Ships that sail into the night...

[shadowkat]

Snagged from everyone in LJ existence. (mine was snagged from herself_nyc although saw it first from scrollgirl. As an aside - there appears to be an equal number of B/S and B/A shippers on my flist. Which makes posting on either ship in my lj, or the characters Spike and Angel somewhat dicey. And may explain why I tend to avoid it or do it behind cut-tags. What they have in common? They both listed it as number one. Neither seems to really understand the others ship, although generally speaking they are tolerant of it or they wouldn't be on my friends list. And I wouldn't be on theirs.)

I'm going to do this - been dying to since I read everyone else's during lunch, I read my flist during lunch but am too scaredy cat to respond or post at work on most occassions - it's not private or secure, so there's a huge risk involved. (As another aside, only the women on my flist did it, what's up with that? I know for a fact several of the guys on my flist ship, they just may do it the way I do it - which is no, I really don't, but yes there are ships I adore and if the writers weren't sadistic monsters, I'd totally go for.) For the reason just explained - I don't seriously ship character relationships. I've watched and read too many serials and tv shows in my life time and know that writers are sadistic creatures that like to endlessly tease their readers/audience, and will inadvertently, often without much explanation destroy, break up, or what have you a favorite relationship. The hotter the relationship, the more fannish you are about it? The more likely they will find a way to break it apart. Sadists. )

Name your 10 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms. These are ships that I would and have been known to actually fanfic about and made up stories in my head about.

1. Spike/Buffy (BTVS)
2. Doctor Who (ten and possibly 11 and 12)/Doctor River Song (Doctor Who)
3. Scott Summers/Jean Grey ( X-men Comics)
4. Aeryn Sun/John Crichton (Farscape)
5. Phillipa/Lymond (Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett)
6. Lt. Paris (I think it is Paris - portrayed by Robert Duncan McNeil who now directs Chuck episodes)/Torres (Voyager - I think I only watched Voyager for that ship and it is the only one I really had for the Star Trek serieses).
7. Harry Dresden/Lt/Sgt. Karrin Murphy (The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher)
8. Apollo (Lee Adama and just Apollo)/Starbuck (Kara Thrace and just Starbuck) - BattleStar Galatica and BSG - I'm consistent. They were my ship in the original Galatica and the new version.
9. Sawyer (James Ford and James Le Fleur)/Juliet - Lost
10. Spike/Angel (Angel the Series)

Runners up - Barney/Robin - How I Met Your Mother , CJ Craig/Reporter Guy (West Wing),
Josh/Donna (West Wing), and Vicky Bliss/Sir John Smythe (Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters - which isn't a fandom so does not count).



1. I like relationships based on friendship which take a while to develop
2. People who are equals in strength and capability and size, who if they fought would come to a stalemate.
3. People who can trust each other and have each other's back
4. People who know the worst about one another, but put up with it any way
5. Long arcs - not love at first sight which I think is niave and silly
6. Fierce women and fierce men, neither a damsel yet both damsels. They save each other not one or the other
7. Friction - banter, verbal, and the ability to fight one another to a standstill but still love one another. Equals.
8. Smart couples

Your mileage may differ. That's the thing about people...as similar as we are, our differences can sometimes make us interesting.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

well if you looked at my lj then you probably noticed that almost all of mine are also canon ships (or if not actually consummated, they are definitely the ones the writers were pushing forward).....
I do get sick of an obvious game of teasing (the way Buffy & Angel were never going to get together but were always going to whine about it, that just annoys me really quickly), but I can continue to love a pairing that tragically never connected (like on Babylon 5).

I'm more or less the same way. I've been known to root for couples that tragically never get together or are doomed from the get-go. And I've been known to flirt with non-canon relationships = Xander/Spike for example, although more in an Oscar/Felix sort of way.
And I've certainly read slashy fanfic. I'm not really as rigid as I come across in my lj.

And of course I know my shipping of Jayne/River just creeps most people out, but I still enjoy reading the occasional fan fic of that pairing!

I can sort of see why - they have certain similarities - both are anti-social, both are incredibly good fighters, and both aren't sure how to relate to others often creeping or causing distrust. People talk about liking opposites, but I think we often like characters with certain similar attributes - see how they relate.

Doesn't creep me out at any rate. ;-)

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Oh I didn't think you meant you were rigid, slash fan fic can be hilarious (one of my favorites is a short story of Jayne/Simon)... but it can also be extremely lame and can kill the slashy fun the writers play with (like I'd rather keep my House/Wilson pairing within the confines of the show and not read heavy handed fan fic about it).

And one of the things that struck me about the Jayne/River pairing was that it was hard on River to hear everyone's conflicting thoughts/words... but Jayne always says what he is thinking, he doesn't fill his head with a lot of thoughts (Joss even called him Firefly's Cordelia)... so being around Jayne would be very relaxing for River! lol