That relationship thing: Multifandom

[selenak]

I don't think I ever 'shipped one particular couple in any given TV show I liked in the sense of making this my top priority about the show in question. Which I suppose allows me a faintly smug attitude about 'shipper wars. Most of the relationships I'm interested in are/were not even romantic in nature and hence safe from either TPTB interference or assaults from other fans. Well, more or less.



I was quite invested in Garak & Bashir in DS9 and to this day believe that they hardly got any scenes together during the last two seasons because Paramount was nervous about the slash implication, having weathered the Dax-kisses-a-woman-storms. (Those were the days.) Which annoyed me. However, both Bashir and Garak were used very well separately by the show, so I was reconciled.
Garak/Bashir aside, the other DS9 relationships which I enjoyed seeing on display weren't even romantic in fanon, let alone canon. As mentioned in other posts, I'm a sucker for family dynamics, and I loved the Quark and Rom (and Nog, and Moogie, and Nagus Zek!) interactions. Dukat's relationship with his half-Bajoran daughter Ziyal was very touching, I enjoyed Sisko & Jake as one of the very few actually harmonious father and son relationships on American TV, I loved Quark and Odo, who knew each other just a bit too well, the friendship between Dax and Quark, and between Bashir and O'Brien. (Sidenote: due to Colm Meany being adorable but just note slashable for me, I don't see this as romantic even after "I love Ezri, but I just like you more".)

Farscape: Aeryn's relationship with Crais - and Talyn - was just a tad more interesting to me than her relationship with John. Which is not to say I'm anti-J/A, or didn't get misty-eyed when TalynJohn died, or when MayaJohn first saw Aeryn again and she didn't see him at all. (Or furious about the cop-out at "Twice Shy", for that matter.) So, to misquote Shakespeare, it's not that I loved J/A less but that I loved Aeryn and Crais more. Though not in the sense I actually wanted to see them as a couple.
And as for John: both John and Scorpius, and John and Harvey, absolutely fascinate me in a way J/A never did, even in its early nervous courting day in season 1 and 2. There is a debate going on about this particular triangle which I urge any 'Scapers to join. Now, despite agreeing with searose who called the John/Scorpius interactions these last seasons " the most bizarre courtship rites every portrayed on television" and having fun with the subtext, I don't see this as a relationship which, even in fanfic (that is, fanfic not going AU) , could ever turn sexual. Or would have to for me as a fascinated watcher/reader to be satisfied.

Babylon 5: Fanfic-wise, there are two huge factions in this fandom: Sheridan/Delenn and Ivanova/Marcus. Both relationships were never anywhere near my top ten things I liked about B5. I wasn't bored by them, but what was on screen was enough. (More than enough in the case of Sheridan and Delenn sometimes.) Londo and G'kar, on the other hand? Were for me the heart and soul of the show. Joking with thran about their narrative suitability for slash aside because of all the slash clichés one could detect in canon (i.e. mortal enemies becoming friends, beating up leading to spiritual relevation, having had sex with the same woman, and, Great Maker help me, even an early mind rape and a later body guard scenario), I think this relationship is as unromantic as they come. And I'm not sure whether I'm amused or grateful they never got slashed due to being pouchy middle-aged Aliens.
The other relationship which I found heart breaking on B5 is the one between Londo and Vir, which moves somewhere between Don Quichotte and Sancho Pansa, Lear and his Fool, Frodo and Sam or father and son. What it is decidedly not is romantic and/or slashy.
One drawback, though, of the safety of Londo and G'kar and Londo and Vir from 'shipping by fans and 'shipper wars: there isn't any fanfic about either at all. Which frustrates me, I have to admit. What? Do I have to be consistent?

Jossverse: And here we get to the exceptions, for I've got quite a few pairings I like. Though I was incredibly easy. I liked Buffy/Angel, I liked Buffy/Spike. I liked Willow/Oz, I liked Willow/Tara, and hey, count me among the 0,0001 % who even liked Willow/Kennedy. (Oh yes and the Fred flirting during "Orpheus".). Xander/Cordy I found adorable and was so glad they got to make up in "The Prom" before Cordy left the show, and Xander/Anya was funny, heartbreaking and touching in turn. I liked Giles/Jenny, always hankered among some more Giles/Joyce outside of Candy-induced fervour, and loved Giles/Ethan. (Is canon, too. "The night is still our time." I ask you!) Moving over to Los Angeles, I found Angel/Darla fascinating (still do), but am secretly an Angel/Wesley 4eva! girl who was incredibly pleased with what season 4 gave us. I liked Wesley/Lilah, thought Wesley and Fred suddenly developed chemistry in "Supersymmetry", and thought Connor/Cordy was chilling but a brilliant idea. The only canon romance which I did not like, even actively hated, was Dork!Angel and Saint!Cordy in season 3, but at least we got a pay off for suffering through it.
Still, despite of all the succumbing to the evil allure of romantic relationships, I maintained my attraction for the not-romantic ones. Depending on my mood, season 5 is my favourite because of Buffy and Dawn, and their relationship held my interest till the end of the show. Simultanously, season 4 of AtS has many good things to make up for the very uneven season 3, but what made it surpass 2 (pre-Pylea 2 having been my favourite Angel season earlier) in my estimation were Angel and Connor.

Was I ever not surprised to feel intrigued by Simon and River in Firefly...

Comments

[searose.livejournal.com]

Did you know that the actor who portrayed Garak on DS9 wrote a very long DS9 novel that was very well received by the critics? It was, of course, about Garak. The book is multiparted, a third being a letter to Bashir, telling his friend what happened to him. Umm, Andrew J. Robinson's Star Trek Deep Space Nine 27:A Stitch in Time. I've never heard a bad review of it.

Babylon 5: Londo and G'Kar all the way, umm, just without the actual sex. It's like Sidney Greenstreet and Anthony Quinn - two scenery chewing monsters captured in frame.

Farscape: Oh, after all is said and done, I think the hetero OTP for me in Farscape is John/Zhaan (and, dammit, it was in Unrealized Realities - canon). John and Scorpius, subtext forever, but truly no sexual congress. Just, no.

Jossverse: Oh, look at all the pretties! Put 'em all in a bag, and just select a pair or trio at random. Or, leave them all in the bag together. ;) Hmm, the OTP? Wishverse Willow and Xander. They were sooo cool, and very confortable with each other.

I know about the book...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

...and have read it. It is well written (and quite subtexty re: Bashir), but a bit too short on the ruthless side Garak had as well for my taste. John/Zhaan: could have been, and as you point out in one UR, was. Also, that Stark jealousy didn't come from nowhwere! VampWillow/VampXander: were cool, but I suppose my problem here is I never was into Willow and Xander as a couple in their "Realverse" versions, either. As friends, yes, but by the time the clothing fluke came long, I liked the Xander/Cordy and Willow/Oz relationship too much not to scream "bad!", and that carried over into the Wishverse.