Comments by "Gilad Barlev" (@GSBarlev) on "Trope Talk: Mary Sue" video.

  1. "A Trekkie's Tale" was explicit parody, written by a fanzine contributor (editor?) PaulA [sic] Smith who was fed up with the scourge of similar stories being published. The full text is only about a page long, and I encourage you to look it up, because it's a hilarious read.
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  2. She was explicitly an over-the-top parody, lampooning what was at that point a pretty established pattern in fanfic literature. It's weird, because Red does say that at the start, but the rest of the episode she seems to take Mary at face value.
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  3. > Chris Pratt was the coolest awesomest Alpha Male You mean "The greatest, most interesting, most important person of all times?" I feel like The Lego Movie somehow lampshaded and lampooned The Chris Pratt Hero before that even beame a thing—after all, the message of the movie is that literally anyone put in that position could have been "The Special"
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  4. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E07 "Those Old Scientists" is explicitly a Mary Sue—the writers and actors have said explicitly that Boimler is us—but it works* because, as you say, Pike, Number One, Spock and Chapel all act true to their characters. *with the general consensus, if not my personal opinion, being that it is the best episode, not only of the season or of the show, but of all modern Trek
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  5. Rey was an author / fan insert, but so was Kylo Ren. The sequel films leaned heavily on the meta-level to tell a story about inheriting the Star Wars legacy much more than they were about writing the next chapters in the Star Wars story. I think if Rian Johnson had directed all three (or at least IX), we would have seen the story move in a new and compelling direction. 🤷‍♂️
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  6. I just looked up the summary. It sounds like a compelling read! I wonder why they chose to invent a new feline species rather than just reuse the Caitians and Lt. M'Ress who I think quasi-canonically was already Uhura's protégé.
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  7. I think that's perfectly natural to write what you know. What you're describing sounds like author insertion, but not the world-warping schlock that Red describes here. Also, regarding the name Princess the Dragon—I see what you did there, and I think it's an awesome and brilliant pun to play on the "saving the princess from the dragon" trope in a fiction about a character struggling to overcome her inner turmoil.
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  8. For a non-humorous parody of the trope, see also the Black Mirror episode "USS Callister"
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