Cabin Pressure

[kindkit]

I raced through the BBC radio show Cabin Pressure and am now 2/3 finished with my second listen. (This, I have discovered, is what mp3 players are for: listening to radio drama in bed at night.) It's always funny and sometimes bittersweet in just the right way; I think the best comedy always has a measure of sorrow in it.

If, like me until a few days ago, you are tragically unacquainted with the show, do give it a try. Its BBC website is here and the first two series are available to download via this link at what I think is a very reasonable rate. And did I mention the fannish associations? Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the stars, and in series 3 Anthony Head has a recurring guest role. You can listen to a free S1 episode on the BBC site, by the way.

/promotion

So, as is my wont, I looked for fanfic.

Oh, dear.

There is a weird dearth of humorous fic, considering the show's a comedy. Instead, there are a billion schmoopy woobified romance fics, the majority being m/m slash, but with crossover het and Mary Sues original female characters making a strong running. Worse yet, there's an inexplicable fanon trope that Martin has an eating disorder. This turns up in fic after fic by various authors, and there's no canon justification for it whatsoever. I'm not sure if people are importing this from Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes, who might plausibly have an eating disorder, or if they're extrapolating from (and thus completely missing the point of) Martin's S3 speech about how he's so poor he's living on toast and the occasional baked potato "for a treat." (The point, of course, being that he would like to be eating other, nicer, more plentiful food. And certainly he shows no disinclination for the cheese tray during flights. This is not a man with an eating disorder, but a man who can't afford to buy food.)

Humorous genfic is not normally what I want, but oddly enough I wish there was some for Cabin Pressure. Or slash that's actually plausible; although I'm not averse to the idea of Martin/Douglas, Douglas's extensive heterosexual history makes this a pairing that needs to be earned within each fic. Actually the pairing I'd really like to see is Martin/the actor who Carolyn hires to play him in the recorded welcome message. They did make a not!date, after all!

Also, I want Sherlock crossovers that make sense. Martin is not Sherlock's visual double; the word that comes up over and over to describe him is "little," so we have to assume he doesn't look like Benedict Cumberbatch. But they do have near-identical voices and there've got to be a few plots in that.

Oh dear god I have just thought of Martin/Mycroft as a pairing, with Mycroft working out his semi-incestuous feelings for Sherlock via sex with Martin, and I think I have BROKEN MY OWN BRAIN.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

There's a lot of really crap Cabin Pressure fic out there, but there's also some gems.

My favourite is probably Yalta, by Caulkhead (gen) is absolutely hilarious - it really feels like a missing episode.

I can't remember if you watch Torchwood, but AJ Hall (also known as legionseagle has a very funny Cabin Pressure fic set in the middle of Judgement Day here.

Also by AJ HAll, a historical AU (well, actually it's a cross-over with the Bronte's juvenillia, but you don't have to have read them, but the latest installment of AJ Hall's excellent Sherlock/ John fic series, the Queen of Gondal is a Cabin Pressure crossover, and despite the fact that GERTI is now a boat, it's remarkably true to the spirit of CP. The downside is that it probably doesn't make all that much sense if you haven't read the rest - but it's all good.

[kindkit]

Thanks for the recs!

I've read a bunch of AJ Hall's Sherlock fic, but the Bronteverse one didn't work for me (it had more OCs and more plot than will hold my attention, and frankly not enough m/m slash). So I may give that a miss, but now that I know there are some decent CP fics out there, I may see if I can sift through and find them.

[legionseagle]

via friends of friends (probably oursin) I picked up that you were looking for non-angsty Cabin Pressure recs, and since caulkhead and I frequently whinge about this lack ourselves I thought you might appreciate this one I found the other day: Here be Dragons by qikitarjuaq. Admittedly, it's AU and Douglas and Martin are dragons, but they're IC dragons.

[kindkit]

Thanks!

I'd actually be perfectly happy with stories that had a reasonable level of angst, supported by canon. But when I tried reading fic in the fandom, all I seemed to find was fic after fic of "poor woobified noble Martin, with his completely uncanonical eating disorder and suicidal tendencies, weeps perfect silent tears until he a) dies or b) is rescued by the heroic love of Douglas." Certain fandoms end up dominated by their worst tropes and/or worst writers, and Cabin Pressure seems to be one. But of course there must be some good stories out there.

ETA: Your link actually goes to Kormantic's "Ballad of the Filthy Assistant," but I'm sure I can find the right story on the AO3.

[legionseagle]

Oh, I know about the worst tropes/worst writers problem - in fact, I've always thought there was an inverse ratio between quality of source and quality of fic, which the CP issue exemplifies. You should just try reading Mary Renault Charioteer fic for that (white picket fences galore)

[kindkit]

I've never read a lot of Charioteer fic because for me the canon feels fairly . . . complete, if that makes sense. But yes, I've read enough to see how much bad stuff is out there. And I do actually want Laurie and Ralph to live happily ever after, but my vision of what that would mean is apparently not shared by most of the people writing the fic. The best Charioteer stories I've read either focus on Ralph's backstory or on Andrew.

Occasionally very good sources can produce very good fanfic; there was a lot of incredibly good fanfic for Bufy the Vampire Slayer, although to be fair there was an enormous amount of dreadful fic as well. But that inverse ratio does often seem to hold true.

Part of the problem with Cabin Pressure, I think, is that it's started to attract Those Cumberbatch Fans. Hence their desire to write St. Martin the Martyr. Now, I got into the fandom myself because of Cumberbatch, so I'm not saying all of his fans are the problem. Just, well, Those Fans.

Those Cumberbatch Fans

[legionseagle]

And there you are, too, when looking at inverse ratios. I mean, if you look at the characters he's portrayed - the creepy chocolate tycoon in Atonement was apparently what inspired Gatiss and Moffat to cast him as Sherlock - why does that spell woobification either? I mean, look at his back-catalogue:

Total nob-head and all-round pompous twat, dreadful jumpers and haircut: Starter for Ten (actually, I think that character has a lot in common with Martin)
Mari complaisant, lousy in bed: That Other Boleyn Girl
Creepy businessman, rapist: Atonement
Assemblage of corpse parts, murderer, rapist: Frankenstein
Epically incompetent hostage negotiator: Four Lions
Alcoholic prime minister, dies young of liver failure; Amazing Grace
Conflicted gay spy: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Re: Those Cumberbatch Fans

[kindkit]

Some of his characters are more sympathetic than others--I liked his Pitt much better than Wilberforce, and it's impossible not to pity Peter Guillam even when he does the dishonorable thing. Sherlock, on the other hand, is as John says a dick most of the time, and I'm amazed by (much of) the fandom's ability to choose not to perceive this and instead to write him as a sweet fragile ethereal creature who's just misunderstood.

Normally I expect woobification to happen in the case of very good-looking actors like David Tennant. It's interesting that Cumberbatch is getting the same treatment when he's not nearly as conventionally attractive.

Re: Those Cumberbatch Fans

[legionseagle]

Pitt was more of a political realist (and less of a pain in the arse) than Wilberforce, and a thousand times funnier (I definitely cherish the "brandy sauce" crack about the rabbit) but the fact was that one of them was Against Slavery With The Fire of A Thousand Suns and the other was Against Slavery At Least When It Isn't Going To Cost Us A Parliamentary Majority For The Important Stuff, and obviously one of these things is more sympathetic than others*



*No fault of the man himself, though I gather people are trying to make it a problem for Dawkins, who's in a similar position, but I imagine the Cumberbatch family were also major W.I plantation owners back in the day, judging by the fact that the only other people I've ever heard of with the surname seem to come from Trinidad.

Re: Those Cumberbatch Fans

[kindkit]

Well, yes, if we start talking about actual politics rather than portrayals and personalities, Wilberforce is more sympathetic for being committedly anti-slavery. On the other hand, Wilberforce also crusaded against trade unions, alcohol, and molly houses, so from a modern perspective he's no winner either.

Re: Those Cumberbatch Fans

[legionseagle]

Well, that's why It's All More Complicated 9TM) I suppose.

Re: Those Cumberbatch Fans

[legionseagle]

I don't think Guillam does the dishonourable thing so much as believing that the political always trumps the personal especially when the political is as important as winning the Cold War. Probably wrong, but I did see it as a genuine attempt to weigh two goods against each other.

[legionseagle]

Does this work?

[kindkit]

Yes, thanks much!