I never read Chasing Sheppard because I've never seen Chasing Amy, and it seemed like the kind of AU that relied on knowing the secondary source material.
Weirdly, enough, you wouldn't have to know the movie. It's pretty much a novelization, so there's no textual interplay; it's more like a reproduction. Like, you wouldn't have to have seen Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliette in order to watch the Baz Lurhmann Romeo + Juliette, but it could make the movie more fun if you had.
As far as Teamwork…I dunno if it seems like Beckett and Cadman were forced on the team or not. I mean, if John and Rodney aren't on the Athosian meeting (and, if I recall correctly, John wakes the Wraith by not being military and correct, so it seems likely that anyone replacing him wouldn't get themselves in that same situation), then they can't get assigned Teyla. Now, Ford still being Ford, there's no reason to think he wouldn't still be assigned to SGA Prime. Now, there are a fair number of other possible secondary characters, but Beckett and Cadman aren't bad choices, and they can be adorably heterosexual at each other, so *shrug*. I mean, yes, they were obviously chosen, but I feel like the story was constructed so that was inevitable, but if two others had been chosen, the story would have been restructured to make them equally as inevitable.
On the larger issue, have you noticed what sorts of AU work and what sorts do not?
no subject
Weirdly, enough, you wouldn't have to know the movie. It's pretty much a novelization, so there's no textual interplay; it's more like a reproduction. Like, you wouldn't have to have seen Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliette in order to watch the Baz Lurhmann Romeo + Juliette, but it could make the movie more fun if you had.
As far as Teamwork…I dunno if it seems like Beckett and Cadman were forced on the team or not. I mean, if John and Rodney aren't on the Athosian meeting (and, if I recall correctly, John wakes the Wraith by not being military and correct, so it seems likely that anyone replacing him wouldn't get themselves in that same situation), then they can't get assigned Teyla. Now, Ford still being Ford, there's no reason to think he wouldn't still be assigned to SGA Prime. Now, there are a fair number of other possible secondary characters, but Beckett and Cadman aren't bad choices, and they can be adorably heterosexual at each other, so *shrug*. I mean, yes, they were obviously chosen, but I feel like the story was constructed so that was inevitable, but if two others had been chosen, the story would have been restructured to make them equally as inevitable.
On the larger issue, have you noticed what sorts of AU work and what sorts do not?