Star Trek Meme: Day 7

[selenak]

Day 7 - Your favorite non-canon pairing?

No question about it this time: Garak/Bashir. With Picard/Q as the runner-up. Both were my very first slash pairings, and I'm still very fond of them despite not having read any fanfic for ages, but the scenes between the characters in canon still have the power to make me smile stupidly and feel all aglow inside. Both pairings have the attraction of opposites and wonderful actor chemistry but what makes Garak/Bashir win in my personal ranking is that it's actually workable as a long term day to day relationship. And yes, I'm one of those fans who forever hold a grudge that Garak and Bashir did hardly get any screentime after season 4 (though at least they got a scene of their own in the finale) and who buys into "this was done due to homophobic fears" conspiracy theories, but I'd rather not rant about this when I can speak about the joy of the pairing.

If it were just Garak the mysterious with the shady past versus Julian the naive, I'd have been amused and attracted for a while but wouldn't have felt as deeply as I did. What sold me on the pairing was The Wire, because Julian learns some pretty dark stuff about Garak there (even though he can't be sure what to believe, because Garak even about to die is still Garak and keeps changing his stories) and doesn't let that stop him, not just from doing everything to save Garak's life, but from remaining his friend. This isn't just Bashir's attraction to fantasyy spy scenarios come to life anymore, or the safety of believing that surely, Garak is the one Cardassian who didn't really do anything awful during the occupation, this is genuine commitment with eyes open. And I think that's also what attracts Garak beyond the fun of playing mindgames with a young, idealistic and attractive Federation doctor.

Also, their scenes are just plain fun, between the verbal sparring, flirting, and teasing about each other's cultures. They visibly enjoy each other's company the same way the audience does watching them. If you want to sell me on a pairing, canon or not, their being together even minus sex has to be something I can see both parties thrive through, and that's certainly the case here. Therefore, my fanon/headcanon post show will always be that Julian Bashir goes to Cardassia to help as a doctor, and he and Garak reunite as a couple.


(Since it doesn't really fit into any of the categories: Not non-canon but one sided (at least as far as romance is concerned) relationship I'm fondest of: Quark/Dax. I loved the Quark and Jadzia Dax friendship, am on board with him feeling more than friendship as well, and wrote the fanfic to prove it.)

(Other shows & movies: sorry, I don't have an uc pairing there.)






Day 1 - Which Star Trek series is your favorite?
Day 2 - Who is your favorite character?
Day 3 - Who is your least favorite character?
Day 4 - What was the first episode/movie you watched?
Day 5 - What was the first Star Trek series you watched?
Day 6 - Your favorite canon pairing? (Canon being the series and the movies, including the reboot.)


Day 8 - Your favorite actor/actress? (Not the same as character.)
Day 9 - What's your favorite episode?
Day 10 - What's your favorite species? (Humans are a species as well.)
Day 11 - What's your least favorite species? (See question 9 about species.)
Day 12 - What's your favorite funny moment?
Day 13 - What's your favorite dramatic moment?
Day 14 - What's your favorite Star Trek quote?
Day 15 - How did you get into Star Trek?
Day 16 - Are you involved with Star Trek fandom?
Day 17 - Have you read any of the books? If so, which ones?
Day 18 - If you could be any species in the Star Trek universe, what would you be?
Day 19 - How did the Star Trek reboot affect you?
Day 20 - Of the minor characters (one shots, not the recurring ones) who’s your favorite?
Day 21 - Which Star Trek food would you want to try at least once?
Day 22 - Which Star Trek world would you want to visit at least once?
Day 23 - Is there anything you'd want to change about Star Trek? Why?
Day 24 - Is there anything about Star Trek that has disappointed you?
Day 25 - How has Star Trek changed you?
Day 26 - Lots of Star Trek Parodies out there. Which do you dig?
Day 27 - What would you cross over with Star Trek?
Day 28 - Your favourite friendship in Star Trek?
Day 29 - If you could tell Gene Roddenberry one thing, Star Trek related or not, what would it be?

Comments

[andraste]

If we lived in a just universe, Garak/Bashir would have been canon. I don't usually buy into 'homophobia is the only thing keeping my slash OTP apart!' conspiracy theories, but in this case, you can't tell me that they wouldn't have gone there if Julian had been a Julia and everything else was the same.

And now I want to watch The Wire again. Dammit.

[selenak]

They so would have gone there. Of course, Garak showing up in the middle of the night in Julia Bashir's bedroom uninvited and unannounced would have felt threatening instead of flirtatious, so there is that...

[andraste]

True - not to mention that he actually attacks Bashir during The Wire.

[endeni]

/ And yes, I'm one of those fans who forever hold a grudge that Garak and Bashir did hardly get any screentime after season 4/ - LOL, me too.
/Therefore, my fanon/headcanon post show will always be that Julian Bashir goes to Cardassia to help as a doctor, and he and Garak reunite as a couple./ - Absolutely! *g*

[selenak]

Garak/Bashir 4eva! :)

[percysowner]

Completely on board the Garak/Bashir train. I know the actors have been very honest that they both decided to play the relationship as flirtatious and romantic. If DS9 was being made today, with the same actors, I'm sure we would have had it be canon.

The worst part was stopping their interactions which were some of the best on the show. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Miles/Julian friendship, but I so missed Garak and Bashir. And don't even get me started on Garak/Ziyal. Although it says a lot that the show found that a het relationship with a huge age and power difference to be more acceptable than allow one that had gay subtext practically becoming text before our eyes.

We've come a long way.

[selenak]

Ah, but if DS9 were made today, I think we might lose a lot of Kira's backstory and get Kira's present day personalilty softened as well, so I can't really wish it.

Seriously now: I never expected them to kiss on screen back then (though btw I agree with you - they would today!), but losing all those lovely Garak and Bashir scenes in the last seasons was and is infinitely frustrating. It was also my first experience of being jealous of a rival ship! (O'Brien/Bashir.) Thankfully, this didn't happen often since, but I do remember growling when they got entire episodes while there still was no G & B interaction even when logic demanded one. (*mutter* Julian should have gone to Garak about Sloan, not Miles *mutter*)

[jae]

Is Garak/Bashir non-canonical? I think it's pretty clear it wasn't consummated in canon, but it's been confirmed that the actor who played Garak was playing it as sexual attraction.

-J

[selenak]

Yes, I know, but actors don't count (otherwise I would have to discard several 'ships in other fandoms simply because the actors in question are anti slash and swear it was never their intention etc.) as canon. In the sense of canon as something textually acknowledged on screen. Of course, Garak/Bashir is totally my headcanon!

[jae]

I don't know, from where I sit the attraction on Garak's part was textually acknowledged on screen. There are a lot of things in that actor's performance you have to ignore or explain away if you want to interpret it any other way, and while I agree with you that it's the text that counts rather than any extratextual commentary on the actors' parts, in this particular case that actor's interpretation became a very obvious part of the text. It's pretty clear that in the text it was unrequited, though, which may be enough to not make it count as "real" slash.

-J

[kalypso]

Garak/Bashir is the slash pairing I just couldn't get - I think because I didn't fancy Bashir. Siddig as he is now is a very different matter, but back in those days he was too young and skinny, and I couldn't see why Garak would fancy him (possibly because he liked young and skinny more than I did).

Whereas Garak/Ziyal, when it first began, I did understand; I loved the idea that he would be so flummoxed by somebody who was straightforward and direct, because he couldn't work out what her devious plot was. Alas, no one cared enough to develop what seemed to me such a promising pairing, and poor Ziyal ended up being defined by her father and her partner rather than as a character equal to both of them, which she had the potential to be.

[selenak]

While I entirely agree that Siddig is one of those enviable people who grow sexier with age (young Julian Bashir evoked hugging urges rather than attraction in me, whereas now...), he was hardly younger and skinnier than the various actresses who played Ziyal.:) Who, age-wise, definitely was younger than Bashir - I had the impression Ziyal was a teenager and Jake's age, which is one of several reasons why I regret she never interacted with him on screen.

This being said, I thought the characters Ziyal ended up being defined by were her father and Kira, not her father and Garak. (Ziyal being very much a part of Kira's grapping-with-the-past-and-present issues.) While Ziyal had a bit of a crush on him, I didn't see the relationship with Garak as romantic on his part - he liked her, and once he realised she really was that straightforward he trusted her, a rare thing in Garak, plus as I had him say in one of my stories they were both the illegitimate children of ambitious fathers who confused their own greatness with Cardassia's (and as he wouldn't say out loud, fathers who hurt them while also loving them and whom they watched fall), which was something he didn't share with anyone else, including Bashir (whose parent issues were quite different).