Interesting question, Pam.
Personally, I tend to rewrite episodes I loved and ignore those I hated. I doubt you'll ever see me writing something about Family Hour or Toy Story or AKA Superman. I only watched these a couple of times, and so no idea springs to mind that involves them. I adore reading and writing adaptations of my favourite episodes, though. Give me BaTP/THoL adaptations any time. I read avidly fanfic set in S1 and 2, a lot more willingly than S3 and 4 adaptations (although some of my very favourite stories are set in these later seasons, but they're in the minority - I can't help it).
So I'm not sure that bad episode = good fanfic. Mind you, I can't claim either that good episode = good fanfic. I think it depends on the subject that the author chooses to treat, and the way they treat it. For example, Tracey is working on a fantastic adaptation of When Irish Eyes Are Killing - hated the episode, but the story she's writing out of it, using the B plot and developing its more interesting aspects, is Best Overall material as far as I'm concerned. Other example: I absolutely adored Masques, yet I had cringed at the Argh.
I think that you use different things when you rewrite a bad episode or a good one. When you're rewriting a bad one, what you have in mind is to fix what didn't work for you. So you might take a few scenes that you thought were good, grab the basis of the plot, and adapt it in your own way so that a good idea that suffered from a bad scenario turns into something that satisfies you. On the other hand, when you're rewriting one of your favourite episodes, your goal isn't to fix things but maybe to develop them with things that could have been pushed further if the episode had been longer, or explore different scenarios that could come of one little change in the premise.
Kaethel
