Movers and Shakers Reviews

Episode 11: Movers and Shakers

Zoomway (zoomway@aol.com), 25 July 1999:

Great job, Nancy (nice to see you're still out there ;) and Kathy (always out there ;). I'm a sucker for alternate universe stories, and it was nice to see "our" Clark help out the alternate Clark for a change....and Klein with hair...sigh...gasp, my big strong science man <g>

Wendy Richards (ida18@HRM.KEELE.AC.UK), 26 July 1999:

Well, I thought that after Sheila's outstanding three-parter anything else could not possibly come anywhere close. But I read this over on Pam's mirror site last night, and I have to say that it is *wonderful*! Just what I've come to expect from you guys at Season 6 - how you keep managing to produce such entertaining and well-worked 'episodes', with an
integrated plot-line which still keeps us all guessing, is amazing!!

Spoilers ho!
Well, I love Alternate Universe stories, and I love inter-dimensional hopping even more (surprise surprise... BBDF springs to mind... <g>) so the plot of *this* story really appealed to me. And given that I loved Kathy's 'Through the Looking Glass' last year, it was wonderful to meet 'her' alternate Clark and Lois again. By the way, well done for coming up with a way around the problem of having two Clarks - that's something I was struggling with myself in a sort-of work-in-progress. I've seen AltClark, and there was Yvonne's Clark2; but CK worked well. Ummm.... mind if I borrow that one?

The way you summarised Lois and Clark's courtship sounded wonderful, and I would love to see a story filling in the gaps! The background detail - all the minor characters from
'LCTNAOS' appearing in cameo - and very different - roles was excellently done. I loved the twist with Mayson Drake, this time playing the Martin Snell role... 'tick, tock, tick tock... time's up...' ROFL!

The plot itself - the earthquake, the internet auction, Netgang (LOL!) and Lois missing - was breathtaking. I thought, what a wonderful criminal scam you devised for an audience which is entirely internet-based! What better! Clark's reaction when he couldn't find Lois was so believable, and so well written, and I loved the scene on the ledge of the Planet building where CK persuaded him that Lois was still alive. Great stuff. And CK being Superman to help Clark... nice touch, and - though you didn't refer to it explicitly - I assume was intended to give him a taste of what it would be like if he ever did take on the role full-time?

I also liked seeing Clark and CK get on well - that line from Clark where he said 'if he kisses you, I'll be the one taking him outside' with a grin at CK to show he was joking was absolutely wonderful and so WAFFy. So many Alt-universe stories show the two Clarks jealous and a little resentful of each other (for very good reasons in many cases - though I still really like Yvonne Connell's depiction of the 'bond' between her two Clarks), so it was really nice to see the two working as friends. Of course, the fact that Clark has his Lois makes a huge difference.

So well done, Kathy and Nancy, and thank you for keeping me up until well past my usual Sunday night bedtime!

Nan Smith (deimos1@earthlink.net), 27 July 1999:

Allow me to second Wendy"s opinion. I only had a chance to read Episode 11 this morning after I got my twins off to summer school but it's wonderful! As a matter of fact, I think it may be one of my (new) favorites. I plan on recommending it to my daughter (who is still asleep. She worked late last evening) when she gets up. I'm only sorry that the season will soon be over, what with quality stories like this one coming out.

lois181110@aol.com, 27 July 1999:

hey! this episode was good, but it would have been even better with more love scenes. Lois and Clark are the people i want to read about, and their lives together, but all in all it was a pretty good alternate universe story.

Sheila Harper (sharper@cncc.cc.co.us), 27 July, 1999:

Kathy, I really enjoyed the story. It definitely fulfilled the promise of Act 1: good A-plot (action plot) well integrated with an entertaining B-plot (relationship plot). I like your version of a happier Lois, and I'm so glad to see Alt-Clark with his Lois (Clark without Lois just isn't himself :). I notice that he pays a great deal more attention to what she likes than *our* Clark did (re Lois's admiration of the cameos in "The Prankster" and Clark not taking the hint but getting her yellow roses instead vs Alt-Clark getting a ring that matched the jewelry his Lois liked). I thought I was going to ROTFLMAO when CK mentioned their not needing H.G.'s help again until the wedding so they could consumate their relationship, and they looked at each other and said, "Hasn't been a problem."

The only thing I'd've suggested you change would be the very end of the very last scene: just because the quake was in a different place doesn't mean it wasn't going to happen in *our* Metropolis, too, so Clark was both too worried and too easily pacified. After all, a lot of other things (Mayson ) were different in the alt-world. When you're ready to put it on the archive, you might think about changing that last bit. Otherwise, a really fun read!

Nancy Merckle (the author) responds:

Sheila, Not only was the quake a different place, it was also a stronger order of magnitude. If I understand the Richter scale correctly it was about 40 times stronger than the initial quake. So it relieved more stress along the fault. It is my opinion that this would indicate that a subsequent quake in that same area, if it occured, would be of lesser magnitude than the 6.5 "big" quake of Alt-Metropolis. My concern was that the reader wouldn't realize this, and would assume that our Metropolis would face the exact same fate. Yes, I wanted them to think that briefly, just as Clark did until he found out that the initial quake was different. The "big one" could occur, but it wouldn't be as big, there wouldn't be as much damage, and hopefully our Clark would know where his Lois is.

I was probably too quick going from one emotion to the other with Clark at the end and should have put more of the above explaination into the text. The whole idea of that last segement was to get the reader thinking that our Lois and Clark might be facing the same thing, yet in the end indicate in some fashion that it likely wouldn't happen to our Metropolis in the near future.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see what I can do to reduce Clark's emotional swing and make the ending more clear.

Kath Roden (kmroden@gis.net), 12 September 1999:

Loved the WAFFY dialog... You can feel the love pouring out from the page... <sigh>

Liked the idea that the same people were in both worlds, but that they could be different, due to a small change in the timeline. Especially how you made Mayson the "bad guy"... Never did like that woman. <g>

I think what most impressed me was the information about the internet. I'm still a novice about many things on the site and if only half of what is listed here is accurate... Yikes!

Thanks for another wonderful read!

James Tull (mr_d8a@YAHOO.COM), 13 September 1999:

Elisabeth and I thought Movers and Shakers was GREAT! Shame on us for not saying so earlier.

Franz Endres (franz.endres@intel.com), 24 September 1999:

I enjoyed it a lot. I wish that the "Netgang" would still be under suspicion by Lois and Clark. It would be a good lead in to let all four meet at last.

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