Fandom for February: Day Two
Feb. 2nd, 2011 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teylaminhRight then, here we go. Prepare to scrub your eyeballs.
Day 02 - Your Least Favourite Ship
Actually, now I come to think about it, that question seems to be an oxymoron. You have ships because you like them, not because you don't. In any case, this is a pairing I absolutely hated from the moment the rumour mill started turning right up until it had been and gone. Several years later and I still haven't forgiven whichever idiot thought this up.
Chakotay and Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager
It takes a really special talent to produce a pairing which destroys two entirely separate, better and more popular pairings in one fell swoop. And those two destroyed pairings were in fact my preferred two out of this particular fandom.
The trouble started when Jeri Taylor, one of the show's creators, left the writing pool somewhere around season 6, leaving Berman & Braga in charge. They are the distastrous duo responsible for Enterprise, the show that killed the franchise. With Voyager they took all of Taylor's hard work in character development, completely ignored it, and came up with this godawful idea to put Seven of Nine with Chakotay. Prior to this Jeri Taylor had spent five or six seasons building a slow-burning, unrequited but potential pairing in Janeway and Chakotay. When Seven of Nine arrived in season 4 (and when Jeri Ryan subsequently turned out to have brains as well as bazookas, and probably a better actress than they gave her credit for), she was mentored by the Doctor, who had previously been established as having a weakness for blondes and shortly thereafter fell in love with his protegée. Voyager was never particularly subtle about its pairings, but nevertheless, they were fun.
I will talk about both of these pairings later in this meme (breaking the repeated-fandom rule already...). I really don't want to talk about this pairing because it pains me to my very core. It's just that bloody awful.
Okay, here's a picture. Brace yourselves.
Picture source: Ugo.Com - The Most Absolutely Awful TV Couples (I think that says it all...)
I can't remember which episode this is from, and frankly I don't care. DNW FOREVER.
The precursor to Chakotay/Seven was that Seven wanted to practice dating (on the Doc's advice, obviously) and had created a holographic version of Chakotay in order to do so. There was nothing remotely premeditated or emotional about this decision; she merely went through the crew roster and selected a 'mate' based on their various attributes. That episode, "Human Error", ironically also contains some of my very favourite Doc/Seven moments, in the 'reality' side of the episode.
It was supposed to begin and end there, until Robert Beltran (Chakotay) moaned about not having enough story involvement and the writers, in their infinite wisdom, decided to pair him with Seven. DESPITE THE SIX AND A HALF YEARS OF SLOW-BURNING TENSION BETWEEN HIM AND JANEWAY.
There was an episode, a few after "Human Error", in which Chakotay and Seven were stranded on an alien planet and had to work together, which was the very flimsy premise upon which they were supposed to become interested in each other. But honestly? It's a big pile of horse-dren. The two characters had barely spoken to each other and barely even knew each other. It makes Seven look weak, and Chakotay predictable. To make matters worse, by the penultimate episode, "Renaissance Man", they had the Doctor's matrix destabilising and him confessing all his last wishes in case he never got to say them, resulting in him professing his love for Seven - who by this point was already dating Chakotay. It was a pairing that not only tortured viewers, but characters as well.
Of course, we never got to see what Janeway thought of all this either. I like to think she silently castrated him in his sleep. ;) Not just for the obvious betrayal (god damn it, man, she was waiting until everyone got home!) but because he chose Seven, of all the people on the ship, to pursue - her rehabilitated Borg child and substitute daughter.
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doec and I did some 'missing scene' scripts for "Endgame", the season finale when Chakotay/Seven was officially 'announced' by future!Janeway, to try and fix that horrible decision and its horrible outcomes. I can't think of a pairing that produced more hatred and alienated more groups of shippers than this one. I didn't want to believe it when I heard the spoilers, and when it actually happened I still couldn't believe what I was seeing. The unfortunate end result was that my Janeway/Chakotay pairing became irreversibly marred; Seven has always been one of my favourite characters, but I could never forgive the character mangling of Chakotay. Occasionally I like to rewatch "Resolutions" - which I will post about in due course - to make myself feel better, but it doesn't last long.
Phew. I can't believe I wrote more words about my least favourite ship than I did for my favourite. So much hate, though. So much.
Day 02 - Your Least Favourite Ship
Actually, now I come to think about it, that question seems to be an oxymoron. You have ships because you like them, not because you don't. In any case, this is a pairing I absolutely hated from the moment the rumour mill started turning right up until it had been and gone. Several years later and I still haven't forgiven whichever idiot thought this up.
Chakotay and Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager
It takes a really special talent to produce a pairing which destroys two entirely separate, better and more popular pairings in one fell swoop. And those two destroyed pairings were in fact my preferred two out of this particular fandom.
The trouble started when Jeri Taylor, one of the show's creators, left the writing pool somewhere around season 6, leaving Berman & Braga in charge. They are the distastrous duo responsible for Enterprise, the show that killed the franchise. With Voyager they took all of Taylor's hard work in character development, completely ignored it, and came up with this godawful idea to put Seven of Nine with Chakotay. Prior to this Jeri Taylor had spent five or six seasons building a slow-burning, unrequited but potential pairing in Janeway and Chakotay. When Seven of Nine arrived in season 4 (and when Jeri Ryan subsequently turned out to have brains as well as bazookas, and probably a better actress than they gave her credit for), she was mentored by the Doctor, who had previously been established as having a weakness for blondes and shortly thereafter fell in love with his protegée. Voyager was never particularly subtle about its pairings, but nevertheless, they were fun.
I will talk about both of these pairings later in this meme (breaking the repeated-fandom rule already...). I really don't want to talk about this pairing because it pains me to my very core. It's just that bloody awful.
Okay, here's a picture. Brace yourselves.
Picture source: Ugo.Com - The Most Absolutely Awful TV Couples (I think that says it all...)
I can't remember which episode this is from, and frankly I don't care. DNW FOREVER.
The precursor to Chakotay/Seven was that Seven wanted to practice dating (on the Doc's advice, obviously) and had created a holographic version of Chakotay in order to do so. There was nothing remotely premeditated or emotional about this decision; she merely went through the crew roster and selected a 'mate' based on their various attributes. That episode, "Human Error", ironically also contains some of my very favourite Doc/Seven moments, in the 'reality' side of the episode.
It was supposed to begin and end there, until Robert Beltran (Chakotay) moaned about not having enough story involvement and the writers, in their infinite wisdom, decided to pair him with Seven. DESPITE THE SIX AND A HALF YEARS OF SLOW-BURNING TENSION BETWEEN HIM AND JANEWAY.
There was an episode, a few after "Human Error", in which Chakotay and Seven were stranded on an alien planet and had to work together, which was the very flimsy premise upon which they were supposed to become interested in each other. But honestly? It's a big pile of horse-dren. The two characters had barely spoken to each other and barely even knew each other. It makes Seven look weak, and Chakotay predictable. To make matters worse, by the penultimate episode, "Renaissance Man", they had the Doctor's matrix destabilising and him confessing all his last wishes in case he never got to say them, resulting in him professing his love for Seven - who by this point was already dating Chakotay. It was a pairing that not only tortured viewers, but characters as well.
Of course, we never got to see what Janeway thought of all this either. I like to think she silently castrated him in his sleep. ;) Not just for the obvious betrayal (god damn it, man, she was waiting until everyone got home!) but because he chose Seven, of all the people on the ship, to pursue - her rehabilitated Borg child and substitute daughter.
doec and I did some 'missing scene' scripts for "Endgame", the season finale when Chakotay/Seven was officially 'announced' by future!Janeway, to try and fix that horrible decision and its horrible outcomes. I can't think of a pairing that produced more hatred and alienated more groups of shippers than this one. I didn't want to believe it when I heard the spoilers, and when it actually happened I still couldn't believe what I was seeing. The unfortunate end result was that my Janeway/Chakotay pairing became irreversibly marred; Seven has always been one of my favourite characters, but I could never forgive the character mangling of Chakotay. Occasionally I like to rewatch "Resolutions" - which I will post about in due course - to make myself feel better, but it doesn't last long.Phew. I can't believe I wrote more words about my least favourite ship than I did for my favourite. So much hate, though. So much.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 09:08 pm (UTC)continuation of my ceaseless bid at spamming you to deathcomment for THIS --I can't believe I wrote more words about my least favourite ship than I did for my favourite.
I. KNOW. RIGHT. Apparently, hate is a more articulable emotion than love? Which I guess kind of makes sense? Like how rants tend to take up ten pages, and "the world is glorious" posts take up, like, a line.
Also, LOL teeny tiny "I'm including this out of obligation, but it pains me to do so" picture.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 09:17 pm (UTC)If you can brace your eyeballs (I'm not joking) for the horrific backgrounds, I did two rants on the subject 10 years ago for my first website. First two links on this page, though again it will make no sense out of context. ;) I can't believe this rage has been simmering for a decade now. THAT'S HOW BAD IT IS.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 09:28 pm (UTC)That is so retro, I don't even know what to do with it.
I mean, awwwww at your rants, and heaven knows I understand the impulse - there is NOTHING worse than having stuff crush the hell out of stuff you've invested in - but... I'm sorry... all I can think is LOL BACKGROUND. And also, how apt it seems to be to this particular pairing.
Y'know, like, a retro stain on the fabric of existence?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 09:31 pm (UTC)IT WAS 2001, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT? :P I was so excited at the prospect of Having A Website that I wanted to use all possible backgrounds ever made. But yes, they are horrifically awful.
Also these were the days before I had a livejournal, so it was the only way I could vent. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 09:41 pm (UTC)The big question, though, is "did you use ~frames~? And ~MIDI music~?" *ducks*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 09:43 pm (UTC)My domain works using i-frames, though. :D I AM A LUDDITE. And tables are frelling horrible in HTML anyway. I never did wrap my head around them properly.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 09:48 pm (UTC)IIRC, Geocities abused the hell out of frames to get their adverts in. In hindsight, it's actually less devious than what they (meaning ~everyone) do now with all the pop-up and pop-under advertising and embedded everythings...
And tables are horrible in anything. Even freakin' Ikea.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-02 10:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-03 01:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-03 01:57 pm (UTC)