how to be a fan without canon

[lobelia321]

And I am an expert at this! *cackles* (Those who know me will remember those occasions whereon I fanoned shamelessly, wallowing in blissful ignorance of canon. Also those moments where I spun whole backstories out of one single black-and-white passport photo (John Noble!) OR one oral mention, with no pic whatsoever (April Bingham!).)

Firefly: My fantasy continues.

Note: Read this post after you read my first firefly fan test post. Then you can join in the guessing fun. And understand what I'm going on about, *g*.

Impatiently, I googled. And found out that one of the characters I identified as popular dies at some point during the series which may explain the paucity of fic.

I went to two comms, ff_fanfic which has mostly gen or het (I can't tell, I only read the Pairings) and another one called fireflyslash. From the Pairings given in the Headers and from perusing around 40 entries, I gleaned the following:



As I predicted, Mal (who is my character nr 6 = main dude) is the most popular guy. (Hah! I am so good.)

The most popular pairing is not Mal/Wash (6/8 = main dude/sticky-uppy gayboy), as I prophesied, but Mal/Jayne (6/1 = main dude/manly hunk). I counted 19 fics in my sample.

The next most popular is the one I did think would be second-most popular (how awesome am I??): Mal/Simon (6/4 = main dude/smart boy -- and I mean 'smart' in the English sense of dapper, not in the American sense of clever). I counted 13 fics.

Then there was a little streamlet of Jayne/Wash (1/8 = manly hunk/gayboy) which I didn't predict at all. I counted 5 fics.

The OTP I guessed (Mal/Wash = 6/8 = main dude/gayboy) didn't really materialise. I counted 3 lone fics. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

Also, now I am convinced I have to write Mal/Wash fic, without knowing anything more than their names and these two pictures. Oh, and apparently Mal is a Captain (and we all know how fast fandom goes ga-ga over a military man: Colonel Sheppard, Captain Jack, Commodore Norrington -- no matter how pacifist we may be irl, when it comes to these ranked guys, we swoon), and Simon is Dr Simon (it seems that next to an officer, we love an educated man best: Dr McKay, Dr Zelenka, and, er, Dr Who).




My numbers 1 to 9, from left to right.


Jayne, Kaylee, Wash, Zoe, Captain Mal, Dr Simon, his sister River
Most popular: Jayne/Mal; next-most popular: Mal/Simon; quite popular: Jayne/Wash.
OTP as predicted by me: Wash/Mal. \

Wash/Mal quickie ficcie:
"Oh, Captain."
"Fuck, oh, yes, Doctor."

Comments

[tvillingar.livejournal.com]

Skipping most of the post since Firefly only succeeded in irritating me (though I reserve the right to change my mind at the drop of a hat, as I usually do), I'll say this:

no matter how pacifist we may be irl, when it comes to these ranked guys, we swoon

It's the uniform. And the authority, or at least the impression that they do know what they're doing - I may have a thing for feeling I'm in capable hands. ;) Which brings us to the educated men, like Drs Zelenka & McKay who certainly know what they're doing!

Also, it's completely your fault I'm trolling Amazon.com for Bollywood films and music. Haven't bought anything yet but it's only a matter of time... any recs on that front?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

My first Bollywood film evah was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, so I still recommend that for the virgin viewer. It has it all: love, fun, songs, modern, traditional, and the most beautiful woman in the world with two hunky guys.

My next favourite is Dil Se which is more controversial, a sort of terrorist-thriller-musical with brilliant song-and-dance sequences. Here, you get one lovely actor and two gorgeous women.

:-)

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

ok, i should probably stop reading these. bc first, that fic community seems oddly skewed. though i suppose it could be my friends who are the oddly skewed ones. fine by me. :) but second...

omg wash would NEVER. i think there has never been a more lovable het canon pairing than zoe/wash. she's the soldier. she's mal's second in command. she's crazy powerful and gorgeous. and he's dorky and silly and weak and funny and adorable. and yes, he dies. but not in the series, in the movie. and it's beyond heartbreaking.

yeah, see, i should stop reading bc i care too much.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*laughs very much*

But oh, we do all care too much about our fandoms. This is why it's weird and interesting to look in from the outside. Because I know fandom but I don't know this fandom, nor do I care. But I know how others might care! :-)

[crazybutsound]

Ah but Wash is not a doctor, that's Simon. Wash is the pilot. So your quickie ficlet doesn't really work, lol.

Also, no character dies during the course of the series. Two of them do in the movie that rounded up the show, but none during the 13 eps before that movie.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Aha! Nobody dies!

And hah, yes, Wash is not the doctor, I knew that!

Ah well, it still works:

Simon/Mal.
"Oh, Captain."
"Oh, doctor, fuck, yes."

*giggles*

[crazybutsound]

*is very very amused*

[msilverstar]

Interesting! Most of what I like in the fandom is het, but I have some slash too: http://del.icio.us/msilverstar/Firefly/Serenity-FPS

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Wow. Del.ici.ous plenitude!! Thank you! I won't sully my virgin ignorance just yet with actual fanon knowledge but it's there for when I need it! But what is the relationship between Firefly and Serenity??

And icon! Nekkid boy on rock!

[msilverstar]

Icon is Captain Mal, he's OK with being nekkid :-)

Firefly was the TV series, Serenity was the movie, set a little after the end of the the series and with 'verse-changing events.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I am both amused and horrified.

:)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Why horrified? Hah.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Because I'm watching it, and have become attached! In fact, I just watched an episode. Shepherd Book (your rarity) got his hair out of its pony tail and it became part of a subplot.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

He's called Shepherd Book? (Who comes up with these names?)

This, of course, suggests an irresistible x-over: Shepherd/Sheppard.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Shepherd is his title, rather than first name. Shepherd = preacher.

But I imagine you're probably going to write that crossover anyway, aren't you? ;)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

He is a shepherd??

*boggles at canon*

"Hi. I'm Shepherd Book."
"Well, hello there. I'm Sheppard, too. So, hey, we share a name!"
"No, no, you don't understand. I'm not Shepherd. I'm a shepherd."
"Oh. Like I'm a colonel?"
"Something like that."
"Good. All the more reason to kiss me, quick."

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I'm so desiring a Header with the Pairing 'Shepshep'.

*helpless laughter*

[solvent90.livejournal.com]

Wash/Mal quickie ficcie:
"Oh, Captain."
"Fuck, oh, yes, Doctor."

reading Simon for Wash - I think I wrote that fic. I'm torn between mortification and giggles.

Re: *helpless laughter*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I started writing Dr/Captain fic last night and got two pages into it before I realised I had yet again made Wash the doctor. This not-knowing-canon has its annoying aspects...

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

re Pic: erm ... at the risk of admitting that I know canon - No 3. is BOOK (you have Wash named twice).

And I have to go with the Canon pairing of Wash/Zoe. It doesn't get better than that. personally I'd have thought the one to go for would be Jayne/Simon for the antag ... ah , but that's Canon too. Yes.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Aha, so that's his name! Book! Interesting. He is *so* the rare pair.

*giggles at you*