Really good Buffy Star Trek cross-over! Good ending too. I like your OCs, and you got the canon characters down pretty well too.

Sorry to write you again, but I just realized that my review telling you how much I love this story was done while I was not logged in. I really hate anonymous reviews so just wanted to give you a name to go with the review.

I really loved this story! I don't usually like xovers but I am glad I took a chance on yours! It is very well written and the character writing was spot on!
Thanks so much for sharing it!

So much fun to read.

And pouting Q was so precious.

the best TNG buffy x over ever great job

Er. I suck at explaining things, but ah, yes. Technologically continuing, the whole not being able to see Spike by Data or the ship's computers was entertaining. I liked the part where Data bumps into Spike and Spike is insulting Data without him knowing it.

And the part where Picard is trying to ignore a naked Data just distractedly staring at some flowers. Again, like I said before, I really liked Giles and Picard's discussion at the conference table. Though at the time I read it I was half-asleep with exhaustion I kept on, it was that engaging. My other favorite part was the scene where Giles creates the wooden cross from the table.

I fully expected the cross not to last, but I was wrong. Based on what you said earlier in the fic about that civilization's objects which the computers could not detect, it was obvious that the cross was able to, and meant to stay. And, on that, quite a good bit of plotting and planning laying the intersecting work between Spike's invisibility, the civilization's artifacts and history, and the prophecy.

Oh, I'm worn. I stayed up most of the night finishing this story. Let's see. Well, like I said before, I really did like most, if not a lot of this story. I was reading it to relieve stress (until chapter 18), and didn't even care at all for any minor character discrepancies. For which I can not be sure whether they are or not, my knowledge of them is a bit loose. But I think I got the gist of their personalities and in particular, Buffy seemed a little off, but I didn't care at all. For your story, it mostly fit.

Oh! The dressing of Giles. What fun indeed! Hehe. I loved the bit of "just who dressed you?" And Anya's explanation that since she's not sure when Giles would pay her back she might as well make sure that SHE enjoys the clothes. And Giles' whole opposition to the whole thing.

The emails themselves were rather cute. Especially the Head Watcher's line about people acting different when someone gets a title of Manager. And Dawn's HellMouth induced nightmares - evil ketchup bottles especially.

Er, well, like I said, I really liked all of it except for that one discussed part. Beyond that, this story has little, hardly noticeable faults if any at all. That makes it a bit hard to pick out my favorite sections and thank you for them, as they were so drawn together it's hard to notice just one.

Worf, I think, was the must fun out of anyone. Hehe. Getting beat up, then falling in love for it. Mooning. Getting drunk. Ah, I kind of wish there could have been just a bit more on him at the end, but for the love of it, I couldn't think what there could have been to add.

Er, again, just because I love cards and the thought of that group gathered around a table playing poker, I really wish I could have read more on the poker tournament. Spike trying to cheat and woo Buffy back? Buffy trying to keep Spike from cheating and herself from him, and also her conflict with not only Deanna by Worf? Riker probably just getting thrown into it all and wondering what the hell these people are up to? Worf possibly making friends with Spike and recovering from a disillusioned love interest? Deanna feeling all of this and, by now, probably just trying not to laugh at them in one part of herself and the other trying to help them out if my guess is correct?

Ah, what fun.

Erm. So, thanks for the read. I'll send this review out when I next get a chance online. As of today, it's the 20th on Sunday. Goodnight and thank you. (Er, I'm sorry for the long review, but I figured that if you were going to spend all that time writing out your story, I might as well take the time to give a decent sized review. Er. 'Decent-sized'. Oh god.)

Er. Wow. So, I downloaded your story offline because I really don't have an internet connection, and then read it there and typed up a review there for it.

Which is apparently too big for FFnet's word limit, oh god. Erm, this is just what my opinion of your story, that's what reviews are for, yes? I mostly really liked your fic.

(review beginning is below)

Er, Hello.

Well, I am reading your story here, and at the bottom of chapter 16 I kind of .. see something. The time-stamps for the emails. Now, unless I miss my guess, the um, the 21 of 21:14 is the hour, and 14 is the seconds, right? I'm so horrible with such time formats.

Anyways, the time-stamps between the emails seems kind of short. Like, strangely short. At the end of chapter 16, there'd be only four seconds from the first email to the second. That's .. some fast typing.

On chapter 15, I suppose I could see the short times between the timestamps if they typed really really fast. I could type that fast, I suppose.

Anyway, just saying..

So! I, um. I kind of like your fic? Well, I certainly liked it coming into it here, and took it to be quite a stress-relief. But, er, I really don't know too much of anything about Star Trek, the Next Generation. I know enough to get by with Buffy, I think, thanks to Logo Channel's mix-up of episode showings but, er.

The point is, you write with a certainty that the reader will know both shows, which I don't, which is mostly the fault of my not knowing. And being offline semi-permanently, I can't properly get this information either, which just leaves me mostly guessing.

Mostly at Deanna. Took me a bit to figure out that "Troi" and "Deanna" are the same person, and then that Deanna's empathic. Though, you mentioned that specifically, so .. I'm a bit slow, I admit.

Um. I find the story somewhat entertaining, mostly the not part of that being hindered by my confusion of Star Trek and my desire to quell said confusion by reading further and so, getting more confused. And then not sometimes. But anyways.

I like the language, and I like the plot mostly, and I like the ideas and elements of it. I noticed a few chapters ago where Picard was trying to take in the idea of magic being real that you made his resistance to this believable, and even the conversation itself where he didn't immediately give in or give up without a thought.

Too, even though I'm having trouble with a few of the Star Trek characters (the other being Meg) - even though that, I find them mostly believable. Their characters and personalities are enough out that I can almost envision them.

Er. Giles sure has become infatuated with Meg awfully quickly, hasn't he? Hormones sure work fast I suppose. I am at chapter eighteen. And .. now I have finished it. And it seems like you had trouble connecting the two worlds, and decided to create an original character to help weave them together? The story seems to start falling down when she enters in. There are good moments, though, but it feels a little sloppy, a little rushed in parts.

Um, so, in short to say, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this story so far, and just took a chance on it, and though I am having troubles with it by not understanding half of what the story is based on, it's not a bad read.

And now, once I've had a fortnight to think over this story after I finished it, I've got some critiques. Because the more I read this story, the more convinced I become that you should have left Meg out of it - or, at least, her sudden and immediate romantic interest.

Wait, I wrote some notes. Okay, so having you drawn the similarities between Meg and Buffy, this person who emerges within a few chapters and is as strong as Buffy if not stronger, is just supposed to abandon all her family and friends for what has basically just been a one-night stand? When Buffy herself would likely not? Still, even if she's not as like Buffy as that, having grown up in such a reputed tight-knit large grouped family, Meg is going to jump from being this collected warrior to a happy pregnant housewife looking to get hitched as soon as possible? Giles and Meg had sex but once, and not enough meaningful interaction to warrant this kind of relationship with such a short span.

The goddess herself aside (of which I loved the idea for and thought it solved a lot of issues with the show itself), why would she single out Meg, of whom she has not been able to read her thoughts or even met until that moment, to give her that parting gift? Especially since when, just a short bit earlier, the goddess was still under the impression that men were incompetent, mindless buffoons and much worse. And especially since when Sendaru was about to kill Giles, love protection mark from Buffy or Buffy's own insistence that he not be harmed, be damned.

And, the more I think on it, the more sure I am that the epilogue should be taken out and shot. On Data's Bastard (which, though, whether or not it was cannon was awfully clever and a neat plot device), I have two main problems. The first is just exactly how he managed to dimension hop with them when all electronic portals out had been closed. The hellmouth is a physical portal, not exactly something that communication servers had been sending in and out through and thus, not really something that he should have been able to highjack his way across. Especially as it seemed that Sendaru herself just teleported Buffy and them straight home.

The other, was the epilogue's money. Would Buffy and Willow really not object at all nor even go so far as to ask just who these criminals are when Buffy has just had the "not all evil is evil" concept with Sendaru? Not to mention considering how Buffy would rather work in a fast-food environment that she hates rather than take money from someone? Why didn't either of them object to this sudden appearance of an electronic living anomaly offering them large amounts of money for free when they've as of yet had no seeming knowledge at all of DB? Was Meg, the sudden stranger's word, really that bulletproof?

And how many of these criminals had families that this money was supporting? Or were reforming themselves from their past crimes? Or were criminals of minor crimes such as jaywalking? He doesn't say at all and the whole thing is so ambiguous enough that I'd think, of all people right now, Buffy and Willow would be the two to object. Doesn't Willow have a sense of morals?

Try as I might to like Meg, and I really really really did try, I .. can not.

On that planet, did no one else but Meg, Giles, the captain, and Worf land? Where in the world are the rest of the crew? And why is it that every time you wanted to show how cool Meg is she was compared to someone of already established coolness or prowess in any field and then either equaled or showed them up?

Said point; Buffy - general combat. Said point; Data - general computer knowledge. Said point; her fighting side by side with the captain and not only equaling him but, from the language flirting at me, possibly doing just that bit better?

Is Giles that much of a horny teenager that he simply just can't control himself at all? That he has erections at the first woman who looks at him twice?

You, I am afraid my good friend, have a Mary Sue on your hands. Oh god. This story actually would have been that much better without her romantic love interest. Toning down the whole "tough ass fighter with a large physique who's cool and better than most people" and just bringing her in on the "crew member with technical skills" she would have been an interesting read.

I actually liked those parts, the technical skills. But it was like you were trying to cover far too wide a margin. I liked a lot of the story to be quite honest. But the romance parts just made me sick. Not that I'm squeamish at romance, no pairing makes me squeamish. You could have paired off Buffy and Giles and, written right, I wouldn't have minded.

Meg's mergence into this story and sudden infusion into Gile's not only bedchamber but also his matrimony, is so sudden and immediate and pretty much uncalled for. We know her just as long as Giles does and, if we don't even know what her favorite color is or just why she chose to join the Enterprise beyond having her country choose to send one child out .. well, what are we?

So her country thought to send one child out. They could have picked anyone. Why exactly did she end up going? Did she volunteer? Was she picked out? If so, why did she stay? Why would she have volunteered? Who the hell is she?

Not to be offensive, please I don't mean to, but I actually went and deleted every romantic scene between Giles and Meg on the copy of your story I downloaded, it was that god-awful. I kept her lines, and kept her in the story but, well. By now it's a dead horse.

Really, you had a very nice and original plot idea and story, and for about that 90% of it which didn't include Meg's romantic interest, it was very enjoyable. I will read this story again, that is for certain.

I loved the idea of the 'potential slayer' and 'slayer' being vessels of Sendaru, it actually made quite a bit of sense. I enjoyed the scene just before Buffy and Spike's poker tournament and actually wish I could have read more on that.

My favorite by far, I think, was the technology dilemmas. Buffy, Giles, and Spike having no trouble with the prison barriers? And when Giles said that about their prisoners being on the honor system, I actually laughed. It reminded me of, oh, was it Maverick? An old western movie I don't know if you've seen it where the sheriff just paints a red line in front of the cell's open doorway and tells the prison that the last person who tried to escape just ended up as that red line. And the guy believes him enough that he won't go past the red line for anything.

Loved it!

She said, "The last time I met an emissary of the Powers, I threatened to rip out his rib cage and wear it as a hat. Personally, I think I'm being all sunshine and light at the moment. Of course, that could change."

*admiration* A hat? Really?

Giles couldn't take it anymore. "Spike! Will you please be SILENT!" He blinked at the sudden quiet, then looked more closely at the vampire. Worf was doing the same thing, trying to figure out where Spike's mouth had gone to.

*hysterical laughter*

Riker, in an almost-shout, asked, "How the hell did you get out of there?"

Buffy answered, "Well, it's not like there's a lot to these energy things, you know. They're pretty easy to get past." She stood up and demonstrated her point — while Spike did an idiot dance and jumped in and out of the cell. At least she had a bit more dignity than he did. "I mean, are you really so goody-goody that your prisons are on the honor system? Spike, stop doing the hokey-pokey."

-

*shakes with laughter*

This has been pretty good. Good job writing this.

I know it was written so long ago you've probably forgotten all about it, but I've just read 'Stupid Portal' for about the third time and I just thought I'd let you know that it stands the test of time and is just as outstandingly good as it was the first time I read it! Your characterisations were spot on, both of the BtVS characters and the ST:TNG ones. As always, the only quibble I have with it is that you didn't let Buffy & Spike have their gloriously happy ending and left it all a bit ambiguous.

this story was soo good

Hmpf... Funny story.