15 pairings meme
Mar. 1st, 2011 12:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitA meme, gakked from somewhere on LJ. I listed fifteen pairings according to the criteria below (before looking at the questions), then answered some questions about them.
Six ships you're into right now:
1) Eighth Doctor/Fitz Kreiner (Doctor Who)
2) Paul McDermott/Tim Ferguson (Doug Anthony All Stars RPF)
3) Henry Foss/Big Guy (Sanctuary)
4) Elim Garak/Julian Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space 9)
5) Jim Prideaux/Bill Haydon (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
6) James May/Richard Hammond (Top Gear RPF)
Three ships you liked but don't like anymore:
7) Rupert Giles/Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
8) Greg House/James Wilson (House)
9) Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones (Torchwood)
Four ships you never liked:
10) Ninth or Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
11) Hornblower/Archie Kennedy (Hornblower TV series)
12) Tim Bisley/Daisy Steiner (Spaced)
13) James Kirk/Spock (Star Trek reboot [this does not apply to TOS])
Two ships you're curious about but don't actually ship:
14) Albus Dumbledore/Severus Snape (Harry Potter)
15) Helen Magnus/John Druitt (Sanctuary)
The questions:
Why do you dislike 11 [Horatio/Archie] so much?
Mostly because Bush is 10,000 times more awesome than Archie. Archie is much too woobified (by the canon itself!) for my taste. He's a bit of a damsel in distress and I find that boring.
Who is someone you know that ships 14 [Dumbledore/Snape]?
No one, to the best of my knowledge. I'm not really in Harry Potter fandom anymore, it's just one of those ships where I can see the possibilities but it doesn't quite grab me.
What would be your ideal scenario for 3 [Henry/Big Guy]?
My ideal scenario is more people writing this pairing well!
The attraction of the pairing for me is that the emotional dynamic becomes more complicated the more you look at it. On the one hand, this is a pairing that's very much about home, about deep affection with someone you've known forever, about safety, tenderness, mutual protection, with a smidge of a paternal/filial dynamic that I like because I'm a pervert. On the other hand, this is a pairing about irreducible differences. Henry and the Big Guy are not only from different cultures, they're from different species, and there must be times when they find each other unfathomable. So I'd love to see fic that takes all of that on board and writes it believably.
What is your favourite moment for 1 [Eight/Fitz]?
There are so many! Maybe Fitz meditating on tea with the Doctor in Coldheart, or the Doctor carried injured!Fitz around "almost romantically" in Vanishing Point. Or Fitz telling his (about to become ex-) girlfriend that his feelings for the Doctor are "the real thing" in The Book of the Still.
How long have you been following 6 [James May/Richard Hammond]?
A few months. Unfortunately, it's a pairing that I ship hard without seeing very many ways to make it work, which is the main reason I haven't written more of it.
What's the story with 8 [House/Wilson]? What made you stop liking/caring?
I watched about two seasons of House before I gave up. I had a lot of problems with the show by then, but the shipteasing was a big one. House/Wilson subtext was deliberately played up and then denied, which I found insulting and homophobic.
You have the power to make one ship nonexistent. Choose from 10 [Doctor/Rose] or 12 [Tim/Daisy].
Easy, easy choice. Doctor/Rose is (regrettably) canon, and it distorted the show in all kinds of ways, damaging the Doctor's friendships with his later companions Martha and Donna, reducing the Doctor to a lovesick and tediously self-centered adolescent, and (the worst, in my view) stripping away the wonderful queerness of the Doctor in favor of a conventional heterosexual love affair.
Which ship do you prefer, 2 [Paul McDermott/Tim Ferguson] or 4 [Garak/Bashir]?
Now this one's tough. I love both ships, but I'm going to have to go with Paul/Tim, because their history's not nearly so fraught and because, hey, they're real people and so it could happen and that would be awesome.
What interests you about 15 [Helen Magnus/John Druitt]?
Their kind of relationship--ex-lovers who have broken up painfully over issues that are bigger than the personal, who then have a long, fraught, quasi-enemy thing while continuing to love each other underneath it all--is one of my bulletproof kinks. (See also: Giles/Ethan, Xavier/Magneto.) Plus the actors have good chemistry. I doubt it's a relationship I'll ever full-on ship, though, because for me it has two major drawbacks: John's little serial killer problem (the idea of Helen still loving John even as she knows he's murdering women is more than a little creeptastic), and the fact that it's het.
Why did you stop liking 7 [Giles/Spike]?
Mostly I got fed up with Spike fen and Spike fanon. I always liked Spike on the show but eventually I couldn't bear to read or write any more fic about him. Also, my brain got taken over by another pairing, Giles/Oz.
Did your waning interest in 9 [Jack/Ianto] kill your interest in the show?
More the other way around. I clung on to the show throughout S2, which I did not love, because I was not about to desert a sff show with a canonical same-sex relationship. I hung on even as the way the show portrayed that relationship became more and more sketchy (e.g. showing Jack/Ianto as mostly about sex, while Jack's true emotional connections were with women such as Gwen and Jack's late wife). Oddly enough I loved most of "Children of Earth," even though it did further damage to Jack/Ianto (not just by killing poor Ianto, but by once again implying that the relationship wasn't really meaningful). But I'd already stopped reading and writing the pairing, and for me, Torchwood is over. I have no plans to watch the US-centric "sequel."
What's a song that reminds you of 5 [Jim Prideaux/Bill Haydon]?
Oh, dear, that's not a pairing I've ever imagined a vid for, unlike some others on the list. It would have to be something old and sad. Maybe "Every Time We Say Goodbye," especially the version sung by Annie Lennox in the film Edward II.
If you could have any two of these pairings double date, who would it be?
Most of these pairings I can't imagine going on dates at all. Some of them pine for each other, some of them have secret trysts, some kiss for the first time during a lull while saving the world. Going out for a film and a romantic dinner, not so much.
Anyway. I'm tempted to say Henry/Big Guy and Helen/John, just because the awkwardness would be epic. However, if the point of the exercise is for the couples to have a good time, I'll say Eight/Fitz and Garak/Bashir. There would be banter, bickering, exchanges of sympathy about the perils of loving an alien, and possibly the foiling of a nefarious plot. (Said plot might or might not be Garak's.) Fitz might briefly be tempted to run off with Garak, because OMG A REAL SPY, but the Doctor would just have to look vulnerable for a second and Fitz would be back at his side.
Have 2 [Paul/Tim] kissed yet?
They have indeed. I call your attention to my icon, which, okay, is of them almost kissing. But they have in fact kissed on camera and (apparently) onstage, not to mention groped, finger-sucked, and dry-humped.
Did 4 [Garak/Bashir] have a happy ending? If the show hasn't ended yet, do you think a happy ending is likely?
On the show, not really. But I'm convinced that Bashir's relationship with Ezri ended fast (and by mutual accord) and Bashir went off to join the man he loved. Or at least, the only one of the two men he loved who wasn't already in a committed relationship.
What would make you start shipping 14 [Dumbledore/Snape]?
Nothing, really. But it's an intriguing possibility for fanfic, especially as it's playable either as Dumbledore having a sincere affection for Snape or as Dumbledore being even more of a manipulative prick than we know he was, canonically.
If only one could happen, which would you prefer, 2 [Paul/Tim] or 6 [James/Richard]?
Oh lord, it's an RPF cage match. I guess I'd prefer Paul/Tim, because I think it's more likely to last and both guys are better equipped emotionally to deal with the public and private fallout.
You have the power to decide the fate of 10 [Doctor/Rose]. What happens to them?
Why does this meme keep asking about the same few pairings?
Anyway, in my world, the Doctor and Rose travel together for long enough to realize that they're not in love after all, and they part amicably as friends.
Which do you dislike the most?
Doctor/Rose. I think it's bad for them and for everyone around them.
Which of these ships do you like the most?
I'm utterly in love with Henry/Big Guy at the moment. Part of it's fandom newness, part of it's that their emotional dynamic (especially in the first two seasons) is so warm and tender, part of it's that the pairing opens up a ton of interesting themes and ideas to explore. Alas, almost no one ships them but me (*waves tost_aurafina*).
Six ships you're into right now:
1) Eighth Doctor/Fitz Kreiner (Doctor Who)
2) Paul McDermott/Tim Ferguson (Doug Anthony All Stars RPF)
3) Henry Foss/Big Guy (Sanctuary)
4) Elim Garak/Julian Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space 9)
5) Jim Prideaux/Bill Haydon (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
6) James May/Richard Hammond (Top Gear RPF)
Three ships you liked but don't like anymore:
7) Rupert Giles/Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
8) Greg House/James Wilson (House)
9) Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones (Torchwood)
Four ships you never liked:
10) Ninth or Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
11) Hornblower/Archie Kennedy (Hornblower TV series)
12) Tim Bisley/Daisy Steiner (Spaced)
13) James Kirk/Spock (Star Trek reboot [this does not apply to TOS])
Two ships you're curious about but don't actually ship:
14) Albus Dumbledore/Severus Snape (Harry Potter)
15) Helen Magnus/John Druitt (Sanctuary)
The questions:
Why do you dislike 11 [Horatio/Archie] so much?
Mostly because Bush is 10,000 times more awesome than Archie. Archie is much too woobified (by the canon itself!) for my taste. He's a bit of a damsel in distress and I find that boring.
Who is someone you know that ships 14 [Dumbledore/Snape]?
No one, to the best of my knowledge. I'm not really in Harry Potter fandom anymore, it's just one of those ships where I can see the possibilities but it doesn't quite grab me.
What would be your ideal scenario for 3 [Henry/Big Guy]?
My ideal scenario is more people writing this pairing well!
The attraction of the pairing for me is that the emotional dynamic becomes more complicated the more you look at it. On the one hand, this is a pairing that's very much about home, about deep affection with someone you've known forever, about safety, tenderness, mutual protection, with a smidge of a paternal/filial dynamic that I like because I'm a pervert. On the other hand, this is a pairing about irreducible differences. Henry and the Big Guy are not only from different cultures, they're from different species, and there must be times when they find each other unfathomable. So I'd love to see fic that takes all of that on board and writes it believably.
What is your favourite moment for 1 [Eight/Fitz]?
There are so many! Maybe Fitz meditating on tea with the Doctor in Coldheart, or the Doctor carried injured!Fitz around "almost romantically" in Vanishing Point. Or Fitz telling his (about to become ex-) girlfriend that his feelings for the Doctor are "the real thing" in The Book of the Still.
How long have you been following 6 [James May/Richard Hammond]?
A few months. Unfortunately, it's a pairing that I ship hard without seeing very many ways to make it work, which is the main reason I haven't written more of it.
What's the story with 8 [House/Wilson]? What made you stop liking/caring?
I watched about two seasons of House before I gave up. I had a lot of problems with the show by then, but the shipteasing was a big one. House/Wilson subtext was deliberately played up and then denied, which I found insulting and homophobic.
You have the power to make one ship nonexistent. Choose from 10 [Doctor/Rose] or 12 [Tim/Daisy].
Easy, easy choice. Doctor/Rose is (regrettably) canon, and it distorted the show in all kinds of ways, damaging the Doctor's friendships with his later companions Martha and Donna, reducing the Doctor to a lovesick and tediously self-centered adolescent, and (the worst, in my view) stripping away the wonderful queerness of the Doctor in favor of a conventional heterosexual love affair.
Which ship do you prefer, 2 [Paul McDermott/Tim Ferguson] or 4 [Garak/Bashir]?
Now this one's tough. I love both ships, but I'm going to have to go with Paul/Tim, because their history's not nearly so fraught and because, hey, they're real people and so it could happen and that would be awesome.
What interests you about 15 [Helen Magnus/John Druitt]?
Their kind of relationship--ex-lovers who have broken up painfully over issues that are bigger than the personal, who then have a long, fraught, quasi-enemy thing while continuing to love each other underneath it all--is one of my bulletproof kinks. (See also: Giles/Ethan, Xavier/Magneto.) Plus the actors have good chemistry. I doubt it's a relationship I'll ever full-on ship, though, because for me it has two major drawbacks: John's little serial killer problem (the idea of Helen still loving John even as she knows he's murdering women is more than a little creeptastic), and the fact that it's het.
Why did you stop liking 7 [Giles/Spike]?
Mostly I got fed up with Spike fen and Spike fanon. I always liked Spike on the show but eventually I couldn't bear to read or write any more fic about him. Also, my brain got taken over by another pairing, Giles/Oz.
Did your waning interest in 9 [Jack/Ianto] kill your interest in the show?
More the other way around. I clung on to the show throughout S2, which I did not love, because I was not about to desert a sff show with a canonical same-sex relationship. I hung on even as the way the show portrayed that relationship became more and more sketchy (e.g. showing Jack/Ianto as mostly about sex, while Jack's true emotional connections were with women such as Gwen and Jack's late wife). Oddly enough I loved most of "Children of Earth," even though it did further damage to Jack/Ianto (not just by killing poor Ianto, but by once again implying that the relationship wasn't really meaningful). But I'd already stopped reading and writing the pairing, and for me, Torchwood is over. I have no plans to watch the US-centric "sequel."
What's a song that reminds you of 5 [Jim Prideaux/Bill Haydon]?
Oh, dear, that's not a pairing I've ever imagined a vid for, unlike some others on the list. It would have to be something old and sad. Maybe "Every Time We Say Goodbye," especially the version sung by Annie Lennox in the film Edward II.
If you could have any two of these pairings double date, who would it be?
Most of these pairings I can't imagine going on dates at all. Some of them pine for each other, some of them have secret trysts, some kiss for the first time during a lull while saving the world. Going out for a film and a romantic dinner, not so much.
Anyway. I'm tempted to say Henry/Big Guy and Helen/John, just because the awkwardness would be epic. However, if the point of the exercise is for the couples to have a good time, I'll say Eight/Fitz and Garak/Bashir. There would be banter, bickering, exchanges of sympathy about the perils of loving an alien, and possibly the foiling of a nefarious plot. (Said plot might or might not be Garak's.) Fitz might briefly be tempted to run off with Garak, because OMG A REAL SPY, but the Doctor would just have to look vulnerable for a second and Fitz would be back at his side.
Have 2 [Paul/Tim] kissed yet?
They have indeed. I call your attention to my icon, which, okay, is of them almost kissing. But they have in fact kissed on camera and (apparently) onstage, not to mention groped, finger-sucked, and dry-humped.
Did 4 [Garak/Bashir] have a happy ending? If the show hasn't ended yet, do you think a happy ending is likely?
On the show, not really. But I'm convinced that Bashir's relationship with Ezri ended fast (and by mutual accord) and Bashir went off to join the man he loved. Or at least, the only one of the two men he loved who wasn't already in a committed relationship.
What would make you start shipping 14 [Dumbledore/Snape]?
Nothing, really. But it's an intriguing possibility for fanfic, especially as it's playable either as Dumbledore having a sincere affection for Snape or as Dumbledore being even more of a manipulative prick than we know he was, canonically.
If only one could happen, which would you prefer, 2 [Paul/Tim] or 6 [James/Richard]?
Oh lord, it's an RPF cage match. I guess I'd prefer Paul/Tim, because I think it's more likely to last and both guys are better equipped emotionally to deal with the public and private fallout.
You have the power to decide the fate of 10 [Doctor/Rose]. What happens to them?
Why does this meme keep asking about the same few pairings?
Anyway, in my world, the Doctor and Rose travel together for long enough to realize that they're not in love after all, and they part amicably as friends.
Which do you dislike the most?
Doctor/Rose. I think it's bad for them and for everyone around them.
Which of these ships do you like the most?
I'm utterly in love with Henry/Big Guy at the moment. Part of it's fandom newness, part of it's that their emotional dynamic (especially in the first two seasons) is so warm and tender, part of it's that the pairing opens up a ton of interesting themes and ideas to explore. Alas, almost no one ships them but me (*waves to
st_aurafina*).
no subject
Date: 2011-03-01 11:04 am (UTC)Anyway, in my world, the Doctor and Rose travel together for long enough to realize that they're not in love after all, and they part amicably as friends.
She's better off without him, as a romantic interest, anyway. I could never ship the two of them, in my own mind anyway, unless Jack was in the mix.
John's little serial killer problem (the idea of Helen still loving John even as she knows he's murdering women is more than a little creeptastic), and the fact that it's het.
I know, it's a sticking point for me, too. It's just that the Ripper murders were particularly sexualised and horrible. I can't see Druitt and not think "You slashed womens' genitals with your knife." And I can't quite explain that away with a mysterious possessing electric entity. That's a personal attack.
Henry and the Big Guy are not only from different cultures, they're from different species, and there must be times when they find each other unfathomable. So I'd love to see fic that takes all of that on board and writes it believably.
*loves* There's so much there to explore. And I want to see them working out their boundaries like that, and learning each other's body language.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-01 06:22 pm (UTC)As far as I can tell, it's you and me and [Bad username or unknown identity: kuwdora"], who's the only other person who commented on my fic. Allow me to repeat how baffled I am by the unpopularity of the pairing.
I could never ship the two of them, in my own mind anyway, unless Jack was in the mix.
Jack changes the emotional dynamic for the better (or maybe it's that the emotional dynamic got a lot worse after the Doctor regenerated and abandoned Jack?). But I also think it's true that Jack is profoundly in love with the Doctor but not profoundly in love with Rose (he cares a lot for her, but he doesn't end up changing his whole life in an attempt to be worthy of her). That imbalance might cause problems.
Good point about the Ripper murders. The show, for obvious reasons, doesn't get into all the horrific details. But one suspects Tesla isn't wrong when he calls John a misogynist. And it makes a lot more sense to assume the possessing electrical entity is building on things already in John's personality than that it has its own murderous hatred of women.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-02 12:32 pm (UTC)I just did this meme and how much fun would double date fic be? Precisely because formal dates are kind of bullshit and the characters could spend most of the time griping about what bullshit it is. I guess date crack fic is mostly done badly, though.