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teylaminhOkay, both of these should (hopefully) be quite short.
Day 13 - A Ship That Is A Guilty Pleasure
Alfie and Kat Moon (nee Slater) from EastEnders
OH GOD THESE TWO. *crawls under pre-prepared rock*
Basically, when Farscape ended I fell hard for my only available rebound fandom, which was, unfortunately, that direst of addictive glum-fests, EastEnders. Kat and Alfie had already captured my imagination as a pairing long before it became 'canon' (for want of a better word, given soaps' tendencies to forget character development at the drop of a hat), and even though I have had many and varied ships for 'Stenders, these two are my OTP.
In fact, my original choice for this meme was going to be Phil and Shirley, but as they've gone off to Portugal to visit Grant (and presumably Peggy?) and Kat and Alfie are currently in a rut, I changed my mind. :)
Picture source: EastEnders Blog
I think having just lost Farscape, the inherent angst of Kat/Alfie drew me in. At the point I can remember taking notice, Kat was going out with a bloke called Andy, who was (of course, because this is Soapland) a No Good Scoundrel. She was in fact about to marry him when Alfie crashed the wedding at the very last second.
Honestly? IT WAS AMAZING. They are the least likely couple ever (but then, look at Christian and Syed!) and I think that's why it works. It was exceedingly obvious that good-hearted joker Alfie Moon would fall for unattainable and feisty Kat Slater, and really, we were all just waiting for her to realise she loved him back.
They did eventually get married, and then drove off into the sunset. But they were clearly such a popular pairing (and since Shane Richie basically was the best thing about Don't Forget the Lyrics! so the Beeb wanted him back) that the writers brought them back to break our hearts again.
Because these two do break our hearts. He loves her so much, even when she berates him and verbally abuses him, because that's the only way she knows how to communicate. They've recently had a tragedy in the show which should have been the very last thing to split them up, and now they're currently separated. I think the writers do this because they know we are fickle beasts who love watching them reconcile. Even when they reappeared on the show they weren't together and we got to watch Alfie making overblown romatic gestures for a week. ;)
So yeah - even today I have a few 'Stenders pairings (Phil/Shirley, Christian/Syed and Mas/Jane to name a few - unfortunately Carol/Connor was short-lived) but Kat/Alfie hold the key to my heart...
Day 14 - A Ship No-One Would Expect You To Love
Hrm, okay. This was a tricky one, because I'm so bloody predictable there are very few pairings no-one would expect me to love. :P
Derek Acorah and Yvette Fielding from Most Haunted.
*re-emerges from rock and then crawls back in even deeper*
I chose this fandom because generally I disagree with RP pairings (although the other exception to my rule will come later! :P), and I chose these two in particular because they were entirely to blame for my giving in to it.
Er, well... actually I still don't like RP pairings because I think they are icky. Just... yeah. But when the MH crew went to Derby Gaol and Yvette started crying and Derek started comforting her, the Inner Shipper stood up and took notice, and I was like, "...but they're REAL PEOPLE." That did not matter. It turned out, when I joined the late and great![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
mosthauntedgeek, that I was merely one of like-minded crazies. _mhotp_ was borne of this association, a place where we could indulge our ever-increasing and ever more terrifying MH pairings to our hearts' contents - complete with large red disclaimer. :)
Picture source: can't remember any more as I have too many MH caps from too many sources...
That is how it started. I am but a weak fangirl. Of course, it doesn't help that during the best days of the series (before Derek fell out of favour and they started cheating and being generally rubbish), Derek did things like that (*points to icon*) and made me fall off the sofa in excitement. It reached a point where we were absolutely convinced that the team had been reading the LJ communities and knew what we were up to. I can remember once during a night-vision section where Karl and Stuart (Yvette's husband and cousin respectively, and one of our MHOTP's, of course) focused the camera on their joined hands and said, "Look, we're holding hands..." in a knowing fashion; or when Stuart corrected his wrong pronunciation of "vidual" to "vigil" after we'd been joking about it for several episodes...
It was great fun while it lasted, and I think perhaps I wouldn't have jumped on the MHOTP quite so vehemently if I'd had other fandoms into which to vent my frustrations. Most Haunted kept me buoyant and sane for a couple of years after leaving uni, at least until mid-2005 when the current series appeared to be endless and then Derek left and it all went to hell... after which I basically succumbed to my own brain and lost interest. I enjoy reading back-posts onmosthauntedgeek every now and again to remind myself of my 'last hurrah', in a sense; and I'm still in touch with a couple of people from that community (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jackiesjottings, izzles and pandorasblog), even though there were plenty more who slowly disappeared. There was a Great Friends-List Addathon over the course of several days, and we all wanted to go to a live event together wearing matching t-shirts so we could share the silliness and in-jokes in person, but alas, it never happened.
They were good days. I think perhaps if I did get around to obtaining the rest of the DVD's and doing a re-watch, I might not grasp onto the MHOTP quite so scarily, as I have other fandoms now and other pairings. But Derek and Yvette inspired me enough to write afanfic COMPLETELY ORIGINAL STORY about them people who bear no resemblance to them and who have COMPLETELY ORIGINAL ADVENTURES *ahem*, and I think that's worth something. :)
Hungry now. I might do 15 and 16 as one post again tomorrow in a bid to catch up. 17 and 19 are both going to be long so I might spread them out with 18 over the course of the weekend. :)
Day 13 - A Ship That Is A Guilty Pleasure
Alfie and Kat Moon (nee Slater) from EastEnders
OH GOD THESE TWO. *crawls under pre-prepared rock*
Basically, when Farscape ended I fell hard for my only available rebound fandom, which was, unfortunately, that direst of addictive glum-fests, EastEnders. Kat and Alfie had already captured my imagination as a pairing long before it became 'canon' (for want of a better word, given soaps' tendencies to forget character development at the drop of a hat), and even though I have had many and varied ships for 'Stenders, these two are my OTP.
In fact, my original choice for this meme was going to be Phil and Shirley, but as they've gone off to Portugal to visit Grant (and presumably Peggy?) and Kat and Alfie are currently in a rut, I changed my mind. :)
Picture source: EastEnders Blog
I think having just lost Farscape, the inherent angst of Kat/Alfie drew me in. At the point I can remember taking notice, Kat was going out with a bloke called Andy, who was (of course, because this is Soapland) a No Good Scoundrel. She was in fact about to marry him when Alfie crashed the wedding at the very last second.
Honestly? IT WAS AMAZING. They are the least likely couple ever (but then, look at Christian and Syed!) and I think that's why it works. It was exceedingly obvious that good-hearted joker Alfie Moon would fall for unattainable and feisty Kat Slater, and really, we were all just waiting for her to realise she loved him back.
They did eventually get married, and then drove off into the sunset. But they were clearly such a popular pairing (and since Shane Richie basically was the best thing about Don't Forget the Lyrics! so the Beeb wanted him back) that the writers brought them back to break our hearts again.
Because these two do break our hearts. He loves her so much, even when she berates him and verbally abuses him, because that's the only way she knows how to communicate. They've recently had a tragedy in the show which should have been the very last thing to split them up, and now they're currently separated. I think the writers do this because they know we are fickle beasts who love watching them reconcile. Even when they reappeared on the show they weren't together and we got to watch Alfie making overblown romatic gestures for a week. ;)
So yeah - even today I have a few 'Stenders pairings (Phil/Shirley, Christian/Syed and Mas/Jane to name a few - unfortunately Carol/Connor was short-lived) but Kat/Alfie hold the key to my heart...
Day 14 - A Ship No-One Would Expect You To Love
Hrm, okay. This was a tricky one, because I'm so bloody predictable there are very few pairings no-one would expect me to love. :P
Derek Acorah and Yvette Fielding from Most Haunted.
*re-emerges from rock and then crawls back in even deeper*
I chose this fandom because generally I disagree with RP pairings (although the other exception to my rule will come later! :P), and I chose these two in particular because they were entirely to blame for my giving in to it.
Er, well... actually I still don't like RP pairings because I think they are icky. Just... yeah. But when the MH crew went to Derby Gaol and Yvette started crying and Derek started comforting her, the Inner Shipper stood up and took notice, and I was like, "...but they're REAL PEOPLE." That did not matter. It turned out, when I joined the late and great
mosthauntedgeek, that I was merely one of like-minded crazies. _mhotp_ was borne of this association, a place where we could indulge our ever-increasing and ever more terrifying MH pairings to our hearts' contents - complete with large red disclaimer. :)Picture source: can't remember any more as I have too many MH caps from too many sources...
That is how it started. I am but a weak fangirl. Of course, it doesn't help that during the best days of the series (before Derek fell out of favour and they started cheating and being generally rubbish), Derek did things like that (*points to icon*) and made me fall off the sofa in excitement. It reached a point where we were absolutely convinced that the team had been reading the LJ communities and knew what we were up to. I can remember once during a night-vision section where Karl and Stuart (Yvette's husband and cousin respectively, and one of our MHOTP's, of course) focused the camera on their joined hands and said, "Look, we're holding hands..." in a knowing fashion; or when Stuart corrected his wrong pronunciation of "vidual" to "vigil" after we'd been joking about it for several episodes...
It was great fun while it lasted, and I think perhaps I wouldn't have jumped on the MHOTP quite so vehemently if I'd had other fandoms into which to vent my frustrations. Most Haunted kept me buoyant and sane for a couple of years after leaving uni, at least until mid-2005 when the current series appeared to be endless and then Derek left and it all went to hell... after which I basically succumbed to my own brain and lost interest. I enjoy reading back-posts on
mosthauntedgeek every now and again to remind myself of my 'last hurrah', in a sense; and I'm still in touch with a couple of people from that community (jackiesjottings, izzles and pandorasblog), even though there were plenty more who slowly disappeared. There was a Great Friends-List Addathon over the course of several days, and we all wanted to go to a live event together wearing matching t-shirts so we could share the silliness and in-jokes in person, but alas, it never happened.They were good days. I think perhaps if I did get around to obtaining the rest of the DVD's and doing a re-watch, I might not grasp onto the MHOTP quite so scarily, as I have other fandoms now and other pairings. But Derek and Yvette inspired me enough to write a
Hungry now. I might do 15 and 16 as one post again tomorrow in a bid to catch up. 17 and 19 are both going to be long so I might spread them out with 18 over the course of the weekend. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-17 07:47 pm (UTC)I read somewhere, the thing with RPS is, everyone is squicked by it... riiiiiight up to the point where they find Their Ship. Which is painful in its truthfulness. Like, way more than your first Non-Canon Ship or your first Slash Ship or your first Doomed Ship or whatever other ship kinks there are out there. Just, IDEK. It's so ~complicated in its wrongness and in that Moment where you realise, holy crap, that line you're so squicked out by, you're in fact kinda past now. SIGH.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-17 09:43 pm (UTC)Incidentally, in light of this meme eating both of our brains, I got very annoyed watching Charlie Brooker's How TV Ruined Your Life the other day, as he was moaning about people being shippers. Not in as many words, but it set alarm bells ringing in my brain - he was talking about how TV portrays romance as... well, romantic. Like, duh. :P I usually think he's quite funny and astute, but NOT WHEN HE'S MOCKING THE SHIPPERS. :P
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-17 09:53 pm (UTC)Come to think of it, this may be why Sunset piqued me like it did. Because it's morbid and dark, even when it's trying to be romantic.
...y'know, this meme is teaching me things about my brain I'm not entirely sure I wanted to know.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-17 11:13 pm (UTC)But yes, I can see what you mean. As much as I enjoy the lovely fluffy ships, the majority of my favourites are angsty. The ones I get bored of tend to be the 'easier' ones (i.e. Ross/Rachel, who wouldn't know angst if it sat on them), and those which grip me are, indeed, the darker pairings. And the doomed ones!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-17 11:29 pm (UTC)Yes doomed! And dark! The problem with easy pairings is... actually another of the problems I have with canon ones, as it goes - THEY'RE ALL RIGHT ~THERE. There's no wiggle room, no exploration, no nothing. It's... I don't wanna say 'bland', because half the time it's not. It's just... like... the job is done, y'know, and the best thing you can do is sit and watch it unravel at its own pace. I always kind of feel like I'm ~interfering, when it's a canon pairing, even letting myself ~think about them, 'cause there's an actual Canonic Purpose there... whereas subtext and peripheral pairings are more... there's more room to explore unfettered.
...that got rambly. I do apologise.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-17 11:34 pm (UTC)I actually do like canon ships, insofar as those that don't deliver or are there in the periphery. I can't ship characters who have never interacted (with the exception of Giles/Bernadette... :D) because, well, no interaction means no relationship or point of reference, basically. I do like a lot of canon ships which ARE obviously going to be endgame as well, though, but I think only when it takes a looooong time. Like John/Aeryn or Mulder/Scully. And when there's other stuff going on to make it interesting. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-17 11:41 pm (UTC)I suppose, thinking on it... there's a kind of line between the kind of ship you love like a movie - where you want to watch it and enjoy it and cry at the end (and the beginning and the middle &c &c) but sort of just let it take you on its own journey without any real intervention... and the kind of ship you love like a book, where you want to dissect every word and every glance and every Moment and shape them into meaning, which is the soul-stealing sort of ship.
Neither are ~wrong, and no fandom would be complete without both... and yet...