So thank you, again, and never apologize for having a lot of enthusiasm about something you love. ;)
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And the "for your own good" thing gets interesting when Fitz shows up, because Sam legitimately things the Doctor is NEVER EVER WRONG (lol), but once she's gone, the dynamic changes and... yeah. Eight is so morally grey and complicated sometimes, I love him.
I do suggest skipping ahead, at least until you've read some of the best books and figure out what authors you like. Here's my recs (caps for must reads):
1. THE TAINT, for Fitz.
2. Dominion, because the early Fitz/Doctor dynamic is interesting and nicely antagonistic until Fitz warms to him. Also, the first of many times the Doctor kisses Fitz.
3. UNNATURAL HISTORY. This fucking book, man. This fucking book, okay. This is where Fitz starts becoming the Best Ever and the plot is genuinely interesting and we meet an awesome AU Sam and San Fran is weirder than usual--
4. If you can hack 'em, The Interference Books. If not, I've never read them and I got along fine. Basically: Sam leaves, we get Compassion (who does NOT live up to her name), we lose original Fitz to the Faction Paradox, and we get Fitz 2.0.
5. THE BLUE ANGEL. just. trust me on this one. this book is probably amazing when you're stoned.
6. Frontier Worlds. Great book for all three members of Team TARDIS. Nice segment with the TARDIS scolding the Doctor for being a jerk, Fitz going all out on his play-acting, and Compassion being brutal and amazing.
7. PARALLEL 59. The first Love Letter To Fitz (LLtF) book, written by the magical Stephen Cole. This is ridiculous and lovely and the ending with the Doctor and Fitz... /sniffle
8. Coldheart. Trevor Baxendale writes a lot of lackluster stories that happen to be filled to the brim with great character moments. At least skim this one.
9. THE ANCESTOR CELL. Plot important, destruction of Gallifrey, and Fitz 1.0 vs Fitz 2.0. Hard to follow at times, but still fucking awesome. (LLtF)
10. for the Earth Arc, when Eight is alone on Earth recovering, I'd skip them all except maybe Father Time for the lulz. It is SO OUT OF CHARACTER. It's the one where the Doctor adopts a kid and becomes "Thatcherism personified." oh gooood it's bad.
11. Do not read 'Escape Velocity'. Read EARTHWORLD. Easily in the top five EDA books. Meet Anji, the new third Team TARDIS member. She is fucking amazing. Also, in this book, Fitz finally has his emotional breakdown about being a clone, and it's brilliant. (LLtF)
12. VANISHING POINT. Just. Stephen Cole ships Doctor/Fitz more than anyone. Except Paul Magrs. Or Blorman.
13. Eater of Wasps. Baxendale. Same issue as Coldheart.
14. THE YEAR OF INTELLIGENT TIGERS. I skipped head and read this one early on and jesus fucking christ. sojdhfjsdfh I just. I want to cry it's so good. ANJI BEING INQUISITIVE AND FIGURING SHIT OUT. THE DOCTOR DATING A LOVELY COMPOSER AND PLAYING VIOLIN. TALKING, HYPERINTELLIGENT TIGERS. CIVIL WAR OVER MUSIC. FITZ LEADING THE RESISTANCE. god. this book. (LLtF)
15. City of the Dead. Lloyd Rose is amazing.
16. The Adventuress of Henrietta Street. oooooh god. this one is weird. it's written like a historical document and Team TARDIS is staying in a brothel and it's weird and the Doctor gets his heart ripped out and the author thinks women's menstural cycles will sync up, and it's weird. My friend read it purely for the lulz.
17. Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Very difficult read, but it's Paul Magrs, so it's kind of amazing too.
18. BOOK OF THE STILL. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH. (LLtF)
19. CAMERA OBSCURA. /sobs with joy.
20. Time Zero, the one where the TARDIS and the Doctor and Anji love Fitz so much he comes back to life. Yep. It's great.
21. Timeless, if you've been following the Sabbath arc. If not, just read the first few chapters for Team TARDIS making a very silly film.
22. HALFLIFE. THE GAYEST ONE NOT WRITTEN BY COLE OR BLORMAN OR MAGRS. (LLtF)
23. To the Slaughter. Because it's Cole and has some awesome bits about Fitz's brain being weird and his enjoyment of interior design. IDEFK. (LLtF)
BOOKS YOU NEED TO AVOID BECAUSE THEY ARE AWFUL: The Space Age, Endgame, ESCAPE VELOCITY JESUS CHRIST, Trading Futures, The Domino Effect, The Gallifrey Chronicles.
Yes, the final book of the run needs to be avoided at all costs. Lance Parkin is just fucking terrible okay.
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It's always a mixed bag when it comes to commercially-written fiction. There's a better phrase than that, I know there is, but you know what I mean--franchise books written by a bunch of different authors. Sometimes it's good (I once read a Smallville novel that was far and away better written than much of the show) but sometimes it's utterly terrible (I've mostly excised a Halo novel or two from my mind, but christ some of those had a precipitous drop in quality).
If I get bored enough this summer, I might wind up reading one or two of the really terrible ones just so I can dissect them as ruthlessly as they so richly deserve. There's something very soothing about labeling every discrete flaw in a hot mess of a work.
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Just a guess, but The Flood?
'Cause even I, who have never played Halo, have heard tale of it.
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It is so fucking bad. I didn't think they allowed books without sex in them to be that bad. There are scenes that completely invalidate or ignore some chunks of the games, there's the oppressive sense of slogging though corridor after corridor of Covenant that have to be slaughtered in real time, nothing makes any sense whatsoever and just. Jesus god. I could have written a better book when I was fifteen. I'm not entirely sure I ever even finished it. The only marginally worthwhile bits were the ones with the Elites, and even they were shitty. And it takes some seriously poor-quality writing to make me not care about the badass aliens.
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The latest Mass Effect book was the first to not be written by one of the game writers. It was a horrific mess that actively fucked up continuity and got some of the most obvious canon lore really wrong. (THE BATARIANS DO NOT HAVE AN EMBASSY ON THE CITADEL AND NO HUMAN IS ALLOWED IN THERE SYSTEM, BOOK, WHAT THE FUCK.)
And it's written by the same dude.
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Fitz, Anji, and the Doctor play Monopoly. It goes badly.
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And really, I'm not kidding, you can skip ahead. It's cool, every EDA fan does it. Even me, who won't watch a TV show unless seen from the pilot onward.
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