The hiatus after the first season of a show is always the worst -- if you like it, you want more now, but there isn't even enough old eps to keep you going and re-watching through the gap period. We need to flesh out the universes in order to get our fix while we wait for the next season.

2005 Spring Hiatus "The Common People" Challenges

Basically taken from X-Men fandom; they had this challenge a few years ago, and ended up with an archive full of good stories, focusing on mutants with everyday lives and challenges, not all fighting super-villains and being persecuted by the government. The challenge is to write a story-- het, slash, or gen-- focusing on an original character (OC) in the universe, or on a character who we've only seen in passing, instead of one of the main leads or anyone who gets more than one ep or a few lines of dialogue. Either way, your characters can have contact with the leads, but the focus should be on someone you create or expand from a walk-on cameo. First, second, or third person; a vignette or novel; humor, drama, tragedy, horror, episode commentary from someone who was "there": it's all good.

Stargate: Atlantis Challenge

Maybe you're an Athosian who got evacuated to Atlantis, the city of the Ancestors. Maybe you're a scientist who knew this would be a one-way ticket, but it's still a huge shock. Maybe you're one of the few soldiers who came along, hoping that at least you wouldn't be fighting the Goa'uld. What's it like, living in the city of Atlantis? What's a normal day like, inside an island with the best ocean views anywhere, millions of high-tech features, and no way to get home? Are you working with Kavanaugh, and trying to figure out ways to poison his coffee? Or with Rodney, and trying to keep him from drinking any more coffee? Are you a linguist negotiating for food and supplies through the Stargate, or are you learning how to fly a Puddlejumper through one? Do you want to go home, or is this the best thing that ever happened to you (the Wraith aside)? Several people have died since the beginning of the series; in a community this small, someone's mourning them. Who have you lost? Or who would you like to push off a balcony and claim it was a mistake? What do you miss most about the Milky Way Galaxy? What do you like best about the Pegasus galaxy?

And if you had the chance to go home, would you take it-- or stay?

Battlestar Galactica Challenge

There are less than 50,000 people left of the human race, trapped in about 48 ships, following one battlestar. Billions of people have died; no one alive hasn't lost a loved one, a friend, a lover, a family member. Familiar art, music, poetry, literature -- gone. All the history of the 12 colonies-- obliterated. Homes, safe places, possessions-- destroyed. How do you cope? Who do you count on? What scares you most: that the Cylons are after you, that you're living in space, that you have no idea how to protect yourself, support yourself, keep yourself from going crazy? Do you believe in the gods of Kobol? And if you do, how do you explain this holocaust? Are you still looking for someone you lost? Or are you trying to justify your survival? Are you creating new art, music, poetry; or are you trying to preserve what little is left?

It's your call. Tell us if you're on the Rising Star, the Persephone, or on some as-yet-unnamed ship that bears a startling resemblance to a Firefly. Tell us if you're worried about your kids, working on the Galactica, part of Tom Zarek's gang, or seeing the opportunities in starting over from scratch. It's the dawn of a new civilization. What are you doing?